I posted this on that "other C64 forum" just before it got unexpectedly shut down.� Even though I've blogged about it on my own Commodore site, I thought it was interesting enough to post here, as well.
I happened across a very interesting 1541 fast loader, called TurboDisk, by Don Lewis. It was originally published in issue #59 of Compute! Magazine, back in 1985.� According to the article, TurboDisk increased the 1541's LOAD speed by a factor of three times or more. What makes this fast loader stand out (at least for me) is that it's the only one I've seen that loads part of itself into the 1541's CPU, which works in tandem with the other portion running on the C64. I thought that was pretty cool! So, I just had to give it a try.
I took the time to type in the program from the PDF I have of the Compute! article, but you can just download the attached D64 disk image to save yourself some time, if you want to try it.� However, if you'd like to type it in yourelf, you can find a copy of the article over on AtariMagazine.com, HERE.
The program that you type in isn't the fast loader, itself. It's actually �preparation� program which creates a machine language program on your floppy disk, which is the fast loader that gets saved to disk. Then, when you want to use it, you LOAD the program and run it by issuing an SYS49152 command. The TurboDisk then loads a portion of itself to the 1541 and is then ready for use.
All of the details about how the program works can be found on the AtrariMagazine's page. But, the big question is, does it work? You bet it does, and it works pretty darn good, too! From what I can tell, the larger the program, the faster it seems to go.
Here is a video I've recorded of a side-by-side comparison of loading a game with and without TurboDisk. The game I'm loading is LazerTech and is 108 blocks in size. On the left is VICE running normally, with no TurboDisk and no �warp mode�. On the right is VICE with TurboDisk loaded and ready to go. You'll see there's quite a variation in LOAD times. I was quite impressed.
https://www.my64.in.nf/lib/exe/fetch.php...k-demo.mp4
I happened across a very interesting 1541 fast loader, called TurboDisk, by Don Lewis. It was originally published in issue #59 of Compute! Magazine, back in 1985.� According to the article, TurboDisk increased the 1541's LOAD speed by a factor of three times or more. What makes this fast loader stand out (at least for me) is that it's the only one I've seen that loads part of itself into the 1541's CPU, which works in tandem with the other portion running on the C64. I thought that was pretty cool! So, I just had to give it a try.
I took the time to type in the program from the PDF I have of the Compute! article, but you can just download the attached D64 disk image to save yourself some time, if you want to try it.� However, if you'd like to type it in yourelf, you can find a copy of the article over on AtariMagazine.com, HERE.
The program that you type in isn't the fast loader, itself. It's actually �preparation� program which creates a machine language program on your floppy disk, which is the fast loader that gets saved to disk. Then, when you want to use it, you LOAD the program and run it by issuing an SYS49152 command. The TurboDisk then loads a portion of itself to the 1541 and is then ready for use.
All of the details about how the program works can be found on the AtrariMagazine's page. But, the big question is, does it work? You bet it does, and it works pretty darn good, too! From what I can tell, the larger the program, the faster it seems to go.
Here is a video I've recorded of a side-by-side comparison of loading a game with and without TurboDisk. The game I'm loading is LazerTech and is 108 blocks in size. On the left is VICE running normally, with no TurboDisk and no �warp mode�. On the right is VICE with TurboDisk loaded and ready to go. You'll see there's quite a variation in LOAD times. I was quite impressed.
https://www.my64.in.nf/lib/exe/fetch.php...k-demo.mp4
