C64 OS USER'S GUIDE

Chapter 2: Installation

Set up VICE with pre-configured CMD HD hard drive image

This subsection of Chapter 2: Installation, discusses the simplified set up and configuration of the VICE emulator on Windows or macOS for use with C64 OS. Simplified VICE configuration has the following steps:

• Set up KERNAL and drive ROMs
• Set up storage devices

If you purchased the Standard Bundle (64 MB System Card) a pre-configured CMD HD hard drive image with C64 OS already installed comes included on the System Card, found in the "vice support" directory. These instructions explain how to configure VICE to use this image file.

If you purchased the Starter Bundle (16 MB or 32 MB System Card), you need to follow the Advanced VICE Configuration to create the CMD HD hard drive image and install C64 OS from the installation archive.

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Requirements

These instructions are to set up a virtual CMD HD from which C64 OS will run. There are some minimum requirements and some additional resources that are required and/or recommended. Check the important resource links at the end of this page for further information about how to acquire the ROMs.

1. VICE v3.5 or greater: Version 3.5 is the first version with support for CMD HD.
2. CMD HD Boot ROM v2.80: The latest, most stable and feature complete CMD HD Boot ROM.
3. JiffyDOS v6.01 KERNAL ROM: Highly recommended to improve the speed of the IEC serial bus.

Although the JiffyDOS KERNAL ROM is not strictly required, it is highly recommended. The stock C64 KERNAL ROM is notoriously slow. The CMD HD has built-in support for the JiffyDOS protocol, but requires the KERNAL ROM to be updated with JiffyDOS in order for the faster protocol to be used.

JiffyDOS provides numerous other important features to the READY prompt, and the C64 OS User's Guide describes command shortcuts that can be taken if JiffyDOS is available.

Set up KERNAL and drive ROMs

There is only one ROM which is required for the setup, the CMD HD Boot ROM. However, because JiffyDOS is recommended, we will start with configuring the C64's KERNAL ROM to use JiffyDOS, and also show how to optionally configure a 1541 disk drive with a JiffyDOS ROM.

In VICE, choose "Settings..." from the Preferences menu. From the left sidebar, unfold the Machine section. Select the ROM option under the Machine section heading. In the main configuration area on the right there are four tabs. Select the Machine ROMs tab first.

In the configuration area below the Machine ROMs tab, there are VICE standard file selection buttons. These are for the C64's 3 main ROMs: KERNAL, BASIC and Character Generator. VICE supplies default ROMs for all three.

If you have purchased a copy of the JiffyDOS KERNAL ROM overlay for C64, click the Browse... button at the end of the row for KERNAL. From the file picker dialog box that opens, locate the JiffyDOS KERNAL ROM file, select it and click Open, at the bottom right.

Select the JiffyDOS KERNAL ROM for the C64.

Next, select the Drive ROMs tab, next to the Machine ROMs tab. VICE supplies default ROMs for many of the various drive models that it can emulate, but not for them all. Locate the row for the CMD HD and click the Browse... button at the end of that row. From the file picker dialog box, locate the CMD HD Boot ROM which you have purchased, select it and click Open.

If you have purchased a JiffyDOS drive ROM overlay for a 1541, 1541-II, 1571 or 1581, proceed as described above to select and assign those JiffyDOS ROM files to the drives to which they belong. In the example highlighted below, the 1541-II has been assigned a JiffyDOS drive ROM.

Select the CMD HD Boot ROM and optionally the JiffyDOS ROM for other disk drives.

Close the settings window by clicking the close button in the bottom right corner. Then save VICE's settings by choosing "Save settings" from the Preferences menu.

Set up storage devices

C64 OS can be run with the CMD HD configured as the only storage device.

However, to take advantage of C64 OS's ability to work with multiple drives, instructions are also provided to configure a 1541-II disk drive. Additionally, optional instructions are provided for configuring a VICE FS device, which gives the C64 OS access to a directory shared from the host operating system's file system.

Set up drive 10 as a CMD HD

Most games, demos and other C64 software have been hardcoded to run only from device 8. C64 OS does not have this limitation and can be safely run from any device number. We will intentionally configure the CMD HD for a different device number so that device 8 is reserved to be assigned to a disk drive.

Choose "Settings..." from the Preferences menu. From the left sidebar, unfold the Peripheral devices section. Select the Drive option under the Peripheral devices section heading. In the main configuration area on the right there are four tabs, for Drive 8, 9, 10 and 11. Select the Drive 10 tab.

From the Drive model select box, choose CMD HD. Check on the "True drive emulation" option, do not enable the "Virtual device" nor the "IEC device" options. All the other settings can be left with their default values, as many of them do not pertain to the CMD HD.

Drive 10, CMD HD configuration.

Close the settings window by clicking the close button in the bottom right corner. Then save VICE's settings by choosing "Save settings" from the Preferences menu.

Attach the pre-configured CMD HD hard drive image

The System Card (64 MB) contains a pre-configured CMD HD hard drive image, with C64 OS already installed on it. Copy the file c64os v1.04.dhd.zip from the "vice support" subdirectory on the System Card to the hard drive of your Mac or PC.

The file is zipped to save space on the System Card. Unzip the zip file using whatever means you typically use to unzip files in either Windows or macOS. This extracts a single file, c64os v1.04.dhd, which should be approximately 17 MB.

Each time VICE is started up afresh, it is necessary to attach the disk images to the various drives that have been configured. Choose Drive #10 under the Attach disk image submenu from the File menu. Or press ALT+0 on Windows or CMD+0 on macOS.

Attach a disk image to Drive 10, CMD HD.

From the file picker dialog box that opens, locate the c64os v1.04.dhd file that you just unzipped. Select it and click Attach/Load, at the bottom right. Do not click the Autostart button.

Attach pre-configured CMD HD hard drive image.

The CMD HD is now set up and the pre-configured CMD HD hard drive image has been attached. You are ready to run C64 OS and you may skip to the end of this section to proceed immediately.

Optionally, continue with the following instructions to configure a virtual 1541-II disk drive, to which you can attach a .D64 disk image. You can also configure a device with VICE FS, which gives C64 OS access to a directory shared from the host operating system's file system. VICE FS is a convenient way to move files from the Mac or PC's native environment onto the CMD HD and into C64 OS's native environment.

Set up drive 8 as a 1541-II disk drive

Since most games, demos and other C64 software which runs from floppy disk is hardcoded to run from device 8, we will configure a virtual 1541 drive as device 8.

Choose "Settings..." from the Preferences menu. From the left sidebar, unfold the Peripheral devices section. Select the Drive option under the Peripheral devices section heading. In the main configuration area on the right there are four tabs, for Drive 8, 9, 10 and 11. Select the Drive 8 tab.

From the Drive model select box, choose CBM 1541-II. VICE provides default ROMs for the various disk drive models, however, during the set up of the drive ROMs, above, you can configure a drive type with a JiffyDOS ROM. In the example above, we highlighted that a JiffyDOS ROM was being configured for the 1541-II. That corresponds with us now configuring a 1541-II as the drive for device 8.

Check on the "True drive emulation" option, do not enable the "Virtual device" nor the "IEC device" options. All the other settings can be left with their default values.

Drive 8, 1541-II configuration.

Close the settings window by clicking the close button in the bottom right corner. Then save VICE's settings by choosing "Save settings" from the Preferences menu.

Attach a .D64 disk image

The most common way for C64 software to be distributed on the internet is in .D64 disk image files. In the important resource links section found at the end of this page, you can download the CMD HD Utilities disk in .D64 format. This disk provides several programs for performing additional configuration on the CMD HD.

Each time VICE is started up afresh, it is necessary to attach the disk images to the various drives that have been configured. Choose Drive #8 under the Attach disk image submenu from the File menu. Or press ALT+8 on Windows or CMD+8 on macOS.

Attach a disk image to Drive 8, 1541-II.

From the file picker dialog box that opens, locate a .D64 disk image file. Select it and click Attach/Load, at the bottom right. Do not click the Autostart button.

Attach .D64 disk image.

The disk image is now attached and its contents are ready to be accessed via the virtual drive configured on device 8. Note that while C64 OS is running, you can repeat this procedure to change which .D64 image is attached to device 8. This is the virtual equivalent of physically swapping floppy disks. Be sure that no disk activity is underway before attempting to change which disk image is attached.

Set up drive 9 as a VICE FS device

VICE implements a special host file system device, which identifies itself to the C64 as VICE FS. This allows a directory from the host file system to be shared with the Commodore 64, giving C64 software direct access to any files placed in that directory. This is a convenient way to transfer files from the Mac or PC's native environment into the CMD HD hard drive image and into the C64 OS environment. With the CMD HD on device 10, and a disk drive on device 8, we will configure VICE FS to use device 9.

Choose "Settings..." from the Preferences menu. From the left sidebar, unfold the Peripheral devices section. Select the Drive option under the Peripheral devices section heading. In the main configuration area on the right there are four tabs, for Drive 8, 9, 10 and 11. Select the Drive 9 tab.

From the Drive model select box, choose "None". Check on the "IEC device" option. From the IEC device type select box, which is now enabled, choose "Host file system". Do not enable the "True device emulation" nor the "Virtual device" options. All the other settings can be left with their default values.

Drive 9, VICE FS configuration.

A directory must be selected to be shared from the host file system. From the left sidebar, select Host file system device option under the Peripheral devices section heading. In the main configuration area on the right there are four tabs, for Drive 8, 9, 10 and 11. Select the Drive 9 tab.

In order to maintain compatibility with C64 OS, uncheck the option "Allow filenames longer than 16 characters."

In the row for the directory to share, click the Browse... button. From the file picker dialog box that opens, navigate to a directory that you want to share with the C64. Click the Select button at the bottom right.

It is recommended to check on the options, "Access P00 files with their built-in filename," and "Create P00 files on save." These two options will cause the host file system device to automatically wrap new files that are created in a P00 container which retains features of the CBM file system even though the file is being saved to a foreign PC or Mac file system. It will also implicitly unwrap P00 files so they appear to the C64 as normal files, with the ability to have PETSCII filenames and a CBM file type.

Drive 9, Host file system directory configuration.

Close the settings window by clicking the close button in the bottom right corner. Then save VICE's settings by choosing "Save settings" from the Preferences menu.

Ready to Run C64 OS

Congratulations, you are now ready to run C64 OS.

Although C64 OS is ready to be booted, some configuration is recommended for your specific hardware before you boot C64 OS for the first time. This is described in Chapter 3: Configuration and Settings.

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Important resource links for VICE configuration

You need the CMD HD Boot ROM to use a CMD HD dhd image in VICE. This ROM image is a commercial product and can be purchased from Retro Innovations, here:

https://store.go4retro.com/commodore/cmd-hdd-boot-rom-2-80-binary-image/

To manage the CMD HD and to create new partitions, you also need the CMD HD Utilities disk image which you can download here. This utilities disk is not required to use C64 OS with the pre-configured CMD HD hard drive image, but it can still be useful if you want to perform additional, optional or advanced configuration.

Although JiffyDOS is not strictly required to use C64 OS, it is highly recommended for its speed and device compatibility. It also adds some much needed features to your C64's READY prompt. The JiffyDOS C64 KERNAL ROM image is a commercial product and can be purchased from Retro Innovations, here:

https://store.go4retro.com/jiffydos-64-kernal-rom-overlay-image/

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Next Chapter: Configuration and Settings

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This document is subject to revision updates.

Last modified: Sep 10, 2023