C64 OS USER'S GUIDE
Chapter 2: Installation
Set up VICE with pre-configured IDE64 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 IDE64 cartridge and drive ROMs
- Set up storage devices
If you purchased the Standard Bundle (64 MB System Card, v1.04+) a pre-configured IDE64 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 IDE64 hard drive image and install C64 OS from the installation archive.
Import resource links
Important resource links for additional IDE64 configuration are found at the end of this page.
Requirements
These instructions are to set up a virtual IDE64 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 these.
- VICE v3.5 or greater: Version 3.5 is the earliest version that C64 OS supports.
- IDEDOS cartridge image: This can be fetched from the IDEDOS download system.
About VICE
The latest version of VICE can be downloaded for free from: https://vice-emu.sourceforge.io.
The screenshots used in this tutorial are from VICE v3.7 for macOS. The layout and appearance of options may differ slightly in other versions of VICE.
Set up IDE64 cartridge and drive ROMs
VICE has built-in support for IDE64 and its hardware version and other options can be configured in VICE's settings. However, in order to activate IDE64, you have to attach a .CRT image with IDEDOS. To create the .CRT image, open the IDEDOS download system in a new browser window:
http://singularcrew.hu/idedos/compile.php
There are several options when configuring IDEDOS. These options are selected and then compiled together to create a .CRT file with those options set. To change the options, you must return to the IDEDOS download system, choose new options, and download a new .CRT file.
The following values are recommended for use with C64 OS in VICE:
| Category | Value | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Target system | C64 or C128 | The standard configuration |
| Cartridge version | v4.1 | The same for 4.1 or 4.2, the latest hardware version |
| Disk drive speeder system | JiffyDOS | This will speed up other drives that support JiffyDOS |
| PCLink | USB | Choose $DE5D for USB Base Address. Default. |
| Misc Options | Second SID: none | Set the base address of a second SID if you have one. |
| Misc Options | Use optimized UPCLink transfers | This option should be checked on |
| Misc Options | Download in ".crt" format | This option must be checked on |
The options specifed above should look like the following on the IDEDOS download system webpage.
IDEDOS 0.90 download system v1.3
Click the Download PEROM button at the bottom of the page. This downloads a ZIP file called idedosYYYYMMDD.zip, where YYYY, MM and DD are the year, month and date when this combination of options was pre-compiled.
Unzip this file using whatever means you typically use to unzip files in either Windows or macOS. The ZIP archive contains several text files and a file called idedosYYYYMMDD-c64.crt. This is the cartridge image file required for VICE.
There is also another ZIP file which has IDE64 utilities. This same set of utilities is available in the IDE64 Utilities .D64 file found in the important resource links section at the end of this page. The .D64 format makes it easier to access these files from VICE.
Although not required, it is a good idea to rename the .CRT file to specify the essential compilation options that were used to generate it. This way, if you use the download system to fetch multiple versions of the .CRT with different options, you will be able to tell them apart just by the filename.
Rename the file idedosYYYYMMDD-c64.crt to idedos9.0-v4.1-jiffydos.crt.
Store this file in a place that is convenient for you. Further instructions on how to use this cartridge image continue below.
Set up optional drive ROMs
IDE64 provides the computer with the ability to communicate using the JiffyDOS protocol. However, in order for disk drives to be accelerated by this, they have to be configured with a JiffyDOS drive rom. This is optional, but it will greatly speed up access to those disk drives.
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 Drive ROMs tab.
VICE supplies default ROMs for many of the various drive models that it can emulate. If you have purchased a JiffyDOS drive ROM overlay, locate the row for the drive type and click the Browse... button at the end of that row. From the file picker dialog box, locate the JiffyDOS drive ROM file, select it and click Open.
In the example shown below, the 1541-II has been assigned a JiffyDOS drive ROM.
Select the JiffyDOS drive ROM for the 1541-II.
Set up the drive ROMs for any drive types for which you have purchased a JiffyDOS drive ROM overlay.
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 IDE64 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.
Set up drive 12 as an IDE64
The IDE64 cartridge is able to provide up to 5 different devices to the C64: Primary master, primary slave, secondary master, secondary slave, plus a special PCLink device. We are only configuring the primary master, and its default device number is 12. This device number may be changed later with the IDE64 setup utility.
The C64 OS System Card (64 MB, v1.04+) contains a pre-configured IDE64 hard drive image, with C64 OS already installed on it. Copy the file c64os v1.04.hdd.zip from the "vice support" subdirectory on the System Card to the hard drive of your Mac or PC.
HDD is for IDE64, DHD is for CMD HD
Make sure you are getting a copy of the file with the .hdd before the .zip extension. The HDD file is the IDE64 hard drive image.
The file with the .dhd before the .zip extension is the CMD HD hard drive image.
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.hdd, which should be approximately 33 MB.
In VICE, Choose "Settings..." from the Preferences menu. From the left sidebar, unfold the Cartridges section. Select the IDE64 option under the Cartridges section heading. In the main configuration area on the right, at the top are options for IDE64 revision. Choose Version 4.1.
Below that, there are four tabs, for Device 1, 2, 3 and 4. Select the Device 1 tab. This is for the device which the IDE64 setup utility refers to as primary master, or IDE 0.
In the row labeled Image file, click the Browse... button at the right end. From the file picker dialog box that opens, locate the c64os v1.04.hdd file that you just unzipped. Select it and click Open, at the bottom right.
IDE64 cartridge 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 IDE64 cartridge image
Each time VICE is started up afresh, it is necessary to attach the IDE64 cartridge image. Choose Attach cartridge image... from the File menu. Or press ALT+C on Windows or CMD+C on macOS.
Attach a cartridge image.
From the file picker dialog box that opens, locate the IDEDOS cartridge image file, idedos9.0-v4.1-jiffydos.crt. Select it and click Attach, at the bottom right.
Attach IDE64 cartridge image.
When a cartridge image is attached or detached VICE automatically undergoes a hard reset. This is because it is not possible to plug or unplug a cartridge from a physical C64 with the power on. Attaching a cartridge image, thus, simulates turning off the power, plugging in the physical cartridge, and then turning the power back on. You should see the IDE64 boot up screen, briefly, before being taken to the READY prompt.
IDE64 cartridge image initial boot screen.
The IDE64 is now set up and the pre-configured IDE64 hard drive image is being used as device 12. 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.
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, described 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 IDE64 Utilities disk in .D64 format. This disk provides programs for performing maintenance on the IDE64 file system, and for creating and managing partitions.
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.
About VICE FS host file system device and IDE64
VICE implements a special host file system device, which identifies itself to the C64 as VICE FS. However, in testing, using VICE FS and IDE64 at the same time results in corrupted file accesses when reading from VICE FS.
Therefore, at the time of this writing, it is not possible to use the host file system device with IDE64.
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.
Important resource links for VICE configuration
You need to create an IDE64 cartridge image created from the IDEDOS download system. The cartridge is configured with IDEDOS 0.90, the latest stable version, and compiled with some options. The instructions above describe which options are best for use with C64 OS in VICE.
http://singularcrew.hu/idedos/compile.php
To manage IDE64 storage and create new partitions, you need the IDE64 Utilities disk image which you can download here.
This utilities disk is not required to use C64 OS with the pre-configured IDE64 hard drive image, but it can still be useful if you want to perform additional, optional or advanced configuration.
Next Chapter: Configuration and Settings
Table of Contents
This document is subject to revision updates.
Last modified: Sep 10, 2023