NETBOOT65 FOR THE C64
There are 2 major 'flavours' of the NB65 client, the major difference being whether the cart supports UDP only (but allows access to BASIC), or UDP + TCP (but loses access to BASIC). The
reason for this is the UDP only version of the client fits into an 8KB cartridge, whereas the TCP code pushes the cartridge size up to 16KB, and the upper half of a 16KB cartridge sits in the same
memory location as BASIC.
Within the major flavours, there are also variations in media - the majority of code is identical between the different media but there are different headers etc. The supported media are:
- A prg that can be loaded from disk
- 'ordinary' cartridge images (that can be burned into an eeprom on e.g. a 64NIC+ card)
- 'Retro Replay' cartridge images - these are actually 'ordinary' cartridge images that have been converted into a form suitable for use in a Retro Replay using Doc Bacardi's
CRT8040 tool
| filename | flavour | media | command to use in VICE |
|---|
| nb65_c64_ram.prg | UDP only (+ BASIC) | RAM | x64.exe nb65_c64_ram.prg |
| nb65_std_cart.bin | UDP only (+ BASIC) | standard 8KB cart | x64.exe -cart8 nb65_std_cart.bin |
| nb65_tcp_cart.bin | UDP/TCP (no BASIC) | standard 16KB cart | x64.exe -cart16 nb65_tcp_cart.bin |
| nb65_tcp_cart_rr.bin | UDP/TCP (no BASIC) | Retro Replay cart image | x64.exe -cartrr nb65_tcp_cart_rr.bin |
USING THE CARTRIDGE
When the cartridge starts, it will attempt to configure the IP stack via DHCP. If the DHCP config fails (either by timing out, or the user press RUN/STOP)
then the IP stack will fall back to using the IP configuration built into the cartridge. See the section "IP CONFIGURATION" for info on how to modify the
cartridge defaults prior to burning an image.
Once the IP stack is initialised, the "main menu" screen will be displayed. There are slight variations between the menus shown on the 2 "flavours".
Main Menu - UDP only carts
- F1 : TFTP BOOT. This will query a TFTP server for a list of PRG files, and allow the selection of a file to be downloaded and executed. Most 'single load' applications should work
- F3 : BASIC. This will exit to BASIC (with IP stack still configured, so NB65 aware apps can be loaded from disk and run)
- F5 : ARP TABLE. This will show a table of the current mapping of IP and MAC addresses
- F7 : CONFIG. This brings up a menu where the IP configuration can be modified. Changes made here will be persistent until the next reboot.
Main Menu - UDP/TCP carts
- F1 : TFTP BOOT. This will query a TFTP server for a list of PRG files, and allow the selection of a file to be downloaded and executed. This version of TFTP BOOT is restricted to running only
pure machine language programs, since BASIC is not available when this cart is active. (NB - programs that are pure M/L except for a BASIC stub consisting of a single SYS call will be executed).
be loaded
- F3 : NET APPS. This will bring up another menu of network-orientated applications (see below for more details).
- F5 : ARP TABLE. This will show a table of the current mapping of IP and MAC addresses
- F7 : CONFIG. This brings up a menu where the IP configuration can be modified. Changes made here will be persistent until the next reboot.
Net Apps - UDP/TCP carts
- F1 : TELNET. You will be prompted to enter a hostname, a port number, and a connection mode. Connection mode is either
- ASCII - . keypresses are converted to ASCII before being sent out, and incoming data is converted to PETSCII before being displayed.
There is no terminal emulation, and keystrokes are sent a character at a time.
- PETSCII - no translation is done on data coming in or out. This mode is suitable for connecting to PETSCII BBSs
- Line - Data is converted to/from ASCII, but each line of input can be edited and is not sent until the RETURN key is pressed.
Once a connection is made, it can be terminated by hitting RUN/STOP
- F2 : GOPHER. You will be prompted to enter the hostname (only - no port number can be specified) of a gopher server, and the gopher client will be launched connecting to the specified server.
- F3 : GOPHER.FLOODGAP.COM. This will launch the Gopher client, and connect to the gopher portal at gopher://gopher.floodgap.com/
- F5 : PING. You will be prompted for a hostname which will be pinged 3 times, and a response time (in milliseconds) is printed for each ping.
- F7 : MAIN MENU. This will return to the main menu.
Gopher Client - UDP/TCP carts
Once a gopher resource is loaded, the following keys are active:
- SPACE, F7 or down arrow : scroll down to next page
- F1 or up arror : scroll up to previous page
- F2 : show recently visited resource
- F3 or left arrow : go back to last visited resource
- F5 : prompt to enter a new server (nb server name only - not resource or port)
- RUN/STOP : quit
If the page currently being displayed has links to further resources in it, each link will be displayed
starting with a highlighted letter (e.g. the first link on a page will have an inverse "A" next to it,
the 2nd link on a page will have an inverse "B" next to it etc). Press the letter assigned to the link
to load up that resource.
IP CONFIGURATION
There is a script in the "bin" folder called "set_ip_config.rb" that can be used to modify the MAC address and IP config details in the cart image before
it is burned. For example, to set the MAC address and DNS servers, use this command:
set_ip_config.rb nb65_std_cart.bin mac ab:cd:ef:12:34:56 dns 10.5.1.1
run "set_ip_config.rb" with no parameters to see all the options for what can be configured.
STARTING THE SERVER
- unzip the archive somewhere on your local hard drive
- start the bin/tftp_server.rb script (e.g. by double-clicking on it)
ADDING MORE FILES
Only single-load files can be used. The files need to be in "PRG" format, i.e.the first 2 bytes of the file must be
the load address (little-endian, i.e. low/high). The files also need to have a file extension of ".PRG" (in upper case, if your operating system of choice
is case sensitive).
Files need to be placed in the 'boot/' folder.
Due to a limitation in the menu selection code, only the first 128 PRG files in the boot/ folder can be selected.
ERROR CODES
Most network functions will return an 8 bit error code if things go wrong.
| ERROR CODE | DESCRIPTION |
|---|
| $80 | PORT IN USE |
| $81 | TIMEOUT ON RECEIVE |
| $82 | TRANSMIT FAILED |
| $83 | TRANSMISSION REJECTED BY PEER |
| $84 | INPUT TOO LARGE |
| $85 | DEVICE FAILURE |
| $86 | ABORTED BY USER |
| $87 | LISTENER NOT AVAILABLE |
| $88 | NO SUCH LISTENER |
| $89 | CONNECTION RESET BY PEER |
| $8A | CONNECTION CLOSED |
| $90 | FILE ACCESS FAILURE |
| $A0 | MALFORMED URL |
| $A1 | DNS LOOKUP FAILED |
| $FE | OPTION NOT SUPPORTED |
| $FF | FUNCTION NOT SUPPORTED |
REQUIREMENTS
- RR-NET or compatible adaptor (to use under VICE, you will need pcap or winpcap installed)
- (RECOMMENDED) a DHCP server on your network
- a working ruby installation
LICENSE
NETBOOT65 is licensed under the same terms as IP65, the Mozilla Public License Version 1.1.
SOURCE CODE
Browse online at http://netboot65.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/netboot65/ or else download the whole tree through SVN with the following instruction set:
svn co https://netboot65.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/netboot65 netboot65
AUTHOR
Jonno Downes - jonno@jamtronix.com