NETBOOT FOR THE C64

There are 2 major 'flavours' of clients, 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
netboot.bin	UDP only (+ BASIC)	standard 8KB cart	x64.exe -cart8 netboot.bin
kipperkart.bin	UDP/TCP (no BASIC)	standard 16KB cart	x64.exe -cart16 kipperkart.bin
kipperterm.bin	telnet & gopher client	standard 16KB cart	x64.exe -cart16 kipperterm.bin
kipperkart_rr.bin	UDP/TCP (no BASIC)	Retro Replay cart image	x64.exe -cartrr kipperkart_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.

NETBOOT - UDP only cart

Once the IP stack is initialised, an attempt to boot from the network will take place. a TFTP server will be queried for a list of PRG files, and then a menu appears allowing the selection of a file to be downloaded and executed. Most 'single load' applications should work

KIPPERKART - UDP/TCP cart

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).
F2 : DISK BOOT. This will display a catalogue of files in drive #8 and allow the selection of a file to be executed. This version of DISK 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).
F3 : UPLOAD D64. TBD
F4 : DOWNLOAD D64. A TFTP server is queried for a list of D64 files, which can be selected from a menu. Once a D64 file is selected, it will be downloaded and written to drive #8.
F5 : SID NETPLAY. A TFTP server is queried for a list of SID files, which can be selected from a menu. Once a SID file is selected, it will be played. Not all SIDs work yet.
F6 : 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 : CONFIG. This brings up a menu where the IP configuration can be modified. Changes made here will be persistent until the next reboot.

AUTOEXEC

Once the 16KB cartridge image has initialised the IP stack, it will look for a file called "autoexec.prg" on the default drive. If this file is found it will be loaded (using the load address specified by the first 2 bytes of the file) and executed. NB - since BASIC is not available only 100% Machine Language programs can be executed, although if there is a BASIC stub consisting of a single line that does a SYS call, the target of the SYS call will be used as the address to start execution from.

KIPPERTERM cart

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
F3 : 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.
F5 : GOPHER.FLOODGAP.COM. This will launch the Gopher client, and connect to the gopher portal at gopher://gopher.floodgap.com/
F7 : CONFIG. This brings up a menu where the IP configuration can be modified. Changes made here will be persistent until the next reboot.

Gopher Client

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