BackBit C64 Instant Loading Cartridge
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- čas přidán 31. 03. 2020
- I'm taking a look at the new BackBit instant loading SD cartridge for the Commodore 64. An interesting alternative to the established SD2IEC, EasyFlash and 1541 Ultimate carts! // Get your first PCBs free - PCBs at PCBWay www.pcbway.com/ (Sponsor)
BackBit homepage/store: www.backbit.io/
BackBit Forums: forum.backbit.io/
Teensy update software: www.pjrc.com
Evie's CZcams channel: / @eviesrevue
10 Things you can do with the BackBit video: • 10 THINGS you can do w...
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Thanks for watching!
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#JanBeta #Commodore64 #BackBit #PCBWay - Věda a technologie
Aah... dammit! I was supposed to save money for the apocalypse, but now I've spent it all on Commodore gear. Again 😅
Tor-Eirik Bakke Lunde my Commodore setup is starting to become larger than my windows pc.
I know Im kind of off topic but does anyone know of a good place to stream new movies online ?
@@coltonhugh7208 I'm sure you mean 100% legally🤣🤣🤣🤣
Thankyou for paying respects to Albert Uderzo.. Asterix was awesome
Thanks Jan for introducing this new cartridge. It definitely looks very interesting. I found amazing that people still developing nice solutions with modern hardware for a 30 year old computer 🙂
I love the BackBit and as you point out, with Evie's constant updates, it gets better and better. I am having so much fun with mine.
That looks like a very useful cartridge with a lot of features and reasonably priced as well.
I would argue that it’s not just the cost of the used components that have to be taken into account but also the hours put into developing and manufacturing. Especially but not restricted to a low volume homebrew project like this.
I just got word from the back bit folks/Evie, that my order for the back bit cart is now complete, and has been sent on its way to me. Thank you Jan for drawing my attention to this wonderful piece of kit, and I can't wait to have a play around with this, and explore its many superb features.
Thanks again Jan for a great video, and thanks to the back bit folks for an amazing new cartridge 😊😎
Looks like a great little product, great review it was very informative. I was quite amused by the start after you cleaned your hands and then explained how you sliced the package open also cutting open the bag inside. only to then unzip the top of the bag to get the cartridge out.
Great Review Jan!
I have been using BackBit since close to release and it is fantastic. I truly believe that every C64/VIC-20/C128 owner should have one. And yes it does work in C128 mode too. It is one of the most versatile carts I have and I have no doubt people will love it. I have a ton of carts, including U2+, EF3, uIEC and many other devices but BackBit has become one of my GOTO carts.
Awesome! Definitely will put that on my list! Thanks for showcasing 😊
Another great video, Jan. Glad you could review the BackBit. Evie has been coming to the Vintage Computer meeting at our Makerspace and has helped troubleshoot some of my repair jobs. Also, for running diagnostics, the autostart feature is really great. You can set it to autoload and then you don't need the keyboard anymore while you are working on a board. I think it is also compatible with the Vic-20 with an adaptor.
Thanks! It's a really cool device, Evie did (and does) a great job.
Thanks Jan and Evie, this looks fantastic 👍
Awesome video Jan, you have definitely sold this amazing cartridge for me, I will be ordering one promptly. I have been an SD2IEC user for several years now, but I think this could be the new toy to take over :-D
Excellent video! I've had this cartridge for a about 1 year and love it! I have others but always go back to this cartridge. Highly recommend it
Thanks! Yes, I also use it a lot even though I have both a 1541 Ultimate and a Kung Fu Flash now, too. The BackBit is just so quick and easy to use in comparison. Plus, it gets better with every update still. :)
Backbit is an Insanely versatile Product and I have Barely Scratched the surface of how to fully utilize it! It is IMO the ONE Product everyone in the Retro Commodore Community will have to own...At least one of... -Mark
@Mr Guru Yes, that might be so but to get one here to Canada with all the costs it would be WAY more expensive...like Double but knowing me I will add it to the Collection of Goodies at some point, lol. -Mark.
Evie releases firmware updates 2-3 times a week. She really does a great job supporting this cartridge.
My 1541 Ultimate II+ always goes back to the exact file you were on when you press the middle button. It doesn’t remember it if you power off the C64, but it does in all other circumstances
I think he's saying that this goes back even after the power off which the u2+ doesn't do.
@Mr Guru Yep this thing doesn't really compare to the U2+, it doesn't even -really- load instantly, with a fastloader stuff loads pretty fast on a U2+ and you don't have to go out of your way to find something that is made specifically to work with it. This so called "instant" loading thing would be cool as an extra feature on the U2+, but there's no way even remotely that it can be considered an alternative to the U2+.
Cheers for the heads up on this one Jan, Have popped my order in and also grabbed the VIC-20 adapter :-) Awesome, now, go wash your hands :-) hehehehe
Evie told me that Both Dead Test and Diagnostic are built in. Just hold the BackBit button in when you turn on the C64 until the light on Backbit goes out then 1 quick press for Dead Test or 2 quick presses for Diagnostic. To go back to regular mode hold the BackBit button in when you turn on the C64 until the light on Backbit goes out with no quick presses.
If/when this loads demos, I'm in. What a great bit of kit!
No, most demos don’t work properly unfortunately as it doesn’t support most kinds of fast loaders/strange ways of disk access.
Nice piece of kit, just ordered one :)
Looks like a great cart!!! Might have to get one at some point =D Stay safe Jan!
Thank You for the test and take care!
Great review. This is an amazing device -- so highly versatile. Sadly, I had not heard of the BackBit until you mentioned it on Twitter the other day. I would love to get one but will have to save my pennies. Unfortunately, a bit pricey for me right now, especially since the USDCAD is terrible at the moment.
What an exciting product, especially the ability to play carts. :)
I just got mine today. It is very impressive.
I'm sorry to hear Albert Uderzo passed away. I loved Asterix comics as well. That news wasn't covered here in the U.S. Stay safe and healthy!
Ben Leadholm I heard about his passing on Facebook, so yes it was covered by some news outlets.
Wow... they even have support for Linux! I'm sold!
I remember building a ICE to serial cable, to connect my 1541 to my amiga. Must have been somewhere around 2005.
The layout for the cable was included with the Frodo C64 emulator iirc.
Then I created D64 diskimages for all my c64 floppy disks and saved them on my amigas harddisk. And this took a LOT of time. 9m30s for every disk (side).
So, I set my watch to countdown and every 10m I would run to my 1541 and change the disk. lol
Glad I'm not the only one who uses iso to clean their hands! :D
Time... time.. how many time lost to wait the game .... in 1983
Hi Jan nice review. What's your opinion when compared to the Ultimate 2+? Also taken into account the cost?
The whole disinfecting of the hand in the beginning is hilarious. Comeon Jan! :)
The BackBit however really is a fantastic device. I would put it miles ahead of an SD2IEC and some under a 1541 Ultimate. It is certainly a great cart/tool and it is worth every penny of the price. I think if you are someone who does not have or cannot obtain an Ultimate II (or can't afford or do not want to pay that price..or even a person who does not want or need all of the UII features) you will be totally satisfied with the BackBit. I have seen no other device that has so many firmware updates nor have I encountered the level of support. Evie always replies and is always willing to help.
And, I love Mastertronic Ninja / Ninja Mission :)
Thanks for showing the good and the less than perfect Jan. It's a cool device but there are so many quirks to work around on the c64 that things are bound to go wrong sometimes.
I may have considered getting one, but I found out about this shortly after I ordered my U2+. I do love the non destructive .d64 update ability it has. There is a lot to like about it. But since I have the U2+ I'm not sure I can justify it now. However she also has some other really cool stuff like a joystick switcher. I'm probably going to get that.
Also I'm jealous you can run giana sisters without my odd purple block glitches. I think my color s-ram is faulty.
Also where did you get the super zaxon.crt file? I was looking for that but could only find the .t64 version. I wanted to see if I could rule out my PLA as my issue instead of the color ram.
How reliable is that cartridge for ripping working disk images of copy protected disks? Years ago when I made safety backups of all my disks, there were some original/commercial disks that I couldn't back up with any tool I had.
That's so hard to answer without knowing exactly what disks you are talking about. To put it another way, what are the chances that you have any copy protected disks that aren't already preserved and freely available on the Internet?
As a rule of thumb, any disk that can't be successfully duplicated using a stock C64 and 1541 won't work. Some protection schemes will always require a hardware solution that controls the drive mechanism directly, like the KryoFlux does.
Where did you get the tentacle mug?
Does it work with demos .d64 images? I made uno2iec few months ago and when I tried to load them they would just crash because they needed original Commodore floppy drive to work
Hi Jan, is it posiible to run an action cardrigde emulation?
She's done an outstanding job. I wish I had the cash to spend on it, it looks like the perfect solution for a c64 enthusiast. RIP Uderzo. He was one of the greats! 💐
That Day of the Tentacle mug is life.
I seen some of what Evie's been doing .. the cross platform cartridge is interesting !!.. shes very skill, I watch her solder from her balcony lol her solder bench is outside lol
Good morning, I see your videos and they are very interesting to me, currently I have 4 commodore 64, I looked for a cable to connect them to a smart tv where I can get the cable that comes from the commodore 64 to the smart tv thanks
Hey, what joystick is that? Is it good? Better than the usual ones?
Reminds me of the Inject To RAM option in VICE where it simply block copies the executable directly into the emulated 64's RAM, wonder if it works in the same way?
A TAC-2 joystick. I see you are a man of good taste.
What are the thoughts of this compared to the Easyflash 3?
Very nice.... if only I still had a c64
This is great, thanks! Could you please make a video where you go through all your favorite Commodore add-ons, but also things like the device you are using to video capture the 64 screen (I’m looking for something to do just that!) Thanks!
How does this compare to the 1541 Ultimate-II?
Cool vid! I didn't see every second it, but how does it do demos like Comalight 13 or We are new (Fairlight)? Most of the newer systems aren't able to play those demos. And what about switching to another D64 while playing a demo. I'm curious. Thanks!
I think it is reasonably safe to say that the BackBit's compatibility rate with any multiload demo (or game or application for that matter) that does not have a KERNAL loader fallback mechanism will be 0%.
Yup, it mostly supports the Kernal loading routines so it struggles with a lot of software that uses uncommon ways accessing the disk. Most multiload demos won’t work unless you have accurate 1541 emulation or a real disk drive.
@@JanBeta Hi Jan and HojoNorem: thanks! Then it's not for me I guess. I really like the 1541 Ultimate II (and later), because it's for now the only system that's fully supports 1541 emulation. I also tried Pi1541, but that's also not compatible enough.
thanks Jan 🌸
how can you cut a wrapped bag like this.?
my ocd is challenged to say the least.
Hello,
Good video. 👍👾 Thanks for including the how to copy back and forth from D64 files to 5.25"floppy disk. 💾
I'd like you to do a future video using the Backbit on a VIC-20 using the Backbit VIC-20 adapter.
From the side you look like Jürgen Klopp. 👍😁 Your videos are pro like him too. Good work.
What are you using to get the C64 to the modern monitor? I notice that you don't have the white line running down the side like most of us do! LOL.
I use a very inexpensive Flylink upscaler on the test bench (won’t recommend it for anything else because it has quite some significant lag). For some reason it cuts off the edges of the picture and thus gets rid of the white stripe. Doesn’t happen with my better upscalers. :D
@@JanBeta The struggle is real! LOL. Thanks!
Great job cleaning the flux off your hands!
Keeping this in english for the international viewers :)
Have you been to the Asterix Park in France? It is close to CDG Airport and it is a really nice experience.
Very detailed, not expensive not ass "exhausting" as DisneyLand Paris.
Also if you visit there with kids it is awesome, since they have a lot of rides aimed and designed for kids
adrian's digital basement on youtube has similar cartridge but the menu is much nicer made.
you can use fastloader to play !. can they be used when copying from a disk?
Profession: Solder Ninja Extraordinaire
How long was the lead time for the Backbit in your case ?
Oh, I actually don't remember. But it was not extraordinarily long. I had it sitting here untouched for quite a while until I got through to making the video.
I'd be interested to know if it loads the 1 MB EasyFlash images.
It "emulates" EasyFlash by replacing the bank switch commands with ones the cartridge can understand. Not full compatibility, and bank switching takes a jiffy, but it was good to get quite a few games working without any patching.
A few questions. How compatible is it with a C128? What about CP/M? What (if any) fast loaders are supported? What about C128 burst mode? Are .D81 images supported? D81 partitions? How fast will it run CP/M (if it runs CP/M)?
C128 loads PRGs and does KERNAL override for loading/saving disks. Works for simple BASIC programs at least. Bank switching and other quirks could cause problems. No need for a fast loader because loading is instant (not using IEC port). No burst mode support. D81-yes. D81 partitions probably not? CP/M not supported since this is written for 6502 KERNAL (Z80 is a different beast).
The BackBit looks interesting, but I can already see some issues:
1: From the video it looks like the device can not self update it's firmware. This could be fixed in a later FW version possibly.
2: Not necessarily a problem with the device itself but the BackBit forum is locked behind a login wall. The 1514Ultimate forum was guilty of that also.
3: I fear that, just like with SD2IEC like devices people will confuse it with the fully 1541 compatible solutions, some of which are either cheaper than a BackBit or offer a lot more functionality for relatively not much more money.
4: BBT files. A nice idea, but a solution to a problem that does not exist. SD2IEC, Pi1541 and to a extent the 1541U-II (using its IEC command interface) allow the C64 direct filesystem access.
The BackBit essentially emulates ROM using a fast microcontroller and the size of the ROM it emulates is limited by the amount of available RAM on it's uIC . Another cart in development using the same technique is the 'Ultimax Unleashed'. It has four times the RAM, on board flash and uSD slot and looks to be designed to support built in Wi-Fi.
Hence we now have Pi1541 HAT cbm-pi1541.firebaseapp.com/ for RaspberryPi and you can make it yourself from scratch. A bit of an overkill to use RPi as a 1541 replacement, then again so it using Teensy in BackBit.
Its - possessive neutral pronoun
The copy from or to real disc is so slow. I hope the future updates has better copy tools like 1541 szper quick copy or 40 track nibbler.
I use real discs for my c64 today
Nice cartridge, but do working program with afterload parts and with speeder ?
Sorry for my bad english.
jan its a good little cartridge how much memory does it have ? i can put a lot of floppies onto it all depennds on how much memory it stores ? do you know how much money is it also... good for backing up floppies from c 64 era better way to store them how much is it? thanks i like it if u can put a usb stick into it to give more ram unlimited ... thanks for good vid jan oh dont forget dead test cartridge i m interested in buying one emailll... bye
What happens when you have a disk with more than one games in it and you want to "rip from disk" ?
Cleaning hands with IPA haha laughing the balls out of my pants😂
yes, but seriously stop doing taht as it will dry the skin out overtime
You guys have no sense of humor at all😂
@@stevvieb I cringed. if I did taht, my skin would turn into scales and fall off :D
@@Okurka. That comment makes no sense? Unless I read it wrong?? Weaker solution works better that STRONG solution? Nah... I didn't read it wrong.
@@SolitaryBro It needs water to create the reaction that kills the virus.
Jan:
Me: ARRRRRGGGGGHHH!!! WHAT YOU DOING!?
Jan:
Me: :D
The hand scrubbing ritual, a sad reminder of the collective panic of the early covid days.
I bought one rwo weeks ago
I REALLY LOVE C64 👍🥂🎩
If Datel still made Action Replay for the C64, this is the sort of cartridge they'd make.
I am curious if Backbit will handle an Action Replay image (I lost my real Action Replay when I lost my original gear in a house move 😭😭😭).
Time to see if I can scrape together enough pennies for this.
@@Okurka. No relationship to EasyFlash except that it is a cartridge and it loads programs
It really needs a fastloader/saver built in, but i guess not a lot of people are going to use it with a real 1541.
Jan, the man! (I know that doesn't rhyme)
Lol
@Chef Mike Rowave LMAO
20:45 Could I put a multi disk game into a single bbt file?
Yes, there is support for this now, but requires a small patch to virtually swap disks. A good example just completed is Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy 2-disk game.
I haven't found anything able to beat the 1541 Ultimate II+ when it comes to making disk images from real floppies. By the way I have a BackBit as well.
day of the tentacle mug? wow
love the hand wash part ;)
Bit on the expensive side for the average C64 user.
The SD2IEC is getting close to the upper limit of Cost.
so it can run hard drive game and floppy game?
You can play disk images as long as they use the KERNAL to load, and if you have a large game, like from IDE64, you can load as D81 (or my format D8B which is a bit larger).
Is that an Amiga laptop?
This cartridges heavily reminds me of the Ultimate 1541 cartridges.
Sadly I'm not having a functional bread bin myself but I know people who do and who certainly could be interested.
Also, Super Mario Bros 64 is a crt file? I thought the person behind it made it a disk file?
@@Okurka. I see.
Maybe I should check whether I have that version then.
Thank you!
You should have a video with a JiffyDos BIOS upgrade then conduct the disk rip.
Ohhh, using IPA is OUR way of doing it!
Would love to get one but for that price it's not gonna happen, at least not right now.
Where does it ship from? :-)
USA
@@EviesRevue does it include shipping to denmark? - can´t find anything about shipping
Is it an Easter special edition?
Yes, my mother was a collector, and I read all Asterix and Lucky Luke magazines as a kid xD
PS: I think #younger folks' don't even know CD burning ;) They stil lwould know what copying means.
Man IPA is so hard to get ahold of now. :-(
jan your spyro channel is profitable i tried to join out of my budget im on a pension hurt my back in 1995 i think your clever with sponsers very clever and i just thought you fix things commodore club good on you you dont need a job but electric bill would be high with alll your service stuff etc ........ i like your new channel spyro its ok cool
Put some glycerin in the isopropyl to make a hand sanitiser that won't dry your hands out, so they won't look like a 70 year olds hands!
This may make the devices like SD2IEC obsolete .
SD2IEC is still good for CP/M
Everybody seems to mix his own desinfection stuff meanwhile, IPA , if you get it to order, is ridicilously expensive now, if tp,paper is the new gold, then sure ipa is the new oil.....
why should I pay 100 dollars if I can get almost the same thing for less than 50 dollars with Pi1541 or SD2IEC ????
it does a lot more than an sd2iec and it's easier to work with than a pi1541. Obviously it's not for everyone, but it's a nice solution for those not completely tech savy. I have a 1541 U2+ and it has some features I wish that had. lol
Instant loading, disc copy feature, run tape images
very nice...but $99? owch!
Pretty typical for retro accessories.
Just be glad you're not trying to get a Rapidus for Atari.
Oh, sure, a 20 mhz 65816 + 35 megabytes of RAM is fun and all, but $175?
You could buy two entire machines for that. XD
Or at that point, just get an Amiga I guess.
Especially if you also want a VBXE...
Who needs a 16 bit system when you can abuse an 8 bit one with over the top upgrades? XD
That sounds like a good deal to me.
@@judgegroovyman Yes it's all relative I guess. I'll keep an eye on this one and see how it goes and then probably make a purchase.
Evie says the Backbit does not support TAP files.
The horror!!!
What about t64 images?
Hi Jan. You really need to buy one of them KU replica or SixtyClone replica boards. Then make an as new as possible, old style C64 machine.
#comingsoon actually. ;)
@@JanBeta Ahhh... Sweet. I have ordered my 250466 board. And I have ordered boards, so I can solder my own RF Modulator. It still have S-Video and Composit, however the TV out is not on it. It is just the boards. I have ordered my SixtyClone in black, and the RF Modulator board in black.
The Asterix creator died of the Corona virus 😞
It's press not push. You press a button. You push someone off a bridge.
i went for kung Fu flash
Your hand washing technique can be improved a little 🙂