Commodore 64 Instant Game Load Magic: RAMLink & BackBit
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- čas přidán 16. 06. 2020
- In this video I demonstrate my RAMlink, a sensational virtual drive made by CMD in 1990-1993 that not only supported massive GEOS files, but can load some games and programs faster than you can blink. Then, I show off the new Backbit, which essentially does the same thing in terms of loading games instantly - albeit in a whole new way. AmigaLove.com ARTICLE with MORE INFO:
Evie's Revue - creator of Backbit:
• 10 THINGS you can do w...
Backbit Store:
store.backbit.io/
Jan Beta's walkthrough of the Backbit:
• BackBit C64 Instant Lo...
Intro Music clip from "Our Time" provided with permission by the SUPREMELY talented musician: Waveshaper (with permission):
waveshaper1.bandcamp.com/trac...
Other music permission by the ULTRA bad ass: Axion (with permission).
axionsynthwave.bandcamp.com/ - Věda a technologie
The Ramlink was one of the coolest CMD products,i love mine, its so fast and excellent like Amiga ram disk.
I love my BackBit. I bought one as soon as I saw Jan Beta's review of it and I can't stop recommending it to anyone who asks, and many who don't.
When you have a Backbit + an Ultimate II - I mean... that pretty much covers 99% of what most folks will do these days (aside from using original drives). We are SO lucky to have these brilliant, talented people in the community pushing our beloved computer experiences into the future. No doubt about it. Thanks for watching, Phil!
The BackBit is without question the best (for me) flash cart for the Commodore 64/128 and Vic-20 machines. It may not be as cycle accurate as other solutions, but it runs more than enough for me and it does it easily and instantaneously. I used to own a C64 Ultimate. I sold it long ago and only use the BackBit now.
Great video as always! That backbit sure looks attactive.. I had the backbit in the cart and almost ordered when it got released, but had to prioritize differently. Will most likely get one at some point
Very interesting video. I have been chasing one of these (RAMLink)for sometime, so it was good to see it in action and all the extra stuff you showed from your Commodore eco-system was very cool indeed!
Thanks very much, Bread Box! It's a lot of fun to play with and explore. Don't give up - you may find one some day after all.
I owned a RAMLink, and it only had 2 X 1MB memory chips in it back in the 90s. So I went to a shop that still sold Commodore stuff, and buying 2 more 1MB chips to fill all four slots cost $150. Anyway I loaded both GeOS on one partition, and all three Forgotton Realms games: Pool of Radiance, Hillsfar, and Curse of the Azure Bonds on another. That's about 16 sides of the 5¼" floppy disks onto the 4MB of the RAMLink.
That is SO f-ing bad ass! I’d like to learn how you did that. I know there are some ancient repositories that host Ramlink games but I’ve not looked into it. That sounds amazing. Did you save your progress to the Ramlink, or separate floppies? I’d be terrified of a power outage (I don’t have a battery backup on mine). But even if game loads were RL and save data was to disk, that would be a sexy setup!
@@AmigaLove I was young and where we lived blackouts were super rare so I never worried about losing the game saves on the RAMLink, but I do remember saving the progress of my characters' development on floppy, as you could import those characters from one game into the other, so helpful in an AD&D universe! I think the more important stuff were the maps I drew of all the places on paper, which made it more fun to re-play.
@@d.-_-.b 100% totally true. You've inspired me to try and retrace your steps some day. Sounds completely magical!
@Amiga Love, another great video. I contacted Ron Loeab after your demo of Kickbench in 2017 for my Amiga 1000. After this video I contacted Soloman and ordered a Backbit (which also works in 128 mode I learned).
That is awesome! Thanks for letting me know, cv6560 . I'm so glad you enjoyed the videos and hope you have fun playing with this tech like I do. The 128 mode does indeed work but most programs will need to be "processed" with the Backbit dev tool to work; at least that's what seems to be the case thus far. But building an archive of useful C128 tools and games for Backbit users sounds like a fun project, right?
Man, another supercool video! Thank you. I've never heard of either of these! My amigalove youtube-subscirption is actually getting quite expensive. I'm one A1000 down, one A3000 down and now I have to put the BackBit on my shopping list :)
Your content is honestly the best being produced on the Amiga, intric8! Keep up the fantastic work and may you live long and prosper :)
Damn, Nevil - you made my day. I can say saving up for a Backbit is going to be really worth it for you. Compared to so many other options out there, the Backbit seems *cheap* for all it offers. Disclaimer: I am in no way affiliated with Backbit. Hah! Cheers, man. Talk to you soon on amigalove.com!
Hello 🙂 I am also a RAMLink owner (I own two actually!) and I was browsing CZcams last night and thought I would see if there are any RAMLink videos, and yours was the first that popped up. Thank you for taking the time to review both the RAMLink and Backbit so thoroughly. This is the first that I have heard of the Backbit, and I am definitely interested in learning more about it. I was thinking of creating a video of my own to show how disk-intensive development tools such as Power C can greatly benefit from the RAMLink. I look forward to viewing more of your videos!
Thanks for the kind words, Doug, and I'm glad you enjoyed the comparison. After you left this comment I went over to Evie's site to check on the BackBit firmware to see if I was current only to discover she's invented a newer "Backbit Pro" which is pretty wild. Let's you use it across multiple vintage computer systems. Wow! And I hope to see you around. Are you primarily C64/128? Or do you also dabble in Amiga/Mac/etc?
by the time the ramlink came out, i was totally amiga by then. excellent video perifra......err amigalove! 😉
Eh? Did he do a RAMLink video? I should go catch up on his stuff. I've been way too distracted!
Amiga Love nahh he didn’t do a ramlink vid, just yanking your chain a bit 😉
@@kneehighspy ha! OK then. I was in a wacky mood when I thought up that intro.
Great Video! Remember DROLLING over them CMD RamLink Ads! Still have the Run issue with them on the front cover.... BTW, Subed!
Thanks for the kind words, Kenneth! (and the sub!) Yeah - the RAM Links are really amazing devices. CMD was a totally amazing company when you think about it, especially how late they continued to support the platform combined with the innovations they brought to the market. We were so lucky to have them do what they did.
Awesome Video!! I just watched your newest video and subscribed to you channel. I then went to your videos and this Commodore 64 one jumped out at me! I have a 1541 UII+ on my C128DCR and not 100% sure but I think it has because a much better cartridge in the last 22 months from one of its firmware updates since this June 2020 video. Since I moved the UII+ to the C128DCR six months ago when I got it, I am teaching myself GEOS128 which I never used any GEOS in the past. I have two 1764 REU's (1 with 256K and the other upgraded to 512K) and a 512K GEORam cartridge that I got when I bought this "Huge C128 lot" off of eBay just to get those and the 1581 that were in the lot. I've tried using both with GEOS128 to see which is better and I read I could use both at the same time if I buy a Expander 3 or like cartridge. Then I found the FB GEOS group and right away I was told that I could stop using them because my UII+ can be both of them. I also see all the time a RAM drive keep coming up so I think it will now do the RAMlink also? My Xmas 1983 C64 really misses the UII+ for the last 6 months and I've been using my EasyFlash 3 that I had before on the C64. They have just started taking orders for the UII+ cartridge again last week. I have ordered a cream one this time to go with my C128DCR and will move my red one back to my C64.
Sounds like you have a really kick ass setup. I think the UII+ is probably the single greatest 3rd-party device ever created for the C64/128. I also have a Turbo Chameleon, but I only ever use it when a performance boost is warranted (like the new-ish port of Mario to C64 a year or 2 ago - it makes a huge difference there).
Thanks so much for telling me about your machines, and thanks for subbing/watching!
Now that RAMLINK is a sweet pickup! I will take one of those, and a SuperCPU please... I will pick up a Backbit in the next week or two for sure. What a nice unit!
Dude - the RAMLink is intense. I pulled this out of the video (long story) but last week I had the Ultimate II as drive 8 in the cartridge pass-through, a 1541-II on drive 9 and the RAMLink on drive 16 - all 3 talking to each other, moving files from each to the RAMlink. Really nice way to get your programs installed to it (UII --> RAMlink). It's wild.
Not all your statements on the U1541 are true. Like the Backbit you can navigate through the file list by starting to type a name. When you run a prg it will load instantly, just like the Backbit. But it will also load if the prg uses its own loader, unlike the backbit. It will also use the turbo loader of an activated cartridge in some games unlike the backbit. And finally you can easily use an FTP program like FileZilla to upload games directly to the U1541II+. You can also set the default folder to show on startup. However, I agree that operating the U1541 can be complex due to the many options and poor documentation out of the box. It is however useful to visit the ultimate64 website for documentation and upgrades to the firmware.
The backbit is a nice option for less advanced users, but still I would the recommend a cheaper SD2IEC variant.
Love it! I had already moved on to my Amiga when the RamLink came out but wow that was cool for back in the day :-) I did pick up a cool Princess v2.0 by Manosoft not too long ago that made me free up some space in the man cave by eliminating my real 1541 (still kept my sacred 1581 though!)
Man, I'm ridiculous. I have an original 1541 beige, which I almost never use these days, but hang onto it like it was my baby blanket or something where I can't sleep without it. Hah! Thanks for watching, f1lupo!
Amiga Love lol soo true ! My 1581, Amiga 1000 and fully boxed copy of Ultima IV with Ankh are holy grails which always have to be visible to me in my man cave ;-)
I bought one of those with 4 MB of RAM around 1992 for over $400. Adjusted for inflation, that's around $750 in 2020.
Amazing, isn't it, how much RAM went for back in the day? Do you still have it these days?
You could save even more time if you typed LI for LIST and LO for LOAD..
I know. Some habits die really hard.
@@AmigaLove You were triggering my OCD.
Yes! I was watching the entire words being typed out in despair. I actually used those shortened versions of commands to pack more than 80 chars worth of code into a single BASIC line.
Even more when you use the Function keys in JiffyDOS.
Well you can officially blame your review for one completed Backbit purchase. Was looking for something more than my pi1541 for my 128's to feed off of, and this looks like something I'm going to have fun with.
Nice! It's a very cool device indeed, Dane. Whatever issues you might run into, I'd highly recommend creating an account on the Backbit forum and letting Evie know. She's extremely pro-active, and the C128 hasn't been her main focus from the beginning. But she does support it. I'll be curious to see what you come up with.
The BackBit device is a really slick alternative to RAMLink + Battery. There is a lot of potential here -- it looks like a Vic20 version was recently released; imagine this for Plus/4 and C16!
I think you eluded to this, but how does it handle disk swaps for multi-sided games? It sounds like you can create a custom package for the game and the BackBit handles the swap for you. Does it need user interaction when the program asks to flip or insert a disk?
By the way, love the Gyruss cartridge at 28:17 :)
Hey Steve! Sorry for my late response. Not sure why this slipped through the cracks. As for multi-disk swaps, I've not done it yet but I've read about it. I believe you can use the Backbit Dev Tool to create and stitch these games together. I'd highly recommend checking out the Backbit Forum. If you don't see the answer you're looking for, drop the question and Evie will get back to you (no joke) usually within a day!
I want that Movie Monster Game poster.
Hah! Oh man, that poster. When I bought it, it was an original, framed (with GLASS) poster on a hard backboard. It was shipped to me in a very careless way, and when I got it the glass had shattered into large shards. Some of them slid down into the inside of the frame between the glass and the artwork. As a result, it heavily scratched it in a few places in long, horrifying white arcs. About once a week I've been using professional art markers to cover up the white scrapes. It's about 40% of the way there. It'll never be perfect, but at least it's not so distracting to me anymore. I've learned to live with it, and am quite proud of it! Just wish the shipper had been more careful, but life goes on.
mule had a funny message when it thought it was a pirated copy on the c64.
I'm intrigued. Do you recall what it was?
Amiga Love i can’t remember the exact message it’s been over 35yrs since me and an old friend worked on cracking it together, but something about pirates bad and some other stuff. i was thinking about getting a non cracked version and seeing if i could recreate it, but other things are ahead in the queue. 🙂
@@kneehighspy I have an original disk. I'd be a nervous wreck if it got hurt, but I'd be willing to donate it (assuming it was returned eventually) for such a worthy cause. I have deep memories playing this game with my older brother (he ALWAYS won) and keep it as a time capsule for that time. And... play it once a year, too. It's so good.
Amiga Love i think i can just use an image thats been created using something like greaseweazle or kryoflux, i’m not gonna even want to hurt your original, i know what originals mean to ya, same here basically. they are precious 🙂
The Ultimate II+ looks like an old modem to me. I do agree it is made hideous by your awfully-huge USB drive. A nano USB drive would look great with it - a tiny nub by comparison.
its funny,the EA (Electronic Arts)slow loading logo has been mistaken for everything under the sun,friend of mine used to call it EOA.. he thought the planet/sun whatever in the middle was a "O". Worst loader of all time tho LOL
Hay your audio is very low.
Hi Conrad. I experimented with a new "pro" microphone in this video. But I still need to learn how to better place it. Sorry it was low for you.