I am running the version 42 emulator. Great emulator. But I have a question. When I start the emulator (in Linux) with the command line "x16emu -geos" to start the emulator in geos, the GEOS ROM (I think) displays a geos dialog box requesting the user to insert a disk containing desktop v1.5 or higher.
I obtained geos disk images and extracted all the files (including geos128boot), using the VICE utility "c1541" to a local file system directory. My question is how do I get GEOS to read the geos files that are on the file system as v42 allows? Or, can I some how transfer the geos files from the cbm disk image right to the file "sdcard.img" and get GEOS to read that and boot?
Thanks for all your help.
Can't wait to get a real Commander X16.
Booting GEOS with v42
Re: Booting GEOS with v42
GEOS...
Oh boy.
So, the last version of the emulator that was able to sort-of run GEOS was R38. I think it's still available on the 'CommanderX16' Github repository. Just running that emulator from the command line with the argument "-sdcard APPS64.D64" and typing GEOS at the BASIC prompt in the emulator would get you to a desktop (aka 'deskTop2.0') and you could page through the disk directory and see if you could open an application. The apps tended to crash; it was just a matter of whether it happened on initial loading, if it happened at the 'Create/Open/Quit' screen, or after the app itself loaded and you tried to do anything.
Technically R41 and R42 can do it, too... but there's some setup involved, POKEing some specific values into a few places before trying to load. I don't remember what the addresses or values were.
It's quite possible that GEOS will disappear in R43; Michael Steil (aka mist64) is the GEOS guy, and the last time I was able to talk with him at any length, he was seriously considering throwing it all out and starting over, anyway. He's the guy who understands its underpinnings better than anyone; he would be the best person to rewrite it from the ground up.
When I spoke to him, he talked about creating a new version that didn't try to use any of the C64 or C128 code. It wouldn't be compatible with the existing apps or desk accessories, either; it would be like the Apple II or Commodore Plus/4 versions in that respect. The apps would be able to load the old files, but that's about it.
It would make better use of VERA's graphics, possibly supporting 640×480 4-color mode, possibly 640×240 16-color mode, possibly 320×240 256-color mode. And it would be written in such a way that it wouldn't need to rely on weird file types that don't translate very well to FAT32, like REL and USR. (That's another reason why you're not going to be able to get it to work on the emulator using the host filesystem.)
HOWEVER... he has burned out on this project (which is why the active development has moved to the 'X16Community' repository). So literally none of this may ever happen.
Oh boy.
So, the last version of the emulator that was able to sort-of run GEOS was R38. I think it's still available on the 'CommanderX16' Github repository. Just running that emulator from the command line with the argument "-sdcard APPS64.D64" and typing GEOS at the BASIC prompt in the emulator would get you to a desktop (aka 'deskTop2.0') and you could page through the disk directory and see if you could open an application. The apps tended to crash; it was just a matter of whether it happened on initial loading, if it happened at the 'Create/Open/Quit' screen, or after the app itself loaded and you tried to do anything.
Technically R41 and R42 can do it, too... but there's some setup involved, POKEing some specific values into a few places before trying to load. I don't remember what the addresses or values were.
It's quite possible that GEOS will disappear in R43; Michael Steil (aka mist64) is the GEOS guy, and the last time I was able to talk with him at any length, he was seriously considering throwing it all out and starting over, anyway. He's the guy who understands its underpinnings better than anyone; he would be the best person to rewrite it from the ground up.
When I spoke to him, he talked about creating a new version that didn't try to use any of the C64 or C128 code. It wouldn't be compatible with the existing apps or desk accessories, either; it would be like the Apple II or Commodore Plus/4 versions in that respect. The apps would be able to load the old files, but that's about it.
It would make better use of VERA's graphics, possibly supporting 640×480 4-color mode, possibly 640×240 16-color mode, possibly 320×240 256-color mode. And it would be written in such a way that it wouldn't need to rely on weird file types that don't translate very well to FAT32, like REL and USR. (That's another reason why you're not going to be able to get it to work on the emulator using the host filesystem.)
HOWEVER... he has burned out on this project (which is why the active development has moved to the 'X16Community' repository). So literally none of this may ever happen.