Lallafa’s Blog

OpenCBM on Mac

Introduction

OpenCBM is a library and a set of command line tools that allow to control old Commodore IEC devices like the famous 1541 floppy disk drive. You can transfer disk image to and from old discs. As modern computers do not provide a IEC connector, OpenCBM allows to control adapters that attach to your PC. Older PCs use parallel port cables (like the XA1541 or XS1541) and newer ones use a USB adapter (XU1541 or XUM1541).

This pages shows you how to use OpenCBM on your Mac. As modern Macs only support USB connectors and no parallel ones, we focus on setting up the XU1541 or XUM1541 devices.

Installation

As of now (19.12.2009), the OpenCBM version usable for Macs is only available in the CVS tree. It supports simple installation with MacPorts so setting up everything shouldn’t be that hard even for an unexperienced user.

1. First you need to setup MacPorts (if you haven’t already done it). Download and follow the Installation instructions there.
2. As OpenCBM is not integrated into MacPorts yet, you have to setup your own package repository where the OpenCBM package will reside:

   > cd $HOME
   > mkdir -p ports/emulators/opencbm
   

   Now we need the Portfile for OpenCBM. You can retrieve it directly from the CVS. Download Portfile and copy it into the opencbm directory you just created. Now update the ports index you created:

   > portindex
   

   You should see something like:

   Creating software index in /Users/<cnvogelg>/ports
   Adding port emulators/opencbm

   Total number of ports parsed:   1
   Ports successfully parsed:      1
   Ports failed:                   0
   

   Ok. Now the local ports repository is setup and the only step missing is to add it to MacPorts.
   Open /opt/local/etc/macports/sources.conf in your editor:

   > sudo vi /opt/local/etc/macports/sources.conf
   

   And add the following line (before the rsync:):

   file:///Users/<username>/ports
   

   Replace <username> with your login name.

3. Ok. Now MacPorts knows about an opencbm package and we can simply install it:

   > sudo /opt/local/bin/port install opencbm
   

   This fetches the OpenCBM source code via CVS, builds it and installs everything into /opt/local/bin.

4. You can check the installation by looking for the command line tools:

   > ls -1 /opt/local/bin/cbm*
   /opt/local/bin/cbmcopy*
   /opt/local/bin/cbmctrl*
   /opt/local/bin/cbmformat*
   /opt/local/bin/cbmforng*
   /opt/local/bin/cbmread@
   /opt/local/bin/cbmrpm41*
   /opt/local/bin/cbmwrite@

5. OpenCBM is now installed!

Configuration

After installation you need to configure OpenCBM. The most important file is less /opt/local/etc/opencbm.conf. There you only need to set up the HW adapter you will use:

default=xum1541
or
default=xu1541

That’s it!

USB Adapters

1. XUM1541. This adapter was developed by Nate Lawson and is the most mature one. See the XUM1541 Homepage for details on how to build the HW. It works well with Macs and I use one myself. Currently there are no prebuild adapters available, so you have to build one yourself (adapting a USBkey development board available from Atmel).
   If you want to flash the firmware onto your device you can use the dfu-programmer on your Mac to do so. Just install the dfu-programmer package from MacPorts:

   > sudo /opt/local/bin/port install dfu-programmer
   

   Now download the XUM1541 prebuild firmware from OpenCBM’s CVS. Pick a *.hex file (e.g. xum1541-AT90USBKEY-v02.hex).
   Enable the bootloader mode on your device by resetting it while holding the user button. Now you can flash the firmware with dfu-programmer:

   > dfu-programmer AT90USB1287 erase
   > dfu-programmer AT90USB1287 flash xum1541-c.hex
   

   That’s it. Reset your device again and the new firmware should be up and running.
   Here is a snapshot of my XUM1541 Adapter:

   

   Lallafa's XUM1541 Prototype

2. XU1541. This adapter was developed by Till Harbaum. He discontinued the project but Spiro Trikaliotis kept the information on the web. See his XU1541 Page for details. There you can find schematics to build your own device.

Running OpenCBM on Macs

Hook up your trusty 1541 or 1571 drive to your USB adapter and connect the adapter to your Mac. Now let’s check if the device was detected by OpenCBM:

> cbmctrl detect
 8: 1571 (XP1541)

Ah! My 1571 was detected (even with parallel interface hence the P in XP). Let’s look at the drive status:

> cbmctrl status 8
00, ok,00,00

Fine, everything looks good! Let’s have a look at the contents of a disk:

> cbmctrl dir 8
0 ."test/demo  1/85 " 84 2a
14   "how to use"       prg   
8    "how part two"     prg  
7    "how part three"   prg  
...
8    "load address"     prg  
7    "unscratch"        prg  
5    "header change"    prg  
402 blocks free.             
00, ok,00,00

You can copy files from the disk to your Mac with:

> cbmread 8 "how to use"
[Info] reading HOW TO USE -> how to use.prg
[Info] identified a 1571 drive
..../[Info] 00, OK,00,00

You can copy the whole disk as an image to a D64 image file with:

> d64copy 8 disk.d64

[Warning] growing image file to 683 blocks
 1: *********************                  
 2: *********************                  
 3: *********************                  
...
33: *****************                      
34: *****************                      
35: *****************       100%   683/683
683 blocks copied.

The other way round: Copy an existing disk image onto a real disk:

> d64copy myimage.d64 8

So these are the most useful commands at a short glance. If you want to explore more of OpenCBM’s tools then you can call each cbm* binary with the –help switch to get more information on options and usage.

> cbmctrl --help

Furthermore,  all commands have man pages with detailed descriptions. You call man:

> man cbmctrl

Now enjoy OpenCBM on your Mac!

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