In October of 2022, I demonstrated what I believed to be the greatest period-correct setup for the GEOS operating system on a Commodore computer as it could have been assembled in 1989.
My system consisted of the following:
- C128Dcr - with an internal 1571 Floppy Drive (ID 8)
- 1902A Commodore Monitor
- C= 512KB RAM Expansion Unit (REU)
- External 1581 Drive (ID 9)
- and C= 1351 mouse
- That GEOS setup I created is a massive chef’s kiss of 1980s glory where Commodore 8-bit computing was at its peak.
Frankly the only thing missing was a laser printer. And let’s be honest: If you’re going down the GEOS rabbit hole, even back in the day, the whole point was to create an powerful Macintosh-like desktop publishing system that didn’t cost gazillions of dollars, and leveraged the computer you already had.
Since then I've continued spelunking into the fascinating and deep GEOS world that took hold in the United States with the hardest of the hard core Commodore 8-bit fans.
Today, I’m changing the date in our Delorean to 1993 to show you my latest Ultimate GEOS Battle Station - Part II.
At this point, Creative Micro Designs (CMD) really started to push their hardware innovations into the market place. They were known for JiffyDOS, but starting in 1990 they began to produce hardware for the Commodore 64 and 128 that are now all considered “holy grail” items in anyone’s collection. And this is because they are some of the greatest hardware ever produced for Commodore computers.
The CMD production timeline is as follows:
- 1984 JiffyDOS Kernel ROM replacements for computers and several disk drives (over 20 different ROMS were, and still are, produced)
- 1990 CMD HD series (20 MB all the way up to eventually 2 GB)
- 1990 RAMLink (The PPI RAMDrive was released earlier, which CMD acquired and expanded)
- 1991 GateWay (Gateway 2.5 was released in 1992) GEOS desktop replacement software
- 1993 FD-2000
- 1996 SuperCPU (v1)
- CMD Production Timeline
But we’re making the following changes:
- Swapping the 512KB REU with a CMD RAMLink packed with 16MB RAM (internal 1571 set to Device 8)
- Swapping the Commodore 1581 with a CMD FD-2000.
- Updating GEOS 128 2.0 with CMDs very own GateWay 2.5 software.
- Adding the Star NL-10 Printer
The level of integration CMD managed with GEOS is awe-inspiring. In my mind, CMD was to Commodore & GEOS as GVP was to Amiga. Or, how Phase 5 was to Amiga in the late 90s. But I think one could argue the enormous leap CMD brought the 1-2Mhz Commodore machines was unparalleled. It's hard for me to honestly think of an equivalent company across the Amiga line that offered the same level of exponential advancements back in the day.
My New Ultimate Battle Station
- Bow down before the one you serve...
In the near future, I will likely swap out my RAMLink with the HD-200. I’ll explain more about that later. We shall begin our journey through our early 90s setup with the glorious RAMLink.
RAMLink
The RAMLink (RL) really should have been given a different name. RAMiracle might have been more accurate. The RL may have started out as being a RAM Expansion replacement, but by the time CMD was done it was so much more.
Originally in 1990 the RAMLink was a RAM expansion product that was intended to either replace or be used with one of Commodore’s REUs. Unlike the REU, however, the RAMLink is externally powered and designed from the ground-up to act as a RAM disk. And, it could internally hold up to a staggering 16MB of RAM! In addition, you can use it inside or outside of GEOS. For the heavy GEOS user (I see you over there in the corner) the RAMLink gave users over 30 years ago the most possibilities with any RAM device, ever. At the time, some considered it one of the most remarkable devices ever produced for Commodore computers.
With a 17xx series REU plugged into the RAMLink, you can take advantage of the DMA capabilities of the REU for GEOS. However, in 2023 it is simply too easy to fill the internal RAM slots to the max. So, you can build a separate partition to do the same thing.
Of course my RAMlink has the 16MB SIMMs. But back in the day, 16MB of RAM (4 SIMMs) could have cost well over $1,200. - which you can practically double in today’s money. Most folks in 1990 would have installed 1-4 MB if they didn’t simply slap an REU into the appropriate slot up top.
The device is plugged into the cartridge slot on the back of the computer and has its own separate PSU to keep the data you store on it safe after you turn off your computer. There is also an optional battery backup. Since I never move my machine, I use a modern UPS to protect my data in case I ever lose power, just like a lot of us did back in the 90s. The RAMLink can also be fitted with a Realtime Clock chip, which you can use to automatically set your GEOS clock on boot up.
The data I move to the RL is accessible so quickly - even with a 1MHz or 2MHz computer. It's hard to express how amazing and modern a Commodore computer feels when using a RAMLink. It might even make your Windows 11 machine feel, well, sluggish. And while I’ve said it a few times already, it’s worth repeating: this device hit the scene in 1990. While the C64 market in the US was in a steady decline by this point, there was a very strong die-hard contingency that clung to CMD’s miraculous advancements in the face of impossible headwinds.
The RAMLink also comes with CMD's JiffyDOS (JD) built-in, which can be enabled or disabled with the flip of a switch. In order to take full advantage of what JiffyDOS provides, it needs to be installed in both the computer and any drive you want to use with it.
As an example benchmark, a JD-enhanced computer and 1541 can demonstrate 13X faster disk operations (the computer, disk drive and commands performed produce variable results). JD also adds tons of powerful and convenient shorthand commands allowing power-users to quickly perform common tasks on their Commodore computers with just a few keystrokes. No more typing out long BASIC statements for what should be the simplest of tasks, like formatting a disk or scratching a file. And the statements are identical whether you are in C64 mode or C128 mode.
- My dumb brain appreciates having the little manual nearby.
As an added bonus, the RAMlink takes over the Commodore's kernel thus removing the need to add JD to our computer at all. Want JiffyDOS? Just pop the RAMLink in like a massive cartridge and you’ll never have to crack open your computer’s case. (Your Commodore disk drives will still need their own upgraded ROMs, of course.)
When JD is in use, most of your beloved physical disk collection will suddenly seem like it is high on speed. It's awesome.
Additionally, all CMD drives - the RAMLink, Harddrive and their 3.5” Floppy Drives - all work exactly the same way out of the box. Once you learn how to use one, it’ll be second nature when you get the next one. (And you know you’ll want the next one.)
They all allow you to install multiple types of partitions on each device, including a NATIVE CMD format, which lets you use a disk's entire capacity - all of it - up to a maximum 16MB partition! This is a big deal for GEOS users who typically are constrained to disks conforming to the disk sizes found with the 1541, 71 and 81.
Another one of the awesome super powers of all CMD storage solutions is we can format partitions on them to emulate other Commodore drives. In other words, I can create multiple partitions to emulate 1541, 71 or 81 disks - or CMD’s NATV format.
In the case of my RAMLink, that means I could have a CMD native 16 MB single disk - which frankly is insane! Or, I could organize it into 31 individual partitions and mix and match partition formats however I want.
And on the HD, as many as 254 partitions could be created!
Of course the same is true on the other CMD hardware options, where the HD and its space potential (up to a ridiculous 4GB) makes the mind boggle! This means we get virtually 100% compatibility with CBM drives, which GEOS can recognize, mount and use. But we can ALSO upgrade our GEOS experience to see the entirety of the CMD NATV partitions, which breaks open enormous storage potential in a world where files are laughably minuscule.
And of course, the same is true for simply storing gobs of files in C64 or C128 modes, too.
Some of you old graybeard BBS sysops out there are probably wiping away a bit of moisture from your eyes at this stage.
Imagine
Imagine booting up GEOS off a real 1581 drive.
Now drag a word processor like GEOWrite (a great word processor) over to an REU that is emulating a 1581 800K Drive - basically an 800K RAM Disk, which is huge in GEOS terms. At this point, anything you launch from the REU will be faster than most Amiga software because we’re loading software and files directly out of RAM, almost like using a cartridge. The downside, of course, is after you turn off the power whatever was in that RAM Disk will disappear and you’ll have to repeat your steps again in the future, which is kind of a drag sometimes.
Since the RAMLink is powered, whatever you move over there will be waiting for you even after you shut your machine down. But, at least with GEOS 2.0, you’re still constrained to the storage limits of disk emulation. Access will be virtually instant, but limited to physical floppy disk storage sizes.
Also, GEOS can only see 3 drives (A, B and C) and realistically only 2 drives can be used at a time.
With these known limitations, and with Berkeley Softworks starting to move its attention towards the IBM PC, in 1991 CMD released its own GEOS desktop replacement program called GateWay. You needed GEOS 2.0 to already be installed, but could then install the GateWay on top of it.
GateWay
GateWay provided several fantastic enhancements to GEOS users.
- Updated User Interface, including Amiga-esque enhancements like a drive’s “Fuel Gauge” and windows with scrollbars.
- Ability to Access 3 Drives simultaneously from the desktop
- MS-DOS style subdirectories
- Drag and Drop for copying files
- NATV modes: Ability for CMD hardware to not be confined to emulated C= drives, but be in full CMD NATV mode and vastly increase storage potential
- CMD Direct Access Partition (DACC) support, which allows you to set aside a specified portion of RAM for use by programs that require an REU-style RAM buffer area. This can speed up GEOS even more.
And most importantly, Gateway provides several device drivers that see and utilize CMD hardware to the fullest, creating what feels like a Next-Gen user experience (remember, we’re still in the early 90s here!).
FD-2000
Some might be tempted to think of CMD’s floppy drive as what might have been a Commodore 1591, had Commodore ever made one.
The CMD FD-2000 comes in 4 basic parts:
- IBM-style Teac 3.5” disk drive
- Serial Cable
- Utility Disk
- Small 9V wall PSU - not a giant brick
- Easily one of my favorite pieces of C= hardware ever made.
The front panel contains 1 switch and 3 LEDs: Power, Activity and Error. On the back two serial ports are available, as well as familiar DIP switches to create different drive ID numbers.
The FD-2000 packs a lot of features into a pretty small package.
- Format/Read/Write 800K 1581 disks
- Format/Read/Write 1.6 MB high density (HD) disks
- Emulate the standard Commodore DOS
- Work with GEOS and CP/M
- Logically “split” disks into multiple 1541, 1571 and/or 1581 partitions
- Logically organize partitions into subdirectories
- Optional RTC, which allows date stamping of files (I have this upgrade)
- Support C128 burst commands
- And it comes with JiffyDOS built-in (of course)
But…
When using GateWay, we can use NATIVE 1.6 MB HD disks in their entirety (if we want to).
And a JiffyDOS’d 1.6 MB floppy disk on a Commodore 128 in GEOS almost feels like a hard drive in its own right. Of course, a SCS2SD’d CMD HD or RL are obviously silent, much faster, and can hold obscenely more data. But realistically 2-3 HD floppy disks can cover most of your GEOS/GateWay needs on its own even without a RAMLink!
Printing
Like I said before, if you’re going through all of this at the end of the day there really should be some sort of print solution at the end of the chain.
In 2022, while on the Particles BBS, I asked folks there what their favorite dot matrix GEOS printers were back in the day. One of the users, Paradroyd, mentioned that he’d created what he considered his own ultimate GEOS setup before jumping to Amiga. He’d performed a lot of research, and determined that one of the best printers available at the time was the Star NL-10, which you could only purchase via mail-order.
As a result, they are extremely rare. Over the course of a year I only ever found one. But I was able to obtain it.
It comes with its Commodore cartridge which allows one to not need a special printer interface, which usually also require using the tape connector; you can simply plug it directly into the serial port chain. There is also a GEOS driver that was written back in the day and is ready to go.
While I needed to teach myself how to re-ink printer ribbons in order to see what the heck I was printing, I have to say I’m quite pleased with the results, whether I print in draft, high-quality or NLQ modes.
Sucker is enormous, and loud, but mmmm, I dig it.
Conclusions
- Wrapping your head around setting up GateWay can take a bit of time and concentration, but it’s totally worth it once you take the leap.
- Similarly, setting up the RAMLink isn’t exactly intuitive at first, either, but once you learn the process it’s pretty quick and painless. And making it the boot disk is worth any pain you might endure while learning the ropes.
- The data integrity on the RAMLink - at least in my case - can be a bit shaky at times. I’ve seen data corruption in the main partition occur simply by removing the RL from the cartridge slot.
My future setup will very likely be:
- C128Dcr w/internal 1571
- FD-2000
- RAMLink used as an 2MB REU/DACC only, not a drive
- HD-2000 with single 16MB partition
I like the flexibility of the 1571 and FD-2000 from a disk drive perspective. Most software is found in 1541 format, and it’s easily transferred to 3.5” disks on the FD-2000.
My current process is to boot off the RAMLink and launch programs from it. But I save all of my new documents to a disk in the FD-2000 for peace of mind.
And, if I ever find a SuperCPU of course I’ll probably give Wheels a spin. But at the end of the day, ALL of this hardware exploration is ultimately about creating well-crafted documents and printing. I’m not going to be running a BBS with this stuff any time soon. So at that level, if I never upgrade beyond GateWay, I’m totally fine with how things are right now.
Plus, I have a really strong tendency to fall in love with Blue operating systems. You know what I mean?
- All photos © Eric K. Hill, aka AmigaLove
UPDATE:
I've since fixed my RAMLink's stability issues, and created FD-2000 1.6MB Native disks. More here.
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