Comet64 V-1541 User manual

Setup Guide for Your New Comet64 Internet Modem
Caution: Device is static sensitive. Please use care and ground yourself prior to
handling the Internet Modem.
Caution: Be sure to insert the Internet Modem with the correct side up (labeled on the
board). Failure to do so may cause permanent damage to your Commodore computer and/or
to the Internet Modem.
Caution: Do not attempt to use more than one serial device at a time. If you are going
to use the RS-232 DB9 connector, please remove the Serial-to-Ethernet device first.
Failing to do so can cause damage to the board and/or your Commodore computer.
Thank you for purchasing the Comet64 Internet Modem from CommodoreServer.com. With it, you will
be able to access the Internet like never before! We know you're anxious to get started, so we've
developed this guide to be as quick and easy as possible. If you purchased your Comet64 as a kit,
you'll find a link to assembly instructions at the bottom of CommodoreServer.com.
If you experience any problems or have any questions, please send email to:
[e-mail]
INSTRUCTIONS FOR FIRST-TIME SETUP:
Step 1 Make sure the power is off on your Commodore 64 computer
Step 2 Insert the Ethernet cable into the modem before plugging it in to the computer
(doing so will prevent you from wiggling the modem out of place accidentally).
Step 3 Insert the Comet64 into the User Port, noting the correct side up
Step 4 Connect the other end of the Ethernet cable to your router.
Step 5 Power On your Commodore 64 computer and disk drive
Step 6 Type LOAD "V-1541UPDATE",8 <return>
Type RUN <return>
This will run the V-1541 updater program, which will download the latest V-1541
program and save it to your disk drive (will SAVE to disk on device 8 only).
Completing this step ensures that everything is working. If downloading and saving
to disk was unsuccessful, then repeat the steps above and try again.
Step 7 Once the V-1541 program is saved to disk, you need to enable it. Enable the V-1541
program by typing SYS 49152 <return>
Step 8 Type NEW <return> (this is necessary to reset BASIC pointers)
Congratulations! Your Commodore is ready to use the Internet. Please refer to the V-1541
User Guide on how to LOAD and SAVE programs over the Internet.
From now on, follow the instructions for subsequent use below.
Note: You may run the V-1541UPDATE program following the steps above at any time to ensure
you have the latest V-1541 program on your disk.
INSTRUCTIONS FOR REGULAR USE:
Step 1 Type LOAD "V-1541",8,1 <return>
Step 2 Type SYS 49152 <return>
Step 3 Type NEW <return>
Note: Some programs use the area of memory that V-1541 resides in (49152 and up). If you need to
load a program in this memory area, please use the V-1541LO program instead which will work the
same way, but is enabled by typing SYS 32768 instead.
Note: It takes anywhere from 5-20 seconds for the modem to connect to the server behind the
scenes. If your commands do not work, wait a few seconds and try again. Usually by the time you
are finished loading V-1541, the modem has had ample time to make the connection.

V-1541 User Guide
The V-1541 program takes control over device #2 (RS-232) for LOAD and SAVE
operations. LOAD and SAVE still works the same with other devices (such as
your disk drive), but operates on a
virtual disk on CommodoreServer.com. All
LOAD and SAVE operations must use ,2 to signal that you wish to use the RS-
232 device.
In order to use the disks you uploaded on CommodoreServer.com, you must first
sign in. You sign in with your email address and PIN, which can be set in
'My Account' after signing in to CommodoreServer.com.
To Sign In:
LOAD "@[email protected],XXXX",2
where xxxx = your PIN. This is the default for
logging in, but you may choose the following method:
- or -
LOAD "@SCREENNAME,XXXX",2
Where xxxx = your PIN. If you set up your account to
use your screen name instead of your email address,
use this method
Commands:
Much like displaying a directory on a disk, the V-1541 program has shortcuts
to perform other tasks.
LOAD "!",2 display disks that you have uploaded to your account
at CommodoreServer.com
LOAD "#FILE.D64",2 INSERT a disk by .d64 name (if your disk name is
games.d64, use LOAD "#GAMES",2) . Appending .d64 is
not necessary, but is also allowed.
LOAD "$",2 displays the directory of the currently-inserted disk
LOAD "%",2 displays the name of the currently-inserted disk
LOAD "/FOLDER",2 change current folder to subfolder specified.
use LOAD "/",2 to change to root folder. See
description in Table 1 under command CF.
LOAD "/@USER",2 Changes your view of available disks to that of a
friend's shared disks. The user must be in your
friend's list to see their shared disks with you. Use
LOAD "/@PUBLIC",2 to view the Public Root or
LOAD "/@",2 to return to the view of your own
account.
SAVE "FILENAME",2 saves the BASIC program in memory to the currently-
inserted disk
Advanced Use:
CommodoreServer created a text-only, human-friendly Internet protocol
(CommodoreServer Internet Protocol, or CSIP) for accessing different areas
and executing different commands on CommodoreServer.com. Similar to other
Internet protocols, such as SMTP, POP, FTP and more, you can perform many
commands to interact with CommodoreServer's features. Although the V-1541
program was not designed to type these commands at will, it does support the
ability to execute them using the LOAD ">COMMAND",2 command. Doing so, you
are able to execute commands directly using this protocol.
LOAD ">COMMAND",2 executes any of CommodoreServer's commands (see table
below)
[e.g. LOAD ">DISKS",2 is the same as LOAD "!",2]

This table lists only a portion of what is possible. For a complete
reference, please visit CommodoreServer.com or issue the HELP command.
Table 1 Advanced User Commands to be used with LOAD "COMMAND",2
Command Description
HELP Displays a list of commands and the proper syntax
for each.
DISKS Displays a list of disks available in the current
folder. Disks and folders are managed in your
account on CommodoreServer.com
INSERT DISK.D64 Virtually inserts a disk from within the current
folder. You can leave off the
.d64 part.
REMOVE Virtually removes the currently-inserted disk
$ Displays the contents of the currently-inserted
disk.
NAME Displays the filename of the currently-inserted
disk
LOAD FILENAME Retrieves a binary program. This should not be
executed without using the Commodore's LOAD
command because you need to prepare the Commodore
for receiving the file. Commodore's BASIC LOAD
command does this. Executing the command directly
will only display garbage onto the screen.
SAVE FILENAME, SIZE, TYPE Prepares the server to accept incoming binary or
text data. This should really only be done using
Commodore's SAVE command for PRG files, as it sets
the size and type correctly. You can easily add
SEQ files if you know the size of your data.
BLOCKS Retrieves the number of BLOCKS FREE for the
currently-inserted disk
FIND TEXT
Displays a list of files containing text in the
filename.
LOGIN LOGINNAME, PIN Logs you into CommodoreServer.com so you can
access disks and other account activities. The
Login name can either be your email address or
screen name, depending on what your account is set
to use on the Web site. The PIN is used so that
you don't have to use and expose your password
when you sign in from your Commodore computer.
LOGOUT Logs you out of your account and puts you back
into the Public Domain space.
CF FOLDER Change directory (folder). Only 'CD /' or
'CD
folder ' will work. You cannot combine levels
of folders in one command, such as
'CD /root/games'. When specifying a folder, the
folder must exist as a child of the current
folder.
MF FOLDER Creates a directory (folder) as a child of the
current folder.
NEW D64NAME, DISKNAME, ID Creates a newly-formatted disk in the current
folder. The
d64name is the filename for your .d64
image and the
diskname is the 16-character name on
the disk (shows when viewing the directory).
ID is
a 2-character ID for the disk. NEW will not work
on existing disks.
QUIT Logs you out of your account and disconnects the
modem from the server.

Current limitations of the V-1541 program:
There is a limit on the number of characters you can pass in the LOAD
command - only as many as can fit on two lines (on the C64). If you
have a long email address, you may not be able to sign in - in this
case, your user name might be the better choice. Change this setting in
your account on CommodoreServer.com.
Programs cannot load subsequent programs (i.e. a menu cannot LOAD
another file from the virtual disk) - only one program may be loaded.
Disks cannot be "turned over" so that a program can access 'side B'.
While you CAN load a machine language program to memory, it is
difficult to then save the program back to a floppy disk because you
cannot directly specify the starting and ending address. This can be
done by setting the BASIC pointers if you know the start/end address.
You may be able to find more information on CommodoreServer.com -
search the blogs.
Only LOAD and SAVE work - VERIFY does not work.
You cannot use commands for formatting disks, validating or any other
type of command that requires an OPEN statement (like OPEN
15,2,15,"n0:...") - it will not work because only LOAD and SAVE are
programmed to translate to actual CSIP commands (See CSIP on
CommodoreServer.com for more information). LOAD provides convenient
access to the actual commands in the protocol. OPEN will still open a
file, according to the Commodore syntax, but it does not access the
Internet using the same commands that are sent over the serial bus.
There may be other programs that interpret OPEN and translate them to
commands in the protocol. Search CommodoreServer.com for more
information.
Once you start loading a file, you cannot stop the modem from
delivering it to your Commodore. This is because it has a built-in
buffer and data is sent almost instantaneously to the modem. The modem
then sends data only as fast as the Commodore can accept it, depending
on the baud rate. This quirk will cause problems if data is still in
the modem's buffer and you try to load a file or other command because
the modem is still delivering data to the Commodore's receive buffer.
The best solution is to terminate the power by turning off the computer
or resetting the modem. This will force the modem to stop attempting
to send data to the Commodore computer.
GEOS disks and files are not supported at this time.
Performing actions on filenames containing "!", "#", and "%" will not
work because V-1541 will interpret these symbols as shortcuts to
commands.
Many of these items may be fixed in a future release.
Resetting Your Comet64 for use with V-1541
It is sometimes possible that the default configuration is changed if you run
other software that changes it. You can reset the configuration's default
values by running the V-1541CFG program. Insert the disk and type:
LOAD "V-1541CFG",8,1 <return>
then type:
RUN <return>
The default configuration will be set after a few seconds.

Public Domain Disks
CommodoreServer.com has several Public Domain disks that you can access when
you are not logged-in. To see them, you must not be logged-in. Issue the
same commands as if you were logged-in. Change folders to the public domain
folder (LOAD "/C= PD",2) and then issue the DISKS command (LOAD "!",2). All
other commands work the same way. Note that all public domain disks are
permanently write-protected, so you cannot SAVE to them or make any other
changes. If you would like to copy a file, you can LOAD the file and save it
to disk, or you can change the view back to your account by typing LOAD"@",2
or by logging-in again and then SAVE it to one of your virtual disks.
Signing in will not erase the program from memory.
Write Your Own Programs and Games
Did you know that you can write your own programs for use with
CommodoreServer.com? If you have a software idea, we encourage you to write a
program and submit it in our member's directory. CommodoreServer.com is
continually growing its community and strives to make it the central place
for all Internet-enabled software for your Commodore computer.
CommodoreServer has a universal game room where users can gather to play
games online. Your own games can take advantage of the game room, which
handles all of the communication necessary to start a multiplayer game, keep
games in sync, and process and deliver all game data between the different
players. Additionally, the game room allows developers to quickly write any
type of software where interaction between users takes place.
For more information, we suggest you review the CommodoreServer blog. It has
many tips and suggestions for writing Internet programs. You can also get
great ideas and programming advice from other Members as well. Explore
CommodoreServer.com to get started writing and releasing your own games!
http://www.CommodoreServer.com
PRODUCT WARRANTY FOR THE COMET64 INTERNET MODEM
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