Sunday 24 December 2017

Interview with Jan Derogee from the Cassiopei 1 & 2 and the 1541-III

Last Saturday December 17th I was in Maarssen(NL) for the bi-monthly gathering of the Commodore and Amiga enthusiasts. It was busy, as it always is in December.

Jan Derogee was there also and he demonstrated his final version of the Cassioiopei 2. We got talking and so this interview got started :)



Jan how did you end on the C64?  
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The C64 is my 1st computer and therefore has a special place in my heart. I must have been about 13 years old when I bought a C64 from my savings money with a datasette and 2 rickety joysticks. I chose the C64, simply because my sister's boyfriend had one and because I knew it was a much sold computer. So knowing that software could easily be copied, this seemed like a good choice. I never regretted it.








Where does your your passion for electronics and C64 come from? And which projects do you already have realised?
When I was young, there were so many beautiful items for computers for sale, but all too expensive. Making it myself was not an option back then because I lacked the knowledge and parts.
Nowadays the parts are more powerful than then and only cost a fraction. Information about the C64 can be found in abundance on the internet and in books (which I got hold of on club days in Maarssen). In short, I can now make more beautiful things than I once thought possible. In the retro computer field I have the 1541-III, the Cassiopei and then the Cassiopei v2.0. I made (for a joke) an M & M sorting machine that is controlled by the C64 and can control the lights of my house with the C64. But that is all for fun, I made a video about it for the Cassiopei.


Have you made any programs on the C64?
I wrote all the software for the Cassiopei myself:
- The code for the Cassiopei itself (firmware for the microcontroller in the Cassiopei is written in C),
- The code for the CBM computers (from PET to C128, are written in asm),
- Software for the PC like development tools, conversion of images to PETSCII and conversion of multiple images in a row for an animation.

The latter is a piece of software that I want to release somewhere in early 2018 for use in combination with the Cassiopei. It is highly compressed but works nicely. Especially given that all data traffic goes through the cassette port. It comes down to playing PETSCII animations on your CBM (from PET to C128).





Which programming tools do you use on the C64 and PC?
CBM program studio, great tool, really an all-in-one, would not be able to do anything without it.
Visual Basic.net. I just use this software to create programs that must run on a PC.

How did the idea rise for the first Cassiopei?
I wanted to build a speech synthesizer, and the Cassette port was a getting disused as connector interface. Then I realised that it would also be useful to also load software via that interface. When I realized that the Cassette port was present on (almost) all 8-bit Commodore computers, the idea for 1 device that works on several computers was born.

When did you start with the first Cassiopei and when was this done?
If I am not mistaken, I started in 2011 and I was ready with that design somewhere in 2013. But there is still a year of extra development attached to it, because yes, software is never finished and extra functions have also been added. Like compression of TAP files, the first Cassiopei had only 8MByte memory and thanks compression I could effectively double the capacity for the TAP files. (The TAP files are compressed by an average of 50%).

How much time do you put into the first version?
See above

What tools do you use for creation the Cassiopei?
See above

The most recent is the Cassiopei 2, can you explain the evolution from version 1 to version 2 please?
The first version of the Cassiopei was actually fully developed and it was time for something new. Something with more storage, something that can work without cables, something that can work entirely stand-alone. For the first Cassiopei a PC was required for configuration. That was not always handy for all users.

What are the functionality differences between these two generations? What are the differences in hardware such as the FPGA or PIC?
The first Cassiopei had an internal memory of 8MByte, Cassiopei v2.0 used a full-size SD card that can support up to 32GByte (no need for compression)
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The first Cassiopei needed an USB connection with a PC with special software for configuration, Cassiopei V2.0 is needs only a web browser and / or a SD card reader.
The first Cassiopei had only 3 buttons and a power LED, not suitable for navigation through a TAP file. The Cassiopei 2.0 has a display and a menu structure with which you can setup (almost) everything.
The first Cassiopei had an expansion connector, for the connection of self-made electronics based on I2C. Cassiopei v2.0 does not have that. In practice, very few people need to have that and in the new design I also no longer have any free IO pins left.

C:\Users\mo\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\INetCache\Content.Word\IMG_20171216_140634.jpgCassiopei v2.0 has a cassette port connector for connecting a Datasette, so you can easily create a tap file or record tapes (backup / restore). I am working on a disk wizard, so you can also convert D64 files to a real disk and vice versa. Considering that most user will not be using this tool heavily (only occasionally for making a real disk to play a certain game that must run from disk) speed is not a big issue.
But it is software, so who knows, it can always be improved. Anyway, this was impossible in the old Cassiopei, which did not have enough storage for that.








How did you come up with the idea for the Cassiopei 2?



The first version was fully developed and couldn’t be expanded anymore and small drawbacks in the first version made me think. Then the ESP8266 came up, which is now the base of the new design. The Cassiopei therefore has a WIFI interface, which is still used for a simple web server page to configure the Cassiopei (or update with new firmware). 
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But there is a lot more potential in it, although this means that custom software must be written for the ESP8266. But theoretically, the internet via the cassette port is no problem at all. Think of emailing or tweeting via your C64 (sending, reading can be difficult) but that is all for the future.

Since when did you start with this and what is the number of man-days that you spent on it?
Over a time of 2 years, on average 4 evenings a week and if I could whole days in the weekends and / or holidays. I’m always building small pieces of software and then expanding into something complete. I did a lot of exploring and trials because I have to pull some tricks to get things done. Such as the generation of time-critical TAPE signals on a system that can be interrupted at any moment by another time-critical event such as Wi-Fi traffic.

I suspect that the FPGA or PIC is different from the Cassiopei 1. Can you explain this please?
The first Cassiopei used a PIC microcontroller at 48MHz with only 64KByte of program memory, fast enough but you could not fit a meaningful implementation of the FAT system in combination with the other functionality.

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The Cassiopei v2.0 uses an ESP8266, which runs at 160MHz and has 4MByte to program memory. Room enough for an implementation of the FAT file system that can be used to control a SD card of 32GByte with LFN (long filenames), sub directories, reading and writing. 
But for sure the Wi-Fi functionality is surely the biggest difference; literally and figuratively a new world of programming possibilities opens up. One of these is firmware updates via the built-in web server. This means that the user does not need any special software or cables to run a firmware update. That is much more user-friendly than in the first Cassiopei. And because there are no cables needed anymore between the PC and the CBM computer, there are no problems regarding potential differences due to different power supplies, something that can occur if power supplies in computers do not hang on edge ground or if a fault occurs somewhere. Thanks to the Wi-Fi connection, data can still be transferred between the PC and the Cassiopei v2.0. (Virtual file mode) something which was essential during the development of the Cassiopei also of great value for anyone who wants to do cross development with CBM computer.
A tentative release date for the second Cassiopei? 

February 2018.

Have you used for the Cassiopei 2 other tools than for the Cassiopei 1? Explain please. The compiler for the microcontroller differs, but the most important thing remains CBM program studio for both models.

What have you else made besides the Cassiopei?
See above

Do you want to share something with the group?
Nothing comes to mind.

Can you send pictures of playful or not during your Cassiopei 1 and Cassiopei 2 periods? :) Or other memorable moments like your Hammer game :D
If you do not have photos, you can also share a playful anecdote ;) 

Photos, sorry, I have a mobile with a worthless camera and a memory for a handful of photos. I know, I need a new mobile. But I do not want one, after all I already have a computer on which I can do everything, then I will not mess around on such a small screen. But the advantage of such a handy mobile is that you can take photos very easily and thus document things for fun and for later, so I’m slowly looking around for a new mobile. Unfortunately, I do not have those photos. The photos that I have are on my website. 
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Maybe you can do something with the photo of the failed case designs. Because the cabinet for the Cassiopei was not finished in one iteration. The design had to look neat, practical but also printable on the 3D printer, at the end I have to print everything myself otherwise it would be unaffordable. With every design there was something wrong and it did cost me many iterations of the design before I knew what was useful. The current design meets most of my requirements. The Cassiopei project has led to the fact that I have been able to improve my (self-designed and built 3D printer) and the quality is not inferior to that of an expensive ready-made version. I am quite proud of that. Anyway ... Although even if you print in the highest quality mode on a 3D-printer ... you can always see that it’s done on a 3D printer. On the one hand, that’s a curse, on the other hand, it has its charms. Anyway without a 3D printer, the Cassiopei would be just a boring square box with a blue edge connector sticking out. Now it is a perfectly fitting module that fits (almost all e.g. not the SX or the GS) every 8-bit Commodore computer. And the whole setup is still solid & sturdy too.



This is a video of Cassiopei 2 in action.



You can read more on Cassiopei and Jan’s other project on his website:





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