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SYMBiFACE II:Rewriteable roms

1,487 bytes added, 15:38, 6 February 2016
This article decribes, how to map the '''rewriteable ROMs''' of the [[SYMBiFACE II]] card into the ram area, so that you can change its content. The re-writeable ROMs are stored on a static RAM. The static RAM is powered by a CR2032 battery to remember it's contents when the symbiface 2 is powered down. J2 on the Symbiface 2 controls visibility of roms 8-31 to the CPC. J2 when connected stops them being visible, when disconnected roms 8-31 are visible. There are 8 switches which control visibility of roms 0-7 to the CPC. When J2 is connected and all switches are off then no roms are visible. This now allows you to program the ROMs safely. Selecting the ROM is done by writing the number to i/o port dfxx. Symbiface decodes the upper 8-bit of the address completely. It looks for the following pattern: 11011111xxxxxxxx -> dfxx Other expansions do a partial decode of the i/o address only testing bit 13 of the address. Symbiface 2 also does a partial decode of the current rom number written to #df00. It only processes the lower 5 bits. This means the roms will repeat 4 times through the entire 256 ROM range. This also means they will override Plus cartridge pages. Symbiface 2 also has the potential to override rom 7 (AMSDOS). On some CPCs this is 100% reliable, on others it is not possible and on some it is unreliable.  
== Mechanisms ==
Please note, that the following commands ignore all values. So it doesn't matter, what you "out". When you "inp" you won't get any senseless meaningful numbers.
{|{{Prettytable|width: 700px; font-size: 2em;}}
|'''INP &FD17''' || show the current ROM (selected by #df00) between #4000 and #7fff. No Now it can be read and rewrittenwritten. All roms on the Symbiface 2 can be accessed this way regardless of J2 or dipswitches state. You also do not need to enable the upper rom using port #7fxx.
|-
|'''OUT &FD17''' || disable the previouse previously mentioned ROM write mode. Any value can be written.
|-
|'''OUT &FD11''' || disable all SYMBiFACE II Roms. You won't see any additional ROMS anymoreThe roms will not be visible to the CPC, you will only the CPCssee CPC' s inbuilt onesor ROMs from other rom-boards.
|-
|'''INP &FD11''' || enable the SYMBiFACE II roms. Symbiface 2 roms will be visible if enabled through J2 or switches.
|}
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