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blog:2023-01-26

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Jan 26th, 2023

I use my Retroswitch Flyer quite a bit, with my C128. I like having a vast collection of disk images and PRG files right at my fingertips, without having to swap a bunch of floppies. The Flyer also helps me save wear and tear on my 1541s, as I only really use those to run my productivity software and save the games for the Flyer. Of course, not everything works off the Flyer, but it's pretty good.

Anyway, the nice thing about the C128 is that you can assign commands/functions to the function keys (F1 through F8) at the command line and not just within programs (like on the C64). So, in order to save me a bit of typing, I created this very short program that assigns the most common Flyer commands (that I use anyway) to the function keys.

I just put the floppy disk into the disk drive and press SHIFT+RUN/STOP to LOAD it and auto-RUN.

My C128 Flyer Keys program

(F2) LOAD “$$” - loads the list of disk images and PRGs that are accessible from the server.
(F3) LOAD “$” - loads the list of disk images stored and accessible on the Flyer, itself.
(By the way, I wrote it so that the C128 auto-LISTS the directories after they're LOADed)

(F4) LOAD DISK - Copies a disk image from the server to the Flyer.
(F5) MOUNT - Makes the specified disk image the active “disk” in the Flyer's virtual disk drive.
(F7) DISKMGR - Loads the Flyer's built-in disk image manager from drive 9. If the Flyer has been assigned a different drive number, then this line of the program needs to be changed accordingly. I left some brief instructions regarding this in a REM statement in the program.

When I'm working with files stored on the Flyer, having these commands assigned to the function keys really saves me a lot of typing. If you own and use a Retroswitch Flyer with your C128, you're more than welcome to download a copy of the program for your own use. Below, I've attached both a D64 disk image and a PRG of the program. You can just put the PRG on your Flyer server and LOAD it directly via the Flyer, with LOAD “FLYERKEYS”,7 without having to bother with a disk image.

Flyerkeys.prg
Flyerkeys.d64


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blog/2023-01-26.txt · Last modified: 2023/01/27 14:25 by David