MiSTer FPGA Forum

About tape images
Loading from a tap file is NOT currently supported in this core. But you can convert .tap files to dsk with the OricDSK Disc Manager Tool. Then convert the resulting "dsk" to the supported "edsk" (CPC format) with HxCFloppyEmulator as explained above.

Tape to dsk conversion is also possible with tap2dsk from the Euphoric Tools pack.

This core does support real-world (physical) Tape loading (via audio cable on the RX pin).

ron wrote: ↑Mon Apr 25, 2022 5:33 pm Have you tried dragging a .TAP file into the OricDSK tool?

JasonA wrote: ↑Fri Jun 03, 2022 10:21 am I took on the task of adding tap support to this core.

Progress is going good, but it requires simulation to make sure the taps are being put in ram correctly, and that the core is able to reboot into the correct location. We have one machine code tap working already, and the reworked logic for more taps is working in the simulator.

Some parts of the core are in vhdl, which have been converted to verilog so that the simulation can happen for the whole core. We are currently debugging the conversion.

Thanks to everyone these last few weeks who have helped out on this upgrade. The tap library seems large, definitely worth the effort everyone is putting in.

Flandango wrote: ↑Wed Oct 19, 2022 12:26 am If anybody is interested in trying out the new Tap loading core, you will find it attached.
It should work with most TAP files but there may be a few out there that may not work. If you come across any of those, please let me know and I'll look into it.
Also, there are programs that are split amongst multiple TA* files. Those need to be combined and modified. I have included a small python3 script that will merge some of them programs called mergeSplitTap.py. It is not a polished tool and it doesn't do any error checking and what not.

To use the script, extract it and the files you want to merge (for example Airfox.tap, Airfox.ta1 or Megabase's Megabase.tap, Megabase.ta1, Megabase.ta2....you get the point), then run python3 mergeSplitTap.py Airfox.tap and it will generate a Airfox_FULL.tap which you can use with the core.

For most TAP files out there, you can simply load them with CLOAD "" (that is 2x double-quotes) and most will automatically run, if not, then simply type run and cross your fingers.

Malaespera wrote: ↑Mon Nov 14, 2022 2:57 pm Congratulations, the tap loader works great.
As an additional feature you would consider adding switching between qwerty and azerty keyboards.

pgimeno wrote: ↑Fri Nov 18, 2022 5:25 pm Unfortunately the ROMs are built-in. Given that there's a good bunch of them in different languages, making them loadable via the menu would be a plus. It would also avoid potential copyright issues with the current core.

tontonkaloun wrote: ↑Sat Nov 19, 2022 6:46 pm Hello
How to build oric alternative Bios ?

FPGA64 wrote: ↑Sun Nov 20, 2022 2:11 pm So
I loaded Xenon 1 from Tap and began playing. Wierd thing is the cursor keys. Left moved left, but had to use down on the keyboard to move right. Is there a reason for that ?

Most of the changes I made to the Oric core earlier this year were in attempts to get TAP loading supported through the OSD. It required a bit of conversion to Verilog from VHDL in order to simulate the core on Verilator. My initial approach to parse the TAP format and bypass traditional cassette loading methods was getting too complicated so I went back to a cassette loading approach. The comparisons with ADC took longer than anticipated and my timing was off. Thankfully, Flandango stepped in to help me out. As many of you know, Flandango really understands how cassette loading signals and timing work, and hats off to him for getting this feature in place.

I will sync with Flandango to simply get the TAP support added to the official repo I think, as most of my code is related to Verilog, and not really needed on the official repo.

Hopefully this TAP functionality will be in the main repo soon.

Thanks to all of you for testing this important and sought after feature.