This is the complete toolset for macOS and worfklow guide (macOS host oriented) to manufacture EasyFlash3 cartridges.
If this doesn't work for you, please bug me and not Skoe since he wasn't involved in this work at all.
xcode-select --install
Follow the instructions at brew.sh:
/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"
brew install acme cc65 libftdi libusb confuse imagemagick python
brew install --cask cmake-app
Use libftdi, which provides the libftdi1 API. The old libftdi0 formula is no longer available; the host tools in this tree use libftdi1.
The cmake-app cask includes the cmake command and provides a prebuilt binary for macOS 12 and later. The cmake formula can instead trigger a lengthy source build on older Macs. Other Homebrew formulae may still require the cmake formula as a build dependency; the cask does not satisfy that dependency.
(confuse and cmake are required for the FT245 tools, see below)
For a Homebrew-only GUI build, install wxWidgets with:
brew install wxwidgets
Then build EasyTransfer and EasySplit with make STATIC=no. These builds require the Homebrew libraries at runtime. The default make targets use static libraries and require the source build described below.
By default, the host tools link Homebrew's libftdi and libusb static archives. For the default GUI builds, wxWidgets must also be built statically: Homebrew's wxwidgets formula currently ships shared libraries only. Build the wxWidgets archives from source once:
WX_VERSION=3.3.3
WX_WORK="$HOME/.cache/easyflash/wx-$WX_VERSION"
WX_PREFIX="$HOME/.local/easyflash/wx-static"
mkdir -p "$WX_WORK"
curl -L "https://github.com/wxWidgets/wxWidgets/releases/download/v$WX_VERSION/wxWidgets-$WX_VERSION.tar.bz2" -o "$WX_WORK/wxWidgets-$WX_VERSION.tar.bz2"
tar -xjf "$WX_WORK/wxWidgets-$WX_VERSION.tar.bz2" -C "$WX_WORK"
(
cd "$WX_WORK/wxWidgets-$WX_VERSION"
./configure --prefix="$WX_PREFIX" --with-osx_cocoa \
--disable-shared --disable-monolithic --enable-xrc --enable-html \
--with-libpng=builtin --with-libjpeg=builtin --with-libtiff=builtin \
--with-libwebp=builtin --with-regex=builtin --with-zlib=builtin \
--with-expat=builtin --without-libcurl --with-macosx-version-min=10.10 \
--disable-tests --disable-precomp-headers
make -j"$(sysctl -n hw.logicalcpu)"
make install
)
make in EasyTransfer and EasySplit uses this prefix by default. To use a different static wxWidgets build, pass WX_CONFIG=/path/to/wx-config. Static linking removes Homebrew library dependencies at runtime, but it does not make a Tahoe arm64 build portable to older macOS releases or Intel Macs. Static archives carry their own minimum-OS metadata; support for an older system requires building every dependency with a matching SDK and architecture.
Install it with Homebrew:
brew install exomizer
Exomizer 3.1.2 from Homebrew runs the EasyProg compression command on Intel macOS 12.7.6. Older versions of this guide recommended an external binary because the Homebrew version available at the time crashed.
This is a crt format conversion tool that comes with Vice.
Not strictly needed in the manufacturing process but it needs to be in the $PATH if you want to build your own menu.crt image.
easp is the tool required to program the CPLD, this is the very first step to do on an new EF3 before flashing the menu.
On macOS, easp links Homebrew's libftdi and libusb static archives, so it does not need those Homebrew libraries at runtime.
To compile:
cd ManufacturerTools/easp-2014-01-09
make
To program the CPLD put the EF3 jumpers in the PROG position, plug the EF3 in the C64, plug in the USB cable, power the C64 on, then:
easp -p 0x6001 -v <svf_file>
If this is a cartridge where the PID has already been changed (explained below):
easp -p 0x8738 -v <svf_file>
For the original easp distribtuion including win32 and linux binaries go to:
https://bitbucket.org/skoe/easp/downloads/
In order for macOS (and Windows/Linux) to recognize an EasyFlash 3 as such, the product identifier (PID) of the FT245 must be changed from the default (0x6001) to the one expected by the EF3 driver and tools (0x8738).
The official instructions by Skoe explain how to do it with the official, Windows-only, FTDI tools
However, this can be done without leaving macOS with two example tools that come with the libftdi library:
build/examples/eeprom: dumps eeprom's contentsbuild/ftdi_eeprom/ftdi_eeprom: to customize the PID, S/N, etc.
To compile:
cd ManufacturerTools/FT245/libftdi1-1.4
mkdir build
cd build
cmake -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX="$HOME/.local/easyflash/ft245" \
-DEASYFLASH_STATIC_TOOLS=ON -DFTDIPP=OFF -DBUILD_TESTS=OFF \
-DDOCUMENTATION=OFF ../
make
The command-line tools link against static libftdi, libusb, and libconfuse archives. Apple system libraries and frameworks remain runtime dependencies.
NOTE: the EF3 need not be plugged into the C64 for neither tool to work.
To dump raw eeprom contents (for backup purposes, or to test communication with the FT245 chip):
eeprom -v 0x0403 -p 0x6001 >dump.eeprom
or
eeprom -v 0x0403 -p 0x8738 >dump.eeprom
... depending on the actual PID of the FT245.
To read the EEPROM and parse the FT245 config (this can be done without plugging the EF3 in the C64):
ftdi_eeprom --device i:0x0403:0x6001 --read-eeprom ef3.conf
To reprogram the PID, serial number and creator string into the FT245 EEPROM:
First edit the provided ManufactureTools/FT245/ef3.conf and replace the creator string and serial number with your own, then:
./ftdi_eeprom --flash-eeprom ef3.conf
easytransfer is a GUI tool to upload CRT files to an EF3, run PRGs and format/dump d64 images to a real floppy connected to the C64 via USB.
ef3xfer is its CLI counterpart.
These tools will only work if the FT245 PID has been changed to 0x8738 as explained above.
To compile:
cd EasyTransfer
make
The results are easytransfer (GUI tool) and ef3xfer (CLI tool) in EasyTransfer/out/easytransfer/.
To build only the command-line tool, run make ef3xfer in EasyTransfer. This target needs cc65, libftdi and libusb, but does not require wxWidgets or ImageMagick. The C64 disk writer is compiled with cc65 and embedded in the tool.
Run the tools with the EF3 plugged in the C64, the C64 on, the USB cable plugged in and the EF3 jumpers in the DATA position.
Examples for ef3xfer:
ef3xfer -c cart.crt # write cart.crt to cart
ef3xfer -x prog.prg # upload and run prog.prg
Not strictly needed, but you might want to customize and/or recompile the C64-side flashing tool (EasyProg):
cd EasyProg
make
The result is easyprog.prg
cd EasySplit
make
The result is EasySplit/out/easysplit/easysplit.
First:
cd EasySDK/tools
make
The result is bin2efcrt, required by the next step:
cd EF3BootImage
make
The results are ef3-init.crt and ef3-menu.crt in EF3BootImage/.
Use the former to completely overwrite the menu and slot data. Use the latter to just update the menu while keeping data (kernals, slot names and such).
As an example, the menu image in this repo comes modified with a light green background.
EF3's menu background image is in EF3BootImage/efmenu/src/background.iph in Interpaint format.
For Interpaint to read the file:
- It must end with a right-padded ".HRES" suffix
- Must be of type PRG (not SEQ)
- Uncheck the PROJECT -> MULTICOL option in Interpaint.
The other IPH files in that directory seem to be older versions of the background.
A ready-made D64 with Interpaint and all current backgrounds is in ManufacturerTools/Interpaint.