Needless to say, this concept of a ‘universal backup (oh, ok, piracy) device’ worried software houses no end, and there were no end of rumours that the Multiface and its ilk would be banned under the Copyright & Patents Act of 1990. In the end, all that happened was that Romantic Robot got the chance to run ‘Buy now! before it’s banned’ adverts, provoking lots of panic sales. They then continued to sell the Multiface. Several years later, they tried the same trick with ‘The CPC is no longer a viable platform – so we’re selling off our last Multifaces!’. This supposed last shipment lasted about two years.
The Multiface III is a version for the Spectrum +3.
==Multiface 2 revisions==
There was more than one revision of the Multiface 2 for the Amstrad:
* 1st version which has a manual switch to control visibility to software - first appeared in Amstrad action 16 (January 1987)
In Amstrad Action issue 23 it mentions some incompatibility with some CPC6128 machines and there are some dipswitches which can be configured to work with it. Multiface 2's with this have version 78 software.
* 2nd version which has an automatic switch controlled by PAL ICs to control visibility to software. This is called "2+" by Romantic Robot. It was mention in Amscene in Amstrad Action 33 (June 1988) and was first advertised in Amstrad Action issue 36 (September 1988).
* 3rd version which was the same as the 2+ but had a Centronics connector and ROM modified to work with the Amstrad Plus. This ROM doesn't work on the CPC.
Was there a version which didn't have a switch and came before version 1?
==Anti-Multiface==
There were various revisions of the Multiface 2:
* There was a version which was visible to software all the time.(Did this exist?)
* One version had a "invisibility" switch on the front in addition to the stop and reset buttons. When switched in one direction the multiface was invisible to software and in the other it was visible. ''Is there a dump of the ROM from this version?''
* Last revision had an automatic "invisibility" switch internally controlled by the hardware itself. After reset the multiface was visible, but when the stop button was pressed and then control was returned to the running program it would be invisible and would remain invisible until the computer was reset.
The following applies to the automatic "invisibility" version (the "2+"):
If the multiface 2 is visible you can enable/disable the ROM and RAM in the CPU's address space:
The Multiface 2 listens to Gate-Array and PAL writes (port 7fxx), CRTC writes (bcxx and bdxx) and 8255 Control port writes (f7xx).
Gate-Array and PAL are decoded as 01111111xxxxxxxx, CRTC as 10111100xxxxxxxx and 10111101xxxxxxxx and 8255 writes as 11110111xxxxxxxx.
When the I/O write is detected, then specific locations in the MF2 RAM are updated immediately.
The value that is stored is the value written.
The automatic switch version of the multiface works by monitoring opcode reads from 0064 or 0065(for returning back to the stopped program) and 0066 and 0067 for entering multiface 2 ROM when pressing the stop button. There is a single call to 0065 (which has a RET) before the multiface 2 returns control back to the running program. The multiface 2 uses the stack inside the running program to return. It's not possible to activate the multiface ram and rom and call it 0064/0065 directly- it has no effect, the multiface 2 must be in a specific state (which happens when the stop button has been pressed) to accept the call and make itself invisible.
== Toolkit ==
== Manual ==
* [[Media:Multiface 2 Manual.pdf|MF2 User Manual.pdf]]{{EN}} {{PDF}}
* [[Media:Multiface Two User Manual.zip|MF2 User Manual.zip]]
* [[Media:Multiface Two User Manual.txt|MF2 User Manual.txt]]
<gallery caption="Multiface II">
Image:multiface.jpg|Multiface closeup
Image:Multiface II advertisment.jpg|Advertisement
Image:MultifaceII AA100.jpg|Advertisement in AA 100
Image:Amstrad Action106 20.jpg|AA Issue 106 - Page 20Image:MultifaceII_Front.jpg|Multiface II - (version with switch for making it invisible to software) - Front (eBay)Image:MultifaceII_Back.jpg|Multiface II - (version with switch for making it invisible to software) - Back (eBay)
</gallery>
<gallery caption="Multiface II - Amstrad 464 / 6128 Plus compatible version">
Image:S-l1600.jpg|Original box
Image:S-l1600b.jpg|Original box - Other side
Image:S-l1600c.jpg|Original box - Opened
Image:S-l1600d.jpg|Multiface II in original box with manual
Image:S-l1600e.jpg|Multiface II with 50way Centronics Connector
Image:S-l1600f.jpg|Multiface II with 50way Centronics Connector - Side
Image:S-l1600g.jpg|Multiface II with 50way Centronics Connector - Back
</gallery>
All thanks to rockrabilia from eBay for using his pics taken from his [http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/391986980297 '''Amstrad 464 6128 Plus - Romantic Robot MULTIFACE TWO Interface *Boxed *Tested!'''] auction.
<gallery caption="Multiface II Layout, thanks to Jose Leandro">
File:Multiface II - Top.jpg|Multiface II - Top
File:Multiface II - Bottom.jpg|Multiface II - Bottom
File:Multiface II - Components.jpg|Multiface II - Components
File:Multiface II - Tracks.jpg|Multiface II - Tracks
File:MF2-PCB Front.png|Multiface II - PCB Front
File:MF2-PCB Back.png|Multiface II - PCB Back
* [[Media:Multiface.two.romantic.robot.3e.amsdos.v05.zip|MF2 3E ROM]]
* [[Media:Multiface.two.romantic.robot.0e.zip|MF2 0E ROM]] - (1988, chksum=0Eh)
* [[Media:Mf2_7c.ROM|MF2 7C ROM]] - (1988)
* [[Media:Multiface.two.romantic.robot.78.amsdos.v05.zip|MF2 78 ROM]]
* [[Media:Multiface.two.romantic.robot.8d.amsdos.v05.zip|MF2 8D ROM]] - (1988)
* [[Media:Multiface.two.romantic.robot.8b.zip|MF2+ 8B ROM]] - (1990, chksum=8Bh)
* [[Media:Multiface.two.romantic.robot.78.amsdos.v07.zip|MF2+ 78 ROM]]
* NOTE: 8B seems to be correct. They differ in 1 byte at address 0. On 8B it is DI on 78 it is NOP. 78 could be a bad dump.
The Source Code:
==Links==
* [http://www.grimwarecpc-power.orgcom/dokuindex.php/documentations/expansions/mf2/start?page=detail&num=4971 ''Multiface II'' from CPC-Power]* [http://cpcrulez.fr/hardware-interface_debug-multiface_2.htm''Multiface II'' from CPCrulez]* [http://hardware.speccy.org/temp/Amstrad-multiface2.html ''Multiface II'' from hardware.speccy.org]* [http://hardware.speccy.org/temp/Amstrad-multiface2/Amstrad-multiface21.html''Multiface II PALs'' from hardware.speccy.org]* [https://web.archive.org/web/20160715092459/http://www.grimware.org/doku.php/documentations/expansions/mf2/start ''Multiface II'' from grimware]* [https://web.archive.org/web/20090108031853/http://cpc-hardware.com/sections.php?op=viewarticle&artid=31 ''Multiface II'' from CPC-Hardware]* [http://quasar.cpcscene.net/doku.php?id=dossier:mf2 ''Multiface II'' from Quasar Net] (french, memory mapping details and programmation tutorial and examples)
[[Category:Peripherals]] [[Category:Manual]] [[Category:Copy Protection]]