18 Jul
2002
18 Jul
'02
1:15 p.m.
On Thu, 18 Jul 2002, Doc Shipley wrote:
So let me get this straight. I have a 128D, with an
external 1541.
Assuming that the 6-pin DIN male-male cable that came with it is right,
I can format a DSDD floppy in the 1541, and read files from a 360k DOS
floppy to the Commodore-formatted disk.
NO.
I can format a DSDD floppy in the 1541,
You could use DSDD floppies that were intended for PC use as BLANKS to be
reformatted SSGCR in the 1541 for Com use.
in the 1541,
and read files from a 360k DOS
floppy to the Commodore-formatted disk.
The 1541 is SINGLE SIDED and GCR.
The "360K DOS floppy" is DOUBLE SIDED and MFM.
You can NOT "read files from a 360K DOS floppy" in a 1541.
There is no usable overlap between what can be read or written with the
1541 and what can be read or written with the PC disk controller.
Instead, you should look for a 1571, which is capable of doing MFM.
With appropriate additional software, it could read or write DOS
diskettes, or read or write a SHORT LIST of MFM CP/M formats (including
Kaypro and Osborne DD), which the PC can read and write with appropriate
additional software.
Or do a serial transfer or connect a Comm drive to a PC, using X1541
cable or a IEEE488 board.
In my googling for the pinout of the above-mentioned
cable, I came
across some plans & software to attach a 1541 drive to a PCs parallel
port. Has anybody tried it?
Sorry, I haven't used X1541, but I have heard that it can be made to work.
--
Fred Cisin cisin(a)xenosoft.com
XenoSoft http://www.xenosoft.com