22 Nov
1997
22 Nov
'97
5:09 a.m.
Well, after a long dry spell (partly self-induced) I came home this week
with a few machines. I picked up 5 PET 4032's (one labelled 'No Good') a
VIC-20, a 4022 printer, 5 datasettes, a 1571 disk drive (it rattles, i'm
not hopeful), a box of VIC power adaptors (the 10vac ones) and RF
modulators.
I also got 4 'MSD Super Disk Drive' model SD-1. These look similar in
design to the external TRS-80 drives (except they're cream coloured).
They have two 6-pin DIN plugs and an IEEE-488(?) plug. Are these what I
think they are? (Drives that will work on the VIC-20/C-64 and PETs) I
don't have any 6pin cables to try these on a VIC. I haven't tried them on
a PET yet, either. Any idea what format these would be? (2040, 8050?)
Finally, I picked up a bit of PET software. I got five copies of
VisiCalc. It turns out, however, that this software requires a ROM chip
to be installed in the machine it is to be run on. (an early dongle?) No
problem, five VisiCalcs, five PETs... they must have the ROMs in them,
right?... wrong. Not-a. So... does anyone have a dump of the 'VisiCalc
for PET' ROM that they could email to me so I can try out this classic
piece of software? (and preserve it, of course.)
Oh, for those who follow the prices... I got the lot for $75CAD (about
$55USD) A little more than I wanted to pay, but it was a school board, so
I guess it's a good cause.
ttfn
srw
23 Nov
23 Nov
6:40 a.m.
Scott Walde wrote:
I also got 4 'MSD Super Disk Drive' model SD-1. These look similar in
design to the external TRS-80 drives (except they're cream coloured).
They have two 6-pin DIN plugs and an IEEE-488(?) plug. Are these what I
think they are? (Drives that will work on the VIC-20/C-64 and PETs) I
don't have any 6pin cables to try these on a VIC. I haven't tried them on
a PET yet, either. Any idea what format these would be? (2040, 8050?)
The MSD drive will definitely work with a C-64. By extension, I belive
this means it will also work with the VIC-20. Not sure about PET
compatibility, though I believe the IEEE-488 interface was provided for
PET's.
I had an MSD for my C-64 years ago. It was an SD-2; you guessed it; a
dual disk drive of the same style you have. It read/wrote nearly all
native 1541 disks. The only exception was that a few of the more brutal
copy protection schemes used on some software (particularly games) did
not work on the MSD drive. These copy protection systems usually
involved bad tracks and/or sectors purposely being written on the disk.
The software would check for the appropriate error code when it read
these tracks/sectors. The MSD would not always return the same error
code the sofware was expecting, causing the software to assume it was
being loaded from a copied disk.
I paid $1,000.00 CDN for mine in 1984! Sounds brutally expensive, but
at the time, 1541 drives were famous for blowing their power supplies.
The MSD is fairly bulletproof, and never gave me any problems.
If you run across any SD-2's in your travels, I would be interested in
re-aquiring one.
Grant Zozman
gzozman(a)escape.ca
9892
days inactive
9893
days old
1 comments
2 participants
participants (2)
-
gzozman＠escape.ca -
scott＠saskatoon.com