Disk Drives.

Tepic · Post by **Tepic** » Mon Jul 19, 2004 4:46 pm

I'm looking to get a drive for my 8bit Commodore computers.

I have 3 that are used frequently. My Vic (obviously) C64 and Plus/4.

I know C64 and Plus/4 can use the same drive, but can a Vic? If I bought a 1541 can I use it on all 3?

Thanks

Mayhem · Post by **Mayhem** » Mon Jul 19, 2004 4:57 pm

vic user · Post by **vic user** » Mon Jul 19, 2004 5:03 pm

nice to know the plus/4 could use the 1541 drive.

at least it was compatible with some of the older commodore hardware then

chris

Tepic · Post by **Tepic** » Mon Jul 19, 2004 5:12 pm

Yep

Great. I was dreading the conversation with the wife.. "But dear I need this because....."

Post by **Jeff-20** » Mon Jul 19, 2004 9:42 pm

With the tape player incompatability, I was wondering as well... I once found a tape adaptor for the c16 at a thrift store.

When I finally decided I only wanted to work with the VIC, I sold it on ebay for an outrageous ammount.

carlsson · Post by **carlsson** » Tue Jul 20, 2004 12:15 am

Actually, I think more hardware is cross-compatible between the VIC and 64 than between the 64 and Plus/4. The 1541 will work, but I think you were supposed to get the (faster? just different?) 1551 for the C16 and Plus/4.

Mayhem · Post by **Mayhem** » Tue Jul 20, 2004 3:37 am

They designed the C64 partly to use the same hardware add-ons (datasette, disk drive etc) as the Vic20. Sadly this means it was also saddled with the slowness of the serial connection for the 1541 where they could have made something newer and quicker.

carlsson · Post by **carlsson** » Tue Jul 20, 2004 8:10 am

How was it - the VIA serial routines were buggy when the VIC-20 project was to be released, so they had to stick with a slower version, and later when the C64 arrived, the routines (now applied to CIA) were fixed, but could not be incorporated to break backward compatibility?

Boray · Post by **Boray** » Tue Jul 20, 2004 8:53 am

They designed the 1541 for the C64. The 1540 that was the original Vic20 drive is faster than the 1541. Just as swithing the 1541 to "vic-20 speed" with the "UI-" command. So instead of making the disc access faster, they made it slower on the c64...

/Anders

carlsson · Post by **carlsson** » Tue Jul 20, 2004 8:57 am

.. due to more complex timing (VIC-II) I believe. It is true that a better serial protocol/routines could have been used to get faster access, but it would break compatibility. Remember that most C64 disk speeders close the screen in order to get as fast transfer as possible.