questions concerning X-cables and file sharing

ruthven · February 18, 2009, 12:27 AM

Hi everyone,

I've been wanting to transfer .d64 images to actual C64 disks for a while. It would also be nice to share files between a PC and my C128, making the PC act like a very large external hard drive. After a bit of research I've come across a program that sounds promising for file sharing called 64HDD. Only problem (and it may not necessarily be) is that it only supports the two original X-cables--the X1541 and the XE1541. First off, I'm wondering is there any other PC software like 64HDD that supports the more modern X-cables (XM1541 and/or XA1541)? Or is 64HDD the only and/or best program of it's type?

I have an old 486 laptop that runs MSDOS 6.22--an ideal machine for C128 file sharing. I'm not sure what kind of parallel port it has, but it must be one of the older kinds that the original X1541 was made for. My next question is, will an XE1541 work just as well on a 486? I ask because I understand that the X1541 is obsolete and will not work on any computer even close to "modern". I plan to do my transferring of .d64 images on a much newer computer that has an Internet connection, and it would be nice to be able to use the same cable. My three "newer" computers run Windows 98, 2000 and XP respectively. I found all the cross-compatibility charts a bit confusing, but my understanding is that Star Commander should work with the XE1541 under all these OS's, though maybe not perfectly stable in 2000 or XP. Essentially I would rather not buy two different cables.

At this point you probably wonder why I don't just make the cables myself--well, I've never been too competent at that sort of thing and would rather just buy one that has been tested to work. Which leads me to my last question: anybody know where I can buy an XE1541? Thanks for reading.

SmallCleverDinosaur · February 18, 2009, 01:04 AM

There is another device that connects the serialport of a commodore to a PC, see the thread here. Unfortunately it only supports the C64 (and the C64 mode of a C128) and not the C128 mode since the device can't handle fast serial connections. I have contacted the creator of this device about that issue, but I'm not sure he's working on it.

ebay is of course always a good place to find these things

And only to confuse you a little more there is also a XA1541 cable, which is an active cable designed to work with multitasking operating systems like Windows. You can find a neat little adaptor for use with a standard Commodore serial cable here.

Have you ever considered to instead use one of the many devices that transfers disks between a Commodore and a PC using an SD-card?

MIRKOSOFT · February 18, 2009, 05:51 AM

Hi!

Ideal system for large harddrive is 64HDD (I'm user of 64HDD Professional upgraded to C128). Parallel cable is old-type printer cable and SERIAL Bus of Commodore on the other side. Yes I know, you're from USA, but here in Europe you can buy X/XE cable at http://www.protovision-online.de/catalog/index.php?cPath=1_3&osCsid=520f225854db4aae99e3324e05552e38.
It's German on-line store. The postage outside Europe is not large item. Ideal is PayPal.
Maybe this helps.

Miro

RobertB · February 18, 2009, 11:47 AM

Quote from: ruthven on February 18, 2009, 12:27 AM...my understanding is that Star Commander should work with the XE1541 under all these OS's, though maybe not perfectly stable in 2000 or XP.

My understanding is that Star Commander only works with MS-DOS.

Truly,
Robert Bernardo
Fresno Commodore User Group
http://videocam.net.au/fcug
CommVEx v5 info - http://www.commodore.ca/forum and click on ComVEX

SmallCleverDinosaur · February 20, 2009, 11:00 PM

Quote from: ruthven on February 18, 2009, 12:27 AM
At this point you probably wonder why I don't just make the cables myself--well, I've never been too competent at that sort of thing and would rather just buy one that has been tested to work. Which leads me to my last question: anybody know where I can buy an XE1541? Thanks for reading.

There is also this little neat adapter. It acts as a XE1541 or a XM1541 depending on a jumper setting on the board.

ruthven · February 23, 2009, 11:43 AM

Thanks for the responses and sorry for taking so long to get back... I came down with the flu this week and was very, very sick--so no programming, message posting or even working for me! That first alternative connection (C64TPC) looks interesting but doesn't seem to be as compatible for a C128 setup as 64HDD/Star Commander with an XE1541. Also, it runs on more modern systems (which seems a real good thing where this kind of software is concerned) but for my case--I would like to use my 486 DOS laptop specifically because I have it anyway and it's just going to collect dust otherwise. I'm just psyched to finally have justification in keeping that old laptop all these years.

That second adapter (XA1541) I hear is one of the best and most all-round compatible (OS/parallel port/motherboard wise) of the X-cable series. Unfortunately, if I want to use 64HDD I need to stick with the older XE1541 type. Originally I just wanted to make some disks from .d64s, but I got to thinking I might as well give myself the ability to slave my old laptop as a file server with the same cable if possible. I checked that German store but unfortunately the XE1541 is currently out of stock.

That last adapter listed, however, I think is exactly what I need. There weren't any of these on eBay at the time when I had first checked, but there's one on now and I think I'm going to grab it as soon as I finish writing this. It's cool that it can be switched to the more modern XM1541 type for far broader compatibility. This may be necessary when using my modern PC (with Internet connection) to write 1541 floppies. Now I don't have to hope that the XE1541 will work on all my systems!

QuoteMy understanding is that Star Commander only works with MS-DOS.

You're probably right about that, I'm sure--I was just going by the info tables (as best I could discern them) on the Star Commander website. It has a chart with software relating to OS compatibility and Star Commander has "YES" listed in both the Win9x/ME and NT/2K/XP columns--of course they are footnoted saying that "steps have been taken in this software to support this operating system", and in the case of NT/2K/XP--"unfortunately, not perfectly stable". Maybe this means it will work in a full screen DOS window, I don't know. In any case, one of my "modern" PCs (with internet connection) dual boots Win2K and Win98, so I should be all set with Win98's pure DOS mode.

One last question (for now) on this file sharing business: does 64HDD have any noticeable increase in loading speed over a 1541 drive? I'm just talking about the regular connection, not the powerloader... I sure hope so cause the 1541 is so, so S L O W!

RobertB · February 23, 2009, 04:41 PM

Quote from: ruthven on February 23, 2009, 11:43 AMThat last adapter listed, however, I think is exactly what I need. There weren't any of these on eBay at the time when I had first checked, but there's one on now and I think I'm going to grab it as soon as I finish writing this.

It's also at the regular NKCElectronics.com website.

Quote from: ruthven on February 23, 2009, 11:43 AM...does 64HDD have any noticeable increase in loading speed over a 1541 drive? I'm just talking about the regular connection, not the powerloader... I sure hope so cause the 1541 is so, so S L O W!

Not really. It will still be just as S L O W.

Truly,
Robert Bernardo
Fresno Commodore User Group
http://videocam.net.au/fcug
CommVEx v5 info - http://www.commodore.ca/forum and click on ComVEX

airship · February 24, 2009, 02:14 AM

Quote from: RobertB on February 23, 2009, 04:41 PM
Quote from: ruthven on February 23, 2009, 11:43 AM...does 64HDD have any noticeable increase in loading speed over a 1541 drive? I'm just talking about the regular connection, not the powerloader... I sure hope so cause the 1541 is so, so S L O W!
Not really. It will still be just as S L O W.

The free version, yes. But if you DO invest $100 or so in the professional version of the software, a speedup cartridge, and a parallel cable, you'll get much faster transfer speeds. All is explained on the 64HDD web site. There's even a C128 version.

dabone · February 24, 2009, 08:49 AM

Yeah, but for that kind of money, getting a sd2iec device and jiffy dos seems to be a better deal, and also doesn't require a large computer running dos just to serve as the drive.

(I'm running a uiec/sd mounted internally in a flat 128, it's really quick with jiffydos installed, faster than a real 1541 by far.)

Later,
dabone

RobertB · February 24, 2009, 03:46 PM

Quote from: dabone on February 24, 2009, 08:49 AM...getting a sd2iec device and jiffy dos seems to be a better deal, and also doesn't require a large computer running dos just to serve as the drive.

(I'm running a uiec/sd mounted internally in a flat 128...

Yeah, the SD2IEC, the uIEC/SD, and even uIEC/CF with IDE have superseded the 64HDD.

Truly,
Robert Bernardo
Fresno Commodore User Group
http://videocam.net.au/fcug
CommVEx v5 info - http://www.commodore.ca/forum and click on ComVEX

ruthven · February 25, 2009, 12:11 AM

Ok, I'm going to stray off topic a bit here: this has to do with my S L O W 1541 drive:

Is there a particular fast loader I should look for?--I was thinking about checking eBay for the Epyx FastLoad cartridge... I've also heard that there were type-in (BASIC program?) fast loaders in Commodore magazines--how do these type-in fast loaders compare to the commercial ones on cartridge, and if they're just as good, does anyone know where I can download one? Or should I just start thinking about getting a 1570 or 1571 drive?

SmallCleverDinosaur · February 25, 2009, 12:57 AM

There are very few fastloaders created for the C128. Since the 1571 are so much F A S T E R than the 1541 a fastloader for the C128 isn't really needed.

Remember though that in C64 mode the 1570/1571 emulates a 1541 and operates as S L O W as that one.

One fastloader cartridge that works in both C64 and C128 mode is the Warp Speed:

More info about that cartridge can be found at Mr Wiskow's homepage.

airship · February 25, 2009, 01:32 AM

To my mind, the nice thing about 64HDD is that it could have been developed back in the day. It wasn't, but you really don't need anything but period-capable hardware and software to implement it.

ruthven · February 27, 2009, 02:35 AM

QuoteRemember though that in C64 mode the 1570/1571 emulates a 1541 and operates as S L O W as that one.

I had forgotten about this. So in other words, to get any C64 specific software to load faster, I have no choice but to get a fast loader... This is fine with me as I have no specific C128 software anyway, just piles of C64 games and programs. So really, even a non-switchable C64 only fast loader (like the Epyx one) would suit my purposes. Still, thanks for making me aware of Warpspeed. I just placed a bid on a Warpspeed cart on eBay. It will be nice to have the option of speeding up C128 software as well, should I ever acquire any in the future.

Can a fast loader such as Warpspeed also speed up access to 64HDD? I checked their website but was a little confused on this issue--they speak of "speedup" cartridges (which it seems they make their own specific to 64HDD) and powerloader parallel cables... Also, do I need the professional version to be able to use speedup cartridges/parallel connection?

RobertB · February 27, 2009, 03:26 AM

Quote from: ruthven on February 27, 2009, 02:35 AMCan a fast loader such as Warpspeed also speed up access to 64HDD?

I've tried, but Warpspeed has no effect on the load/save speed of 64HDD.

Quote from: ruthven on February 27, 2009, 02:35 AMAlso, do I need the professional version to be able to use speedup cartridges/parallel connection?

Yes, you do need the Pro version for those 64HDD enhancements.

Truly,
Robert Bernardo
Fresno Commodore User Group
http://videocam.net.au/fcug
CommVEx v5 info - http://www.commodore.ca/forum and click on ComVEX