What's the correct disks to use ?

[Blacklord]

Original post by Panther

I've got an 8296-SK with 8050 disk drive, what disks should I be using ? DS-DD ? Does the capacity matter (I have some marked 320Kb), I've tried formatting a few using the command Header"diskname",d0,i01 but it keeps returning with 'Bad Disk' is it something I'm doing wrong ?

One confused and very un-knowledgable Pet owner

P.S. Can I write files to a 1541 drive from my PC with a X1541 cable and then read them on the 8050 drive ?

cheers

[Blacklord]

Original post by Robert Bernado


Quote from: Panther

    I've got an 8296-SK with 8050 disk drive, what disks should I be using ? DS-DD ?

Yes, good DS-DD disks should work.
Quote from: Panther

    Does the capacity matter (I have some marked 320Kb)...

Hmm, a 5 1/4 DSDD should be marked 360k.
Quote from: Panther

    Can I write files to a 1541 drive from my PC with a X1541 cable and then read them on the 8050 drive ?

Well, a 8050 drive is not supposedly be able to read or write to a 1541-formatted disk.

Truly,
Robert Bernardo
Fresno Commodore User Group
http://videocam.net.au/fcug

[Blacklord]

Original post by Anders Carlsson

I wonder if it is even possible to program a 8050/8250 to simulate a 40-track drive? Perhaps the more narrow R/W head makes it even theoretically impossible

[Blacklord]

Original post by Steve Gray

Quote from: Anders Carlsson on October 31, 2008, 09:57:26 am

    I wonder if it is even possible to program a 8050/8250 to simulate a 40-track drive? Perhaps the more narrow R/W head makes it even theoretically impossible.


Plus the fact that 4040 disks are 48 tracks-per-inch (TPI), and 8050 disks are 100 TPI... I guess Commodore picked 100 TPI drives before the industry standardized on 96 TPI (double the 48 TPI)..

Steve

[Blacklord]

Original post by Anders Carlsson

It would be kind of nice, but also quite odd, to have a "4050" drive, i.e. a double drive with one 48 tpi mechanism and one 100 tpi one. Logically it should be doable if one creates a custom interface board.

[Blacklord]

Original post by Steve Gray

Quote from: Anders Carlsson on November 05, 2008, 08:52:08 am

    It would be kind of nice, but also quite odd, to have a "4050" drive, i.e. a double drive with one 48 tpi mechanism and one 100 tpi one. Logically it should be doable if one creates a custom interface board.


I'd call it an 8040 drive ;-) I've been looking at schematics trying to figure out what extra electronics make up the DUAL drives. So, take a 2031 drive and add "something" and you get a 4040. Does it all come down to a few lines on one I/O chip connected to the second mechanism? Could I turn my SFD into an 8250 by adding a couple chips, etc? How hard would it be (slightly non-PET related) to add a second mechanism to a 1581 to build a 1582 (after all, it uses (mostly) standard 3.5" mechs). Could a 1581 board be modified to use standard 5 1/4" mechs?

What I find strange is that, even for very similar products, Commodore engineers REDREW the entire schematics, making it hard to analyze the differences....

My ultimate CBM drive would be a mini-tower type box with 2 4040-compatible drives, 2 8250-type drives, and 2 1581-type drives (or even HD mechs) using a single controller with both IEC and IEEE interfaces. Oh, and while I'm dreaming, throw in a USB connector to hook it up to the PC ;-)

Steve

[Blacklord]

Original post by Nils Eilers

Quote from: Panther on September 10, 2008, 11:01:18 pm

    I've got an 8296-SK with 8050 disk drive, what disks should I be using ? DS-DD ? Does the capacity matter (I have some marked 320Kb)


DS-DD are the right disks. You might also use DS-SD, since they usually are the same but only one side was tested. Don't use HD-disks: if you are able to format them, your data may get lost soon.

Quote from: Panther on September 10, 2008, 11:01:18 pm

    I've tried formatting a few using the command Header"diskname",d0,i01 but it keeps returning with 'Bad Disk' is it something I'm doing wrong ?


Syntax is header "name",ixx,d0 - don't confuse the order of ixx and dn ;-)

Quote from: Panther on September 10, 2008, 11:01:18 pm

    P.S. Can I write files to a 1541 drive from my PC with a X1541 cable and then read them on the 8050 drive ?

No, a 4040 can read and write 1541 disks, a 8050 can not. If you use Linux, you can use a PC64-cable - that is simply a cable that connects the LPT-port of the PC with the user-port.
You can also build a C2N232 that connects to the serial port.

XS-1541 is a tool to connect your PC with every 8-bit-commodore disk drives, no matter if they have the serial IEC-port or the parallel IEEE-port like the 8050. It connects to the PC/Mac via serial port or USB, but it's still alpha yet. At the moment, only read commands are supported, write support is still missing.