Commodore Free 16/Commodore_Free_Issue_16_2008_Commodore_Computer_Club.d64/t.x1541 cable 1

Text File | 2023-02-26 | 11KB | 364 lines

uX1541 - The Idiot's Guide
http://www.geocities.com/cdsixfour/
 x1541.htm

Page 1 of 2

The finished product - the X1541

This page is here to help those of us
out there who have NO IDEA about
transferring games between a PC & a C64
It's called the idiot's guide because
even an idiot is supposed to be able to
do it! This includes myself as I was
once an idiot in regard to the X1541.

What's .zip, .lha, .d64, .lnx, .z64
and 1! all about?

For those of you who have nearly no
knowledge of file archiving, seeing
.zip at the end of a downloaded file
will not make much sense to you.
You'll see files all over the net with
a .zip extension, including my page.
To the uninitiated, a .zip file is
usually a compressed file (or files)
that are compacted into one file and
placed on the web or sent in emails so
that connection time is kept short and
so that the files take up little
space. Another well known compressor
is lha (a.k.a. lzh. This can be opened
with recent versions of lha). If
you're looking for help on using these
compressors, go to this site. It's
mostly a case of placing the
compressor in your DOS folder on your
C drive and following the instructions
contained within the file itself.

So, if you need a unzipper, PKUNZIP is
probably the most standard one to get
- and if you need it or any other
archival programs, this site gives you
the most complete treatment of
archival programs to download that I
know of. If you're using Windows, then
Winzip is really the only way to go. It
handles long filenames, whereas
PKUNZIP can't handle them and refuses
to extract them. Some zips on the C64
FTP sites contain long filenames
(unfortunately) that can't be extracted
under PKUNZIP. Why Microsoft initially
had the 8.3 filename convention in the
first place really baffles me.

.d64 file extensions are disk image
extensions. The files are images of a
Commodore 1541 disk, and contain all
the code that a 1541 disk side would.
These files are loaded by most C64
emulators and  are treated like a 1541
disk. This is usually the result after
transferring C64 1541 disk sides to the
PC.

.lnx files are LYNXed files, usually
done with a program called "Ultimate
Lynx" or "Ultimate Lynx 3" which is a
C64 program that packs several files
into a single file. The Star Commander
can open these and the files contained
in it can be copied into disk images.
However, the latest release of the
Star Commander has difficulty with
some lynx files created with Ultimate
Lynx 3. Star Commander tends to
operate well only with the standard
lynx format. In this case, the lynxed
file itself can be copied into a disk
image and unpacked with Ultimate Lynx
3 from a C64 or an emulator. The Star
Commander makes it a lot easier,
however, but occasionally it will
report that the lynx file is "corrupt"
when really it can't understand the
format. Should you need Ultimate Lynx
3, I have it for you to download. I've
recently put Ultimate Lynx 3 on the
disk image next to Ultimate Lynx 1, so
now you should be able to extract
files lynxed with Ultimate Lynx 3, too.

Another file type that can be found in
many C64 archives are Zip-coded disks
(not to be confused with .zip files!).
They appear as 1!example, 2!example,
3!example, and 4!example. These are
packed files that constitute all tracks
and sectors of a 1541 disk side. Some
wise-guys have even decided to give
them a .z64 extention, even though they
are recognised by their "1!" style
prefixes. These .z64 files should be
treated as Zip-coded disks (although I
personally disapprove that they should
be called .z64 files).

Zip-coded files appear as x! example,
a! example, b! example, etc. They are
simply packed files. Both Zip-coded
disks and files can be depacked with a
PC program called 64Copy, or on the 64
with Zip-Code utilities. They are
rare, but if you find them copy them
into a .d64 image and run them through
the Zip-code utilities. When depacking
Zip-coded disks, beware of the
"Zip-DOS read" option. With many
zip-coded disks, leaving this on YES
while depacking can corrupt the data
on the final product. If you need
zip-code utilities, I have them for
you to download.

The Best Way
Although there is more than one way,
the best way to transfer programs
cross-platform between a PC and C64 is
to use a 1541 disk drive connected to a
IBM compatible PC. You connect a cable
(called the X1541 cable) from the
serial port on the 1541 and connect it
to the LPT parallel printer port on
your PC. From there you use a transfer
program (I recommend the Star Commander
although there are several other
transfer utilities available on the
net. After that it's simple.

The reason why this is the best method
is because the 5.25" drives on IBM
machines are MFM format drives while
the 1541 is a GCR format drive. These
formats are incompatible. Not only
that, but 1541 drives are "smart"
because they contain the necessary on
board electronics and disk operating
firmware, whereas IBM drives don't
necessarily. Hooking a 1541 up to an
IBM is much simpler. Text files can be
transfered with a 1571 and a program
called the "Big Blue Reader" if you
want. The 1571 can read both MFM and
GCR. Transferring by this method is
very slow though, so forget it unless
you want to convert C64 word processor
files to an IBM wordprocessor.

So where do I get the X1541 cable?

Ahhh... The PC is easy to get. If you
don't have a 1541 disk drive (Or your
old drive is broken) you can order a
new one from CMD but beware the $
factor. The X1541 cable, however....
you'll have to build yourself. Also,
the author of the Star Commander has a
team that builds quality cables at
very reasonable prices.

IMPORTANT NOTE:
At this point it is probably worth
mentioning that if you have a Pentium
II motherboard (or better - I think),
that the X1541 cable WILL NOT WORK on
the Star Commander. The only cable
that will work is the XE1541 cable.
This requires extra components. All is
explained here.

But I don't know how to make one!
I personally had no idea about
soldering a cable together when I
first thought about building a X1541
cable. I did some reading on the topic
and after some practice I found myself
building a fully working cable!!! If
you don't know where to start when
soldering or you can't understand the
X1541 diagrams, I'll explain. I'm no
electrician, but I can point you in
the right direction. You don't need
talent to build a cable or even to
solder. An hour or so of practice is
all you need.

There is another way to create a crude
X1541 cable without having to solder.

So what will I need?

Go down to your local electronic parts/
hobby shop and buy the following:

A soldering iron - A cheap one will
do. Preferably one with a narrow tip.
It will be touching small surfaces.
Resin flux solder - Preferably with
the smallest diameter wire possible. I
use 0.7mm. Remember it must be RESIN
FLUX solder. Resin flux is used for
electronic soldering.

Wire - It doesn't matter what type of
wire, as long as they're not bare
wires and have some plastic shielding.
I used copper wire. Try to get
different coloured wires so that you
can tell them apart.

Wire stripper - To get the plastic
cover off the wire!

Steel wool - To polish surfaces before
soldering. Shrink tubing - To keep all
the wires together to make the cable.
I used a tubing 5.0mm in diameter. The
diameter of the shrink tubing will
usually depend on the diameter of the
wire you're using. You may have to use
your good judgment in deciding which
ones to get.

Male 6 pin din plug - This bit goes
into your 1541 serial port.

Male D25 solder plug - This bit goes
into your PC's LPT port. It's called a
D25 plug in electronic supplies
stores. Make sure it's the solder
variety. You'll notice it has
catchment sockets to collect solder on
the other side of the pins.

Male D25 casing - To cover the D25
plug! I prefer using a plastic casing
as opposed to a metal casing Sticky
tape / Blu tak - to hold things in
place while you solder.

A copy of the X1541 specifications -
If you choose to work without one I
hope you know what you're doing! You
must have a good memory! Joe Forster
has the specs on his X1541 page

Remember this:
A male plug has pins on it that stick
out. A female plug has holes that
these pins go in. So if you've got a
dirty mind, sexual innuendo such as
this will help you remember!! The
X1541 cable has two male plugs, so
they'll both have pins sticking out!
These are the ones you get!

It may be helpful for those who have
never soldered before to buy several
plugs before building the cable to
practice on first. This way, if you
mess up your plug you have a spare to
work on.

Step 1
First, we're going to create the cable
part. If you notice the specifications
of the X1541, you can't make the cable
more than a metre long. I recommend the
cable to be about 40-50cm long. Cut
your wires to about 20cm longer than
the length you wish to make the cable.
This is so you have some room for error
should you mess up and have to cut the
wire some more.

Next, we're going to get those wires
down the shrink tubing. This may
require some patience depending on how
large the diameter of the shrink
tubing is and the wires you have. If
you do have difficulty putting the
wires down the tubing, look at the
diagram and all your wires. Hopefully
you'll have different coloured wires.
Now decide which coloured wire will be
for each connection. I decided like
this:

 COLOUR  -  CBM    - IBM
=======================================
  RED    - Ground - Ground
  BLACK  - Reset  - Init
  BLUE   - Clock  - AutoFeed
  BROWN  - Atn    - Strobe
  GREEN  - Data   - Select In
  YELLOW - Autodetect connection
   (optional)

Now, notice where the wires are on the
CBM serial diagram you have? Well In
my case, the Black reset wire and
Green Data wire are above the other
three wires on the diagram. What I did
was to push the wires down the shrink
tube in this arrangement so that they
came out untangled and in this
arrangement by the time they came out
the other end. The longer your shrink
tube is, however, the harder this may
be. If the wires tangle inside the
shrink tube, they will have trouble
going down. Try not to let this happen
for your sanity's sake! It would be
great if the wires inside didn't
tangle because eventually when you
shrink the tubing it will look
professional, because there will be no
bumps in the cable because of tangled
wires. Eventually you will have five
wires running through the shrink tube.
Now we're ready to solder!!

Step 2
OK, now that we've done the easy bit,
it's time for the harder bits.

Pull the wires through the tube so
that they have even length on both
ends of the tube. Plug in your
soldering iron and allow it to heat
up. Soldering is not too difficult,
but there are a few things to
remember:

Don't burn yourself! It can get real
hot. Try to have a place to rest your
soldering iron when not using it. A
soldering iron stand is obviously the
best thing for this, but still you may
not want to get one, and you don't
have to either. I have been burnt
before by a soldering iron and it's
not funny!  Use steel wool to clean
surfaces that you solder before
soldering. This is so the solder has
no trouble rolling off the tip of the
soldering iron instead of bubbling up
on the tip.

Continued in Part 2