> > > "Given the potential flakiness of 1541 drives, why make permanent hardware > changes when a basic program allows you to assign the drive to whatever you > want for the temporary need of the day?" > > Though I'm not entirely sure it exists, any "potential flakiness" is > probably a very good reason to make the change in hardware. Device IDs > assigned via software (with a M-W command to the DOS) don't persist between > drive resets and may not persist between serial bus resets either, for that > matter. So if the drive does screw up and requires a power cycle, you're > back to device 8 again afterwards. This means shutting off one drive, > re-assigning the device ID to 9 or whatever, then powering on the second > drive. > > If you're using more than two drives, it really becomes a hassle. In any > event, just install a switch (or pair of them..) on each drive and all is > well. > > > How about a middle ground then, if you must control drive assignment with hardware, put in a jumper that can be changed externally without opening the case each time, or a switch. Further, I my friendly opinion that one should start with a software solution. Switch to hardware when it becomes a hassle and you're 100% sure you want to leave it permanently. I switch things around all of the time, to me it's just part of what you do with Commodore drives.
Among other useful tools I have a drive assignment program on my SD drive root. Here is a link to a video I made to demonstrate commodore drive assignment using a Commodore B-128, 8050 drive, D9090 drive, and 1571 drive together https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBeFXDWbw8A b
