I know of no way, probing only with the PC & software, to determine which type of X-1541 cable you might have. However, wiring diagrams for +all+ versions are freely available, and it shouldn't be any great effort to open up and - with the help of a multimeter - examine a given cable and compare it against the various arrangements.
The 1541-side parallel port is totally optional, and it is not required to produce a working setup. However, when coupled with an appropriate cable, drives equipped with the parallel connector operate several times faster than even the fastest non-parallel setups. That said, any of the X-1541 setups will tend to run a fair bit faster than a genuine Commodre IEC bus, so unless you plan to do a +lot+ of transfer, don't worry about going the parallel route. On Mon, Feb 22, 2016 at 8:54 PM, Eric Christopherson < echristopher...@gmail.com> wrote: > On Mon, Feb 22, 2016, drlegendre . wrote: > > I do a fair amount of cross-C64 work, but all of it's on Linux.. here's > > what I can tell you, much of which applies to MS/Win as well. > > > > First you need a method of reading the original C-64 floppy into a .D64 > (or > > other supported) image. This requires +four+ basic things - a PC, a 1541 > > (or compatible) drive, a supporting software suite and one of the various > > X-1541 cables. These days, with modern multi-tasking OSes, I'd suggest > > using nothing but the XM-1541 cable design. These may be purchased, or, > > with a little time & effort, built up by the DIY-er. > > Does anyone know of a way, from Linux, to determine the particular > species of one of those cables? I bought mine years ago and no longer > remember which it is (and it isn't marked). I assume it's XM, since I'm > sure I intended it for use in Linux when I bought it, but I'd like to be > sure. > > > > > The XM-1541 cable connects the CBM 1541 drive to the parallel port on the > > PC. The software suite (I highly suggest OpenCBM!) acts as a userland > > driver / utility suite, allowing you to read, write, format etc. original > > SS/SD disks on the 1541 drive. Once you have successfully read images of > > the disk(s), then it's up to you how you handle them.. > > Somewhere I picked up the idea that for that you would need a cable that > connects, not only to the serial IEC port of the drive, but to a > parallel port which you must DIY on the drive. Would someone mind > chiming in here -- I don't understand how that would do anything other > than making the transfer faster? I know that on the software side you > specifically need nibbling tools, like mnib. > > > > > If you have one of the SD-based systems, simply copy over the image to > the > > SD and you're good! I don't use SD card, just original 1541 & floppies, > so > > wouldn't have much help for that end of the process. But I'm sure it's > very > > well documented by the vendor of the SD-card drive hardware - right? =) > > The SD card devices all use Ingo Korb's SD2IEC software, as far as I > know. The main source of documentation I know of is at > <https://www.sd2iec.de/gitweb/?p=sd2iec.git;a=blob;f=README;hb=HEAD>. > > > > > On Mon, Feb 22, 2016 at 6:41 PM, Fred Cisin <ci...@xenosoft.com> wrote: > > > > > On Mon, 22 Feb 2016, Mike wrote: > > > > > >> Is there a way to copy a disk from a commodore floppy drive to a SD > card > > >> if so please enplane how it is done > > >> > > > > > > You need a machine that supports both formats. Either add an SD card > to a > > > Commodore, or do appropriate special cabling and software to read the > > > commodore disk on a PC. > > > > > > > > -- > Eric Christopherson >
