Commodore 128 Alive!

Could be of use to someone on the board who has a Plus4, these don't come up very often.

Auction is here (http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Original-Commodore-Floppy-Diskettenlaufwerk-1551_W0QQitemZ360010304012QQihZ023QQcategoryZ3544QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem).

Looks to be in good nick as well.

(http://www.c-duwe.de/10.JPG)

For all that the Plus/4 is maligned, the black+rainbow motif does look pretty cool. At least the machine and its peripherals don't yellow. Well, the keys might, but it'll still never look as bad as some of the 128s that show up on eBay.

Nice find.  how much faster is the 1551 compared to the 1541, 71, and 81 (the later in burst modes)?

Quote from: nikonikoFor all that the Plus/4 is maligned, the black+rainbow motif does look pretty cool. At least the machine and its peripherals don't yellow. Well, the keys might, but it'll still never look as bad as some of the 128s that show up on eBay.

Actually none of the Plus4's I've got have yellowed keys - the plastic seems to be a different material to the other C= machines.

Quote from: xlar54Nice find.  how much faster is the 1551 compared to the 1541, 71, and 81 (the later in burst modes)?

Because of the parallel connection, the 1551 was about 4 times faster than the 1541.

Lance

I hope to pick up a very nice, boxed, 1551 with instructions in June.

Happy New Year!
Robert Bernardo
Fresno Commodore User Group
http://videocam.net.au/fcug
The Other Group of Amigoids
http://www.calweb.com/~rabel1/

Was that an IEEE drive and interface, or something else CBM dreamed up?

INFO never got much into the Plus/4. :)

Quote from: airshipWas that an IEEE drive and interface, or something else CBM dreamed up?

Second!
The drive is connected to the expansion port of the P4. Data transfer is parallel.

WTE

Quote from: adminBecause of the parallel connection, the 1551 was about 4 times faster than the 1541.

Is that 4 times faster than a 1541 can go or 4 times faster than a stock 1541?
The latter would be really quite slow...

Quote from: airshipWas that an IEEE drive and interface, or something else CBM dreamed up?

I thought the cable was hard wired to the cartridge, if not I doubt they bought expensive IEEE connectors. It's likely that it's based on the old IEEE drive firmware though.

Quote from: smfIs that 4 times faster than a 1541 can go or 4 times faster than a stock 1541?

4 times faster than a stock 1541.

Quote from: smfI thought the cable was hard wired to the cartridge...

Yes, it is wired permanently to the cart.

Truly,
Robert Bernardo
Fresno Commodore User Group
http://videocam.net.au/fcug
The Other Group of Amigoids
http://www.calweb.com/~rabel1/

4x speed of stock 1541 is TERRIBLE!  With a little programming, the 1541 can do 10x speed transfer over SERIAL!  When I had a Plus/4, I never got a disk drive cuz I was concerned about the strange disk connection (never got joysticks either!).  I wondered then if I was missing something really good not having that fancy parallel connection.  So it turns out, no.  What a relief :)

I just don't get how a parallel connection could be that slow.  Must be the software.  The miracles of shoddy software never cease!

Another one has showed up on ebay, here (http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=250382720879&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=015). Starting price €0.99! The owner is in Italy and will ship worldwide.