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
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 (http://videocam.net.au/fcug)
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
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
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.
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
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.