Miro - the original HD PSUs used by CMD were essentially A500 PSUs.  The PSU you cited should work just fine.

Miro - this is something I have wrestled with myself. I have 2 CMD HD units (yes, because 1 just isn't enough). I have one of each of the original PSU's that Robert mentioned. The controller doesnt need 4.5 Amps. There are 2 considerations. The current at 12V and the current at 5V. The "newer" original PSU outputs 12V at 1.6A and 5V at 2A. If I'm not mistaken the 12V line powers the controller while the 5V line powers the HD mechanism. It turns out that the brand new PSUs manufactured by basicwayne and sold on ebay are sufficient to run a CMD HD.

Tom

QuoteWell, strictly speaking, a group is comprised of two or more persons. 

So here is my perspective - a group is a mathematical structure which consists of a set, S, together with a binary operation, *, such that:

(1) x*y belongs to S for all x,y in S.  (Though closure is inherint with a binary operation so this is a tad bit redundant)
(2) there exists an indentity, e, in S such that e*x=x*e for all x in S
(3) there exists an inverse for every element in S, i.e., for every x in S there is a y in S such that x*y=y*x=e
(4) associativity holds true. That is, (x*y)*z=x*(y*z) for all x,y,z in S

If the group also satisfies

(5) x*y=y*x for all x,y in S (i.e., the group is commutative)

then it's called an Abelian group.

Now to your point.  If we consider the set consisting of just the identity element, i.e., S={e}, under the binary operation e*e=e, you see the above 5 conditions are satisfied.  So my point is, not only can I call myself the sole member of my own group... but I can be the sole member of my very own (trivial) Abelian group which exists solely in terms of my identity.

And the above response to Roberts post, my friends, is precisely why mathematicians find themselves only fitting into groups of one   

QuoteHowever, I think that "Commodore Club of Central Florida" is more mellifluous.  It abbreviates to C³F (which also means "Commander, 3rd Fleet (U.S.)"!).

That is awesome, Robert.  I love it.

Tom

QuoteIn December, the Southern California Commodore & Amiga Network (SCCAN) celebrated its third year anniversary.  In mid-2010 the Portland Commodore User Group (PDXCUG.org) and the Commodore Computer Club (of Vancouver, WA) were established.  Though not a C= club per se, the Manteca Order of Retro-Gamers (MORG) has been meeting for 4+ years; they have a strong interest in Commodore.

Thanks, Robert.  This is good to know.  I'm tempted to declare myself the sole member of the central florida commodore users group.  Is the acronym CFCUG being used by another group?    If I were more into "social networking media" I'm sure making contact with like-minded people would be easier.  But I'm not the facebook type.

Though I have considered generating interest via a BBS as a point of contact.  In fact I have more than considered it.  I have spent a few months putting it together.  Not entirely sure it will go live yet.  We'll see how things play out.

Tom   

I used to be a member of the Jensen Beach C= users group (another S. Florida group).  Robert - do you know if there are any members from El-Shift-Oh still active in the C= scene?  I have really been aching to try and start a C= users group in central florida - and Melbourne is certainly part of central florida.

While this question may belong in a seperate post - has anyone successfully started a C= users group in the last decade?  (i.e., not one that was well established in the 80's/90's)?

Tom

Miro - Not sure if you managed to get the v2.80 rom burned or not.  You can also contact Jim (user: Brain here at 128 alive).  He has hooked me up with 2.80 roms for both of my CMD HD units.  And if you are using larger mechanisms and want the full 16mb per partition - I highly recommend using the 2.80 rom.

Tom

Nice!! Thanks, Robert.

Tom

Maraud - I suggest you just grab a mechanism out of an old amiga.  After trying (with no success) to get other drives to work, I picked up a cheap Amiga 1010 drive with a good working mechanism.  It worked like a charm in the 1581.

Tom

Miro, I don't know a whole lot about bbgram but I know they were put out by Performance Peripherals and were later made available through LynnCarthy Industries (publishers of dieHard mag). To my knowledge Berkley Softworks had nothing to do with bbgram. But they required 4 D batteries! Talk about added weight to device.

I have a question for you. What is NEOram? I've never heard of it.

Tom

And it works! Thanks, Lance. I'm glad I can post from my android now. Much more convenient.

Tom

I find myself using my PC laptop less and less for my "at home" computing.  In fact, aside from my not-so-humble 128 setup all I have is my "IBM clone"    laptop which I primarily use for work.  I find myself using my android for just about everything internet related.

But I'm having problems posting in these forums from my android.  When I click on the text box to enter the text for the post, it doesn't respond.  It's obviously a problem with the browser.

Does anyone here post from an android?       

Once again, thank you for your insightful posts BDD.  I fully suspect that I will find the solution to my problem in your post.  What you said about the modem going into a hardware reset each time DTR is de-asserted feels very much like the problem I'm dealing with.  After spending some hours playing with the modem (and relearning all the AT commands I once knew) I have a much better understanding of what is going on. 

I am not near my 128D right now - but I will spend some time on this tomorrow.

Thanks again,

Tom

Yeah I spent a couple hours playing with it again today.  Still not working.  I'm pretty certain the Swiftlink cartridge is working fine (anyone know of diagnostic software for the swiftlink?).  I can use the ATIn commands to see the stored template configurations, I can get lists of commands from the modem printed to the terminal, I can get the  modem to print all the S-registers, etc.  So the modem seems to be communicating with the Swiftlink appropriately.

QuoteFWIW, I've never had any success with a US Robotics 28.8k modem. 

          I use a Zoom external modem on my C128DCR

Robert - So can I use a 33.6k Zoom?  I know the Swiftlink can handle communication speeds upto 38.4k (at least, the Swiftlink documentation says so).  I have been under the impression that for speeds higher than 28.8k the turbo232 is the preferred high speed ACIA device.

Looks like I can get an external 33.6 Zoom new and sealed with documentation at a cheap price.  Think it will work with my Swiftlink?

Thanks,

Tom

Hi guys.  I have a swiftlink and a USR 28.8 sportster (as the post title suggests).  Unfortunately I don't have the documentation for this USR modem.  I found dox on the USR website for the 33.6k sportster which I figure can't be too different.  The really important thing is the list of AT commands - and I figure those will pretty much be the same for the 28.8 and 33.6 sportster.

I would like to get it working.  I tried to configure it for my Cnet 128 system - but no luck so far.  I tried to get it working on Novaterm 10 and Desterm 2.0 as well.  Not happening.  The modem goes TR (terminal ready) and the lights for send/recieve data do flash during initialization through Cnet, Novaterm, etc.  But when I try to dial out the modem just makes a "CLICK" noise and that's about it.

I'm sure I have some guys defaults set in my NVRAM (I bought this modem used a few weeks ago).  I would like to set up NVRAM as per my C128D - but it seems a bit tricky.

I found an article in CW#14 by Max Cottrell (in the "SysOp's Corner") in which the author touts the use of USR modems with swiftlink for a BBS.  He gives his settings, and I have tried those.  But I think he is using a 14.4k (though this is not explicitly stated in the article).  I know that Eric Pearson mentioned in the Cnet 7.0 documentation that he was able to run Cnet128 stable at 28.8k with a swiftlink + ?? modem (I forget what he used).

Any advice is appreciated.

Tom

Unfortunately, the same thing happened to me on ebay about a year ago.  Someone pawned off an amiga mouse as a 1351.

QuoteFWIW, a 1351 mouse has a plastic sub-mini D connector going into the port, and the Amiga 1352 mouse has a shiny metal band wrapped around the sub-mini D connector

Yep, educating oneself about the hardware sure saves headache.  But then again, I guess that's how we learn.

Tom

 

QuoteI especially recommend Compute's Mapping the Commodore 128 ...

I second that motion.  If you are going to be doing any serious programming on the 128, this book is a "must have" reference.  I'm not as familiar with Computes 128 Programmers Guide.  I will take it under recommendation and put it on my reading list for the holidays.

Tom

Steve - To begin I would HIGHLY recommend the 128 Programmers Ref. Guide:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Commodore-128-Programmers-Reference-Guide-/190453006712?pt=Video_Games_Games&hash=item2c57e24178

(Though I don't recommend buying it at that price.  You can get it for <$20 if you keep an eye on listings from time to time).  Now.. to your question.  There are several ways of doing this, but let me first ask - are you utilizing both 64k RAM banks?  Depending on your needs you could stash the code in the second bank and do a long jsr to the 2nd bank.  If there are portions of code from the 1st bank which are necessary while executing the from the 2nd bank, you can even create "common ram" between the 2 banks (upto 16K).

Tom

There are several ways of doing this.  I use a relatively simple method.  Go on Ebay and get a cable (XM1541 or some variation thereof).  It will run you about $15+shipping.  Download software called "opencbm" and install it on your favorite PC with a parallel port.  (The cable goes from PC parallel port to commodore disk drive serial port).  Hook the IEC serial end into your 41/71/81 and you're set to go.  opencbm is command line based.  You can probably find a nicer GUI out there - but opencbm is simple and gets the job done.

Good luck!

Does anyone have a link to pfiles/doors for Cnet 128?  I had the good fortune of getting my hands on someone's old Cnet v6.0 BBS files (I bought his hard drive).  There are over a dozen or so pfiles that are games and a handful of "utility" pfiles for board maintenence.  None of these pfiles are included with the cnet128patched.zip over on Bo Zimmer's site.

I downloaded Cnet v7.2 and set it up on one of my CMD HD's.  Most of these "extra" pfiles from this old Cnet v6 BBS work great on v7.2.  Some don't work (most notably: Empire).  I have searched high and low on the internet for Cnet 128 pfiles and found nothing.  I checked pokefinder, library #23 on genie, forums, you name it.  Does anyone have any on disk?  Maybe you could make a d64 image for me?  It would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

Tom

So I have spent the last few weeks playing with Cnet 128 v7.2.  It is a spectacular piece of software.  I remember playing with earlier versions of Cnet 128 back in the early 90's.  It sure did mature from what I recalled from back then.

I have read the doumentation from beginning to end a couple of times.  It is extremely well documented.  In the documentation there are several references to a future v7.5.  One of the planned updates in this "future version" was an environment that allowed for access to LU's above 9.  (I'm talking about hard drive partitions).  Was such a version ever released?  That would be an enhancement of epic proportions.

Tom

That's fantastic news!  I'm glad to hear all that hard work will still be enjoyed by people in the future.  It is a very much appreciated resource.

Does anyone have a list of which of those files are NTSC compatible?  I have had great success with a few games (notably Defender of the Crown, Castlevania, Shadow of the Beast, and a handful of others).  Some will work but aren't stable on NTSC machines (like Rastan).  And others just won't run at all on my NTSC machine (Elvira II).

Thanks.

Tom 

BDD - Thanks for the information.  As usual, I walk away from reading your posts feeling like a more enlightened person.

Robert - Like I said I simply heard mention of it elsewhere.  Like in the following forum back in early October (someone mentions they own such a unit):

http://www.lemon64.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=35339&start=25&sid=3b51cfeccd18171b4e0139a462565356

But I haven't found any posts (beyond yours) which contained any substance with resepct to the actual unit or details surrounding the release of a new product.

Tom

So I have spent time looking through the lists maintained by Jim and others over the years regarding active (and defunct) commodore users groups.  Many moons ago when I was a teenager I was active in a commodore users group in south florida.  (Treasure Coast area).  Most groups have long since disbanded.

Does anyone know of an (active) commodore users group in the central florida area?  I can't seem to find one, and I'm tempted to try and start one.  Even though I have no idea how to undertake such a task 

Tom

I can't seem to find any mention of the Lt. Kernal II/RA drives outside of some forums and the ebay listing.  Does MyTec have a website with product information?   

It's tough to justify the purchase since I already own 2 CMD HD's.  But the multiplexing feature makes it a very attractive product.   That is something I wish I could do with my CMD HD.  I recall reading in the CMD HD users manual mention of a multiplexer HD accessory, but I have never seen one.  Even in all of the dieHard and Commodore World CMD ads I've read through - I couldn't seem to find any mention of such a device.

BDD - I am quite familiar with how CMD HD's work (and the associated limitations on partition size, etc. due to the HD DOS), but I have no idea how Lt. Kernal's work.  What is the mathematical reasoning behind the 160mb max capacity on the drives?

Tom

Wow.  The impression I got from your post was that the Rear Admiral was for existing Lt. Kernal units.  I had no idea this would translate into ACTUAL Lt. Kernal II units being sold. 

http://cgi.ebay.com/XETEC-LT-KERNAL-II-160MB-HARD-DRIVE-COMMODORE-128-NEW-/300486908771?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item45f66a5b63

Thinking about brand new Commodore hard drive systems being sold in 2010 makes me smile.  I hope he sells lots of units.