Quote from: RobertB on April 20, 2010, 01:53 AM

Quote from: mozartpc27 on April 17, 2010, 05:40 AMAs I'm sure everyone here knows (but that I didn't know when I bought the 1581), files cannot be directly copied from a 1541 or 1571 disk drive to a 1581, either through the Commodore's native OS...

Yes, they can.

How?  When I try it, I get messages from GEOS telling me it can't be done (I am using GEOS 2.0).  The manual also indicates it can't be done.  The manual for the 1581 reiterates that it can't be done.

Quote from: RobertBThere are copy programs that have existed since the 1980's that can do the copying.

What programs are those?  Do I need to install whatever it is into GEOS?  I am sorry I am not as well versed as others in this, but explanations would be helpful.

Quote from: RobertBYou are talking about the VLIR files used in GEOS, right?  Make sure that you have the latest Configure in your GEOS so that you can use the 1581 correctly.

Allow me to reveal the level of my technical knowledge here: Huh?  I have no idea what you are talking about when you say "VLIR files."

Quote from: RobertBAh, are you talking about whole disk copy or file-copying?  As mentioned above, file-copying from 1541/1571 to 1581 is relatively easy.  Whole disk-copying is difficult, due to the fact that 1541/1571 disks have their directory on a different track than where the directory track is on a 1581.

So, I can copy individual files directly off of a disk in a 1571 drive to a 1581 drive?  Am I understanding you correctly?  How is this done, given that GEOS 2.0 determinedly tells me it canot be done?  I don't mind having to copy files one at a time, if it can still be done.  Also, how do I accomplish the same thing inside the Commodore 128's native OS without having to load a program I've written in its entirety, then save it to the 1581?  Do explain!

Thanks for the clarification on the difference between 128 and 128D.  I have played around a little bit with Basic 7.0 in the Commodore 128.  Some day, when I have more time, I probably will try my hand at designing some programs to run on the 128.  For now, I am mostly going to use the Commodore to run GEOS 2.0 out of 128 mode.  I have some games and things, but most of the software I have other than GEOS needs to be run out of 64 mode.

Interesting. Thanks for the information.

Hello All,

So I have a couple of questions related to GEOS 2.0, which I have recently downloaded from cbmfiles.com.

First off, I've finally gotten GEOSpell, the lack of which was the principal reason I stopped using GeoWrite back in 1996 or so.  However, since I don't see the GEOS 2.0 manual available for download anywhere on cbmfiles.com, I'm still at a bit of a loss as to how to RUN GEOSpell when I have a GEOWrite document open.  Can someone enlighten me, or at least point me to a place where the GEOS 2.0 manual might be downloaded?

Secondly, long ago (around 2003 or 2004 I think), I bought a 1581 disk drive, with my ultimate intention always being to move as much of my old Commodore files on to 3.5" disks as possible.  This, however, has proven somewhat more difficult than I thought originally.  As I'm sure everyone here knows (but that I didn't know when I bought the 1581), files cannot be directly copied from a 1541 or 1571 disk drive to a 1581, either through the Commodore's native OS, or inside of GEOS.  Now, inside the native OS, the work around is simple enough: load a program into memory from the 1571, then save it to a 3.5" disk on the 1581.  A pain in the neck, and awfully time consuming, but it can be done.  However, GEOS disks are more tricky: they really can't be copied except in GEOS, and GEOS can't copy from a 1571 to a 1581 any more than the C128 can from its native operating system.  From GEOS FAQs I've read, Bo Zimmer's and others, I get the impression that IF I acquire a REU, I should be able to use it as a go-between between a 1571 and a 1581 inside of GEOS: in other words, I should be able to copy whole disks from a 1571 drive to a 1581 drive by copying them from the 1571 to the REU, then from the REU to the 1581.  Is that accurate?  If so, then I have only the "simple" matter of getting an REU at this late date in history, but it's better, I suppose, than being "stuck," as I currently am, with a 99% useless 1581.  I've yet to copy a single old file of mine on to a 3.5" disk; I am still stuck using my old cache of 5.25" disks.  I'd really like for this to stop. 

I've tried using the 1581 with OpenCBM and an XM1541 cable, by the way, and haven't had much luck: I suppose the PC I am using, which is running Windows XP 32 bit Professional SP3, is probably too far removed from the DOS-based Windows machines for which all these workarounds were designed.  It's also an IBM Thinkpad T23 laptop, which, I understand, may cause some problems, because I believe the Parallel port on this machine is soldered to the motherboard.  Suffice it to say, OpenCBM will not write to the 1581 for me, though it does recognize it is there.  This means, as yet, i've been unable to create a GEOS 2.0 3.5" boot disk.  I suppose I might try using Star Commander.  Any suggestions?

Thanks for taking the time to read my post, and I appreciate any and all advice that anyone on here can offer me!

Quote from: BigDumbDinosaur on April 15, 2010, 12:24 AM
The presence of all the @'s on the 80 column screen after power on suggests that all the locations in video RAM have $00.  Something is not correctly initializing the display, you have defective video RAM or no font data.  The latter is copied from the character generator ROM at boot time.  I've never heard anything about the CHARROM failing, so video RAM seems more likely to be the trouble.  It does sound as though the VDC is working to some extent, otherwise you'd most likely see a blank screen.

Somewhere around here is a machine language program I wrote that checks to see if you have 16K or 64K of video RAM in the 128.  Although it was not designed to do a detailed video RAM test, you can try running it and see what it reports.  In the process, it may temporarily disrupt the screen but will then call the kernel routine that copies the CHARROM into video RAM.  If you see any screen action please advise what you saw.

You didn't indicate if this is a flat or 128DCR, but in either case, replacement RAM is still available through sources like JAMECO (you can upgrade the flat 128 to 64K in th eprocess).  It's somewhat tricky to replace though.

I am going to see if I can locate that program and run it, at least.

Quote from: redrumloa on April 12, 2010, 02:51 AM

Quote from: mozartpc27 on April 11, 2010, 08:59 AM
All 9 appear to be there.

That may be the problem? You don't say what brand and model monitor it is. Is it a Commodore monitor? Pin 7 is removed from Commodore RGB cables, because pin 7 is monochrome composite video for the 128 RGBi pinout. On a monitor like the Commodore 1084(d) this shouldn't be a problem, but another brand may be?

The monitor is a Sanyo DMC6500.  It came with the computer when I bought the whole system, and it seems clear to me that, at least at one time, this monitor did work perfectly well with this 128.

Oh, and let me clarify: I have a standard 128, not a 128D.

Aside from cosmetics, is there any meaningful difference between the 128 and 128D?  Just curious.

Wow, I am amazed at all the technical know-how on display here. 

I must admit, I am not really particularly good at that side of these things.  I certainly used to do some programming on my old C64 - but the kind of programming a 13-15 year old does, which is how old I was when I got into it.  Today, I can do most of the basic stuff, and some of the intermediate stuff, that PC Windows computers can do, but I am no software or computer engineer, I haven't used Linux or Unix in years (and when I did use them, it was only on the most rudimentary level), and, in general, I'm probably unlike a lot of the users on this board in terms of my know-how. 

My interest in my Commodore is part nostalgia and part aesthetic; I really don't have much confidence in my ability to open up my 128 and start fiddling with its internal components (especially considering these machines were not meant to have swappable internal stuff).  So, while I appreciate this kind of knowledge and advice, it's going to be a little on the difficult side for me to apply it!

All 9 appear to be there.

It certainly would be frustrating if I had to buy another C128 unit.

Quote from: RobertB on April 10, 2010, 03:28 PM

Quote from: mozartpc27 on April 10, 2010, 07:52 AM
...sadly discovered that the monitor displays, for lack of a btter term, a lot of "junk" characters (mostly the @ symbol) when it powers on.  It can still be used, sort of, as I can load GEOS, which, when loaded, looks a lot better than the native screen of the 128, but, on the whole, this kind of sucks, because even in GEOS, though there are no junk characters, there are a lot of dots on the screen.

That sounds like a C128 problem, not a monitor problem.

I wondered about that myself, because it does seem to be a computer error in some ways.  For example, if I move the cursor over one of those junk "@" characters and attempt to type a letter, I get a different letter than the one I typed.  However, if I move the cursor to a position where only a junk "dot" appears, it types correctly (this is how I am able to load GEOS 2.0, which doesn't self-load on boot-up, as I got it as a disk image from the internet).  But when I use the RF-out to a television, the video works just fine.

Quote from: RobertB on April 10, 2010, 03:28 PM

QuoteSo, I've been looking around trying to find an RGB monitor for slae or something, but, as I might have expected, they appear to be kind of scarce.

Heh, we have too many RGB monitors sitting in the club storage right now.  Thank goodness that the Vintage Computer Festival is rumored to be coming back to California this year.  If so, we can have a sales table and sell those at $20 a pop.

See, $20 is more like it.  I'd be willing to spend that to figure out if this is indeed a Commodore problem or a monitor problem.

Quote from: RobertB on April 10, 2010, 03:28 PM

QuoteSo, what are my options if I want 80-column mode available to me in a clean-looking way?

To see the image cleanly and without the use of an expensive adapter, then you'd need that RGB monitor.

            Blockparty 2010 on April 16-18,
            Robert Bernardo
            Fresno Commodore User Group
            http://videocam.net.au/fcug
            July 24-25 CommVEx v6 2010 - http://www.commodore.ca/forum
            and click on ComVEX

Ah, well, on the one hand, thank you for the tip, but on the other hand, here's the rub: I am just a lowly graduate student at the moment, and, even at the extraordinarily low prices this group appears to have reserved at the hotel for this convention, I doubt I can afford to go.  I live on the other side of the country, you see (Philadelphia), and so the flight would definitely be on the pricey side.  We're on a tight budget this summer, and I think the wife would not be pleased if I blew this kind of money to go to a convention in California or Las Vega by myself...

I should add that the monitor I have also has a composite video input (at least, I think it's composite), and supposedly will therefore work with VCRs, etc.  This doesn't seem to help me much, as what I want to use it with is a ColecoVision and the C128 in C64 mode, both of which, I think, have only RF video outs.  When I tried to run the C128 using the video-in on the back of this monitor and a composite video cord running between the monitor and the C128's RF video out port, it didn't work.  I didn't think it would, but I thought I'd give it a shot.

Anyway, this monitor, as I've said, seems kind of coked anyway, so all of this is a mootpoint I guess, but it would be interesting to know if there were some sort of RF-to-composite converter that would allow me to use the monitor and see if it works in 40-column mode.  The weird thing is, I'm pretty sure the previous owner must have been able to use this monitor in 40-column mode with the Commodore, but it's not at all clear to me how they did it, since the monitor's only other video input, besides the RGB input, is a composite input, which the Commodore can't use, to my knowledge.

Hello All,

So, about six or seven years ago now (wow, I can't believe it's been that long), I bought somebody's used Commodore 128 system on ebay, and it came with an RGB monitor.  When I bought it, I really didn't have a place for it, and so it sat boxed up for a long time.  Then, I moved to where I am now in 2008, and so I got it all out and set it up.  But, when I set it up, I set it up with a television set, rather than with the monitor that came with it, because I also have an old ColecoVision system that can only use an RF-style video output, and that's really only compatible (so far as I know) with the old TV/game switches, which then can be converted to use the coax input on televisions.

Anyway, lately I've been playing around with this Commodore a lot more, as I finally got a converter interface that allows me to make an XM-1541 out of a regular serial cable, and I've used it to download some files I've wanted for a long time.  Now, I could really use the 80-column capabilities of the monitor that came with the 128 when I purchased it.  So, I dug it out, hooked it up, but then sadly discovered that the monitor displays, for lack of a btter term, a lot of "junk" characters (mostly the @ symbol) when it powers on.  It can still be used, sort of, as I can load GEOS, which, when loaded, looks a lot better than the native screen of the 128, but, on the whole, this kind of sucks, because even in GEOS, though there are no junk characters, there are a lot of dots on the screen.

So, I've been looking around trying to find an RGB monitor for slae or something, but, as I might have expected, they appear to be kind of scarce.  So, what are my options if I want 80-column mode available to me in a clean-looking way?  I know you can buy converters, but the ones that I found were $92, plus shipping.  I'd really rather not lay out that kind of money all in the name of resuscitating a 25 year old computer system...

Awesome!  Thank you!

Thanks for your reply, redrumloa.

So, I am not sure "building" a cable is an option for me, as I have precisely no experience with this sort of thing.  I am a fan of the Commodore platforms, but I am by no means an advanced user.

The PC system I have that I could use for this purpose is an IBM Thinkpad T20 with a Pentium III processor, running Windows 2000.  It has, of course, a serial port, as well as two PCI slots.  Windows 2000 is built on the NT platform, which means only that fake verison of DOS, not the full real version, so if that makes a difference, let me know.

I am willing to spend a little bit of money on this, but I think I'd rather not go as high as the option you mentioned.  I was looking at, for example, buying one of these "XE/XM 1541 adapters" on ebay (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=350325412839&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT) for $14.99+shipping, which allows you to just plug an existing Commodore serial cable into it and then plug the serial port end into a PC.  Then, I guess I was thinking of buying 64HDD Professional, so that I would have software that would allow making the file transfers easy-ish.

I must admit that the cheaper I can do this for, the better, but ease of use is also a high priority.  So, I guess I'd want to rank solutions by Ease, then inexpensiveness.  The ideal solution in my mind will be easy to use and cost under $50.  this may not be possible, I realize.

I bought the Commodore 1581 disk drive several years ago with the idea that having it would make it easier for me to swap from a PC to the Commodore, but I guess I didn't buy the "Big Blue Reader" in time.

Hello All,

I am new to the board, so let me introduce myself.  I am US citizen in the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania area (for those familiar with the US, not very far away at all from CBM's old West Chester headquarters).   I am a proud owner of both a Commodore 128 and a Commodore 64.  Currently, the 128 is the one set up for use.   I have 1541-II, 1571, and 1581 disk drives.  I was a huge Commodore fan back in the day, and my fondest hope is to keep my little computing system alive.

Which brings me to my BIG QUESTION, which I hope you on this forum will be able to help me answer.  I must admit I have not used my Commodore computers much lately, mostly because the machines are isolated.  Moreover, I am not the experienced computer programmer many of you on here probably are; I did quite a bit of pretty primitive programming on my C64 back in the day, but I haven't done it for years and I am no expert in how to maniuplate these machines on a very high-skill level basis.  So, I've never really learned how to share files between my Commodore and my PC, but I am now determined to do so.

So, what is the most effective way to go about this?  I wanted to buy Big Blue Reader, but I see it is no longer available from the manufacturer.  Is there anywhere I can get it?  Short of getting this program, how can I go about making it possible to share files back and forth?  I know I will probably need the XM 1541 cable (actually, I am considering buying an adapter on ebay, but I don't want to purchase anything until I am sure I know what I am doing).  But I suppose the big question is: even if I have the XM 1541 cable or adapter, a Commodore computer and/or disk drive cannot read PC file systems.  So, let's say I want to download some Commodore software from the internet.   How do I get it on to a Commodore-formatted disk, even if I have an adapter that will allow me to plug a Commodore drive into my PC?

I am deeply interested in this because I would really like to go back to using my C64/C128, even for rather mundane, every day projects like word processing.  To do that, though, I need to be able to get some additional software for my Commodore.  Specifically, I am interested in getting GeoSpell and GeoWrite Workshop 128, both of which, I believe, are available for free download from this web site: http://cbmfiles.com/geos/geos-2.php .  The problem is, I can download them using my PC, but I can't transfer them to a Commodore computer.  And I can't download them to my Commodore, even though I have a Commodore modem (1670/1200 baud).

My best bet would probably  be to locate that Big Blue Reader software.  Any help would be greatly appreciated!