VIC-20 with IEEE-488

carlsson · Post by **carlsson** » Sat May 13, 2006 6:32 pm

Tonight, I tested an IEEE-488 interface with my VIC-20. It works nicely, allocating device 8 for the IEEE bus(*) and leaving i.e. device 9 for my 1541-II. I tried it by attaching a 5 MB 9060 hard disk, and managed to both bring up the directory and load files from it. Cool, but just temporary.

And some people have the misunderstanding that VIC-20 doesn't support disk drives at all.

(*) I don't know if daisy-chaining devices on the IEEE bus assigns different device numbers to each unit, and whether this interface would allocate a number to every IEEE unit prior to letting the IEC bus use them. When connecting a 1541-II as device 8, it worked as long as I didn't have any IEEE devices connected to the interface, so I needed to toggle the device number on the disk drive to use it simultaneously.

vic user · Post by **vic user** » Sat May 13, 2006 8:40 pm

this sounds really cool!

can you elaborate and what you mean by ' Cool, but just temporary', as i would like to know more about this?

Post by **Jeff-20** » Sat May 13, 2006 11:19 pm

Maybe I am just a little tech-naive, but this sounds like BIG news to me.

carlsson · Post by **carlsson** » Sun May 14, 2006 1:50 pm

Temporary = the hard disk is about to be sold, and I'm rather getting a IEEE-488 floppy drive (if I can find some suitable floppies).

ruud · Post by **ruud** » Mon May 15, 2006 4:37 am

carlsson wrote:Temporary = the hard disk is about to be sold, and I'm rather getting a IEEE-488 floppy drive (if I can find some suitable floppies).

May I point you to http://www.baltissen.org/htm/cbmhd.htm ?
Here you find a project that enables you to use a PC IEEE drive. A Pentium 1 will do. As my program only runs in real DOS mode, I advise to install W98 on it. This enables you to use its real DOS mode when simulating an IEEE drive and enables you to use the GUI mode for exchanging files over a network.

carlsson · Post by **carlsson** » Mon May 15, 2006 11:58 am

Ah, an IEEE alternative to 64HDD? Quite cool.

carlsson · Post by **carlsson** » Tue Jun 13, 2006 1:10 pm

Now I have a total of two IEEE-488 interfaces for VIC-20:

Dams Office Equipment: auto-starting, supposedly allocates device numbers depending on the number of IEEE devices on the bus. Other device numbers remain available to the IEC bus.

Handic IEEE-488: started with SYS 45056: ** HANDIC IEEE 488 **. It allocates (patches Kernel?) all device numbers from IEC bus, but it is disabled with RUN/STOP + RESTORE (and thus can the IEC devices be used again).

I'm unsure if this Handic interface is identical to Commodore's VIC-1112 interface. Does anyone own this cartridge and can tell whether it:

a) autostarts or requires a SYS
b) hogs all device numbers (like most IEEE interfaces for VIC/64 seems to do)

Actually it was one of many identical interfaces, but only one was pre-populated with 6522 chips, and for the moment I didn't need more interfaces. If anyone has use for them, I could probably pick up 2-3 more bare boards and sell, perhaps even populated with 6522 chips.

ral-clan · Post by **ral-clan** » Thu Jun 15, 2006 8:17 pm

carlsson wrote:Actually it was one of many identical interfaces, but only one was pre-populated with 6522 chips, and for the moment I didn't need more interfaces. If anyone has use for them, I could probably pick up 2-3 more bare boards and sell, perhaps even populated with 6522 chips.

I've always wanted an IEEE interface for my VIC, in case I ever find a PET hard drive. But I wouldn't know where to get the missing chips, so if it was posible to get a populated one, that might be something I would be interested in.

ruud · Post by **ruud** » Fri Jun 16, 2006 5:41 am

ral-clan wrote:But I wouldn't know where to get the missing chips,

I have about 50 6522's laying around. I don't know what other chips are needed but the 75160 and 75161 are still available AFAIK.

carlsson · Post by **carlsson** » Fri Jun 16, 2006 8:07 am

A picture says more than a thousand words:

By the way, you know the small opening in the back of a VIC-20 cartridge? It turns out it is a perfect fit for the IEEE connector. I don't know if it was on purpose or a co-incidence.

dragos · Post by **dragos** » Fri Jun 16, 2006 8:29 am

I would be interested in one!!!!!

carlsson · Post by **carlsson** » Fri Jun 16, 2006 10:23 am

Yep, dragos and ral-clan already advertised their interest, plus one more off-Denial (interesting wording).

KilrPilr · Post by **KilrPilr** » Fri Jun 16, 2006 11:27 am

Are they all spoken for Anders? Id like one of those carts too.

carlsson · Post by **carlsson** » Fri Jun 16, 2006 11:36 am

If I find a fourth functional one, you'll be on the list.

KilrPilr · Post by **KilrPilr** » Fri Jun 16, 2006 11:39 am

Thanks

VIC-20 with IEEE-488

VIC-20 with IEEE-488

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