upgrade the firmware of your 1571 or 1581 drive

[eslapion]

Hello,
I noticed a lot of people are making themselves 1581 drives using Joe Palumbo's kits. http://jppbm.com/

However, all these drives come with the buggy old 318045-01 ROM chip. I am presently selling the upgraded 318045-02 ROM made using ultra long lasting OTP PROM chips. Unlike ordinary UV ersable EPROM chips, these can never be erased and can never start losing their content over time.

Only 4.95$ each.

I also make the upgraded 310654-05 firmware for the 1571 which corrects the bug of 310654-03 that moves the R/W head between each sector when writing on the disk's top side. Also made using ultra long lasting OTP PROM chips.

Also 4.95$ each.

Shipping cost is reduced when you buy them in larger numbers. Talk to your friends and fellow commodore users and combine shipping!

See items 160069326709 and 160069327812 on eBay.

[ral-clan]

Hi!

I *just* ordered one of these drives from Joe Palumbo about 3 minutes ago. Paid for it and everything. So you are telling me it has buggy firmware?

What is the effect of these bugs?

Sounds like I might need an upgrade ROM (cue the sucking sound of the never-ending money hole of Commodore collecting).

[ral-clan]

I just found out this info regarding the 1581 (From Ray Carlsen's documentation):

Lastly, a fault that is not really a drive problem but that looks
like one shows up when you connect a 1581 to a C64 (or VIC20) with a
datassette also connected. When accessed, the drive will lock up the
serial bus and the green activity LED on the drive will stay on. The
1581 uses one serial line for burst mode (128 mode only) that the C64
doesn't support, and that line is also used by the datassette for its
read function. A 1581 pulls the \SRQ (pin 1) line low when the drive is
accessed, and that locks the bus. Note that this problem doesn't happen
with a 1571 or on a C128 (64 or 128 modes) with a 1581 and datassette
connected. If it is necessary to use a datassette with a 1581 on a C64,
one workaround would be to cut the computers \SRQ line to the serial
port (it's never used anyway), or make up a special serial cable with
that line disconnected.

This is highly disturbing to me, since I use a datasette connected to my VIC-20 all the time. Eslapion, does your ROM update remedy this?

[eslapion]

This is highly disturbing to me, since I use a datasette connected to my VIC-20 all the time. Eslapion, does your ROM update remedy this?

I know of the effect of the old ROM on the 1571 but I do not know the exact bugs the 318045-01 suffers on the 1581.

I will have to investigate this. Thank you very much for this information.

[Centallica]

I just found out this info regarding the 1581 (From Ray Carlsen's documentation):

Lastly, a fault that is not really a drive problem but that looks
like one shows up when you connect a 1581 to a C64 (or VIC20) with a
datassette also connected. When accessed, the drive will lock up the
serial bus and the green activity LED on the drive will stay on. The
1581 uses one serial line for burst mode (128 mode only) that the C64
doesn't support, and that line is also used by the datassette for its
read function. A 1581 pulls the \SRQ (pin 1) line low when the drive is
accessed, and that locks the bus. Note that this problem doesn't happen
with a 1571 or on a C128 (64 or 128 modes) with a 1581 and datassette
connected. If it is necessary to use a datassette with a 1581 on a C64,
one workaround would be to cut the computers \SRQ line to the serial
port (it's never used anyway), or make up a special serial cable with
that line disconnected.

This is highly disturbing to me, since I use a datasette connected to my VIC-20 all the time. Eslapion, does your ROM update remedy this?

Good thing you put your foot down on not buying anymore stuff

Brian

[ral-clan]

Good thing you put your foot down on not buying anymore stuff

Yes GUILT .

[eslapion]

I cannot verify the existence of the problem as I do not have an old ROM to check it with.

But I can confirm to you that with the newer ROM, 318045-02 or with jiffyDOS 6.02 installed in your 1581 then this problem does not appear.

This is true for both the VIC-20 and the C64 (a real one and not a C128 in C64 mode).

[eslapion]

These ROM upgrades also resolve the save and replace bug as documented in wikipedia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodore_ ... eplace_bug