Denial

I'd buy a DC2N, but they're not available yet, are they?

The DC2N will be available very soon.
I've got a prototype.
Contact Luigi (tce) to order/reserve your DC2N.

Check out http://www.luigidifraia.com/c64/dc2n/index.html for the e-mail address.

So, do they load files off the flash card in real-time (i.e. slow old style datasette speed), when plugged into a real VIC?

ral-clan wrote:So, do they load files off the flash card in real-time (i.e. slow old style datasette speed), when plugged into a real VIC?

yes, everything is real time, loading, dumping ,saving.

My setup:
IBM tinkpad T-20 running linux.
This is on the interwebs and i download the programs and then copy them to 1.44Meg floppy

Then i walk the 1.44meg disk over to a Tandy 386-SX 20 PC running FreeDos and Star Commander. I have one of those X?1541 adapters from Ebay stuck on the printer port. This hooks to a real 1541. The Tandy reads/writes right to the 1541 with out a hitch. (so far). This gives me a legit 1541 floppy.

I then carry the fresh 5.25 over to my vic.

CrAlt wrote:My setup:
IBM tinkpad T-20 running linux.
This is on the interwebs and i download the programs and then copy them to 1.44Meg floppy

Then i walk the 1.44meg disk over to a Tandy 386-SX 20 PC running FreeDos and Star Commander. I have one of those X?1541 adapters from Ebay stuck on the printer port. This hooks to a real 1541. The Tandy reads/writes right to the 1541 with out a hitch. (so far). This gives me a legit 1541 floppy.

I then carry the fresh 5.25 over to my vic.

Sneaker-net rules!!!

I'm looking for some advice on getting some .prg files off the internet onto a real Vic-20. I've never transfered files to a Commodore before and am not sure exactly what would be easiest. I'm not really interested in cassette transfers unless disk won't work for some reason. My Vic is not physically close to any other machine currently but I suppose it's easily moved. I don't run any emulators and prefer not to have to get one for this project unless that's the easiest way. Here's what I have currently:

-Vic-20 with RS-232 adaptor, 8k cart, datasette, 1540, 1541, two 1571s
-PC with Linux and 1.2M floppy drive, also a serial port configured for terminal access
-Amiga 1000, no 5.25" drive currently but I might be interested in one in the future.
-IBM AT with DOS, parallel port, 360k drive, and internet access.
-C128 with CP/M and of course the drives above (though I do plan to sell this in the future)

I would love to find something like Big Blue Reader for the Vic, but don't see anything like that out there. Star Commander looks like a good choice and I think I even made a cable ages ago. Can it directly transfer .prg files to/from Commodore disks?

There are so many ways to move files from a PC to a VIC-20 but you mentioned easiest so my suggestion is to get uIEC. It plugs into your VIC's IEC (serial) port like a disk drive and uses CF or SD cards (depending on the model you choose). Download software, copy it to the card, pop the card into the uIEC and load it. Doesn't get much easier than that.

Thanks, I had actually been thinking about the uIEC, but then cheaped out and thought I'd try to make use of all the Commodore floppy drives I already had around. You might have me talked into going that route again. As I understand it, it supports partitions larger than a 1541 disk image, so it'd be like having a mini-hard drive.

dano wrote:You might have me talked into going that route again.

I'm not actually on commission.

As I understand it, it supports partitions larger than a 1541 disk image, so it'd be like having a mini-hard drive.

You've got it. It's like having a stack of floppy disk drives and a CMD HD too. I think the uIEC represents staggeringly good value.

I don't want to pester Jim Brain with questions about the uIEC until I'm more sure I'd like to buy one, so can anyone tell me roughly what the uIEC costs?

$50 for the basic model, $75 for the bigger brother with the IDE connector and all that.

gklinger wrote:$50 for the basic model, $75 for the bigger brother with the IDE connector and all that.

To clarify, are those US dollars?

DigitalQuirk wrote:To clarify, are those US dollars?

Yes.

I realized that I forgot one key question. If I download a .prg file from the 'net, do I have to do anything special to transfer it to the uIEC? I mean, I suspect that the uIEC contains emulated disk or partition files, and that a .prg is an actual Commodore program file that should be located on one of those partitions, and wouldn't actually be useful just by itself. Anybody know?