Re: C128D Floppy Drive Controller

From: Nicolas Welte (welte_at_chemie.uni-konstanz.de)
Date: 2000-01-28 10:05:28

William Levak wrote:
> > 64'er introduced quite some stupid new names, instead of using the ones
> > from Commodore. The original C64C was called the C64-II, the C64 with
> > the new E board became the C64-III and later the Aldi-C64. In '89
> > Commodore released 1571 drives with the new bugfixed ROM and 64'er
> > called this drive the 1571-II.
> 
> The 1541-II power supply also mentions a 1571-II on its label.  From this,
> it would appear that Commodore's 1571-II would have an external power
> supply.  Does the 1571-II above have an external power supply?

No, of course it does not, it is just a normal 1571 with the updated ROM
inside. It also has the same type label as the normal 1571, there is no
mention of a 1571-II on the drive itself. The 1571 probably didn't sell
too well after 1987 if you consider the release dates of the 128DCR
(with the new internal 1571CR drive which had several 1571 ROM bugs
fixed) and the 1541-II (which featured the same integrated r/w amplifier
as the 1571CR). They must have planned the 1571-II to be made at about
the same time, but instead they continued to sell the old 1571 and in
1989 (!) finally released the update ROM for the 1571. It must have been
at that time when the decided _not_ to build a 1571-II after all.
Development costs would've been restricted to making a new board layout,
since most of the 1571CR and 1541-II parts could've been used without
any modifications. It would be quite much fun (if one has the means to
make a good double sided PCB) to build a 1571-II replica from a 1541-II
and some 1571CR spare parts :-) Only a 5710 would be needed in addition
to what is already in the 1541-II, plus a double sided drive of course.
Maybe the 5710 can be even hacked onto the old 1541-II PCB, this would
save a lot of labour.

This reminds me of the 1541C, which seems to be a semi-official name.
The drive itself doesn't have a 1541C label anywhere, but it's box
carried the name 1541C in _very_ large letters.

Nicolas
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