TheRealAnubis
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Posts posted by TheRealAnubis
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Hi,
Well, I was finally able to track down a few floppies and test my drive - it may have a broken bezel, but it works great! (The drive looked a lot smaller in the picture..) I've loaded up one un-labeled disk and it states that it is Spartados 3.2d.
I've done a quick search online and I've not found a manual or much info on what commands to use. I've tried commands from a PDF that was Spartados 2.x and those don't seem to do anything.
Anyone have a PDF manual, or maybe just a few commands to get me started?
Thanks!
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Best sells the bezel for $10.
Great! Thanks! I'm new to the Atari computer scene - but it looks like most hardware problems can be solved by "Best!"
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Hi all,
I purchased a drive from ebay that the seller intentionally obscured the fact that the faceplate on the bottom right has a big chip out of it (by posting a super dark picture - I cranked up the brightness on the picture below), and the screw mount for the faceplate on that side is also broken. I was wondering if anyone may have a 'spare' one of these they would sell reasonably? It's a strange part to request, I know, and it's just cosmetic. Maybe someone with a big bin of parts can help me out? I'm not sure it's working yet either, but I should know in the next couple of days...
Thanks!
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Sorry for the Delay in Responding....
I blew up the SID, because I had the SX-64 powered up, and plugged the Audio Output into a Stereo Amplifier, also Powered Up... I had plugged into this Amplifier many times before, just not powered up....
Cartridges you ALWAYS Power OFF, before Inserting/Removing, but I kind of figured that the Audio Output would be buffered... Nope!!!
Always good to have a list of stuff that you should NOT do!
Thanks!
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Nice! Thank you for the links! This is a much more detailed list than I had, but I can see that we figured out the same things along the way! Too bad they don't make this mandatory reading before buying on ebay...
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Hm, I wonder which routine MagerValp used then. The SD2IEC firmware can detect at least a handful popular routines and service them accordingly, but I suppose all it takes is a small variation on an existing routine, and the device won't recognize it anymore. Just in case anyone wonders why one fastloader would work but not the other, it lies in the fact the SD2IEC hardware doesn't have the capacity to emulate the drive entirely, so it rather simulates it and can branch into custom loaders when it recognizes one (Epyx Fastload, Final Cartridge, Action Replay with 1581 ROM, Dreamload, JiffyDOS etc). This is one of the reasons why the more expensive 1541 Ultimate series are more capable: they've got bigger, more expensive capacity chips so more code can be fitted.
Good information! Here's a couple of threads that discuss the GOLD releases:
http://www.lemon64.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=48765&sid=eaff049e272137bad341f90e8e391a87
http://www.lemon64.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=570425
The second link has responses from Magervalp as well.
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I'm actually new to the Commodore 64. Always wanted one. Found it,a printer,and a disk drive CIB for a very cheap price the other day at a yard sale!
Lot of cool games. The first two I want to play are Wasteland and the Gina sisters.
There's no shortage of good games on the C64. Some of my favorites:
The Ultima series (IF you like RPG type games - these were some of the first of that type) (Ultima III, IV, and V are my top picks, just because I played them so much!)
H.E.R.O - a neat Activision game
The Way of the Exploding Fist - karate fighting game
Loderunner and Championship Loderunner (the champ version doesn't really play well with the SD2IEC yet) - these also have a level maker so you can make your own fun - seriously one of my ALL TIME favorites!
Summer Games / Winter Games - two pretty fun games to play with friends.
Spy VS. Spy - another game to play with friends - can get crazy!
Satan's Hollow - arcade style game that's fun.
ANY of the Infocom games if you like word games - my top favorites are Planetfall, Infidel, Hitchhiker's guide, Deadline, the Zork series...
Law of the West - hilarious game! You'll want the fastload cartridge in for this one, though... otherwise slooooow load times take away from the fun.
Also - a warning about the brick style power supply on your C64 - those are the MAIN failure part, and they take out the RAM when they go - you may want to either find a C128 power supply and rewire the plug, a RAM expansion power supply, or get one of Ray Carlsen's external POWER SAVERS for $50 - that's the deluxe one with two LED's, I think he has a cheaper option as well). Any of these options are good, because believe me, desoldering eight 16pin RAM IC's, then putting in sockets and new RAM is no small job!
And if you like to tinker a bit - take the 64 apart and ditch the cardboard 'shield' in it, and then put some stick-on heatsinks on the SID, and the PLA at the minimum (I use pure copper VGA heatsinks) - these IC run hot and they are the next in line for death - usually from overheating!, and pop the top off the VicII chip (it's in the metal box with the holes in it) and clean off the old heatsink paste and apply new- and you don't need as much as usually is on there!
Good luck and have fun!
At some point I'll see if I can dig up some .D64 images to send you to try out!
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No but I really really really really really want one. Because I'm unemployed(and some say unemployable,lol) Im just going to go with the cheapest sd card reader for the C64 I can find on ebay and hope for the best.
Good luck! I hope whatever you get works great! I've found that if some of my original disks that I ripped don't want to work on the SD2IEC, I just go online and find a cracked one, which works great!
The only bummer I've had was trying to play the Ultima III and Ultima IV GOLD editions for the 1581 drive. Magervalp did a lot of code re-writing and improvement on both games (not to mention the trainers, if you want to use them) which sped up the games quite a bit. Apparently he used some fast-loading type routines that will only work with an actual 1581 drive, and NOT the emulators - at least as of yet.
Having both Ultima III and Ultima IV on ONE single sided 3.5" disk is like a dream come true (especially if you played it back in the day and can vividly remember all of the disk swapping going on - town disk, player disk, dungeon disk, town disk, etc...)
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Great discussion so far!
In my own experience, and UNTESTED item works about 5% of the time. I've purchased items that have been chip ripped, used as a dumping board for bad chips (listed as FULLY POPULATED!), and items that have obviously been underwater, left in a barn for 30 years, etc. I have had a few surprises, but most of the time it's been seriously broken.
The sellers that are honest will offer at least a partial refund to help you either fix the item, or just recover some of the lost funds.
I try to stand by anything I sell as well, but I also am very explicit on how and when refunds are given. I'm not going to socket and repair some vintage electronics and then have someone 'swap out' all of my good IC's for bad ones, then claim that the item isn't working. I take pictures of the motherboard of every item I sell, so unless you're lucky and can match all of the brands and date codes, there's no room there for cheating!
Thanks for the comments! Keep 'em coming!
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That one looks nice. I rather the other style with the power lead running to the datasette port. It gives me the room to use a real 1541 or 1571 as well. A must for playing games that save; also easier for multi-disk games.
You can hook up your 'real' drive first, then chain this one off of it!
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I didn't know that you could use 3.5" floppy drives with the TI ! I thought it was a 5.25 only deal! Sweet!
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Hey all,
I've been getting some real junk on ebay lately, and really I should have known better. It seems like a lot of items are full of ALL CAPS warnings like:
UNTESTED, PARTS ONLY, NO WAY TO TEST, etc.
Now I understand that stuff can be broken, and also that you may not have a way to test it, but I've discovered a little trick to check on the seller's honesty for untested items. At least, I hope it can help.
When an auction has an UNTESTED item listed, they usually state that they don't have the power supply, TV connector, etc. so they can't try it out.
A quick way to see how reasonable this is - check out the other items the person is selling.
For instance, if you're buying an UNTESTED Atari 1050 drive, and the seller also has a power supply for it in a different auction, 800XL's complete with cables, and a LOT of other game/computer items that relate to your item, it's probably really not UNTESTED, it's BROKEN!
A more likely scenario for UNTESTED is that the seller doesn't have anymore items that directly relate to that UNTESTED item. I hope this helps. Of course, there are exceptions - like two different auctions for related parts, but they are listed as estate/yard sale finds. Very few people (in my opinion) would be willing to sell something that can be easily tested, which would increase the sale price.
Anyone have any other ideas on how to decrease your chance of not getting junk (other than not bidding!) ?
Thanks!
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I have one of these:
http://sdrive1564.com/products.html
The display, drive pass through and ability to set the device ID are nice.
This looks like a nice unit as well! You can set the device ID on mine, as well as reset the unit, go forward and backward for disk selection, etc.
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That looks nice but it won't work with a VIC-20 or Plus/4 it if you have them in your collection.
Correct! It won't work with the C-16 either (no user port). I got this one because I'm not as 'into' the Vic-20 or Plus/4 at this time. The 64 is the one I had in High School, so it's my main interest in the Commodore world!
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Not sure if I'd want one stuck behind my 64 or even my 128D. I'd prefer a version with cable that i can mount anywhere. Nice design but built in user port connector for power is probably good for someone who don't plan to change SD card often, don't need to reset or change setting or something.
I'm sure someone could rig up a cable that would do the job. I don't mind having it where it is - plugged into the user port on the back of my C64 - it's a whole lot smaller than having a 1541 drive on my desk, and a simple task to get the SD card out (with the power off, of course) for me. If you have a system that's 'built in' somehow and it's difficult to get to the back of your machine, I can see how that might be a problem!
Here's a pic:
I don't always have the monitor hooked up like this - I usually just have it connected to my PC monitor instead.
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I think I read earlier in this thread that you need to get the 32K ram upgrade to use the multi-carts.
Right - I looked that over - it's not too difficult a job, but it is wire soup! I'd be motivated to do the upgrade if I could get a cart with a bunch of games on it, though...
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Finally got those pictures of the different keyboard looks:
This one has larger letters on it:
This one is the Mitsumi:
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Ksarul - I'd be interested in getting one of those carts just packed with games (especially the GOOD ones!). I've no need for utilities unless one of them is a RAM checker / system tester, etc.
Also, are you all implying that one of the few game cartridges that I have is a less-than-stellar play?!?!?
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This is the one I purchased:
I also helped with the manual so it would be more accurate. Great guy selling these, and it looks nice too!
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Sd2iec is the same speed as a 1541 unless you have jiffydos or a fast load cartridge of some sort. I have an Epyx version and it works pretty good.
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I've used an sd2iec, as well as the old style of using an x1541 cable and a 1541 drive. All have their challenges- just read up online to see which one fits you best! I backed up all of my c64 disks using a parallel cable, nibtools, and a 1541. I think the zoomfloppy is USB, but works along the same lines. They are pretty reliable overall, but if the copy protection was too crafty there can be problems.
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Here are my two favorite game cartridges (other than Parsec).
Great! I played Moon Patrol on the C64!
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Ksarul - Good to know! I was wondering why the cartridges, cartridge port, etc. were all so oily!
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Just get 32K (there are modifications to install it in the console) added to the machine and get a few of the 512K cartridge boards programmed with a slew of games. Three 512K game images are available now, as well as a nice 512K utility image. No disk required at that point. . .I'm the source for the cart boards, but others have done the images for them.
Nice option as well! Where can I find more information on the 32K mod and the cart boards? I may not have time to complete it all soon, but I do like to check out the modern options as well.
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SpartaDos 3.2d manual or help?
in Atari 8-Bit Computers
Posted
Hmmmm - I found some info online about FTe 3.2g, but I've already tried DIR to get a directory listing and it says "ERROR DIR" and the drive never tries to access.. I'll try more later - thanks!