Commodore C-II drive

[Sharkonwheels]

It is - "Commander Electronic Systems" is the manufacturer. 1985 datecode I think.


Tony

[carlsson]

Yes, you mentioned the manufacturer thrice. Now give us a picture to drool at.

[Sharkonwheels]

Oh, dang.

Sorry... gimme 5 minutes (well, 10 - gotta undig that box )

EDIT: OK - Pics attached. sorry about that

Powered it up, but haven;t tried functional test yet.

Funky latching mechanism. Push down, it latches, push down again, it unlatches and door lock pops up.

Tony

[carlsson]

Thanks for the pictures. It certainly doesn't look like a Commodore clone. If you wish, I could enquire information in other circles, i.e. among Commodore users and collectors if they know about this 3rd party drive. If you power it up, it would be interesting which DOS version it reports.

10 OPEN1,8,15,"UJ":REM RESET DRIVE
15 INPUT#1,E,E$,T,S:REM READ ERROR CHANNEL
20 PRINT E,E$,T,S:CLOSE 1

A standard 1541/1541-II usually reports "CBM DOS V2.6 1541". A 1570/1571 contains DOS V3.0 and so on.

As regarding the latching mechanism, isn't that one of the common types to release the latch by pushing it down once more?

[Sharkonwheels]

I was just saying it LOOKS strange! Mebbe I need to put a better frontal shot.

I will try the basic commands you listed tomorrow, and report back the results.

I'd be interested to see what you find out about it from other folks, especially C= collectors.


Tony

[wiskow]

That IS quite interesting... But I have never seen one like it either... I did a few casual Internet searches, but I came up with nothing on it. I, too, would be interested to know what the error channel reads. Be sure to run that BASIC program first thing when you turn the computer on, BTW.

-Andrew

[Sharkonwheels]

I'll do that tonight when I get home. Any preference on what to use?
C128 / 128D / C64 / Plus4 ?


Tony

[Sharkonwheels]

How long does it take to get a response? Is is immediate?
I get nothing - not even on a 1541-II.

I tried with:
Plus/4
C16
C64
C128

same results - nothing.

If I reset everything (just in case) I can read the floppy drives,
doing a listing with load "$",8 and then LIST

so both drives work fine when individually plugged in.
But i get absolutely NO response from either drive when I use that basic program.


Tony

[Sharkonwheels]

OK - it works without the ,"UJ"

gives CBM DOS V2.6 1541


Tony

[wiskow]

OK - it works without the ,"UJ"

gives CBM DOS V2.6 1541


Tony

That's pretty much what I expected if it was a 1541 clone, which it obviously is. The 1541 clones I've used (FSD-1 and FSD-2) read the same way.

-Andrew