When I've invented the X1541 cable, I've never thought that almost 30y after I was watching a video about someone that still uses it. It's good to see that it's still in use and that there are still softwares that works to transfer files from a PC and one of the wonderful 80's machines. My C64 (and other Commodore and Sinclair machines) are in my basement, some years ago, I've tested it and it was still working, I expect that it's still usable, maybe I give it a try, just to remember the good old days.
I'm glad you found my video, and thank you for bringing the X1541 cable and system into existence. I had a lot of fun putting the cable together and getting it all working properly. If I'm honest I use my kung Fu Flash cart and SD2IEC device almost all the time when I want to use disk based software but the X1541 setup comes in really handy to create disks to test old Commodore disk drives and what's more, it's the easiest way I've fond to convert real 5.25" disks to D64 format. Of course its also perfect for when I just want to kick back and play some games old school. Thanks very much for your comment Leopoldo and once again for designing the cable ;)
@@8bitsinthebasement As far as I know, Kung Fu Flash and SD2IEC are not perfectly compatible, while the X1521 cable is. Also it is cheaper, I bought my parallel X cable for about 10 Euros, but I don't see a fully assembled Kung Fu Flash under 40 Euros. SD2IEC usually blocks the tape port which I don't like. The X cable also woks with the great DOS utiliy Star Commander (with DOS being included in Windows 98 SE which I use) running in "warp mode" that speeds things up 6 times.
Ive had limited success with this, most of the time i get write errors when writing the images to the disks, does anyone have any idea why this would happen? Have tried various disks, all new and have 2 different drives, both have the same issue.
I'd love to be of help to you but I'm afraid that my 1541 died a year or so back. So, I've not used this software in quite some time. I'll get to repairing it at some stage though. I'd check connections on your cable first though, most likely point of failure if disks write well sometimes but not all the time.
@@8bitsinthebasement I've had some success, but its a weird one. The only way I've found is to do a full format with cbmforng, then use cbmformat with the -n switch to stop bumping the head. Then when I write the image, it works. In some cases i have to perform several formats to make it work.
WOW! DLL files. They are Dynamic Linked List files. DLL files are compiled code that are apart from the main program however, the main program can call the function and procedures that are in the dll. If I recall correctly, The function is called, the dll is loaded run, than is stored until program ends or when the function is complete. I am not sure which way it works. It has been a long time since I have seen this file.
looks very useful for testing existing discs or the drive itself. Always good to have a easy way to transfer software from old spinning rust before it fails totally. Sadly i have never owned a c64 - did have a vic20 many years ago which i gave away , along with the vast majority of my what is now considered "retro" collection ... quite sad to remember all the systems i gave away which are now quite sort after!!!
I used this method for testing all the disks I got with the C64. Its enough to click on the directory button in the GUI and if the disk can't be read OPENCBM will tell you. In this respect it's many times quicker than using a real C64. "Old spinning rust" that one made me laugh. It was an old oxidised disk that took down one or two good ones on me during initial testing of the 1541 drive. My first computer was a VIC20, I got it for Christmas 1987 (second hand). Everyone else had a C64. I found out the hard way that C64 games didn't work on a VIC, but nonetheless I loved it! Thanks for watching :)
Thanks Cyberhug, I like trying to get things to work in ways that the designers never intended. I'm sure the engineers at Commodore back when the 1541 was designed never thought that people would be connecting them to modern computers 40+ years later. Thanks for watching :)
Thanks very much Matt. l'abbaye des morts is a fun little game. It started life on the Spectrum in 2010 but was ported to many other systems including the PSP and Xbox. The C64 game was sold boxed with a 5 1/4 inch disk and a type of signet ring a couple of years back. But now Double Sided Games have made the C64 version available for free. Oh, and theres a free windows version available for download too. ;)
Thanks for the video, but I can't figure out how to start OpenCBM for Windows. I followed the instructions for installing it, but there is no file called openCBM4WIN.exe or anything close to it. What am I doing wrong. Can you tell me where and what the file name is to start the application?
Sorry I've taken so long to reply to you, I've had a look at the install documentation for the program and to be honest I just can't remember if after the install an icon was placed on the desktop or if I had to create a shortcut to a DOS command to get the OpenCBM GUI working. Unfortunately my 1541 stopped working about 6 months after I made the video and I've not gotten around to repairing it just yet, so I've not been using OpenCBM at all. Since then I've upgraded the PC I used to make the video. It was using Windows Trust which is very much like Windows XP. Now it's running Linux Mint and I no longer have any form of OpenCBM I can check for you. You could try opening a DOS prompt, going to the directory where you extracted / installed OpenCBM and launching the .exe from there. Sorry I can't help you any further, best of luck with it though and thanks for watching.
Thanks Ken, nice to see that your starting to come over to the Commodore camp. I still have an eye out for a CoCo 3 but I fear that I'll have to mortgage the house to afford one. Looking forward to seeing your VIC 20 playing "Cosmic Cruncher". ;)
They can still be found, but they cost a lot. I was lucky I got a load of stuff with my C64 when I bought it including just over 50 disks. To be honest I think that the drives and disks are great to have and play around with but when it comes to using them they can be a real pain. Having games on real disks is great but you can't really trust them to work every time. I use my SD2IEC most of the time now as well as the kungfuflash cart.
@@8bitsinthebasement I also think disks are great but a bit clumsy, anyway I love the click sound to pull in and out the disk (the motor sound is not so pleasant). I like the disk case for transporting also, much more the actual CDs or usb sticks. Anyway, what is a kungfuflash cart?
When I've invented the X1541 cable, I've never thought that almost 30y after I was watching a video about someone that still uses it.
It's good to see that it's still in use and that there are still softwares that works to transfer files from a PC and one of the wonderful 80's machines.
My C64 (and other Commodore and Sinclair machines) are in my basement, some years ago, I've tested it and it was still working, I expect that it's still usable, maybe I give it a try, just to remember the good old days.
I'm glad you found my video, and thank you for bringing the X1541 cable and system into existence. I had a lot of fun putting the cable together and getting it all working properly. If I'm honest I use my kung Fu Flash cart and SD2IEC device almost all the time when I want to use disk based software but the X1541 setup comes in really handy to create disks to test old Commodore disk drives and what's more, it's the easiest way I've fond to convert real 5.25" disks to D64 format. Of course its also perfect for when I just want to kick back and play some games old school. Thanks very much for your comment Leopoldo and once again for designing the cable ;)
@@8bitsinthebasement As far as I know, Kung Fu Flash and SD2IEC are not perfectly compatible, while the X1521 cable is. Also it is cheaper, I bought my parallel X cable for about 10 Euros, but I don't see a fully assembled Kung Fu Flash under 40 Euros. SD2IEC usually blocks the tape port which I don't like.
The X cable also woks with the great DOS utiliy Star Commander (with DOS being included in Windows 98 SE which I use) running in "warp mode" that speeds things up 6 times.
Ive had limited success with this, most of the time i get write errors when writing the images to the disks, does anyone have any idea why this would happen? Have tried various disks, all new and have 2 different drives, both have the same issue.
I'd love to be of help to you but I'm afraid that my 1541 died a year or so back. So, I've not used this software in quite some time. I'll get to repairing it at some stage though. I'd check connections on your cable first though, most likely point of failure if disks write well sometimes but not all the time.
@@8bitsinthebasement I've had some success, but its a weird one. The only way I've found is to do a full format with cbmforng, then use cbmformat with the -n switch to stop bumping the head. Then when I write the image, it works. In some cases i have to perform several formats to make it work.
Thank you! I do have a probier X1541 cable but never tried it out. I didn't know it is that simple!
Glad the video helped you out a bit. If you give your cable a try I'd love to know how you get on with it.
WOW! DLL files. They are Dynamic Linked List files. DLL files are compiled code that are apart from the main program however, the main program can call the function and procedures that are in the dll. If I recall correctly, The function is called, the dll is loaded run, than is stored until program ends or when the function is complete. I am not sure which way it works. It has been a long time since I have seen this file.
looks very useful for testing existing discs or the drive itself. Always good to have a easy way to transfer software from old spinning rust before it fails totally.
Sadly i have never owned a c64 - did have a vic20 many years ago which i gave away , along with the vast majority of my what is now considered "retro" collection ... quite sad to remember all the systems i gave away which are now quite sort after!!!
I used this method for testing all the disks I got with the C64. Its enough to click on the directory button in the GUI and if the disk can't be read OPENCBM will tell you. In this respect it's many times quicker than using a real C64. "Old spinning rust" that one made me laugh. It was an old oxidised disk that took down one or two good ones on me during initial testing of the 1541 drive. My first computer was a VIC20, I got it for Christmas 1987 (second hand). Everyone else had a C64. I found out the hard way that C64 games didn't work on a VIC, but nonetheless I loved it! Thanks for watching :)
Yep, very convenient indeed Peter, thanks and thumbs up again! Yes, diskettes should be preserved in any way if you ask me!
Thanks Cyberhug, I like trying to get things to work in ways that the designers never intended. I'm sure the engineers at Commodore back when the 1541 was designed never thought that people would be connecting them to modern computers 40+ years later. Thanks for watching :)
Great video peter! Cool looking game as well!👍😁
Thanks very much Matt. l'abbaye des morts is a fun little game. It started life on the Spectrum in 2010 but was ported to many other systems including the PSP and Xbox. The C64 game was sold boxed with a 5 1/4 inch disk and a type of signet ring a couple of years back. But now Double Sided Games have made the C64 version available for free. Oh, and theres a free windows version available for download too. ;)
@@8bitsinthebasement very cool! Thanks Peter!
Thanks for the video, but I can't figure out how to start OpenCBM for Windows. I followed the instructions for installing it, but there is no file called openCBM4WIN.exe or anything close to it. What am I doing wrong. Can you tell me where and what the file name is to start the application?
Sorry I've taken so long to reply to you, I've had a look at the install documentation for the program and to be honest I just can't remember if after the install an icon was placed on the desktop or if I had to create a shortcut to a DOS command to get the OpenCBM GUI working. Unfortunately my 1541 stopped working about 6 months after I made the video and I've not gotten around to repairing it just yet, so I've not been using OpenCBM at all. Since then I've upgraded the PC I used to make the video. It was using Windows Trust which is very much like Windows XP. Now it's running Linux Mint and I no longer have any form of OpenCBM I can check for you. You could try opening a DOS prompt, going to the directory where you extracted / installed OpenCBM and launching the .exe from there. Sorry I can't help you any further, best of luck with it though and thanks for watching.
@@8bitsinthebasement Thank you for your reply, anyway.
Another great video! Now I have to get a 1541 for my VIC20 and eventually the C64 I want to get 😀
Thanks Ken, nice to see that your starting to come over to the Commodore camp. I still have an eye out for a CoCo 3 but I fear that I'll have to mortgage the house to afford one. Looking forward to seeing your VIC 20 playing "Cosmic Cruncher". ;)
it's a good transfer method but the real problem is to find 5"1/4 floppies nowadays
They can still be found, but they cost a lot. I was lucky I got a load of stuff with my C64 when I bought it including just over 50 disks. To be honest I think that the drives and disks are great to have and play around with but when it comes to using them they can be a real pain. Having games on real disks is great but you can't really trust them to work every time. I use my SD2IEC most of the time now as well as the kungfuflash cart.
@@8bitsinthebasement I also think disks are great but a bit clumsy, anyway I love the click sound to pull in and out the disk (the motor sound is not so pleasant). I like the disk case for transporting also, much more the actual CDs or usb sticks. Anyway, what is a kungfuflash cart?