Re: Commodore drives can be controlled on Apple II serial!

[supertimer@aol.com (Supertimer)]

dr.ido@usa.net wrote:

>supertimer@aol.com (Supertimer) wrote:
>>
>> dougkalley@aol.com (DougKalley) wrote:
>>
>> The 1541 is more common, but the 1571 is the one that can read
>> MFM disks (and MS-DOS in particular) that makes it useful to run
>> on an Apple II.  The Apple II needs hardware to read MS-DOS disks
>> and these drives are plentiful on a level at least equal to the Disk II.
>
>The other way read/write MFM disks on an Apple II would be to use a
>controller card that can control standard PC floppy drives.  I have such
>a card somewhere around here.  I have never gotten around to trying
>anything with it, but I know it has a standard floppy controller IC on it.

The BlueDisk controller from SHH Systeme....a bit on the expensive
side.  The 1571 drive has the advantage of being cheaper.

>> I'll post a request for the technical information on comp.sys.cbm.
>> Do you think it is possible to control a serial drive like the 1571
>> using ProTerm or Spectrum?  Can code be uploaded to the 1571
>> using these terminal programs and the 1571 then controlled using
>> macros?  It may be too much to ask to have a program written
>> for the 1571's processor that can act as an interface for a terminal
>> program, I know, but there is a computer in there...
>
>While Commodore drives are serial, they are not RS-232.  Every adapter
>that I have seen to run then from a PC uses the parallel port.  It may be
>possible to run one from an RS-232 port, but it would take more than a
>cable.  Somethine like a MAX232 would be needed to handle level
>conversion at the very least.

The plot thickens!  If serial won't work, will a parallel card work?  A2
interfaces are not supposed to be bidirectional, but these C= drives
don't look like they use all the data lines.  One other thought: how
about a bidirectional serial to parallel interface box?  Would such a
converter provide the necessary lines to drive a 1571?  I have seen
several stores sell these converter boxes...

>Then once you have an RS-232 interface you would have to get the
>IIe to communicate with this interface at 3600bps (1571 burstmode
>uses a higher rate, but I can't remember what it is).  I very much
>doubt that using any from of terminal program (if there is one that
>can be set to 3600bps) is feasible, but once the hardware side was
>taken care of communicating with the drive could be handled in
>software.  Probably best to contact one of the authors of the
>programs to connect a 1571 to a PC for info on communicating
>with the drive....

I don't know if the programs are public domain?  Hopefully they will
have documented src code freely available.