Re: ZoomFloppy - formatting a disk in a 2031 disk drive

Den Fri, 11 May 2018 12:12:47 -0400 skrev "wbochar" <admin@wbochar.com>:
> Mia Magnusson wrote:
> 
> "This isn't any critique of the ZoomFloppy, I'm just suprised that
> all those C64/VIC20/C128/Plus/4/C16 people buy a product with an IEEE
> port which they probably will never use."
> 
> I ran a 64 BBS in the day with 2 SFD's, an 8250 and a few 1571's. I
> backed up everything to SFD's when this was my main system. In the
> beginning of the archive process (late 90's) I had a 386 and a
> butchered Xm1541 parallel cable to start making disk images of my
> library of stuff. But there wasn't any IEEE solution. I had been
> backing things up through a BUSCARD to 1571/81 on c64 -> 386.

Well, in theory you could had used a commercial GPIB board. But those
were expensive back in the days, and I guess they aren't cheap now
either.

For HP which also uses IEEE 488 for their peripherals, there are some
project which uses standard IEEE 488 interfaces for modern PC's and
with this projects software they can emulate disks and maybe printers
too. It's not useable as is with Commodore stuff though as HP has the
file system code in the computer and not in the drives as Commodore do.

I remember that in the late 90's i made a cable with an IEEE 488
connector on one and and two DB25 connectors on the other end. Using
that cable I could sniff the communication between a PET and it's drive
using a 386 PC. But I never got around to write any software that would
emulate either a disk drive or a Commodore computer on the PC. (This is
btw kind of my main problem with getting things done, as soon as I
realize that I already more or less know how to do something, I tend to
loose focus...).

> I bought a ZF right at the beginning. I mounted it on a block of wood
> and kicked the archive process on again. I have about 800 disks. It
> was awesome. A power shell script (with audible alert for disk
> change), ZF and the drives I got through everything in a few weeks.

Nice!

> I’m lucky in Canada, Jim’s stuff gets through pretty easy. I’ve
> bought so much stuff from Europe and tried every trick to get it here
> cheaper – somehow it almost feels like you pay double. I lived in
> Amsterdam for a while and was shuttling things back and forth for
> friends in luggage. I almost took an 8250 with me in carryon back to
> Canada. The deal fell through but I was really wondering what I would
> tell customs when showing up with the Dual Drive monster.

I've never taken that much stuff on an airplane but back in the days
people used to bring their computers and CRT monitors on trains and
buses when there were a "copy party" :)

> Maybe Jim needs a Euro/Scandinavian “vacation” 😊 and a shipping
> container. Hehe.
 
I think there is some kind of loop hole that there are no toll if you
have lived for at least a year before you move stuff. But I guess that
people who move aren't that interested in bringing strangers stuff like
that.


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