ok, so i tried doing the hole open, print, close thing but nothing
happened. all it did was made a machine gun noise and then said ready befor i got to type close15. also, the red error light was flashing after i typed print#15,"I". do i do this with a disk in it or with out? do i try to load the disk then do all the commands (the open, print, close commands), just do the commands, or do the commands then try to load the disk? i still cant get the thing to run...
edit-oh and two questions:
1:my disk drive has a flap that you turn down... not the switch in the middle.... would that be a newer model or an unusual 1541 drive?
2:i got two commodore 64s... right? they are both c64s, not commodore 64c. one has normal brown and gray keys. the other has white keys and light gray function keys. whats up with that? oh and the guy said he bought it like that. he didn't put new keys or 64c keys in it.....
The white (or probably these days yellowed) disk drive with a switch you turn down clockwise is the 1541-II, while the larger grey and with more rounded case is the original 1541. I think (after finding a lot of people wondering about this on forums) they actually shipped breadbox model C64s with the new white C64C keyboard in 1986 before they had completely switched over to the sleeker C64C. Or it's a repair job, as the original dark brown keyboard isn't very lasting in my experience, I had to change the keyboard too. Sure, you still have to hit Restore (the manual does not lie about that) with Run/Stop, but at least you don't have to hit every other key too for them to register.
I remember only two models of 1541 here in Finland, the grey 1541 and the white and square (with external PSU) 1541-II, but I suppose in the US they released different models as parts allowed, as I suspect is the case with breadbox models with white keyboards. My disk drive is the old 1541, a friend of mine had a 1541-II when I was the least interested in Commodore 64, I just taught him how to manage the disks (like cutting the holes to use the other side, and disk turbos). To this day I wonder why I never offered to buy his system... probably because I was too into this 486/Pentium hype. He got an Amiga 600 for a while before bying a used Compaq 486SX, which of course was way out of date by then, the Amiga 600 was far better even then.
http://www.c64-wiki.com/index.php/VC-1541 lists three different models, with 1541 having the original push-down, while 1541c and 1541-II having the PC style mechanism.
http://www.zimmers.net/cbmpics/d1541s.html lists same models with 1541c having the original push-down mechanism. So in the US Commodore used whatever parts they had to appease the hungry public. The cost of a disk drive in Europe was too much for a hobbyist back in 1985, so Datasette was the most popular. Most games were released on tape, thus the the Danish C64 tribute band Press Play On Tape.