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Commodore C-II drive

S

Sharkonwheels

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Anyone ever heard of it?
Looks like a REALLY old-school floppy.

Just bought out a guy's collection, and man, what a TON of stuff.
Columbia's, Corona's, Compaq Portable I/II's, about 6-8 Kaypros, 6-8 Osbornes (O1, o1a, Execs), a few C=128D and 128DCR's, some C128's, VIC-20's, C64's, a PET of some sort (haven;t yanked it out yet) VIC1575 and MPS803 printers...the list is REALLY long... took a 14' box trailer nearly 3/4 full (volume-wise - center was packed to the ceiling over the tires!!!) to get the stuff home!!!

That's where I ran into this thing. Found a box with a 1541, 1541-II, 1571, and that C-II floppy drive. Has the data connector on the left side (when looking at it from the front)

Any info around?


Tony
 
"Quick Glance" problem.

It's not C= - company named "Commander Electronic Systems" if I'm recalling correctly. 1985 manufacture date.

T
 
But does it have an IEC (6-pin DIN) or an IEEE (card edge or Centronics-like) connector? Single or dual floppy drive? A picture would be nice if you need some help to identify it.

By the way, 1575? Are you sure you didn't misread 1525 or even 1515? I've never heard of a 1575, whatever it should be.
 
It's got the DIN connectors, on the side.
Made by Commander Electronic Systems. At quick glance, I thought it was Commodore...figured out later it wasn't (in my follow-up above).

The printer is probably a 1525, then. Mis-remembering, is more like it :D


Tony
 
I'll take a pic when i get home.

Got some 1541-II's, 1571's, and 1541's in the batch.

1 lonely Atari 1050 floppy drive - nothing else Atari in the WHOLE batch!!!
Poor thing! :D


Tony
 
Sharkonwheels said:
Anyone ever heard of it?
Looks like a REALLY old-school floppy.

That's where I ran into this thing. Found a box with a 1541, 1541-II, 1571, and that C-II floppy drive. Has the data connector on the left side (when looking at it from the front)

Any info around?
Click to expand...

I picked up a handful of Commodore-centric magazines, but I did not find the C-II. It's most likely a clone. There were many clone 1541 drives made, most I never heard of.
Bill
 
Oh, dang.

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

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
 

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Last edited:
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?
 
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
 
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
 
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
 
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