dave@zinfandel.UUCP (12/15/84)
I have always been frustrated (along with most everybody else) by the lack
of speed of my 1541 drive. Well, I decided to take a chance and buy a
product from Skyles Electric Works called '1541 FLASH!'. This is a
firmware/cable speed enhancement to the 1541 disk drive.
The product consists of the following:
1. new kernal ROM
2. new 1541 ROM
3. small interface card
4. interface cable
5. manual
Installation:
This is easy, assuming you are careful when extracting the ROM chips. The
standard kernal ROM is pulled out, and a DIP socket (paralleled off to another
DIP socket) is plugged in. Both ROMs are then plugged in (the new one and the
standard one). There is a switch on the interface card to go back and forth
between the two ROMs. (On some older C64's, the kernal chip is soldered in.
Skyles will do this more difficult installation for about $30).
The 1541 is then opened up and its ROM is replaced with a new one.
Additionally, one of the CIA chips is pulled out, has a leg bent out, and
is plugged back in. A couple of clip leads are attached to this chip and
then go out the back of the drive via a new cable. The cable is plugged
into the interface card (which in turn is plugged into the user port on
the C64). You can still plug any other user port devices you have (modems,
etc.) on the rear of the card.
The manual is quite detailed on the installation -- if anything maybe *too*
detailed (which they admit). They don't want you to have any installation
problems. They also detail a series of tests upon completion of the job.
Performance:
They claim a three to one speed improvement.
I used ZORK I as my benchmark. Before installation of 1541 FLASH!, ZORK
loaded in 1:30. After installation, in 26 seconds. Switching back to
slow mode (after installation), it loaded in 1:20. I did not do any
benchmarks on disk writes, but I estimate that is also is about three
times as fast.
Other Features:
FLASH! includes a disk wedge in the new ROM (nice to have). Also they
claim there are ways to increase disk transfer speeds up to 10 times by
using some simple machine language routines. I get the impression that
this would apply to software *you* would write, not commercial software
that already exists. The 'run' key now is equivalent to LOAD"*",8,1<cr>.
The disk drive is now the 'standard' device. In other words, you don't
have to put a ',8' after the filename. You can switch the C64 from the
new kernal chip to the standard chip by a switch on the interface card
(power off) or by a poke. The disk drive can be switched back to 'slow'
mode via a disk drive command.
Documentation:
So far, no complaints. The installation procedure leaves nothing to
question. All features are covered in great detail. Additionally,
most of the disk drive commands are summarized and a few little known
disk drive features are described (e.g. how to 'scratch-proof' files,
how to append to files, how to stop the drive from 'banging').
Caveats:
This product *does not* fix the save-with-replace bug. (I know, I know...
some people claim no such bug exists). The bug (?) is discussed, however.
There is some software that doesn't work with 1541 FLASH!. The one that
Skyles is aware of is the Flight Simulator by SubLogic. In that case,
you just run your system in the original 'slow mode'. I have Supercopy64,
and I can't get it to run in either fast *or* slow mode. I called Skyles
about it, but I haven't heard from them yet.
By the way, I am an avid COMAL user, and it works fine in this configuration
(I hope the soon-to-be-shipped cartridge COMAL works okay as well....).
Conclusion:
So far, I am very satisfied with the product (I've had it for about a
month).
Naturally, all of this is just my opinion based on the way I use my
equipment. I am not connected in any way with Skyles Electric Works,
except that I am a 'single user' customer.
Hope everybody found this of use/interest.
Dave Funk
Zehntel, Inc.
2625 Shadelands Drive
Walnut Creek, CA 92598
(415) 932-6900 x309
....!decvax!sytek!zehntel!dave
...."zehntel!dave"@BERKELEYjeff@gatech.UUCP (Jeff Lee) (12/21/84)
Ah.... the mystical save-with-replace bug. How interesting.
Pssst.....
what's the save-with-replace bug ?
--
Jeff Lee
CSNet: Jeff @ GATech ARPA: Jeff.GATech @ CSNet-Relay
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