warren@hp-col.HP.COM (Warren Tustin) (01/17/89)
I'm going to buy a second drive for my C64 (actually, replace my first drive which has had many alignment problems) and was wondering if anyone has an opinion on the following: 1541-II (A dressed up 1541 w/o the power supply built in) Can get for $175 mailorder. Is this better than the 1541 in reliability? Excellerator FSD2 (like the 1541II) Can get for $148 mailorder. Costs less than 1541II. Is it fully compatible? Why buy the 1541II instead of this? 1571 I may buy a 128 in the future and then I would have a compatible drive, although this is mainly a wish. One mail order house said they have stopped making the separate 1571. Is this true? 1581 Not an option. I need a primary disk that will load all of my protected software. Thanks much for any info you can give. Right now I'm leaning toward the excellerator (sp?) but am open to suggestions. Warren@hp-col.hp.com
warren@hp-col.HP.COM (Warren Tustin) (01/25/89)
Thanks for all of the reponses to my query about disk drives.
I also talked to the manufacturer of the Excellerator FSD2
to see what they had to say for their drive. Below I have summed
up what I found out.
The 1571 is no longer being made as a separate drive. It also had
many early bugs and unless I really want to move up, it is probably
not the best buy.
The 1541-II is a 1541 with the supply separated. It is more reliable
than the 1541 but still has a belt drive and hence the head rattling,
although because of the supply being moved, the head slippage probably
is greatly reduced.
The FSD-2 is not made by the same company as made the FSD-1 and has
a direct drive mechanism. It is also not the same as the Enhancer
2000, which was not fully compatible with the 1541. There is also
another disk drive, the _____ 2001, (I don't remember) that is no
longer sold here, since it used a 1571 ROM copy for the OS and so
infringed on the Commodore patent. Commodore took them to court to
block sales. According to the manufacturer of the FSD-2, they had
a contest in England to give an AMIGA 500 system to anyone who could
find a piece of software that would not load on the FSD-2 but would
load on the 1541. As far as he knew, no one did.
Since I am trying to get the best deal, I was able to find a mail
order company (Computer Direct) with whom I have dealt in the past,
and who could ship the FSD2 to my door for $153 with a 15 day trial.
After I get it, which should be in a few days, I will try my software
and let you know how it loads. Also the FSD2 has a 1 year guarantee
and the 1541II does not.
Sorry this is so long, but I thought others might be interested in
this info.
Warrenfred@cbmvax.UUCP (Fred Bowen) (01/26/89)
In article <410004@hp-col.HP.COM> warren@hp-col.HP.COM (Warren Tustin) writes: > The 1571 is no longer being made as a separate drive. It also had > many early bugs> Not true. It may not be on many shelves or buyer's lists but the 1571 is still available. The "early" bugs were corrected over two years ago- this should not affect any decision you make today, unless you buy a used drive. > The 1541-II is a 1541 with the supply separated. It is more reliable > than the 1541 but still has a belt drive and hence the head rattling Whatever spins the disk is not responsible for whatever rattles the head. The problem with older 1541's is that the head banging caused by some software protection schemes, coupled with the lack of a track zero sensor in the drive and other mechanical misfeatures, caused alignment problems. It is not a problem on newer drives. > [1571 clone] used a 1571 ROM copy for the OS and so infringed on the > Commodore patent. Commodore took them to court to block sales. Commodore alleges these drives infringe on copyrights, not patents. While lost sales are important, there is more to be protected than sales. -- -- Fred Bowen uucp: {uunet|rutgers|pyramid}!cbmvax!fred arpa: cbmvax!fred@uunet.uu.net tele: 215 431-9100 Commodore Electronics, Ltd., 1200 Wilson Drive, West Chester, PA, 19380