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Commodore 128 how to get software

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PgrAm

Experienced Member
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Toronto, Canada
I recently bought a commodore 128, but the guy I got it from didn't have any software. I was wondering what the procedure was for getting software from rom/disk/tape images on a modern PC to something that can be run on the 128? Do I need special cables? Can I use a 5.25" drive from a PC to make disks?
 
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There are a couple of different ways to do this, and we can certainly help you out. First question - did you get a disk drive with the Commodore 128, and if so, what model is it? (e.g., 1541, 1571, etc.).

- Earl
 
retrobits said:
There are a couple of different ways to do this, and we can certainly help you out. First question - did you get a disk drive with the Commodore 128, and if so, what model is it? (e.g., 1541, 1571, etc.).

- Earl
Click to expand...

Yeah I do have a drive, it's a 1571. I also have a bunch of 5.25" disks but there of the pc variety so I'm not sure if they will work for the commodore.
 
You should test your set up first, to see if you have everything set up correctly. Attach the cables assuming you know what goes where. Put a blank disk in the drive and run the following command at the READY prompt. If you know what C64 mode is, don't go into that for now

header "mydisk",d01, i01 [return]

The computer will aks "are you sure?", answer Y

Wait for the operation to complete, you'll hear clicking as the drive formats the disk. When done hit F8 on the keyboard. What does the computer say?
 
billdeg said:
You should test your set up first, to see if you have everything set up correctly. Attach the cables assuming you know what goes where. Put a blank disk in the drive and run the following command at the READY prompt. If you know what C64 mode is, don't go into that for now

header "mydisk",d01, i01 [return]

The computer will aks "are you sure?", answer Y

Wait for the operation to complete, you'll hear clicking as the drive formats the disk. When done hit F8 on the keyboard. What does the computer say?
Click to expand...

I executed the command and the drive spun up all right but I get a "bad disk error", I think this may be because I used 1.2m disks, which kind of disk should I use?

When I hit f8 the monitor comes up and drops me some hex codes, it says:

PC SR AC XR YR SP
; FB000 00 00 00 00 F8
 
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If they were previously formatted in a MFM drive, 1.2M disks might not work, I have not tried this recently, but I can say that fresh 1.2M disks did not format in my 8050 drive last week. Safer to use the most common DSDD disks (360k).

If your computer drops into the monitor, then you have a problem with the computer itself. It might be a minor problem, but you bombed at FB00, whatever is happening there in the ROM. WIth everything power cycled, try a DSDD disk.

BD
 
Actually f8 is the monitor command.
He needs to hit F3 for a directory.

And 1.2Meg Disks WILL NOT WORK RELIABLY!
They might format sometimes, but will fail shortly after.

Later,
dabone
 
boy is my head stuck in the B Series. F8 is directory on the B128.. I *assumed* it was the same on the C128. My apologies. Why would Commodore do that? All computers should have the same commands. The only thing I can think of is that C128 is a newer version of the OS.

This all means your computer correctly went into the monitor. Try a directory using F3 :)
 
I executed the command and the drive spun up all right but I get a "bad disk error"
Click to expand...

This means your disk did not complete the format process.

Tell me, in the center of the disk, is there a reinforcing ring, or just the disk material?
Most HD disks will lack a hub ring, and most DD disk will have one.

Later,
dabone
 
so I tried a dd disk, I made sure it said Double Density. It still gave me an error (after a lot longer time) but I checked the directory and it seemed that the format had completed, I also tried formatting in c64 mode and it formatted properly with no errors. As for getting disk images onto the disk I'm still unsure on how to do this. I'm pretty handy with a soldering iron so if I need to make a special cable or something than I can do that.
 
Much much easier to go ahead and buy one of the things I posted earlier.

The uiec is a sd2iec device, and allows you to put non copy protected disk images on a sd card and then use them directly on the commodore.
(I.e, sd based disk drive). It runs most software including geos and handles 1541, 1571 and 1581 disk images and DNP hard drive images.
It does not handle copy protected games, or games with custom fast loaders. (Use cracked versions of these.)
Very easy to use, just turn off the commodore, take out the sd card, copy files to it and then reinsert in the device and power on.
It can handle standard files, or disk images, and you can put a file browser at the start of the card for easy navigation and loading of programs.
(It supports sub directories.)

The Zoom floppy is a usb interface for your PC that allows you to connect your commodore disk drive and write out the disk images to it.
Upside is HIGH compatibility, downside is, you are using a floppy drive, so you will need good disks, and its a very slow choice. (but the most authentic retro experience.) So you would turn off your commodore, and then unplug the disk drive from in, plug the drive into the pc, write the image, turn off the drive, plug it back into the commodore, and then use the disk you created.

There are old parallel port cables that the zoom floppy replaced, but they don't work well with modern pcs. They were invented and used in the dos days, and are usually a royal pain in the @$@ to get working on new pcs, if you can get them to work at all.

Later,
dabone
 
The parallel port cables dabone refers to is the X1541 and variants. Google will help you find them. If all you want is to dump a few disks, and you have old PCs around to use Star Commander or something with, it works. If you want to spend a lot of time with your C128, you'll enjoy a flash device more.

Other alternatives, the C64 doesn't have a real serial port so that's out without extra hardware. The 1571 drive you have will read files from PC disks. You want the software Big Blue Reader, or Little Red Reader (foundhere). If you get LRR up and running, you can use D64it/D128it (found here to dump D64 images from disk. A D64 image ought to fit on an IBM formatted floppy, but you'll need another disk drive to write to as you read from the 1571. (Edit: actually I'm not sure this is true, it might be able read and write to the same drive, caching in RAM, I forget).

If you want to do serial, there's CBMLink(found here). You do have to build a small serial adaptor though, so it's not the best option. I haven't done this so I can't tell you how it compares to an X1541.

I think that's all the options, besides buying a flash device (uIEC or 1541U).

Edit: No, there's one more. 1541EMU emulates an entire 1541 floppy with your PC. Apparently it's good enough to support fast loaders. Requires a PC with an parallel port though, and some soldering to build a cable. Doesn't look too bad, and could be a nice cheap substitute for a 1541-U if you want to play games with fast loaders.
 
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Off the direct topic but related to the Big Blue (IBM) reader I used to use the WCOPY+ program on c128 to copy images to and from 1571 /1541 / 1581 disk. The magic is that WCOPY+ could format disks in the 1581 as 720K IBM format disks. You could then copy the .PRG files and make into a .D64 on the PC.

The glaring flaw in my plan, relative to this thread is the poster has no 1581.
 
PgrAm said:
so I tried a dd disk, I made sure it said Double Density. It still gave me an error (after a lot longer time) but I checked the directory and it seemed that the format had completed, I also tried formatting in c64 mode and it formatted properly with no errors.
Click to expand...
Oh, you may have a 1571 with the old controller ROM. That ROM gave formatting errors, directory errors (boy, did it mess up the BAM!). To cure that, you'd have to install the upgrade ROM or JiffyDOS ROM. Then your 1571 will act a lot nicer.
As for getting disk images onto the disk I'm still unsure on how to do this.
Click to expand...
Well, here's a roundabout solution. Because you are in Toronto, have you contacted anyone from the Toronto PET User Group? http://tpug.ca You may be able to meet up with them, and then they could help you.

Truly,
Robert Bernardo
Fresno Commodore User Group
http://videocam.net.au/fcug
 
RobertB said:
Well, here's a roundabout solution. Because you are in Toronto, have you contacted anyone from the Toronto PET User Group? http://tpug.ca You may be able to meet up with them, and then they could help you.
Click to expand...

Yeah I have heard about them, I've been meaning to go to one of their meetings one day but there pretty much across town from me. I think I'll try the x1541 and if that doesn't work I'll try the 1541EMU.
 
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PgrAm said:
Yeah I have heard about them, I've been meaning to go to one of their meetings one day but there pretty much across town from me. I think I'll try the x1541 and if that doesn't work I'll try the 1541EMU.
Click to expand...
Maybe you're close to one of the members who might be able to help you out; what part of Toronto are you in?
 
Yeah I have heard about them, I've been meaning to go to one of their meetings one day but there pretty much across town from me. I think I'll try the x1541 and if that doesn't work I'll try the 1541EMU.
Click to expand...

I've never seen anyone get the 1541emu up and running, but the x1541 is doable is you have a old pc.

Come on over to the lemon64 forums for more help with this.

Later,
dabone
 
PgrAm said:
...I've been meaning to go to one of their meetings one day but there pretty much across town from me.
Click to expand...
Heh, I travel 3 hours to attend a Southern California Commodore & Amiga Network meeting or The Other Group of Amigoids meeting. :)
I think I'll try the x1541 and if that doesn't work I'll try the 1541EMU.
Click to expand...
Better than that, try CBMXfer at http://www.6502.org/users/sjgray/software/cbmxfer/cbmxfer.html which works with a PC running Window XP/2000/Vista/7 and an XA1541 from http://www.nkcelectronics.com/commodore-xa1541-ada1541.html which is more compatible than a regular X1541.

And you're invited to join us at http://www.commodore128.org/index.php?action=forum :)

Truly,
Robert Bernardo
Fresno Commodore User Group
http://videocam.net.au/fcug
 
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