The Commodore parallel cable

for Commodore 1541, 1570 and 1571 drives

Description

The Commodore parallel cable is a companion cable for the Commodore serial cable and gives you an additional parallel connection between a Commodore 1541, 1570 or 1571 drive and a Commodore machine.

To be precise, there are two quasi-standard parallel cables for Commodore machines. The original Speed DOS parallel cable was designed for Commodore 1541 drives only. It has become a standard since then because many other DOS accelerators and standalone copy programs support this kind of parallel connection. A conceptionally similar parallel cable is the one used by Burst Nibbler for 1570 and 1571 drives. To make things simple, both will be called a Commodore parallel cable.

Hardware requirements

You need the following hardware to make use of this cable:

  • A Commodore 64 or 128 machine
  • A Commodore 1541, 1570 or 1571 drive
  • A Commodore serial cable between the drive and the machine

Software support

The following Commodore softwares support this cable:

  • The DOS accelerators Dolphin DOS and Speed DOS
  • The disk copy programs 15 Second Copy, Burst Nibbler and Maverick

Important notes

  • This cable needs modifications in your Commodore drive. If you're not good at hardware hacking, please, don't try doing it yourself, ask for an expert's help.

Construction

You have several methods to build this cable.

Method 1. You want to connect the cable directly onto the periphery chip in the drive. You can find the details on how to build this cable at the construction page for 1541 drives and the construction page for 1570 and 1571 drives.

If you have successfully finished the parallel cable for your drive then you can also build the adaptor version of the XH1541 hybrid cable, the adaptor version of the XP1541 parallel cable or the XEP1541 adaptor, to use the parallel capabilities with a PC.

Method 2. You want to create a parallel port on your drive and then connect the cable to it. This is the more elegant method. You can find the details on how to build this cable at the construction page.

If you have successfully finished the parallel port on your drive then you can also build the XH1541 hybrid cable, the XP1541 parallel cable or the XEP1541 adaptor, to use the parallel capabilities with a PC.

Usage

If you created a parallel port on your Commodore drive then you can connect one end of the cable into it; otherwise the cable is, probably, just hanging out of the drive. Connect the user port plug onto the user port of your Commodore machine, being very careful not to do it upside down.

Copyright

The Commodore parallel cable is © <unknown>.

Source: The Joe Forster-STA homepage

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