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Yaemon
Account closed
Registered: Feb 2003
Posts: 40 |
1541 drive and Win XP
Ok I'm going nuts here. I'm trying to acces my 1541 drive with star commander under win xp. but I can't. I have unzipped the special drivers supposedly for win xp/2000/nt and there's one driver called user port. So I've followed the manual, copied the .sys file into the system32\drivers folder. I start the executable program and plunch in the driver details they want (port range), I start the driver and it says ok. No problems here. I go to a command prompt and type in the debug \\.\giveio command and I just leave it like that. I start up the Star Commander, but it just freezes. Do I have to wait a little longer or what can I do? I thank you in advance for helping me out! |
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Steppe
Registered: Jan 2002
Posts: 1510 |
No use wasting too much time on this, Yaemon. Too many people have tried and only a few have succeeded to get a stable transfer that way. :-(
And even if you manage to get SC to talk to your drive you still have to suffer from the occasional freeze, or seemingly successful transfers will produce bad disks or images.
Sorry for the discouraging posting, but I heard about a lot of people who tried this. That includes me, who could get it to work, but it freezed quite often, so the time spared rebooting the machine is quickly eliminated by closing and restarting Star Commander...
One thing that comes to mind, have you disabled the LPT port in the device manager? |
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JackAsser
Registered: Jun 2002
Posts: 2014 |
What really is required to get it to work under Win2K/XP is that someone writes a miniport driver on top of the parport driver. I started but it was really boring so I stopped. That is the only way IMO to get it really smooth in Win2K/XP. A bit like the Zip drives etc...
/JackAsser |
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SIDWAVE
Account closed
Registered: Apr 2002
Posts: 2238 |
Use PowerQuest BOOTmagic to make a small DOS 6.22 config, that works - but only if you have the correct PAR port.
I don't know, but my machine can't use X-1541, it has to use XE.
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drake
Account closed
Registered: Dec 2002
Posts: 207 |
you better use windows '98 as its known that its almost impossible to get it work under 2k or xp. better buy a cheap 386 notebook to transfer files and to copy them. |
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Raf
Registered: Nov 2003
Posts: 343 |
IMO rather simple and efficent solution is to use DOS bootdisk and XE1541. my machine's LPT port doesn't accecpt x1541 but I've got another LPT on ISA so it works this way ;-) and I don't have to unplug printer each time I want to transfer data. |
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Yaemon
Account closed
Registered: Feb 2003
Posts: 40 |
I'm working on getting the PowerQuest program first, then I'll try the bootdisk, if I can find one. Thanks so far! |
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Scout
Registered: Dec 2002
Posts: 1570 |
I haven't tested it yet but there *IS* a Star Commander Windows NT/2000/XP tweak package.
You can download it here:
http://sta.c64.org/sc_winnt.zip
R.
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TDJ
Registered: Dec 2001
Posts: 1879 |
Hmm, would be great if I could get that to work, as I have an old ibm completely dedicated to transfering files now, and I could use the space it takes now.
edit: never mind .. reading through this thread I understand I have no chance in hell of getting it to work. Well, I'll replace the ibm with a laptop anyway later this week. |
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SIDWAVE
Account closed
Registered: Apr 2002
Posts: 2238 |
Yep, and that's the pack that gives people false hope that it will work. I guess 2/100 will work, the rest not.
DOS boot, from floppy or HD, and then 64HDD or Starcommander. And a FAT/FAT32 disk to use for saving, or 1.44 floppy.
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deizi
Account closed
Registered: May 2003
Posts: 95 |
why not use dual-boot (98+xshit) as i do? much easier. ok, the 98 is in its own HD (4gb), and the xp(40gb) in the other. :P works very well. |
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TDJ
Registered: Dec 2001
Posts: 1879 |
Quote: Yep, and that's the pack that gives people false hope that it will work. I guess 2/100 will work, the rest not.
DOS boot, from floppy or HD, and then 64HDD or Starcommander. And a FAT/FAT32 disk to use for saving, or 1.44 floppy.
What does one need for hdd, hardware-wise? Is the xe-1541 cable enough? |
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FRaNKy
Registered: Dec 2001
Posts: 23 |
If this helps, I've typed in this html page some time ago. It usually works on WinXP but I've found that a DOS Bootdisk is easier to use.
http://www.vendetta.org/stories/commodore-xe1541.shtml
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SIDWAVE
Account closed
Registered: Apr 2002
Posts: 2238 |
Quote: What does one need for hdd, hardware-wise? Is the xe-1541 cable enough?
You just need EX-1541 and a C64+1541. The C64 uses the HD, with the real 1541 as driver to the HDD64 driver/program.
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WVL
Registered: Mar 2002
Posts: 902 |
I've once gotten this to work on my p!!! 1100 laptop, with a normal x1541 cable (not an xe or xa). But nowadays i can't seem to get it running like before anymore and i really have NO IDEA why.
I think I'm doing things absolutely the same as before, but no luck :)
the cable is okay (it works on my 486) and i know my parport of my laptop should also work with it, it did before!
so all in all it's just one big mystery ;) |
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SIDWAVE
Account closed
Registered: Apr 2002
Posts: 2238 |
The BIOS setup has to be in a PAR mode that is compatible to Xe-1541. |
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Steppe
Registered: Jan 2002
Posts: 1510 |
Yeah, X cables require SPP mode, I think. XE cables usually work with all modes (ECP, EPP and SPP/normal). |
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Nafcom
Registered: Apr 2002
Posts: 588 |
Quote: Yeah, X cables require SPP mode, I think. XE cables usually work with all modes (ECP, EPP and SPP/normal).
well, I have a XE1541 and I have it on ECP & EPP. It's looong time ago, but I think SC's manual said something about that, as well...
Let me quote:
"Serial cables are the following:
The X1541 cable works on older type SPP and PS/2 parallel ports, ones that have bidirectional control lines. The parallel port on I/O controller cards for 286, 386 and 486 machines and on Hercules video cards and the integrated parallel port of most newer 486 motherboards support the X1541 cable but only certain Pentium motherboards have compatible parallel ports. On motherboards with an integrated parallel port, you have to set the mode of the parallel port to SPP because the X1541 cable won't work with EPP and ECP parallel ports. However, on many newer motherboards, there's absolutely no way to make the X1541 cable work because the control lines are not bidirectional in any mode of the parallel port. You can test your parallel port's compatibility with the X1541 cable using X1541Test. If it proves to be incompatible then you need one of the other serial cables.
The XE1541 extended cable is a substitution for the X1541 cable. Its advantage is that works in all modes of all parallel ports. Its drawbacks are that you need special diodes to build it and that only a few programs support it. Please, note that this cable has problems with motherboards that use the ALI 5 chipset and certain laptops. On these machines, use the XA1541 active cable instead."
-------
So Steppe is right, XE1541 works on all modes, X1541 only on SPP |
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G-Fellow
Account closed
Registered: Jan 2004
Posts: 103 |
Quote: I haven't tested it yet but there *IS* a Star Commander Windows NT/2000/XP tweak package.
You can download it here:
http://sta.c64.org/sc_winnt.zip
R.
I have tested it. And i cant get my 1541 drive working! :( I use a XE cable. The SC works now, but he dont comunicate with my 1541, only a little bit, the red lamp is flashing but he dont read the dir. My parallelport is at 0378-037F (LPT1), I tryed to disable it and put my port adress manually in, it dont work. Than i tryed to use the parallelport via plug and play, but it also dont work. SC find the adress when i use plug and play but he dont really comunicate with it. I have read that this is impossible to get working, but for what have some peeps made this update?
Cheers,
G-Fellow/Civitas |
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Nafcom
Registered: Apr 2002
Posts: 588 |
Well, the problem is, NT4/2000/XP doesn't allow direct access to the hardware, there is just the HAL between.
Well, and such patches are mostly really wacky!
Steppe has a nice DOS bootdisk and luckily there are tools like "Partition Magic".
I only could repeat what is already said.
That everything is very hardware dependant is also clear.
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TDJ
Registered: Dec 2001
Posts: 1879 |
Slightly o/t, but does anybody know if there's something special I need to do to get sc working with a laptop? The cable etc. works fine when I connect it to my old IBM, but I want to replace that with a pentium 133 laptop, since it takes less space.
Unfortunately I can't seem to get it to work, it just tells me that drive 8 is not present .. I tried playing around in the bios but it doesn't seem to matter .. |
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Nafcom
Registered: Apr 2002
Posts: 588 |
Quote: Slightly o/t, but does anybody know if there's something special I need to do to get sc working with a laptop? The cable etc. works fine when I connect it to my old IBM, but I want to replace that with a pentium 133 laptop, since it takes less space.
Unfortunately I can't seem to get it to work, it just tells me that drive 8 is not present .. I tried playing around in the bios but it doesn't seem to matter ..
Well, what cable do you use X1541 or XE1541? I would say XE1541 for a 133 should be ok.
and that what Steppe already said:
"X cables require SPP mode, I think. XE cables usually work with all modes (ECP, EPP and SPP/normal)."
So, I would say a XE1541 should be fine, I set mine on ECP & EPP in the BIOS. It would help to know which settings you can do in your BIOS and which cable you actually use.
It's very likely that you need a XE1541 for such a fast Pentium I.
And you can press "Recalibrate" in Transfer options of SC, then everything should work ok.
Good Luck! |
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TDJ
Registered: Dec 2001
Posts: 1879 |
Xe1541, it has been working in the past for faster machines (even a pentium 450), and ofcourse I tried everything like recalibrate but nothing helps :(
I can set my port to bidirectional, epp & ecp btw ..
edit: I just tested the printer port, by attaching a zipdrive to it: this works fine, so that's not it either (which is a good thing, otherwise the whole laptop would be useless since it doesn't even have a cd-rom) |
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Blockbuster
Account closed
Registered: Oct 2003
Posts: |
I don't have the experience that you all have concerning this problem.. I also bought a XE1541 and couldn't get SC working on XP. But then I tried the hints given at this page: http://www.vendetta.org/stories/commodore-xe1541.shtml and that way I was getting SC to work.. Not even perfectly, as it crashes sometimes, but atleast it's running!
Just wanted to let you know, even if you might know this manual already.
Greetings from Blockbuster.
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Nafcom
Registered: Apr 2002
Posts: 588 |
Quote: Xe1541, it has been working in the past for faster machines (even a pentium 450), and ofcourse I tried everything like recalibrate but nothing helps :(
I can set my port to bidirectional, epp & ecp btw ..
edit: I just tested the printer port, by attaching a zipdrive to it: this works fine, so that's not it either (which is a good thing, otherwise the whole laptop would be useless since it doesn't even have a cd-rom)
Well, then you need a XA1541:
(from manual)
"The XE1541 extended cable is a substitution for the X1541 cable. Its advantage is that works in all modes of all parallel ports. Its drawbacks are that you need special diodes to build it and that only a few programs support it. Please, note that this cable has problems with motherboards that use the ALI 5 chipset and certain laptops. On these machines, use the XA1541 active cable instead."
But I have never had a XA1541, since I never owned a laptop/notebook |
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Steppe
Registered: Jan 2002
Posts: 1510 |
Good point, haven't thought of that. |
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TDJ
Registered: Dec 2001
Posts: 1879 |
Hmm .. bad news .. I'm not too good with building cables myself, but maybe I can order one from the HCC commodore gg.
But first I'll try to get the damn thing working under windows 2000, that would solve the problem as well. Even better: I can throw the laptop away :) |
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TDJ
Registered: Dec 2001
Posts: 1879 |
And since I'm thinking about this anyway: what does one need to do in order to get the really fast transfers going? I remember something about changes to the diskdrive as well? I've got a few extra 1541's so I could spare one just for this .. would help me a lot in finally getting my collection transferred ;Z |
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Nafcom
Registered: Apr 2002
Posts: 588 |
check the transfer option menu and you will find stuff like Dolphin DOS (floppyspeeders). Yes, then they are part of the drive, an extra chip to build-in.
As for Windows 2000: Like written above in several posts by several posters, it's very wacky such support, since the HAL (Hardware Abstraction Layer) of Windows NT/2000/XP is between the hardware and the prg you use.
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TDJ
Registered: Dec 2001
Posts: 1879 |
Quote: check the transfer option menu and you will find stuff like Dolphin DOS (floppyspeeders). Yes, then they are part of the drive, an extra chip to build-in.
As for Windows 2000: Like written above in several posts by several posters, it's very wacky such support, since the HAL (Hardware Abstraction Layer) of Windows NT/2000/XP is between the hardware and the prg you use.
Damn that HAL, I didn't like him when he fucked those astronauts in 2001: a space odyssey, and I don't like him now!
Serious though: I'll just give it a try, if it doesn't work no harm. At least I've got one working configuration already. |
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Steppe
Registered: Jan 2002
Posts: 1510 |
TDJ, you need to install a parallel speeder such as Speed DOS or Dolphin DOS in your floppy drive, then you need an additional XEP, XP or XAP adaptor (depending on what cable you have). This speeds up transfers by about 2-3 times. Definitely worth getting! |
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TDJ
Registered: Dec 2001
Posts: 1879 |
Quote: You just need EX-1541 and a C64+1541. The C64 uses the HD, with the real 1541 as driver to the HDD64 driver/program.
Tried playing around with it tonight but it needs a code - one that was going to send to me by email but not today I'm afraid :Z |
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SIDWAVE
Account closed
Registered: Apr 2002
Posts: 2238 |
The 'get code' postform don't work, write mail to him.
For the current version, the code is "xyz" however.. :-)
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TDJ
Registered: Dec 2001
Posts: 1879 |
Quote: The 'get code' postform don't work, write mail to him.
For the current version, the code is "xyz" however.. :-)
Hehe great, thanks a lot dude! I'll give it a try right away .. |
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CyberBrain
Administrator
Posts: 392 |
Ok, this is what i did to make starcommander work under WindowsXP SP2 with an XM1541 cable:
- downloaded the latest beta of starcommander
- downloaded the xp-tweak package and installed the userport-driver
(and configured it the ways readme.txt said i had to do it)
- changed the properties of "sc.exe": I sat the Misc->IdleSensitivity to Low.
(so sc will steal all the rastertime ;))
- I went into Control Panel->Administrative Tools->Computer Management->Device Manager->Ports(COM&LPT). In the properties for the LPT port i went to "Port Settings" and marked "Enable legacy Plug and Play detection".
- In the "Drive options" i sat "Command Exec Mode" to Warp.
- In the "Transfer options" i sat the settings to match my system.
(in particular: "TransferMode"=Warp, "ParallelCable"=None, "Async transfer"=Auto, "Manual Timeouts"=NO, "Delay Value"=0, "Detect port modes"=None)
- (my parallel-port was set to the right mode in the BIOS so no problem there)
I don't know if i'm just lucky and it works. It took some time to test if it worked, and search through the docs because it didn't etc, so maybe you're just missing a setting or something if you can't get it to work. Dunno if i'm one of the 2/100, but maybe this will help someone. |
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SIDWAVE
Account closed
Registered: Apr 2002
Posts: 2238 |
I use XMP cable and CBM4win on Windows XP.
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TDJ
Registered: Dec 2001
Posts: 1879 |
I now have RR-net, works like a charm ;) |
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HCL
Registered: Feb 2003
Posts: 728 |
@Cyberbrain:
- downloaded the xp-tweak package..
..which can be found .. where!? |
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CyberBrain
Administrator
Posts: 392 |
Quote: @Cyberbrain:
- downloaded the xp-tweak package..
..which can be found .. where!?
at http://sta.c64.org/scbeta.html under downloads |
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Graham
Account closed
Registered: Dec 2002
Posts: 990 |
<RR-NET ADVOCACY>X*1541 is teh sucks!</RR-NET ADVOCACY> |
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Nafcom
Registered: Apr 2002
Posts: 588 |
Quote: <RR-NET ADVOCACY>X*1541 is teh sucks!</RR-NET ADVOCACY>
Yeah Graham, your WarpCopy64 is great, especially since its bug fixed release! :D Thanks! ;) |
