ScuzzBlog: Diaries December 2017
Entry 04th December 2017: Post: 1
1551 - Smashing Floppy Drive
I absolutely adore the Commodore range of 5.25" drives. I have so
many and have quite a few in permanent service. I never tire of
the clunky drives and the specific format needed to use these units.
The 5.25" floppy disk is still a favourite of mine and although
many take the view that they fall apart with age, just like the
3.5" drives I just never get those kind of issues.
Moving on to the 1551 which is a rare beast designed specifically for
the Commodore Plus/4 and which has a hard wired special cartridge
connector that will only connect into the Plus/4. Rumour was that
Commodore were going to provide an interface for the C64 but that
never materialised. Consequently due to the limitation it was never
that popular as a drive. Shame cus it' superior to the 1541.
The first plus for me is the colour. Looks sleek and elegant. The
drive uses the 6510T processor as a disk controller and is only
used in the 1551. The drive is three times faster than the 1541.
And why smashing .... well I really did struggle to get this drive.
Twice I had the unit smashed in transit by our beloved post office.
More the problem of the sender as they just didn't protect the plastic
casing. And these things crack really easily if you stand things
on top of them. In the end I collected the very next unit just to
make sure it arrived here safely.
Not a pretty sight. Fortunately I have two pristine units in the
collection so all turned out fine in the end. Happy days
|
