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From: Brendan@cup.portal.com (Brendan P Kehoe)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.cbm
Subject: Re: 1581 disk drive for C-64
Message-ID: <14521@cup.portal.com>
Date: 11 Feb 89 02:03:57 GMT
References: <359@wuibc.UUCP>
Distribution: usa
Organization: The Portal System (TM)
Lines: 32


 In article <359@wuibc.UUCP> bas@wuibc.UUCP (Barry Siegfried) writes:
 
>I'm considering upgrading the disk drive on my C-64 from a 1541 to a 1581 to
>get more storage capacity.  What do 1581 users think of this drive?  Two
>issues are of particular concern to me: 
>
>   1. At least one contributor to this newsgroup has mentioned a ROM upgrade. 
>      Why was the upgrade necessary? 

  Actually, it is replacing the WD177X controller...this is only a problem if
you have an earlier 1581...somewhere out there (I've seen it on a number of
BBS's) there's a short little program that will tell you which controller
you have. If you have the WD1770, you can get a free upgrade from Commodore
(last I knew).

>
>   2. How fast is the 1581?  Mostly, I will be reading and writing program and  
>      sequential files. 

   The only real increase in speed is because how the 1581 handles the disk.
It puts 40 sectors in each track, and writes them in a much more orderly
fashion, so when you try to read/write a file, it does come in faster. But
since the 64 doesn't have burst mode, you won't get the same throughput
as you would on a 128.

>
>Thanks, 
>Barry Siegfried 
>bas@wuibc.UUCP

Brendan@cup.portal.com