| Posted By
Csabo
on 2011-01-11
11:24:46
|  ZoomFloppy
Is this what I think it is? http://www.jbrain.net/products/ZoomFloppy.html
Sounds like I could just hook up my floppy to my PC. Have you guys heard about it? The one-time cost of $35 - while a little expensive - would be totally worth it for me.
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Posted By
TLC
on 2011-01-11
15:11:51
| Re: ZoomFloppy
This is AFAIK an evolution (...better said: production (...purists like me might possibly call it "production level hw with some commercial-ish fluff on top")) version of Nate Lawson' s XUM1541-project (see http://www.root.org/~nate/c64/xum1541 ). You can classify it as an USB<-->Commodore IEC interface (most probably the best one today). From all I'd highlight three of its capabilities that make it the single best one amongst all those X*1541 interfaces. 1.) USB is "everything". USB is even supported by Mac's and probably even very esoteric hw's; USB communication doesn't also need any tricks, (un)like parallel port bit-banging did, it's all "standard", no need to write kernel-level drivers for them for multitasking OSes. 2.) The interface hw is based on a microcontroller with true USB capability (no bit-banging), thus, operation is pretty quick and efficient. 3.) AFAIK the hw supports burst IEC transfers, parallel 1541 drives, and IEEE-488 devices... with that, basically all major CBM drive families (...except for the 1551) are supported; it's very universal.
If you'd ask whether it emulates an USB mass-storage device (USB floppy or disk) class just by itself, ie. if it acts like an USB floppy drive, AFAIK the answer would be no  . PC-side is implemented by OpenCBM that you need to install first.
(...Whilst you may find OpenCBM a little bit tough to use at first sight -- as it only has commandline interface --, AFAIK there are some GUIs for it (for Windows) that make it pretty simple to use.)
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Posted By
Csabo
on 2011-01-11
18:54:45
| Re: ZoomFloppy
So... I should buy one right? 
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Posted By
TLC
on 2011-01-12
04:16:27
| Re: ZoomFloppy
If your intent is to solve all problems of transferring to/from Commodore disks in one single step, for a reasonably long term, then well, probably yes... 
(I'm also considering to buy one myself; ...actually, I "can" transfer disks ATM, since all of my PCs are still equipped with parallel ports, and I could install and use the "classic" setups of OpenCBM on them. ...However, this could change soon, or in a while. And even if I "did" have parallel ports on my PCs for a while, no classic solutions bring that flexibility and "elegance" that this USB based thingy does. ...Heck, it can even "burst nibble" 1541 disks using stock, unmodified 1571 drives (this "stunt" has always needed a modified, parallel-ported 1541 before... ...isn't some feature I'm likely to ever use, given the predictably low number of copy protected Plus/4 disks  , but still... it shows... ) )
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Posted By
Luca
on 2011-01-12
05:09:47
 | Re: ZoomFloppy
Wonder how i could pay for shipping this in Europe, 'coz I need it for sure: just to say, I'm still using my old 1994 X1541 cable with StarCommander in DOS environment.
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Posted By
MIK
on 2011-01-13
04:58:37
 | Re: ZoomFloppy
Very cool. Would save having to hoard old PC gear and would be neat if even a cheap note book could be used with it which would save space!
I'd wait to see what people make of it once it's released before parting with any cash.
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