Posted By
siz
on 2015-08-18
07:07:17
|  Re: Userport adapter for uk1541 Plus4
I've got the chance to test my UK1541 (#000063 - the maker is very optimistic to have 6 digit serial numbers  ) with the plus/4.
First of all: the card is designed to fit a C64C (the flat version) and nothing else. As the back of the plus/4 comes out of above the ports it makes plugging in the UK1541 impossible.
I was thinking how can I create a converter (Friday morning before leaving to Árok Party) without having to create an adapter PCB. I had some user-port connectors at home and I was thinking about soldering cable to the user port connector and to the back side of the UK1541. I already knew that the important signals are located on the same pin as on the C64 (+5V, GND, ATN). Reset/Data/Clock are taken from the serial port with a 6pin DIN/3.5" jack adapter. The only problem is the 8-bit parallel port but I can live without that (at the moment but I plan to use it in the future).
As I disassembled my user-port connector I found out that it has flat connectors in the back which seem to be ready to be plugged into another port. So I put some 1mm wide plastic between the pins and plugged it into the UK1541, expanding the connector about 2cms.
From the front side:
That's just enough to be plugged into the plus/4. And it works perfectly:
Running rocket science:
I's not perfect but mostly it works quite good.
For example since the last firmware upgrade it stucks at checking for new firmware on power up but it has a reset button and after resetting it starts up. Perhaps next release will fix it.
The things that cannot be fixed with this setup (and will require a real adapter):
- the bottom of the LCD cannot be seen and we have the status line there
- the IR receiver (to change disk image) is also below the edge of the plus/4 and it's hard to make it get the signals from the remote
- the joystick port on the side does not allow a 1551 paddle to be plugged in (they don't fit together)
Others are software related:
- sometimes disk images cannot be mounted (file fragmented error message) - I can only guess the reasons
- only D64 images are supported
- no feedback when entering a directory and sometimes I already went back to the parent when I recognize that actually it received my command but was slow to process it
Other then these mostly minor issues the UK1541 does it's job and currently there is no alternative device for the plus/4.
Now I lent my UK1541 to Murphy so he has no more excuses to finish the demo for Function.
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