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From: Nicolas Welte
Date: 2000-01-13
Subject: Re: WinEMU 0.47R2

Veres Ferenc wrote:
> I know 2 reasons for developing the XE1541:
> 1. why should we always use the old port type, especially if you have
> another software which uses ECP/EPP? (like my C64-PC transfer program :)

Well, that wasn't exactly a reason ;-) It was more important to be able to use the parallel XP1541 interface (which only works in enhanced modes like PS/2 and ECP/EPP) and the serial interface on a single LPT port.
Without the XE1541 two LPT ports were needed.

> 2. some new motherboards has no electronix for real SPP mode, if u switch
> to SPP mode in BIOS, you still have the same electronix as in EPP mode,
> so X1541 still does not work! And maybe they will drop the SPP standard
> in the future!?

Yes, that was the main reason for introducing the XE1541. When we tested a lot of new and old LPT ports it even turned out that some of the old ports also wouldn't work with the X1541!

Unfortunately some of todays LPT ports are so ill constructed that they won't even work with the XE1541 anymore, as Joe already announced in his mail about the active cable. It's only a problem with voltage levels, so the principle of the XE1541 could be kept, but the circuit had to be improved. Unfortunately this means new software, because the new circuit inverts the signal levels. Apart from that the connection scheme will be a little bit different to make operation with cbm4linux possible. This new scheme should also help to improve operation in other multitasking environments.

Nicolas