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intric8
Seattle, WA, USA

Posted Fri May 29, 2020 8:54 am

Last night I was inspired (don't ask me why) to photograph my 1581 drive. I really like how it turned out so I wanted to share it here.
1581.jpg

I jokingly told folks that I considered it the "Lamborghini" of Commodore drives. The reason being because it's gorgeous, it's expensive, it's fast and yet it's not very practical. I say this because it isn't entirely backwards compatible to the 1541 like the 1571 was, thus it was often used more for archiving or used on BBSes that needed more storage. But... you know you want one. :D

Since then, however, I've learned a few things I'm looking forward to experimenting with soon.

First, IDE64 fixed versions of software will run nicely on the 1581 (didn't know that), and I've now gone and found quite an impressive list of some of those games. My experience was to load collections of games onto 1581 disks and try, one at a time, to see which ones worked. Like, Jumpman or Montezuma's Revenge, for example, work perfectly iirc. But most would lock up because the 1581, per Wikipedia, "cannot utilize software that performs low-level disk access (as the vast majority of Commodore 64 games do)."

Also the designer of the 1581 is a bit of a mystery. However I discovered via a post on Quora by Dave Haynie that Herb Mosteller designed the C128, 1571, Amiga 500, 3000 and several other pieces of hardware. So it seems quite possible he also designed the case for the 1581. But, that piece of information I haven't actually verified. Along the way I also collected the name of Howard Stolz as the designer of the glorious Amiga 1000.

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3D-vice
Germany

Posted Fri May 29, 2020 11:09 am

That is a really beautiful photo! And wow, your 1581 looks brand new, no scratches or any other surface damage to spot. Kudos!

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McTrinsic

Posted Fri May 29, 2020 1:39 pm

Looking at the text, I really thought You were describing my olde Indus GT.

Same specs: admirable look but not 100% compatible. The benefits are a bit different. The 1581 offers 3,5“ disks and the respective lost in storage size. The Indus offers a second Z80 computer in the drive :D .

https://archive.org/stream/run-magazine ... 5/mode/2up

Anyways: Awesome pics!!

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rpiguy9907

Posted Fri May 29, 2020 3:02 pm

Did you happen to test any of the more complex multi-disk games like Pool of Radiance? I’ve always wanted a 1581 version.

It’s irrational as the Amiga version is the definitive version of that game.

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intric8
Seattle, WA, USA

Posted Fri May 29, 2020 3:11 pm

Did you happen to test any of the more complex multi-disk games like Pool of Radiance?
I have not. My guess is it wouldn't work, but it would be interesting to see. How you would flip from one disk to another I've no clue, either. Unless, they just all being on the same disk somehow magically worked.

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Zippy Zapp
CA, USA

Posted Fri May 29, 2020 3:25 pm

Awesome pic! I love my 1581 drive but yeah for me over the years it was mostly used for my BBS back then, GEOS, MUS files, graphics, demos and the likes. It is one piece of hardware, with my 1571 that I am glad I kept boxed in my storage. It now sits on my desk.

I am shocked at how pricey these things are now. Some in box going for over $500. Even though I have the box, manual, packing, Test Disk, etc I would never sell it.

Like you said the CMD drives are more useful and also compatible with the 128 Fast serial and Burst, IIRC.

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rpiguy9907

Posted Sun May 31, 2020 6:25 am

I only asked because Pool of Radiance was on the list you linked to and it seemed unlikely to me too!





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