The Link 11 Electronics

electronics
-----------

  by guru/tsr



     g'day people and welcome to another
instalment in the exciting electronics
saga.

     today i will explain how to install
a burst nibbler system into your c64.


the burst nibbler is a system which will
allow you to copy any disk at all
extremely quickly.

     in my experiences using the burst
nibbler system, i have not encountered
one disk that cannot be copied.

     installation is not overly complex
but should only be carried out by
someone who at least knows how to use a
soldering iron.



the system is made up of two parts:
  a disk drive expansion
  a computer expansion

the disk drive work
-------------------

   all we have to do is attach 9 wires
to specific points on the drive.

   the following instructions apply to
the 1541(c) disk drive

1. buy some 10 wire ribbon cable or
   similar.
2. using one end of the ribbon cable l
   only, soldereach of the 10 wires onto
   these points on the !3! chip:

   ----- ----- ----- -----
   + - + + - + + - + + - +
   +   + +   + +   + +   +
   +   + +   + +   + +   +
   +   + 6522+ +6522 +6502
   +   + +   + +   + +   +
   +   + +   + +   + +   +
   +   + +   + +   + +   +  space for
   + 1 + + 2 + +!3!+ + 4 +  -----
   +   + +   + +   + +   +  soldering
   ----- ----- ----- -----  points
                                 6522
  solder onto pins              1+---21+
                                2+  -22+
    2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,39          3+   23+
                                .+    .+
   on the 1541 mark ii drive,   .+    .+
   a 'jumper' between pin       .+    .+
   1 and 2 has to be cut.        +    .+
                                 +pin  +
                                 +nos. +
                                 +     +
                                 +     +
                                 +     +
                                 +     +
                               20+---40+
4. check soldering joints and recheck
   that you have soldered to the correct
   pins.

6. lable each wire on the other end of
   the cable which pin on the chip it is
   soldered onto.

5. put drive back together, leaveing the
   other end of the cable hanging out
   the back.




the computer bit
----------------

  the other end of the cable which you
have just soldered onto the chip in the
drive, has to be connected either
directly or through a plug, to the
computer's user port.

  the user port is double sided. it has
numbers printed on the top and letters
on the bottom. we will be using the
bottom edge. in the following
instructions i will assume you are
soldering to the bottom of a plug, not
the bottom of the the computer. if you
did this then you would not be able to
seperate the drive and keyboard!

1. buy a suitabe commodore standard edge
   connector (see end a chapter for
   availability)

2. solder each of the wires from the
   drive onto these pins on the plug

        -----------pins------------
drive -  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  39

plug  -  c  d  e  f  g  h  j  k   b
3. double check all connections

4. re-assemble plug

5. plug into computer

6. turn on drive, then computer









  now that that is done, it is time to
use it. you cannot use normal copiers
with parallel although when disconnected
you can use the computer and drive
normally.

  the program you must get is simply
called burst nibbler (sometimes called
deep scan burst nibble).

    load it up and run it. on the screen
when you first run it you should see
some number flicking through. hopefully
they stop after a few seconds.
when they stop they should read - dd01

if it says ???? then check that drive is
turned on and that the parallel plug is
connected. if it still doesn't work then
you have made a wiring error. check
drive and plug for wrong positions, bad
solder joints.







  if it does say dd01 then you are ready
to copy.

  the program has a number of features
but generally there is not much need to
use them so for now the only one you
need to know is 'c' for copy. pressing c
will result in a couple of simple
requesters. follow to instructions and
you can't get into much trouble.





   about the availablity of the plugs,

in the past i have had trouble obtaining
these but i think 'rod irving elect.'
stock them, if you can't find any, i
have a 'supply' of them i can provide
very cheaply although i have no cases
for them.


     well thats it for the column this
month, sorry if it was a bit to complex,
i should be getting back to more simple
stuff next time.



 if you need any information about this,
previous chapters or anything to do with
electronics don't hesitate to contact me

 guru/tsr
35 hillside cres
teralba nsw 2284
australia

    until next time it's


                  hooroo from the   guru