exxos's Atari, Amiga & retro forum

So I decided to test out the SIO port on my 600XL in the more traditional way of loading a game from cassette, since I don't have a SuperSalt loopback tester.

To avoid unnecessary clutter I pulled out the XC12 cassette deck since like the C64, it's powered entirely from the computer and no additional PSUs are needed.


Plugged it in, hit start on the 600XL, but no dice. Tape counter is static and the tape isn't going round, but the motor is running. See if you can spot why here:


So, bad belts, both the main drive and the counter drive:


Neither looks in good shape, very hard and inflexible, so time to find some replacements and give the whole thing a bit of a refurb in the process.

I've heard you can revive them by boiling in water, but I doubt replacements will cost much so I'll just get new.

You know, other than the external case, it looks very similar to the Commodore drive, including the shape of the piano keys and the location of the tape counter and LED.

I wonder if it uses the same mechanism.

stephen_usher wrote: 11 Mar 2022 13:34 You know, other than the external case, it looks very similar to the Commodore drive, including the shape of the piano keys and the location of the tape counter and LED.

I wonder if it uses the same mechanism.

Yes, I've seen the drive you're talking about, though mine is the nicely rounded Commodore C2N.

I have also seen it as a standard cassette deck for use with computers like the Spectrum etc, I seem to recall it may have been badged Alba.

I wouldn't be surprised if it used the same mechanism, just a different controller board.

stephen_usher wrote: 11 Mar 2022 13:34 You know, other than the external case, it looks very similar to the Commodore drive, including the shape of the piano keys and the location of the tape counter and LED.

I wonder if it uses the same mechanism.

Found one that looks pretty similar:


Picture isn't great, but it looks bloody close.

Well, distractions with the PokeyMax problems meant I didn't get to wrap up with this.

I got a couple of bags of belts as I'm sure the 1010s have bad belts too, and also probably the Ferguson tape deck I recently got:


Counter belt comes straight off the main drive, so is easy to replace:


But the main drive belt requires some disassembly due to the metal plate over the main flywheel:


But I made a mistake here, which some of the more observant of you may have spotted. There is another black pulley, above and to the left of the flywheel. i managed to not loop the drive belt round that, and it's kind of important as without it there is no drive, other than to the capstan!!

Once I resolved my own silly error, the last part was to clean the heads, capstan and pinch wheel then reassemble, with a clean of the case.

Next I need to test, though it'll never really be a main method of storage as it's terrible slow and rather unreliable. In the end they were bundled with the computers, this one came with my 65XE bought at Dixons towards the end of the 8 bit era for the princely sum of £79.95. By that time I already had a 1050 disk drive, so it didn't get much, if any use.

I must confess that at the time, I thought the 65XE offered something new over my 800XL other than snazzy new design, though it turned out not as the enhanced cartridge port never saw any add ons that I recall. Somehow I managed to keep both the 65XE and the XC12 for the duration, so somewhere between 30 and 35 years.

rubber_jonnie wrote: 20 Mar 2022 10:56 I must confess that at the time, I thought the 65XE offered something new over my 800XL other than snazzy new design, though it turned out not as the enhanced cartridge port never saw any add ons that I recall.

I recall once seeing in a school computer lab a "LAN" type system that networked a bunch of Atari 8-bits to one stack of floppy drives and one printer. This system actually did use that extended cartridge port, and it actually worked, although students sometimes had to "wait in line" for a long time to get to use the floppy drive. That's the only use I've ever seen in the wild.

derkom wrote: 20 Mar 2022 11:18

rubber_jonnie wrote: 20 Mar 2022 10:56 I must confess that at the time, I thought the 65XE offered something new over my 800XL other than snazzy new design, though it turned out not as the enhanced cartridge port never saw any add ons that I recall.

I recall once seeing in a school computer lab a "LAN" type system that networked a bunch of Atari 8-bits to one stack of floppy drives and one printer. This system actually did use that extended cartridge port, and it actually worked, although students sometimes had to "wait in line" for a long time to get to use the floppy drive. That's the only use I've ever seen in the wild.

That's interesting, do you have any recollection of the name?

rubber_jonnie wrote: 20 Mar 2022 14:05 That's interesting, do you have any recollection of the name?

I was worried someone would ask. :lol: I did some poking around and think it was possibly/probably a CSS Multiplexer, although judging from the documentation, the ECI port was probably used for a hard disk and/or parallel connection rather than the LAN itself. I suspect now that that ECI was used for a Black Box. I remember being very surprised to see the ECI in use, and indeed it was only on the master computer (a 130XE), so that matches what this kind of setup would look like.

derkom wrote: 20 Mar 2022 14:30

rubber_jonnie wrote: 20 Mar 2022 14:05 That's interesting, do you have any recollection of the name?

I was worried someone would ask. :lol: I did some poking around and think it was possibly/probably a CSS Multiplexer, although judging from the documentation, the ECI port was probably used for a hard disk and/or parallel connection rather than the LAN itself. I suspect now that that ECI was used for a Black Box. I remember being very surprised to see the ECI in use, and indeed it was only on the master computer (a 130XE), so that matches what this kind of setup would look like.

Cool, thanks I'll go take a look.

derkom wrote: 20 Mar 2022 14:30

rubber_jonnie wrote: 20 Mar 2022 14:05 That's interesting, do you have any recollection of the name?

I was worried someone would ask. :lol: I did some poking around and think it was possibly/probably a CSS Multiplexer, although judging from the documentation, the ECI port was probably used for a hard disk and/or parallel connection rather than the LAN itself. I suspect now that that ECI was used for a Black Box. I remember being very surprised to see the ECI in use, and indeed it was only on the master computer (a 130XE), so that matches what this kind of setup would look like.

Both pretty cool devices, I do recall the Black Box from magazine articles, but the Multiplexer is a new one on me. I think I need to go on an image hunt, see what I can find.