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Picking an X-series cable

The following chart is intended to help you choose an X-series cable for your 1541 or 1571 transfer tasks. It lists the most common criteria to consider like OS and software requirements, parallel port modes, ease of construction, etc.

For example, if you needed Windows support, want to utilize the parallel port add-on on the disk drive and only have one parallel port on your PC, this limits the cables to only the XMP and XAP, with XAP having the best (highest) rating. If compatibility with the PC parallel port hardware is the primary concern, then the XA1541 or XAP1541 cables are the best options.

   
Cable type
serial only
serial only
serial only
serial only
 
serial+
parallel

serial+
parallel

serial+
parallel
serial+
parallel
serial+
parallel
 
parallel only
parallel only
Standalone cable
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
 
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
 
No
No
# of parallel ports
1
1
1
1
 
1
1
1
1
1
 
2
2
CPU/system compatibility
486-
almost
all
all
all
 
486-
486-
almost
all
all
all
 
486-
all
PC Parallel port type
SPP
PS/2
all
all
all
 
SPP
PS/2
PS/2
all
all
all
 
SPP
PS/2
PS/2
ECP
EPP
Works with what cables
XH
XP
XP
XP
XP
 
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
 
all
serial
all
serial
Cable combination
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
 
X+XH
X+XP
XE+XP
XM+XP
XA+XP
 
n/a
n/a
Supports 1541 parallel port
no
no
no
no
 
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
 
yes
yes
Construction complexity
easy
med
med
hard
 
med
med
med
med
hard
 
med
easy
Transfer speed
norm
norm
norm
norm
 
med
fast
fast
fast
fast
 
med
fast
                           
Supports DOS
yes
yes
yes
yes
 
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
 
yes
yes*
Supports Windows & GNU/Linux
no
no
yes
yes
 
no
no
no
yes
yes
 
n/a
n/a
Supports Star Commander
yes
yes
yes
yes
 
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
 
yes
yes*
Supports MNIB/NIBTOOLS
no
no
no
no
 
no
no
yes
yes
yes
 
no
yes*
Supports MTAP/PTAP
yes
yes
no
yes
 
yes
yes
yes
no
yes
 
no
no
Supports 64HDD
yes
yes
no
no
 
no
no
yes
no
no
 
no
no
Supports VC1541
yes
yes
no
no
 
no
no
yes
no
no
 
no
no
Supports 1541EMU
no
no
no
no
 
no
no
no
no
no
 
no
no
                           
Overall Cable Rating
poor
fair
good
best
 
poor
poor
fair
good
best
 
poor
good*

*NOTE: A few details above don't make much sense, like some of the entries under the XH and XP cables. For example, MNIB/NIBTOOLS requires a parallel-enabled drive and a parallel cable, so it would appear that the XP cable would be supported. For systems using two parallel ports, with separate serial and parallel X cables, this would work but by itself the XP cable can not work.


Email the author: Peter Schepers | Last updated: Feb 16, 2010