Tag - Dust Cover

MEGA65 Dust Cover

3rd July 2024

Picked up a new accessory for my MEGA65 today, granted not a particularly exciting one in the grand scheme of things, but useful nevertheless. It’s a MEGA65 Dust Cover in case you missed the post title – an essential retro accessory to keep not just dust at bay but UV rays too!

Back in the 80’s I always had covers on my Commodore computers and peripherals including my C64, VIC20, 1531 Datasette and even my dot-matrix printer. It just seemed the logical thing to do as I wanted to keep them all in tip-top condition. Now whether that was a commonplace thing or not I don’t know but it’s something I have always done.

Forty year old dust covers!

You can see a couple of the original cases I had on my childhood VIC20 above when I unearthed it a few years ago in the attic. Of course having survived for forty years they had long since passed their best but they fulfilled their mission and kept my stuff safe all that time.

MEGA65 Dust Cover

I purchased this cover off eBay from a seller I have used before called Sew Ready. The woman who runs it makes all manner of covers for retro machines, including floppy drives, datasettes, monitors and even Spectrum Nexts!

Side view

It’s a nice snug fit all around and features contrasting red piping along all the edges and a cut-away section at the back so you can leave all your cables and carts plugged in.

Handy cut-away section at the rear

Embroidered onto the front is the MEGA65 logo featuring the correct blue, green, yellow and red coloured stripes off the badge.

MEGA65 Embroidered Logo

If I could change one thing it would be to add a cut-away section on the left hand side to allow controllers (or in my case a wireless controller dongle) to be left plugged in. However that’s a minor flaw in an otherwise terrific product.

Commodore 1581 Disk Drive

1st March 2023

Steven

Commodore 64

7 Comments

The 1581 was the last disk drive Commodore produced for their 8-bit range of machines way back in 1987. It should look instantly familiar to Amiga users as it looks very similar to the A1010 drive and uses the same double-sided, double-density (DSDD) disks to provide 800K of storage. This was 80K more than PC’s could manage (720K) with the same disks at the time, but 80K less than the Amiga (880K).

In terms of program storage this equated to a whopping 3160 blocks free on a single formatted disk. This represented a huge jump from the 170K of storage (664 blocks) available on a standard 5.25” 1541 floppy and even the 340k (1328 blocks) achievable with a 1571. The 1571 was able to read/write both sides of a disk simultaneously without it’s owner having to resort to the use of a Disk Notcher and flipping the disk like a record as we swapped from Side A to Side B!

Who remembers using one of these back in the 80’s?

Despite its impressive specifications the 1581 didn’t sell well at all, for a couple of reasons. Firstly because it arrived late in the life of the C64, so late in fact that the Amiga 1000 had already been around for two years and the A500 had just launched. It also didn’t help that it was more expensive than both the ubiquitous 1541 and also the 1571 drives. Consequently there’s not many of them floating around today and decent working examples are hard to find.

Fast forward to today and there are many modern alternatives to using original Commodore hardware. For instance I already have an SD2IEC reader, a Pi1541, a Turbo Chameleon Mk2 and a 1541 Ultimate-II+, not to mention an Easy Flash 3 cartridge. All these devices offer a quick and easy way to access digital disk images on my 8-bit machines. Yet despite all logic I’ve been hankering after a 1581 for years now. Presumably like quite a few others judging by the price they can go for on eBay.

Well anyway, the point of all this is that a short while ago I finally succumbed to that desire and picked up the stunning little beauty that you can see below. In my defence I was feeling pretty miserable at the time as I was convalescing after surgery and this was a much needed bit of retail therapy!

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It’s in superb, practically mint condition and came complete with the original Commodore power supply and comprehensive User’s Guide. It’s working perfectly too and shows no sign of the dreaded yellowing that my 1541-II’s have suffered.

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It’s not just going to be sat on a shelf like a trophy gathering dust though, as I fully intend to put it to good use. In that regard I plan to fit it with a JiffyDOS ROM in the near future to give it a significant speed boost. I also want to incorporate it into my GEOS eco-system as it should really help improve my overall experience there by enabling me to combine multiple disks onto just one. Expect posts about both of those projects in the coming months.

1581 Dust Cover

Having said that, for those occasions when it isn’t being used I picked up this rather natty embroidered dust cover for it off eBay to protect it from dust and sunlight. The seller does a whole range of covers for Commodore machines and I have to confess I’m tempted to kit everything out in matching covers!

Commodore Amiga CD32 Dust Cover

26th April 2021

Steven

CD32

23 Comments

About a year ago I asked the guys over at Retronics if they would consider making a dust cover for the Amiga CD32 console. Their response at the time was that they would love to but they just didn’t have access to one to create the mould. Anyway they must have finally got hold of one because they’ve just added a CD32 cover to their line-up and here it is.

Naked Amiga CD32 Dust Cover.

I ordered one just as soon as I could and it arrived at the weekend so here’s a quick look at it. It was packed inside an attractive box displaying a photo of a CD32 console on the cover. Opening it up revealed the cover inside, safely tucked into a plastic bag.

Photos

I remember having trouble photographing the C2n Datasette cover and this was similarly tricky. Transparent shiny objects are awkward things to photograph!

When not reflecting me trying to take a photo of it, the cover is almost invisible from most viewing angles.

The cover has all the angles, bumps and curves it needs to mate with the CD32 perfectly.

Cover fits nicely around the TerribleFire 330 riser card.

There’s a protrusion at the back where there would normally be a screw securing the expansion cover. Happily this doesn’t cause any problems with the riser card for my TerribleFire 330 expansion.

Side view of the dust cover.

So long as I made sure it slotted into the space between the case and riser card it fitted nicely.

View of dust cover from rear.

The front is perfectly angled to match the contour of the case, as is the top where the raised dome aligns with the bump in the CD lid.

More reflections!

This is pretty much an essential purchase if you own a CD32 console. It’s nicely finished, fits like a glove and above all keeps the dust at bay.

I also love the fact that these covers are all practically invisible when fitted so as not to spoil my enjoyment of admiring these old machines. Definitely worth a buy. You can pick one up on eBay direct from Retronics or from the Alinea online shop.

Commodore 1530/1531/C2N/Datasette Dust Cover

9th July 2020

Steven

Commodore 64, VIC 20

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A modern, stylish datasette dust cover is something I’ve been after for quite some time. I do still have the burgundy leatherette one that my parents bought me back in the 80’s but it is seriously hideous now. In fact who am I kidding? It was probably hideous even back then but being just a kid I didn’t know any better!

Was this even cool back in the 80’s? Regardless, the time has come for it to go…

Why do I need a dust cover anyway?

Most of my retro computers have very nice, custom made transparent perspex covers. They offer great protection from dust and scratches whilst also still allowing me to see my beloved machines.

We have two cats in our household that think everything is fair game to sleep on. Besides keeping dust at bay they are great at keeping cat hairs out of keyboards and everywhere else cat hairs shouldn’t be. I buy all my dustcovers from a company called Retronics based in Poland.

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Anyway back in February I spotted this teaser on their Facebook page which clearly showed they were working on a dust cover for the Commodore Datasette. I duly made a mental note to keep checking back to see when it was available. A few weeks ago I checked again and noticed that it was finally available so I went ahead and bought one from their eBay shop.

Inside the box.

Sweeties!

It arrived yesterday so here’s a quick look at it. It was packed inside a very attractive box displaying a nice photo of a 1530 Datasette on the cover. Opening it up revealed the cover tucked into a plastic bag along with some delicious freebie Polish sweets. (Every order I have ever received from them has contained these) 🙂

Naked Dust Cover.

With it being transparent it’s quite a tricky thing to photograph!

The unmistakable bump for the counter reset button.

Impressions & Photos

There isn’t really a great deal you can say about a dust cover. This product does exactly what it says on the box. It’s very well made and the dimensions are just right so that it rests securely on top of the datasette without sliding around. It has all the lumps, bumps and ridges exactly where they need to be to fit correctly and look the part.

They say a picture speaks a thousand words, so here’s a bunch of photos of the dust cover doing its thing. From certain angles it almost looks like there’s no cover on at all, which for me, is exactly how I like it.

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The bottom line? If you own a 1530/1531/C2N/Datasette and you are in the market for a stylish dust cover then I don’t think you will find anything better than this.