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Commodore 2031, 4031, and 2031LP drives


More affordable than the old IEEE drives, and sporting a new look! They use an IEEE-488 interface to talk to the PET and 'B' line machines. The LP models, like the 2031LP here, usually found their way to a B128 or similar machine. The 2031 and 4031 drives appear to be completely identical, even down to the version of DOS included.

Like all Commodore disk drives, these drives were "smart" devices. They included their own processor, their own memory, and their own disk operating system. In fact, the relationship between a Commodore computer and it's disk drive resembles more closely two computers on a network than a typical Computer->peripheral relationship. The peripherals on the IEEE-488 "network" each had a unique identifying "Unit" number, typically ranging from 8-30. This number identified which physical device was being accessed. When a disk drive contained more than one floppy drive (like the 4040), you also had to refer to the particular "drive" number you wanted (typically 0 or 1). Single-floppy drives, like the ones on this page, still had to deal with the legacy of the dual drives by referring to their single floppy as "drive 0".


cbm/ieeedrives/2031.gif

Model    : 2031
Type     : 5.25" Floppy Disk
Media    : Single Sided, Single Density
Capacity : 170K per disk
Interface: IEEE-488
Dos      : CBM DOS 2.6
Notes    :


cbm/ieeedrives/4031.gif

Model    : 4031
Type     : 5.25" Floppy Disk
Media    : Single Sided, Single Density
Capacity : 170K per disk
Interface: IEEE-488
Dos      : CBM DOS 2.6
Notes    :



cbm/ieeedrives/2031lpw.gif

Model    : 2031lp
Type     : 5.25" Floppy Disk
Media    : Single Sided, Single Density
Capacity : 170K per disk
Interface: IEEE-488
Dos      : CBM DOS 2.6
Notes    : LP for "Low Profile" (White Model)



cbm/ieeedrives/2031lp.gif

Model    : 2031lp
Type     : 5.25" Floppy Disk
Media    : Single Sided, Single Density
Capacity : 170K per disk
Interface: IEEE-488
Dos      : CBM DOS 2.6
Notes    : LP for "Low Profile" (Tan Model)



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