If, like me, you have a collection of Commodore computers and IEC bus devices (disk drives, Pi1541, printers, etc.), it can get annoying to have to constantly switch cables around depending on which accessory you want to use with a particular computer at a particular time.I only have a single 1541 disk drive, but I use it with both my C64 and my VIC-20 often.Additionally, I have a Pi1541 which acts like another disk drive, and it is always in high demand.
This IEC Bus Switching Box can make things much simpler.Leave all your devices hooked up, and just switch which bus they are connected to! The simplicity of this switching box is also its power.It simply has two IEC busses internally – A and B.
Pressing a switch in connects it to one bus, and popping it out connects it to the other.It’s intended to be used with two computers; one connected to position 1 which is always left popped out, and another connected to position 2 which is always pressed in.Then, individual devices (or daisy chains) are connected to 3, 4 and 5.
Whenever you want to connect them to a particular machine, just change the state of the switch.This will connect that device or chain to whichever internal bus you like, and thus to which computer you want to use it with.This approach is easy to use and very simple, which makes it robust and fairly foolproof.
The boxes come in a variety of colour schemes — I definitely like the shown Blue Sky theme, but the black and grey Midnight theme is also very nice and fits with any era of computer.So if you’ve got a lot of IEC devices and want to stop the cable shuffling game, check this switching box out!
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