Welcome to

The X1541 Shop

run by Joe Forster/STA,
products manufactured by Mr.Axel

last updated on 2008-05-17

IMPORTANT! The shop is currently down and I don't know when it will be up again. If you want to order from me, please, send your wishes to <kovacs DOT balazs AT educatio DOT hu> instead and I'll see what I can do about it. This is my E-mail address at my work place so do not distribute it (on web sites, in documentations etc.) because I don't know how well protected it is and I don't want to get spam there!

Introduction

In The X1541 Shop, you can order X1541-series cables and all kinds of other cables and adaptors that are mostly related to transferring data between Commodores and PC's, in case you can't or don't want to build them yourself. The cables and adaptors are built by Mr. Axel; everything else is arranged by Joe. The main advantage of this shop over other similar shops and auctions out there is that everything here is cheap while still of good quality. This is a shop for the customers, not for the money!

If you haven't bought anything in this shop before then, please, read this page through carefully so that there will be no problems with your order on either side.

You can and should order products online because it's very comfortable for both you and us. The full source of the online order script is available free of charge.

Ordering conditions and customer protection

According to Consumer International, you shouldn't order from online shops that don't provide customers detailed enough information on ordering. Some information about this shop:

  1. Who exactly we are. We are a few individuals who are spending their spare time to help other Commodore enthusiasts, by selling Commodore-related products for as low prices as possible.

    We have been around for several years and sold several hundred products already and only a few customers weren't satisfied with what they received. If you have any questions or problems then you can contact the shopkeeper in many ways. It is not a problem if you don't know us and, therefore, don't trust us. Ask around in forums – such as UseNet NEWS, comp.emulators.cbm or comp.sys.cbm – about where people think such products should be bought. You will be told that we don't rip off anyone. We never steal your money! In change, if something goes wrong – which is quite unlikely but still possible –, please, be patient with us.

  2. Site security and personal rights. Sorry, we have no secure connection, your personal data is transferred several times as plain text during your order. If you don't like this, please, order in another shop.

    We're logging orders but your personal data is kept confidential: no individual, company or authority will get them from us. We won't send you any kind of spam (unwanted advertising E-mail) and we won't contact you for any reason other than questions or information concerning your current order.

  3. Payment methods, actual costs and ordering from abroad. Currently, the shopkeeper accepts cash only, in various currencies. You send cash entirely at your own risk! If you don't like it, please, order at a reseller.

    The PayPal seller protection policy is a joke, therefore, we to refuse to accept payments made via PayPal, unless the customer has a very good reason to use PayPal rather than personal checks or money orders. Please, note that orders, specifying PayPal payment without a good reason (we do NOT consider "fast", "comfortable" or "secure" a good reason!), will be rejected!

    Paying on delivery is available for Hungarian customers only. People ordering from abroad have to pay in advance. If you don't like this, sorry, we cannot help you: you will have to order from another shop.

    If you order online, you will be told the total price of your order. This includes all kinds of costs, including: the price of the products; postage; bank-related costs. You will have to pay the exact price that you are given on the order details page; no hidden extras are involved. Non-Hungarian customers pay the same prices as Hungarians, except when ordering from a reseller as then you have to pay the bank costs and the work of the reseller.

    We cannot give you a bill so that you could reimburse tax (e.g. VAT/MWS) in your own country. Also, as we send out packages without declaring what's inside, customs offices may open them, inspect their contents, delay the delivery – for any amount of time – and may even make you pay taxes and/or customs.

    Also, as Hungarian Post is not computerized enough yet, we cannot provide you with a tracking number so that you could see where the package at a given moment is. If you don't like this, sorry, there's nothing we can do about it.

  4. Delivery times and methods. Products are shipped via registered mail so that the chances of you getting it are higher; and, if you don't get it, after all, we will be able to do something about it. The envelope is padded with bubble wrapping inside so that the products don't break during the delivery.

    Usually, XE1541, XM1541 and XA1541 cables and XAP1541 and XEP1541 adaptors are shipped the next day when your money arrives because we always have a stock of them. However, if we just ran out of stock or you (also) ordered something else then you may have to wait for up to two weeks, until a new batch of cables or adaptors you ordered is built. If you don't want to wait that much for any reason, please, ask for the availability of products before sending the money.

    Hungarian customers get packages within 1-2 days. Express delivery within Europe usually takes 3-5 days; outside Europe 5-10 days. If you're in a hurry and need something within a few days, sorry, we won't be able to deliver it that quickly. If your package seems to be delayed or lost, we won't be able to answer your questions until the maximum delivery time (15 days, see below) is over as the shopkeeper's local (Hungarian) post office won't answer such questions either.

    If the maximum delivery time is over, the shopkeeper will file a query at his local post office but won't be able to do anything until an official answer arrives from the post office. This may take up to several weeks or months – unfortunately, no one can tell. If the package has been lost, we will send another package and fetch the price of the original package, as a fine, from the post office; if the package has been delayed, for any reason, it's not our fault; if the package has been delivered, we will refuse to send another package, and it will up to you to find out the actual person who picked up the package. As the post office disclaims quite a lot of responsibilities (see below), unfortunately, we cannot give you guarantees either so, please, wait for your package patiently.

    For your information, below are a few facts from an official E-mail reply from Hungarian Post's user support:

    • European Union. According to the EU directive, within the European Union, 85% of express (so called "priority") letters (or packages) must be delivered within 3 weekdays and 97% within 5 weekdays; non-express letters must be delivered within 4-7 weekdays.

    • Other European countries. In Europan countries outside the European Union, express letters must be delivered within 3-8 weekdays, non-express letters within 5-10 weekdays.

    • Outside Europe. Outside Europe, express letters must be delivered within 5-10 weekdays, non-express letters within 7-21 weekdays.

    • No guarantee for delivery times. According to the Beijing Universal Postal Agreement of 1999, post companies do not take responsibility for the delayed delivery of letters as the usual postal services are not "time guaranteed". The delivery times above are for the customers' information only.

    • Delivery check may be requested after 15 days. 15 days after sending, the sender may order any post office (preferably, the one at which the letter was submitted) to search for the letter, by filling out a request form. If the post office cannot prove the delivery, the letter is considered lost and, upon the sender's claim, the post office pays back the postage and the value of the package contents.

    Fortunately, such delivery problems occur very rarely and only a fraction percent of our outgoing packages have disappeared ever.

  5. Guarantee and solving problems. You get one year money-back guarantee for the products you order. We test everything we can, prior to shipping, but there are products for which we have no real equipment, therefore, we can only test it against the circuit diagram. Fortunately, there were only a few cases when a product was broken when it arrived at the customer.

    To decrease costs, we include no instructions with the products, If you don't know exactly how to use the products you received then read the corresponding info page on this site. Also, read the documentation of the software you wish to use the product with. Please, note that we are not obliged to provide user support for software other than the ones the shopkeeper wrote himself. Rest assured, though, we will try to help you whenever we can.

  6. Cancelling orders and returning products. You may cancel your order any time – obviously, before it has been shipped to you –, just send us an E-mail about it.

    If you received a faulty product then send it back to us and you will get a replacement plus cash, in Euros or US Dollars, to cover your costs of having sent the products back. However, the replacement will not be shipped until the original product arrives so make sure you protect your package well enough (padded envelope and registered mail).

    If what you received works properly but you don't like it or you ordered the wrong product accidentally then you may send it back to us, paying the postage yourself. The product will be replaced with some other product(s), if you pay us the difference. If you don't want to swap the product for something else, we may decide to give you back the price of the product – minus bank-related costs – but we are not obliged to do so. Rest assured, though, we will try to help you however we can.

    Please, contact us before returning products!

There is additional information on the order details page and in the E-mails you receive when we confirm the receipt your order, telling you how to pay, and when we notify you about having shipped the package to you. By ordering from us, you declare that you have read and understood everything above.

Resellers

The advantage of resellers is that they let you pay via bank accounts, personal checks, money orders or credit cards for the products you order, unlike the shopkeeper who currently accepts cash only. This is certainly more comfortable for you and, also, your payment will arrive at the local reseller faster than at the shopkeeper. The disadvantage is that prices are higher, because of the more work involved and the costs of transferring money from the reseller to the shopkeeper. Current sellers are the following individuals:

Although all sellers sell worldwide, it is recommended that you choose the seller whose accepted payment methods and/or location better suit your needs.

Please, note that, by default, it is the shopkeeper who ships the products to you (from Hungary) and the reseller only accepts your money. However, resellers may also have local stocks piled up so that your order can arrive within days if the reseller has everything you need. See the reseller's page or ask him for further details.

Products

In each table below, enter the quantity of each product, you wish to order, in the "Quantity" column.

Choosing products. If you want to order something but you are not sure what you exactly need or what a product exactly is then see the info page for each product or visit the cables and adaptors page. If you'd like to use The Star Commander or a similar transfer or server/emulation software then see the description of the X1541-series interfaces, the cables that can be used with the Commander and other software.

Product lists. The following tables list all the products we actually sell. The cables are 1.5 meters (5 feet) long, unless otherwise noted. We don't want to sell longer cables because, we believe, a long and complicated cable may pick up unwanted interference, which messes up data transfer.

Prices. The prices below don't include packaging and shipping! Also, the Euro and US Dollar prices are for your information only and are not completely up-to-date! However, the online order script always calculates correct prices.

X1541-series cables

These connect PC's and Commodore machines or drives. For more infos on each cable, follow the link on the product name. For important notes, see the corresponding footnote. If you're not sure which particular X1541-series cable you need then, instead of making a guess, read the cable selection guide on the X1541-series interfaces page!



         Product                         Price               WeightQuantity


       X1541 cable [1]       1100 HUF   4.50 EUR   6.00 USD   80 g N/A 

 XE1541 extended cable [2]   2350 HUF   9.60 EUR  12.80 USD   90 g N/A 

XM1541 multitask cable [3]   2350 HUF   9.60 EUR  12.80 USD   90 g N/A 

 XA1541 active cable [4]     3650 HUF  14.90 EUR  19.80 USD   90 g N/A 

XP1541 parallel cable [5]                   N/A                  N/A N/A 

  1. If you have a Pentium or above machine then you should order one of the three other cables below it instead. See the info pages for more details on the differences between the cables. Also, download X1541Test and test the compatibility between your parallel port and the X1541 cable with it.

  2. This cable doesn't work on certain motherboards and laptops! For more details, see the info page! On incompatible machines, it is recommended that you use the XA1541 cable instead. If your Commodore drive is equipped with a parallel cable then you might want to order an XEP1541 adaptor instead. If you would like to have a cable that works under GNU/Linux then you should order an XM1541 multitask cable instead.

  3. This cable doesn't work on certain motherboards and laptops! For more details, see the info page! On incompatible machines, it is recommended that you use the XA1541 cable instead. If your Commodore drive is equipped with a parallel cable then you might want to order an XMP1541 adaptor instead.

  4. This is the original construction, with BSV52 transistors, using a mini-adaptor inside the parallel port plug.

  5. We don't actually sell this cable. Instead of it, order one of the X1541-series adaptors and a Commodore parallel cable (see below). That way, you'll be able to make use of your parallel drive from both a Commodore and a PC.

X1541-series adaptors

These substitute X1541-series cables, giving you more features for the same price. For more infos on each adaptor, follow the link on the product name. For important notes, see the corresponding footnote.



         Product                         Price               WeightQuantity


     XEP1541 adaptor         2350 HUF   9.60 EUR  12.80 USD   35 g  

     XMP1541 adaptor [1]     2350 HUF   9.60 EUR  12.80 USD   35 g N/A 

     XAP1541 adaptor         3650 HUF  14.90 EUR  19.80 USD   35 g N/A 

     XE/M1541 adaptor        2350 HUF   9.60 EUR  12.80 USD   20 g  

  1. This is an XEP1541 adaptor, hard-rewired for XM1541 functionality. Also, a "twisted" Commodore serial cable (see below) converts an XEP1541 adaptor into an XMP1541 adaptor (and then you can still use it as an XEP1541 adaptor, with a normal serial cable).

Other Commodore-PC cables

For more infos on each cable, follow the link on the product name.



         Product                         Price               WeightQuantity


      1541EMU cable [1]      4300 HUF  17.60 EUR  23.30 USD   95 g  

        PC64 cable [2]       1900 HUF   7.80 EUR  10.30 USD  100 g N/A 

       X1531 cable           1800 HUF   7.40 EUR   9.80 USD  100 g  

  1. This is the method #2 construction of the type 1 cable, the one with the simpler design and less electronical parts: the IC's are soldered onto a small circuit board inside the PC parallel plug. Power for the IC's is supplied from the game port, with a 20 centimeter (0.6 feet) cable.

  2. This cable is sold with a length of 1 meter (3.5 feet).

Amiga-Commodore cables

For more infos on each cable, follow the link on the product name.



         Product                         Price               WeightQuantity


      Easy1541 cable         1100 HUF   4.50 EUR   6.00 USD   80 g N/A 

      Frodo IEC cable        1750 HUF   7.20 EUR   9.50 USD   70 g N/A 

Commodore cables

For more infos on each cable, follow the link on the product name. For important notes, see the corresponding footnote.



         Product                         Price               WeightQuantity


       Serial cable [1]       850 HUF   3.50 EUR   4.60 USD   80 g  

 Serial dispatch cable [2]   1200 HUF   4.90 EUR   6.50 USD  120 g N/A 

Serial extension cable [3]    850 HUF   3.50 EUR   4.60 USD   80 g N/A 

      Parallel cable [4]     2200 HUF   9.00 EUR  11.90 USD  120 g  

        Cross cable          2100 HUF   8.60 EUR  11.40 USD  110 g  

       Monitor cable         1400 HUF   5.80 EUR   7.60 USD  135 g N/A 

     S-Video converter       1200 HUF   4.90 EUR   6.50 USD   40 g N/A 

  1. If you need the "twisted" Commodore serial cable then simply make a comment on that in your order.

  2. This is a Y-shaped serial cable that sends data from another serial cable (or any other cable that ends in a serial bus plug, e.g. an X1541-series serial cable) to two Commodore devices. The two cables are 60 centimeters (2 feet) long each.

  3. This is almost identical to a serial cable but there is a female plug on one of its ends. It extends a serial cable (or any other cable that ends in a serial bus plug, e.g. an X1541-series serial cable) by another 1.5 meters (5 feet). Please, note that we do not recommend using very long cables, including those lenghtened with this extension cable, as they can easily pick up interference!

  4. This is the method #2 construction of the parallel cable: a short cable inside the drive, a parallel port on the rear of the drive and a long cable that connects this parallel port with the user port of the Commodore machine. You have to solder the short cable yourself onto the periphery chip in the drive and cut a hole on the drive to fit the parallel port into. This package includes everything necessary to connect the drive via an additional parallel connection to either a Commodore machine, that has a user port, or – using an X1541-series adaptor (see above) – to a PC. The parts and the pin layouts are exactly the same as on the construction page.

Shipping prices

Postal charges depend on the weight of the package and whether it is sent to a Hungarian or a foreign address. Choose your shipping destination and extra shipping options below.

Hungary. Basic shipping costs for Hungary are between 360 HUF and 795 HUF, depending on the weight of the package. Extra shipping options within Hungary:

Worldwide. Basic shipping costs worldwide are between 1110 HUF (4.50 EUR, 6.00 USD) and 5130 HUF (21.00 EUR, 27.80 USD), depending on the weight of the package. Extra shipping options worldwide:

How you can pay

We are basically working with Hungarian Forints. The prices above are given in Euros and US Dollars, converted from the original prices. Please, note that the prices may change any time, as they're based upon the EUR-to-HUF and USD-to-HUF conversion rate!

Right now, there's only one method to pay for your order.

Cash. Send the money itself to the shopkeeper.

Credit cards are not accepted as PayPal does not protect sellers enough anyway. Bank transfer, checks and money orders are not accepted. If you prefer these methods of payment then, please, make your order at a reseller instead.

Conversion rates

In the table below, select the currency or currencies in which you wish to pay for your order.

The shopkeeper's bank converts foreign currencies to Hungarian Forints at the following rates. If you can't see the currency of your country here then that means the bank won't convert it; in this case, please, choose another currency. Do not refer to other currency conversion facilities as their conversion rates may differ significantly from the ones below.



   Currency        HUF       Currency        HUF 


    AUD      145.46        HUF        1.0000 

    CAD      157.43        JPY        1.5439 

    CHF      151.25        NOK       29.42   

    CZK        8.6025      PLN       59.1785 

    DKK       32.48        SEK       26.72   

    EUR      244.01        SKK        6.8159 

    GBP      361.44        USD      184.34   

(Budapest Bank buy rates on 2007-01-02; in Hungarian language)
(For curious foreigners: set both "Idõszak kezdete" and "Idõszak vége" to the appropriate date, set "Árfolyam típus kiválasztása" to "BB Rt. Valuta és csekk árfolyam", press the "LEKÉRDEZÉS" button, and see the "Valuta" and "Vétel" columns in the table below, for the currency code and the buy rate – the rate at which that currency is converted to Hungarian Forints –, respectively.)

Personal data

Fill in these lines with your personal data. Please, write your address in a single line, separating its components (street, city, state, zip code and country) by a comma, not a newline. Don't forget the country!

Name:
Address:
E-mail:

IMPORTANT!

  1. Problems with submitting orders. If you're using the AOL browser or are having problems with sending orders – because your browser or mailer software is misconfigured or damaged – then, at the next screen, simply copy the contents of the upper order details window into the clipboard, paste it as plain text into an empty E-mail in your favorite mailer software and send it to the shopkeeper.

  2. Write full address. Please, specify the city and country where you live, along with your zip code! Orders with an incomplete address will be ignored!

  3. Select currency for total price on next page. At the following page, make sure to select the currency, you're going to actually pay with, from the list. Orders with an empty selection will be ignored!

  4. Gather information before ordering. Don't order any product without visiting its info page, else you may end up buying something that doesn't suit your particular needs!

  5. Prefer express mail over non-express mail. We suggest that you ask for express shipping. It doesn't cost much more but delivery time will take at most two weeks, as opposed to the maximum of three weeks for non-express mail!

To see the details of your order, along with the total price, press the "[Review order]" button. Your order is not submitted yet when you press the button, only when you confirm the review.

IMPORTANT! The shop is currently down and I don't know when it will be up again. If you want to order from me, please, send your wishes to <kovacs DOT balazs AT educatio DOT hu> instead and I'll see what I can do about it. This is my E-mail address at my work place so do not distribute it (on web sites, in documentations etc.) because I don't know how well protected it is and I don't want to get spam there!

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