Internal SD2IEC installed

y 'bionic' C64 has reached another milestone.

I wrote about it after I'd installed a PLAnkton, ARMSID and TOLB, and in the process resurrected a 'black-screen' computer.

Although I have an external SD2IEC which is good for plugging into any C64, Vic20 or C16 that I am using, I'd always intended to put an internal SD card drive inside this machine,

I had envisaged simply leaving the drive inside the machine, opening it up whenever I wanted to copy anything to the card.

But I found that Gaz Marshall has designed a replacement side panel for the C64 which has an SD card slot and houses the SD2IEC.

It's available as a model for 3D printing, or ready-printed direct from his Shapeways shop. I hadn't found the shop for ordering the printed version, so I asked a friend to print one for me.

Here's the result. Note that there's an all-in-one version, and a 'modular' version where you have to screw the tray to the side panel.

I found that some hard work with wet and dry paper produced a matt black brushed-metal finish, much like the original plate.

Here's the internal drive. There are connections for blinking lights and buttons (reset, next/previous disk) but I've rarely used the buttons on my external version, so for now I've just used the minimum number of connections, which is 5 wires.

Here it is in place. I had been nervous about connecting it up, so printed off the diagrams and double-and triple-checked as I went along.

Connecting it up and physically fitting it was reasonably pain-free. The new bracket simply replaces the original metal one, held in by the screws that fasten the pcb inside the computer. Everything's really solid.

I'm delighted with the result. It looks great. The card simply pushes in and out when you want to copy new stuff to it. Using the computer is so much more clutter-free without the external SD2IEC and it's multiple leads.

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