Commodore CASSIOPEI, User Manual

Page: 52 / 76

9 Backup/restore tapes
Above the SD_card is a datasette connector. This allows you to connect a datasette for
backup/restore purposes. The Cassiopei also has a special backup/restore mode. This mode is
refered to as the TAP creator. You can enter this mode by attaching a datasette to the datasette port
of your Cassiopei and pressing play/wind or rewind during power-on (or reset). When the
Cassiopei starts it will detect that a datasette button is pressed and the backup/restore mode is
entered.
Using this mode you can digitize your own cassette tapes (backup) or record tapes (restore) directly
from the TAP file. But before you can reliably backup or restore, make sure that your datasette is in
perfect working order.
9.1 Test your datasette for basic functionality
How do you know if your datasette is in tip top shape… well this is rather difficult without the
proper tools (like a reference tape). But there is one very simple test you can do to test out the most
basic form of functionality and that is by doing nothing more then simply using it. Type a simple
basic program on your CBM, for example:
10 PRINT”TESTING THE DATASETTE”
20 GOTO 10
Then save this program by typing the command LOAD<enter>
Then, when the computer asks you to, press record and tape on the datasette and your program will
be written to tape. When it's done, rewind the tape and switch of your computer. Then count to ten,
then turn your computer back on and type the command SAVE <enter>
Then, when the computer asks you to, press play on the datasette and (if all goes well) the program
that you saved just before, will be read from tape. If this happens, it shows that the datasette is able
to load a small program saved with the kernal loader routines. Now this doesn't mean that your
datasette is in tip-top order and ready to handle everything as you may still experience problems
with games that use a fastloader (and most of them do).
But when this simple test fails, then there is no way you are able to use it to make a reliable backup
to a real tape (or from a real tape) using this device. So that means that you'll need to clean, align or
repair it.
2019-10-27 Page 52 of 76 CASSIOPEI v2.0