X1541 - The Idiot's Guide
The Non-solder Method
I have also heard of alternative ways of building a crude X1541 cable with a standard PC printer cable and a serial cable. Please note that I have never tried building such a cable, but I have heard that this method works. It may be useful for those who simply want a quick-fix solution to transferring disks onto the PC, or who are too scared (what's there to be scared of?) of soldering irons. This method also has the added advantage of being cheaper to build, as long as you don't mind chopping up a perfectly good PC printer cable or C64 serial cable. Another problem is that the cable could be a bit bulky and has the electrical tape exposed, as well as the individual wires connected. Fianlly, this kind of cable will not work with the original X1541 program, as it requires the autodetect connection which on a standard PC printer cable doesn't exist, and can't be fixed with this method. Fortunately the Star Commander doesn't need this autodetect connection.
The theory involved is quite a simple one. Both the serial cable and the printer cable are chopped in half to expose the wires within. These wires are then connected with electric tape to the corresponding wire in the other plug. The problem lies in finding out which wire is from which pin in the cable it's from.
Finding out which wire is from where can be done by making a simple wire tester. This can be built from a AA size battery or smaller (Try a AAA battery, like the ones in Pocket Gameboys!). One of the pins from a simple L.E.D. (Light Emitting Diode) is then connected to one of the battery's terminals (+ or -). Next, a wire is taped to the other pin of the L.E.D. and another wire is taped to the other battery terminal. Care must be taken, depending on the power of the battery you are using and the amount of power that the L.E.D. can accept. If the battery is too powerful for the L.E.D. you risk blowing the light. This can be avoided if you don't maintain the connection for very long - putting stress on the L.E.D. Once you have built this tester, try it out to make sure it works.
With this tester, you should be able to find out which wire belongs to what pin. Place one end of the tester onto the pin you wish to test, and the other end of the tester on one of the wires from that part of the cable. If the L.E.D. doesn't light, that wire doesn't belong to that pin. If the L.E.D. does light up, you've found the wire that belongs to the pin you're testing. With this kind of knowledge, you can use electrical tape to connect wires between the two halves of the cable you're making after you've found out where all the necessary wires are. Again, check the X1541 specifications to ensure you have connected the right wires. Also check to make sure that your wire tester works, or you may never find what wire belongs where!
And that's it really! ;)