sd drives for c64

[Reaperman]

way back on my last commodore kick, I bought an mmc2iec (link) and got told it was useless before it even arrived. needless to say, my last commodore kick saw me playing exactly 0 games, and becomming over $100 poorer. it left me pretty unhappy.

 

Is there a device for c64 that takes sd cards and is actually useful? Seems back then I looked at the sd2iec, mmc2iec, 1541 ultimate and 1541-iii and decided none was up to par with similar equipment on atari. they were expensive, made in small/infrequent 'buddy batches', or do the whole disk thing wrong. is there something new? or are commodore users still sifting through stacks of floppies?

 

all I want to do is play the big multi-disk games that aren't on my a8.

space rogue, wasteland, battletech, pirates etc.

Edited October 11, 2009 by Reaperman

[+remowilliams]

The 1541 Ultimate is well, the ultimate solution. It is the only device that actually emulates the brains of the 1541, which means it is extremely compatible with the myriad of speed loaders that exist in C64 software.

[Reaperman]

The 1541 Ultimate is well, the ultimate solution. It is the only device that actually emulates the brains of the 1541, which means it is extremely compatible with the myriad of speed loaders that exist in C64 software.

except they were made in infrequent 'buddy batches,' and cost more than a trip to the moon. not that those matter since now and every other time I've looked it's been out of production and the page looks abandoned.

 

so it solves exactly 0% of my problem, the same percentage it didn't solve last time I looked into it. I'm starting to think the 1541-ultimate never really existed, it's just something c64 freaks came up with to taunt me with.

Edited October 11, 2009 by Reaperman

[+remowilliams]

Well, they're not cheap but running around $170-$200 is pretty reasonable for this type of device and the scale of production.

 

They were made in several (five or more possibly) large open order batches of 100 or so I believe. So definitely not a 'buddy batch' type of thing. You just had to keep checking when the next batch was going to be produced.

 

The choices right now are start saving for the 1541U II devices that are coming, or live with just command level/file type compatible devices which is pretty much every other solution out there.

[R.Cade]

The uIEC is inexpensive ($50-75) but it is not a 1541 emulator. As you already know, many titles have fastloaders that depend on 100% 1541 compatibility since the built-in DOS was very slow on the C64. Not all of them, though. You can find many cracked copies of these games that will run from the uIEC, but it takes some work.

 

It's best just to get a C64 with a fastload cart or JiffyDOS, a 1541, and an XA1541 cable so you can make your own floppies- that way you get that extra step of nostalgia from using the old floppies as well and play the games as they were intended. I find with a uIEC being a giant "multi-cart", it's easier to get the "short attention span" routine going anyway.

[Reaperman]

well I guess that pretty well answers my question. Still not sure which way I'm going to go, since the 1541u2 isn't yet available and is priced at fully double what I'm willing to pay on a good day. I do want the 1541 ultimate, just not all the expense. maybe once the new model comes out some older ones will start turning up in buy/sell forums.

 

Until then, I'll probably just keep plodding along with my A8/sio2sd setup. c64 has always cost just a little more than I was willing to spend, since I really have no emotional ties to the machine. I just kind of like how it got some really complex games later in life that one would normally need a 16-bit machine for.

Edited October 13, 2009 by Reaperman

[icbrkr]

Personally, I use an MMC64 to make disks from and fire up my games from there. It's nice to run straight from a SD card but it's no big deal to run from a floppy disk. With the use of fastloaders, it isn't that much slower.

[Reaperman]

Personally, I use an MMC64 to make disks from and fire up my games from there. It's nice to run straight from a SD card but it's no big deal to run from a floppy disk. With the use of fastloaders, it isn't that much slower.

oh duh. you're right and I'm dumb. I can just copy from my cheapo sd device to my 1541 (assuming it still works) and all I need is another iec cable and some brand new floppies. nothing's more compatible with 1541 than a 1541. though being stuck to floppies is a bit of a bummer.

[+remowilliams]

Personally, I use an MMC64 to make disks from and fire up my games from there.

I've done that at times before, but it is really quite slow at making floppies. Star Commander with a PC>1541 cable flies though.

[icbrkr]

Personally, I use an MMC64 to make disks from and fire up my games from there.

I've done that at times before, but it is really quite slow at making floppies. Star Commander with a PC>1541 cable flies though.

 

Yeah, it can be. I think 7 mins for a floppy but for me, I don't have an old PC lying around to use an x1541 cable any longer :/ Certain plugins will allow you to run single-filers straight from the SD card so at least some things are faster.

Edited October 14, 2009 by icbrkr

[dragos]

UIEC is the way to go. I have 5.

 

I also have a 1541 ultimate, but have no real need to use it as all my c64 disk images are of cracked games. you only need 1541 emulation if you are playing d64s that are not cracked or g64s. The uiec can do disk swapping, I played phantasie 1 just the other day on it.

 

Juffydos should be a prerequisite so you are not typing long commands to change directories.

 

As far as not comparable to what the atari has, I'd say false. you can put your disk images on the uiec and change diretory to the file name and it opens as if you were loading the floppy.

 

pretty cool and useful stuff.

[98PaceCar]

UIEC is the way to go. I have 5.

 

I also have a 1541 ultimate, but have no real need to use it as all my c64 disk images are of cracked games. you only need 1541 emulation if you are playing d64s that are not cracked or g64s. The uiec can do disk swapping, I played phantasie 1 just the other day on it.

 

Juffydos should be a prerequisite so you are not typing long commands to change directories.

 

As far as not comparable to what the atari has, I'd say false. you can put your disk images on the uiec and change diretory to the file name and it opens as if you were loading the floppy.

 

pretty cool and useful stuff.

 

Does the uIEC handle software fast loaders or does it still require that any fast loader be stripped from the .d64 before it will work? I'm guessing not as it doesn't emulate the CPU in the 1541, so there's no way for it to cope with having special loader code pushed to it.

[icbrkr]

UIEC is the way to go. I have 5.

 

I also have a 1541 ultimate, but have no real need to use it as all my c64 disk images are of cracked games. you only need 1541 emulation if you are playing d64s that are not cracked or g64s. The uiec can do disk swapping, I played phantasie 1 just the other day on it.

 

Juffydos should be a prerequisite so you are not typing long commands to change directories.

 

As far as not comparable to what the atari has, I'd say false. you can put your disk images on the uiec and change diretory to the file name and it opens as if you were loading the floppy.

 

pretty cool and useful stuff.

 

Does the uIEC handle software fast loaders or does it still require that any fast loader be stripped from the .d64 before it will work? I'm guessing not as it doesn't emulate the CPU in the 1541, so there's no way for it to cope with having special loader code pushed to it.

 

It doesn't but since it hooks into the IEC bus it's more like a stupid CMD HD (stupid as in, non-intelligent The CMD is smart enough to emulate much of the 1541). I'd tell you how it works but I need to send mine back to Brain to get it reflashed.

[Hatta]

Floppy disks are nice, but media is getting harder to come by. When I got my first retro computer (an IIgs) I spent more on the floppies for it than for the computer itself. At close to $1/disk, a flash drive is really a pretty good investment in comparison. Floppies are only going to get more scarce.

 

The uIEC sounds like a really good solution. I have no problem seeking out cracked images to play with. Googling around a bit and I'm a little confused, what's the difference between the uIEC and sd2IEC?

[+remowilliams]

I also have a 1541 ultimate, but have no real need to use it as all my c64 disk images are of cracked games.

I use cracked stuff as well, but there are a number of whole/disk multiload games that do not work without using the 1541U (or a real drive). After I got the 1541U, there was no looking back.

[98PaceCar]

The uIEC sounds like a really good solution. I have no problem seeking out cracked images to play with. Googling around a bit and I'm a little confused, what's the difference between the uIEC and sd2IEC?

 

It's not just a matter of finding cracked images to work with the uIEC. You have to find images that are cracked and don't have fast loader code, which most cracking groups added or left intact when they cracked the games. What you need to look for are images that are IDE compatible (I belive it's called IDE compatible, basically they need to be able to run from a hard drive). If you go with the 1541u, it will run the images even if they have fast loader code in them as it fully emulates the 1541, which is a "smart" device (has it's own CPU/RAM/etc).

 

I believe the sd2IEC is an earlier attempt and what the uIEC is doing. From my understanding, the uIEC is the best of the dumb devices. The 1541u is really the only one that will give you a huge amount of compatibility, but at a much greater cost. If you can afford it though, it's worth every penny and then some!

[Ze_ro]

I'll second the 1541 Ultimate recommendation. My brother bought one a while back, and it has made my giant library of disks completely obsolete. I don't even use any of my disk drives anymore. The 1541 Ultimate does other stuff beyond just loading .d64's too... it does tape emulation quite nicely (which I didn't think was even on the feature list, but it certainly seems to work!), emulates a bunch of different freezer cartridges, emulates an REU, etc... hell, you can even hook up a speaker to it and get drive noises while it loads (this sounds incredibly stupid and pointless, but believe me, after a lifetime of listening to the 1541 while games are loading, it seems strange to have complete silence). It's completely changed the way I use my C64, and I honestly don't know how I enjoyed the computer without it.

 

I'm really not so sure about the 1541U2... it doesn't seem to have any features that aren't already in the original, and in fact takes away some features. Unless they come up with some really interesting use for the FPGA, I just don't see any point in it. I have to admit though, I'd really like to have a plastic casing for my 1541U... I've fried several C64's by shocking the joystick ports with static electricity while turning the computer on, and I don't like the thought that I could do the same to such an expensive and useful device as the 1541U.

 

The thing certainly is expensive... but for what it does, I think you'll have a very hard time finding anything cheaper. If you can get away with just single-side games and cracked stuff though, then there are plenty of other devices that might do the job... but I think you'd ultimately be disappointed in most of them.

 

--Zero