Commodore 64 - Anyone have experience with XE1541 cable?

[RickR]

I'm looking for a low-cost way to run D64 images on a real Commodore 64. For the Atari 8-bit, I have and use an SIO2PC device and load ATR images from an old-laptop. I started looking at the various options for C64, and got really confused. SD2IEC looks promising, but I have no idea what exactly to buy, and how to run it. And what is the cost? uIEC -- similar thoughts.

 

So I stumbled upon a XE1541 cable that appears to be very similar to SIO2PC for Atari. But I'm not too sure. Does it work with Windows XP? Is $30 a good price for such a thing?

 

Any help would be most appreciated. Thanks.

[19rsn007]

xe1541 can be used with 64HDD, but that thing doesn't support custom/speedloaders and such.

 

The best thing you could do is build either an XE1541 cable and use Star Commander under DOS to transfer D64 files to floppy or an XM1541 which can be used with CBM4WIN under windows XP.

 

The XM1541 is build the same way as the XE1541, but with 2 lines hooked up in a different way.

[JamesD]

I have one of the two cables, probably the XM version. I used it to transfer files to/from a disk in a 1571 and it worked well for that.

[RickR]

OK, so XE1541 with 64HDD doesn't support fast loaders - so I'm ruling this option out. I'm guessing it would be way too slow and 64HDD doesn't work with WinXP anyways.

 

Star Commander would just create new floppies. That wasn't what I was after -- I'm trying to avoid the use of floppies completely. Ruling this out. CBM4WIN. Another DOS program with weird hardware requirements. No thanks.

 

I guess I'm back to looking at one of the SD card devices. Anyone have any details on those, and what a decent price would be?

 

Thanks!

[Dripfree]

This is interesting to me cuz I was trying to find this out myself. I built an sio2pc not too long ago and its such a great solution for the atari. I started exploring to see if there was something similar for my commodore or my ti 99/4a. I see even though there are some options none are as versatile as the atari's sio2pc. I'm just curious is there a hardware or software reason on the commodores end that prevents something as elegant as sio2pc, or is it just that the commodore community never put in the effort to create a software and hardware solution as great as the sio2pc?

[Hatta]

There's really 2 flash devices to pick between. The uIEC, which doesn't support fast loaders, and the 1541U-II which does. If you get the uIEC and want to play a fast loader game you have to dump it to disk. If you want to avoid floppies entirely, 1541U-II is your only option. It's also the most expensive, but it has a lot of really nice features, like built in freezer cartridges.

 

Yes, there is a reason this isn't as simple as Atari's sio2pc. The 1541 drive was a smart device. It has its own CPU and RAM. Fast loaders worked by uploading code to the 1541 which replaces the transfer routines with something more efficient. A flash device that wants to support fast loaders has to emulate the entire drive, and not just the IEC protocol.

[RickR]

Thanks for the info Hatta. I'll check out uIEC and 1541U-II. I also stumbled upon SD2IEC. Any opinion on those?

 

Thanks.

[Hatta]

My understanding is that the SD2IEC and uIEC are essentially the same. They use the same firmware. If you want to build something from a kit, go with sd2iec. If you want an assembled product, get a uIEC. You might also see MMC2IEC mentioned, these are an earlier version of the same device.

 

There is one other possibility. 1541EMU claims to be a full 1541 emulator written for DOS. With a DOS pc and a custom cable, you should be able to run almost anything. I have no experience with this solution though.

[ATARImarcus]

Sd2iec is running fine in my c64, but most games wich have To reload data in game are not working. Only so called one filer are working fine.

[19rsn007]

There is one other possibility. 1541EMU claims to be a full 1541 emulator written for DOS. With a DOS pc and a custom cable, you should be able to run almost anything. I have no experience with this solution though.

 

1541EMU isn't able to run anything......I've tried that.

Speed/Custom loaders still are a problem, and the problem is called timing.

Timing on the LPT port just isn't accurate enough.

 

The best thing the topic started would do is buy a 1541-Ultimate.

That's compatible with practically anything you feed it (not even mentioning G64 files)

[RickR]

1541 ultimate is $150? Is that right? I don't think it's worth it to me. But that's just me.

[HatNJ]

1541 ultimate is $150? Is that right? I don't think it's worth it to me. But that's just me.

 

And they are sold out on this run

[RickR]

Installing JiffyDOS...is it hard? I've got a 64C and a 1541-II. Assuming both have socketed rom chips, I assume it is reasonably easy to install, right? I guess I'll crack open the cases and see if they are socketed (crossing fingers).

[RickR]

Just a quick update: I've finally found a solution that works well for me, and I'm finally having fun with the C64.

I purchased a really nice SD2IEC (in case, and with an external power adapter) on ebay. It worked fine, but is SLOW. The off-brand fast load cartridge I have isn't compatible. Then I came across this blog post: http://ilesj.wordpress.com/2010/10/04/tips-for-using-sd2iec/

Using SJLOAD and the CBMBrowser is awesome! D64 images load instantly now. Just to summarize, download the bonus pack from that site, unzip to your SD card, boot your 64 and:

1. LOAD”!*FB64″,8,1
2. RUN

Finally, a solution that is comparable to SIO2PC on Atari computers!

[carlsson]

To claim that the sd2iec line of devices, which the uIEC/SD belongs to, doesn't support any fast loaders is terribly misleading. Actually it supports more than a handful well known protocols, including JiffyDOS, Final Cartridge, Action Replay 1581, Dreamload based loaders and so on. The thing however is many programs send code to the floppy drive to reprogram its RAM in order to implement custom fast loaders. The sd2iec devices simply don't have beefy enough chips to hold all the code required to fully emulate the floppy drive, so it detects the "signature" (or something) of the leading fast loaders and can handle/simulate those.

 

The 1541U-2, which indeed costs almost thrice of what the sd2iec devices cost, to a big part is more expensive due to it has those more beefy chips so it is possible to program the device to fully emulate a floppy drive including its CPU, VIA, ROM, RAM etc. Like the old saying goes: you get what you pay for, or perhaps you pay for as much as you need. Personally I'm so seasoned Commodore user that I've lived with uIEC/SD for many years now, and wouldn't mind writing a D64 to a real floppy disk every now and then if I came across an original game or demo that uses its own fast loader.