Great Hierophant Posted May 31, 2014 Share Posted May 31, 2014 I have recently traded for a Commodore 64, and I am looking for a method to transfer gaming disk software to it. I have found three options, the XE-1541 cable + 64HDD, the SD2IEC and the 1541 Ultimate II, in increasing level of price. Two other options, the EasyFlash 3 and IDE64 are purely cartridge based. The former requires converted games and the latter's ability to use disk images is uncertain. The Ultimate II would be great, especially as I have a large archive of .G64 images. The cheaper options only support .D64 images and other less-exact formats. Often the D64 stuff has trainers or crack intros. In WinVice, many of the commonly available D64 images will not load unless the true drive emulation option is selected. As the cheaper options do not fully emulate the 1541, is this going to be an issue with games? In other words, can these things do better than WinVice when true drive emulation is not selected. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rybags Posted May 31, 2014 Share Posted May 31, 2014 The X1541 variants aren't really classed as emulation, they're just interfaces allowing a PC to access a real 1541 drive. But you can build them cheaply yourself so if you've already got a 1541 it's the cheapest option. I'd not put the Easyflash carts into the same category either - typically you just flash cartridge images to it, or standalone program files. Mine... arrived with Prince of Persia onboard and I've left it at that. For SD2IEC and 1541 Ultimate, the C64 Wiki comes in handy: http://www.c64-wiki.com/index.php/SD2IEC http://www.c64-wiki.com/index.php/1541_Ultimate As you've suspected, SD2IEC would have problems with anything needing real drive emulaiton - luckily there's usually multiple versions of cracked games around and it's likely there's people working to get problem software working for it. Still, you'd probably want a real drive in your posession as well as one of these. 1541 Ultimate - thanks to the completeness of it's emulation you could probably use this as your sole storage device without problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+save2600 Posted May 31, 2014 Share Posted May 31, 2014 I had Jim Brain's uIEC and liked it real well - although I've heard from hardcore users there may be some incompatibilities that exist. After changing the drive ID, I didn't run into any. I no longer have the uIEC, but since I decided to keep a C64 around, just ordered one of these: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Commodore-64-128-1541-Disk-Drive-Emulation-SD2IEC-SD-Card-Reader-/261490567523?ViewItem=&item=261490567523&nma=true&si=RBhYe3weBQ4QfnxMmSerGmcmqaY%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557 Hope it works as well as Jim's product (which is sold as a barebones board btw), but wanted a nice case and a cleaner looking power supply alternative. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TMR Posted May 31, 2014 Share Posted May 31, 2014 The Ultimate II would be great, especially as I have a large archive of .G64 images. The cheaper options only support .D64 images and other less-exact formats. Often the D64 stuff has trainers or crack intros. That's because D64 doesn't support the majority of tricks used for copy protection which meant G64 was needed in the first place. In WinVice, many of the commonly available D64 images will not load unless the true drive emulation option is selected. As the cheaper options do not fully emulate the 1541, is this going to be an issue with games? In other words, can these things do better than WinVice when true drive emulation is not selected. The short version is that, generally speaking, no they can't do much better. The longer answer is that VICE True Drive Emulation is, basically, emulating the second computer in the 1541 disk drive so when you turn it off any fastloader or protection scheme using that hardware crash; the SD2IEC and variants similarly emulate the drive mechanism but not the drive electronics so, again, anything needing that 6502 in the drive falls down because it isn't there when they try talking to it. One of the common protection systems those G64 files contain is custom code pushed to the drive, even if the SD2IEC could mount a G64 image the odds against it actually working are low. The X1541 variants aren't really classed as emulation, they're just interfaces allowing a PC to access a real 1541 drive. An X*1541 cable between C64 and PC with 64HDD or Server64 running on the latter is a drive emulator as well, although both are even less compatible than an SD2IEC and harder to get working reliably, especially on more recent PC hardware. There is a 1541 emulator for the Raspberry Pi in development which will be easier to use (apart from needing a custom cable from the I/O pins) and possibly become more compatible over time, but last i checked it's still at the SD2IEC level. Hope it works as well as Jim's product (which is sold as a barebones board btw), but wanted a nice case and a cleaner looking power supply alternative. They're fairly similar and i believe use the same firmware. Personally, i always recommend saving up and getting the more powerful device because, whilst the 1541U2 and Turbo Chameleon (which is almost as accurate at drive emulation and still considered to be in beta) both cost more, they also do a lot more as well including fastload and EasyFlash cartridge emulation, 16Mb RAM expansion, second SID emulation, simple to use on-screen image selection and so on. The Chameleon even has VGA out, PS/2 keyboard and mouse in and an infra red port for a CDTV pad. But if you don't want/need those toys and can live with having to check specific disk images before you transfer them to real hardware then SD2IEC works for you. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+save2600 Posted May 31, 2014 Share Posted May 31, 2014 Oh yeah, forgot all about the Chameleon! Looks like an excellent product, but who in the heck sells them besides Vesalia? The time or two I looked into getting one, seemed they were never available. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TMR Posted May 31, 2014 Share Posted May 31, 2014 Oh yeah, forgot all about the Chameleon! Looks like an excellent product, but who in the heck sells them besides Vesalia? The time or two I looked into getting one, seemed they were never available. The place i got mine from aren't doing them right now but they're actually made by Individual Computers and i think they're currently the only distributor because of it's beta status; the page on their website about the Chameleon hasn't been updated since before the hardware was done, but their shop does list it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlsson Posted May 31, 2014 Share Posted May 31, 2014 If you are willing to write D64 images to actual floppy disks every now and then, the SD2IEC or uIEC/SD options generally are quite a bit cheaper than a 1541 Ultimate is. However if you want to run all forms of images directly from the memory card without fiddling with floppy disks and a real 1541, I suppose the Ultimate is the kind of solution you'll need. Personally I've owned and used Commodore computers for 30 years and don't mind writing images to floppy disks, so for me uIEC/SD, some fastloading cartridge and an EasyFlash is all that I need. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Great Hierophant Posted May 31, 2014 Author Share Posted May 31, 2014 I think that between the EasyFlash, an SD2IEC, a reliable 1541 drive and all the floppies I would anticipate needing, the price would be equal or greater than the 1541 Ultimate II. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krslam Posted June 1, 2014 Share Posted June 1, 2014 One option I didn't see mentioned here was the ZoomFloppy: http://store.go4retro.com/zoomfloppy/ It's sort of an updated version of the x1541 series cables. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nateo Posted June 1, 2014 Share Posted June 1, 2014 One option I didn't see mentioned here was the ZoomFloppy:http://store.go4retro.com/zoomfloppy/It's sort of an updated version of the x1541 series cables. I have the ZoomFloppy and love it. So far, no complaints. Does just what I need it to do, and it's a lot of fun to play brand new games off of real floppy disks. It's quite inexpensive too! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ApolloBoy Posted June 1, 2014 Share Posted June 1, 2014 a reliable 1541 driveIsn't that an oxymoron? Anyway, I use an SD2IEC and while it works alright for the most part, I've been constantly running into games that have problems with it. The slow load times are bothersome too but I plan on getting JiffyDOS to rectify that. At some point when I've saved up enough I'll pick up a 1541 Ultimate II but the availability of those seems to be spotty. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlsson Posted June 1, 2014 Share Posted June 1, 2014 I've only used 1541-II drives, and very rarely had issues with those for the past 20+ years, but your milage may vary. Of course for a newcomer to the Commodore scene who has no previous peripherals, the 1541 Ultimate II probably is both easier to use and cheaper to acquire than a full range of other peripherals it emulates. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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