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Received my Commodore 64 Ultimate II!


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Tomorrow i'll be sitting on a bus for nearly seven hours straight and plan to spend at least some of that time writing C64 code... that's a bit hard to do with a real C64 even with a 1541U2 and a TFT display! But it's far more convenient generally when downloading disk images to throw them at VICE for a quick test and, as a coder, being able to cross assemble and test on it is wonderful; my last couple of projects used most of the available memory, writing programs that large with a native assembler would have been far more time consuming and prone to issues.

 

 

i'm not aware of any major problems on that front these days (there are a few "edge conditions" i've tripped over personally but it's usually demo-style abuse of VIC-II registers), what issues are you referring to?

 

 

VICE can do all the things an average 1541U2 user needs such as mount disk, cassette or cartridge images, juggle a 16Mb RAM expansion and populate it with an REU file...

 

Totally agree with these comments. Vice is terrific for testing out code you have written with a cross compiler. You can write a simple 10 line basic program press a button to test it out and you're off to the races. The cross compiler can also greatly assist you with creating special character sets, sprites and graphics. This allows you to test and debug your program before even powering on your C64.

 

I have been using CBM prg studio. It also supports assembly programs and has macros, etc.

 

http://www.ajordison.co.uk/

 

Having said that, I have already said I do prefer to use real hardware when possible but there are instances when emulation is a great tool. Is Vice perfect? Probably not but it is pretty darn good.

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I'm also a CMB .prg studio user! It's a great piece of software. I would encourage anyone who uses it to send a few bucks to Arthur if you can. We need to keep him motivated to work on it

 

My attempts at programming are usually done in CBM .prg studio and tested via C64 Forever (VICE). Then I will send it to my real C64 for further testing and use. I try to minimize the actual time my old hardware is running.

 

Now and then it's fun to use TMP on the real 64 though! I have both the 1541 Ultimate 2 and the Turbo Chameleon 64. They are both great devices!

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I use real hardware and emulators just like most of you:

 

* Real hardware for enjoyment: playing games, watching demos, final testing and other highlights

* Emulation for development, quick tests of downloaded stuff and other more "tedious" tasks

 

Since the hardware since long is out of production, I prefer to save it for the good times instead of running it for hours just to type on them, wearing down the keyboard further and also stress the hardware to eventually go bad.

 

Of course if you spend all that money on a 1541 Ultimate, I understand if you want to use your C64 as much as possible so you can get value for your money. :)

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 3 months later...

Well, I ended up getting one of these. I wasn't looking for it, but a local guy was selling a big Commodore lot that included not only a U1541, but also the SD2IEC and Fastload Reloaded (from Future8). He also had the Carlsen power supply and mentioned that 2 of the C64s in the lot were repaired by Carlsen . . . whew what a load

 

Anyway, the U1541 seems to work great. I'll have to get the Jiffy Dos roms on there as even in VICE I can't really stand using a C64 without them. I have experimented with Final III and it seems crazy fast too. Anyone have a kernel cart combo recommendation for me?

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Hmm, OK. I've got a breadbin I use mine with but it's a newer breadbin version. Have not had an issue like that and I run mine without a real drive and just the 2 jiffydos bin's on the SD card.

 

Are you on firmware version 3.0 or 2.6. I'm trying to do some research and I've found some sources saying 3.0 breaks JDos. I also can't seem to find any specific instructions on how to roll the firmware back to 2.6. If you guys know how, please let me know.

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Are you on firmware version 3.0 or 2.6. I'm trying to do some research and I've found some sources saying 3.0 breaks JDos. I also can't seem to find any specific instructions on how to roll the firmware back to 2.6. If you guys know how, please let me know.

 

Rolling back isn't too tricky - essentially, if you grab the 3.0 b5 package (I know it's on the 1541 Ultimate Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1541ultimate/),you'll get the new, as well as the old firmware to roll back to.

 

I had to do this because the beta busted the TAP capture (and this was on a unit purchased for dumping tapes) - but if you've done a firmware upgrade, it's basically the same :)

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Are you on firmware version 3.0 or 2.6. I'm trying to do some research and I've found some sources saying 3.0 breaks JDos. I also can't seem to find any specific instructions on how to roll the firmware back to 2.6. If you guys know how, please let me know.

 

Yeah, I'm still on the 2.6 series. I haven't tried the beta versions of 3.x yet.

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Yeah, I'm still on the 2.6 series. I haven't tried the beta versions of 3.x yet.

 

I jumped on the latest 3.x beta. It's good, and I do like it, although it kinda sucks about the whole JiffyDOS compatibility thing. Although oddly enough I could only ever get JiffyDOS working on my C64C anyway, so that issue isn't affecting me all that much.

 

I'm hoping that once JiffyDOS compatibility is restored I'll be able to use it on my breadbin C64 and SX-64.

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I jumped on the latest 3.x beta. It's good, and I do like it, although it kinda sucks about the whole JiffyDOS compatibility thing. Although oddly enough I could only ever get JiffyDOS working on my C64C anyway, so that issue isn't affecting me all that much.

 

I'm hoping that once JiffyDOS compatibility is restored I'll be able to use it on my breadbin C64 and SX-64.

 

What do you primarily use instead of JDOS to speed things up?

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What do you primarily use instead of JDOS to speed things up?

 

Unfortunately nothing, at least for the U2. Just straight loading off the Micro SD card, which is fine for some stuff, but can be a bit of a pain for certain games and things. For stuff that takes longer to load, of course, I have a 1541 with JiffyDOS installed in it, and I can run the C64's JiffyDOS on an EasyFlash 3 and just use a real drive to get the job done. That's for stuff that absolutely has tohave JiffyDOS to load in any reasonable amount of time.

 

That's why I'm really hoping JiffyDOS will start working one 3.x actually drops to non-beta status, or at least is fixed in a beta in the near-future. It wouldn't do me any good at all to go back to 2.6 because my breadbin C64 is my primary machine that I like to use and keep handy, and JiffyDOS just doesn't want to work on it. At least not with the U2 cart (EasyFlash 3 cart works fine).

Edited by rockman_x_2002
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I'm thinking the same regarding the fact that he may get JDOS working soon. I tried out one of the cart fast loaders on the 1541U that was crazy fast - Final Cartridge 3. I don't really know the compatibility limitations, but I think I might be able to live with some of the other fast loaders . . . life after Jiffy is hard.

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  • 2 months later...

For the 1541 Ultimate II users, I have a question. I can get pretty much everything else to work right with this device, but I can't seem to save BASIC programs to a file on it, even if I mount a blank disk image. Has anyone been able to do this, and if so, how? Thanks.

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For the 1541 Ultimate II users, I have a question. I can get pretty much everything else to work right with this device, but I can't seem to save BASIC programs to a file on it, even if I mount a blank disk image. Has anyone been able to do this, and if so, how? Thanks.

 

Strange, it should work fine (I've done it many times). Once you mount a blank disk image or any other disk image (be sure it's not mounted as Read Only (I think it says RO or R/O on the menu selection), you do it just like you would for a physical disk, from the C64's native interface. To help more, I think I'd need more specifics, but that's really all there is to it.

Edited by Mirage
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Strange, it should work fine (I've done it many times). Once you mount a blank disk image or any other disk image (be sure it's not mounted as Read Only (I think it says RO or R/O on the menu selection), you do it just like you would for a physical disk, from the C64's native interface. To help more, I think I'd need more specifics, but that's really all there is to it.

 

I've never tried it Read Only. Seems counter-intuitive. I'll give it a go, though, and let you know. Thanks.

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Strange, it should work fine (I've done it many times). Once you mount a blank disk image or any other disk image (be sure it's not mounted as Read Only (I think it says RO or R/O on the menu selection), you do it just like you would for a physical disk, from the C64's native interface. To help more, I think I'd need more specifics, but that's really all there is to it.

 

Still nothing I'm afraid. I mount the disk and then exit out to BASIC. I then write the program and do a Save"whatever", 8 and it just flashes red. Any suggestions?

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Still nothing I'm afraid. I mount the disk and then exit out to BASIC. I then write the program and do a Save"whatever", 8 and it just flashes red. Any suggestions?

 

Interestingly, I tried it with a USB stick attached, and that worked fine. I can't imagine why it can't save to the microSD card, but at least it's working with this method.

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Interestingly, I tried it with a USB stick attached, and that worked fine. I can't imagine why it can't save to the microSD card, but at least it's working with this method.

 

Well, this is odd. After weeks of monkeying around, I updated to the beta 3.x firmware and now all of a sudden I'm able to save BASIC programs to the SD card. Gotta love it. Thanks for the help, Mirage.

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Must've been some kind of incompatibility with a particular MicroSD card maybe? Was beginning to think you had the safety on, but remembered MicroSD's don't have that little switch. :lol:

(have made that mistake myself on the SD cards, not sure how that tiny switch ever gets flipped - ha)

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I've never tried it Read Only. Seems counter-intuitive. I'll give it a go, though, and let you know. Thanks.

 

No, I said to make sure it's NOT mounted Read Only :) Glad you got it working though. I was unaware of a firmware that had an error like that, but since I never had the error, I probably wouldn't have noticed anything like that.

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  • 2 years later...

I'm back to experimenting with my U1541 II. I updated to firmware 3.2 which indicates that it supports EasyFlash write support. In trying to get that to work, I noticed some posts on the Facebook page saying I should be able to press F5 and now save an EasyFlash cart as a separate file that will enable saving.

 

Has anyone gotten this to work? I swear that the first time I pressed F5 and looked at the menu, the option to Save Easy Flash Cart was there, but now it is NOT. There are a bunch of other options though.

 

Also, is there someplace online were documentation is hiding for this thing? The old forums seem to be a victim of GDPR and I can't really find anything that describes newer features and options. I have a feeling that I've adjusted some setting which has disabled saving to Easy Flash images, but damned if I know how to undo it.

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Well, I think I figured this out. In order to see the option to "Save EasyFlash" in the menu, you need to be running the cart. The instructions would be like this:


Start playing your game by running an EasyFlash cart

Save your game normally

Press the middle button and enter the U1541 menu

Press F5 and choose "Save Easyflash"


After a few seconds, this creates another file called module.crt. Press enter to rename per preference.


Next time you want to play, run your renamed cart image and your save data will be available.



I guess another way to say it is that the U1541 allows you to dump the cart image including any save data. It is pretty clunky though. I think I may go hunt down all the .D64 versions instead to avoid having to create the new file. I wish I had just done that to begin with.

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