coleridge Posted April 27, 2016 Share Posted April 27, 2016 Hey dudes, I just picked up a Commodore 128 and am wondering what my options are for a multicart/drive emulator. I've heard about the 1541 Ultimate, but it looks like a paint order, so I am wondering if there is anything else out there. Please let me know your thoughts. Gracias Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VectorGamer Posted April 27, 2016 Share Posted April 27, 2016 I use the SDrive 1564 and I'm happy with it. Some have said there are better options. https://youtu.be/KHa9dBX3vL0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Loguidice Posted April 27, 2016 Share Posted April 27, 2016 The best possible option is probably the 1541 Ultimate II. It's expensive and something of a beast, but it does just about everything you could ever possibly want. I have some of the other solutions, but they're more limited. At the same time, some of those other solutions are also a lot cheaper and easier to order. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlsson Posted April 28, 2016 Share Posted April 28, 2016 Ask yourself: how do you feel about floppy disks, and do you already have a floppy drive to go with your C128? If you think floppy disks are cool and genuine, the cheaper SD based devices usually will suit you fine. Those programs that use a custom fastloader the SD device can't detect or handle, you can copy to a real disk and enjoy. Indeed you will miss out on a number of cool features the 1541 Ultimate II offers, but you also get your device faster and far cheaper. If however you don't have or don't want to use a floppy drive, perhaps you think those should've been put to rest at the end at the 20th century if not sooner, then you probably should save up for an Ultimate. I don't know about the UK1541, SDrive 1564 and others, if those have expanded capacity over a regular SD2IEC based device, you might want to read up and compare those. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobertB Posted April 29, 2016 Share Posted April 29, 2016 From the thread at http://www.commodore.ca/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=12475#p17481 -- [Jim Drew] will be demoing the uDrive (micro-Drive), a cycle-exact 1541 drive emulator. Under 1 square inch, the uDrive is designed to be fit inside the C64/128/SX-64 and allows the user to use .d64, .g64, or .scp image files (which means ANY disk, copy-protected or not).Jim says, "It basically *is* a 1541 disk drive without the mechanical drive portion. It supports any type of ROMs (CBM, JiffyDOS, etc.) as image files. With just a firmware change I can emulate other drives, like the 1571, 1581, CBM hard drive, etc. It uses a micro-SD card for holding the files.""It will be released as a 1541 emulator initially, with free firmware upgrades to make it a 1571, 1581, CMD hard drive, CBM hard drive, etc." Truly, Robert Bernardo Fresno Commodore User Group http://www.dickestel.com/fcug.htm July 30-31 Commodore Vegas Expo v12 - http://www.portcommodore.com/commvex 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coleridge Posted April 29, 2016 Author Share Posted April 29, 2016 Thanks for the input guys. I appreciate it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+OLD CS1 Posted April 29, 2016 Share Posted April 29, 2016 The uDrive has piqued my interest. Running as a CMD hard drive I could use a large SD card as a hard drive, and if the CMD's drive compatibility modes are fully emulated I could also have floppy images within that emulated hard drive. Then it really is a setup-and-forget peripheral. The only shortcoming I can see running as a CMD HD is the lack of the parallel connection -- but definitely not a show-stopper by any means. After seeing Lotharek's stereo POKEY adapter I thought about re-vamping my own personal stereo SID adapter that I made back in the 90s. Quality PCB production has reached the masses and I thought I might take advantage of that. But if Jim's making one, screw it, I will just wait and buy EDIT: But then, I would not just be able to drop .D64 images on the SD card, I suppose. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7800fan Posted April 30, 2016 Share Posted April 30, 2016 What about Uk1541? Supposedly a great 1541 emulator unlike the more common SD2IEC variants. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlsson Posted April 30, 2016 Share Posted April 30, 2016 Yes, upon closer inspection it turns out the UK1541 has a full 1541 emulation. The price is decent - 65 Euros plus shipping, but Kisel's last batch of 10 units was sold out in February so unlike all the SD2IEC variants, it doesn't seem available for instant buy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.