1541 Ultimate

Last updated
1541 Ultimate 1541 ultimate plus.jpg
1541 Ultimate

1541 Ultimate (often abbreviated 1541U) is a peripheral, [1] primarily an emulated floppy disk and cartridge emulator based on the FPGA Xilinx XC3S250E, for the Commodore 64 home computer. It became available in 2008.

Contents

The unit is developed by Gideon Zweijtzer and is a cartridge that can emulate other cartridges such as the Commodore REU, Action Replay, The Final Cartridge III, Super Snapshot V5, Retro Replay or TurboAss with Codenet-support, and an almost fully compatible [2] (including JiffyDOS support [3] FPGA-cloned Commodore 1541 (including 1541, 1541C, and 1541 II models [4] ) floppy disk unit that can use Commodore 64-compatible files like .D64/.G64 disc images or .PRG files via a SD card reader. [5] Additionally, the 1541 Ultimate is suitable for making archives of floppy disks. [6] All units after the initial production have 32 megabytes of RAM, while the original production run only had 16 megabytes.

The 1541 Ultimate is capable of running both CP/M and GEOS. [7]

In 2010, the 1541 Ultimate II was developed. The Ultimate II is about 30% smaller than the 1541 Ultimate, comes in a plastic case, [8] and adds support for dual SIDs (plus a SID/MOD player), [9] a USB host controller, tape emulation via a tape adapter [10] (though use with a Commodore 128D requires modification [11] ), a real-time clock (for accurate file date and time), and the SD card slot is replaced by a microSD card slot. [2] In addition, all firmware and VHDL code for the Ultimate II is available under an open source GPLv3 license, [12] allowing hobbyists and others to freely modify all aspects of its functionality, including the FPGA-emulated hardware.

The 1541 Ultimate has an option for on-board Ethernet, while the 1541 Ultimate II supports Ethernet via a compatible USB to Ethernet adapter. [2]

Besides being useful to retrocomputing hobbyists, [4] it has also found use in educational laboratory settings. [13]

In 2017 the Ultimate II+ was released with the following feature differentiation from the II:

Removal of the MicroSD slot, More USB ports, Integrated Ethernet, Dual Flash, Integrated Speaker, External power supply connector with auto-switch over circuit, Improved power supply circuits, and a slightly bigger and faster FPGA, as to control the new features. [14]

The II and II+ share a firmware image and the software features are substantially similar.


See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Commodore 1541</span> External 5¼-inch floppy disk drive for the Commodore C64 homecomputer

The Commodore 1541 is a floppy disk drive which was made by Commodore International for the Commodore 64 (C64), Commodore's most popular home computer. The best-known floppy disk drive for the C64, the 1541 is a single-sided 170-kilobyte drive for 5¼" disks. The 1541 directly followed the Commodore 1540.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Commodore 1581</span>

The Commodore 1581 is a 3½-inch double-sided double-density floppy disk drive that was released by Commodore Business Machines (CBM) in 1987, primarily for its C64 and C128 home/personal computers. The drive stores 800 kilobytes using an MFM encoding but formats different from the MS-DOS, Amiga, and Mac Plus formats. With special software it's possible to read C1581 disks on an x86 PC system, and likewise, read MS-DOS and other formats of disks in the C1581, provided that the PC or other floppy handles the "720 kB" size format. This capability was most frequently used to read MS-DOS disks. The drive was released in the summer of 1987 and quickly became popular with bulletin board system (BBS) operators and other users.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Commodore 64</span> 8-bit home computer introduced in 1982

The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International. It has been listed in the Guinness World Records as the highest-selling single computer model of all time, with independent estimates placing the number sold between 12.5 and 17 million units. Volume production started in early 1982, marketing in August for US$595. Preceded by the VIC-20 and Commodore PET, the C64 took its name from its 64 kilobytes(65,536 bytes) of RAM. With support for multicolor sprites and a custom chip for waveform generation, the C64 could create superior visuals and audio compared to systems without such custom hardware.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">MSX</span> Family of standardized home computer architectures released between 1983 and 1992

MSX is a standardized home computer architecture, announced by ASCII Corporation on June 16, 1983. It was initially conceived by Microsoft as a product for the Eastern sector, and jointly marketed by Kazuhiko Nishi, the director at ASCII Corporation. Microsoft and Nishi conceived the project as an attempt to create unified standards among various home computing system manufacturers of the period, in the same fashion as the VHS standard for home video tape machines. The first MSX computer sold to the public was a Mitsubishi ML-8000, released on October 21, 1983, thus marking its official release date.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">USB flash drive</span> Data storage device

A USB flash drive is a data storage device that includes flash memory with an integrated USB interface. It is typically removable, rewritable and much smaller than an optical disc. Most weigh less than 30 g (1 oz). Since first appearing on the market in late 2000, as with virtually all other computer memory devices, storage capacities have risen while prices have dropped. As of March 2016, flash drives with anywhere from 8 to 256 gigabytes (GB) were frequently sold, while 512 GB and 1 terabyte (TB) units were less frequent. As of 2018, 2 TB flash drives were the largest available in terms of storage capacity. Some allow up to 100,000 write/erase cycles, depending on the exact type of memory chip used, and are thought to physically last between 10 and 100 years under normal circumstances.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Creative Micro Designs</span>

Creative Micro Designs (CMD) was founded in 1987 by Doug Cotton and Mark Fellows. It is a computer technology company which originally developed and sold products for the Commodore 64 and C128 8-bit personal computers. After 2001 it sold PCs and related equipment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Commodore 65</span> Prototype computer

The Commodore 65 is a prototype computer created at Commodore Business Machines in 1990–1991. It is an improved version of the Commodore 64, and it was meant to be backwards-compatible with the older computer, while still providing a number of advanced features close to those of the Amiga.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Commodore SX-64</span> Portable version of the Commodore 64 computer

The Commodore SX-64, also known as the Executive 64, or VIP-64 in Europe, is a portable, briefcase/suitcase-size "luggable" version of the popular Commodore 64 home computer and the first full-color portable computer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Individual Computers Catweasel</span>

The Catweasel is a family of enhanced floppy-disk controllers from German company Individual Computers. These controllers are designed to allow more recent computers, such as PCs, to access a wide variety of older or non-native disk formats using standard floppy drives.

Individual Computers is a German computer hardware company specializing in retrocomputing accessories for the Commodore 64, Amiga, and PC platforms. Individual Computers produced the C-One reconfigurable computer in 2003. The company is owned and run by Jens Schönfeld.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">QEMU</span> Free virtualization and emulation software

QEMU is a free and open-source emulator. It emulates the machine's processor through dynamic binary translation and provides a set of different hardware and device models for the machine, enabling it to run a variety of guest operating systems. It can interoperate with Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM) to run virtual machines at near-native speed. QEMU can also do emulation for user-level processes, allowing applications compiled for one architecture to run on another.

Homebrew, when applied to video games, refers to games produced by hobbyists for proprietary video game consoles which are not intended to be user-programmable. The official documentation is often only available to licensed developers, and these systems may use storage formats that make distribution difficult, such as ROM cartridges or encrypted CD-ROMs. Many consoles have hardware restrictions to prevent unauthorized development.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Commodore 64 peripherals</span>

The Commodore 64 home computer used various external peripherals. Due to the backwards compatibility of the Commodore 128, most peripherals would also work on that system. There is also some compatibility with the VIC-20 and Commodore PET.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">MSD Super Disk</span>

The MSD Super Disk were a series of 5¼-inch floppy disk drives compatible to some degree with the Commodore 1541 disk drive. produced by Micro Systems Development for use with Commodore 8-bit home computers. Two different versions of the MSD Super Disk were available: the single-drive model, SD-1; and the dual-drive model, SD-2.

The Apple II line of computers supported a number of Apple II peripheral cards. In an era before plug and play USB or Bluetooth connections, these were expansion cards that plugged into slots on the motherboard. They added to and extended the functionality of the base motherboard when paired with specialized software that enabled the computer to read the input/output of the devices on the other side of the cable or to take advantage of chips on the board - as was the case with memory expansion cards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Minimig</span>

Minimig is an open source re-implementation of an Amiga 500 using a field-programmable gate array (FPGA).

The Commodore PC compatible systems are a range of IBM PC compatible personal computers introduced in 1984 by home computer manufacturer Commodore Business Machines.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Game backup device</span> Device for backing up ROM information from a video game cartridge

A game backup device, informally called a copier, is a device for backing up ROM data from a video game cartridge to a computer file called a ROM image and playing them back on the official hardware. Recently flash cartridges, especially on the Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS platforms, only support the latter function; they cannot be used for backing up ROM data. Game backup devices also make it possible to develop homebrew software on video game systems. Game backup devices differ from modchips in that modchips are used in conjunction with systems that use generally available media such as CDs and DVDs, whereas game backup devices are used with systems that use cartridges.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dongle</span> Small piece of computer hardware

A dongle is a small piece of computer hardware that connects to a port on another device to provide it with additional functionality, or enable a pass-through to such a device that adds functionality.

Commodore 64 disk/tape emulation and data transfer comprises hardware and software for Commodore 64 disk & tape emulation and for data transfer between either Commodore 64 (C64), Commodore (1541) disk drive or Commodore tape deck and newer computers.

References

  1. ↑ Loguidice, Bill; Barton, Matt (2014). Vintage game consoles : an inside look at Apple, Atari, Commodore, Nintendo, and the greatest gaming platforms of all time. Focal Press. p. 117. ISBN   978-0-415-85600-3.
  2. 1 2 3 Parker, Nigel, ed. (Dec 2009). "Commodore Free talk to Gideon Zweijtzer". Commodore Free Magazine. Vol. 3, no. 35. pp. 15–16. Archived from the original on 2015-03-11. Retrieved 2016-01-30.
  3. ↑ "1541 Ultimate II". breadbox64. Archived from the original on 2016-01-30.
  4. 1 2 James Grahame (2010-03-25). "Replace Your Commodore 64 Disk Drive With Flash Memory". Retro Thing. Archived from the original on 2015-10-17. Retrieved 2016-01-30.
  5. ↑ Dillon, Roberto (2015). Ready: A Commodore 64 Retrospective. Springer. p. 125. ISBN   978-981-287-340-8.
  6. ↑ Wiebo de Wit (2014-11-04). "1541 Ultimate II Guide 4 : Floppy Copy". DevDef. Archived from the original on 2015-01-22. Retrieved 2016-01-30.
  7. ↑ James Monkman (2011-05-30). "Running GEOS on the Ultimate 1541-II (C64)". RGCD. Archived from the original on 2015-06-30. Retrieved 2016-01-30.
  8. ↑ Ilkka Sjöstedt (2013-04-13). "1541 Ultimate, original vs Ultimate-II". Archived from the original on 2015-01-01. Retrieved 2016-02-08.
  9. ↑ "1541 Ultimate-II - Is this the ultimate device for a C64/128? [ Hardware Review ]". Indie Retro News. 2015-01-09. Archived from the original on 2015-01-09. Retrieved 2016-01-30.
  10. ↑ "1541 Ultimate II technical documentation" (PDF).
  11. ↑ Carsten Jensen (2014-12-25). "Extending the 1541Ultimate 2 tape extender". Retro Commodore. Archived from the original on 2016-01-08. Retrieved 2016-01-30.
  12. ↑ "1541 Ultimate Open Source announcement and build requirements".
  13. ↑ Montfort, Nick; Federova, Natalia (2012-04-25). Creative Material Computing in a Laboratory Context (PDF) (Technical report). TROPE. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Trope Tank, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. p. 7. hdl:1721.1/78888. 12-03. Retrieved 2015-02-08.
  14. ↑ "Home". Archived from the original on 2017-04-08.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.