The Pi1541 Commodore Disk Drive Emulator

[@tdumnxy]

The original ARM processor was a development board/coprocessor project designed and built by the Acorn team on the BBC Model B. All ARM based products have a common heritage with the Acorn/BBC computer line via the Archimedes series, including mobile phones, tablets and of course the Raspberry Pi itself. In the eighties I had a C64 and my family owned a Model B and then later an A5000. I still have the 64. In my opinion the BBC was a *better* computer, the 64 was more fun and certainly more popular world wide. I love how all these years later this has come around full circle. Thanks for doing this video Jan.

[@papafrank808]

There are not many people still soldering. You are one of them and deserve my greatest respect.

[@vbrigham]

Those floppy disks are very stable! I have over 100 disks that are 30 years old, and I have not found any data lose! The 3 1/2 floppy disks on the other hand were always getting errors on them.

[@SaintKaede]

The Retro community never ceases to amaze me. There is always a way to make somethin' for all these older systems they are not dead yet. I should pick one of these up anyway since who knows what I'll get my hands on in the future. Meanwhile, all the soldering! Seriously those are scary lookin' to solder since it is they're so small. Anyway - mach weiter so, Jan!

[@JanBeta]

SMD soldering is actually not all that scary once you get the hang of it. Steady hand and good eye required though... ;)

[@BillAnt]

Or use a cheap microscope from Amazon/AliExpress/Ebay ;)

[@keithstone001]

Thank you Jan, this tutorial still works in 2023!

[@adamsfusion]

That's so clever! When I saw you show this off initially, I was like "Cycle accurate emulation on a Pi? Impossible" because I assumed it was running through stock Raspbian or something. Now that I see it's actually loading it's own elf payload, I'm spectacularly impressed. That's so smart and clever.

[@saxonian]

This cannot be compared to raspian. AFAIK this is written as RTOS.

Yes, this is a complete separate OS which is only doing this, and nothing else. No network or USB drivers for example.

[@greggregson9687]

Great video Jan, The Pi1541 is probably the best cost effective 1541 emulator on the market. I have Jiffydos installed on it too, so everything runs much faster (in all operations, not just initial loading as per a fast loader cart). I tried a SD2IEC and found the massive incompatibility with many programs driving me back to the old floppy drive. The 1541 Ultimate is awesome, but with a family and mortgage, I couldn't justify that kind of money. With the pi3b+ however (and all the crapping around of course) I found the perfect niche. And to top it all off, I can disconnect the pihat, and use the pi for other things whenever I like. Best of both worlds, and something I think people don't realise; you can use the pi for many things, as the pi1541 hat just disconnects easily, and a new sd card popped in for any other things you would like to use the pi for. Too easy.

[@SyphistPrime]

Ok, that's really cool. I didn't realize you could get cycle exact emulation for a system like that on an RPi.

[@JanBeta]

They even have a version for the Pi zero now (if I'm not mistaken) which makes things a lot more cost effective. Definitely have to try that sometime, too.

[@SyphistPrime]

@@JanBeta The fact that it can be cycle exact on a $5 computer is absolutely mind blowing. You could end up paying more for the SD card than the computer that is doing all the emulating, that's insane.

[@michaelcarey]

I know I'm late to the party, but I have just got a Pi1541 up and running on a Raspberry Pi 3A+ What an incredible gizmo! I've got two ROMs installed... 1541II and JiffyDOS. It works perfectly. I now want to jam it in a small enclosure with a 5" HDMI monitor and externally accessible MicroSD slot :-)

[@JanBeta]

Yes! It is an incredibly useful little device!

[@TheJeremyHolloway]

I didn't notice until now that your C64C has Breadbin C64 keys on it. It looks pretty cool.

[@LunarJim69]

Thank you very much for this tutorial Jan Beta. The only bit you lost me was the 'chargen' bit where you went just a little too quick lol. Got there in the end though and my backoffice pi1541 hat is up and running. Love your channel.

[@JanBeta]

Thanks! I guess my video was a bit unclear in some parts. But then again, it wasn't meant to be a real tutorial when I started filming but turned out to be one in the end... ;)

[@LuisFernando-Salazar]

Nothing beta than to watch some Jan Beta videos while drinking a glass of rum and waiting for your 160GB drive to finish formatting with Windows 98SE Setup boot disk. Thanks Jan!

[@JanBeta]

Haha, thanks Luis. Good luck with that Win98 installation! :)

[@Retrocatone]

Very helpful and step by step video, a great helping hand. Help me to troubleshoot my pi1541 install and get it finally working! Thanks Jan!

[@JanBeta]

Glad this was helpful! The Pi1541 can be a bit troublesome to set up but it’s definitely worth the effort! :)

[@grindej1]

Pi1541 works perfectly with Final 3 Cartridge, but only in drive emulation mode. When you boot the pi, it starts in sd2iec mode and it is not emulating any drive. The exact emulation starts when you select disk image either from FB64 or directly on Raspberry Pi (using hdmi display and buttons on the board)

[@BillAnt]

So fast loading works fine in drive emulation mode? Any glitches or exceptions?

[@10MARC]

Nice informative video, Jan. I have my pi1541 coming in next week. I love my SD2IEC, but I have five different 8 bit computers I swap it on. Time to get a second solution to test and review. I got my piHAT from Commodore4Ever on eBay. All assembled with 2 IEC ports and an LCD screen. Not the cheapest, but very well built and reviewed.

[@soggybaguette8457]

Stuff like this is why I *love* raspberry pis. I actually have one I use for media streaming, and another planned for transformation into a MIDI synth!

[@JanBeta]

Yes, Raspberry Pis are immensely versatile. I especially love the Pi Zeros these days, you can do so much with them for so little money! (The Pi1541 software now works with the Zero, too!)

[@low_e_music]

Great video! I have the Arananet version and added a little 128x64 screen to it. It works well but the scrolling is noticeably slower than with a monitor. It's not really an issue if you only have a few games or even a small collection. If you have a large number or full collection though, unless they are well broken down into sub folders, it can take a while to scroll through them. At the end of the day, the Pi1541 is an amazing little device, well worth owning for all C64 fans!

[@JanBeta]

I agree, it's definitely an amazing device. I'm looking forward to what this thing is going to become in the future. After all, it's a relatively new project still. I have an OLED screen on order, too. Can't wait to try it. :)

[@dmmikerpg]

Retro Computing seems to be gaining in popularity, I wouldn't be surprised if new 5.25 and 3.5 disks were produced again.

[@JanBeta]

That would be awesome. Maybe if there's enough demand for it. I mean, they started making audio cassettes again recently, too. There's always hope. ;)

[@dmmikerpg]

It would certainly allow us to refresh our old diskettes before they go "poof". But many machines still use them, like embroidery machines, it is surprising they aren't still made. At least in limited runs. At the very least, remaking 3.5" diskettes would allow us to use the C1581.

[@bubba99009]

I just got a small batch of boards made up for this from China and an little OLED dislay but I haven't had time to put one together and play with it yet. The boards I had made are the multiple device version and uses all through-hole components instead of SMD. Glad to see this awesome project get some more exposure.

[@SuperJet_Spade]

I've been seeing quite interesting uses for the RaspberryPi in the recent months. First, it was The Geek Pub (The 8-Bit Guy's brother) putting one inside a Commodore 64, then it was Perifractic with the Think Different Challenge for the Apple PIIe, and now this one that emulates the Commodore 1541 disk drive. I first heard of the RaspberryPi back in around 2015, and I wasn't interested at first, but I find it to be quite intriguing now.

[@JanBeta]

Yes, very versatile little devices. I liked the idea of a true "computer for the masses" that this initially was from the beginning. Never really used a Pi until very recently though. Now I'm already planning more projects involving Pis... ;)

[@BilisNegra]

Thanks once more for yet another totally enjoyable video.

[@BilisNegra]

So, back in the day, when you used a 1541 drive with your Commodore computer you were actually using another whole computer built into the drive to read a disk because managing disk controller tasks alongside its own internal functions and some program loaded into RAM was a too heavy a chore for your computer. Fortunately, now you can -just- emulate the drive with a pretty simple board which is connected to... a whole computer with a boot disk that you will create using yet another computer to not just download and move around stuff but also edit config files and all that jazz. On top of that, for an optimal experience, besides your main monitor, you will connect another monitor to the Pi to be in total control of the emulator at any time. Pretty straightforward, isn't it?

[@alerey4363]

u dont need an extra monitor for the Pi; being a Linux computer u can remotely ssh from anywhere, via ethernet cable, wifi, using your smartphone, etc; that's the advantage of open source, it's hacker friendly

[@carminone]

You're basically right, but a small OLED display and some GPIO buttons can be used instead of monitor & keyboard (as of now; remote operation through phones, tablets etc. could be implemented).

[@KenjiTech]

funny and weird, isn't it ? now, you COULD use the raspberry pi itself to download the required files for the boot SD so you don't need 3 different computers. - start up raspbian or any other desktop OS of your liking, - download the files - connect a usb SD card reader (you can't use the raspis on board SD card slot 'cause you are running raspbian from it) - make boot disk - shut the pi down and swap the raspbian SD card with the 1541 emulator card and as juan already mentioned you can ssh into the pi - i bet there is some sort of SSH or terminal client for the C64 that would allow you to connect to the pi and control it - that would eliminate the need for a monitor connected to the pi (not that you would actually NEED a monitor connected to the pi once everything is configured and working properly)

[@MichaelBLive]

Great video! Looking through your videos for explanation of how you use a modern monitor with the c64.

[@JanBeta]

Oh, still didn't do an episode about that. I'm working on a satisfying solution myself and went through different analog to HDMI adapters but none of them is perfect.

[@LeftoverBeefcake]

Glad to see that you've covered this. I've seen both the DIY kits and finished boards floating around on eBay and was hoping somebody would examine it in detail to see if it's worth a purchase or not.

[@JanBeta]

Definitely worth it. You can also experiment with just building an adapter with a level shifter if you don't want to spend much on it. That's the beauty of the project I think. :)

[@chriss4365]

Do these let you use an ssd on a old machine that supported only hdds?

[@talaminia]

would be cool if it showed the track number like the Indus GT disk drive did.

[@gklinger]

Is is worth noting that the original 1541 Ultimate came out before the SD2IEC.

[@lactobacillusprime]

Wow - it takes a bit of tinkering but it does provide wonderful 1541 disk game compatibility!

[@saxonian]

To add a new image downloaded via PC just pull the SD card and put it on there. No need to power down the pi1541. Fb64 or fb128 sees the new disk image right away. One thing worth to mention is, changes to the disk images are written when unmounting the image. So don't forget to push the button or your data written to the disk is not written to the SD card.

[@SeliJue]

Thank you Jan for this presentation. It is so nice that I just buy a kit from eBay. Please continue with your channel :)

[@juliuspepernickle5541]

I see you play Elex. You're a man of impeccable taste.

[@JanBeta]

Huge fan of the original Gothic series. Elex finally feels equally as interesting (I only just started playing a couple of days ago but I already feel very at home in the game).

[@juliuspepernickle5541]

Yeah, I loved the original Gothic series too (and Risen 1). I really enjoyed Elex, I'm hoping they continue the world with a sequel.

[@stephenwhite506]

Cool stuff Jan. I'm a big fan of the channel!

[@JanBeta]

Oh, glad you like the channel! I'm a big fan of your work. Really looking forward to see what this is going to be in the future. Very well done sir! Thanks for your work (and for making it available to the public)!

[@waldevv]

If anyone else has the Pi1541io board and has problems with it, it has pads on the bottom that you have to bridge to select various things explained on the github page, I was wondering why mine didn't seem to work but I completely missed that since the eBay one I bought came with no instructions. Works great now and the external OLED is definitely a must have if you have a single screen

[@bozimmerman]

Hey Jan -- I think the sd2iec gets a bad rap. One advantage it has over all of the other choices is CMD Hard Drive emulation. Perhaps it's a US/Europe thing, but that's really important for C64 power users, and GEOS users especially. Another advantage is the form factor: Jim Brain has sd2iecs so tiny that you can embed them in anything. The last advantage is price. At one point I picked up 3-4 of these for less than $100.

[@Don-h4d]

Yeah and it costs less than a Raspberry.

[@Brutikus32]

Where can I get my own "Lips" brand monitor? 😀

[@ShadowD71]

You by an Philips Monitor an glue the "phi" :)

[@gile849]

i buy one in cosmetics store :)

[@williamsquires3070]

It would be nifty if the Raspberry Pi (& adapter board) went in between the C64 and the 1541, then you could capture a disk image as the C64 was booting and save it to the Pi’s SD card; you could then select it from a menu for later use, or even use it to make a replacement disk, assuming you could even find a viable 5-1/4” disk these days. Also handy would be a way to plug in an IBM PC-standard 3-1/2” drive, and have it read (if not write) MS-DOS formatted disks (FAT-16, I believe). I wonder if there’s something like this that’ll plug into slot 6 on an Apple ][+ or //e?

[@wimwiddershins]

You can tell the little piezoelectric speaker is struggling. I have replaced them in other projects with the little speakers you can salvage from old mobile phones. They sound much better.

[@JanBeta]

That's a good idea. I actually got a half-way bearable sound by changing the piezo frequency in the options.txt to 500Hz. :)

[@AlejandroRodolfoMendez]

for a finished product you could put this device in a case that has a similar look to the comodore drive.but in miniature. maybe 3d printed.

[@mc_frag8643]

Jetzt kann ich meinen verstaubten Raspi endlich für was vernünftiges verwenden. Danke dafür :D

[@GameTechRefuge]

Very cool Jan. Great to see the Pi1541 shields. FPGA's are cool but the Pi is better for sure. Love the new ESD mat. My old cutting mat is starting to look a bit beat up too, might be time to join the ESD club :). DId you get a new camera? The video quality seems to have improved. Great video, loved the montage music.

[@JanBeta]

Thanks! I think the improved video quality is a result of my new lighting setup (got some cheap soft boxes a while back) and me finally getting to grips with the software better. ;)

[@azofeclipse]

Hmm. Pi1541 is a "bare metal" type emulator, right? However, I could see benefit from it running on top of a small linux, as you could make use of the wifi/net access on the Raspi to dynamically transfer contents from the Pi. Really the only downside for a less "bare metal" implementation would be an increased boot time on the Pi, which isn't as bad as when using Pi to emulate an actual computer (in which case the boot time is fairly important, BMC64 is cool.)

[@Brewskii2117]

To bad it doesn't work with a RPI Zero W (yet), I still have one kicking around that I haven't decided what to do with yet. This is a good excuse to get a RPI B+ though!

[@TinyTeaKettle]

Just as an update for people reading that now. You're now able to use it with the Zero. Source: Use mine with a Zero.

[@Brewskii2117]

@@TinyTeaKettle Awesome!

[@sarreqteryx]

why doesn't the Ultimate II+ emulate a 1551? edit: nevermind. I thought it was backward compatible with the C64's cartridge port, on it's own. side thought: I'm wondering if the Pi can be used to replace the controller board in a (presumably dead) 1541/1551/1571/1581.

[@stephenbruce8320]

I have a Pi1541 that I purchased from an eBay vender Commodore4Ever who builds and sells the top board which you connect to the a Pi it works quite nicely and it has a screen on it so you can move around either using the screen or from the File Browser Software. I played with it for a while and found it to be a nice addition to my Commodore Collection. I could of built one myself but for this I opted to support the seller who lives here in the States and does a great job supporting the Commodore Community with a wide range of products. One thing I don't like is that its not in a protective case so I modified a Pi Case to at least provide some protection. Depending on the Pi1541 there are some cases available for the version where the buttons point upward but on my version the buttons point outward from the board but the good news is that Commodore4Ever has 3D Printed a case that he might sell in the future.

[@transistorbaluba]

hi. would be cool if you made a video testing the serial connetion, and communication between c64 and two disk drive. "real" drive and the emulator.

[@JanBeta]

Good idea! Currently have an OLED on order for a follow up video anyway. :)

[@Cream2773]

thnx.... wollte nur wissen, ob ich dieses Teil wie ne Floppy vom 64er aus handeln kann... also könnte ich theoretisch auch n Disk Copy starten, um von dem Pi1541 auf ne 5 1/4" Disk zu kopieren?

[@AntStiller]

Great video as I've been really interested in the Pi1541. Thank you! Also I recognise the name of that game you try and load around 25:57! ;)

[@sgpch1983]

kannste du methoden zeigen (günstig wäre geil), wie man seine disketten backupen kann? ich denk mal viele von uns haben noch programme oder daten auf den disketten die wir gern sichern würden.. eng and shorter: can you shop a disk backup methode?

[@saxonian]

This is quiet easy. Pi1541 is just another disk drive. You can choose the drive letter with a keyboard connected (or via options.txt). With a keyboard connected you hit CRTL+N and you have a new disk image created. Mount this image and use your favorite program (e.g. Dragon copy) to duplicate the disk. I used this method to backup all my disks. Another nice addon is to add a 3,5 inch hdmi display on top. For this I had to change the layout a bit. Check this out: twitter.com/SachseImExil/status/1036184155174961152?s=09

[@neophytealpha]

Need a hybrid. A Pi1541 that can use an 8G Pi4B AND the SD card like an SD2IEC.

[@tehaxor69]

Basic FPGA boards cost $12~$20 with shipping. On Aliexpress you can find Cyclone 2/3/4 and Spartan 6 boards with configuration memory, JTAG headers, 3.3V regulator, 50MHz crystal, and GPIO headers.

[@BillAnt]

Right, but somebody has to develop the firmware to flash to the chip, otherwise it's just useless hardware.

[@SeaJay_Oceans]

Thank YOU ! GREAT Idea ! Love your intro sounds too ! :-)

[@00Skyfox]

Do any of these units have JiffyDOS compatibility? I imagine it would require a different ROM to be loaded in to emulate the JD ROM chip in the 1541. If so, that would take care of the need for a fast loader.

[@JanBeta]

Yes, you can use the 1541 Jiffy ROMs as well as all other serial speeders. You just have to copy the ROM on the SD card and specify it in the options.txt.

[@svenpetersen1965]

Der Pi1541-Hat wird mein nächstes Projekt. Ich werde den „Treiber“ sockeln. Angeblich passen nicht alle 7406. Die DIN-Buchsen mache ich von der Unterseite, dann wird das Gerät länger, aber flacher und für das Display und die Tasten mache ich ein Breakout-Board, dann wird auch das eleganter. Wenn ich jetzt noch einen 3D-Drucker hätte :-)))

[@KolliRail]

That is a really nice device. I have built mine on a piece of breadboard with nearly the same layout as Edu's pcb. Works great, but was a lot cheaper.

[@JanBeta]

Yeah, of course you can DIY it, that's the beauty of this device. :)

[@esshahn]

I demand the Jan Beta Soldering Music back - this one is creepy! :D

[@kenoobe]

I think it's pretty awesome but the old one was nice too :)

[@waltherstolzing9719]

I also prefer the old one.

[@JanBeta]

Oh, I flattering that you like my self-made little music. I got a bit bored with it recently. Maybe I'll do a remix or reworked version of it sometime to bring it back.

[@esshahn]

Did I hear Kickstarter remix album?

[@holleholl3057]

Interesting piece of hardware. Must be something like the Gotek on the Amigas. No increase in speed, but in comfort, of course, and you can put your old disks away (hopefully) forever ;)

[@RaymondDay]

Were can you buy the 2nd version you had. I can solder it up too. It be nice to have a board not just like hack it together. This is good it my be the best way to have all most a real 1541 with no moving parts to go bad. I guess can install jiffyDOS rom in it.

[@pauledwards2817]

I have been wondering if a pi with a suitable hat can emulate a scsi disk. The fpga options are quite expensive.

[@JanBeta]

I'm not a programmer at all but I suppose it should be possible. Probably more straightforward than the 1541 emulation as you don't have to emulate a SCSI controller.

[@KenjiTech]

interesting video. i wonder if this will also work with a pi zero. would be cool because of the smaller physical size, reduced power draw and much lower price of the pi zero.

[@eukat3ch]

Love the Totoro background on youre pc :)

[@CatsGamesWhatever]

Why do you have a piece of electrical tape over the Philips logo on your screen? Is it to avoid possible copywrite problems? Although it would be intriguing to have a Taiwanese manufacturer start producing Lips branded screens...

[@MultiArrie]

that is just a joke, and those screens are made in the far east.

[@JanBeta]

Yup, it's just a joke. Would be funny to see knockoffs of that screen in the wild though... ;)

[@bluehatguy4279]

The Pi option is very cool, but it kinda seems ironic that the Pi could probably emulate any of the old commodores better than the real thing.

[@woodiemarv]

Lol it could emulate the whole thing. I like watching these vids for some reason. But I'm over the commodore the days. Let it rest it peace.

[@NozomuYume]

"These floppies are getting rare, expensive and harder to find." **PROCEEDS TO RUB CIRCUIT BOARDS ABUSIVELY ACROSS RARE FLOPPIES**

[@JanBeta]

These floppies were dead before, I’m just using them for decoration anyway. But good point... ;)

[@bit-ishbulldog2089]

It's good to have choice of a modern 1541 alternative.. I'm happy with my recycled 64c cased SD2IEC that I got from the future is 8bit... It looks nice with my 64c because its the same colour exactly.. I would not mind the Ultimate 2 for the extra functions like Cart load and Tape load etc.. The Pi looks interesting and has a lot of potential to be something great. Jan add a mini LED or LCD and a casing and maybe daisy chain the other board so you have 2 drives at once.. Or connect a different device to the extra 6 pin din.. What can you add? By using a Raspberry Pi there is loads that could be done in the near future to make this so interesting and a enervative project.

[@erichmersch1825]

In deutsch wäre das super! Hätte gerne mehr von der Pi1541 gesehen, als "nur" das zusammenbauen :(

[@RDJ134]

08:50 why does a normal nerd/geek/techlover would do such a thing?? The fun is the Assembly :P

[@LunarJim69]

Thanks for the excellent video again Jan. Is it better to get a pi1541HAT with or without the 7406 IC?

[@JanBeta]

The 7406 makes it possible to connect more than one device so I’d definitely recommend getting that version. If you know for sure you’re only ever going to need the single Pi1541, you’re good without the 7406.

[@LunarJim69]

Thanks for the reply @@JanBeta

[@rimefancyrats]

Pi1541 is a top topic for C64 enthusiasts nowadays. Because it's awesome.

[@markomadic9234]

I still find it amazing to see what people do with the Pies, it's proven to be very versatile over these few years. ---- And yes, that should have been a screen capture because now I know that (save for Dungeon Keeper), we have the same games on our desktops. Yes, even Gothic 3 ♡. By the way, if you can with work/time/money, maybe you can check out the Bytefest event in Prague (bytefest.cz , vintage computer event in December). I've not been so far, but would definitely like to go if I can! EDIT: I HAD THE DATE WRONG! It's actually in about a week! (Next weekend) :(

[@JanBeta]

Oh, I won't make it next weekend. But would be great to go sometime in the future (if there are future Bytefests).

[@markomadic9234]

@@JanBeta a friend of mine who lives there sent me the event on a whim. I can't read Czech but judging by their galleries, it looks like it's been around since 2006, so there's a good chance it will happen again next year

[@waltherstolzing9719]

Is it possible to get a serial console into the pi1541, rather than use the hdmi output?

[@JanBeta]

Yes, I think you can access it through the network in various ways. I didn't look into it, though, I have a little OLED display connected to it now which is enough for my purposes.

[@rad666a]

Mmmmm...retro computers and synthwave music. :)

[@pvc988]

Would be nice if you could use a USB keyboard/gamepad for selecting disk images and USB drive for storing and swapping them on th fly, not only SD card. But that would probably need full Linux installed. And exact timing under OS like that isn't that easy anymore.

[@JanBeta]

Oh, you can actually connect a USB keyboard and select files. There's a nice user interface on the HDMI port. USB storage is not supported yet, but I think it might be an option in the future.

[@pvc988]

That's nice.

[@urbanknish6965]

Mr. Jan Beta, thank you for the excellent video! Have you tried to use a USB thumb drive with either of the pi1541 units? I have tried this and was unsuccessful. I know someone who has succeeded in this but I don't know what I'm doing wrong. Can you try it out and if successful give any pointers? Thank you! For the record, I was using a Sandisk, 16GB formatted as FAT32. Turned the unit off, plugged in the thumb drive and then on. Fails to see the thumb drive at boot.

[@JanBeta]

Thanks! At the point this video was made, there was no support for thumb drives in the Pi1541 firmware. I haven't updated in a while so I can't tell if they added support in the meantime.

[@kumsuk77777]

Is the pi1641 read and write? IAW if I write a basic program on my c64 can I save it to the pi1541?

[@JanBeta]

Yes! It behaves like a real 1541, so you can read and write to it as you would with a real disk drive. :)

[@kumsuk77777]

Does that apply to the Sd2iec also? I want to save wear and tear on my real 1541 But I need to save Basic language programs that I write

[@PureAudioTones]

That was one of the gadgets that i was wondering about, thanks for the covering them. And what happened to the classic soldering/unscrewing music? :(

[@JanBeta]

Oh, I got a bit bored by my old soldering music and was offered some tracks by Focus 10 (linked in the description) to use. I quite like his style actually, might make my own music again, too, if I find the time. Maybe I'll do a new edit of the old music.

[@ChristopherMcGivern1]

I wonder if you can help me, I’ve just bought a C64 35+ years after selling my last one. What is the best solution for loading roms? 1541 or Datasette emulation? I can’t choose between a Tapuino or the PI1541. I want to be able to play as many of my old games as possible.

[@JanBeta]

I would recommend getting a Pi1541, an SD2IEC or if you want the most versatile (and expensive) option, go for a 1541 Ultimate. All emulating a disk drive, the ultimate can do tape and cartridge emulation, too. Tapuino is great but it is quite slow (as it's emulating a Datasette) and especially some newer games are not available as tape files.

[@AndyDavis007]

If you happen to have bought your pi1541 at a trade show from--not real name--Jimmy Cash, you might get home and find it's not working. Now, you have to try to figure out what settings to enable in that options file. But after several guesses you realize, I didn't build this so, some rabbit-hole-options confusion sets in. Meanwhile, you didn't know you were supposed to ask Mr. Jimmy Cash about any of this. No biggie. This is Retro. :-) p.s. I'm still hunting the screwy rabbit.

[@AndyDavis007]

Thankfully Jan has included links in his show notes so, Say your pwayers, wabbit!

[@pikadroo]

Does this support 4 drives?

[@Gooberslot]

Can you use images off a usb drive or do you have to stick them on the SD card?

[@JanBeta]

I think for now you have to use an SD card. The software side is ever evolving though so we might see USB storage support sometime.

[@stephenwhite506]

This is now supported in version 1.17 of the software.

[@EdwinNoorlander]

Nice projects, @Dr D. I like your board better. Only try to give CiKat a chance. @Jan nice video.

[@mindcontrolbsm9046]

Würdest Du diese Variante auf jeden Fall der SD2IEC Variante vorziehen?

[@JanBeta]

Die Pi-Variante ist auf jeden Fall kompatibler, funktioniert auch mit den allermeisten Fastloadern und so, weil die eben wirklich ein exakter 1541 Emulator ist. Die SD2IECs sind aber günstiger und mittlerweile gibt es jede Menge angepasste Software, so dass du mit ein bisschen Recherche auch die große Mehrzahl an Software zum Laufen bekommst. Gibt für beide Lösungen Pros und Kontras. Die beste Allroundlösung, die ich kenne, ist immer noch die 1541 Ultimate.

[@mindcontrolbsm9046]

@@JanBeta Ok aber auch die teuerste in dem Fall :D Danke für dein Feedback

[@jwseymo]

Commodore has 3 drives.. The 1541, 1571, and 1581..

[@phil3142]

Another fantastic video, thank you. Still makes me glad I have my Ultimate II+ though :) #smug

[@JorgeGarcia-nn4nx]

Hi, Can you sell me the Pi1541 Commodore Disk drive emulator?

[@MrRobbyvent]

has anyone ever tried to port this pi1541 project to the much cheaper raspberry pi zero?

[@kreskogym]

@Jan,what about Jiffydos and Pi1541,is it supported?

[@saxonian]

Jiffydos is supported. Just look at the page. It is documented quiet well. You can even have multiple ROMs on the SD card and select them. If you are using LST files you have to specify the ROM to use.

[@kreskogym]

Ok,thanks! I didn't see on page at first.

[@dergrunepunkt]

I really don't get why is designed with SMD if a person has to manually solder everything.

[@saxonian]

SMD soldering isn't that hard actually. And it looks nicer :-) I actually desoldered the SMD components from the level shifter and put it on my pi1541, even if I had the option to use the level shifter as it is and solder it as through hole component on.

[@Elektronik-1]

Interessantes Video. Damit hat die Floppy ungefähr die 4000fache Rechenleistung (+GPU) des C64...

[@philrod1]

A very interesting project (but I'd still want an Ultimate II). I'm definitely interested in whether the code can be run on a Pi Zero. My understanding is that it needs a multicore CPU to be cycle-exact, which makes sense. How do demos run on it? Basically, no demos work on the sd2iec, either because of custom loaders running on the 1541 and even using the 1541 as a co-processor.

[@JanBeta]

I haven't tinkered with the thing for too long but until now it works with everything I throw at it. I specifically tried some demos I remembered didn't work at all on the SD2IEC and all of them worked. Steve White is working together with the community to make the software run on lesser Pis, too, as far as I know. Would be amazing to have it work on the Pi Zero. :)

[@HometownUnicorn]

are you able to connect your pi to the Wi-Fi network? then ssh into it to send files to it, so you don't have to keep taking your SD card in and out? that would be really good if you can do that.

[@bubba99009]

I would hope there would be a way to get this working - being able to copy ROMs to it with scp over wifi would be an ideal setup. Which is one of the reasons I went with the Pi1541. I haven't had time to put it together yet and figure it out though.

[@saxonian]

github.com/pi1541/Pi1541/issues/80 Is on the wishlist already.

[@MultiArrie]

that is not possible at the moment. by ethernet network also not possible.

[@doktor6495]

P.S.: Bitte wieder die alte Löt-Musik!!! ;-)

[@JanBeta]

Vielleicht gibt's mal einen Remix oder so. Ich finde die alte Musik mittlerweile ziemlich langweilig... ;)

[@eddiegeerts6107]

very cool stuff!!

[@tonttupc]

Please do jiffydos kernal and 1541 rom upgrage

[@JanBeta]

That's most likely going into the next Pi1541 episode. Got an OLED display on order, too. :)

[@MindFlareRetro]

A great review of both of these Pi1541 options. There's a Australian guy on eBay selling his version with an LCD display -- ebay.to/2OKYQKg -- I've been considering that option for a while, but I do live Dr. A's design and hopefully with an OLED display soon too. Anyway, a very nice review and demo 👍 -- great work, as usual. And for the record, I did enjoy the new montage music.

[@JanBeta]

Thanks Mark, I got an OLED in the mail a couple of days ago and am going to tinker with it soon. :)

[@MindFlareRetro]

Cool! I'm looking forward to that.

[@hackupnet]

For those who might be interested, I made an open source board for the Pi1541 a while ago. Project and Gerber files are available on Github for anyone to use: github.com/hackup/Pi1541io

[@JanBeta]

I'll add that to the description! Nice work! :)

[@paulmichaelfreedman8334]

The 1541. The largest compromise in computer history.

[@geotechmore8855]

i own 3 Raspbeery Pi's and they all run Debian based Raspbian :)

[@JanBeta]

Yeah, they are really useful little computers! I definitely want to tinker with them more in the future, too. :)

[@geotechmore8855]

@@JanBeta A tinkerer like you are already would LOVE these tiny computers for even MORE fun projects! Plus you can play many vintage games with RetroPie! 😀 Many cool things to try Jan (^_-)/.

[@jasejj]

Interesting product but I find it incredible that we're using something with the sheer power (relatively speaking) of the Pi to emulate a bloody floppy drive. Someone was really smoking some powerful stuff at Commodore when they designed the floppy interface.

[@JanBeta]

The floppy interface definitely is a strange beast. I think there were a lot of workarounds for flaws in the old Commodore machines and then they had to keep the design to make it backwards compatible.

[@Skauber]

Would be interesting to see if a Raspberry Pi Zero would be powerful enough to handle this task. I can't see any reason why not, as it's quite more powerful than anything in the C64, just depends on how efficient the emulator is. :)

[@bit-ishbulldog2089]

Can't see why it would not work, its only loading the software and using connections via the Pi, all Pi's will do the job.

[@saxonian]

IIRC there was a discussion going on about the pi zero. It is not powerful enough. This would require further optimizations in the code at least. But I'm not sure if this will be sufficient.

[@JanBeta]

According to the project's GitHub page, the Zero is not quite powerful enough. Maybe the code can be optimized to work on "lesser" Pis in the future though. It surely would be amazing!

[@JaySmith-cd1ln]

The new tunes are sweet :)

[@JanBeta]

Made by Focus 10 (linked in the bottom part of the video description). :)

[@JaySmith-cd1ln]

Cheers! :)