Re: Pi1541 experiences @George In the case of demos, the NEW8501 incompatibility is true. I would be interested in whether the BT2 and BT3 programs work properly for other people if the peripheral is a Pi1541. Because if they work for others, I have to get a new PI1541 peripheral or SD1541/2 peripheral.
Re: Pi1541 experiences @Rick Thanks for sharing your experience. Does sd2iec work with multi-disc games for you? Do I need a config file in the directory containing the disk pages? Meanwhile I found out why it didn't read Bards's tale3 disk 1. The Pi1541 was attached to a Y cable, with a printer at the other end of the Y. When I canceled this, it was already read, but still not the character disk. And Fish and other two-sided adventure games don't work with the Pi1541. There are many problems.
Re: Pi1541 experiences SD2IECs do support multi-disk games, even though in my experience they seem to ignore a pre-existing autoswap.lst file. It is rather necessary to recreate it every time by pressing the PREV and NEXT buttons together.
Re: Pi1541 experiences ...yes - the listfile for autoswap
i never used a list file - my pi1541 has pushbuttons to swap image file on the sd some title worked with loading 2nd disk side - other not
if you know how charm the U1541-II does the work on a c64 is it really frustrating to use the pi-solution on 264s
i have another piece from a guy in hungary - its's a floppyemu too with rotary and usb power-supply this thing (i remember not the name of this thing) is great compatible and running every 264 disk perfect !
Re: Pi1541 experiences The list file just tells the SD2IEC in which order it should provide the disk images. It's nothing particularly complicated and it can be generated automatically, so it's not a big hassle.
I love Pi's as long as they have nothing to do with my retro stuff . There is no way they can just get close to each other for me, lest I connect them together!
U2+ is a nice thing, but tbh there is not as much software on the +4 that does not work with the SD2IEC as on the C64, so I'm fine with the latter.
I also bought the TCBM2SD a couple of months ago but I haven't had the time of testing it yet .
Re: Pi1541 experiences @Rick Yes, I have U2+ plugged into my C64. You don't need better than that. An alternative to this is the SD1541/2 on the 264 series. This is what the Hungarian guy was selling. His name is Zoltán Kollár. He died two years ago, no one will manufacture the device. Unlike SD2IEC, I saw 100% compatibility with 264 .d64 files. Unfortunately, my device is broken, now I'm looking for an alternative. @SukkoPera Where did you buy the TCBM2SD device? This is exciting for me.
..huh sad to hear that the guy died - i like this SD1541/2 from him
2 years ago i wrote to gideon about connecting a U64 and an other machine like c16 or plus/4 via IEC - cable to use the internal emulation of U64 for other machines
he wrote back that's a nice idea but not about risks of destroying any hardware it's still an idea in my head - but i don't dare to try
Re: Pi1541 experiences @Rick If SukkoPera writes back where he bought the TCBM2SD device, then there is no need to experiment with the U2+ device.... I would like to try it, I have an adapter for the C64 to Plus/4 expansion port. But too expensive a toy... Zoltán Kollár did not only make the SD1541/2 device. He was an electronics genius. I know him personally. I knew him as an endlessly helpful, modest, kind-hearted person and friend. An irreplaceable loss in the Hungarian retro world. He lived 55 years. Rest in peace.
Re: Pi1541 experiences I'm sorry for the loss, but unfortunately that's what happens with closed projects: if the author gets tired, or in more tragic circumstances, the project is gone and all the effort is lost, no more support, no more updates, ecc.
That's just one more reason why we, as users, should always prefer open source projects: I feel very well knowing that whatever happens, my LittleSixteen and all my other efforts will live on, anyone can pick them up and carry on the job.
The U64 should be perfectly safe to use on a +4 (or VIC20, for the matter), as long as it's powered externally and connected to the computer through the IEC port. It will be difficult to control, but there is nothing dangerous. It would also be easy to make an adapter so that it can be powered from the +4 expansion port.
FOR TCBM2SD you can get in touch with user @ytm here.
Re: Pi1541 experiences @Andras : be aware, that TCBM2SD offers only TCBM protocol level compatiblity. So software with custom loaders won't work with that. (Until I get over my laziness and implement the support for it in my loader so at least recent TCFS games can be patched to run on it)
Re: Pi1541 experiences @Andras and @Rick if you want a tcbm2sd please get it touch with me through email: ytm-at-elysium.pl with your location (country) into. I have a batch of new revision of tcbm2sd boards ready; I am just a bit behind the schedule with documentation/user/programmer's manual updates
@SukkoPera - please don't forget to upgrade firmware on your devices using files from 1.1 release on GitHub
@siz - just yesterday evening I started cracking Giana Sisters loader
Re: Pi1541 experiences I have both, and at the moment I would recommend the PI1541 as a first purchase. It works perfectly except for the rare 1551 fast loader that cannot be turned off. The speed is just not that fast, like a real 1541
The TCBM2SD is ultra-fast when loading .PRG. It doesn't like reloading from .D64 images at all. I still have one of the first TCBM2SD that was delivered, and it still has a few errors that can occasionally lead to crashes.
Please check that: You can attach the "B" side of Fish, or the character disc after the intro in the Pigmy version of Bard's Tale 3 with the "1" button of the PI1541 device. I would like to find out if my device is faulty or programs do not work with this device. Thanks.
Re: Pi1541 experiences @Andras - what @siz already wrote: tcbm2sd does not emulate the drive CPU/RAM and is not capable of emulating existing fastloaders. When I started I didn't even think that there will be enough flash space for disk image support.
That said, until a set of games patched for tcbm2sd's own fastloader appear, tcbm2sd will work with any game that uses plain Kernal functions/protocol for loading data. If it works with YaPe with disk drive set to "1551 IEC level" it will most likely work with tcbm2sd (but faster).
Re: Pi1541 experiences You're right, SD1541-II is different from SD2IEC. The site is still online and I didn't find any hint there. But I downloaded the instructions at it seems to require a .lic file I too downloaded the SD image card and it contains a ROM folder with CBM floppy drives ROMs I'd say this device went inadvertent.
Re: Pi1541 experiences My experience: -I own an SD1541/II, also bought from Zoltan Kollar after we agreed on an past Arok Party. Works great, all Plus/4 and C64 trackloader demos I tried work, also Geos. I supports Jiffy, though I found that the Jiffy seems to be less reliable on Plus/4 than on C64 (10-20% hangups I noticed, but mybe my Jiffy ROM is damaged), and switching off the screen during loading is not so great experience. The rotating knob and the clear OLED, nince UI and that it runs from an external USB power source makes is a great platform independent, very compatible device. But (except Jiffy) it is not really faster as a normal 1541. Though working fastloaders help a lot. RIP Zoltán!
-I will check out TCBM2SD, I ordered mine. It is the latest release, so it should be more 1551 compatible, though I understand it is compatible on logical level, no a full emulation like SD1541/II. Here I am looking for a speed demon I always wanted an 1551, and this is like that in a way., just better) TCBM2SD has a great extra, supports the CRT files, and even two at the same time. So I already have important CRT in my ordered piece: Plus/4 mouse driver starts with F key BTW is there any great CRT toolset you may suggest? I opted for Octasoft BASIC 7.0 as a second CRT, maybe not the best choice, but despite Script Plus is a great SW, I would not use it in practice.
I would be a little surprised if the TCBM2SD disc loading would not be faster than an 1541, as it works on parallel 8 bit wide data channel. But anyhow I will test it. I am sure it will become faster sooner or later
-As you know, I had/have an SFD-1001 bought from a great scener, but it get damaged during a trip to an Arok Party few years ago. I was really depressed I could use it with an IEEE2IEC converter card. Speed was like an 1541, but the capacity was 1MB per disc.
TCBM2SD will solve this long term pain I have on that specific point. @ytm just recently added the .D82 file format support to TCBM2SD, so if the speed is great AND has 1MB floppy capacity, you can use it natively with DOS commands. Size and speed in one hand. This is I always dreamed of. (my personal comment: 1551 should have based on that 1MB double sided beast called SFD-1001. It was the marvel of Commodore engineering, same size as an 1551) If Commodore marketing would REALLY wanted to sell the Plus/4 as a small office computer, for that you need FAST and BIG storage. 1551 way a little faster, but was NOT bigger, and in 1986 the IBM HD 5.25" drives were available with 1.2MB capacity. Then the 170KB one sided 1551 looked like a toy.
Re: Pi1541 experiences @Andras @siz PI1541-III (Floppy-Simulator) The missing Raspi 3+ arrived today and i did some tests. I am working on my next video (part 2). It workes fine so far with some demos, you can easily navigate through directories and load disks. I haven't checked the swapping so far, but i am positive i could work on the fly. It seems to be slower though than my SD2IEC drive.
Re: Pi1541 experiences @Andras Works with multiple disksides. Very elegant interface: 1) either you make a *.lst file and load the lst file 2) you pre-select the disksides with the insert-button (which makes a list on the fly) and you swap the disks while the program is running.
Re: Pi1541 experiences @George I have two questions left. The first: could you describe a .lst file here? I would try it on my PI1541/2. The second: where can I buy PI1541-3?
I really understand your love in all equipement parts to perfectly fit to another. I try to collect with the same intention.
Unfortunately I came a little too late to have a molded Pi1541-housing made by despegatop for me. That would be the best (I don't like 3D-printed parts when they are visible together with retro hardware)
This Pi1541, covered with black acryclic glas, really seems to be the second best solution. Therefore thank you for finding this option and let's hope for new batches to be made.
Pi1541 experiences
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- but i don't dare to try
