from 1541 Ultimate homepage:
It is about time to release some news about the 1541U-II. I think some of you must be really curious about the extra features and possibilities that the 1541U-II give, and about the progress on production and firmware. To start off with the 1541U-II features, I can tell you that it differs from the ‘standard’ 1541U Plus/Ethernet that:
- the board itself is about 30% smaller than the 1541U;
- it has a MicroSD connector, instead of a full-size SD;
- it has a real-time-clock function, for correct file time and date;
- it has a larger FPGA, which enables the implementation of more features;
- it has a USB Host port, which can be used to connect USB-sticks;
- it is targeted to have a suitable case for the device.
Some of you have written in the forums, that the MicroSD connector is not much of an improvement. But the rationale behind going to MicroSD is mainly the available space on the board is less, and that with the addition of a USB-A port, the average user will use the usb-stick rather than the SD-card.
So the MicroSD-card does not need to be removed from the cartridge very often. However, because at the moment that I announced the 1541U-II, the USB port was not yet tested, I could not reveal this feature as I did not want to make promises that I can’t keep.
The USB turns out to be quite a bit of work to get it to work, but I can now announce that I managed to implement enough of a host-controller function to be able to talk to USB devices and send the most basic commands to access a mass-storage device. I am quite close to have implemented the ‘read-block’ and ‘write-block’ functions, which is the interface level that the file system module uses. In other words, I expect to be able to access the (FAT) file-system on the USB stick quite soon!
How will it work for the user? My objective is to have one ‘directory’ level above the current root of the SD-card, where you can select which partition you want to browse. There the USB flash drive becomes visible, as well as the MicroSD card, if present.
source: 1541ultimate.net
It’s in German Language but with English subs.
source: circuit-board.de
1541 Ultimate Firmware v1.7 Beta Features:
- The freezer has been made more robust. (Needs more testing)
- Minor fixes in the IEC interface. (but not yet satisfactory)
- SID player has been added.
- Epyx Fastloader cartridge has been added.
- Support for custom carts has been added (8K/16K, as well as existing carts)
- Support for (custom) Ocean and System3 cartridges added.
source: 1541ultimate.net
Loriano has made a video about his 1541U case.
source: logan-5.co.uk 1541ultimate.net
from 1541 Ultimate homepage:
Some of you might have noticed that the order form has been temporarily closed, and many questions and rumours have been going around about the future of the 1541 Ultimate. The reason behind all this, is that behind the screens I have been working on a successor of the “1541 Ultimate”. How this unit will be called has not yet been determined, but it could be something as simple as “1541 Ultimate II” or “Ultimate Cartridge”.
What is it, and why was it designed? Basically, it is a scaled down version of the 1541U. It will provide similar functionality, although some things have been changed. It will no longer support full-size SD-cards, but only MircoSD, or “Transflash”. Also, Ethernet will not be supported until further notice. It will support tape emulation out of the box (without the need for special FPGA images) and it will provide a real-time clock function with battery back up. Audio output has been significantly improved, which might seem useless for just the drive sounds, but this enables the creation of FPGA images that provide additional sound channels of useful quality. The power consumption has been reduced as well. There is one extra cool feature that will not yet be disclosed ;-)
And last but not least… This unit will come with a case! At least, that is the plan; there are some negociations going on with manufacturers for plastic insertion moulding. It seems feasible to have this done, although it’s pricy for low quantities. A prototype is 3D-printed this week; the prototype board is already there and functional.
source: 1541ultimate.net
1541 Ultimate Firmware v1.7 will be released very soon!
Firmware v1.7 will include:
- Fully functional SID player.
- Some new cartridges.
- Support for loading your own cartridge from SD.
- Freezer problem has been addressed and fixed.
source: 1541ultimate.net
Loriano’s 1541 Ultimate Case:
Click here to see the final pictures of the new add-on for cartridge mode operation of the 1541 Ultimate Case. For order please email Loriano directly.
source: logan-5.co.uk 1541ultimate.net
from Loriano Page:
After designing the case for the Minimig, some 1541 Ultimate users asked me to take on the rather difficult project of making a case for Gideon’s 1541 Ultimate board.
There have been a few different production runs of the 1541 ultimate boards. The case has been designed around and tested with batch 2 and batch 3 boards. I have also tested the case with one batch 4 and it fits nicely. Batch 1 is shorter than the more recent batch 2, 3 and 4, and does not fit in the case. A case just for batch 1 is in the works.
A lot of time, effort and money have gone in designing this case. I have tried to accommodate batch 2, batch 3 and batch 4 boards, their very subtle differences, boards with and without the Ethernet port and tried to make it work with both Commodore 64 models (classic and 64C) and at the same time include some of the users’ requests.
source: Loriano Pagni Homepage Order Page
from 1541 Ultimate forum:
This is the domed resin 1541U logo that comes with your case, free to the first 50 orders.
source: 1541ultimate.net
from 1541 Ultimate Forum:
This a short preview of the 1541U case for the 1541 Ultimate board. These photographs are taken from prototype number 1.
Next week I should get prototype number 2 which should be the final product. This is the revised design based on your needs and requests. Enjoy.
source: Loriano Homepage
The software part of the 1541 Ultimate is from now on Open Source! Although the hardware still needs to be documented, people can already check out the source code, edit it and build new applications for the 1541 Ultimate! The source is released under GPL 3.0, which in short means that every addition to the source code will also need to be open sourced and the code or parts thereof may not be sold. The full license agreement can be found in the ‘root’ (trunk) of the SVN archive.
In order to build the software, you need to do the following:
- Install Cygwin, or run under Linux. Make sure you have:
- GNU make in order to run the makefiles.
- GCC compiler, in order to build the conversion tools.
- Install CC65 (http://www.cc65.org), and make sure you have the required environment variables and path set.
- Install a SVN client package (either command line in Cygwin) or a graphical client such as Tortoise SVN.
- Check out the repository from http://svn.xp-dev.com/svn/gideonz_1541Ultimate/
- Go to the trunk directory and type ‘make’.
At this point, the archive is read-only. If you are a developer and want to make a significant contribution to the 1541 Ultimate, please contact me and we can discuss being a write-user on the archive. Bug fixes from others can be E-mailed as patches, which I’d happily merge with the archive.
Happy programming!
source: 1541ultimate.net
Playing 1541 Sing Song Serenade Drive Music.
The annoying bug in the firmware that had rendered the Ethernet interface almost useless has finally been fixed.
In comparison to 1.5, the following has been fixed:
- Reads from the Ethernet chip have been fixed. The unit now correctly receives packets.
download: 1541U Homepage
From 1541u forum:
I’m working on a 1541U manual. It is still heavily beta and incomplete, but i would like comments etc. So if you have time read it, and give me some input/suggestions.
Perhaps we can combine effords in creating a good manual for this exceptional piece of hardware…
Download: 1541U Manual
source: 1541ultimate.net
Here’s the full unboxing of 1541 Ultimate, Gideon has shipped it 21/10/2008 and it arrived six days later.
Now i’m testing with some Demo’s and Game’s (Single/Multi Disk) all work perfectly.
source: 1541ultimate C64-Wiki
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