Pi1541-III Disk Drive Emulator 1541 for Commodore, White, RPi3A+

The device is a 1541 disk drive emulator for Raspberry Pi 3A+.

Functionality

Pi1541 allows, through the use of a 32Gb microSD card, the playback of disk images on Commodore computers such as:

• Commodore 64
• Commodore 128
• Commodore VIC-20
• Commodore 16
• Commodore Plus4

Design

The set includes:

• Power cable with USB plug (for any 5V power adapter, e.g., a phone charger).
• Serial cable for the disk drive.
• Knob in gold, black, silver, red, and blue colors.

Technical highlights without fluff:

• Compatibility at its best:
  Almost 100% compatibility with the original, including support for many fast loaders (even those with copied originals and demo scene wonders). Forget about heuristic guessing of SD2IEC – here, the 6502 code operates in full cycle-exact mode, just like in 1982.
• Sci-fi-like operating modes:
  • Start in minimal SD2IEC (for browsing PRG and D64 files).
  • After loading a disk image – full emulation of 1541/1581.
  • Reading and writing? No problem, with support for multiple channels and sequential files.
• Classy hardware:
  • Mounted on Raspberry Pi 3A+ (version without RJ45 and 3 USB ports compared to Raspberry Pi 3B/3B+).
  • PCB with logic level converter (5V CBM → 3.3V Pi).
  • IEC connectors and chain option (possibility of daisy-chaining with other drives – real or emulated).
  • Version III equipped with a 1.3" OLED display and rotary encoder for navigation – scrolling through folders like on a smartphone, not like a joystick maze.
• Media support:
  • Ability to place hundreds of D64 files on the SD card (up to 32GB+).
  • Browsing via Pi keyboard/screen or C64 commands (LOAD "*",8, LOAD"*",8,1).
  • Saving files? Yes! But remember: it's retro, not cloud – always back up before your cat sits on the card.
• Power and assembly:
  • 5V power supply from C64 (up to 1A).
  • Compact casing.

Based on the project:

https://github.com/tebl/C64-Pi1541-III

YouTube:

Watch the video on YouTube