UK1541 - Our biggest review yet, the Ultimate Killer? For C64!

[Neil79]

Here we are yet again with another review for the C64 crowd, a product which as of yet has not seen public release and many probably don't know of it's existence (until now!). Developed by Krzysztof, called the 'UK1541' also known as the Ultimate killer, has now been sent to us for review

http://www.indieretronews.com/2015/0...but-is-it.html

New photography New Q&A etc

[Supamax]

WOW, awesome (big and high res) LCD display!!

[UberFreak]

Not even close to being an "Ultimate Killer"...

Personally, I never understood the appeal of disk emulators with their own tiny LCD screen.
The computer is already connected to monitor/tv, much more convenient to use that, like the 1541U does.

I see the 1541U as the best all-in-one solution (floppy emu + speeder cart + EasyFlash + REU) and much more convenient than the UK1541.

My opinion, of course!

[Retrofan]

Originally Posted by UberFreak

Not even close to being an "Ultimate Killer"...

Personally, I never understood the appeal of disk emulators with their own tiny LCD screen.
The computer is already connected to monitor/tv, much more convenient to use that, like the 1541U does.

I see the 1541U as the best all-in-one solution (floppy emu + speeder cart + EasyFlash + REU) and much more convenient than the UK1541.

My opinion, of course!

I agree, and also I hate to have to use another power supply for it.

[Neil79]

Originally Posted by UberFreak

Not even close to being an "Ultimate Killer"...

Personally, I never understood the appeal of disk emulators with their own tiny LCD screen.
The computer is already connected to monitor/tv, much more convenient to use that, like the 1541U does.

I see the 1541U as the best all-in-one solution (floppy emu + speeder cart + EasyFlash + REU) and much more convenient than the UK1541.

My opinion, of course!

No you are correct but I hope my review was fair?

Have added a bit at the bottom to those like myself who are Ultimate owners

It could be a top of the line product and it certainly looks it visually. When finished and feature complete it could dominate the SD2IEC, but at the moment I put it somewhere between an SD2IEC and an C64SD (based on the display), but nowhere near a 1541 Ultimate-II. Yet as I said it still needs work, not the device hardware, but the firmware and support.

[hawui1]

If I can add my two cents.. trying to be unbiased as much as possible. Note: I would like to underline I do have an UII and most likely I will buy this UK1541 as well. I'm a Commodore computers collector so I like to have the broadest range of functions available.

These kind of classifications with "near", "closer", "between" etc are a bit improper. In my opinion here you are comparing apples with oranges. Each card has its own strong and weak points, it depends on who the user is (casual gamer, demo enthusiast, programmer, commodore computers collector, advanced user?) and what he is searching for.

UK1541 born as true drive emulation, when the firmware will be finished, it will be a 1541 complete drive emulation rig at a very good price, but being attached to the user port where there is no C64 bus limits the possibilities from the standpoint of DMA and Bios emulation.. most likely these were not among the objectives of the project itself. On the other hand UII has a lot of functions an advanced user can take advantage of but has a price tag that is aligned with the level of performance provided. C64SD Princess, on the other hand, has the possibility to be used for both TAP and Disk (sd2iec, not emulation) on all Commodore 8bit from VIC20 onward.

Being on the user side you have all the ways open in front of you.. it depends only on what you expect and how much you would like to spend.
Trying to determine if this is better than that in my opinion is a bit sterile, there is no best product, there is the product that is right for that specific user.

What is important, then, is to inform the end user on what he's buying so he can take the right decision.

[UberFreak]

hawui1, I completely agree.

But, since the UK1541 was presented as the "Ultimate Killer", my response was appropriate.
When you declare yourself the "killer" of the best currently available solution, you better deliver

Its good to have options, so I wish the UK1541 sells well & get even better.

[hawui1]

Infact I *completely agree* with you and with your answer UberFreak, as I said there's NO KILLER, simply because we're speaking about two different products with two different target users.. there's for sure an overlap in the potential market and so there will be probably a certain influence of the units sold for UK1541 on the numbers of units sold of UII, this because users searching *only* for true drive emulation and wishing to spend less will probably buy UK1541 and will no longer be buying UII, for sure advanced users however will continue to buy UII since it does have functionalities UK1541 will never have in its current HW implementation.

This anyway is not a comparison on UK1541 being better or worse than UII is simply saying that they have a different target user and an area of overlap that before was served only by UII and now will be served by both.

My personal interest, for example, actually is not in the true drive emulation because in my experience I did not find so many games that were not running on sd2iec. Usually there's always a cracked version of the protected game that works also on sd2iec, so I would never buy a card like UK1541 for this reason. I will buy it because it's interesting for me at the HW level, but this is a totally different ball game. If I was for example a demo enthusiast for me buying UK1541 would have been an absolute MUST since demos are typically not running on sd2iec. I bought UII half for (again) the interest I have in this kind of HW (It was also a very unlucky period and I had to wait from Christmas to Jun to have it !!) and half because of its advanced functions that, since I'm a developer, are coming in handy from time to time. So each user is unique.

[Neil79]

Now available to buy
http://www.indieretronews.com/2015/0...oduct-now.html

[Amiga1992]

Originally Posted by UberFreak

Not even close to being an "Ultimate Killer"...

Agreed.
The 1541U-II is a multi expansion, not just a 1541 emulator.
Comparing the two is preposterous. Each one is good in their own rights. Every UK1541 "review" I have seen, sadly, makes this unfortunate comparison.

At this price point, the UK1541 cannot be beaten if all you want is a floppy drive replacement, beats the shit out of SD2IEC solutions because absolutely everything will run on it.
But the 1541U-II has SO MUCH MORE than just a 1541 that, if we do have to compare, it would beat the shit out of the UK1541.

So taking the comparison aside, my only gripe with the UK1541 is maybe one of the things they promote more: the screen, plus it also needs a joystick to control it right? I would much prefer a solution like SD2IEC that I can add internally to a machine, controlled by a simple, screenless button interface. Maybe at some point the UK1541 guys can consider developing something screenless that we can put inside a Commodore and it would be awesome.

[Zippy Zapp]

Originally Posted by Neil79

Now available to buy
http://www.indieretronews.com/2015/0...oduct-now.html

I guess he started selling them as preorders in Dec. The first batch is apparently gone.

That link points to a link on amibay that is actually not the thread for ordering one. If you declare interest there you might get called a troll by the seller and placed on a blacklist

Looks cool but unclear if and when you will actually get one.

[Neil79]

Originally Posted by Zippy Zapp

I guess he started selling them as preorders in Dec. The first batch is apparently gone.

That link points to a link on amibay that is actually not the thread for ordering one. If you declare interest there you might get called a troll by the seller and placed on a blacklist

Looks cool but unclear if and when you will actually get one.

Yeh it was a bit odd, that was the link sent to us by email