SD2IEC card drive recommendation

[Fred Beans]

Hello all - there are many options I have seen out there and I was to take the dive into using a SD2IEC card drive with my Commodore systems.

I am looking for suggestions of a device that is reasonably simple to use with multidisk images and would work on a C128/64 unit - Vic20 and Plus4

Appreciate the assist all - thank you!

[go4r...@go4retro.com]

There's lots of tutorials and such on sd2iec based devices. Are you asking about a drive emulator in general (not all are sd2iec-based), or which sd2iec-based device is best?

All sd2iec based devices work exactly the same. THe ones with an LCD might be easier to use since there's a screen to navigate. All of them work with all Commodore machines that would work with a 1541 drive (VIC,64,128,128D,+4,16, 116,SX)

I doubt I can offer an unbiased recommendation, as I sell an sd2iec-based unit called the uIEC/SD, which I believe is the smallest of the devices (it works fine as is, but is designed for internal mounting). Some have screens, cases, look like little 1541s, etc.

About the only recommendation I can provide is to buy one from a reputable seller, as they do have issue every so often, and I've regrettably heard from owners whose seller disappeared and now their device has issues. Sadly, while they are all sd2iec-based, the hardware is different for various units and one seller cannot often diagnose issues in the HW on other units.

Jim Brain
www.go4retro.com

[Al DeRosa]

On 02 Oct 2022, Fred Beans said the following...

FB> Hello all - there are many options I have seen out there and I was to
FB> take the dive into using a SD2IEC card drive with my Commodore systems.
FB>

My suggestion is Jim Brains uIEC/SD I own 1 and have used it for a few years
now. I pop a SD card in and copy my files to it, it accepts JiffyDOS commands
and have used it to enter and mount .d64, .d71, and .d81 images with no issues
at all.. In fact when I was copying my Lt Kernal HD over to my Emulated system,
I backed up to .d81 images on a uIEC/SD card, then copied them to my PC via a
SD Card reader and mounted them and copied the files off the images. You can
have 12 partitions on it and pretty much if you want treat it like a hard
drive. You might want to read up on it at go4retro.com Jim Brain is a good guy
and is keeping the Commodore alive with what he sells...

... A .GIF is worth a thousand .TXT.

[Gary McCulloch]

On Mon 3-Oct-2022 5:54p, Al Derosa@1:267/157.0 said to Fred Beans:
AD> My suggestion is Jim Brains uIEC/SD I own 1 and have used it for a few
AD> years now. I pop a SD card in and copy my files to it, it accepts JiffyDOS
AD> commands and have used it to enter and mount .d64, .d71, and .d81 images
AD> with no issues at all.. In fact when I was copying my Lt Kernal HD over to
AD> my Emulated system, I backed up to .d81 images on a uIEC/SD card, then
AD> copied them to my PC via a SD Card reader and mounted them and copied the
AD> files off the images. You can have 12 partitions on it and pretty much if
AD> you want treat it like a hard drive. You might want to read up on it at
AD> go4retro.com Jim Brain is a good guy and is keeping the Commodore alive
AD> with what he sells...

I would have to agree. Al pointed me in that direction and I now have
1 for my C64 which is running my BBS and one for my C128. They both work great
without any issues.

* ACIS Member. AmigaNet ArakNet C=Net FidoNet RetroNet
* C-Net/5

[Robert Bernardo]

On Sunday, October 2, 2022 at 8:39:42 PM UTC-4, Fred Beans wrote:

> I am looking for suggestions of a device that is reasonably simple to use with multidisk images and would work on a C128/64 unit - Vic20 and Plus4

Most SD2IEC's being sold use a cassette port adapter so that power can be drawn from that C64/128/VIC-20 cassette port edge connector. However, the Plus/4 uses a 7-pin mini DIN cassette port connector, and so for the Plus/4, you'd have to buy/build an adapter with a male, mini-DIN plug and a female cassette port edge socket, or you'd have to find SD2IEC's that don't draw power from the cassette port. Such SD2IEC's, which draw their power from the Commodore user port, are marketed by The Future Was 8 Bit. Below are the links to their SD2IEC's with the user port option or with the user port adapter already there.

https://www.thefuturewas8bit.com/shop/commodore/sd2iec-be.html
https://www.thefuturewas8bit.com/shop/commodore/sd2iec-gr.html
https://www.thefuturewas8bit.com/shop/commodore/sd2iec-sm.html

With these SD2IEC's, you can use them with all of your Commodores that you list.

Writing from Haywards Heath, England,
Robert Bernardo
Fresno Commodore User Group - http://www.dickestel.com/fcug.htm
Southern California Commodore & Amiga Network - http://www.portcommodore.com/sccan
Commodore Los Angeles Super Show - http://www.portcommodore.com/class

[Jim Brain]

On 10/7/2022 2:37 AM, Robert Bernardo wrote:

> Most SD2IEC's being sold use a cassette port adapter so that power can be drawn from that C64/128/VIC-20 cassette port edge connector. However, the Plus/4 uses a 7-pin mini DIN cassette port connector, and so for the Plus/4, you'd have to buy/build an adapter with a male, mini-DIN plug and a female cassette port edge socket, or you'd have to find SD2IEC's that don't draw power from the cassette port. Such SD2IEC's, which draw their power from the Commodore user port, are marketed by The Future Was 8 Bit. Below are the links to their SD2IEC's with the user port option or with the user port adapter already there.

As does uIEC/SD (it uses a Mini-USB connector for alternate power)

https://store.go4retro.com/commodore/uiec-sd/

Jim

--
Jim Brain, br...@jbrain.com
RETRO Innovations: Contemporary Gear for Classic Systems
www.go4retro.com

[Bucko]

On Fri 7-Oct-2022 12:37a, Robert Bernardo@3:770/3.0 said to Fred Beans:
RB> On Sunday, October 2, 2022 at 8:39:42 PM UTC-4, Fred Beans wrote:

RB> Most SD2IEC's being sold use a cassette port adapter so that power
RB> can be drawn from that C64/128/VIC-20 cassette port edge connector.
RB> However, the Plus/4 uses a 7-pin mini DIN cassette port connector, and so
RB> for the Plus/4, you'd have to buy/build
RB> an adapter with a male, mini-DIN plug and a female cassette port edge
RB> socket, or you'd have to find SD2IEC's that don't draw power from the
RB> cassette port. Such SD2IEC's, which draw their power from the Commodore

I don't use the cassette port on my uIEC/SD, I picked up a USB power cord and
plug that into the uIEC/sd and get power from that, the unit just sits on the
table behind my Ultimate 64..

[Frodo Baggins]

Hi all - I bought the SD2IEC from Jim Brain - I have not been able to run a .d64 file - any ideas what I am doing wrong?

[Jim Brain]

You need to treat D64 images (and all image types) like a directory or
folder. So, "cd" into the D64 image.

[Al DeRosa]

On 09 Dec 2022, Frodo Baggins said the following...

FB>
FB> Hi all - I bought the SD2IEC from Jim Brain - I have not been able to
FB> run a .d64 file - any ideas what I am doing wrong?
FB>

You need to mount the image, if you have JiffyDOS installed it is very easy,

@cd:image.d64

Without JiffyDOS
open1,8,15,"cd:image.d64":close1

That will mount the image and allow you to treat is just like a real 1541
directory..

... "I am" is the shortest sentence in English. Is 'I do' the longest?

[Robert Roland]

On Fri, 9 Dec 2022 22:00:35 -0800 (PST), Frodo Baggins
<frodob2...@gmail.com> wrote:

>Hi all - I bought the SD2IEC from Jim Brain - I have not been able to run a .d64 file - any ideas what I am doing wrong?

There are programs designed specifically for browsing and running
programs from the SD2IEC and similar devices.

The most common one is simply named FB64 (for FileBrowser).

If you don't have any of the fastloaders supported by the SD2IEC, you
may want to take look at "FB1K". It has a built-in fastloader.

TheRetroChannel shows how to use both here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BqYrQi859s

He also does some performance comparisons, as well as showing a method
for transferring a D64 or single file between the SD2IEC and a real
floppy.
--
RoRo

[Daniel Path]

Hello Frodo,

09 Dec 22 22:00, you wrote to Bucko:

FB> On Friday, October 7, 2022 at 11:20:22 PM UTC-4, Bucko wrote:
>> On Fri 7-Oct-2022 12:37a, Robert Bernardo@3:770/3.0 said to Fred
>> Beans:
>> RB> On Sunday, October 2, 2022 at 8:39:42 PM UTC-4, Fred Beans

>> RB> wrote:
>>
>> RB> Most SD2IEC's being sold use a cassette port adapter so that

>> RB> power can be drawn from that C64/128/VIC-20 cassette port edge
>> RB> connector. However, the Plus/4 uses a 7-pin mini DIN cassette
>> RB> port connector, and so for the Plus/4, you'd have to
>> RB> buy/build an adapter with a male, mini-DIN plug and a female
>> RB> cassette port edge socket, or you'd have to find SD2IEC's that
>> RB> don't draw power from the cassette port. Such SD2IEC's, which
>> RB> draw their power from the Commodore

>>
>> I don't use the cassette port on my uIEC/SD, I picked up a USB power
>> cord and plug that into the uIEC/sd and get power from that, the
>> unit just sits on the table behind my Ultimate 64..

FB> Hi all - I bought the SD2IEC from Jim Brain - I have not been able
FB> to run a .d64 file - any ideas what I am doing wrong?

d64/d81/etc are disc image files, like an .iso
you have to 'mount' it.

the best way to download FB and copy it into the root of your SD card,
so you can just load"fb",8 as you turn on your computer.

https://www.nightfallcrew.com/21/08/2013/cbm-filebrowser-v1-6-by-nbla000/

Regards,
--
dp

-=>> telnet://bbs.roonsbbs.hu:1212 <<=-

... 10:35pm up 22 days, 16:56:21, load: 87 processes, 293 threads.

[Gary McCulloch]

On Sat 10-Dec-2022 3:22p, Robert Roland@3:770/3.0 said to
Frodob2...@gmail.com:
RR> The most common one is simply named FB64 (for FileBrowser).

This works awesome for me. FB64 and FB128.

[Frodo Baggins]

Thank you - one and all for the information - I was able to access th D64 files with your assistance - I have yet to download and try the FB64 program, but will give that a try also - thanks again !!