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Comment by TMWNN | original | The Apple Disk II Controller Card (2021)
[−]TMWNN · 2026-07-02 Thu 03:37 UTC · link
>that was something like 5x as fast.

... which is still significantly slower than the Disk II.

The 1978 Disk II is about 30 times faster than the unaccelerated 1982 Commodore 1540/1541, as well as more reliable,[1] cooler-running,[2] and just more elegantly designed. The same comparison holds for the 4040 and other pre-1541 Commodore drives, albeit with the speed disadvantage vis-a-vis Apple being less.[3]

[1] The 1541's drive head often goes out alignment despite both it and Disk II using similar "ratatatat" methods to return to the first track. Also, the first couple of years of 1541 production were notorious for failures in general.

[2] As the 1541 is a standalone 6502-based computer with an integrated power supply, overheating is constantly an issue.

[3] Yes, the 1541 is slower than earlier Commodore drives, because of the move from parallel to serial IEEE-488 and a hardware bug (that both necessitated and allows for Fast Load and its counterparts)