The '1541 Ultimate' is a storage solution for your Commodore C64 and C128 home computer. This piece of hardware implements a 'real' 1541 diskdrive for Commodore computers, in the shape and use of a cartridge. Floppy images, such as .D64 and .G64 images can be loaded from a simple USB stick. The Ultimate-II+ has three USB ports for the attachment of modern storage media. The Commodore 64 or 128 'sees' a real floppy drive unit, and loads the games and demos from the embedded floppy drive unit, as if it was a real drive. 

Because the unit occupies the cartridge slot, many more features are possible than "just" a floppy drive:

• The cartridge can 'take over' the complete machine, which makes it possible to use the standard video output of the Commodore 64 to display a versatile file browser, without the hassle of clumsy navigation on a tiny display. Simply uses the C64 screen and keyboard to navigate.
• The Utimate-II+ cartridge also offers you the emulation of many of the prevailing cartridges, such as the Final Cartridge III, Action Replay, KCS Power Cartridge, Epyx fastloader and Super Snapshot. 
• The unit even embeds a full REU (RAM Expansion Unit), with 16 Megabytes of memory!
• ... and much, much more! 

In 2018, the first Ultimate-64 boards were built and delivered. The Ultimate-64 and Ultimate-64 Elite boards are the latest addition to the product portfolio. The Ultimate-64 is a complete C-64 motherboard replacement that includes a 1541 Ultimate-II+ cartridge. This board offers:

• A full Commodore-64 implementation
• HDMI video output
• Ethernet port, like on the Ultimate-II+
• Three USB2 ports, like on the Ultimate-II+
• Fully functional cassette tape port
• Analog audio / video port (DIN-8), with support for PAL, NTSC and RGB encoding
• Serial bus (DIN-6)
• Cartridge port
• Two control ports (joystick ports), with paddle support
• Two SID sockets to allow the use of real 6581 or 8580 chips
• Internal connector for UserPort applications
• Internal connector for LED strip attachment

History

The '1541 Ultimate' once started as a personal hobby project, that has grown into a mature device that can be very useful for current Commodore users. It enables the user to copy real 5.25" floppy disks onto a flash storage device, and run them from there, without the C64 knowing that it is not a real drive it is talking to. Floppy disks are prone to aging, and many floppies are on the verge of getting unreadable. So in the context of the greater "Preservation Project" that is carried out by Commodore enthousiasts, the '1541 Ultimate' can do a lot of useful work.

In January 2009, Gideon's Logic Architectures was founded; a single-person company officially registered with the chamber of commerce in the Netherlands. The foundation of this official company was required to handle the sales of this cartridge correctly. Since this date, thousands of 1541 Ultimates have been produced and shipped. Starting from 2018, the 'company' has changed its legal form to "B.V", which is similar to "Ltd.", but it is still a one-man show.

I would like to make the '1541 Ultimate' hardware available for all Commodore enthusiasts, especially because these pieces of hardware is very powerful and can potentially do a lot more than 'just' implementing a replacement for the 1541 drive. I hope that people can understand that although this unit has been made with a lot of care and enthusiasm, it is still a hobby project and not an retail product that is backed by a whole team of developers. Being a one-person company means that it is sometimes hard to attend to all e-mails and questions.