Micro IEC Miniature Disk Drive

Introduction

uIEC (micro IEC) shrinks Commodore disk drive support into the palm of your hand!  Using portable Secure Digital (SD) or CompactFlash (CF) memory cards, uIEC supports all standard Commodore disk drive functionality and allows transfer of files from contemporary computing platforms.  Simply pop your SD or CF card into a PC or laptop, copy files to the card, insert into uIEC, and access the files as if they were on floppy disks!  Directories and other features from the Creative Micro Designs (CMD) hard drive products are also supported.

Options

uIEC comes in 3 variations:

  • uIEC/IDE – Supports CompactFlash (CF) and IDE drives
  • uIEC/CF – Supports CompactFlash (CF) cards
  • uIEC/SD – Supports Secure Digital (SD) and Secure Digital High Capacity (SDHC) cards

Each variation provides the same DOS access commands, using the popular open source sd2iec firmware.

You can view more information on the sd2iec firmware or the uIEC device at the respective hyperlinks.

Requirements

  • SD or SDHC Flash Memory card
  • PC/Mac with memory card support (if you wish to copy files from a PC to the memory cards)
  • IEC disk drive cable (available separately)

uIEC draws power via the cassette port.  Thus, CBM SX-64, Plus/4, and C16 users must request alternate power supply functionality when ordering.

Purchase

uIEC models can be purchased in the RETRO Innovations Online Store.

Image Gallery

Support

Information on usage is available here, and users can ask questions and discuss their units on the uIEC Users web forum/mailing list.

Units come with a 30 days return policy and 1 year warranty.

Frequently Asked Questions

How does uIEC compare to other sd2iec-based devices?

uIEC/SD offers some advantages over other sd2iec-based devices:

  1. uIEC/SD is the smallest sd2iec variant available in the marketplace
  2. uIEC models are complete products, not kits.  They are ready to use out of the box.
  3. uIEC/IDE and uIEC/CF are the only sd2iec products that support CF cards
  4. uIEC models offer more firmware space (128kB versus 64kB) than other models

However, there are  a few advantages to other models:

  • Some sd2iec models come encased and include LCD screens and navigation controls
  • For the do-it-yourselfer, kit-based sd2iec models are less expensive.

How does the uIEC (and other sd2iec-based products) compare to 1541 Ultimate (and 1541 Ultimate II)

uIEC supports disk drive access at the DOS (Disk Operating System) level.  1541 Ultimate (1541U) emulates the 1541 at the hardware level.  Thus, 1541U offers more compatibility than uIEC.  However, 1541U costs significantly more than uIEC (up to 3 times as much), and cannot easily be embedded inside a machine case.

RETRO Innovations sees the two products as complementary.  We encourage enthusiasts to obtain a 1541U for complete 1541 emulation, and 1 or more uIEC units for daily usage and embedded drive projects.

 

 

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