Commodore Disk Drive Becomes General Purpose Computer https://hackaday.com/2026/01/05/commodore-disk-drive-becomes-general-purpose-computer/
#Retrocomputing #Commodore #Commodore1541 #Diskdrive #Diskettedrive #Kim1
#Diskettedrive
Commodore Disk Drive Becomes General Purpose Computer
![<div><img alt="" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" height="450" src="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Can-a-Commodore-1541-disk-drive-be-used-as-a-general-purpose-computer_-0-32-screenshot-1.png?w=800" style="margin: 0 auto; margin-bottom: 15px;" width="800" /></div><p>The Commodore 1541 was built to do one job—to save and load data from 5.25″ diskettes. [Commodore History] decided to see whether the drive could be put to other purposes, though. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=6loDwvG4CP8" target="_blank">Namely, operating as a standalone computer in its own right!</a></p>
<p>It might sound silly, but there’s a very obvious inspiration behind this hack. It’s all because the Commodore 1541 disk drive contains a MOS 6502 CPU, along with some RAM, ROM, and other necessary supporting hardware. As you might remember, that’s the very same CPU that powers the Commodore 64 itself, along with a wide range of other 1980s machines. With a bit of work, that CPU can indeed be made to act like a general purpose computer instead of a single-purpose disk controller.</p>
<p>[Commodore History] compares the 1541 to the Commodore VIC-20, noting that the disk drive has a very similar configuration, but less than half the RAM. The video then explains how the drive can be reconfigured to run like the even-simpler MOS Technology KIM-1 — a very primitive but well-known 8-bit machine. What’s wild is that this](https://files.mastodon.social/cache/media_attachments/files/115/844/747/686/294/595/original/99ea01118c9141a5.png)
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