Fast Loaders for the C64

This page is a work in progress!

The original 1541 (and 1541-II) floppy disk drive were pretty slow. The serial port, which connected to teh FDDs is doing about 400Bytes/sec (C64-Wiki: Serial Port). To speed up the disk operations, faster loaders are used.

Some fast loaders work with an unmodified 1541, some require a corresponding ROM inside the 1541, some are an alternative kernal (ROM) for the C64, some work from a cartridge and some are just part of the software. Some require a parallel connection between the 1541 and the user port (or a cartridge) of the C64.

Since I was working on a SpeedDOS adapter for the 1541 and 1541-II and the C64, I got interested in comparing the load speeds of different fast loaders to compare it with SpeedDOS.

I used one floppy disk that contains Bubble Bobble as a bench mark. There are different versions of this programs available, for a good comparison, it is required to use exactly my copy: 177 Blocks, cracked by Hotline, 26.09.1987.

First, I have loaded Bubble Bobble with the original Commodore ROMs on both, the 1541 and the C64. This is my benchmark.

Fast Loader	Loading Time	Percentage	Note
Commodore	114 sec	100%	all original software/hardware
Action Replay MK6	9.1 sec	8.0%	1541-II & C64 original, runs from cartridge
Nordic Power 7.2	10.5 sec	9.2%	1541-II & C64 original, runs from cartridge
Nordic Power 2.1	11.0 sec	9.6%	1541-II & C64 original, runs from cartridge
EXOS V3	12.1 sec	10.6%	1541: original, C64: EXOS V3 Kernal
Final Cartridge III+	12.4 sec	10.9%	all original hardware, works from cartridge
SpeedDOS 2.7+	16.8 sec	14.7%	Parallel interface, SpeedDOS kernal in 1541 and C64
Formel 64 v1.1	21.3 sec	18.7%	Parallel interface and firmware inside a cartridge, 1541 and C64 original kernal
JiffyDOS 6.0	21.5 sec	18.9%	JiffyDOS EPROM in 1541 and C64, still payware.
Epyx FastLoad	21.9 sec	19.2%	all original hardware, works from cartridge
KSC Power Cartridge	21.9 sec	19.2%	all original hardware, works from cartidge
WARPSPEED V2	23.6 sec	20.7%	all original hardware, works from cartidge (15.3 sec/13.4% for a warp speed written file)
DELA DOS	23.9 sec	21.0%	all original hardware, works from cartidge

Oceanic OC-118N with an R-DOS 40 TR. kernal:

Fast Loader	Loading Time	Percentage	Note
Commodore	114 sec	100%	R-DOS 40 TR. 1541 kernal
Action Replay MK6	9.7 sec	8.5%	R-DOS 40 TR. 1541 kernal, org. Kernal, AR6 cartridge
Final Cartridge III	12.5 sec	8.7%	R-DOS 40 TR. 1541 kernal, org. Kernal, FCIII cartridge

To be continued...