Commodore 64 floppy drive has the power to be a computer — bulky 1982 Commodore 1541 5.25 inch drive packs a 1 MHz MOS 6502 CPU
TechTuber shows that the Commodore 1541 floppy disk electronics were powerful and capable enough to work as a standalone computer.
(Image credit: Commodore History channel on YouTube)
The Commodore History channel on YouTube has confirmed that the Commodore 1541 floppy disk drives electronics are powerful and capable enough to work as a standalone computer. This 1982 vintage peripheral, designed to add a 5.25-inch floppy disc to the equally ancient Commodore 64, actually has its own processor, RAM, ROM and I/O.
There’s a 1 MHz MOS 6502 in the floppy drive electronics, which is closely related to the C64’s MOS 6510, and exactly the same processor as in the VIC-20. However, Dave from the Commodore History channel did his work with minimal hardware modding, so the resulting ‘1541 computer’ ended up being rather limited.
Can a Commodore 1541 disk drive be used as a general purpose computer? - YouTube 
The video starts with Dave explaining that a channel subscriber had asked about whether the Commodore 1541 floppy disk could work as a general purpose computer – as it was known to pack a MOS 6502 chip, its own RAM, its own I/O chips, alongside the ROMs which help it carry out its day job as a storage device. The CPU is very similar to the C64’s MOS 6510, which is just “a customized upgrade for the Commodore 64” based on the 6502. But the VIC-20 is actually a much closer match, and you can see a comparison in the infographic, below.
(Image credit: Commodore History channel on YouTube)
Turning the 1541 into a VIC-20-a-like was still too much of a stretch for this investigation, as Dave wanted to keep hardware modding off the menu. The VIC-20 owes a lot of its general purpose computing ability to its additional 6560 VIC chip – a custom IC for graphics and sound. It also offers lot more I/O for general purpose computing appeal.
