Donor: John David Stone
Commodore 1541-II disk drive contains its own built-in microcomputer to control its various operations, along with enough ROM and RAM memory to operate without any help from the computer. Commodore's DOS (Disk Operating System) is installed in the disk drive and does not require any internal memory in the computer to do its work, nor does it have to be loaded before use like DOS on other computers. The Commodore 1541 is completely independent that once it begins working on a command, it will complete it while the computer goes on to other tasks, thereby allowing the user to do two things at once.
The Commodore 1541 also communicates with the computer and other devices over a cable and interface known as the Commodore Serial Bus. Commodore 1541 comes with a user's guide which explains various functions of the Commodore, as well as maintenace and safety precautions to the user.
Reference: Commodore 1541-II user's guide.
