Hi, to my knowledge,
the "Ultimate" lever was the first lever launched from Avid 1995 and has been designed for Cantilever brakes.
Pic from Avid Ultimate presentation on a show End of 1994
(There was a later version for V-Brakes. They do have different so-called chips. Those are even to some extent replaceable).
Ordinary "Speed Dial", "SD" levers, released in 1996, have been still designed for Cantilevers, e.g. used as OEM at the 96 Specialized A1 Comp.
The levers had been long and straight and they had been just called SD 2.0 (without an L).
They got later in 1997 adjusted for long-pull and V-Brakes and got an "L" Label e.g. SD 2.0 L, also the lever wasn't just straight any longer but got an indentation.
1998 borchures showing Ultimate with both variants (chips) and SD 1.0 and 2.0 L
Link to a picture of the V-Chip (Cantilever)-Chip
https://www.retrobike.co.uk/threads...vid-arch-supreme-v-brakes.304798/post-2281470
2005 brochures
However as said from Hamster above already, in general due to the adjustable cable pull, most user are fine, so am I, when combining V-Brakes Speed Dial lever with L also with canti brakes but having the speed dial adjusted to reduce cable pull.