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Experiences with the Catweasel

As a rather pointless follow-up, so far I have only been able to read 880K Amiga floppies with CatWeasel Mk4 in Windows XP. It appears my 360K 5.25" drive is too obsolete to be supported in 2000/XP (as discussed before), and for some reason CW neither can access/read it. It works fine in MS-DOS though, so not an hardware issue. I even tried to install the custom floppy drivers supplied with OmniFlop, but they do little or no difference to XP and CW software. I don't quite have enough HDD space to install Linux, perhaps later on. For C64 matters, I already have a perfectly working XM cable, and BBC/Atari 8-bit floppies might be writable directly under OmniFlop, which would leave the CatWeasel as a 100 Euro Amiga floppy disk reader. I've read that a 5,25" HD drive would work better, but there is the issue to write DD floppies with a HD drive and what happens if another drive would try to write to it.

I suppose it is in vain to ask if anyone knows another 3rd party driver for floppies in XP, something that natively would support e.g. 5.25" 360K floppies.
 
success summary

success summary

Carlsson,

Be sure you're using the latest cw software, which is version 4.24 (http://siliconsonic.de/t/bin/CWMK42400.zip).

Using imagetool / imagetool3 I was able to read Amiga 880k, Atari 810, PC (360k), and TI-99 diskettes.

Booting Ubuntu Linux 7.10 from CD (note- I don't have linux actually installed on the computer), and accessing software from a flash drive, I am able to use Tim Mann's cw2dmk tool to archive Kaypro, TRS-80, and DEC RX50 diskettes. This utility seems to work well with any FM/MFM encoded disk. (http://www.tim-mann.org/catweasel.html)

I'm now using cwtool (http://unusedino.de/cw/) in an attempt to get my GCR disks (Apple II and classic Mac) disks. cwtool is also a linux tool. This is still a work in progress.

I've been successful in using an Ubuntu live CD to run these linux based utilities on my PC. These utilities come as source file packages that you need to compile for your linux installation. To run compiles, I have a VMWare Ubuntu image that I start up to do the compile. I then take the binary and put it on a flash drive for the Catweasel machine.

My machine is a Pentium III with a 1.44 MB 3.5" floppy and a 360K 5.25".

-Matt
 
I know I've made this offer several times before, but since y'all are working with those old disks, thought I'd mention that I still have the Apple ][ and Atari free/shareware libraries if anyone has the time and ability to archive them.

--T
 
My machine is a Pentium III with a 1.44 MB 3.5" floppy and a 360K 5.25".
So is mine. :) And yes, I'm using the latest drivers, a clean install since I just received the card. It goes without saying, but neither the Imagetool3, OmniFlop nor Windows XP natively can even read a 360K DOS floppy no matter which floppy driver I'm using (I tried four packages, of which the last one managed to wipe away my floppy drives alltogether). I'll have to look up the model# on my 5.25" drive, it might be incompatible or wrongly jumpered, but as MS-DOS manages to read DOS floppies while connected through the CatWeasel, it can't be incompatible to world's end.

The more I think of it, the Linux packages sound tempting. I'm unsure what kind of software has support for SID chips and the joysticks ports, in case I want to utilize them. My CatWeasel card came prefitted with two SID chips, and somehow it would be nice to find use for those as well in the long run.
 
I really want to get a catweasel but can never find anyone selling them :eek:/ T, I've thought and thought about your offer and I could probably do it but the problem is the time it'll take for it to get completed or hosted will be close to the progress you're making ;o)

I don't want to hoard them if someone else is out there with the time to do it sooner. Otherwise I could eventually do the project but I have so much queued up right now I can't gaurantee I'd get around to it.

- John
 
Hello.

I'm new to this forum and found this forum post while finding about floppy drives and Catweasel.

Any news about this? I'm a Linux user. and I would like to get a Catweasel MK4 but not sure about what level of Linux support has, I see many different Linux drivers and all of them outdated since 2005 so I'm afraid about proper Linux support on latest kernel. I would like Catweasel MK4 has offcial in-kernel support before buying it, what about making some kind of serious petition (petition-online is a bad joke)?

I agree that Individual Computers must improve and upgrade the site. I even can't find a section about Cartweasel Mk4. This make me and others doubt to buy their products.

Regards.
 
there are linux tools

there are linux tools

cwtool and cw2dmk both work well. I've been using them under Ubuntu 7.10.

cwtool includes linux kernel driver that works under 2.6.19, and I think the package supports 2.4. you just have to build the executable with the included makefile.

It's been a while since I've used cw2dmk, but again, it works as well.

Between cwtool and cw2dmk, I've been able to archive all of my diskettes. I'm working out a kink on some of my Mac 800k 3.5" floppies, but my problems could be the floppies themselves.

-Matt
 
Catweasel MK4 Plus

Catweasel MK4 Plus

Hi Guys, Well I've just paid for a Catweasel MK4 Plus.

Should ship on the 11th. I'll let you know what I think of it when it arrives.

I hope to use it to R/W C64, Amiga & Apple II Disks.

It will be going into a AMD Athlon AM2 4000+ Dual core PC with Both linux (Sabayon [Gentoo]) & WIn XP 32 Home, Dual Boot.

I have a 5.25" 1.2MB HD Drive that I have had from Brand new that has had little to no use. So hopefully it will be compatible. But if not I think I saved quiet a few 5.25" mechs that should still be safely stored in the Shed. (Fingers crossed).

I also have a normal 3.5" 1.44MB Drive. But if necessary if there is a certain type that is better I can buy a new one they are cheap enough now.

If anyone has any good info I'd love to hear form you. Re sites for software, best drive mech's to use and so on.

I am keen to try and get some 8" drives also if possible but I guess thats probably a big ask.

.-.-.
 
Hy people!

I am the new maintainer of the catweasel windows drivers and the new image tool. I found this thread while searching for some more information on the lowlevel format of apple 800k disks, which indeed can NOT be read with the current version due to a bug (which just has been reported by someone and went unnoticed since it was implemented, doh :/).

however to make it short, yes the website gotta be improved :) anyway, the latest drivers are here: http://siliconsonic.de/t/bin/CWMK42500.zip and the next update, which will also include the manual many people were missing, will be out soon - hopefully in the next two or three weeks. This update will fix the appleIIe bug, and if i can locate proper info in time also the 800k format. It will add support for the Atari ATR images, and a few more small things i forgot :) Said manual will also include a lot of info on how to choose a proper disk drive, proper disks, explain what common problems are etc pp. hopefully it will help to solve many of the problems some people have.

About the problems some of you seem to have with certain formats: please understand that is impossible for us to test every format we implement in every detail, we very much depend on our users to report problems. So if you do, please drop me a mail, and try to explain exactly what you did and what the problem is, and i will do my best to fix it. Incase you really want to speed up the process (by making it a lot easier for me to track down problems) your best bet is to mail us one (or maybe a few) actual disks we can use for testing. If you want to speed up the process even more, it would be great if you could also mail images (transfered by whatever other methods exist for that particular system) of said disks. If we neither have disks nor access to the actual vintage machines (all of us are pretty much commodore nuts, so we have amigas and commodore machines - but no ataris or apples or trs80 etc) then all we can do is implement the format by reading existing documentation, which is often not very accurate, and hope to get feedback from our users. I guess you can see how that is a lot harder and takes a lot longer that way. (the 360K PC format format for example is such a case - i have a 360k drive, but no PC old enough to actually write a disk with it "the old way". I'd love to get a bunch of disks using various old SD and DD formats from the XT days, so i can verify wether they work properly, and fix the implementation if not.)

Ok, that said - we are also supporting various other (mostly linux based) software and their developers, and one thing on our "todo" list is helping with a framework that will make it possible to port the "cwtool" mentioned earlier in this thread to windows. However, it all takes time.

last not least - jens and me will be at the X2008 party in the netherlands next weekend, so if you are in that area anyways, come over and have a beer (or two :)) with us - and dont forget your sample disks :) ( http://www.scs-trc.net/x2008/index.html ).

[i probably won't be checking this forum regulary, if at all, there are simply too much of them. incase of problems, please contact me by mail]
 
Central Commodore / retro Web Site needed.

Central Commodore / retro Web Site needed.

HI, Thank you so much for posting this info.

It's great to see something come from the ether to reassure us that there are still people working on these projects, he he.

Actually there seems to be a lot of Retro activity going on for the Amiga, C64, Vic-20, Apple-IIe and so on.

The big problem seems to be finding it all. Small splinter groups exist scattered from one side of the internet to the other.

In recent weeks I have done much googling and trail chasing to find many fantastic projects and sites that I had never known about.

We really need to get together and have one main site for people to head to that is advertised well and easy to find with google searches etc.

This would help things so much.

Perhaps this exists already and I simply am not aware of it? Who knows. Please tell me if I am wrong.

But I feel we need a simple site that can point to all these projects with Wiki's and have a message forum as well.

I will try and carbon copy the following to `me' but unfortunalty you did not give a name or email address in your post. (I will investigate this further).


Anyhow back to the Catweasel.

If I look hard enough my Retro collection should consist of the following.

Computers.

Vic-20
C64 (original)
A1000
A3000
A600HD
A500
DSE Cat (.AU Apple IIe clone)
Possibly Enough Parts to build a New 80286 Computer.

Drives or Mechs.

1541 (Original Brown models)
PC 5.25 " HD
PC 5.25 " DD ??? I will have to search hard, but if I am lucky Possibly I have one or two.
CBM 8250LP 5.25" Drive Mech only (My dual drives were never returned at the close of CBM .AU). :(
PC 3.5" HD Drives
PC 3.5" DD Drives ??? Maybe.
Amiga 3.5" DD Drive
Amiga 5.25" DD Drive
CBM Cassete Deck.
CBM 2031 IEEE-488 (1541 format) Drive.
CAT 5.25" Drive (Apple IIe Clone)

Disks / Media

1541 format 5.25" DD Disks
1001 / 8250LP 5.25" DD Disks (Possibly some of my BBS [PunterNet])
2031 Formated 5.25" DD Disks
PC 3.5" DD & HD Disks
PC 5.25" DD & HD Disks (Some PC BBS software on them from memory)

Unfortunately I have *NO* Apple IIe 5.25" disks at all as I was fool enough to lend my collection to someone who promised to return them and never did.
If someone can help out with some Apple IIe 5.25" disks with dos & Games etc. I would love to test out my DSE Cat.

Anyhow, I can try and help out with testing from time to time once I get my Catweasel. Hopefully all my old resources here will be of some help.

.-.-.
 
Glad to see some official response. I once sent an email to Jens at Individual Computers but got zero response, just like I had expected. :-(

To clarify, are the CatWeasel drivers for Windows 2000/XP etc supposed to work with 360K drives or are owners of the CatWeasel limited to 1.2 MB drives because that is what Windows natively supports? Since then, I have sold my CatWeasel card and the buyer sold it again so I'm no longer a user but it would be nice to know if one could have use of it in case one more floats by.
 
The reworked (starting with 2.3) catweasel *drivers* do not care what kind of drive is connected, they will work with anything you can wire up to the shugart bus. (they don't even "know" what kind of drive is there). Everything else is up to the user space application - the current version of the imagetool allows configuration for pretty much every drive i could think of. I have personally tested 3.5"/300rpm (regular pc 3.5" drive) 5.25" HD/1.2M/360rpm (regular pc 5.25" drive) and 5.25" SD/360K/300rpm (old XT 40 track drive, the bios of modern pcs can not deal with this, but that doesnt matter when working with the catweasel), 8" should work but is untested because i dont have such a drive yet.
 
Dank 4 V Email address. ;)

Dank 4 V Email address. ;)

Thanks for the email address. (Maybe I missed it b4). :|

Well I just had a play with one of my stored retro systems a DSE Cat computer (Laser 3000) Apple IIe clone.

http://apple2history.org/museum/computers_clones/cat.html

Out of the 4 boxes of disks I had for it I couldn't get a single disk to fully load. Although some would partially load. Perhaps it's that the disks are too old or that they have been exposed to fields over the years as they have had many owners.

Worst case scenero it's a hardware fault. (But I don't think so at this point due to the partial loads).

Anyhow. I will look forward to Apple IIe support. I'm dieing to see if I can get this old beastie going again one day. :)

Oh I forgot to mention that I do have some 8" disks here also.

Unfortunalty I was stupid some 10-20 year ago and dismantled a pair of perfect drive mechs due to running out of space here. I've regretted it ever since. I can find the steppers but nothing else from the mechs or I would reassemble them. But I hope to get a pair of 8" Duel drives again one day.

There is a special interface that one has to bridge between to change voltage past a certain track too. So be aware when playing with these old 8" mechs if you are lucky enough to come across one.

Anyhow, this is all great stuff. But wouldn't it be fantastic if the Catweasel had it's own website and developers forum?
.-.-.
 
But wouldn't it be fantastic if the Catweasel had it's own website and developers forum?

Sure it would - but it probably wont happen soon because of the simple fact that a forum needs constant maintainance (if only to keep out spam and the usual forum trolls) and none of us has the time to do this. What we might do is redesign the website (so its easier to find things like the latest driver =P) and eventually install some mailinglists for users. We DO have a developer mailinglist already, which most developers of various catweasel related projects are subscribed to. (if you aren't, contact jens)
 
Well, I was going to consider getting Catweasel MK IV for archiving my Apple II GS disks as well as some Tandy 1000 EX disks. Any luck with those formats?
 
mmmh. as for AppleII/GS disks, the imagetool can read AppleII/e 5.25" format properly now, and i am working on fixing the 3.25" 400k and 800k formats (which was used by earlier macintoshs i guess). if the GS uses something else than those, then i need a sample disk to have a look at, it should be almost trivial to add then :) (the cwtool mentioned before in this thread can also handle these formats)

as for tandy, is that the "portable disk drive" format ? i have sample disks written with it, but we didnt have time to reverse-engineer the format yet... it seems to be something completely proprietary. if you have any documentation on the disk format (lowlevel format that is), pass it over :) so far i have found a bit of technical documentation on the disk drive itself, but next to nothing on eg the encoding they use (it doesnt seem to be MFM/FM or GCR but something completely different).
 
My Catweasel MK4 Plus arrived!

My Catweasel MK4 Plus arrived!

Yes! My Catweasel came today!. :)

I will fit it tonight all going well.

Nicely boxed and beautiful quality!.

I will follow this post up with some pictures and a review when I get time.

Also very happy to hear that Apple IIe support is now a go'er! That will be very handy for me.

Is there an update link for the Apple IIe supported software that I should use for the first install?

I have read that there could be issues when going over previous installs so I would like to do it right first time if possible.

.-.-.
 
Is there an update link for the Apple IIe supported software that I should use for the first install?

not yet, next update will be out in a week or two hopefully.
 
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