Catweasel MK2

[fondpondforever]

Have got an Amiga 1200. If I were to get Catweasel MK2 how would I install it and what does it do? I've read the description of the hardware piece but I still don't get what it's function is. Something about reading low and high density discs which I don't have a clue about. Does it it mean that you can play all of the Amiga Computer Games such as the 500 on an AGA chip? With the Floppy Disc Drive attached to an Amiga CD32, is it possible to install the Catweasel MK2 in to this console. It sound's like an extremely exciting project, can't wait to see what this hardware piece does. Thanks for your help.

[Arnie]

The Catweasel mk2 requires a Clockport or IDE 40/44 pin connector.
It then allows you to add a floppy drive to enable reading of various formats.
Particularly useful for adding a HD floppy drive (1760kb) to an Amiga, although I'm not certain which drive would allow that.

As for playing A500 games on an AGA machine, this is already possible, it's just that some games require additional software like Tude or Degrader to do it.

You wont be able to use it on a CD32 unless you have an IDE or Clockport to attach it to.

[fondpondforever]

The Amiga 1200 already as an internal floppy drive though. Do you install the Catweasel into the Computer? Sorry if i sound confusing, I just don't understand why you would need to install an external floppy drive if you already have an internal one. Can you explain this? Thank you.

[Arnie]

If I were you I'd stick with what you've got. You would get no benefit from a Catweasel.

[fondpondforever]

What benefit does Catweasel MK2 give the user?

[prowler]

Here is a link to the Catweasel MK2 online manual:
http://siliconsonic.de/t/catman0.html
Have a look at its features and see for yourself.

[fondpondforever]

Thanks man, have just read through it but still find it perplexing. This might sound abit weird but can you give me an example of someone who has just being playing Marvin's Marvellous Adventure on his Amiga 1200 and resets his machine. Whilst AmigaOS is loading up, he makes himself a cup of tea. When he comes back to his room he decides to install Catweasel MK2. Once it's installed and ready to go what Amiga 1200 software and games couldn't the person run without his new hardware piece?

[demolition]

Originally Posted by fondpondforever

Once it's installed and ready to go what Amiga 1200 software and games couldn't the person run without his new hardware piece?

None. No Amiga software needs anything like the Catweasel. It can be used to read other formats, for example PC formatted HD (1.44MB) floppies which you cannot do with the standard floppy drive/interface.
If you just want to use Amiga games and apps, just stick with the standard floppy drive or a floppy emulator like the Gotek or HxC.

[johnim]

Also if you want to load older non aga games and you have a hardrive or cf card drive in your amiga you also need at least 8mb of ram or a cpu upgrade have a look at whdload and look at classic work bench which is a complete workbench solution


http://classicwb.abime.net/
http://whdload.de/

[fondpondforever]

Thanks for your help. I understand what it does now. Just as a matter of interest does anyone know what year the 'Catweasel MK2 Anniversary Edition' was released? So if a user had Catweasel MK4 Plus with an external floppy disc drive installed on his PC, he could play Amiga Floppy Disc Games and Software on his computer. I wonder why the transition was made from playing PC Discs on an Amiga to playing Amiga Discs on a PC through Catweasel's evolution. Guess the company got creative.

[demolition]

The Catweasel is just a floppy drive controller which can read many different types of disks, like PC, Amiga, C64, Mac etc. It exists in a version for Amigas and a version for PCs so you can rip disks whatever your computer is.

You cannot play Amiga games directly from floppy using a Catweasel in a PC. You must first rip the disk to an image like ADF which can then be mounted in WinUAE or similar. If it had to work directly in emulation, it would require a very low latency between the VM and the drive which cannot be achieved realistically.

[Arnie]

Originally Posted by demolition

You cannot play Amiga games directly from floppy using a Catweasel in a PC.

You can if the game is bootable from DF1:. I remember loading an Indiana Jones game by making a mountlist for the Catweasel drive.

This was running on a Win98 PC with the Catweasel MK3.

[fondpondforever]

Thanks for your help everyone. I now understand what function this Hardware Piece has. What is the most powerful and advanced game you could play on Catweasel MK2?

[demolition]

Originally Posted by Arnie

You can if the game is bootable from DF1:. I remember loading an Indiana Jones game by making a mountlist for the Catweasel drive.

This was running on a Win98 PC with the Catweasel MK3.

More precisely, I think it needs to be a DOS disk to work. Perhaps some trackloaders were made to also work from DF1 but they will probably still not work on the Catweasel since the timing would be completely off and direct drive access might not even be possible. I even doubt that it would be able to read the boot sector off the disk through the Catweasel unless the emulator was specifically using Catweasel API.