Jens Schoenfeld releases Catweasel Mk4 - Page 4

ant512 · 19 December 2004, 00:06

Still waiting for my Delfina Flipper interface from Individual. I bought it two years ago; companies are still selling it; and yet it hasn't actually got off the drawing board.

fiath · 19 December 2004, 01:34

AFAIK, we have not announced anything, so not sure where you got that from Andreas? However, Jens has indeed kindly offered us a development board. But don't assume anything yet... We know as much about the CW Mk4 now as we did when this thread started. If things do work out, don't expect anything very soon either.

andreas · 23 December 2004, 11:21

Quote:

AFAIK, we have not announced anything, so not sure where you got that from Andreas?

Umm ... merely from logical conclusion, albeit it seems that I'm thinking the wrong way.

Well if Catweasel MK4 is able to *write* CAPS stuff, the speculation is close that Jens must have known about the IPF format so that his hardware supports it now. This stuff is rather complex and not easy-peasy, so I presumed someone of the CAPS team must have let out some details about the format so that JS knows how to adapt his hardware for it.
I could hardly think of MK4 *accidentally* supporting CAPS format.
That would be a strange kind of accident!

alexh · 23 December 2004, 13:12

I'm not in CAPs so dont flame me if I am wrong. But I doubt that Jen's liased with CAPS.

There have been several threads here, on other boards, newsgroups etc. about what the Catweasel 3 was missing in order to write protected disks (not only Amiga format but other formats)

The CAPs team seemed genuinely suprised by the news of the Catweasel 4 when I opened this thread.

I cannot believe that Jens created the CW4 just for this purpose. He needed to lower the costs of the CW3 which was Amiga AND PC (Flipper) if he was going to get it bundled with A1's and Pegasos. If you are going to do a re-design you always try and improve and get in a few extra features customer requests.

The bonus this time is that he's using a reprogrammable FPGA and clock steering rather than a one-shot programmable CPLD and fixed clocks. So if the control isnt enough for IPF write back he should be able do a firmware upgrade. (*Maybe*)

Just MHO.

fiath · 23 December 2004, 13:38

(I deleted my message in response to Andreas because I misunderstood his message.)

What you say Alex is probably correct. We certainly didn't know about the Mk4 before this thread.

He did contact us a couple of years ago about us adding support, maybe he found what we said useful, maybe he didn't. Probably the later since we didn't say much, IIRC it was just why we couldn't support the Mk3. From what Toni said earlier in this thread, it seems the new features in the Mk4 also make supporting the device easier in (Win)UAE. Perhaps he helped.

I don't know, I don't like to speculate anyway... It doesn't matter. At the end of the day, the Mk4 looks very good so far. In the unlikely event we need something else, it can probably be upgraded as you say Alex. Jens said as much also.

Amiga1992 · 23 December 2004, 19:25

Anyway it is delayed, and I'm SO looking forward to their new C64 product, the SD/MC card reader that has a clockport for the RRNet! yipee! Im getting that feeeer reeeaaallll

23 December 2004, 13:38	#65
fiath Moderator Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: South East / UK Age: 46 Posts: 1,930	(I deleted my message in response to Andreas because I misunderstood his message.) What you say Alex is probably correct. We certainly didn't know about the Mk4 before this thread. He did contact us a couple of years ago about us adding support, maybe he found what we said useful, maybe he didn't. Probably the later since we didn't say much, IIRC it was just why we couldn't support the Mk3. From what Toni said earlier in this thread, it seems the new features in the Mk4 also make supporting the device easier in (Win)UAE. Perhaps he helped. I don't know, I don't like to speculate anyway... It doesn't matter. At the end of the day, the Mk4 looks very good so far. In the unlikely event we need something else, it can probably be upgraded as you say Alex. Jens said as much also. Last edited by fiath; 23 December 2004 at 13:52.

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19 December 2004, 00:06	#61
ant512 Registered User Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: California Posts: 965	Still waiting for my Delfina Flipper interface from Individual. I bought it two years ago; companies are still selling it; and yet it hasn't actually got off the drawing board.

19 December 2004, 01:34	#62
fiath Moderator Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: South East / UK Age: 46 Posts: 1,930	AFAIK, we have not announced anything, so not sure where you got that from Andreas? However, Jens has indeed kindly offered us a development board. But don't assume anything yet... We know as much about the CW Mk4 now as we did when this thread started. If things do work out, don't expect anything very soon either.

23 December 2004, 13:12	#64
alexh Thalion Webshrine Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Oxford Posts: 14,339	I'm not in CAPs so dont flame me if I am wrong. But I doubt that Jen's liased with CAPS. There have been several threads here, on other boards, newsgroups etc. about what the Catweasel 3 was missing in order to write protected disks (not only Amiga format but other formats) The CAPs team seemed genuinely suprised by the news of the Catweasel 4 when I opened this thread. I cannot believe that Jens created the CW4 just for this purpose. He needed to lower the costs of the CW3 which was Amiga AND PC (Flipper) if he was going to get it bundled with A1's and Pegasos. If you are going to do a re-design you always try and improve and get in a few extra features customer requests. The bonus this time is that he's using a reprogrammable FPGA and clock steering rather than a one-shot programmable CPLD and fixed clocks. So if the control isnt enough for IPF write back he should be able do a firmware upgrade. (Maybe) Just MHO.

23 December 2004, 19:25	#66
Amiga1992 Registered User Join Date: May 2001 Location: ? Posts: 19,645	Anyway it is delayed, and I'm SO looking forward to their new C64 product, the SD/MC card reader that has a clockport for the RRNet! yipee! Im getting that feeeer reeeaaallll

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