Catweasel questions

Firthy2002 · 20 July 2009, 01:02

So I was thinking when I get my "new" Amiga I might get a Catweasel for it.

I see the latest one is the MK IV+, which is PCI only.

I've had a search but can't seem to find the answers to some questions I have.

1) Can a drive plugged into the Catweasel be used as DF0: on an Amiga, even on a PCI busboard?

2) Could I use a PC ED 2.88MB floppy drive with the Catweasel as an Amiga ED 3.52MB drive, or at least a 1.76MB Amiga HD drive?

3) Are there any compatibility issues with reading disks I should be aware of?

Hercules · 20 July 2009, 01:20

Quote:

Originally Posted by Firthy2002

So I was thinking when I get my "new" Amiga I might get a Catweasel for it.

I see the latest one is the MK IV+, which is PCI only.

I've had a search but can't seem to find the answers to some questions I have.

1) Can a drive plugged into the Catweasel be used as DF0: on an Amiga, even on a PCI busboard?

If your talking about Catweasel (Amiga version), their was a boot adapter which connected to the Catweasel / interface which was called kywalda (think I spelt that right), that allowed you to boot from a Catweasel PC drive on a real amiga.

As for PCI version of Catweasel for PC, I not no much about what is can do. All I know, is once plugged into a PCI slot on your PC, you can read Amiga floppies under WinUAE seemlessly. PCI version of the Catweasel also has an IC socket to plug in a 6581 sid chip (found in C64) so you can listen to all your face c64 music too :-)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Firthy2002

2) Could I use a PC ED 2.88MB floppy drive with the Catweasel as an Amiga ED 3.52MB drive, or at least a 1.76MB Amiga HD drive?

I see no reason why not, providing your can write a DOSDRIVER mountlist to go into DEVS/DOSDRIVERS of your Workbench partition to mount the drive on boot.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Firthy2002

3) Are there any compatibility issues with reading disks I should be aware of?

Obviously, if you were to format a pc disk to 1.44 meg on a PC, an Amiga catweasel hooked up to a PC drive could read it, but the Amiga internal drive wouldn't, as DF0: internal drive can only read double sided, double density disks.

Hope that info helps...

alexh · 20 July 2009, 02:07

Quote:

Originally Posted by Firthy2002

1) Can a drive plugged into the Catweasel be used as DF0: on an Amiga even on a PCI busboard?

Not without a Kylwalda and they have not made or sold these interfaces for years.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Firthy2002

3) Are there any compatibility issues with reading disks I should be aware of?

What do you mean by "compatibility"? Without a Kylwalda you wont be able to boot from any disk inserted into the disk drive connected to the catweasel.

Question: Why are you thinking "floppy disks"?? Why not Compact Flash cards? Or USB Keys? Both of which can be made to work with most Amiga's and both offer much more flexibility and capacity over a Catweasel.

Firthy2002 · 20 July 2009, 03:16

Guess it's cos I was so used to using floppies on my old Amigas, it was the first thing I thought of.
But it sounds like a Catweasel won't be able to do all what I want and will just end up being a waste of money.

Thanks for your input anyway guys.

prowler · 20 July 2009, 22:29

Quote:

Originally Posted by Firthy2002

Could I use a PC ED 2.88MB floppy drive with the Catweasel as an Amiga ED 3.52MB drive, or at least a 1.76MB Amiga HD drive?

Do you actually have a 2.88MB floppy drive?

Firthy2002 · 21 July 2009, 00:05

Quote:

Originally Posted by prowler

Do you actually have a 2.88MB floppy drive?

I will on Wednesday!

Although I won't know if it works until I try it!

prowler · 21 July 2009, 00:08

Do you have any ED disks?

Firthy2002 · 21 July 2009, 00:16

Quote:

Originally Posted by prowler

Do you have any ED disks?

No, unless there's some in the box with the drive.

prowler · 21 July 2009, 00:34

I have 10 x IBM 3½" ED 4.0MB capacity disks, which I got by answering an advertisement in Micro Mart for 2.88MB floppy drives and ED disks.

I agreed to buy a drive and a box of disks, but received only a box of disks and a partial refund with an explanation that the floppy drives were sold out! (I'm not convinced that he ever actually had any 2.88MB disk drives for sale.)

They are useless without a matching floppy drive, because the ED sensing hole is further inboard than the HD sensing hole (which these disks do not have), and so the disks are assumed to be DD disks when inserted in a HD drive. Consequently, they are still unused.

Let me know if you would like to try one of these disks when you get your drive.

demusse · 21 July 2009, 01:41

Kylwalda is still for sale at softhut if you want one.

alexh · 21 July 2009, 02:10

Kylewalda is still on the SoftHut website. is what you mean. They've not updated their website properly in decades. I'd be surprised if they really have any. I've given over ordering anything from them cos you just get an email 2-3 weeks later saying "out of stock".

prowler · 26 July 2009, 01:30

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hercules

Quote:

Originally Posted by Firthy2002

2) Could I use a PC ED 2.88MB floppy drive with the Catweasel as an Amiga ED 3.52MB drive, or at least a 1.76MB Amiga HD drive?

I see no reason why not, providing your can write a DOSDRIVER mountlist to go into DEVS/DOSDRIVERS of your Workbench partition to mount the drive on boot.

I've just agreed to buy Firthy's 2.88MB floppy drive.

I have a Catweasel card, so when it arrives and if it works (we're not sure yet, as it's an unusual type of drive), I will be able to prove the concept of the 3.52MB Amiga ED drive!

Firthy2002 · 26 July 2009, 01:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by prowler

I've just agreed to buy Firthy's 2.88MB floppy drive.

I have a Catweasel card, so when it arrives and if it works (we're not sure yet, as it's an unusual type of drive), I will be able to prove the concept of the 3.52MB Amiga ED drive!

You'll have to take a screenshot!

prowler · 26 July 2009, 01:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by Firthy2002

You'll have to take a screenshot!

Don't worry, if it works you'll get all the details!

gizmomelb · 28 July 2009, 15:13

I've got a Catweasl MK III which I was going to be sticking up on ebay, open to offers.

http://www.amiga-hardware.com/showha...cgi?HARDID=386

Loedown · 28 July 2009, 15:21

Quote:

Originally Posted by gizmomelb

I've got a Catweasl MK III which I was going to be sticking up on ebay, open to offers.

http://www.amiga-hardware.com/showha...cgi?HARDID=386

Oh Noes, another Melbournite.

20 July 2009, 01:02	#1
Firthy2002 2nd era... Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Leeds, England Age: 40 Posts: 288	Catweasel questions So I was thinking when I get my "new" Amiga I might get a Catweasel for it. I see the latest one is the MK IV+, which is PCI only. I've had a search but can't seem to find the answers to some questions I have. 1) Can a drive plugged into the Catweasel be used as DF0: on an Amiga, even on a PCI busboard? 2) Could I use a PC ED 2.88MB floppy drive with the Catweasel as an Amiga ED 3.52MB drive, or at least a 1.76MB Amiga HD drive? 3) Are there any compatibility issues with reading disks I should be aware of?

21 July 2009, 00:34	#9
prowler Global Moderator Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Sidcup, England Posts: 10,300	I have 10 x IBM 3½" ED 4.0MB capacity disks, which I got by answering an advertisement in Micro Mart for 2.88MB floppy drives and ED disks. I agreed to buy a drive and a box of disks, but received only a box of disks and a partial refund with an explanation that the floppy drives were sold out! (I'm not convinced that he ever actually had any 2.88MB disk drives for sale.) They are useless without a matching floppy drive, because the ED sensing hole is further inboard than the HD sensing hole (which these disks do not have), and so the disks are assumed to be DD disks when inserted in a HD drive. Consequently, they are still unused. Let me know if you would like to try one of these disks when you get your drive. Attached Thumbnails Last edited by prowler; 21 July 2009 at 16:47. Reason: Added scan.

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20 July 2009, 03:16	#4
Firthy2002 2nd era... Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Leeds, England Age: 40 Posts: 288	Guess it's cos I was so used to using floppies on my old Amigas, it was the first thing I thought of. But it sounds like a Catweasel won't be able to do all what I want and will just end up being a waste of money. Thanks for your input anyway guys.

21 July 2009, 00:08	#7
prowler Global Moderator Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Sidcup, England Posts: 10,300	Do you have any ED disks?

21 July 2009, 01:41	#10
demusse Input Needed Join Date: May 2009 Location: Overpelt/Belgium Age: 56 Posts: 44	Kylwalda is still for sale at softhut if you want one.

21 July 2009, 02:10	#11
alexh Thalion Webshrine Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Oxford Posts: 14,354	Kylewalda is still on the SoftHut website. is what you mean. They've not updated their website properly in decades. I'd be surprised if they really have any. I've given over ordering anything from them cos you just get an email 2-3 weeks later saying "out of stock".

28 July 2009, 15:13	#15
gizmomelb Registered User Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: melbourne Age: 55 Posts: 541	I've got a Catweasl MK III which I was going to be sticking up on ebay, open to offers. http://www.amiga-hardware.com/showha...cgi?HARDID=386

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