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Operating System Specific Discussions => AROS Research Operating System => Topic started by: clusteruk on April 12, 2010, 03:18:25 PM

Title: Aros and iMica’s can now read/write Amiga floppy disks with PCI Catweasel MK4.
Post by: clusteruk on April 12, 2010, 03:18:25 PM
After some time tracking down a suitable developer with the skills needed to carry out this work I finally contacted Ian Gledhill in the New Year and the project for Aros based iMica’s to read and write Amiga floppy disk drives was started.

Whilst there was a bounty for this work, the hardware was not being supplied and so it never got claimed. So we supplied an iMica Atom with PCI Catweasel MK4 we brought from AmigaKit and a compatible floppy drive in February and this project is now in final testing stage.

This project source code will reside in the Aros source library for all to use and will further support the growing realisation from most Amiga users that Aros is a very viable next generation Amiga platform freely available and running on a large amount of commodity hardware.

I would like to thanks Ian Gledhill for his professional manner and skill in this project and if you would like to beta test this and own a Catweasel MK4 PCI card then please PM me or email ian at ian.gledhill (at) btinternet.com or email me at clusteruk@hotmail.com

If you have a Catweasel and this has excited you, please take the time to send a donation to Ian for all his hard work at his paypal account ian.gledhill (at) btinternet.com

Finally, there are still some tweaks to finish this but in the end you will be able to run some Amiga 68k programs and games through Janus-UAE as well as accessing the disks from Aros and Janus-UAE. I will have this on show at the Amiga show in Bletchley in June for you all to play with.

All the best

Steve Jones

http://www.clusteruk.com
Title: Re: Aros and iMica’s can now read/write Amiga floppy disks with PCI Catweasel MK4.
Post by: ElPolloDiabl on April 12, 2010, 03:36:59 PM
Good work.
Title: Re: Aros and iMica’s can now read/write Amiga floppy disks with PCI Catweasel MK4.
Post by: trekiej on April 12, 2010, 05:34:38 PM
Good going Steve.
Title: Re: Aros and iMica’s can now read/write Amiga floppy disks with PCI Catweasel MK4.
Post by: Darrin on April 12, 2010, 07:14:23 PM
Nice work

I have a "retro PC" running XP at home with a Catweasel and 3.5 & 5.25" drives fitted.

Unfortunately I'm away on business for another 3 weeks, but this might actually make me download AROS and give it a look.  I'm supposed to have 4 weeks off when I get home and I was going to dedicate it to the Amiga (My C-One needs a SID chip fitting and some troubleshooting, my A4000T needs PCI video & sound cards installing and now this...)  :D
Title: Re: Aros and iMica’s can now read/write Amiga floppy disks with PCI Catweasel MK4.
Post by: Dwyloc on April 12, 2010, 07:18:07 PM
Sounds good I have a Catweasel mk4 that I don't use much these days but it could be useful for accessing Amiga disk under AROS.

Are there ant plans to support the joystick ports as well as floppy access as it would be nice to be able to use them to use real Amiga joysticks for playing old Amiga games under UAE and AROS.
Title: Re: Aros and iMica’s can now read/write Amiga floppy disks with PCI Catweasel MK4.
Post by: clusteruk on April 12, 2010, 07:40:32 PM
Quote from: Dwyloc;553181
Sounds good I have a Catweasel mk4 that I don't use much these days but it could be useful for accessing Amiga disk under AROS.

Are there ant plans to support the joystick ports as well as floppy access as it would be nice to be able to use them to use real Amiga joysticks for playing old Amiga games under UAE and AROS.


At moment only really pushing for the floppy bit but if popular then the owners could get that done. After all i make nothing from this work, purely did it for Aros improvement and for examples like yourself.
Title: Re: Aros and iMica’s can now read/write Amiga floppy disks with PCI Catweasel MK4.
Post by: Darrin on April 12, 2010, 07:54:32 PM
Quote from: clusteruk;553187
At moment only really pushing for the floppy bit but if popular then the owners could get that done. After all i make nothing from this work, purely did it for Aros improvement and for examples like yourself.


Ah, no joysticks yet...

That's why I like my Minimig so much because I can plug in my classic joysticks to play games.
Title: Re: Aros and iMica’s can now read/write Amiga floppy disks with PCI Catweasel MK4.
Post by: ognix on April 12, 2010, 08:50:49 PM
Thanks a lot, and go on!
One more step further into "classic" Amiga stuff integrated in new Amiga environments!
Still no AROS installation, but always more and more pushed to try it!
Title: Re: Aros and iMica’s can now read/write Amiga floppy disks with PCI Catweasel MK4.
Post by: kickstart on April 12, 2010, 08:53:48 PM
Now just need to execute the data on that amiga disk.
Title: Re: Aros and iMica’s can now read/write Amiga floppy disks with PCI Catweasel MK4.
Post by: clusteruk on April 12, 2010, 09:01:48 PM
Quote from: kickstart;553200
Now just need to execute the data on that amiga disk.


I believe this will be possible when Janus-UAE is finished, already partly there now.
Title: Re: Aros and iMica’s can now read/write Amiga floppy disks with PCI Catweasel MK4.
Post by: kickstart on April 12, 2010, 09:09:34 PM
Well if i need to use uae prefer to install winuae, totally compatible.
Title: Re: Aros and iMica’s can now read/write Amiga floppy disks with PCI Catweasel MK4.
Post by: Heinz on April 12, 2010, 09:12:50 PM
Quote from: kickstart;553209
Well if i need to use uae prefer to install winuae, totally compatible.


Does WinUAE lauch your Amiga App in a windows-window, just like it was a real Windows App, by double clicking it ?

No ?

So where is the advantage over AROS's Janus UAE ?
Title: Re: Aros and iMica’s can now read/write Amiga floppy disks with PCI Catweasel MK4.
Post by: kickstart on April 12, 2010, 09:17:43 PM
No

But the app is launched on a emulated classic amiga. Windows is just used for boot.
Title: Re: Aros and iMica’s can now read/write Amiga floppy disks with PCI Catweasel MK4.
Post by: clusteruk on April 12, 2010, 10:05:44 PM
Quote from: kickstart;553212
No

But the app is launched on a emulated classic amiga. Windows is just used for boot.


I have no problem with people using windows for WinUAE, it keeps them interested in Amiga while Aros becomes what they want.
Title: Re: Aros and iMica’s can now read/write Amiga floppy disks with PCI Catweasel MK4.
Post by: motrucker on April 12, 2010, 11:13:10 PM
Looks like I've finally got to get off my rear end and put this setup together. This is just the news I was waiting for! Many thanks!
Title: Re: Aros and iMica’s can now read/write Amiga floppy disks with PCI Catweasel MK4.
Post by: Matt_H on April 12, 2010, 11:53:43 PM
Ooo, interesting. Does it work transparently as DF0: (i.e., slap a real disk in the drive and UAE will boot from it), or like on other Amigas, with multidisk.device and a mountlist?
Title: Re: Aros and iMica’s can now read/write Amiga floppy disks with PCI Catweasel MK4.
Post by: clusteruk on April 13, 2010, 06:01:48 AM
Quote from: Matt_H;553243
Ooo, interesting. Does it work transparently as DF0: (i.e., slap a real disk in the drive and UAE will boot from it), or like on other Amigas, with multidisk.device and a mountlist?


I do not think it will take long before this is possible but Janus-UAE needs finishing first, although this is almost working with existing version of janus.
Title: Re: Aros and iMica’s can now read/write Amiga floppy disks with PCI Catweasel MK4.
Post by: clusteruk on April 13, 2010, 05:43:59 PM
Sorry to bump but thought this would interest people, will not bump again unnaturally.

Please click on this link for a slideshow of Catweasel loading and running Amiga game from Aros.

Very cool slideshow Ian.

http://www.clusteruk.com/SitePortalPage.aspx?siteid=1&did=133

Steve
Title: Re: Aros and iMica’s can now read/write Amiga floppy disks with PCI Catweasel MK4.
Post by: RMK305 on April 13, 2010, 08:21:17 PM
Interesting stuff. Still sitting on the fence waiting to see all the options this year...as there are a number of projects in the works.
Title: Re: Aros and iMica’s can now read/write Amiga floppy disks with PCI Catweasel MK4.
Post by: clusteruk on April 13, 2010, 10:08:58 PM
Quote from: RMK305;553371
Interesting stuff. Still sitting on the fence waiting to see all the options this year...as there are a number of projects in the works.


No problem, there is no rush and a lot is happening, it is a good time to be an Amigan.