On one hand, I'm happy Jens is able to continue to bring new and improved products to market. On the other hand, this one kind of ticks me off, as it means my MK3 is obsolete before really becoming as useful as advertised......
Improvements to the SID audio part
DC-DC converter eliminates noise
On the Catweasel MK3, it was possible that noises from 3D-graphics cards or high-speed harddrives were coupled into the 12V-power supply of the SID audio part. This cannot happen any more on the Catweasel MK4, because a DC-DC converter is an insuperable obstacle for such noises.
I really wish my Catweasel MK3 had been designed this way. :-( The SID function is probably the coolest thing about the card, but the background buzz, pop, click was annoying enough I ended up pulling the card from my main workstation and putting it in an older machine, and only use the floppy functions to save old disks.
The Atari style joyports are another feature that would have been cool too. But with no hardware counter, using things like an Amiga mouse becomes poling intensive. And then to rub a little salt in the wound, there are no Windows HID device drivers for the joyports. And to rub some more, none of the C64 emulators seem to use them directly, either. So basically, the card has two DB-9 decorations on it. They tempt me to plug things into them, yet they don't actually work in anything.
Driver scarcity always hampered the CW-MK3, and now things look even worse, as an incompatible MK4 is readied, and a MorphOS feud breaks out. :pissed:
Don't get me wrong. I don't regret buying my Catweasel. It's a great card at controlling floppy drives. It's ability to read and write practically any possible disk format has seriously come in handy several times... (And I'm thinking of a project to use it on again...)
But I was just hoping that the "fun" features support would slowly fill in. Unfortunatly, it doesn't look like that is going to happen.
