Amiga.org
Amiga computer related discussion => Amiga Hardware Issues and discussion => Topic started by: J-Golden on June 12, 2014, 11:52:51 PM
-
I've been looking high and low to find concrete information on if the Catweasel 4 will work on 64-bit Windows systems. I know Jans didn't make any specific drivers for that platform, but that doesn't mean it won't work.
Does anyone here have concrete, first hand information on this situation?
TANKZ!
Golden
-
I couldn't get it to work for me, but you could email Jens via his web site.
-
There are no 64-bit drivers. :(
Here is the official reply I got from Jens:
Dear ,
Thank you for your request. 64-bis drivers are not available for the Catweasel - this is the reason why the product has been discontinued.
Your INDIVIDUAL COMPUTERS Support Team
Jens Schönfeld
Sooooooo yeah. :( end of a really cool thing.
-
Sorry to hear that it won't work under 64-bit Windows. There IS a driver for 32-bit and 64-bit GNU/Linux however: http://www.soundtracker.org/raw/cwfloppy/ You could always use it under GNU/Linux OR dual boot a 32-bit version of Windows and use it under there.
Unfortunately for myself, no driver for BSD (T.T)
-
I've been looking high and low to find concrete information on if the Catweasel 4 will work on 64-bit Windows systems. I know Jans didn't make any specific drivers for that platform, but that doesn't mean it won't work.
Does anyone here have concrete, first hand information on this situation?
TANKZ!
Golden
LT,
You should be able to force Windoze to use the 32bit drivers. Are you installing them anyway and they won't work? Make sure when you install them, you use compatibility mode.
-
I don't think it's much to do with Windows. Having the 32 bit driver run on a 64 bit OS depends on how the driver was written/how it works. EG: A lot of printer drivers or USB device drivers(Wifi etc) just don't care.
Dual boot to XP Sp3 32bit is one way to maintain device compatibility for non supported devices. SO no need for anything to end, or change. Just ask commodorejohn. Kudos given.
@J-Golden. A response from Jens is obviously concrete, and first -hand. :)
-
Write a driver for 64-bit evil monopolysoft ?
Is hardware API (ports and bits) published or available for Catweasel?
-
Would have bought a few of these ages ago if they had 64 bit drivers.
I haven't used a 32 bit commodity hardware based machine since 2005, been running 64 bit everything (HW and SW) since the AMD x2 came out then.
-
Otoh, avoiding the Microsoft imperium is quite nice ;)
-
What was the name of the 3rd party developer who was working on new drivers for the Catweasel cards? I am really bad at remembering names and have forgotten his name or nickname, but he had done a good deal of work on drivers and/or utilities for at least 1 or more of the Catweasel cards to make them work inside AmigaOS4.x machines by modifying the Linux drivers (IIRC). I think this is why AmigaKit commissioned a production run of the Catweasel Mk2 that could be used in the X1000 computers. Does any of this bring back memories to any of you about 3rd party driver development for the Catweasel cards?
Maybe this 3rd party programmer would be more likely to work on a 64bit driver than Jens, who appears to have abandoned any work on the Catweasel products.
-
One thing I like to point out is 64 bit windows,manufacturer(s) state maximum ram for your notebook.
Here they even released a later model than mine,but still state the maximum ram for my model range is 4GB.
This is shocking because after all the years I have own the this notebook, about 6 years old,it works fine with 8GB DDR2
So the short story is,if you have a 64 bit windows, you may want to check what is the "real" maximum ram for your computer.
I only checked because I found it strange to have a 64 bit OS and the maximum ram quoted by the manufacture to be 4GB.
Ensure bios & all drivers are up to date,check manufacture website.
ALL MODIFICATION AT YOUR OWN RISK
-
Bear in mind different versions of Windows have different RAM upper limits. How densely you can physically pack memory into the system is dependent on the hardware itself, based on the largest sized ram modules the hardware supports and how many RAM slots there are. 4 GB is the cap for all 32 bit variants for Windows itself. Having say 32 GB of RAM on a machine running x86 (32 bit) version of windows you'll only ever see 4 GB of it. Trying to force 32 bit drivers to run under x64 OS's generally doesn't work too well, though I would be curious if anyone has tried it with the Catweasel drivers.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-ca/library/windows/desktop/aa366778(v=vs.85).aspx#physical_memory_limits_windows_7
-
My last posting refers to 64 bit OS.
32 bit OS some user(s) ran into problems when 4GB was installed,so some user(s) were successful with 3GB (2GB+1GB) where dual slots are present. I can't test this as I no longer own 32 bit windows.
ALL MODIFICATION AT YOUR OWN RISK
-
LT,
You should be able to force Windoze to use the 32bit drivers. Are you installing them anyway and they won't work? Make sure when you install them, you use compatibility mode.
You can't force 32bit drivers on 64bit win, you can just force os to load drivers without valid signature, but that's a different story.
-
One thing I like to point out is 64 bit windows,manufacturer(s) state maximum ram for your notebook.
And now solve the riddle and tell me how to use Catweasel in a notebook.
And as the icing on the cake, what kind of memory barrier is affecting the usage of such card in a standard desktop computer.
-
Is the source for the Catweasel on 32-bit MS windows available?
What software tools is needed to create a new driver?
-
If source was available for the drivers so someone could port them to 64bit and other os's, that would have a lot of people real, real interested. Like I said, I would buy a couple of the things if 64 bit drivers (or the source) was available.
-
The hardware block diagram, ports, and bits have been published? Shouldn't be too hard to write some then. Except for the usual barrier to get programming tools on MS-Win..
-
gentlemen, open your wallets, please.
you get a driver signature from microsoft for around 5000.- US$
-
@ group: I don't own one. I was doing the research to see if I got one I could use it. If anyone comes up with the name of the person Amigadave was talking about I'd be really interested!
@ Calimeiro I helped another piece of software get digitally signed. It cost about 150 USD. You can look it up, it's called Vjoy.
-
Or find a flaw in the signature processing that get anything signed.. :-v
Otoh.. is it possible to install a driver without signature if one just click [OK] on all the dialogs that says "Danger this driver may cause your computer to go into nuclear meltdown with green aliens falling out from your I/O" ..?
-
Well with the Linux kernel driver I linked I imagine that it will not be too difficult to write a Windows driver by reviewing the code. Then again I don't know much about how Windows handles drivers,
One could always ask Jens if he'll release the source of the 32-bit driver and then someone can port that.
-
Even the 32bit drivers are terrible.
In theory cool bit of hardware. In practice I found the Catweasel close to a waste of money so I sold mine (with a bit of guilt due to how much trouble I had).
Spirantho is the man behind the amiga-oid drivers by the way.
-
How to read (or write) Amiga floppy then?
(btw, floppy drive units seems also to dry up)
-
There are 2 options, the KryoFlux (http://www.kryoflux.com/) or the Super Card Pro (http://www.cbmstuff.com/proddetail.php?prod=SCP).
-
Spirantho is the man behind the amiga-oid drivers by the way.
Yes, thanks for remembering the name of the developer who had worked on new drivers for the Catweasel cards.
He is the guy we need to write to, to ask if he thinks that 64bit drivers could be written for any of the Catweasel cards.
I also agree that it was a great hardware idea, but was never fully realized with supporting software or drivers to take full advantage of the hardware ports provided.
I bought several of them, different models each time, hoping that better drivers would eventually be delivered. I was very unhappy when support was dropped and Jens announced that he would no longer be working on any new updates for any of the drivers for the Catweasel boards.
-
I bought several of them, different models each time, hoping that better drivers would eventually be delivered. I was very unhappy when support was dropped and Jens announced that he would no longer be working on any new updates for any of the drivers for the Catweasel boards.
I also have bought 3 different models of Catweasel. Currently I only have Catweasel 3 for PC and Catweasel Anniversary MK II for Amiga and I too am very unhappy that the only way to use Catweasel in my main PCs Win10 64bit would be to install WinXP SP3 or Win7 32bit to some secondary drive which makes me more eager to keep some miniITX + WinXP system storaged for Catweasel use.
I also have Kryoflux and SuperCardPro, but AFAIK they both lacked nice graphical interface last time I tried them and the very main thing I liked in Catweasel Imagetool3 (with the latest version beeing v3.3.0.176).
So did anyone actually contact Spirantho on the 64bit driver issue and are there any other news on this topic?
-
I keep a windows XP 32 bit machine around just for my Catweasel 4.
I basically have WinUAE ADFOpus, AExplorer and various versions of vice for older commodores, This is I specifically use this machine for disk file transfers and hard drive image builds. And of course a couple old 16 bit PC games using XPs 16 bit-emulator)
It is possible for get 32-bit Windows 10 (and not just for WinTables), this is particularly important for older data acquisition and industrial computers, where the hardware only has 32 bit (or even 16 bit) drivers and software. (Sounds like a familiar problem)
It would be interesting to see if the Catweasel would run on a 32-bit window 10 machine.
I really would like to see 64 bit drivers for the Catweasel, more or less for future proofing, but with significant access to cheap PeeCees from the 2000-2010 I would rather see ACA500plus or A1200 replacement motherboard, etc. to be developed by Jens or Spirantho.
@Spirantho and Jens: Thanks for the excellent hardware and drivers to make the Catweasel possible!!!!!
-
There are no 64-bit drivers. :(
Here is the official reply I got from Jens:
Dear ,
Thank you for your request. 64-bis drivers are not available for the Catweasel - this is the reason why the product has been discontinued.
Your INDIVIDUAL COMPUTERS Support Team
Jens Schönfeld
Sooooooo yeah. :( end of a really cool thing.
This is somewhat a worrying trend. I've had my Inidivision AGA MK2 for a number of years now. Core updates have been very thin on the ground - and my faith that a Graffiti update might happen. Most likely by the time that happens Vampire 1200 will remove the need for that. If there could ever be an example of why closed source is a bad thing for the consumer - this is it.
-
This is somewhat a worrying trend. I've had my Inidivision AGA MK2 for a number of years now. Core updates have been very thin on the ground - and my faith that a Graffiti update might happen. Most likely by the time that happens Vampire 1200 will remove the need for that. If there could ever be an example of why closed source is a bad thing for the consumer - this is it.
Pretty typical of most of Jens' stuff, sadly. He's great on the hardware, but a bit lacking on the software. The Indi ECS (which I own three of) also had some promised features never develop. Doesn't take away from it being a great card, but still. :(
-
Pretty typical of most of Jens' stuff, sadly. He's great on the hardware, but a bit lacking on the software. The Indi ECS (which I own three of) also had some promised features never develop. Doesn't take away from it being a great card, but still. :(
I tend to agree with your assessment his hardware is second to none, but the software typically is wanting and usually at most an advanced beta state.
Catweasel and Chameleon are great examples of this (I own both including the RR-Net and docking station). But despite this I have a significant amount of Jens' hardware and find it quite usable, once you figure out the software.
P.S. A notable exception. The ACA500s hardware and software both are very polished.