Catweasel capabilities and usability

[curtis]

I'm thinking of picking up a Catweasel, but from Vesalia's description, I have a couple of concerns.

The OS will need to be plain Jane DOS as the primary program I'm running is NOT Windows friendly AT ALL!

From the description on Vesalia's website it says you cannot write disks in DOS, but can in Linux.  Is this correct?

BTW, the program I'm running is Dave Dunfeld's Disk Archiving and Imaging program.  I'm going to be using it to archive old CP/M disks which have variety of formats down to 180K on up to anything else it will accept.

Thanks,

Curtis

[ElPolloDiabl]

I don't think they are being made anymore, and none would be in stock.
Make sure you email Vesalia first before trying to get an Amiga order.

Capability: Can turn a PC drive into an Amiga compatible drive.

Usability: I've heard that it has issues with some disks, but I don't know which ones.

[spirantho]

The Catweasel is a very versatile device - it works with most disks, and most drives (but not Mitsumi ones). I can't speak for the PC software, though, as I've never used it - but under AmigaOS it reads and writes loads of different formats both as a random access device or as a disk imager.

[freqmax]

What's the problem with the floppies that don't work in Catweasel but will work in Amiga?

[spirantho]

Something to do with timing I think (if you mean floppy drives like the Mitsumi not working). If you mean floppy disks, then it's probably just that different manufacturers have different tolerances or something.

[Florida]

Check this thing out:
 
http://www.kryoflux.com/
 

KryoFlux is a USB-based floppy controller designed specifically for reliability, precision, and getting low-level reads suitable for software preservation. It's here, it's there and it's working - today. This is the original developed by The Software Preservation Society.
 
quote from that web page

Allegedly it is working on Windows (XP, Vista, Windows 7 and 8 in 32 and 64-bit flavours), Mac OS X and Linux. No D.O.S., sorry.

[freqmax]

You can use FreeDOS and modify Bret's USB or DOSUSB,  or write a application that uses USB hardware directly. It can be done. It's just that there is no software for that.

[danbeaver]

The Catweasel MK2 is still being sold for the Amiga and handles all types of disk drives from 3.5 to 8 inch. It can handle GCR and MFM reading C64 disks to CP/M. It connects to an IDE and Clockport and weird IO port on some of Jens' cards. While the are advantages to the Kryoflux hardware, the Catweasel lets you use a standard PC floppy as a DD or HD floppy.

[spirantho]

You can run a Mk2 Anniversary Edition on a PC too - but I'm not sure if the Windows/DOS software supports it. Linux works with it, though. You need to adapt the IDE cable such that two wires at swapped.

[magnetic]

Guys there are NO Catweasels of any kind in production or being sold right now. They are extremely useful boards. Especially in NG amigas with Spiranthos drivers

[spirantho]

The Anniversary Edition is available:
http://amigakit.leamancomputing.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=567

I agree about the NG bit, though