Catweasel 4 on 64-bit Windows

[Calimeiro]

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.

[freqmax]

Is the source for the Catweasel on 32-bit MS windows available?

What software tools is needed to create a new driver?

[Duce]

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.

[freqmax]

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..

[Calimeiro]

gentlemen, open your wallets, please.
you get a driver signature from microsoft for around 5000.- US$

[J-Golden]

@ 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.

[freqmax]

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" ..?

[TeamBlackFox]

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.

[fishy_fiz]

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.

[freqmax]

How to read (or write) Amiga floppy then?

(btw, floppy drive units seems also to dry up)

[Lizard]

There are 2 options, the KryoFlux or the Super Card Pro.

[amigadave]

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.

[Hanzu]

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?

[Motormouth]

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!!!!!

[polyp2000]

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.

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

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.