CATWEASEL MK4 PLUS

@Spirantho

Quote:

It runs great! Wonderful!

Now I have a 3.5" drive and a 5.25" drive at the same time working in my SAM.
Everything up and running well! Thanks a lot.

Your reading tool works great, too! It`s very fast. There is only one problem: In case of bad sectors/cylinders (unfortunaly very offen ) the program froze and stops working.

@Wilfred

Give it time. :)
It does several retries, and it dumps debug info to the serial port. If you run sashimi you'll see loads of debugging stuff.


@Dax
As for EasyADF, I don't know - but as an ADF file is just raw data, any imager (including the one in the archive) should work, just call the filename something.adf.
It won't work with copy-protected disks, but then no ADF program will because the ADF format isn't detailed enough for protected images.

guys this is just amazing news ..Now I can buy the latest CatWeasel for my Samflex case which has been begging for me to fill up the 5.25 and 3.5 slots

@ Spirantho

thanks for all your help on the drivers mate

@328gts

No problem, glad they seem to be useful to people.

Incidentally, I just got it reading and writing 3" disks (Tatung Einstein works fine and Spectrum +3 and PCW should be working after minor tweaks). Been playing Lazy Jones on my Einstein TC-256. :)

@Spirantho

cool stuff!..I've got an extra 6581R3 SID waiting to be put into the MK4+..listening to some real 64 chip tunes and 64 games with REAL SID sound on my Samflex is gonna be sweeeeeeeet ..(ughh I'm hoping this is possible now )

@328gts

It's possible hardware-wise, but I'm not sure if VICE supports it. If it doesn't I'd be tempted to add SID support myself but don't have a SID chip spare (both mine are in their native environments, i.e. C64s!)

Quote:

if VICE does support it I can send you my SID chip so that you can use it for testing

I must say I am very intrigued by those empty SID sockets on my Catweasel. Would be awesome if we can get this working. Meantime, maybe I should hook up my C128 to a decent loudspeaker (not the one in my old 1080 Amiga monitor I'm use for both my C128 and my A1000) and listen to some SID tunes.

@Spirantho

Wiki said kit should work: "with a CatWeasel PCI card, is planned to perform hardware SID playback (requires optional SID chip installed in socket)."

@328gts

I believe Vice itself can use the CW but that doesn't meant the Amiga version can....

@Spirantho

this is true.....I'm off to install VICE on my Sam now...any one running VICE on their Sam know


ok found this for catwesel support:

"** AmigaOS changes
------------------

- New Danish and Turkish translations of the UI elements and
command-line options.

- Added experimental PCI HardSID and Catweasel support.

- Used AROS (x86, ppc, amd64) new lowlevel libraries which should make USB
joysticks and joypads usable."

alright just loaded up VICE and playing my all time favourite game ARCHON on my Samflex just great ...checked for the SID support on the Catweasel and it says its not implemented yet..

as a side note, does anyone know how to configure a USB gamepad with VICE??..I have my logitech gamepad sort of working but the characters are always moving to the left for some reason??...tried swapping the joysticks too

EDIT:

got the Logitech game pad working beautifully today and saved the settings....just messed around with the joystick setting till she worked ..playing ARCHON full screen now..(damn & I have to get a report out this morning )

@328gts

Thanks for the info. I have to admit I am as intrigued as I can be by those empty SID sockets on my catweasel, and I wish they did something in my SID. It would be so cool if an AOS4 audio application could access a SID through the catweasel, but I supposed such a thing doesn't exist.

Meanwhile, I found a 1.2MB 5.25-inch floppy drive and was able to read Commodore 64 disks for a couple of days with my Sam. Didn't get around to trying to format a CBM floppy before the drive failed. It actually had a fair amount of corrosion on some of its parts, so I'm not surpised. Will look for another.

@mbrantley

If someone can send me a SID or two (or pay for me to buy one) I can try and implement it but I have to watch the pennies at the moment! I do have 2 SID chips but I don't want to remove them from the C64s they're in! Ideally I need 2 SIDs for the full effect. :)

Incidentally, I'd also try and get them implemented in the +4 emulation so we could try those +4 demos!

@Spirantho

Ian, like I said before, I have a 6581 I can send off to you for your testing ...drop me a PM with your mailing address and in the mean time I'll go pull her out of my MB

@Spirantho

Looks like you have one SID headed your way soon from 328gts. Let me see what I can turn up locally, too. I just placed an ad on Craigslist seeking old Commodore computers. If I can unearth enough cheap or free C64s, I'll send you a SID chip you can keep for your efforts.

The only one I have at present is in my C128 and not coming out of that machine.

@mbrantley

yep my 6581 circa July 1983 will be on its way to the UK next week

@ Spirantho

thanks again mate for giving this a go on your spare time (which I know is getting more precious the older we get ) ..we appreciate your help

@328gts

I'm just having a look at the Vice sources now...

Most of the work (of not all!) seems to have been done already, though! It says it's looking for a CW MkIII instead of a IV, and I think there are some subtle differences between the two, but I'm not sure if it's enough to break anything.

I noticed the GUI said "Not supported yet" for the Catweasel, but I also noticed that in the "General" tab of the "SID Settings" menu, there's an option SID engine: Catweasel Mk3 and the code does seem to be there.

It does, however, expect openpci.library!

Perhaps if you download openpci.library from os4depot you might find the Catweasel support is already fully working! I can't test yet as I don't have a SID handy!

@Spirantho

I can tell you from experience that SID works with VICE with the MK3 but not the MK4. The BUS noise on the A1/MK3 combo comes through the mono phono out which in turn makes for a less than ideal audio experience. Wonder if the revisions to the MK4 would cure this.
As you mention 3" Floppies.
Is it possible to connect an Amstrad FD-1 to the Catweasel and write .dsk image back to CF2's ?

@Jurassicc

OK, I'll take a look at why that'll be. The MkIII and MkIV are pretty similar and use the same PCI IDs so it really should work. Once I get that SID chip though I can start looking properly!

As for the Amstrad: yes, that's the idea! There's a guide (not mine) here:

http://newton.sunderland.ac.uk/~specfreak/FD1/

to connecting an FD-1 to a PC, the same thing applies to the Catweasel, as it pretends to be a standard disk interface.

Once you've got it connected, then with a minor tweak on my part (at the moment it's expecting an 80-track 3" drive, like the EME-231 I have), it should (I think) read and write Amstrad disks. I've got an Amstrad disk here but I think it's corrupt so I can't test it, as I don't have a CPC6128 here.

I've had it properly reading and writing even copy-protected disks on my Einstein TC-256, though! Got Elite running on it even!

If you could try it though I'd be very interested in your results!