25-Apr-2024 12:02 GMT.		 UNDER CONSTRUCTION
Anonymous, there are 16 items in your selection
[Files] Catweasel ISA: Image-write utilityANN.lu
Posted on 12-Apr-2002 06:07 GMT by Christian Kemp16 comments
View flat
View list
Jens Schönfeld writes: "The following news cannot be disseminated without a sense of irony: 66 months since the initial release of the Catweasel ISA, we're publishing a free tool for writing disks with the controller. The alpha-version currently supports Amiga disks only, and it runs on DOS or in a DOS box of Win95/98. For easy porting to other operating systems, and for educational purposes, the source is included.

cw_write.zip
Catweasel ISA: Image-write utility : Comment 1 of 16ANN.lu
Posted by Guvenc Kaplan on 12-Apr-2002 09:43 GMT
It is sad that all the modern PC's don't have ISA slots anymore. I don't think that this utility and this card will force PC users to downgrade their machines or buy an older machine. There should definately be a PCI version of this nice product.
Catweasel ISA: Image-write utility : Comment 2 of 16ANN.lu
Posted by Alex on 12-Apr-2002 10:01 GMT
A PCI version would also find an immediate home in the new generation of PPC boards (A1G3SE and Pegasos) from Eyetech and bPlan :-)
Cheers,
Alex.
Catweasel ISA: Image-write utility : Comment 3 of 16ANN.lu
Posted by darklite on 12-Apr-2002 10:48 GMT
In reply to Comment 2 (Alex):
A few months back someone on the Amithlon mailing list announced he was looking into designing a PCI card with an Amiga floppy controller. Haven't heard anything about it in a while though.
Catweasel ISA: Image-write utility : Comment 4 of 16ANN.lu
Posted by [JC] on 12-Apr-2002 11:22 GMT
Most modern PC boards have either one ISA slot that is shared on the backplane with a PCI slot, or no PCI slots at all. The thing is, developing a PCI card as opposed to an ISA card is a whole different kettle of fish, since as they have to have some flexibility and intelligence inside them that is complex for the home constructor to achieve without having access to GAL/PAL/PEEL technology (which is very expensive)
However, the dos box program is rather unacceptable, since as most PC users again now run Windows 2000/Windows XP/Linux which has no DOS access at all (I don't want to hear any trolls on this matter). Someone should at least be able to write a proper driver for Windows/*nix for this card.
Catweasel ISA: Image-write utility : Comment 5 of 16ANN.lu
Posted by Christian Kemp on 12-Apr-2002 12:27 GMT
In reply to Comment 4 ([JC]):
> Most modern PC boards have either one ISA slot that is shared on the
> backplane with a PCI slot, or no PCI slots at all.
Define "modern". I haven't seen a PC mainboard with ISA in many years now.
Catweasel ISA: Image-write utility : Comment 6 of 16ANN.lu
Posted by Don Cox on 12-Apr-2002 13:01 GMT
In reply to Comment 5 (Christian Kemp):
I managed to get one for my Amithlon machine, just before Christmas.
But they are getting rare.
Catweasel ISA: Image-write utility : Comment 7 of 16ANN.lu
Posted by [JC] on 12-Apr-2002 15:19 GMT
In reply to Comment 5 (Christian Kemp):
My Abit KT7-RAID has one, which is fairly modern. i belive the KR7 series dont though, and neither does the Asus A7V333 i will be buying soon.
Catweasel ISA: Image-write utility : Comment 8 of 16ANN.lu
Posted by Joe Torre on 12-Apr-2002 16:16 GMT
Awesome! ...and source code too!
I bought yet another motherboard with an ISA slot: It sports an Athlon 1.4Ghz/DDR266. Thats not bleeding edge, but definately "modern".
I use the Catweasel with pleasure.
I need an ISA slot for my Altera LP6 programming card.
Altera knows a thing or two about programable chips that interface to PCI ;-). I'm sure they've had thousands of _paid_customer_ requests for a PCI version of the LP6. Yet Altera has not bothered to convert the ~$600 card/design to PCI for over 8 years now.
Comparison shopping is often the basis of judging the value of hardware, and just about every computer user has either been taunted, or has taunted others with the following (smartass) mantra: "But you can get an X, from mailorder shop Y, for price Z!". Therefore you can get an older motherboard with ISA for less than Z! YMMV ;-)
The HW dealers soldout of Catweasels at AmiExpo (and Mr. Hardwares Mouse adapters too). Hopefully that new Amiga floppy interface PCI card from down-under will be finished and forsale soon.
(That new mouse/joystick adapter from Mr. Hardware sold-out also.)
Catweasel ISA: Image-write utility : Comment 9 of 16ANN.lu
Posted by Joe "Floid" Kanowitz on 12-Apr-2002 17:02 GMT
My EPoX 8KTA3 has a legacy ISA slot just in case you have some crazy hardware like this. ;) (I haven't noticed if their new KT333-based board still includes one.)
Also, I could be entirely wrong, as my Windows box is still running '98, but doesn't Win2K still include a copy of COMMAND.COM somewhere on the system? I know they've been playing tricks in XP, but the complaints I've heard have been over game compatibility, which is another different kettle of fish; I'd think an unusual floppy controller would still be accessible through the BIOS, and if NT's DOS box is anything like the OS/2 one it derived from, it should be able to make those accesses with no trouble, albeit with no timing guarantees.
Not trying to troll here, just urging someone to take a second look at where the compatibility issues really lie.
Catweasel ISA: Image-write utility : Comment 10 of 16ANN.lu
Posted by kjetil on 12-Apr-2002 18:12 GMT
In reply to Comment 9 (Joe "Floid" Kanowitz):
The Command.com in Windows is not the same as the one for DOS,
it's dependent of windows drivers, if you like to run dos programs that
need direct access to the ISA slots and PCI slots,
the multitasking and the IO/memory allocation/Memory
protection prohibit it from working that way.
you most reboot in to dos and this will only work if you run Win98/Win95,
Sorry, hem is the source code in C or Asm?
if it's in C it may be easy to port to Win-XX, Linux or Aros, AmigaOS40.
Readup some where that WinXP has an Win98 Emulation modues for compatibility.
Just like it has for DOS.
Catweasel ISA: Image-write utility : Comment 11 of 16ANN.lu
Posted by Raffaele on 12-Apr-2002 18:16 GMT
About "chit-chat-chatters"...
A Mobo with ISA (maybe second hand) costs a few...
About MSDOS... If you Own WIN2K or WinXP you can just click that little icon saying:
MS-DOS PROMPT
And if you own WinME, in spite of all the documentation by M$, it is not a full 32bit OS and it is still 16/32bit.
WinME still has MS-DOS inside it...
There is a procedure to unveil and use it under WinME environment...
I found the link to unveil MS-DOS under WinME navigating thru the great museum site of all computer GUI interfaces...
http://toastytech.com/guis/guitimeline.html
Bye,
Raffaele
Catweasel ISA: Image-write utility : Comment 12 of 16ANN.lu
Posted by Joe "Floid" Kanowitz on 12-Apr-2002 18:24 GMT
My bad, I'm a twit sometimes. From the Individual Computers site:
>The ISA version of the Catweasel is shipped with MS-DOS (TM) software.
>Writing to disks is only possible under Linux at the moment.
[...]
>The ISA Catweasel only needs I/O address space, it does not need any DMA
>or IRQ channel. This way, a maximum level of compatibility is given.
>Accessing the Catweasel drives with a drive letter is not possible.
Thus, it obviously can't be hit with conventional floppy controller BIOS calls (which most DOS virtual machines would provide)... I bet running the released DOS programs under a heavily loaded Win9x might not work flawlessly either, then, without some priority tweaks.
In any case, it *is* good to see information like this opened and open-sourced.
Catweasel ISA: Image-write utility : Comment 13 of 16ANN.lu
Posted by ShadesOfGrey on 12-Apr-2002 18:25 GMT
In reply to Comment 4 ([JC]):
[Quote]
However, the dos box program is rather unacceptable, since as most PC users again now run Windows 2000/Windows XP/Linux which has no DOS access at all (I don't want to hear any trolls on this matter). Someone should at least be able to write a proper driver for Windows/*nix for this card.
[Quote]
Windows NT, 2000, and XP all have "DOS access". You can get a DOS command line by typing cmd.exe in the "Run" dailog box or by looking in Start -> Programs -> Acessories (at least in 2000.XP, I forget if the shortcut for the command prompt is in the same place in NT).
Now as to whether or not the Catweasel DOS commands will work in NT, 2000, and and XP... Well that's a different story. Since NT/2k/XP are essentially emulating DOS, there are certain restrictions. NT/2k/XP do not allow the use of real-mode drivers or allow DOS applications direct access to system hardware.
Catweasel ISA: Image-write utility : Comment 14 of 16ANN.lu
Posted by A.Scott Pringle on 12-Apr-2002 19:42 GMT
In reply to Comment 3 (darklite):
this card will be ready very soon, final testing is in progress.
keep an eye on the amithlon ML and boing.net
hope this helps
Scott
Catweasel ISA: Image-write utility : Comment 15 of 16ANN.lu
Posted by [JC] on 12-Apr-2002 23:02 GMT
NT/2K/XP emulate DOS, they do not allow direct hardware access as 9x does, which is why most games that try to use Soundblaster hardware or VESA graphics do not work. This would also rule out any hardware access to ISA hardware.
WinME is just 9x with the DOS stuff hidden as a precursor to moving up to 2K/XP. I wouldn't touch 9x based stuff with a barge pole now 2K is out, it really is a whole new ball game on Windows, still too memory hungry but a massive improvement both stability and speed wise.
Catweasel ISA: Image-write utility : Comment 16 of 16ANN.lu
Posted by DaveW on 13-Apr-2002 19:58 GMT
In reply to Comment 15 ([JC]):
We have seen a "real world" degredation in speed moving from NT to 2K pro. Guess it must depend on what you use it for. Am always reminded of that Admiral Ackbar spoof in South Park the Movie when the spinning globe goes wrong and the general shouts "f?*king Windows 98 - you promised us that this would be faster with better internet connectivity"
Anonymous, there are 16 items in your selection
Back to Top