Universal drive

From: Zane H. Healy <healyzh_at_ix.netcom.com>
Date: Sat Oct 3 14:23:47 1998

>There is a product called Catweasel which is available for the Amiga and PC
>(ISA card). This is a floppy disk controller which is capable of reading
>and/or
>writing many disk formats.
>
>According to a magazine article that I have in front of me, the ISA version
>currently supports (amongst others) Amiga DD & HD, Apple II, Mac 400K & 800K,
>Commodore 1541 & 1571. I don't know whether reading Mac 400K & 800K disks
>requires a non-standard type of 3.5" drive or not.

It requires a standard HD 3.5" or 5.25" if the PC version is anything like
the Amiga version. On the Amiga it's real selling point is adding HD 3.5"
floppies to your system.

>PC software support is apparently not too good at the moment, meaning that you
>will have to write your own code for more exotic disk formats. The supplied
>MS-DOS programs require a 486 for no good reason. A Linux driver is supplied,
>but this is object code only, not source. (IMO trying to keep the software
>that
>accesses the card private like this is a really silly thing to do.)

The sad fact is that the support on the Amiga is even worse. From what one
of the creators told me when I wrote him trying to figure out how to read
all the different formats they claim to be able to read, the drivers have
never been written for the Amiga, dispite the claim it can read and write
them. He said the PC version has the software necessary to create Emulator
Images.

>Anyway, the URL given was http://www.jshoenfeld.com/eindex.html

I just tried and got told there was no DNS entry.

<RANT>
Why is it that in Netscape 4.5 anything you do is likely to dump you at the
Netscape web site. Coupled with all the GARBAGE they've added, and the
fact that the 4.5PR1 is time limited! It's a FREE program, give me a break
why do a time limit! Since the blasted program dumped me there I decided
to try to download a newer version. I get to the download page and it's in
Norweigen or something.

If IE wasn't so "Jittery" I'd consider actually using it. What ever
happened to quality products! The only good thing about Netscape 4.5PR1 is
it's the most stable version of Netscape I've run and it still crashes! If
someone would write a quality browser for the Mac I'd pay good money for it!
</RANT>

                        Zane
| Zane H. Healy | UNIX Systems Adminstrator |
| healyzh_at_ix.netcom.com (primary) | Linux Enthusiast |
| healyzh_at_holonet.net (alternate) | Classic Computer Collector |
+----------------------------------+----------------------------+
| Empire of the Petal Throne and Traveller Role Playing, |
| and Zane's Computer Museum. |
| http://www.dragonfire.net/~healyzh/ |
Received on Sat Oct 03 1998 - 14:23:47 BST

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