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All-In-One Interface For All Your Retro/Legacy Drives
An anonymous reader writes "Individual computers have announced a new version of they're multi-format floppy controller the Cat Weasel. This new version (Catweasel MK3 PCI/Flipper) has a few surprises such as 3 different interfaces to connect it to the host computer and a socket for an original C64 SID chip :). 'The main purpose of the Catweasel has always been to allow access to non-standard disks using normal PC-disk drives, even if you usually need a completely different computer for that. The capacity of the drive does not matter in this case: A 5.25 inch drive with 1.2MByte capacity will read and write a C-64 disk with 170KByte as well as a 3.5 inch drive with 1.44MByte can access a 1,76MByte Amiga disk. Together with a company that has specialized in data recovery, we're working on the implementation of more than 1100 different disk formats, and it does not matter that this has been classified impossible by others before. Even the 800KByte disks from older Macintosh computers can be used in standard 1.44MB drives, although the original drives have rotated their disks at variable speeds.' Find out more at the Catweasel MK3 PCI/Flipper page."
It's all very well the drive being able to read the data. Where do I get the 1100 filesystems needed to interpret it?
Since when did Slashdot start posting free advertisements from corporations .. I mean, anonymous readers, for the corporation's product... ?
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Vote for your hopes, not for your fears - Vote Third Party
talk about specialize. More power to them. But I wonder if they can sell many of these. I mean, except for a few data recovery people, I don't see any real use for this. You need SCSI for your system, you get SCSI...you need IDE, you do IDE...change filesystems, stick it on a distant server tar-red up, then transfer it back down.
Just my $.02
JoeLinux
Come on... I mean, I have a C64 sitting in the closet, right next to my C128 and my ol' Atari. I even have a working TRaSh-80. I keep them because I loved them back in the day and I don't want to toss them.
It's called memorabilia. As in "something worthy of rememberance." How big do they think a market for this will be? I don't even think you'd find enough consumers to call it a niche market.... please correct me if I'm wrong.
-- El Sacarino tiene gusto de la chocha
Macs tend to last twice as long as PCs for functionality (wait and see with the new OSX though). The resale value for a mac is significantly higher than a Windows PC. The resale value for a mac is significantly higher than a Windows PC.
Is it? I must have missed the hard numbers and plethora of links you provided to support your statement.
Oh, that's right, you didn't provide any.
The theory of relativity doesn't work right in Arkansas.
> I dont buy that it can read 800k disks, people have been tring
:(
Hate to burst your bubble, but the ISA version of the CatWeasel has been reading 800k disks for years and years.
This isn't a new product, it's an upgraded CatWeasel.
Jeeze, just do a Google for "CatWeasel" for crying out loud.
Hell, I know I'm going to blow all my karma on this CatWeasel thread, but you people have NO CLUE about anything not Linux or Windows related, and it irks me most of the clueless comments that are being made. Mod away, I can take it
is filth!
No, not pr0n, filth as in mould and other miscellaneous cruft.
I hope these guys also provide something to clean the media! Otherwise there are folk who are going to fork out big bucks for this widget only to find that the huge stack of old floppies they were hoping to be able to read are useless! due to mould!! and stuff!!!
In the free world the media isn't government run; the government is media run.
I'd reason that Macs "last longer" (meaning people keep them longer than they would a PC) is due to three main factors:
1) Apple doesn't develop hardware as fast as the x86 crew does. You hear about new and faster CPUs and motherboards for PC platform every two weeks (or so it seems). And people always seem want something faster, whether they need it or not.
2) The gaming industry pushes obsolesence more than any other. Since PCs are the primary platform for games, people are always upgrading their PCs to take advantage of the newest UT2010, Quake 5, and the like.
3) It's cheaper to upgrade a PC (do you consider it 'keeping the computer' if you replaced the MB and CPU?)
As far as resale value goes, if an object has a higher initial price, it almost goes without saying that it's resale value will be higher as well. Especially given point #1 above. A year down the road, that 1GHz Mac still isn't that much slower than the latest Mac available. But with a PC, one year means a LOT of progress in the hardware market.