Background: The Catweasel ISA floppy disk controller is an add-in card
for the PC ISA bus. It uses specialized hardware, not a standard floppy
disk controller chip, and it can be programmed to read and write just
about any disk format.
I've written a pair of programs for the Catweasel called cw2dmk and dmk2cw.
dmk2cw is new in release 2.0 of the package.
cw2dmk can use a Catweasel ISA to read several kinds of floppy disk, some
of which ordinary PC controllers have trouble with, and save them in the
DMK disk image format. DMK is a format used by the Unix TRS-80 emulator
xtrs and by David Keil's TRS-80 emulator for MS-DOS. cw2dmk does not
just read TRS-80 disks. It can make an exact image of any disk written
using a Western Digital 177x/179x floppy disk controller, a PC-style
NEC765-compatible controller, or a Digital Equipment Corporation RX02
controller.
dmk2cw uses a Catweasel ISA to write any DMK image back to
a real floppy disk. It can handle the same kinds of disks as cw2dmk.
Currently no tools other than TRS-80 emulators and dmk2cw can use disk
images in DMK format, but perhaps more tools will be written in the future.
The ability to read disks with cw2dmk and write out copies with dmk2cw
already provides a useful way of archiving disks from old machines and
making physical copies when needed. A likely future direction for
cw2dmk/dmk2cw is to be able to write/read JV1 and JV3 disk images (these
are other common TRS-80 emulator formats) or raw arrays of sectors, in
cases where the disk can be represented in one of those formats.
The programs are free software, released under the GPL. You can download
the source code and executables for both Linux and MS-DOS from my TRS-80
resources page, http://www.tim-mann.org/trs80resources.html. The MS-DOS
version also runs on Windows 95. Even those who prefer to build their
own sampling hardware instead of buying a Catweasel may find the source
code of some use.
Tim Mann tim.mann(a)compaq.com http://www.tim-mann.org
Compaq Computer Corporation, Systems Research Center, Palo Alto, CA
Nice Find. I had one about 10 years ago. It is an early development system
for 8 bit systems. Supported more than 8080s IIRC. Continue looking for the
Docs and 8" Floppies.
Paxton
Astoria, OR
Has anyone used a PMC MicroMate? It looks like the old Ciarcia SBC180
project with a Z80 processor and a 5-1/4" floppy drive in a single case the
size of an external floppy drive for the TRS80. The processor is claimed to
be a Z8400A with Z8430 and Z8470 support chips. All unfamiliar
identifications to me.
Any thoughts on this beastie?
Rich
Rich Cini
Collector of classic computers
Build Master for the Altair32 Emulation Project
Web site: http://highgate.comm.sfu.ca/~rcini/classiccmp/
/************************************************************/
> >The 1200c and 1600c are durable and expensive printers and well worth the
> >cost of even buying the tray kit from HP at list, unlike some of the junker
> >inkjets made by Canon, Epson, Lexmark, etc. The 1200c and 1600c are more in
> >the professional series as well.
>
> Now is the time to buy cartridges too, as MANY big dealers are dumping
> them, and when its gone its gone (at decent prices anyway).
Not a very successful strategy; the ink cartridges for the HP1200C,
HP650c Plotter, HP750c/755CM+, and the black cartridges for the
HP DeskJet 870 & 895 have a limited shelf life.
However, I think you're wrong about these particular cartridges
disappearing from the market any time soon.
YMMV, etc.
-dq
I know its off topic but I know there are a lot
of electronics guru's on the list. I'm looking for
a noise generator to mount in my car to defeat
the "Boom cars" in my neighborhood. The local
thieves(politicians) won't do a thing about it so its
time for war. These thumping car stereo's are not
there for musical enjoyment. They are there to
disturb and upset people period.
Please contact me off list if you have any
creative idea's on this.
Brian.
Brian Roth
Network Services
First Niagara Bank
(716) 625-7500 X2186
Brian.Roth(a)FirstNiagaraBank.com
>
>I agree with Tony here, in that there has to be a valid application for the
>features of email that so many SPAMmers have exploited. However, if you
>want to do away with bulk email, something's got to be done. This means
>somebody, somewhere, will lose. Perhaps, if unsolicited bulk mailings were
>just easier to recognize ...
Since I can't keep SPAM out of my (snail) mailbox and I can't keep SPAM off
of my phone (unsolicited calls), I really don't have any expectations about
keeping it out of my email.
With the costs being so low, I'm surprised we (Internet users) don't get a
whole lot more SPAM.
SteveRob
_________________________________________________________________
Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com
>
> Does anyone, by any chance, happen to have a copy of the
> 'HARDSAVE' backup
> program, circa 1987?
> I'm hoping that someone here might, from their BBS days, happen to
> stillhave a copy...
>
Can't help sorry, but that reminded me, I'd kill to get my hands on a
copy of BBS-PC! for MS-DOs (not Amiga).
cheers,
BL
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Just found this new toy, looks impressive!
I know it has it's own version of Basic & this one is intact with it's
serial cable & a collection of cards inside (if I can figure out how to
open it, I'll post what they are).
A couple of questions: What can I do with it? Is the serial cable
straight through or null modem? Can I connect it to one of my modern
PC's ? Where can I find info on this beast ? (alright, *4* questions
then....)
BL
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Pardon me if I missed someone raising this issue yesterday, but
if you're scanning grey level images, it might be worth seeing
what happens if you raise the resolution and switch from
grey level to black & white (line art) scans -- one
bit per pixel. Then you can raise the resolution from 100x100 to
300x300 (9 times the pixels) , and end up with only a 12%
increase in filesize. Photos & halftoned images don't suffer
this well, but the text and line art will be much better off.
This requires you to take some care setting the contrast
and black level when preparing to scan, though.
Alternately you could scan at 300x300 greyscale (8 bits per pixel )
and run the pages through a filter to reduce the bit depth
>from 8 to say 2 or 3. This would only be feasible if you could
automate that process, though.
Before embarking on this huge project, it might be worth
trying a few different techniques to obtain sharper images while
keeping the file sizes reasonable.
Brian
On Thu, 21 Jun 2001 23:31:21 -0400 (EDT) "R. D. Davis" <rdd(a)smart.net>
writes:
> On Thu, 21 Jun 2001, Lanny Cox wrote:
> > As a fan of fairly loud music, i think the idea of setting off car
> alarms is
> > much more interesting. :-)
>
> Funny that you should mention that. Interestingly, it's a
> relatively
> common occurance that when I start my engine when parked next to an
> alarmed car, the alarm goes off. :-)
Yeh, those 3/4-race cams and headers have this tendancy to do that . . .
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