Catweasel online manual for the Amiga versions

Catweasel online manual for the Amiga versions

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Jumpers of the diskdrives

Normally, you don't have to change the jumpers of the diskdrives. New drives don't even have jumpers any more, because a standard has been established for the PC- drives. The Catweasel is compatible with that standard, so you can connect almost every diskdrive.
If you have docs about the jumpers of your drive, set the jumpers to a position where pin 34 is diskchange and the drive answers the "select 1" signal, even if you want to use it as "unit 0". The unit number of the drive only depends on the position on the cable, not on the select-signal.
The Panasonic-diskdrives in A1200 computers by Amiga Technologies (the "magic" set) have got a small switch on the bottom of the PCB. This switch must be set to "0" if you want to use the drive in an Amiga 1200, but it must be set to "1" in order to work with the Catweasel. Be careful with that switch, it's mechanically very delicate. The diskchange signal is in the correct position on that drive. The drive JU-257A605P can be used as HD-drive on the Catweasel controller.
Amiga-diskdrives can't be used on the Catweasel without modifications, because they differ in some details: The pinout of the drives has been changed in order to have a diskchange-signal on pin 2 and a RDY signal on pin 34. On 5,25" drives, even the rotation speed is changed to 300 RPM, different from the standard for 5,25" drives, which is 360 RPM.

If you want to use a diskdrive on the Catweasel that is configured to work on the internal Amiga floppy-controller, check the following points:

1. diskchange must be available on pin 34
2. the drive must answer to the "Select 1" signal
3. 5,25" drives must spin at 360 RPM

3,5" drives always spin at 300 RPM, so you don't have to worry about the speed of these drives.

HD-drives that have been designed for the internal floppy-controller of the Amiga can't be used on the Catweasel at all. These drives spin down to 150 RPM as soon as a HD-disk is inserted, so these (very expensive!) drives would only reduce the speed of your controller.
The easiest way of finding a drive that works properly with the Catweasel is buying a new PC-diskdrive. Especially if you have to change the rotation speed of a 5,25" drive without having the docs about jumpers, you won't be very lucky at all.