Uncreative Labs

Posted: Wed Jan 16, 2008 12:00 am

Top $$$ paid!

Come on, when did you use it last?

Support the free market and the global economy and part with the beastie!

I may consider buying ealier versions also............

Joined: 20 Nov 2004 Posts: 589 Location: Shandong, China

I would expect to pay at least $100 for a compaticard IV. I don't think any of us have one floating around. Even the Vintage-Computers.com website didn't turn much up. Ebay seems to be the place to get them. I see them pop up every now and then...at very high prices too.

Joined: 03 Feb 2006 Posts: 488 Location: pennsylvanai

the compaticard depended on a device driver
no special bios. I MAY eventually find one, I remember seeing one here.
( no fooling)
more common are the other cards WITH bios' that do the same thing.
remember that the bios code in a IMB XT will support a 720k drive or a 1.44 floppy AS A 720k

Joined: 20 Nov 2004 Posts: 589 Location: Shandong, China

Now what I'd really like to find are one of those IOS-2 cards you mentioned...

Posted: Sat Aug 23, 2008 12:55 am

wdegroot wrote:

the compaticard depended on a device driver
no special bios.

The Compaticard I has no BIOS (I bought one of those off Ebay a few months ago [brand new in box!] for about US$150 (There were over a dozen serious bidders).

I have also just bought a Compaticard IV found through Newsgroups for US$200. This card has everything:
i. BIOS for 1.44M FDD's
ii. Will search all drives for a boot disk i.e. 360, 1.2M and 1.44M
iii. You can even connect 8" drives (For CP/M conversions etc).

My floppy disc ambitions are now complete:
i. Microsolutions Compaticard IV
ii. Central Point Software Copy II PC Option Board
iii. ISA Catsweasel controller

I have some TRS-80 discs to convert etc and with these controllers I can read and/or archive almost any disc.

Posted: Thu Oct 23, 2008 11:06 pm

I have finally installed my Compaticard IV and it works extremely well. I can now boot from any floppy drive and of course it handles 1.44M disks without any issues (2.88M also).

The card was not cheap, however they are only going to become rarer and more expensive. I can also report that it works with the Central Point Software Copy II Option Board although issues remain with installing my ISA Catweasel card in the same machine, although I suspect my card is faulty at this point.