10 replies to this topic

[Great Hierophant]

At a going out of business or moving thrift shop I purchased an Atari 800 today with an SIO cable, an 810 Disk Drive and a 1050 Disk Drive. No software came with it. It turns on and I get to the memo pad. Now come the issues :

The keyboard seems to work perfectly except for the spacebar. The stability bar is held in place by these two thin metal brackets and my machine is missing one of them. Can anyone inform me where I can obtain a spare other than a broken 800?

I got two power bricks with them, a CO14319 and a CO17945. Obviously, the 50W CO17945 works with any of the above, but will the CO14319 18.5W work with the computer or either drive?

I have two vintage IBM PC systems with double density 5.25" IBM PC compatible disk drives. Is there a program I can use to write disk images to disks so that they would be readable in one of those drives mentioned above?

[sloopy]

using a sio2pc cable would be better, if you have some electronics (specifically soldering) ability you can make a serial one, or a few people (including me), sell various types connecting to either serial or usb port on a modern PC, and use that system as a disk drive.

sloopy.

[Bryan]

The smaller brick is for computer use only. The larger brick can be used with either the drives or the computer.

You can buy brand new keyboards on ebay or from places like Best Electronics or B&C Computervisions. Someone here probably has parts. Is the center contact actuator White, Yellow, or Green?

[Guitarman]

Your best bet is to get the APE software and an SIO2PC interface. This allows you to load up disk images on a PC and use the PC as a virtual disk drive. I will also allow you to connect, preferably, the 1050 drive to the PC and write the disk images to actual floppies. You can then use the floppies with the drive connected to the Atari. Here is the links to the APE software and SIO2PC interface.

Atarimax Universal SIO2PC/ProSystem interface

Atari Peripheral Emulator (APE)

[Tyrop]

There are some vendors that have replacement parts. B&C ComputerVisions comes to mind. If you search eBay for Atari 800 keyboard, you will see some new replacement keyboards. I'm not sure about the answer to your power brick question. Maybe someone else can answer. Atari disks will not work in any IBM disk drive. There was an old program called anadisk for the PC that claimed to be able to read ATari disks, but I read on forums at the time that it did not work. I tried it myself and I ruined an Atari disk. Then I read that it only worked on Atari disks formatted a certain way, possibly by a 1050 (which has the capability of formatting single density and enhanced density). However, you can copy files from an Atari to a PC over a special cable called an SIO2PC cable. You can buy one at atarimax.com. You can then create disk images on the PC, and using the software that comes with the cable, the Atari will think the disk image is just another disk in a disk drive. There is a lot of Atari software on the Internet that comes in the form of a disk image. They usually have the extension .atr.

Edited by Tyrop, Wed Aug 24, 2011 7:15 PM.

[WizWor]

I have to humbly disagree with SIO2PC advocates. I have one of these and love it. I use it to create MAXFlash carts mostly. BUT my first peripheral would now be the one I bought last -- an SDrive. You can use this to play virtually any Atari game by copying it to an SD via a PC (write the SD in your PC then play it in the SDrive). You can play games that have up to four floppies and write to the disk. I'm very happy with the SDrive I bought here...

http://morethangames.../adv-eh0130.htm

If you know only want to play arcade/cartridge games, and you are interested in fifty or so games, it's tough to beat a prepopulated multicart...

http://atari-sales.c...ore/multis.html

have fun...len!

[Great Hierophant]

Bryan, on Wed Aug 24, 2011 7:02 PM, said:

The smaller brick is for computer use only. The larger brick can be used with either the drives or the computer.

You can buy brand new keyboards on ebay or from places like Best Electronics or B&C Computervisions. Someone here probably has parts. Is the center contact actuator White, Yellow, or Green?

I will try the small brick with the 800, but it seems weird that the drives require more power than the computer itself, especially one with so many chips. On the other hand, the drives have motors that require higher voltages generally than a system.

Guitarman, on Wed Aug 24, 2011 7:07 PM, said:

Your best bet is to get the APE software and an SIO2PC interface. This allows you to load up disk images on a PC and use the PC as a virtual disk drive. I will also allow you to connect, preferably, the 1050 drive to the PC and write the disk images to actual floppies. You can then use the floppies with the drive connected to the Atari. Here is the links to the APE software and SIO2PC interface.

Atarimax Universal SIO2PC/ProSystem interface

Atari Peripheral Emulator (APE)

Okay, I get the idea. However, I have a true IBM PC with a discrete Diskette Drive Controller. The NEC u765 or Intel 8272A on that card can write FM or MFM data. The drives are Tandon TM-100/2A, which can also write FM or MFM data. I even have a Central Point Software Copy II PC Option Board which boasts being able to write Apple II GCR and Atari FM formats. With double density media, I figured there would have to be some solution that did not involve hardware like an SIO2PC.

[sloopy]

Great Hierophant, on Wed Aug 24, 2011 11:30 PM, said:

Bryan, on Wed Aug 24, 2011 7:02 PM, said:

The smaller brick is for computer use only. The larger brick can be used with either the drives or the computer.

You can buy brand new keyboards on ebay or from places like Best Electronics or B&C Computervisions. Someone here probably has parts. Is the center contact actuator White, Yellow, or Green?

I will try the small brick with the 800, but it seems weird that the drives require more power than the computer itself, especially one with so many chips. On the other hand, the drives have motors that require higher voltages generally than a system.

Guitarman, on Wed Aug 24, 2011 7:07 PM, said:

Your best bet is to get the APE software and an SIO2PC interface. This allows you to load up disk images on a PC and use the PC as a virtual disk drive. I will also allow you to connect, preferably, the 1050 drive to the PC and write the disk images to actual floppies. You can then use the floppies with the drive connected to the Atari. Here is the links to the APE software and SIO2PC interface.

Atarimax Universal SIO2PC/ProSystem interface

Atari Peripheral Emulator (APE)

Okay, I get the idea. However, I have a true IBM PC with a discrete Diskette Drive Controller. The NEC u765 or Intel 8272A on that card can write FM or MFM data. The drives are Tandon TM-100/2A, which can also write FM or MFM data. I even have a Central Point Software Copy II PC Option Board which boasts being able to write Apple II GCR and Atari FM formats. With double density media, I figured there would have to be some solution that did not involve hardware like an SIO2PC.

well, your more then welcome to sit around, and wait while the data is written out to the floppy, then swap the disk into the 1050 and boot.

most people just like the convenience of booting straight from the PC... no floppies at all...

one of the programs to do this (and the only one i have tried), is WriteATR from Hias.

sloopy.

[Great Hierophant]

sloopy, on Wed Aug 24, 2011 11:49 PM, said:

well, your more then welcome to sit around, and wait while the data is written out to the floppy, then swap the disk into the 1050 and boot.

most people just like the convenience of booting straight from the PC... no floppies at all...

one of the programs to do this (and the only one i have tried), is WriteATR from Hias.

sloopy.

That is the type of program I had in mind! Thank god I bought a 1050!

[Bryan]

If you're looking to make a floppy collection, you might also want to try a 10502PC cable which will allow you to use the PC to make Atari disks directly on the 1050 or 810 drive.

[Guitarman]

Bryan, on Thu Aug 25, 2011 11:12 AM, said:

If you're looking to make a floppy collection, you might also want to try a 10502PC cable which will allow you to use the PC to make Atari disks directly on the 1050 or 810 drive.

And, if you're going to do that, just get the AtariMax SIO2PC with APE as it does both disk creation from images to floppy or acts as a virtual drive to the Atari.