bbking67 Posted June 21, 2013 Share Posted June 21, 2013 My first floppy was an Indus GT. Loved it and I owned 3 drives (one was inferior quality--probably a later build). Best looking drive and you really get used to the track counter. However syncro-mesh was not supported by anything mainstream (until SDX). In later years I think the modded 1050 was indeed superior from a practicality perspective (U.S. Doubler and/or Happy). But the Indus looked cool, was very reliable (other than the power supply). The biggest disappointment for me was the upgrades that never got delivered--total vapourware. It's cool to see folks doing it now... in those days I got sucked in by vapourware on sooo many occasions. 1450XLD and 1090 expansion for example. Certainly in the early days of double density drives, a Rana or Indus was the way to go... but I got some 1050's cheap later on and they became the primary floppy of choice for me. If I had to do it all again I'd have started life with a 1050 and saved the extra $150 or so that the Indus cost. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bryan Posted June 21, 2013 Share Posted June 21, 2013 Heck, I've got a nice Indus with software/manuals in the case I'd sell for $100 if anyone's interested. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faicuai Posted June 21, 2013 Share Posted June 21, 2013 (...) All the problems with voiding warranty, reliability, noise, heat, track zero sensors, are still there. You still can't run a Happy 1050 in a dust cover unless you want it to melt. It's OK to make a value judgement based on your own needs (...) Precisely. Happy is a basically a HW/SW modification that takes the 1050 beyond its capabilities... without solving anything of the above... But that takes this whole conversation out of the {Drive vs. Drive} context into the { [Drive+Hack] vs. [Drive] } context. In the second context, even though the range of "mods/hacks" for the Indus is certainly more limited, it turns out that the raw-power/capabilities to handle such mods is ALREADY there, but without the poorer quality / compromised design of the 1050... That is, you have a silent, more power efficient drive, smaller footprint, "androgenous" / neutral look (sleek, "powder-coat" dark finish on a metallic case, which goes equally well with "XL" and "JM" families), plus a Z80-based processor, 2KB of base ram, on-board expansion port/pin-out for 64KB RAM-card drop-in, and an EPROM chip to play / boot (at least in my #2 unit). Which takes us to the next (and present) point... (NOTE: I own both 1050 and IndusGT drives) (...) Of course all of this is academic now. SIO2USB makes everything else including the Indus and Happy drives obsolete. Bingo. So once we transcend the actual use / need of a "hack" (Happy), and all we are left is the actual drive HW and its inherent design, capabilities, and longevity (which is what mostly would care in the presence of a Nuxx/SD drive, for instance)... which unit (1050 or IndusGT) would anyone here expect to command the highest "collector" value? The answer is pretty simple, though. EDIT: Here's a little snapshot of RWTEST results of an otherwise completely stock IndusGT, from [ 800/Incognito + SDX 4.46]. I wonder how this would look if SDX Indus driver effectively supported TrackBuffering (via RamCharger)... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Larry Posted June 22, 2013 Share Posted June 22, 2013 For a collector, it might be worth $100+, but as a user, I got a couple free (no case or extra software) and paid a whopping $35 for one several years ago. What do I think? Nice drive, but as Metalguy says, the Happy is a much more useful package (unless you are into CP/M). But if you want to make the Indus a bit more useful (arguably so, at least), check the conversion done several years ago by MrMartian: http://atariage.com/..._ indus doubler I put the eprom in one of my Indus, and it works great. -Larry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faicuai Posted June 22, 2013 Share Posted June 22, 2013 (...) But if you want to make the Indus a bit more useful (arguably so, at least), check the conversion done several years ago by MrMartian: http://atariage.com/..._ indus doubler I put the eprom in one of my Indus, and it works great. -Larry I tried this ROM some time ago (UV-lights and high-voltage EPROM programmer needed). It turns out that the IndusGT does not need this ROM to run at higher speed (not even Synchromesh). A completely stock IndusGT (my units have ROM 1.2) and SDX will do it (putting aside any buffering SDX's Indus driver may be doing, on its own). In my snapshot (which can be seen very clearly on the screen), the stock IndusGT shows read throughput above 52Kbps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mathy Posted June 23, 2013 Share Posted June 23, 2013 Hello guys (m/f) If you want to get rid of the heat inside the 1050, replace the 7805 and the 7812 with the TracoPower TSRN 1-2450 and TSRN 1-24120 respectively. There are cheaper versions but I haven't heard from Atreju which part numbers these have. You only need to bend the pins back a bit, as these are a bit to much to the front of the convertors. Sincerely Mathy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Larry Posted June 23, 2013 Share Posted June 23, 2013 Nice tip, but that would mean I'd have to use SDX... But anyway, I use a floppy about a half-dozen times a year -- APE does everything that I need except the occasional read/write to a real floppy. -Larry I tried this ROM some time ago (UV-lights and high-voltage EPROM programmer needed). It turns out that the IndusGT does not need this ROM to run at higher speed (not even Synchromesh). A completely stock IndusGT (my units have ROM 1.2) and SDX will do it (putting aside any buffering SDX's Indus driver may be doing, on its own). In my snapshot (which can be seen very clearly on the screen), the stock IndusGT shows read throughput above 52Kbps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blues76 Posted June 24, 2013 Share Posted June 24, 2013 I don't use the one I have, so maybe I will sell it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MEtalGuy66 Posted June 24, 2013 Share Posted June 24, 2013 The Happy 1050 is a "zero-wire" Plug in board that replaces the CPU, OS, and SRAM in the 1050 with a 6502, 32k of SRAM, and 8k of firmware (Eprom). Happy computers, a commercial company, sold thousands of them and it was/is well supported by alot of developers. It's hardly a "hack".. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bikerbob Posted May 25, 2016 Share Posted May 25, 2016 Does the Indus GT use the same PS as the 1050 ( I have lots of those) Also anyone know any troubleshooting steps to follow for a GT not reading? I have a chance to get 2.. one does not read. James Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bryan Posted May 25, 2016 Share Posted May 25, 2016 Does the Indus GT use the same PS as the 1050 ( I have lots of those) Also anyone know any troubleshooting steps to follow for a GT not reading? I have a chance to get 2.. one does not read. James NO NO NO! The Indus GT uses DC, not AC. It will run off a 5200 supply, though. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bikerbob Posted May 25, 2016 Share Posted May 25, 2016 OK, and If I dont have a 5200 supply? what are the specs of the 5200 supply? James Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AtariGeezer Posted May 25, 2016 Share Posted May 25, 2016 OK, and If I dont have a 5200 supply? what are the specs of the 5200 supply? James http://atariage.com/forums/topic/206604-indus-gt-power-supply/?do=findComment&comment=2660460 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+slx Posted May 25, 2016 Share Posted May 25, 2016 Some external 3,5" HD enclosures have PSUs suitable for the Indus. Gesendet von meinem iPhone mit Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bryan Posted May 25, 2016 Share Posted May 25, 2016 You should be able to find a 12V 2A supply pretty easily. I'd hit up some thrift stores and rummage through their boxes of cables and crap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bikerbob Posted May 25, 2016 Share Posted May 25, 2016 Yeah, I can use those power bricks they sell for external drives etc.. and just use the 12v output. James Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AX_Master Posted November 29, 2020 Share Posted November 29, 2020 I had two Indus GT disk drives in the 1980s. They were really great. I did a lot of research before I bought a disk drive because they were expensive and I was in elementary school. As I recall the first one we bought was $400 in 1983. Prior to that we had an Atari 400 with a 410 recorder and we upgraded to an 800XL and Indus GT. I got a second one around 1986. it was a very fast disk drive for the time. It was a beautiful and nice piece of equipment. I liked that it supported all three densities: single, medium, and double. I used DOS XL and Atari DOS with it. I used to buy single sided floppies and notch them with a single hole punch so that I could use them double sided. They were nicest one on the market in the 80s and much less common than an Atari 810 or 1050, so I am not surprised they are expensive for collectors. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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