How do I load/run a game for Atari 800 XL with 1050 disk drive

[Amusedtoodeath]

I recently found an Atari 800 XL and Atari 1050 disk drive in my attic that I last played when I was 6 or 7 (it's actually my brother's), I believe most of the games are DOS 3 as I have a disk labeled Master Diskette 3. I got a cable that lets me connect it to my TV and everything seems to be in working order however I totally forget how to load and/or run the games (like I said I was 6 or 7 so it been 30 years). I did some research on the Internet but really couldn't find anything that worked, in layman's terms can someone give me instructions on how to do load/run the games. Any help in this matter is much obliged.

[Bryan]

Does the newbie topic cover this? It seems like it comes up a lot.

 

Make sure the drive is set to 1. Most likely it is. There are two ID switches in the back. Turn the drive on.

 

Most games don't use BASIC. To disable BASIC: hold OPTION, turn on computer, release OPTION once the blue screen appears. The disk should boot up.

 

If it's an autoload disk, that's all you need to do. If it comes up in Atari DOS, then use the directory (Index) command to see the contents, and then load the file you want.

 

More info on DOS3:

 

http://www.atarimania.com/documents/atari-8bit-introduction-to-dos-3.pdf

[ryanmercer]

If the disks have been in an attic, where the attic is outside of the insulation envelope... those disks might do little more than turn to dust when you try to use them but it's well worth a shot!

[Amusedtoodeath]

All the disks were in they're envelopes, they are Memorex Double Sided/Double Density disk. I try to explain my issue a little more in depth, and please bare with me, when I turn on the computer (with the disk drive off) a blue screen with "ready" appears. When I type in DOS and hit return, a Self Test screen appears, I ran All Tests and everything came back as being good. When I hit reset I am taken back to the blue "ready" screen but I can't seem to figure out how to get a disk to load. I tried puting a disk in the drive (1050) with the computer already on and typing "run" and/or "load" but when I do this the word "ready" appears again below what I've just typed. If also tried puting a disk, either the Master Disk 3 or a game disk, in the drive prior to turning on the computer but when I do this and turn on the computer I get a boot error. I been reading my Atari DOS 3 Disk Operating Manual (a link was provided in the first reply) which mentions that a Atari Basic cartridge is needed, however is also mentions that if "ready" appears when the computer is turned on Atari Basic is already loaded, so I'm unsure if I need the cartridge or not. I also tried the instructions given in the first reply (by the way, thanks Bryan, also I didn't realize I was putting the post in newbie topic so I'm sorry for that, but if you or anyone can tell be a better topic to place the post I'll repost it, but to be fair I am newbie to the forum) but they don't seem to work either. Once again I'll be much obliged for any help regarding this issue.

[Bryan]

If you have a drive connected and turned on, the computer should try to boot from it:

 

 

or see the 6:30 point of this video:

 

 

If the drive's busy light does not come on and the computer goes right to a READY prompt, then the drive isn't working. The first thing to check is the drive ID switch settings on the back as shown here (both switches should be in the left position):

 

http://www.angelfire.com/80s/j131atari/faq1.htm

http://www.trailingedge.com/atari8/Atari1050og.pdf

 

You don't need a BASIC cartridge with the 800XL because BASIC is built in unless you turn on the computer while holding OPTION. DOS loads before READY appears so if there's no drive activity, you don't have DOS. Anyway, the first order of business is to try and get the drive responding.

 

#1 when you put in a disk and close the door does the busy light come on and go out a few seconds later?

#2 when you turn on the computer, does the busy light come back on?

[Amusedtoodeath]

Quadrunner, thanks a ton for the info, because of it the game now load. I almost had before reading your post I just wasn't giving them enough time to full load, but after reading what you gave me it was a eureka moment. It's been so long since I used it I got use to the instant loading games of modern times. Thanks again.

[Bryan]

Good to hear!

 

"Quadrunner" is an AtariAge ranking based on # of posts.

 

I'm Bryan.

[+bf2k+]

Atari DOS 3 Master disks were notoriously bad even when new in the box. My first 2 brand new 1050's had bad DOS 3 disks in them.

[RJ]

You dont want to use DOS 3 regularly if you get more into this, anyway. It splits disks into "blocks" & sectors which in some cases, when saving programs, can be very inefficient. This ANTIC magazine article excerpt from July 1985 explains it better:

 

ATARI DOS 3.0

DOS 3.0 is the DOS Atari has been shipping with the 1050 disk drive. It supports enhanced density but, unfortunately, will not read DOS 2.0 files directly and vice versa. DOS 3.0 permits conversion from DOS 2.0 files to DOS 3.0 format, but disastrously no provision was made to go the other direction.

Once you converted your DOS 2.0 files to DOS 3.0, you'd never be able to share your programs with an 810 drive owner. Antic published a method to convert back to DOS 2 (January 1985) and there are some public domain utilities around. Check your local users group, Compuserve SIG*Atari, or wait for DOS 2.5.

The DOS 3.0 file management is a more serious flaw. It stores files in "blocks" of 1024 bytes as opposed to the DOS 2 (and compatibles') 128 byte "sectors." This can be wastefully inefficient. If you save a file of 1025 bytes (one block plus one byte), DOS 3 will save it as 2 blocks, wasting 1023 bytes of disk space!

 

This product should be avoided. It's a shame so many newer Atari users have been saddled with it.

Edited February 27, 2015 by RJ

[Rick Dangerous]

This thread was very helpful for me to figure it out with my XEGS last night.

 

For anyone with an XEGS that stumbles upon this thread:

 

-Switches on 1050 to the left, use serial port nearest power plug (not sure if that is necessary)

 

-Start up disk drive, let it do its thing.

 

-Press down option, press power button on console

 

-Blue screen will appear, disk drive will spin, game will boot.

 

Not sure if you can press option from the keyboard as well, but since there is no power button on the keyboard may as well do it all from the console..

[Scott3555]

I'm just now getting back into the Atari XL/XE computers. I've been away for about 20 years. I used to be with a band of pirates while going to college.

 

We never used DOS to load a game. There is a menu program available that reads the directory and you select which game on the disk you want to play from the menu. It is much faster loading than DOS because it is just 3 sectors long. To make a bootable menu disk, we copied sectors one, two, and three from any disk that had the menu program to a blank and then used DOS to copy the new files onto the disk and then DOS was no longer needed to access the disk.

 

My cousin is suppose to be sending me a copy of all my old Atari disk that I gave him twenty years ago and if he does, I'll upload those three sectors or a disk image that has them on it to this board.

[bbking67]

Yeah I don't recall anybody using DOS 3. Most of the free DOS 3 disks that came with drives ended up being reformatted for something else. For most users Atari DOS 2.5 was fine. In my neck of the woods, many people used SmartDOS exclusively--primarily to get true Double Density.

 

Personally I bounced between Atari DOS 2.0s/2.5 and SpartaDOS 3.2. If SpartaDOS was compatible with everything that's all I ever would have used.

 

As for the bootable game loaders, there are many different ones. Most of these have a program that you can run to install it on disks. Some of the boot loaders are incompatible with double density. I have tones of disks with these bootloaders, but I've lost the program used to install them in the first place. The other distinction between the bootloaders is just the way they look. Some use different character modes and look cooler than others. I seem to remember one of the better bootloaders coming from ANALOG magazine.

[Kyle22]

He said 3 sector boot loader, not DOS3.

 

I remember that loader. I wish I still had a copy.

[YB-49]

On 11/20/2015 at 3:18 PM, Kyle22 said:

I remember that loader. I wish I still had a copy.

 

Kyle22 - I am just now getting my Atari 800XL and ST out of the attic after many, many years!  Today I was going thru my 5.25" disks- only to find that 99% of them still work.  I am happy about that!  This morning I ran across a cool bootloader by Keith Ledbetter when I tried out a few of my games disks.  It boots up super-fast and maybe one that does so in just a couple of sectors.  I realize that my message is 4-years after the fact, but let me know if you still need it.  I believe this maybe from one of the Atari magazines.

[marco75]

How do I load and execute a BASIC program from DOS-II v.2.5 disk?

When I boot the disk, I can list the directory contents with A, then *.* or *.BAS.

So I eject the disk, reset to BASIC prompt, then insert and type in

 

LOAD"D1:CHAOS.BAS"

 

I just get 

 

ERROR-      130

 

Which means device not found.

 

I'm using Altirra/x64 3.10 in XL NTSC mode.
 

 

89_jul_a.atr

[Wrathchild]

1 hour ago, marco75 said:

So I eject the disk

Don't do this or you won't be loading the DOS

 

Check how you have emulator configured for Basic, and check this if needed.

If you are using the 400/800 model instead then use the menu option 'File / Attach Special Cartridge / BASIC'.

 

 

 

[Sugarland]

You can't load off the disk if it's ejected.

[bfollowell]

On 2/26/2015 at 2:10 PM, ryanmercer said:

If the disks have been in an attic, where the attic is outside of the insulation envelope... those disks might do little more than turn to dust when you try to use them but it's well worth a shot!

 

Definitely true, but they may be super disks, like mine. My old 8 & 16-bit disks have been moved around from one attic to another over the past thirty+ years, and I've had a success rate above 90% reading all of my old disks. You just never can tell.

 

[kiwilove]

The most likely answer would be - ask your brother?

To get some idea whether they're self booting disks or not?  Hold OPTION down for XLs, with your disk drive already turned on, with a example disk inside, ready to go - that power is plugged into your XL computer, before turning it ON with OPTION held down.

For running BASIC games - you don't hold OPTION down, of course.

 

Can't see anyone keen on actually using DOS 3 - so it probably wasn't used at all, and you'd get some other DOS disk, off one of your mates or any other source.  You need to know the name of the program to run - before typing in RUN "D:FILENAME.EXT" - you can use something shorter like RUN "D:NAME*.* - but kids are more likely into machine code games, than BASIC ones.

 

If you were wowed by playing games on your Atari back in the day - you'll most likely be able to enjoy them all over again?  I think the magic is still there - in the games that stood out?

 

Harvey