New to me Atari 800

[mozartpc27]

Been away from this project for a bit - busy with work - but I am trying to get back on it.

 

So, I would like to replace the top piece of the frame on my working 800XL with the top piece from my non-working one (the top piece and keyboard are in much better shape on the non-working one).

 

However, when I open up the working one, I notice it has two wires - one blue and one black - attached to the top frame that the non-working one does not have. The black one is soldered to a piece of the main board, and the blue one is soldered to another piece of the top frame. I guess, looking at it, I would only have to unsolder one point, and re-solder it on to the working model

 

It's not clear to me what these two wires are even doing.

 

So, can I switch the top frames and keyboards WITHOUT moving those wires?

 

Working model:

 

 

Non-working model:

 

 

I have actually done the swap - did it before I posted it - but, since I made the post anyway, what is the purpose of the blue and black wires, and were their absences the reason my other model didn't work?

 

[Timothy Kline]

My best guess is that they act as part of a grounding system in the case of specific types of XL keyboards, since not all of my 800XLs has that wire configuration but they all work in spite of the absence.

 

--Tim

[+DrVenkman]

Those wires ground the metal cartridge doors to prevent any static, and (minimally) help prevent any leaking RF. I have one 800XL with them and another without. They're inconsequential.

[mozartpc27]

So, in furtherance of this project, I finally decided, on Saturday, to take the plunge and buy an Atari 1050 that I'd had my eye on at my local retro shop. Came with a nice box, figured everything would be cool.

 

Well, I opened up the box, and... there was a disk drive, a starting guide, a warranty card... and that's it. No power adapter. No connector cable. No disk with the DOS.

 

Fortunately, thanks to prior purchases, I already have a power adapter AND a connector cable. But, without the DOS disk, it appears I can't do anything.

 

So, can anyone on here help me out in getting the initial DOS 2.5 disk? Anyone have a copy they'd be willing to mail to me? Obviously, I'll need to go back to my retro shop and complain... but I still want the drive, and I want it to work. I imagine there are ways to write working programs on to disks using a PC, as I can do with my Commodore... but it would appear I can't do anything without the DOS. Help!

Edited July 31, 2016 by mozartpc27

[kogden]

So, can anyone on here help me out in getting the initial DOS 2.5 disk? Anyone have a copy they'd be willing to mail to me? Obviously, I'll need to go back to my retro shop and complain... but I still want the drive, and I want it to work. I imagine there are ways to write working programs on to disks using a PC, as I can do with my Commodore... but it would appear I can't do anything without the DOS. Help!

 

You can still run most games and such but you'll need DOS to manipulate files and save/load from BASIC. There's a couple ways to tackle this.

 

1.) If you can solder and have a spare SIO cable to butcher you can build an SIO2PC USB adapter. This will let you run drive emulation software on the PC in tandem with your real 1050. You can then run disk copier software to make a real DOS disk from a disk image. This would cost anywhere from $5-$15 for an FTDI FT232RL breakout board and $5-$10 for an SIO cable.

 

2.) You can buy a pre-made SIO2PC adapter built into an SIO connector for like $30ish. SIO2SD device could be used for this as well.

 

3.) Someone can send you a DOS disk. If you are in the US, I'd be more than happy to do this if you send me some blank floppies and return postage. I have an SIO2PC interface, a 1050 Happy drive and a huge library of software. I'm out of blanks right now though.

 

You'll really want an SIO2PC interface eventually, it allows you to use a PC or Mac to emulate all manner of Atari peripherals.

[mozartpc27]

kogden, I'll send you a PM.

[mozartpc27]

Hi All,

 

So, kogden had generously agreed to copy some necessary files on to 5.25" floppies for me so I could finally test out my Atari 1050 drive. I sent some floppies, we communicated, he was getting ready to send them back to me, and, since August 21st, has disappeared from the forums entirely. I hope he's OK, I can only imagine he's busy (I am thoroughly confident he is not trying to scheme me out of 3 5.25" disks).

 

Nevertheless, I'd like to get on with testing my drive already, so is there any other generous forum user who might be willing to help me?

[mozartpc27]

Anybody? Mostly I need the disk drive OS (2.5 I guess), and it would be nice to have a disk with some program to test the drive.

[mozartpc27]

Nobody willing to help a brother out, eh?

[+Stephen]

Nobody willing to help a brother out, eh?

Where are you located?

[Tillek]

Where are you located?

Yeah... It might be a bit more helpful if you told people where you are. (In my case, I live near Stephen so if you're in NE Ohio, you're covered... Otherwise, hopefully someone else will be nearby who could help.

[mozartpc27]

I am in SE PA. But I can mail 2-3 disks anywhere in the good ole USA, I think it cost less than $3 last time, including the padded envelope I bought to send them.

[mozartpc27]

So, can anybody help me out on this? Again, live near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. But of course I will mail the disks anywhere.

[Tillek]

So, can anybody help me out on this? Again, live near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. But of course I will mail the disks anywhere.

Yeah.... go ahead and PM me what you need. Finally got the 1200xl set up on the new desk arrangement so I can handle that for you.