_The Doctor__ Posted June 4, 2016 Author Share Posted June 4, 2016 Scouter for Gary Lapointe part 1 and part 2 problem fixed and ready for next stage of developement both disk missing coating from Mylar..... managed to get all of one and most of the other! scouter1.atr disk had 2 bad sectors and I think I recovered them scouter2.atr disk had many bad sectors I recovered all but one with a bad crc at around 336 or so 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+MrFish Posted June 4, 2016 Share Posted June 4, 2016 Scouter looks pretty cool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atari8bitCarts Posted June 5, 2016 Share Posted June 5, 2016 Many of the files I am looking thru and some of the correspondence shows a large degree of collaboration on a multitude of titles... remember Roklan was not just a developer but also was poised to be the largest publisher of titles before Motorola laid waste to everything (I bet you they realized they shot themselves in the foot a couple years afterwards)... I stumbled on these unreleased titles via Roklan. I thought it was strange that they wanted to distribute Parker Broker titles. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mclaneinc Posted June 5, 2016 Share Posted June 5, 2016 Nice carts... Doing amazing work _Doc_ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mclaneinc Posted June 5, 2016 Share Posted June 5, 2016 (edited) Yes... frogs.png pond.png Hi MrFish, I know what program you are using in the screen shots and I know its supposed to be Micropainter format, did you load the raw files into MP and then save them out with the mic extension / convert them or did you use another program? Thanks PS, talking about the original files not the PNG's you posted Edited June 5, 2016 by Mclaneinc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+MrFish Posted June 5, 2016 Share Posted June 5, 2016 (edited) I just extracted the raw files from the ATR to my desktop, added the *.mic extension to each file, and then opened them directly in graph2font. Edited June 5, 2016 by MrFish Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mclaneinc Posted June 5, 2016 Share Posted June 5, 2016 I just extracted the raw files from the ATR to my desktop, added the *.mic extension to each file, and then opened them directly in graph2font. Yup, had a dud bubble pic, froga1 worked fine..Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_The Doctor__ Posted June 7, 2016 Author Share Posted June 7, 2016 (edited) I stumbled on these unreleased titles via Roklan. I thought it was strange that they wanted to distribute Parker Broker titles. roklan_qbert1.jpgroklan_supercobra1.jpgroklan_supoercobra2.jpg Yep those are the cartridges, just as they should be... luck would have it I may be able to post something about them... Please post dumps of the roms. It's usually a good sign when they are actually in the case with a label.... If they were just the proms without the pcb or the case it would normally be a test... if it's prom and pcb it's something darn near complete or complete... when they are cased and labeled they are usually good to go.... that being said... sometimes it was simply an evalutation copy that would be cased.... Good news is I have seen the disks for those cartridges so seeing them is something nice... I also have a handful of blank parker brother's pcb... I will look for the Super Cobra disks next since I remember seeing stuff on that within the last year or so... Edited June 7, 2016 by _The Doctor__ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tschak909 Posted June 9, 2016 Share Posted June 9, 2016 @TheDoctor, were you affiliated with Roklan? If so, how? -Thom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_The Doctor__ Posted April 19, 2017 Author Share Posted April 19, 2017 I just finished reconstruction on this Castle Hastle disk... it may have some errors... the screaching from the drive was unbearable...the coating is on the head so this is what you get... Castle Hastle A as of 4-18-83... files for cartridge... I will look if there is more.... cleaning one VERY dirty drive head.... CASLHASL.ATR 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+mytek Posted April 19, 2017 Share Posted April 19, 2017 @TheDoctor, were you affiliated with Roklan? If so, how? -Thom Yes curious minds would like to know. Doc great stuff you are doing in this recovery process, and I'm amazed that so much can be extracted from disks that are leaving behind their contents on the drive heads. - Michael Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lbaeza Posted April 19, 2017 Share Posted April 19, 2017 Hi As a Roklan games fan, yes, I'd like to know more about this company. Roklan games were great, not in terms of graphics and sound effects, but in the way they immersed me on a completely different alien world. Journey to the Planets is my favorite Roklan game. Regards, Louis BQ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_The Doctor__ Posted April 19, 2017 Author Share Posted April 19, 2017 (edited) Every once in a while it happens a disk is just that far gone. Luckily I got to it before there would be no hope at all! All media is not created equal, all disks need to be archived before too long. We are indeed lucky most of us are getting to them before their contents are lost forever. I am just taking a quick look thru and attacking some of the worst as I figured they might not make it. I am glad I revisited this. I get a strange sense of satisfaction when I succeed. I really like the interest in the work. as to the other, I am working in the confines that I promised all to many years ago.. While I have been fortunate in my affiliations. Here's hoping that in some small way I have helped answer questions and connect people getting some answers or treasures that might otherwise be forever lost to time. this proves the theory 'it never hurts to try' the squiggle to the right of the overlay that the blue arrow points to is damaged area.. enough material existed to extract the data Edited April 19, 2017 by _The Doctor__ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tschak909 Posted April 19, 2017 Share Posted April 19, 2017 I've mentioned it before, and people look at me crazy, but... we WILL have to start BAKING disks in ovens before too long, to counteract moisture leeching into the adhesive on the disk substrate. I know this, because I've had to do this to studio stem tapes for professional audio recording, as well as restoring old masters for reference. The adhesives used on floppy disks are similar enough that this will become a problem. If anyone wants me to describe the why and the process, just ask. -Thom 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_The Doctor__ Posted April 19, 2017 Author Share Posted April 19, 2017 (edited) As I fully understand why it happens, I normally process disks through desiccant to remove moisture.. even after low temperature 'baking' a disk needs to be moved to fresh media and archived in other forms, be it hard drive or solid state media. Magnetic media can naturally lose it's patterns over time (some call it bit rot), and of course disks improperly stored or defect of manufacture does not help. Some disks look fresh as the day they were born and the pattern is degraded less than a few percent, other disks have that tell tale haze about them, or that rusty dusty look... or in the case of the above disk... what appears to be material literally falling off the disk. Very pleased at the resulting image. I am moving on to the next disk. It is imperative that the community and collectors alike image their disks. I am pretty sure we have discussed why and how at some length, it's on an Atari Age thread somewhere It also helps to have brand new sealed floppies of decent manufacture to write images to. Of which being blessed to have a few is nice. Edited April 19, 2017 by _The Doctor__ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mclaneinc Posted April 20, 2017 Share Posted April 20, 2017 Thanks to you Doc and all the others going to extreme lengths to preserve software, I just wish I could convince those with ultra rare bits to allow them to be preserved because eventually all these people will have is totally destroyed media that will simply be eye candy.. Save it while it still works! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_The Doctor__ Posted April 20, 2017 Author Share Posted April 20, 2017 (edited) It won't even be eye candy, knowing they posses flakes/dust in a box will simply make them look silly, knowing that most shrink wrapping was either added by retailers or re wrapped to add identifiers or security tags/devices even more so.... preservation means backing it up and packing the original with desiccant in the box and re sealing it. You can use a new media copy and slide it in the original floppy. That will get you another 30 or so years. The value is in the pack ins and condition of the box manuals labels etc, Edited April 20, 2017 by _The Doctor__ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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