+therealbountybob Posted March 13, 2017 Share Posted March 13, 2017 To be clear have you tried each drive individually with no other devices or SIO cables connected? So that's 3 drives x 3 cables = 9 tests? Are the floppies definitely boot disks? - have you tried an original DOS disk / game? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starman Posted March 13, 2017 Author Share Posted March 13, 2017 Bob, The problem was solved. The belts came off under the drive mechanism. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mclaneinc Posted March 14, 2017 Share Posted March 14, 2017 You said you will archive which is great, think about sharing anything you think is rare so it gets saved in multiple places. Glad it all works.. Paul.. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starman Posted March 14, 2017 Author Share Posted March 14, 2017 I don't mind archiving anything, I just don't want it to be redundant. After 30 years, I can't imagine I have anything that hasn't been unearthed already. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mclaneinc Posted March 14, 2017 Share Posted March 14, 2017 You never know Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bryan Posted March 14, 2017 Share Posted March 14, 2017 I know there's been a move to create pure versions of cracked software without the various pirate/BBS loaders but it would also be cool to extract all the loaders into compilation disks where they can be seen/preserved. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_The Doctor__ Posted March 15, 2017 Share Posted March 15, 2017 (edited) You never know what lurks on a disk.... countless pieces of information saved and forgotten... oh that's just my old terminal program disk... but.... there is a text file you captured with a fix no one remembers or there is a game that no one has and you downloaded it, and look there is a complete painstaking typed manual with hints for a game! Why heck look at that I forgot I had the POS software on this disk, oh my a custom config/batch system with boot loader! These disks are often skip forgotten or trashed.... heck even some capture buffer info on hard drives and interfaces etc... all kinds of very useful things hide on these disks.... I for one chose carefully what I downloaded saved and captured on floppies back then... they were a commodity and I didn't waste my money to put a story about pocket lint consistency on them... now once I had a hard drive all that kind of stuff happened... Bottom line old disks keep getting skipped and lots of time it's valuable software or information hiding on that disk! _The Doctor__ Edited March 15, 2017 by _The Doctor__ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starman Posted March 15, 2017 Author Share Posted March 15, 2017 After 30 years, I know where the text files are My goal with these discs is to back them up as images to preserve them as they are, and then go through them to weed out the redundant files (because...everyone needs 9 copies of the same version of Preppie II). Is there some kind of app/game database for the Atari 800 series? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bryan Posted March 15, 2017 Share Posted March 15, 2017 Well, there's atarionline.pl and www.atarimania.com where you can search archived software. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starman Posted March 15, 2017 Author Share Posted March 15, 2017 I just looked at atarimania.com. Very impressed. Also, I think they have everything Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_The Doctor__ Posted March 16, 2017 Share Posted March 16, 2017 (edited) Atarimania is constantly looking for missing and incomplete entries Archive.org is also on the look out for every shred that they can find.... stop selling yourself short, it may seem like an over whelming amount of items on those sites, but I have almost always found that everyone eventually find that one more thing that was missing or wanted but we couldn't name it till we saw it again! Edited March 16, 2017 by _The Doctor__ 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gunstar Posted March 17, 2017 Share Posted March 17, 2017 kheller2, If it helps you, the S/Ns on the drives are: 83A FF 41279 055 83A FF 44911 075 And just to give a project update - I ordered an SIO2PC (USB) from Atarimax. My goal is to archive everything in .ATR images first, then go through them and remove the redundant files. For example: I have a copy of Stealth and Landscape. I consider those to be different, but I think I have five copies of the same binary of Montezuma's Revenge. I'd never seen or heard of the Landscape version of Stealth! I just downloaded it from Atarimania. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyle22 Posted March 19, 2017 Share Posted March 19, 2017 I'd never seen or heard of the Landscape version of Stealth! I just downloaded it from Atarimania. Thanks! I think I have only seen the Landscape version. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starman Posted March 20, 2017 Author Share Posted March 20, 2017 It's been a week and no word on my SIO2PC from Atarimax. How long does it take for them to ship something? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DrVenkman Posted March 20, 2017 Share Posted March 20, 2017 It's been a week and no word on my SIO2PC from Atarimax. How long does it take for them to ship something? I'm pretty sure Steve Tucker (the guy who basically *is* "AtariMax") has a day job or some kind of life separate from supporting Atari nerds like us. So I'm guessing stuff like that, and the repro OSS carts he makes and sells, are probably built to order or in very small batches so he doesn't have too much cash tied up in hardware. I've had orders from him ship a couple days after I placed the order, and recently one took about two weeks to ship. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starman Posted March 21, 2017 Author Share Posted March 21, 2017 Gotcha. Thanks for the info. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Allan Posted March 21, 2017 Share Posted March 21, 2017 I just looked at atarimania.com. Very impressed. Also, I think they have everything Not even close. Allan 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Allan Posted March 21, 2017 Share Posted March 21, 2017 Atarimania is constantly looking for missing and incomplete entries Archive.org is also on the look out for every shred that they can find.... stop selling yourself short, it may seem like an over whelming amount of items on those sites, but I have almost always found that everyone eventually find that one more thing that was missing or wanted but we couldn't name it till we saw it again! There are hundreds of missing software, manuals, etc. Allan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zzip Posted March 21, 2017 Share Posted March 21, 2017 Hi all, I've had a collection of about 300 Atari 800 floppies for about 30+ years. As of last year, they were fine. All of them. Today, I decided to check them all out so that I can back them up with SIO2PC. When I booted my 800XL with the disk in one of my 1050s, all I got was "BOOT ERROR". Another floppy - BOOT ERROR. Another 1050 drive - BOOT ERROR. My Spartan Archiver 810 drive - BOOT ERROR. I literally tested about 100 floppies hoping one of them would work. Heads are clean on all floppy drives. The problem I have is that I don't know how to tell if all three drives went bad or if all my floppies went bad. I realize floppies go bad, but I have a bunch of PC and ST floppies that still work after 30 years. Statistically, I'd think that some of those floppies should work. They've always been kept in a temp. controlled area, away from dust (in a container). So, here's the thing - I don't want to get an SIO2PC if the floppies are shot. There's really no point, and it's a waste of money. Is there some way to get a clean floppy with an OS on it to test? All my Atari Master Floppies don't work, both version 2 and version 3. If all this data is gone, I'll be upset because there may be things (games) that the community doesn't have. Also, my old BBS is on one of the floppies and there's some interesting personal stuff on there I'd like to back up. Also, the game I sent to the Star Wars Fan Club that won the Creativity Contest is on one of the floppies and that's giving me an error as well. EDIT: I should mention that I swapped the IO cable. Could this be a problem with the 800XL? I had a similar experience. 30 year old Atari disks that worked fine just a couple of years ago, no longer work now. I didn't change how they were stored or anything. Maybe we're running up against the limits of how long these things can last? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mclaneinc Posted March 21, 2017 Share Posted March 21, 2017 Not even close. Allan Been trying for YEARS to get Atari Frog to allow download sets or packs rather than this one at a time thing, a few years back he said he would look at it as a possibility but then nothing. Many years ago I tried 'mirroring the site but its protected from it... Such a shame as I don't have the time or patience to get it all by hand. Also a shame about the vast amount of missing software, I bet it IS out there but people just don't want to let it be archived even though they will still own this mega rare game etc.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starman Posted March 21, 2017 Author Share Posted March 21, 2017 Is there a "top 20" of things that people want? It would be very time consuming for me to go through all these floppies and check each binary one at a time against what's on AM. I looked last night and found nothing related to that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starman Posted March 28, 2017 Author Share Posted March 28, 2017 (edited) Well, I'm still waiting on the SIO2PC but for funzies I decided to start going through the floppies I have and seeing if they correspond with what's on atarimania. I came across a floppy with a handwritten label "Tunnelworld (NOTE: name to be changed to 'Crusade')" with an Artworx label. No information about this is anywhere on the 'net. Anyone know what this might be? EDIT: And no, I'm not looking at these floppies in a drive until the SIO2PC gets here. Edited March 28, 2017 by Starman 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starman Posted March 29, 2017 Author Share Posted March 29, 2017 My SIO2PC is on its way! Steve said that it was backordered. Ok, then, it should be here Saturday, and I'll get on archiving these disks. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_The Doctor__ Posted April 6, 2017 Share Posted April 6, 2017 (edited) from artworx the title... space crusade: tunnel world sure sounds about right, that would be an excellent find. don't think I've seen it hiding anywhere. maybe they were the tunnels of Armageddon! it could be a space trap though Edited April 6, 2017 by _The Doctor__ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_The Doctor__ Posted May 10, 2017 Share Posted May 10, 2017 Hey Mr. Starman how's it going? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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