toddtmw Posted March 25, 2017 Share Posted March 25, 2017 So, I set up Altirra to run disk IO at the correct speed with the sound effects. Now I am back in 1983. I remember we used to laughingly call the noise it made during loading that wasn't a disk sound the Atari Fart. I understood the read and write sounds, but I never understood what the fart sound was supposed to represent. Does anyone know what that sound meant? IE, what was the disk drive doing when it was making that sound? Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mclaneinc Posted March 25, 2017 Share Posted March 25, 2017 Not sure what you mean, sounds like the head reading a bad sector? That was more of a grinding noise... Ah, I think you mean the noise when DOS was booting with BASIC installed..... Try that in Altirra, its fully authentic in that department.. The only other noise from the Atari I remember is the shrill noise from the 850 driver being ran in DOS.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaybird3rd Posted March 25, 2017 Share Posted March 25, 2017 I believe that the sound you're referring to was meant to approximate a drumroll. You hear it when the computer is "waiting in anticipation" for input from a device, or attempting to poll a device (such as a modem, a printer, etc). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toddtmw Posted March 25, 2017 Author Share Posted March 25, 2017 It is not a sound the actual drive makes, it is a sound the computer speaker makes. Altirra does it perfectly. It sounds like, I don't know how to describe it. When accessing a disk you get beeps for reads and kind of a distorted sound for writes. Then the disk would seem to stop doing anything for a bit and the computer speaker would go FLFLFLFLFLFLFL (It sounded like a fart.) But I never knew what that was supposed to tell me the computer was doing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toddtmw Posted March 25, 2017 Author Share Posted March 25, 2017 I believe that the sound you're referring to was meant to approximate a drumroll. You hear it when the computer is waiting for input from a device. Sure, it kind of sounds like a drumroll too. So, it was waiting perhaps for a disk read head to get where it needed to be or something? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaybird3rd Posted March 25, 2017 Share Posted March 25, 2017 Sure, it kind of sounds like a drumroll too. So, it was waiting perhaps for a disk read head to get where it needed to be or something? It's been a while since I looked into it in detail, but if I'm not mistaken, the drumroll that you usually hear while booting Atari DOS happens when the system attempts to look for either a modem or a printer. It isn't limited only to waiting for the disk drive; for example, if you boot into Atari BASIC with no printer connected and type the command LPRINT "TEST", you'll hear the same drumroll as the system tries to communicate with a printer that isn't there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phaeron Posted March 25, 2017 Share Posted March 25, 2017 The fart happens any time the Atari OS tries to send a command on the SIO bus and nothing responds. Each command causes a short pop and is repeated up to 26 times with a two VBLANK timeout, so the fart sounds at 30Hz for NTSC and 25Hz for PAL. When Atari DOS boots, the momentary farting comes from DOS checking for D2:, a type 1 poll, and then if you're on the XL/XE OS, a type 3 poll. The 850 can answer the type 1 poll to download the R: handler, but I have never heard of any device that supported the type 3 poll. 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toddtmw Posted March 25, 2017 Author Share Posted March 25, 2017 Man, people on this forum know EVERYTHING. The google was clueless. Thanks! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Madi Posted March 25, 2017 Share Posted March 25, 2017 (edited) Sure, it kind of sounds like a drumroll too. So, it was waiting perhaps for a disk read head to get where it needed to be or something? In Altirra, boot to Basic and type something like: 10 LPRINT "TEST" 20 GOTO 10 RUN Be sure to disable the Printer acceleration option from : System > Acceleration > P: (Printer CIO) -- is unchecked You will hear a continuous drum like sound. madi Edit: I just noticed that phaeron had cut the cake. Edited March 25, 2017 by Madi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mclaneinc Posted March 25, 2017 Share Posted March 25, 2017 There's nothing about the Atari at least one person can't answer in here.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mclaneinc Posted March 25, 2017 Share Posted March 25, 2017 In Altirra, boot to Basic and type something like: 10 LPRINT "TEST" 20 GOTO 10 RUN Be sure to disable the Printer acceleration option from : System > Acceleration > P: (Printer CIO) -- is unchecked You will hear a continuous drum like sound. madi Edit: I just noticed that phaeron had cut the cake. You can't trust Phaeron, what does he know (anyway I said DOS makes it (as well) before ) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+kheller2 Posted March 26, 2017 Share Posted March 26, 2017 The fart happens any time the Atari OS tries to send a command on the SIO bus and nothing responds. Each command causes a short pop and is repeated up to 26 times with a two VBLANK timeout, so the fart sounds at 30Hz for NTSC and 25Hz for PAL. When Atari DOS boots, the momentary farting comes from DOS checking for D2:, a type 1 poll, and then if you're on the XL/XE OS, a type 3 poll. The 850 can answer the type 1 poll to download the R: handler, but I have never heard of any device that supported the type 3 poll. What does the 1030 use to download its built in program? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DrVenkman Posted March 26, 2017 Share Posted March 26, 2017 What does the 1030 use to download its built in program? It must be what Avery refers to as a Type 1 poll; I used a 1030 for a couple years as a teenager with my 800. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tuf Posted March 26, 2017 Share Posted March 26, 2017 How about that CLOAD sound - that sucker was grating! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mclaneinc Posted March 26, 2017 Share Posted March 26, 2017 Ha ha, probably the reason many of us spent so much on a disk drive so quickly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bugbiter Posted March 26, 2017 Share Posted March 26, 2017 I thought the fart sound even came up everytime you switch on your 600/800 Xl without anything attached... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyle22 Posted March 26, 2017 Share Posted March 26, 2017 It does because it's attempting to boot a non existent drive. Device time out error 138. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phaeron Posted March 26, 2017 Share Posted March 26, 2017 It must be what Avery refers to as a Type 1 poll; I used a 1030 for a couple years as a teenager with my 800. I believe the 1030 only supports a type 0 poll (emulated D1: disk boot with delay). The 850 supports both type 0 and type 1, and the latter is how it bootstraps the R: handler after DOS boots. It's been a while since I connected the 1030 but I don't think it auto-loads in the latter situation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drummerboy Posted March 27, 2017 Share Posted March 27, 2017 The thing i always wondering, is that "beep beep beep...." sound when the computer are loading from disk drive. Its interesting and unique feature in the Atari 8Bit computers. Other curious Atari 8Bit feature, is when you dont touch anything in the machine, and after some minutes, the screen change continusly colors, you know, i think that is like the first "screensaver". Right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Stephen Posted March 27, 2017 Share Posted March 27, 2017 The thing i always wondering, is that "beep beep beep...." sound when the computer are loading from disk drive. Its interesting and unique feature in the Atari 8Bit computers. Other curious Atari 8Bit feature, is when you dont touch anything in the machine, and after some minutes, the screen change continusly colors, you know, i think that is like the first "screensaver". Right? Technically, it borrowed that feature from most 2600 games in attract mode. The SIO noises were cool, but I found them rather annoying after a time. Very distinctive part of our machine though. I am glad the modern parallel fast devices are silent though Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drummerboy Posted March 27, 2017 Share Posted March 27, 2017 Technically, it borrowed that feature from most 2600 games in attract mode. The SIO noises were cool, but I found them rather annoying after a time. Very distinctive part of our machine though. I am glad the modern parallel fast devices are silent though Yeah, i saw that feature in the Atari 2600. About the SIO noises i found as interesting thing, talking about real Disk Drive with real diskettes (of course), because this can work to monitoring the Disk Drive is working and loading. You know, i came from Commodore world, and sometimes the Disk Drive seems like are working, the Disk Drive light activity is working, but maybe the load was an "sleeping" state; so if on Commodore would have had a feature like SIO noises, you can know if just the load time goes to sleep. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mclaneinc Posted March 27, 2017 Share Posted March 27, 2017 Come on guys, there was nothing 'cooler' than when a Happy 1050 hit warp speed I still love to hear it kick in on menu's these days.. I always linked it to Star Trek films when the Enterprise went from standing to warp speed with all the speed trails... Yeah, I have a vivid imagination 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toddtmw Posted March 27, 2017 Author Share Posted March 27, 2017 Come on guys, there was nothing 'cooler' than when a Happy 1050 hit warp speed I still love to hear it kick in on menu's these days.. I always linked it to Star Trek films when the Enterprise went from standing to warp speed with all the speed trails... Yeah, I have a vivid imagination My neighbor's 810 in warp speed was a great experience to listen to. The Atari 810, was an amazing floppy drive. I am convinced that if given enough time, it could format a paper plate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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