DOSXL or other enhanced DOS 5.25" single density?

[spinnaker15136]

Well I got my 38 year old Atari 810 up and running. Which I understand is somewhat of a miracle being it is one of the orginal drives.

 

Well it sort of works. Not all my disks are bootable. The original DOS works just fine along with a number of games. But I have 2 DOSXL copies. One boots sort of. The other seems to boot but when I do a DIR, I get garbage. And the drive sounds like it is reading a bad sector.

 

 

So I am not sure if I have a bunch of bad disks or I still have an issue with this drive.

 

Any place I can a copy of DOSXL or similar on single density 5.25"? Is it legal for someone to send me a copy? I of course will cover costs. I am in the US (Pittsburgh, PA).

[_The Doctor__]

the 810's are single density drives, any double or enhanced density disks are not going to be happy in those drives

[+DrVenkman]

As _The Doctor_ says, you’ll need single-density disks only with your 810.

 

Do you have an SIO2PC device of any kind? If so you can download ATR files of pretty much anything you want or need from various threads here at AtariAge, the collection at AtariMania, the Pigwa FTP site, the Mushca collection, or the Internet Archive. Then just use a sector copier to write clean disks to your 810 and see if they boot.

 

That would let you test the 810 formatting as well as ordinary read/write performance.

[spinnaker15136]

the 810's are single density drives, any double or enhanced density disks are not going to be happy in those drives

 

 

Show me where I am asking for a double density disk in my post.

 

Unless everyone has enhanced density? A single density disk can't be formatted on an enhanced density?

Edited April 26, 2019 by spinnaker15136

[spinnaker15136]

As _The Doctor_ says, you’ll need single-density disks only with your 810.

 

Do you have an SIO2PC device of any kind? If so you can download ATR files of pretty much anything you want or need from various threads here at AtariAge, the collection at AtariMania, the Pigwa FTP site, the Mushca collection, or the Internet Archive. Then just use a sector copier to write clean disks to your 810 and see if they boot.

 

That would let you test the 810 formatting as well as ordinary read/write performance.

 

 

I never asked for a double density disk. I do not have an SIO2PC. I have seen them for around $60. Can I find cheaper? What are mu other options? Can I get on of the SD Memory drives and load it on there first with my PC?

 

I still need to try formatting. I have a few blank disks. I will try later.

 

I might need to pick up more but only double density seem to be available these days. Please remind me. Can a double density floppy disk be formatted single density? I believe so but can't remeber for sure.

Edited April 26, 2019 by spinnaker15136

[Rybags]

The Dos you choose should reflect your computer's capability as well as the storage device.

 

If you have lots of RAM then it might be worthwhile looking into SpartaDos.

 

Even if you only have 64K, the patched "DOS 2.5XL" is a worthwhile choice as it'll work fine with the SD drive but uses the Ram under the OS to store MEM.SAV and DUP.SYS which means you can use the Dos menu without program loss and without the annoying memory save/restore delays.

[spinnaker15136]

The Dos you choose should reflect your computer's capability as well as the storage device.

 

If you have lots of RAM then it might be worthwhile looking into SpartaDos.

 

Even if you only have 64K, the patched "DOS 2.5XL" is a worthwhile choice as it'll work fine with the SD drive but uses the Ram under the OS to store MEM.SAV and DUP.SYS which means you can use the Dos menu without program loss and without the annoying memory save/restore delays.

 

 

Currently only have 32K. RAM was really expensive back in the day. It is an Atari 800 BTW.

[6BQ5]

the 810's are single density drives, any double or enhanced density disks are not going to be happy in those drives

Why can’t a double density disk be used in the 810 drive? Is there something about the magnetic and/or the magnetic encoding that prevents usage? Example : I read something about high density disks having a different composition that requires a stronger magnetic flux. Our drives aren’t “strong” enough” to write very well to those disks.

[Rybags]

The reference to double density not working would be to Atari 256 byte per sector disks.

 

Double density media, ie floppies intended for 720K format should be fine on any Atari drive. The high density disks intended for 1.2 Meg format aren't suitable since the magnetic media coating is thinner and doesn't retain data well when used on lower capacity drives.

[+DrVenkman]

I never asked for a double density disk.

Your use of the word “enhanced” in the title, in connection with Atari floppy disks, generally indicates 130K 1050 Enhanced Density or 180K double-density disks.

[spinnaker15136]

Your use of the word “enhanced” in the title, in connection with Atari floppy disks, generally indicates 130K 1050 Enhanced Density or 180K double-density disks.

 

 

It was meant as a DOS plus / advanced DOS. I.E. not the out of box Atari DOS. The post clearly asks for single density. Sorry for the confusion.

 

So what are my options other than SIO2PC? Can files be loaded on SD memory by a PC? Then use din one of the various SD memory drives for the Atari?

[spinnaker15136]

Why can’t a double density disk be used in the 810 drive? Is there something about the magnetic and/or the magnetic encoding that prevents usage? Example : I read something about high density disks having a different composition that requires a stronger magnetic flux. Our drives aren’t “strong” enough” to write very well to those disks.

 

 

The confusion was my use of the word "enhanced" . As long as the disk is formatted single density, it should be able to be used in the 810.

Edited April 26, 2019 by spinnaker15136

[spinnaker15136]

As _The Doctor_ says, you’ll need single-density disks only with your 810.

 

Do you have an SIO2PC device of any kind? If so you can download ATR files of pretty much anything you want or need from various threads here at AtariAge, the collection at AtariMania, the Pigwa FTP site, the Mushca collection, or the Internet Archive. Then just use a sector copier to write clean disks to your 810 and see if they boot.

 

That would let you test the 810 formatting as well as ordinary read/write performance.

 

 

Found the link on AtariMania.

http://www.atarimania.com/top-atari-utility-atari-400-800-xl-xe-_U_8_D.html

 

My DOSXL is out there. Syays TOP 100. Does that mean there are more downloads somewhere?

 

 

Thanks for the other ideas for downloads. There is a ton of stuff on that Mushca site!

 

.

[+DrVenkman]

 

Syays TOP 100. Does that mean there are more downloads somewhere?

 

 

Thanks for the other ideas for downloads. There is a ton of stuff on that Mushca site!

 

.

 

Of course. Just look at the site - there are categories and alphabetical listings for each.

 

Besides Muschca be sure to spend time exploring the Pigwa FTP site. You can also download the entire TOSSEC archive from Archive.Org:

 

https://archive.org/download/Atari_8_bit_TOSEC_2012_04_23/Atari_8_bit_TOSEC_2012_04_23.zip

[spinnaker15136]

 

Of course. Just look at the site - there are categories and alphabetical listings for each.

 

Besides Muschca be sure to spend time exploring the Pigwa FTP site. You can also download the entire TOSSEC archive from Archive.Org:

 

https://archive.org/download/Atari_8_bit_TOSEC_2012_04_23/Atari_8_bit_TOSEC_2012_04_23.zip

 

 

Ah! I see now. Thanks. Wow. You could spend a life time just on Atarimania.

Edited April 27, 2019 by spinnaker15136

[spinnaker15136]

It sure beats having to type data lines in from Compute or Antic or a host of other magazines back in the day. .

[+Nezgar]

A few disks and manuals at the Internet Archive as well:

 

https://archive.org/search.php?query=Atari%20dos%20xl

[spinnaker15136]

A few disks and manuals at the Internet Archive as well:

 

https://archive.org/search.php?query=Atari%20dos%20xl

 

 

Excellent! I have misplaced my DOSXL manual. While I have my Diskwiz manual but can't find the disk! And yes I see it on Atariamania. ;

 

 

 

 

0

[+slx]

IIRC the original DOS XL came on either two floppies or a double-sided-floppy with a single-density version on one and a double-density version on the other. I don't think, original OSS DOS XL can do 1050 enhanced density. If you really want to continue with floppies, upgrading the 1050 to double density is not expensive these days.