Atari 800 - DOS, etc?

[mutil8]

Got an old Atari 800, just set it up. Need suggestions on which DOS

I should get (mydos, sparta, dos 2.5, others )?

 

Which printers can I hook up to the 800 without a seperate interface?

 

Any suggestions where I could get a hold of mac65 assembler +

toolkit? I dont currently have a method of transfering files from PC to

Atari so atm need these on atari readable disk. B&C didnt have this.

 

Plan to use it for a little 6502 programming. Currently have the atari

assemblereditor.

[Nukey Shay]

Re: which Dos

If you are looking for something to be compatable with most of the stuff already out there, probably Atari Dos version 2.5. Dos 2.x variants are all I ever used, so I dunno.

 

Re: which printers do not require an additional interface

Ones designed specifically for the Atari 8-bit platform. Ones that only have a parallel interface (most common among PC's) would require an 850 interface...which is pretty hard to come by. However, you can also use the emulator Atari800Win to list your program to a standard PC printer that you have hooked up to your PC.

 

Re: Mac/65

Ask this in the marketplace forum (maybe under a topic named WTB-Mac/65)...perhaps someone here has an extra one they would like to sell. Or...get an SIO2PC cable from the AtariAge store. That will allow you to use a downloaded image of the program on your computer and/or make an actual disk of it. And as above, you might simply use the emulator with the downloaded disk image to develop your software.

[+Sauron]

MyDOS should work fine, it's much better than DOS 2.5. Haven't ever really used SpartaDOS, so I can't say much about it. MAC/65 is kind of hard to come by, at least if you're wanting the cartridge version, which I'm also looking for too. I'd HIGHLY suggest purchasing a SIO2PC kit from the AtariAge store if you're wanting to do some development. It is much easier and more practical to keep your files on the PC than on some old 5 1/4" disks. This I can definitely say from experience. There's also some PC tools which makes coding for the A8 a bit less of a pain. If none of that is an option for you right now, though, I might be able to at least send you a disk with MyDOS on it.

[Nukey Shay]

Mac/65 disk image here

[Gunstar]

I always like spartados, spartados X cart is the coolest, and spartados can read any dos 2.x/2.5 compatible disks, just can't write to them. If you get spartados with the USdoubler kit (I highly recommend this if your set on using a 1050), the doubler supes up your 1050 to a full SSDD disk drive (180k) and it will also run 300% faster with spartados. If you have any knowledge/experience with MS-dos, then you'll like sparta as the command structure and directory/subdirectory structure is virtually identical. it's also compatible with harddrives if you add one down the road. If you have to have a menu driven dos, then mydos is the best because it also supports higher speeds on modified drives and harddisk, or superdos, a very good Australian shareware dos that has a lot of cool features and is 2.5/mydos compatible. 2.5 is all right, but I see no reason to settle for it with these others available.

 

for printers that plug right in to the 800, your pretty much stuck with Atari only printers, but any made for the 800/XL/XE lines will work fine, and they aren't too shabby. if you want a newer model or epson compatible, then as stated and 850 is needed, but it ISN'T the ONLY choice, there is the microprint printer interface which I think Best Electronics and B&C both have for sale among others and ICD also put out an interface that was not only compatible and very much like the 850, but I think it also had some other features to it too, IIRC. the other choices are the MIO board that was put out by ICD and the blackbox put out by CSS or CCS (forget which) which also allow the attachment of harddrives and other standard PC/ST floppy drives and such, plus printer spooling memory and a lot of other features, so the 850 definately is NOT your only choice, the microprint parallel adapter is the cheapest way to go and it a high quality product.

 

I also recommend the SIO2PC...a 10502PC interface is nice too, if you want to put atari images back on real atari disks, but that one will have to be built, I don't think anyone sells it. A.P.E software is the way to go for both of these too, much better and more reliable than the SIO2PC software.

[Nukey Shay]

10502PC interface is nice too, if you want to put atari images back on real atari disks

Huh? If he had an Atari computer, a stock 1050, and SIO2PC...why couldn't he use a sector copier to copy the contents of the "virtual" drive's mounted disk image onto a floppy disk in the real drive?

 

Thanks for the printer info...didn't know about those options

[mutil8]

thanks guys thats some great information.

I'll be getting a printer on ebay seems like 1025 is the most common one.

most likely ill get the transfer cable too (SIO2PC)

thanks for link to mac65

B&C only has a few DOS available 2.5 is pretty cheap at $10 including

manual but this sounds like last choice. As I recall they did have Sparta.

[Nukey Shay]

There was a manual for Dos 2.5??

Hopefully, it's more helpful than Dos 3's...which simply said:

1) Throw this away

 

BTW more Dos disk images here:

ftp://ftp.spudster.org/pub/Atari/CTH/Utilities/DOS/

[Gunstar]

10502PC interface is nice too, if you want to put atari images back on real atari disks

Huh? If he had an Atari computer, a stock 1050, and SIO2PC...why couldn't he use a sector copier to copy the contents of the "virtual" drive's mounted disk image onto a floppy disk in the real drive?

 

 

Well, I suppose you could, but the 10502PC is easy to make and is much nicer to use with the prosystem program included with A.P.E, it's almost as quick as downloading a game through the SIO2PC, PLUS, you can create images of REAL protected software, not hacks, and put REAL protected software images back on disk too (.pro images) It copies EVERYTHING, and there's no need for a sector copier that won't copy everything or a chip mod in your 810/1050, etc.

Personally, I bought a 1050 modded with both the SIO2PC and the 10502PC, so it quite convenient for me. it can just do a lot more than a sector copier and better. It's most useful for backing up your original disks as .pro images and you get to save the real thing to you're PC's HD, you don't have to worry about some half-ass pirate hack (like the Alternate Reality hacks for example, which are quite unstable, Ultima IV also comes to mind,among many others)

[mutil8]

Any suggestions on which printer to get? Most common one seems to be

the 1025 on ebay. Saw a XMsomething (?) once.

Probably wont be used a whole lot, just for hardcopies of Assembly

language programs. Reliability and speed important.