Guitarman

The thing we have to remember is that Atari as a company has the choice to use whatever development company they want to create their branded products. It looks like that is what they've done. Don't get me wrong. I will have to think twice myself about getting the FB3 knowing it is not produced by Legacy and it is too bad as Legacy has always been synonymous with the Flashback systems and great quality.

Download the IDEPlus.zip and makeATR_v0.06.zip below. These have everything you'll need. Mount the SDX444_ideplus.atr into drive 1 of APE or any of the SDrive type devices (or create a real disk) to flash the new version of SDX to the rom in the IDEPlus. It autoruns on boot. For flashing the BIOS, copy the LBA0606.COM file to an ATR (I copied it to the KMK_UTIL image I used. Use makeATR to copy to an existing ATR or make a new one). As suggested elsewhere, I changed the name to LBA0.COM. Run the file and it will update the BIOS. Mount one of the KMK_UTIL disk images in drive 1 for all the rest of the needed utilities. The KMKJZ-manual.pdf has all the needed instructions for setting up the attached drive and partitioning. . ideplus.zip makeATR_v0.06.zip

OK. Got my IDEPlus 2.0. First....AWESOME!!!!! Set up with an IDE to CF adapter and a 1gb CF card. I have flashed the new Spartados 4.44 and that works great. Also flashed the 6-6-11 bios. Working great. I have created a 32MB partition, set to D1:, built the directory with SpartaDos format, created a IDEPLUS folder and copied the contents of the KMKDIAG disk from D2: on my SDriveNuxx. Now it's time to create a few more partitions and set them up with various DOS formats and file systems. This thing is great!! Between this and my SDriveNuxx, I'll never need to use a physical drive again!! And, as seen in the last picture, I need to brush up on my SpartaDos command set!!! Nothing like blowing up the prompt!!!

OK. Got my IDEPlus 2.0. First....AWESOME!!!!! Set up with an IDE to CF adapter and a 1gb CF card. I have flashed the new Spartados 4.44 and that works great. Also flashed the 6-6-11 bios. Working great. I have created a 32MB partition, set to D1:, built the directory with SpartaDos format, created a IDEPLUS folder and copied the contents of the KMKDIAG disk from D2: on my SDriveNuxx. Now it's time to create a few more partitions and set them up with various DOS formats and file systems. This thing is great!! Between this and my SDriveNuxx, I'll never need to use a physical drive again!!

Ray Main sounds familiar. If it is the same place, I worked there for a short time and took my pay in hardware. I do remember him having the MIO boards. It seems to me he also had the guts to a 815 disk drive. I remember a dual 810 with no case around it. I also spend more money than I made at the time at the Federated store in El Cajon when Atari took them over!!

Steal???? LOL!!! eBay Auction -- Item Number: 320675266257

3.5" IDE is 40pin, 2.5" IDE is 44pin. A 2.5" laptop drive is a 44 pin female 'mini IDE' , allowing connection to a 44 pin male connector, like on the IDEPlus 2.0. The Transcend has a standard 40 pin female IDE connector on it, instead of male, so it can plug into an IDE port without using a ribbon cable. Also, the connector you linked to will not work with the IDEPlus 2.0 as that connector is used to connect a 44pin device (laptop drive) to a standard IDE interface (40pin), not the other way around. As suggested, get a 44pin IDE to CF Card adapter. It will be the most convenient way to go, and they're cheap!!

Santee/Lakeside here too. Did this "Ray" have a shop down near Magnolia and Prospect?? My first 1200XL I purchased was at Warners Computers down near the sports arena. That was the place to go for upgrades and repair back in the day. I still have that 1200XL, in the box.

Her sites are now active again. They can be found here http://pest.atari.org/

Looks like the Marpet upgrade. Here are some other pics of one in one of my ST's. Very easy install. It is the last 6 pics in this gallery. http://www.atariage....t-ram-upgrades/

Same here but mine is going to be a 1200XL with MetalGuy's PBI board installed for the IDE Plus 2.0.

I grew up in Lakeside/Santee. Santana Class of '80.

From Atari.org: Exchanging TOS and MS-DOS disks Disk exchange between MS-DOS and TOS is absolutely possible, if you follow these rules: TOS versions from 1.04 onwards are 100% compatible with MS-DOS. If using TOS 1.02 or earlier, you must either format the disk on a PC, use preformatted PC disks, or use a DOS compatible formatter on the ST. Choose a PC format compatible with the Atari drive, ie: 720K for double sided drives and 1.44M for HD drives. The internal drives of some older 520STF and SF354 units were limited to single-sided 360K disks that modern PCs can no longer read or write. In this case, a drive mechanism swap (see section 3.3) is highly suggested. Windows 95 uses long filenames that can sometimes corrupt TOS disks, so be sure to use the good old 8+3 filename format. The same goes for directories, avoid them at all costs. Do not use HD disks formatted in DD mode (ie: with sticky tape over the HD hole). This sometimes works momentarily, but is very unreliable, as the magnetic coating of HD disks is not the same as with DD disks. As a summary, it is usually best to format a DD 720K floppy on the PC before using it to transfer files.

You are correct. The PC will have no problem creating a disk image and reading it on different PC's. The problem will come from the ST reading it. Hopefully with the floppy driver, the PC was able to create something the ST will like. Again, the only fairly sure fire way is to have TOS 1.4 in the ST. Also, the TOS chips are very easy to change. You just have to get a matching set because the ST came with either a 2 chip or a 6 chip set. You just pull the old ones out and replace them. There many here at AtariAge that could burn a set for you, I'm sure. And, changing out to TOS 1.4 is pretty much a standard 'given' for most ST users.

Right, but if I use "Floppy Image" software I'm making ST format disks and should work with any TOS?? Here is the software: http://atari.8bitchip.info/floimgd.php Ayway, to update TOS would be swapping chips? Yes, you would have to put the new TOS chips in. FloImage creates a disk from an ST disk image and a disk image from a St disk. Early ST disks could not be read on a PC because of the way the information was placed on the disk. With TOS 1.0, data was written sequentially to the disk, first filling side one and then side 2. This was for compatibility with a single or double sided drive at the time. Most magazine disks were written this way so someone with a single side drive could still read some of the files (side 1) while someone with a double side drive could read the whole thing. PC's write to a disk in tracks, where it would write track 1 on both sides before moving to track 2, and so on. TOS 1.2 started using this scheme, but wasn't completely on par with a PC format. You would have to format the disk on the ST to make sure the ST could read it and then you could use the PC to put files on it. This worked most of the time. But if you formatted the disk on the PC and wrote files, it more than not, failed on the ST. TOS 1.4 is the first TOS to pretty much fix all the PC<->ST disk issues. If FloImage is able to talk straight to the disk controller on the PC, then you may have some success but it will be a crapshoot. The problem becomes, you need a PC with a mainboard floppy controller and any OS after XP gets shaky with the low level driver that FloImage is made to work with. Here is some info on PC<->ST disk formatting and usage. It get a little more technical on the differences. http://atari.8bitchi...oppyMistery.php

Things to keep in mind, TOS 1.4 (Rainbow TOS) was the first version that 'stability' allowed disks to interchange between the ST and a PC. Version 1.2 did to a lesser amount but was very unreliable. And, as discussed, you will need a double sided drive in the ST (720K). If you got a 1040Stf, chances are you will need to update TOS as most came with TOS 1.0.

Grab this Atari font and make your own. PS. I used it to create my rotating avatar. Atari Font.zip

Here is a link to my original post with the RamboXL Installation Guide in a PDF format. Just reverse the install in the manual. RamboXL Guide

My girlfriend and I have one of those computer embroidery machines. Of course, I do all the digitizing on the computer and have ended up being the one who always gets stuck doing the embroidery!! LOL The rainbow thread, when it is embroidered, looks really cool. Here's a couple of examples of what the thread can look like.

I used a standard Avery 5160 1"x2.5/8" address label for the Atari Mini label. You just make sure that the black area on the top and sides of the label bleed off the edge of the label a bit. That way it is black all the way to the edge when you peel the label off the sheet. I think the 1"x4" are the closest for the full 5.25 label.

Those look nice!!! The ones I did were replicas of the mini label that Atari put in the upper left corner of most of the Atari supplied driver and DOS disks. If anyone wants BMP versions of those, let me know. I can post them.

From another source.

Put me down for 1 with ribbon cable option for the XL

Could be something like The Pill that allowed you to save cart images to floppy and play them. You had to have The Pill cart in the computer to play the games on the disk.

It is a close call but I choose the 1050 w/ Happy. I have one with the rare Happy controller board in it that has the config switches. I never understood with all the Happy clones they have now, why no one replicated the controller board.