CosmicVolt

Might be a bit early, but PM sent!

Hi Bob, Just sent an email inquiring about some blank 5 1/4 floppies and a Rev A. BASIC cartridge. Thank you!!

Just looked at my 1200XL; I too have this copper tongue.

I see it now, my mistake!

Ah I see, you make a very good point about the pad potentially causing more damage to the disk if it has gunk embedded in it! Good to see that new cleaning floppy drive cleaning kits are still available as well, I'll see about getting one, as well as a lint free rag of sorts that will fit the bill. I tried googling "Automation Facilities Corperation, Microsol, MSL-200" but I didn't really find anything that I think you were referencing too. Is this similar to the "microsol" you mentioned? I've never heard of it before. Thanks! https://www.amazon.com/Micro-Setting-Solution-Microscale-Industries/dp/B0006O9K5Q

Thanks for the advice! It does look like a number of the disks have varying degrees of grooves/valleys, so disintegration may indeed be the reality of the situation. Unfortunately don't have any blank discs, a copy of DOS, or any way to connect my 800 to APE or similar software at the moment. I'm still a bit of a newcomer when it comes to vintage floppy drives. I also plan on getting an SIO2PC at some point, so that should open some doors as well. Any idea on how to clean the pressure pad? Some Isopropyl perhaps? I've always understood that its wise to avoid touching it when cleaning the head.

Hi All, I've recently come into owning a 1050 and a dozen or so floppy disks with copies of software/games on them. After some cleaning, initial testing, etc. it appears that I can only get one game ("Galactic Chase") to successfully load onto my 800 (48K). However, this was only after cleaning the head of the 1050 a number of times, as well as cleaning the particular disk "Galactic Chase" is on. I'd also like to note that: "Jumpman" is on side 1 of this disk, and "Galactic Chase" is on side 2. The majority of the rest of these disks appear to be pretty dirty, and they don't sound too good in the disk drive when attempting to boot (they all appear to result in boot error), hence I've decided to focus on the disk containing "Galactic Chase" and "Jumpman" for testing purposes. Interestingly, no matter how many times I cross my fingers and try to bribe my 1050, it will not load "Jumpman". The same thing happens every time: it starts to boot, says "Please Wait...", but once it gets to the inner sectors of the disk, it gives me a boot error. HOWEVER, on one very lucky occasion it DID successfully boot "Jumpman", but my 1050 has refused to after this particular instance. "Galactic Chase" though? Boots without an issue pretty much every time. So I guess my question is, does the issue exist with my 1050 or with my floppy disk(s)? The drive head appears to successfully park itself at track 0 upon turning on the drive, and I've spent the last coupe of days adjusting the Track 00 sensor, cleaning the drive head, lubing the rails, checking the voltage, etc. No matter what I do, it ends with the same result. Sorry if this seems like an obvious answer, just trying to get input until I get some disks that I know are okay. What do you guys think? Thanks for reading!

Hello All, Looking to see if anyone would be willing to part with a working Atari 800 for a decent enough price. Doesn't need to be in immaculate condition or anything e.g. some yellowing, minor scuffs, etc. is totally acceptable. Preferably no missing key caps though, all in all just something that's in decent shape. Let me know if you're interested! Been wanting one of these for years now, thanks for reading! Edit: By some coincidence, after posting this, I was able to find one online with a 1050 and some floppies for a fair price. Currently on order right now; thanks to all who read this post!