Atari 410 vs.......Atari 410! (1010/XC11/12 too)

[Gunstar]

Back in '85 when I got my first Atari (130XE), I too, started with a taped drive, which I bought at Toys R Us, IIRC, it looked suspiciously like that XC12 recorder. I don't recall the brand, it had palm trees as the logo, and was a slightly darker and "purpler" grey to the standard XE grey color. But Since seeing the XC12, I wonder if the company that made them for Atari, sold them under their own label in the U.S. through Toys R Us, since, IIRC, these XE taped drives weren't released in the U.S. by Atari.

 

I have a Taihaho drive that fits your description. I bought it at TRU also.

I'm 99.9% sure that's my old tape drive! it sure looks familiar. But I can't quite tell if there is a palm tree logo on it or not due to glare in the pictures. If you can confirm, then I'm 100% that's my old tape recoreder! Cool stuff!

[Almost Rice]

I'm 99.9% sure that's my old tape drive! it sure looks familiar. But I can't quite tell if there is a palm tree logo on it or not due to glare in the pictures. If you can confirm, then I'm 100% that's my old tape recoreder! Cool stuff!

 

 

I did not see a palm tree logo. Maybe it was on the box. I bought it at Toys R Us near Almeda Mall in Houston.

 

It was under $50 back in the day. Very affordable compared to Atari branded tape drives back then. I have also seen it on the web for other 8bits.

[Gunstar]

I'm 99.9% sure that's my old tape drive! it sure looks familiar. But I can't quite tell if there is a palm tree logo on it or not due to glare in the pictures. If you can confirm, then I'm 100% that's my old tape recoreder! Cool stuff!

 

 

I did not see a palm tree logo. Maybe it was on the box. I bought it at Toys R Us near Almeda Mall in Houston.

 

It was under $50 back in the day. Very affordable compared to Atari branded tape drives back then. I have also seen it on the web for other 8bits.

 

The more I recalled what my recorder looked like (I haven't seen it for 25 years), I don't think it was the one you showed above. Not exactly. The case looks the same, but I recall the color being a little more purple and grey than the one pictured, and I don't recall the clear purple plastic door cover, the door cover on mine looked more like the XC12. But your case looks more like I remembered mine looked like. But there was definately a logo that had one or two palm trees in it, though they might have been stylized ones like the silk screen text on the in your picture. I'm thinking it might be the same company, but a different model, either earlier or later, or maybe it was just another Oriental company that used the same case molding or the same recorder from some generic factory, and just changed small stuff to look different. That name though; Thiahaho, does sound familiar. I think I had the same recorder, but had some cosmetic changes different from yours. God knows it happens all the time, just look at the 410 recorders that had at least two different models.

 

Mine was from TRU, one in a suburb of Chicago back in '85. It was under $50, which is also why I got it instead of the 1010 sitting next to it in the display for around $100. I also chose it becuase even though the color was off, it was still closer in color and style to my XE than the 1010 recorder. It matched better.

Edited July 16, 2010 by Gunstar

[+wood_jl]

I doubt it was $100 for a 1010 at release in the US. I paid $160 for my one which is an utter ripoff but our prices were typically just under double the US price.

 

In comparison, the Commodore tape drive was something like 40 or 50 bucks at the same time.

 

Well, some other fellow in the thread said he remembers them being about that....at least I think. It does sound pretty expensive, though.

 

My 1010 from B&C Computervisions arrived today! I love the way the Sdrive NUXX looks plugged into the 1010.

 

It's flawless! No box, but it appears new, and was packed in the original styrofoam inserts. So far, it's working perfectly. It's my first 1010 (lol) and I sure as hell like it better than the old clunky 410. I still wouldn't mind having 410s for the collection. This collection started out as just one 130XE and SIO2PC...ha ha now there's no stopping it, and I'm just absolutely loving every moment of it.

 

The voice track ability of the Atari program recorder was absolutely cool! It's amazing to see this "multimedia" on a machine that old. I'm just really having fun going through the old tapes. I'm kind of surprised at myself at how easily I am entertained. Somebody help me.

[Rybags]

The old Compute! magazines always had several ads for places selling all the major stuff.

 

Got them on DVD around here somewhere.

[+orpheuswaking]

I doubt it was $100 for a 1010 at release in the US. I paid $160 for my one which is an utter ripoff but our prices were typically just under double the US price.

 

In comparison, the Commodore tape drive was something like 40 or 50 bucks at the same time.

 

Well, some other fellow in the thread said he remembers them being about that....at least I think. It does sound pretty expensive, though.

 

My 1010 from B&C Computervisions arrived today! I love the way the Sdrive NUXX looks plugged into the 1010.

 

It's flawless! No box, but it appears new, and was packed in the original styrofoam inserts. So far, it's working perfectly. It's my first 1010 (lol) and I sure as hell like it better than the old clunky 410. I still wouldn't mind having 410s for the collection. This collection started out as just one 130XE and SIO2PC...ha ha now there's no stopping it, and I'm just absolutely loving every moment of it.

 

The voice track ability of the Atari program recorder was absolutely cool! It's amazing to see this "multimedia" on a machine that old. I'm just really having fun going through the old tapes. I'm kind of surprised at myself at how easily I am entertained. Somebody help me.

 

 

Good to see it came working... I kinda figured it would as it was warrantied by B&C... If you decide you want a 410, take a look at my sale list on my website, I have several up right now (you may have to do a belt replacement though) I also have some tapes up.

 

Oh and if anyone else is reading this that collects tapes and has any extra mastertronic titles let me know, I'm trying to fill some gaps

[walter_J64bit]

I live in the US I have a XC12 and I got off of e-bay it was sold by B&C, it came from Atari of Mexico so the manual is in Spanish the odd thing is I've got Conversational Spanish. I like that the XC12 doesn't have a power plug I don't use it much I got just to be getting it.

Edited July 18, 2010 by walter_J64bit

[spookt]

 

Oh and if anyone else is reading this that collects tapes and has any extra mastertronic titles let me know, I'm trying to fill some gaps

 

Let me know what you need. I have a couple of *huge* boxes of tapes and I'm pretty certain I have dupes of most of the Mastertronics. You can have 'em for shipping if I have what you need.

[Zedex]

I'm 99.9% sure that's my old tape drive! it sure looks familiar. But I can't quite tell if there is a palm tree logo on it or not due to glare in the pictures. If you can confirm, then I'm 100% that's my old tape recoreder! Cool stuff!

 

 

I did not see a palm tree logo. Maybe it was on the box. I bought it at Toys R Us near Almeda Mall in Houston.

 

It was under $50 back in the day. Very affordable compared to Atari branded tape drives back then. I have also seen it on the web for other 8bits.

 

The more I recalled what my recorder looked like (I haven't seen it for 25 years), I don't think it was the one you showed above. Not exactly. The case looks the same, but I recall the color being a little more purple and grey than the one pictured, and I don't recall the clear purple plastic door cover, the door cover on mine looked more like the XC12. But your case looks more like I remembered mine looked like. But there was definately a logo that had one or two palm trees in it, though they might have been stylized ones like the silk screen text on the in your picture. I'm thinking it might be the same company, but a different model, either earlier or later, or maybe it was just another Oriental company that used the same case molding or the same recorder from some generic factory, and just changed small stuff to look different. That name though; Thiahaho, does sound familiar. I think I had the same recorder, but had some cosmetic changes different from yours. God knows it happens all the time, just look at the 410 recorders that had at least two different models.

 

Mine was from TRU, one in a suburb of Chicago back in '85. It was under $50, which is also why I got it instead of the 1010 sitting next to it in the display for around $100. I also chose it becuase even though the color was off, it was still closer in color and style to my XE than the 1010 recorder. It matched better.

 

Is that drive any good?

[Jeffrey Worley]

On 7/14/2010 at 2:15 PM, JohnBuell said:

I've only ever had one 1010, and it's still chugging along. I've thought about getting a 410 sometime to go with the 400/800 part of my collection, but right now I'm just focusing on keeping what I have working, or make it a little nicer.

 

Oh, and that said, I've long been interested in the tape drive mods that increase the baud rate - are those available anywhere still and are they compatible with US tape drives (I'm thinking in terms of power).

You can actually just POKE the baudrate, as high as you like, but it won't work above an uncertain number.  I forget the location, but it is a single location and it does work.  The stock baudrate is 600.  It will work at 750.  Above that and it probably won;t.  I think the accellerator cards/carts did this at least for starters.  

[Voxel]

The first tape deck we (my family) got was a 1010, very reliable if kept clean and we avoided cheap tapes which smeared the the rollers with oxide.  Further 1010s were also fairly reliable although with a couple, the buttons did snap.  The 1010 allowed daisy chaining which was great, when backing up from a tape to disk.  We'd buy a cheap game on tape then back it up on disk.  The down side with the 1010 was the power brick.

 

Now my first tape deck was of the third party brand "Phonemark", this had a power cord built in with the serial lead also fixed.  It was quite reliable when it was clean.  When looking at the design it looks like the XC12 series.

 

My next was the XC11, it was perfect.  No silly power brick as it drew power from the Atari and it allowed daisy chaining (by this time I did not really need to daisy chain though).

 

My last tape deck was the XC12, of which I have become quite fond of and have a few.  As with the other models keep it clean and it will serve you well.  The downside with the XC12, much like the Phonemark is that the serial lead is built in...  I have two units I got really cheap with leads damaged etc which need to be repaired.  I have tested the worse of the two and it loaded after a good clean (the individual who sold it did not understand cleanliness - CV19 may claim him).  There were a few models of the XC12 put out, which got cheaper as production went on.  I'm under the impression that the XC12 is of the Phonemark design and would suspect also under their manufacture.  I can understand someone looking for an early 410/1010/XC11 if you're nostalgic about tape decks, however don't pass up an XC12 as you don't have to be so precious about them in use.

[Morkman]

I have that top 410 model. I don’t know what to do with it. I want it to go to a good home.