TheRealAnubis Posted August 1, 2014 Author Share Posted August 1, 2014 I appreciate everyone's help! It's sounding like I'll mod a 1050 drive and go from there. It will be nice to see the track readouts and such with the IndusGT, but it won't make it a 'have to keep' item for me. Now if anyone has a Commodore IndusGT drive that they would swap for this Atari one, that would be something I'd consider! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kogden Posted August 1, 2014 Share Posted August 1, 2014 I'll trade you my nicely working Happy 1050 for the Indus GT. The Happy 1050 is the better drive IMHO and faster. The only reason I want an Indus GT is to build/find a RAMcharger board so I can run Indus CP/M. I have a lot of old CP/M stuff but my Osborne 1 died and I don't have an CP/M boxes around anymore. It's one of the repro Happy PCB's from AtariMax. Very well made. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheRealAnubis Posted August 1, 2014 Author Share Posted August 1, 2014 I'll trade you my nicely working Happy 1050 for the Indus GT. The Happy 1050 is the better drive IMHO and faster. The only reason I want an Indus GT is to build/find a RAMcharger board so I can run Indus CP/M. I have a lot of old CP/M stuff but my Osborne 1 died and I don't have an CP/M boxes around anymore. It's one of the repro Happy PCB's from AtariMax. Very well made. Cool! You will be the first to get a crack at it once it's repaired. Right now it needs some love, but I've been working on electronics for a looooong time, and I'm hoping that this will be a quick fix! I still have a cousin that's Atari crazy that I have to check with before I do any trades, though - wouldn't want him to flip out! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IndusGT Posted August 5, 2014 Share Posted August 5, 2014 I sometimes regret picking my username when I see one of these threads come up... I have both and yes the Happy is better than the Indus and the US Doubler... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheRealAnubis Posted August 5, 2014 Author Share Posted August 5, 2014 I sometimes regret picking my username when I see one of these threads come up... I have both and yes the Happy is better than the Indus and the US Doubler... You shouldn't regret your username! The IndusGT drive is still badass, and if you have a stack of them like your profile picture, then you're pretty lucky as well. I've never seen one of these drives 'in the wild'. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tschak909 Posted August 5, 2014 Share Posted August 5, 2014 The Indus did have one hell of a fast mode, but it took many years after people gave a shit to really make it work. -Thom 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dafivehole Posted August 5, 2014 Share Posted August 5, 2014 (edited) Can you still buy the Happy upgrade anywhere? I have a couple of stock 1050 drives that I could upgrade... Thanks Nevermind, I just saw them on the Atarimax.com website. :-) Edited August 5, 2014 by dafivehole Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillC Posted August 5, 2014 Share Posted August 5, 2014 Can you still buy the Happy upgrade anywhere? I have a couple of stock 1050 drives that I could upgrade... Thanks Nevermind, I just saw them on the Atarimax.com website. :-) 8-Bit Classics has them for the same price, they appear to be a reseller of Atarimax products. They also sell video and svideo cables for the Atari 8bits, I found the DIN5 to s-video/composite AV cable to be great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mathy Posted August 5, 2014 Share Posted August 5, 2014 Hello guys Guus Assmann is working on an upgrade for the 1050. IIRC it'll consist of several of the old upgrades, but I'm not sure. Sincerely Mathy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillC Posted August 6, 2014 Share Posted August 6, 2014 FJC and Mikey were working on a 1050 upgrade as well, but progress seems to have stalled about 1.5 years ago. http://atariage.com/forums/topic/158129-1050e-and-icd-us-doubler/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheRealAnubis Posted August 6, 2014 Author Share Posted August 6, 2014 Hmmmm.. In that thread the last post from Mikey was Sat Jan 19, 2013 - Maybe there's still hope! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pirx Posted August 6, 2014 Share Posted August 6, 2014 (edited) Yo! Indus GT clones (LDW 2000 and California Access 2001 that was cost reduced version - no lid) were very popular in Poland and there is an excellent upgrade for them "TOMS Multi Drive" that is in par with Happy with esoteric capabilities like making weak sectors with more useful ones like PC sector compatibility and track buffer. I suppose it would be compatible with Indus GT. It is removing Synchromesh though. The clones available in Poland were rather known for poor reliability[citation needed], although of two units I had got one was solid as a rock and the other one was not. We (our5oft) did a copy utility "Synchrocopy", but I can not find it anywhere. Another one was "TRUP Format" that was formatting floppies with bad sectors quickly by sending to the drive sector checker. I can see only version for modified Indus GT here: http://atarionline.pl/utils/6.%20Stacja%20dyskietek/Toms%20Trup-Format//Toms%20Trup-Format.xex but maybe it works with the original - do not remember if commands for uploading and running drive software were different. What is overlooked and really thrilling about IndusGT is its CPM capability: http://trub.atari8.info/index.php?ref=cpm_en Edited August 6, 2014 by pirx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Larry Posted August 6, 2014 Share Posted August 6, 2014 What is it about CPM that you found attractive? Was there some particular program or just something new to try? In 1978/79, the prospect of CPM would be a big deal. In 1984 (or whenever the Indus came out) seems like CPM was much less of a benefit. Plus having to run it in 40 columns or "scrolling" 80-column screen or (maybe) a software 80-col. display. Run "WordStar" on this? Clunky at best. (But just an IMO) -Larry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pirx Posted August 6, 2014 Share Posted August 6, 2014 Turbo Pascal Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheRealAnubis Posted August 15, 2014 Author Share Posted August 15, 2014 I've got the drive working - mostly. It doesn't seem to want to format a disk, though.. I keep getting an "F9" error on the drive. It reads fine, though. I've tried selecting the single/double density selector on the back. I was looking for the program GTDOC.COM, which is referenced in the Field Service Manual - it says that it is on the Master Diskette, but it isn't on mine. I have 2 disks for the Indus GT - "System Master Diskette DOS XL" and "GT Data Manager for Atari". I don't see the program on either disk.. I don't have an SIO2PC interface, so the disk image that I've found (INDUSGTD.ATR) won't really help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sup8pdct Posted August 15, 2014 Share Posted August 15, 2014 (edited) If the indus has the 64K ram, There shouldn't be any reason for it not to emulate a happy or an archiver. someone just needs to write the software to upload to the drive James Edited August 15, 2014 by sup8pdct Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IndusGT Posted August 16, 2014 Share Posted August 16, 2014 You shouldn't regret your username! The IndusGT drive is still badass, and if you have a stack of them like your profile picture, then you're pretty lucky as well. I've never seen one of these drives 'in the wild'. That stack is all my Indus GTs, I have several with the case and disks got them patiently thru deals on E-bay. Got two for $25 with power supply. This is before the happy upgrades from Atarimax were available 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IndusGT Posted August 16, 2014 Share Posted August 16, 2014 I really would like to find a RAMcharger anyone know a source? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peterm Posted August 16, 2014 Share Posted August 16, 2014 had a indus for a few months did not like as much as a 150 with supper archiver fitted so sold at compuetr fair for healthy profit Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Stephen Posted August 17, 2014 Share Posted August 17, 2014 I really would like to find a RAMcharger anyone know a source? I don't know if any are currently being produced - but there is info here on making one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AtariGeezer Posted August 17, 2014 Share Posted August 17, 2014 I guess using 6264's would be to huge for that mod, I have about 50 of them Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Stephen Posted August 17, 2014 Share Posted August 17, 2014 Nobody said the case needs to be re-assembled. It would surely help with heat dissipation 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lemiel Posted August 18, 2014 Share Posted August 18, 2014 Pirx - that one? Synchro Copy 2.35 - http://atari.panprase.cz/download.php?soubor=693 http://atari.panprase.cz/?action=programy 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bumzyman Posted August 18, 2014 Share Posted August 18, 2014 I really would like to find a RAMcharger anyone know a source? Tregare should still have some of his SRAM Chargers. I bought a couple from him as recent as two months ago. He posted about still having some here. Send him a PM and see what he says. And, as Stephen said above, you can still find all the directions for making one here on Trub's site. Although if your looking for one of the original RAM Chargers then you might be stuck with ebay. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Binarygeek Posted February 22, 2015 Share Posted February 22, 2015 The track readout is really an esoteric experience that unless you typically deal with a lot of abstraction will have little value. Just as a couple of 'for instance' if you were into cracking software, it would give you a clue as to which tracks had bad sectors which would lead to the routine that read sectors on that track. If you ran a bbs, you would see the drive step to tracks and even with the display off on your Atari would be able to tell 'They are in the download area' or 'message base' from the track reading. Atari has an automatic retry built into DOS so you get a clue to a disk going bad by both the drive sounds and the track readout when it stutters. You could get the same information from other methods of course, making the track read out somewhat redundant. The high speed I/O, syncromesh<?>, never worked right in the day. I believe it has been fixed with a few different methods. The disk is still single sided. IMHO: If they would have come stock with a DSDD mechanism it would have been a much hotter and sought after drive. Still, it is nice and whisper quiet compared to just about any other Atari drive. The drive originally came with the option to install a CP/M expansion. There's been some great work on duplicating the expansion and getting CP/M running on the Indus. http://trub.atari8.info/index.php?ref=cpm_en I am really surprised there was a problem with some versions of Synchromesh. Back in the day, I worked with it extensively ( I isolated the I/O routine), and never had a problem. Maybe I was just too stupid to realize there WAS a problem. I am presently getting back into fooling around with the Atari again, and bought an Indus as part of the fun. I will have to be very aware of these potential problems. And as far as the Ramcharger (?) expansion port, I would have liked it a lot more had it used a 6502 base CPU. I can program 6502 assembly language, but not CP/M. I do remember, though, that CP/M was pretty hot back then. Just my two cents. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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