ATR Tool needed for pure DOS

[spencerhm]

Greetings all.

 

First, thank you for this website and all you are offering the public FREE. I am new to Atari but been in IT since '81, but my long years in IT needs some help with the vintage fella Atari . Never had the pleasure of Atari 800XL except with the 2600.

 

I have a problem I am hoping to get help with. I downloaded some .ATR files, particularly the DOS2_5 ATR and the VisiCalc ATR from AtariMania and I found the "writeatr" program to write them to disk but it fails every time no matter if I use SS/DD, DS/DD or HD diskettes in either a HD 5 1/4" drive or a 360KB drive on an old IBM 5150 - same results. I used another MS-DOS pgm. to format them in the 800XL format on my 5150. Can anyone please help me?

 

Results when I run the "writeatr" program: => writeatr -b dos25.atr <Return> The -b means drive b:

 

> Selected Atari disk drive type 360K DS/DD/5.25

 

> The selected Atari disk drive type is not compatible with your floppy drive.

 

The above message confuses me because my old IBM is a 360K DS/DD drive.

 

I tried versions 0.92 and 0.92b writeatr from HiassofT's Atari 8bit world

 

Is there another image writer I should be using?

 

Thanks

[Rybags]

I found that method to be more trouble than it's worth. I don't think there's other utilities around to do such things since it wouldn't really improve your luck.

From memory you needed to use disks that had never been formatted before and even then it was a dicey situation.

 

Much better method is make or buy a SIO2PC adaptor, or buy a SIO2SD adaptor.

 

I know the problem is getting data from the PC to Atari, once you can do that easily then most of your problems are over. A self built SIO2PC with IC and a few components comes in at barely $5 in parts and labour component of 30-90 minutes.

[ijor]

Results when I run the "writeatr" program: => writeatr -b dos25.atr <Return> The -b means drive b:

 

> Selected Atari disk drive type 360K DS/DD/5.25

> The selected Atari disk drive type is not compatible with your floppy drive.

The above message confuses me because my old IBM is a 360K DS/DD drive.

 

I'm not familiar with writeatr but sounds like there might be a problem with the PC CMOS settings. Check if the program has some kind of verbose or debug switch (probably has), and if so enable it to see what it tells you.

 

I agree with Rybags that this method is a bit problematic. The need for freshly unformatted factory disks is only when using HD drives, they are not needed for 40 tracks (360 K) ones as yours. But still, if you can, other methods are usually better.

[russg]

Greetings all.

 

First, thank you for this website and all you are offering the public FREE. I am new to Atari but been in IT since '81, but my long years in IT needs some help with the vintage fella Atari . Never had the pleasure of Atari 800XL except with the 2600.

 

I have a problem I am hoping to get help with. I downloaded some .ATR files, particularly the DOS2_5 ATR and the VisiCalc ATR from AtariMania and I found the "writeatr" program to write them to disk but it fails every time no matter if I use SS/DD, DS/DD or HD diskettes in either a HD 5 1/4" drive or a 360KB drive on an old IBM 5150 - same results. I used another MS-DOS pgm. to format them in the 800XL format on my 5150. Can anyone please help me?

 

Results when I run the "writeatr" program: => writeatr -b dos25.atr <Return> The -b means drive b:

 

> Selected Atari disk drive type 360K DS/DD/5.25

 

> The selected Atari disk drive type is not compatible with your floppy drive.

 

The above message confuses me because my old IBM is a 360K DS/DD drive.

 

I tried versions 0.92 and 0.92b writeatr from HiassofT's Atari 8bit world

 

Is there another image writer I should be using?

 

Thanks

 

You have a PC floppy drive, 360k DS/DD. You have a 1050 or other Atari drive, probably can only use SD/SS 90k disks.

 

So, the previous suggestion to get or make a SIO2PC or buy Atarimax APE PC to Atari adapter is the way to go.

Once you have a APE cable, you can perform any DOS command, such as format disk, sector copy disk.

The APE/SIO2PC adapter allows you to use even 16 meg .atrs with just about every game ever written. There

are DISK1 2 3 4 .atrs with hundreds of games.

 

Sorry about APE suggestion. There are other adapters that do the same thing from other sources, I just

don't remember them right now. I think there's a atariage post about making a PC to Atari device.

 

Definitely read the 'newbie' post at the top of this forum.

Edited August 24, 2016 by russg

[sanny]

You need a floppy controller which can handle FM (as opposed to MFM). Not many PCs can do this. I had good experience with Siemens/Nixdorf PCs, I have three of them (in the Pentium to Pentium 2 area) and all can handle FM.

[ijor]

You need a floppy controller which can handle FM (as opposed to MFM). Not many PCs can do this. I had good experience with Siemens/Nixdorf PCs, I have three of them (in the Pentium to Pentium 2 area) and all can handle FM.

 

He says he has an IBM 5150, that's the original IBM PC! Should have the original NEC 765A FDC that does support FM.

[sanny]

Yes, the µ765 supports FM. And all other clones use that, or a derivate, too, AFAIK.

 

But I think for FM operation it needs some external circuitry, which isn't present in most clones. I don't know if the IBM 5150 does support it.

[sanny]

Youe can use this program to check if your system supports FM.

[ijor]

But I think for FM operation it needs some external circuitry, which isn't present in most clones. I don't know if the IBM 5150 does support it.

 

You are right, I forgot about that. The older FDCs (not the newer, see, below) do need external support as well. Now that you mention, I think that the original IBMs do not support FM for that reason.

 

Yes, the µ765 supports FM. And all other clones use that, or a derivate, too, AFAIK.

Newer FDC don't require almost any external components. They have integrated PLL, write pre-compensation and data separator. So FM supports depends only on the chip itself. They are all derivatives of the 765. But they are very far descendants and many don't support FM. Some say so explicitly, some do not.

 

Anyway, that doesn't seem to be the OP problem so far. And now that I mentioned CMOS myself ... the original XT doesn't have it. So, I am guessing, may be WriteAtr is being confussed about which drive type his computer has.

[1050]

> Selected Atari disk drive type 360K DS/DD/5.25

 

> The selected Atari disk drive type is not compatible with your floppy drive.

 

The above message confuses me because my old IBM is a 360K DS/DD drive.

The dos25.atr image is not DS/DD but your drive is so drive error report

is valid. WriteAtr starts working with images of 180K and above, none

of which are the files you described. Try this file with WriteAtr.

MyDOS_DD.zip

 

Is there another image writer I should be using?

Not exactly an image writer and I don't recall one that actually

works but I do use AtariDsk from the same site but you then must

have an Atari drive that can do double density. You'll need this

also to use the disk offered above too. A stock 1050 can not do this.

 

End of the day, I suspect that you want to create a bootable disk

on the IBM and expect it to boot in your Atari.

 

Very high odds on this not working out well. My use above is only

to move the files to the Atari system and from there I can use

DiskFormer to then create that disk from that image. Here one

should format the disk first and not allow DiskFormer to do that

for you as it's not the best at getting this part done right.

http://atari.kensclassics.org/a8utilities.html

 

For better help, please describe your Atari setup and drives.

If you are stuck without a DOS disk to boot with and work

files with on the Atari side and this is all about that

then you really are stuck. Unless you have a cassette deck

and can manage to get it to work with your Atari.

http://www.atariage.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=129755

 

Of interest to me is the MS-DOS program you used to format

disks with in 'the 800XL format on my 5150'. Odds are it

wasn't right and I'm curious about that part. AtariDsk

will run in a DOSbox on 9x windows systems and does a

single sided 180K format in double density only, the

disk must be formatted by AtariDsk to then be useable

on both systems as well.

[+Larry]

As already mentioned, you really should consider some form of SIO2PC. It is a far better solution for most situations than all the (several) software programs that attempt to write out disks on a PC.

 

Unless I missed it, you never mentioned what kind of a REAL Atari drive that you have. That is a key bit of info. But even if you have an XF551 (one of the more flexible Atari drives), you still need the services of some type of SIO2PC. What kind of PC do you have to use as the host for SIO2PC? Modern Windows laptop or desktop?

 

-Larry

[spencerhm]

Youe can use this program to check if your system supports FM.

 

I'll run your test pgm. on my IBM 5150. Thanks

[spencerhm]

The dos25.atr image is not DS/DD but your drive is so drive error report

is valid. WriteAtr starts working with images of 180K and above, none

of which are the files you described. Try this file with WriteAtr.

MyDOS_DD.zip

 

 

Not exactly an image writer and I don't recall one that actually

works but I do use AtariDsk from the same site but you then must

have an Atari drive that can do double density. You'll need this

also to use the disk offered above too. A stock 1050 can not do this.

 

End of the day, I suspect that you want to create a bootable disk

on the IBM and expect it to boot in your Atari.

 

Very high odds on this not working out well. My use above is only

to move the files to the Atari system and from there I can use

DiskFormer to then create that disk from that image. Here one

should format the disk first and not allow DiskFormer to do that

for you as it's not the best at getting this part done right.

http://atari.kensclassics.org/a8utilities.html

 

For better help, please describe your Atari setup and drives.

If you are stuck without a DOS disk to boot with and work

files with on the Atari side and this is all about that

then you really are stuck. Unless you have a cassette deck

and can manage to get it to work with your Atari.

http://www.atariage.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=129755

 

Of interest to me is the MS-DOS program you used to format

disks with in 'the 800XL format on my 5150'. Odds are it

wasn't right and I'm curious about that part. AtariDsk

will run in a DOSbox on 9x windows systems and does a

single sided 180K format in double density only, the

disk must be formatted by AtariDsk to then be useable

on both systems as well.

I am using AtariDsk to format in 800XL.

[spencerhm]

 

You have a PC floppy drive, 360k DS/DD. You have a 1050 or other Atari drive, probably can only use SD/SS 90k disks.

 

So, the previous suggestion to get or make a SIO2PC or buy Atarimax APE PC to Atari adapter is the way to go.

Once you have a APE cable, you can perform any DOS command, such as format disk, sector copy disk.

The APE/SIO2PC adapter allows you to use even 16 meg .atrs with just about every game ever written. There

are DISK1 2 3 4 .atrs with hundreds of games.

 

Sorry about APE suggestion. There are other adapters that do the same thing from other sources, I just

don't remember them right now. I think there's a atariage post about making a PC to Atari device.

 

Definitely read the 'newbie' post at the top of this forum.

Ultimately on my newly bought 800XL with two stock 1050 drives I originally wanted to create images of what diskettes I buy, but what I've seen is EVERYTHING is already imaged. My thought was why create them when hundreds of people have already done this and offer them for free.

 

So I guess I do need a SIO2PC solution to get the .ATR files I download from a PC to diskettes for my Atari. Anyone suggest one in particular that's fairly straight forward and isn't for advanced users only? If you have a URL that would be great.

 

I did receive a copy of DOS 2.5 for $17 with a manual in new condition. I was amazed at the condition of both items, and I did make four copies, but diskettes do die eventually. So I also would like to use the SIO2PC solution to image this DOS 2.5 Master disk. I know most folks probably use emulation but I am older school and like the real McCoy. I guess one day I'll have to use emulation when all of my diskettes stop working, but not till then.

 

Regards . . .

[spencerhm]

As already mentioned, you really should consider some form of SIO2PC. It is a far better solution for most situations than all the (several) software programs that attempt to write out disks on a PC.

 

Unless I missed it, you never mentioned what kind of a REAL Atari drive that you have. That is a key bit of info. But even if you have an XF551 (one of the more flexible Atari drives), you still need the services of some type of SIO2PC. What kind of PC do you have to use as the host for SIO2PC? Modern Windows laptop or desktop?

 

-Larry

Larry I believe I missed your post before I left mine about 10 mins after yours. I'm using two stock 1050 drives, and I just started reading the 'newbies' piece and saw the write up on SIO2PC. I can use either pure DOS or my favorite Win7 box. Ultimately it doesn't matter as long as I can download .ATR files, put the on diskettes to run on my 800XL. I'd also like to image my new Atari DOS 2.5 diskette I received yesterday using the SIO2PC solution I'm guided to buy. So if you can recommend one for either Win7 or MS-DOS I will check it out, but I need to finish reading the 'newbies' piece.

 

Thanks, Spencer.

[russg]

Larry I believe I missed your post before I left mine about 10 mins after yours. I'm using two stock 1050 drives, and I just started reading the 'newbies' piece and saw the write up on SIO2PC. I can use either pure DOS or my favorite Win7 box. Ultimately it doesn't matter as long as I can download .ATR files, put the on diskettes to run on my 800XL. I'd also like to image my new Atari DOS 2.5 diskette I received yesterday using the SIO2PC solution I'm guided to buy. So if you can recommend one for either Win7 or MS-DOS I will check it out, but I need to finish reading the 'newbies' piece.

 

Thanks, Spencer.

 

 

' I can download .ATR files, put the(m) on diskettes to run on my'

 

You seem to think along the lines of getting an .ATR and using PC software to burn the .atr to an Atari disk, in

the PC floppy drive. You don't use a PC floppy drive at all.

 

You get a SIO2PC/APE interface to connect the PC USB to SIO port on the Atari.

Then you use the interface to connect the PC to the Atari as an emulated disk drive.

You can use the emulated disk drive as any other disk drive, including being able to

copy files from the emulated drive to your real drive, say from D1: to D2:

 

Hope I'm making it clear. APE/SIO2PC just creates an emulated drive.

[spencerhm]

 

 

' I can download .ATR files, put the(m) on diskettes to run on my'

 

You seem to think along the lines of getting an .ATR and using PC software to burn the .atr to an Atari disk, in

the PC floppy drive. You don't use a PC floppy drive at all.

 

You get a SIO2PC/APE interface to connect the PC USB to SIO port on the Atari.

Then you use the interface to connect the PC to the Atari as an emulated disk drive.

You can use the emulated disk drive as any other disk drive, including being able to

copy files from the emulated drive to your real drive, say from D1: to D2:

 

Hope I'm making it clear. APE/SIO2PC just creates an emulated drive.

Yes that's perfectly clear - thank you!!!