bfollowell Posted January 15, 2019 Share Posted January 15, 2019 I've decided I want to purchase a 1050 drive and I'm wondering if this is a good price. It's still in the original box with all the original packing materials and the power supply and SIO cable. He acquired it with an 800XL and another 1050. He doesn't need both and just wants to recoup some of his cost. The drive looks extremely clean and the box and packing materials look really good. He's been using both drives and said that they both seem to read perfectly. It's a Singapore drive and he's not certain of the drive mechanism. I know the Hong Kong drives are more preferable, but this one sounds like it's in good working condition, at least for the time being. He's asking $70 and $20 to ship it to me. I rarely see a drive on ebay that I could get for much less than $50 or $60 shipped, and they're almost always untested, as-is, and don't include a power supply or an SIO cable. It seems like a decent price on a working drive, all things considered. What do you guys think? Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Nezgar Posted January 15, 2019 Share Posted January 15, 2019 I'd say that's a fair price considering the complete package with box, power supply, cable, and tested known working. I'd expect a bare 'untested' drive without the rest of the items around $20-40. All Singapore 1050's have Tandon mechs. All Hong Kong 1050's have World Storage Technologies mechs, and are generally less common since they were introduced later in the production run. They also have a unique firmware with faster stepper timing, but otherwise no big functional difference. If your seller hasn't done so already, first (minimal) order of business would be to pop it open and make sure the read/write head is clean using a little isopropyl alcohol on a qtip/cotton swap and a 5-10 seconds of cleaning directly on the ceramic head. (Careful not to get any on the top felt pressure pad). This will ensure prolonged life of any disks you use by making sure any abrasive old dirt isn't slowly scraping material off the surface of your disks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Stephen Posted January 15, 2019 Share Posted January 15, 2019 That sounds a fair price to me. PLEASE for the love of all things Atari. Make 110% certain the seller does not pack the power brick loose in the box with the drive or it will smash the fuck out of (that's a technical term) the case in transit. 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+kheller2 Posted January 16, 2019 Share Posted January 16, 2019 And make sure he packs the box IN another box. I've had gear shipped to me in the original Atari boxes .. which are then ruined by transit, stickers, handling, etc.. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+mytek Posted January 16, 2019 Share Posted January 16, 2019 That sounds a fair price to me. PLEASE for the love of all things Atari. Make 110% certain the seller does not pack the power brick loose in the box with the drive or it will smash the fuck out of (that's a technical term) the case in transit. They don't call it a brick without good reason . I would suggest that it gets its own bubble wrap cocoon made up of many layers, enough to wedge it into the box with everything else (no free air space left). Feel free to dictate the boxing procedure you would like to see to the seller. I once bought an SC12224 ST Monitor off of eBay and requested that it get double boxed with the monitor inside a bubble wrapped cocoon, placed inside the first box which then also got wrapped in bubble wrap, which then got placed inside another box. Needless to say it survived the trip without any issues. Not bad considering it came cross country, weighs a ton, and has many fragile parts. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
E474 Posted January 16, 2019 Share Posted January 16, 2019 I always ask the seller to put a piece of card or a floppy in the drive to prevent the head being damaged during shipping. You might want to ask if there are any manuals included in the deal, and check that the drive can format/read/write disks too. You might be able to get a working drive with all the listed extras for less, but it's worth asking how much less would you end up paying, and how long you would have to wait before finding a similar deal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SS Posted January 16, 2019 Share Posted January 16, 2019 The seller is fairly new on the Facebook Atari 8-Bit page but I've talked to him a few times and he seems a pretty straight up guy. In fact, I think that it was me who suggested that this price range might be a fair one for a good condition, boxed 1050. I momentarily considered making him an offer for it myself but I honestly don't need another 1050, boxed or not. It's possible that you could find another decent one at a lower price if you're patient enough but this seems like a reasonable deal so I'd probably go for it if you need a new drive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bfollowell Posted January 16, 2019 Author Share Posted January 16, 2019 Do you think the power supply would ride well like this? I figure this is how they were shipped 35 years ago, but if you guys think it needs better packaging... And yes, he plans to double-pack it to insure the condition of the original box. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bfollowell Posted January 16, 2019 Author Share Posted January 16, 2019 The seller is fairly new on the Facebook Atari 8-Bit page but I've talked to him a few times and he seems a pretty straight up guy. In fact, I think that it was me who suggested that this price range might be a fair one for a good condition, boxed 1050. I momentarily considered making him an offer for it myself but I honestly don't need another 1050, boxed or not. It's possible that you could find another decent one at a lower price if you're patient enough but this seems like a reasonable deal so I'd probably go for it if you need a new drive. Yeah, I just dug my 800XL out of the attic after 25 years of storage and I've been having a blast. I never had a 1050. I had a Rana 1000, but it bit the dust long ago. I have an XF551, but it doesn't really match my XL, and it seems to be getting a little flakey. I've decided I'd like to get a 1050 to match my 800XL and I'll probably install an AtariMax Happy mod so that I can try to read my old DD disks from my Rana days. I could wait a long time and not find a drive as nice and known to be working. I may find a better deal tomorrow, but you just never know. These babies aren't getting any younger and they're not making any more. I think I'm going to tell him I'll take it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+mytek Posted January 16, 2019 Share Posted January 16, 2019 Just so you know. There is a clean, tested, 1050 with the Happy Upgrade installed going for around $74 (price includes shipping fee). It also comes with a power brick. LINK Edit: never mind that is the bid price Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bfollowell Posted January 16, 2019 Author Share Posted January 16, 2019 Just so you know. There is a clean, tested, 1050 with the Happy Upgrade installed going for around $74 (price includes shipping fee). It also comes with a power brick. LINK Edit: never mind that is the bid price Yep, I bet that baby will go for more than that. I'll keep an eye on it though. This one had another guy ahead of me by the time I decided to pull the trigger. He's gonna let me know if the deal falls through, but I'm not gonna hold my breath. Next time I'll have to follow my gut and jump a little faster. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adam242 Posted January 16, 2019 Share Posted January 16, 2019 If your seller hasn't done so already, first (minimal) order of business would be to pop it open and make sure the read/write head is clean using a little isopropyl alcohol on a qtip/cotton swap and a 5-10 seconds of cleaning directly on the ceramic head. (Careful not to get any on the top felt pressure pad). This will ensure prolonged life of any disks you use by making sure any abrasive old dirt isn't slowly scraping material off the surface of your disks. While you're in there, I would recommend very lightly oiling the metal rails the head rides on. This greatly reduces the amount of noise a 1050 makes. Just use another Q-tip and some light machine oil. Again, don't get any on the head! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bfollowell Posted January 17, 2019 Author Share Posted January 17, 2019 Well, I didn't get this one, but I did manage to win an auction for a 1050 with an original Happy mod, including the original disks and the chips that were replaced by the mod.When I get it, I'll pop the cover and give it a good once-over. I'll clean the head and lightly oil the head rails. Hopefully, it will last through me archiving my collection. Almost everything ever released is available as an image nowadays, so once I get my 35-year-old personal stuff archived I'll probably look at selling it. I'll post here before I look into other methods. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Nezgar Posted January 17, 2019 Share Posted January 17, 2019 Nice, original happy, congrats, those are fairly rare to see these days. When you have it open I wouldn't mind seeing a picture of the board. You can also confirm with the utility software if it has the Version 1 (less common) or Version 2 (very common) ROM. If the utility disks you receive at version 7.0, there is v7.1 disks available to download around here someplace. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bfollowell Posted January 17, 2019 Author Share Posted January 17, 2019 Yes, and I just found out that I'm buying it from the original owner. He even shipped his original receipts from 1983 with it too, so I know the pedigree! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SS Posted January 17, 2019 Share Posted January 17, 2019 Well, I didn't get this one, but I did manage to win an auction for a 1050 with an original Happy mod, including the original disks and the chips that were replaced by the mod. When I get it, I'll pop the cover and give it a good once-over. I'll clean the head and lightly oil the head rails. Hopefully, it will last through me archiving my collection. Almost everything ever released is available as an image nowadays, so once I get my 35-year-old personal stuff archived I'll probably look at selling it. I'll post here before I look into other methods. I was looking at that one tooh it seems like a good drive. If I *were* to get another 1050, I would definitely want a Happy modified one. I would totally recommend holding onto the drive after your archiving is completed though. Partially because you never know when you might actually need a real, working drive again. Mostly because sometimes it's fun just to go completely old-school with a bunch of floppies from time to time. As much as I love my modern software loading choices, occasionally I use my old floppy disks purly for the nostalgia factor. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bfollowell Posted January 17, 2019 Author Share Posted January 17, 2019 (edited) I'm not sure if you wanted a Happy drive or an "original" Happy drive. If I hadn't won this one, I had one for $69 Buy It Now I was going to buy and put an AtariMax Happy Upgrade into it. I checked and it's still available. He confirmed that it was verified to be a working drive. https://www.ebay.com/itm/ATARI-1050-DUAL-DENSITY-DISK-DRIVE-Floppy-w-Original-Box-Cords/153309150550?hash=item23b1effd56:g:i0YAAOSwjlVcGW3S:rk:38:pf:0&LH_BIN=1 Edited January 17, 2019 by bfollowell Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Like us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
AtariAge on Instagram
Watch us on YouTube
Chat on Discord
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.