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DIY SIO2PC USB


777ismyname

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Are there any downsides to the simple DIY SIO2PC USB as demonstrated in the video below, vs. the ones like AtariMax sells with the MPU?

 

I've got a 410 that doesn't work and I thought about gutting it for use as a floppy disk holder and using the SIO stuff to connect to a USB cable, similar to the video.

 

https://youtu.be/-xXBNQIFKLE

 

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I would go for home-made or generic FTDI-based SIO2PC any day of the week, since they work with everything. Unless you specifically want to use it with APE.

FJC, I've never used APE...or anything similar. Hell, I've not even used a real floppy in an Atari drive since the summer of 89 :) That all is changing very soon, however.

 

I have several 410 tape drives and hate to butcher this old gear, but I was thinking last night that the tape window would be an excellent place for an SIO2SD display.

 

I think I will cut up an SIO cable and USB cable to see how it works out before taking the Dremel to this 410.

 

Any idea of some plastics friendly spray paint that will match the color of the 410/800/810?

 

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I have been using my generic (not even ftdi based) cable since ever. I guess with and ftdi based one you get the different high speed modes to work flawless, but any USB should work for loading games, booting the dos, etc.

That is all I want at the moment, manterola. It appears the wife overpaid Uncle Sam quite substantially, so ole Mark gets to procure some nice Atari goodies in a month or two :)

 

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I was never able to get that one to work with my A800, has anyone had any luck with it?

 

I've got an FTDI-based SIO2PC device that was made by a now-banned member several years ago. Works just fine with my 800s (and every other Atari for that matter). Just buy a breakout board from Sparkfun or someplace and wire up the SIO cable - you should be good to go.

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I made one from this only a couple of months back. Only needed one SIO connector to fit it to make it work.

 

https://www.sparkfun.com/products/12731

 

That's also the same board spec'd out for the 1088XEL design. I use it regularly and it works perfectly as an SIO2USB interface.

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Probably this also works.. less than a dollar and some patience

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.ca%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F312519249465

 

I have something very very similar this one:

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F311904054937

I just tried and connected TX to din,RX to Dout, and gnd to Gnd.

I started RespeQt set the handshake method to none.

It worked perfectly. That is probably the cheapest you can go.

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FJC, I've never used APE...or anything similar. Hell, I've not even used a real floppy in an Atari drive since the summer of 89 :) That all is changing very soon, however.

 

I have several 410 tape drives and hate to butcher this old gear, but I was thinking last night that the tape window would be an excellent place for an SIO2SD display.

 

I think I will cut up an SIO cable and USB cable to see how it works out before taking the Dremel to this 410.

 

Any idea of some plastics friendly spray paint that will match the color of the 410/800/810?

 

Sent from my Moto G (5) Plus using Tapatalk

I'd just like to point out the SIO2PC and SIO2SD are two different animals. SIO2PC allows you to connect your SIO port to a PC through either a serial or USB connection. For reliability I would recommend using the FTDI board with the USB connection. I've had good luck using that with the Respeqt software.

 

The SIO2SD is a device that connects to your SIO port and allows you to browse an SD card and load disk images as if it was a floppy drive attached to your computer. A home mode SIO to PC cable is going to give you that functionality but instead of a piece of hardware with an LCD display, you use your PC (best used with a laptop) screen to browse disk images and load them like a bunch of floppies.

 

A home made cable is NOT going to give you a device you can stuff into a 1010 and you will have ruined a repairable program recorder for nothing.

I've also bought the Atarimax

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I'd just like to point out the SIO2PC and SIO2SD are two different animals. SIO2PC allows you to connect your SIO port to a PC through either a serial or USB connection. For reliability I would recommend using the FTDI board with the USB connection. I've had good luck using that with the Respeqt software.

 

The SIO2SD is a device that connects to your SIO port and allows you to browse an SD card and load disk images as if it was a floppy drive attached to your computer. A home mode SIO to PC cable is going to give you that functionality but instead of a piece of hardware with an LCD display, you use your PC (best used with a laptop) screen to browse disk images and load them like a bunch of floppies.

 

A home made cable is NOT going to give you a device you can stuff into a 1010 and you will have ruined a repairable program recorder for nothing.

I've also bought the Atarimax

Yes, I'm aware of the difference :) I found another 410 today, so I may just do both. The SIO2SD display should fit into the cassette window just fine and the way the door opens should make for easy SD card removal. I'd like to get one of Lotharek's SIO hubs to try out, to go along with some of this stuff.

 

 

 

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I'd just like to point out the SIO2PC and SIO2SD are two different animals. SIO2PC allows you to connect your SIO port to a PC through either a serial or USB connection. For reliability I would recommend using the FTDI board with the USB connection. I've had good luck using that with the Respeqt software.

 

The SIO2SD is a device that connects to your SIO port and allows you to browse an SD card and load disk images as if it was a floppy drive attached to your computer. A home mode SIO to PC cable is going to give you that functionality but instead of a piece of hardware with an LCD display, you use your PC (best used with a laptop) screen to browse disk images and load them like a bunch of floppies.

 

A home made cable is NOT going to give you a device you can stuff into a 1010 and you will have ruined a repairable program recorder for nothing.

I've also bought the Atarimax

Yes, I'm aware of the difference :) I found another 410 today, so I may just do both. The SIO2SD display should fit into the cassette window just fine and the way the door opens should make for easy SD card removal. I'd like to get one of Lotharek's SIO hubs to try out, to go along with some of this stuff.

 

 

 

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Yes, I'm aware of the difference :) I found another 410 today, so I may just do both. The SIO2SD display should fit into the cassette window just fine and the way the door opens should make for easy SD card removal. I'd like to get one of Lotharek's SIO hubs to try out, to go along with some of this stuff.

 

 

 

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Oh, good. I wasn't sure from your previous post that was the case. There are also enclosures that you can get on EBay that are designed to hold the various SIO2SDs. Some of them are even designed to look like the various system styles...T.O.S., XL, and XE.

Edited by Geister
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Oh, good. I wasn't sure from your previous post that was the case. There are also enclosures that you can get on EBay that are designed to hold the various SIO2SDs. Some of them are even designed to look like the various system styles...T.O.S., XL, and XE.

That would certainly look better than what I will hack together :) I still haven't decided which Atari I'm going to upgrade and be the non-daily daily driver. I have all of them except for the 130XE. I went to one of my storage buildings this afternoon looking for the XEGS and 800, but had no luck. I did find some really cool stuff that I'd forgotten about. Two things in particular that I've been wanting to tinker with: the numpad and a trackball. I found two 7800 Ballblazer carts, so I'm going to pull the PoKEY from it for some dual PoKEY love for whichever machine gets upgraded

 

I really like the 1200XL, but know that the 800XL will be much more practical.

 

It was really fun digging through all of the retro machines in storage, though the lady did not appreciate it at all :)

 

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I did, and on an 800 also, used this one, I did not need it but for $3.60 total I gave it a shot.

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/PL2303HX-USB-to-TTL-RS232-COM-UART-Module-Serial-Cable-Adapter-for-Arduino/322619331980

 

I mean I was never able to build one successfully, not interested in buying one but thanks...

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Are there any downsides to the simple DIY SIO2PC USB as demonstrated in the video below, vs. the ones like AtariMax sells with the MPU?

 

I've got a 410 that doesn't work and I thought about gutting it for use as a floppy disk holder and using the SIO stuff to connect to a USB cable, similar to the video.

 

 

Sent from my Moto G (5) Plus using Tapatalk

 

 

I built the cheap one and messed with it some. The ~$6 cable comes with a clone chip in it, so the drivers are a pain in the ass in Windows 10. Once you know that, it is just inconvenient to downgrade the drivers every time you change USB ports or Windows updates. I used this with RespeQT just fine to connect the Atari to the PC and load up a few things. Since the very basic one takes hold of the SIO bus, no chance of using it in conjunction with a 1050 or other drive. If you don't want the driver issues, probably spend more money and get the genuine chip version. Or, if you don't care and have time to wait, spend 1/3 the price and get the clone cable from wherever it shows up from for less. Just don't expect anything beyond the idea of connecting the Atari to a PC to load files.

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  • 6 months later...

Many months later and I finally put this together. I got sidelined with another heart procedure, but now I'm ready to get to business :) I've fiddled around a deal with the settings and haven't gotten above 19,200 yet (using AspeQt only so far). I had purchased an FT232RL cable for a few $, similar to the one in Nir's video a couple of years ago. I'm pleased to be using a physical Atari 800XL!! 

 

Are there any obvious things to try, other than changing baud rates and divisors under Tools in AspeQt (it is only working with handshakes turned off) or buying a better FT232 device, to getting closer to at least XF551 speeds? I'm using Windows 10 X64, etc. It is near 1:00 A.M. here as I attach the cables and play with this, so I may have boogered something up. Is it safe to chain this DIY SIO2PC-USB to a stock 1050?

 

Thank you all!!

 

 

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Please excuse the last question. I have never noticed the pinned RespeQt thread until a forum search an hour or two ago. Now I'm going to cross my fingers and hope this 1050 that has been in a storage box for 21 years still functions.

 

@dmsc I christened the SIO2PC USB cable by booting FastBasic first :)

IMG-2380.JPG

Edited by 777ismyname
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On 9/23/2019 at 7:56 AM, xrbrevin said:

it might need a head clean after 21 years storage..!

I’m certain it does :) I hope to get a Happy upgrade for it pretty soon and will clean it up. I’ve never been inside of an Atari disk drive, so it will be a bit fun for me. 
 

It didn’t occur to me until after getting the individual wires covered in heat shrink and then the cable covered in heat shrink that I could have had a combo SIO2PC USB/1050 2 PC cable :( I found three wrapped boxes of 5-1/4 floppy disks in storage here, buy had/have no method of writing DOS to them :( 

 

I suppose I could rip off all that heat shrink (it goes the entire length of the cable I made), but it would be a mess. The combo SIO2PC USB/1050 2 PC device that Lotharek has that is all built inside of an SIO plug is the cat’s meow, but I’d rather wait and save up to buy another thing or two from him, since postal service from Poland to the U.S. is quite expensive. I checked the place in Upstate NY, but they are out of Lotharek’s plug. I need to send Best an email to see if he has some of the old public domain disks with TurboBASIC XL on them. That would do me until I get things sorted with another cable or the all in one SIO plug device.

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