Don't even remember how to load a disk..

[elviticus]

Hi - Just got an Atari computer (XEGS) again after oh, 20 years of being out of the loop. It came with a disk drive and I've got a game on disk coming in the mail.... Problem - I don't even remember how to load from disk! Any help appreciated.

[Jeff Lodoen]

Hi - Just got an Atari computer (XEGS) again after oh, 20 years of being out of the loop.   It came with a disk drive and I've got a game on disk coming in the mail....   Problem - I don't even remember how to load from disk!   Any help appreciated.

 

The Atari, on power up, will automatically boot from the drive designated D1.

 

The XL/XE have BASIC built-in and enabled by default. Most games require BASIC be disabled. To do that, hold the OPTION button while you turn the computer on.

[elviticus]

Great - that helps. Do I have to do anything to designate the drive D1, or will that be the default if I only have one drive? Also... what was the DOS disk for?

[Nukey Shay]

Look at the back of the drive. You'll see a small cutout in the lower-left corner. There's 2 small switches (one behind the other) inside that you can move sideways with a pen. IIRC, you put both of them to the left position to indicate that this is to be drive #1.

And the DOS disk is used to boot the drive. This is usually not needed for commercial games (since most of them have their own boot code)...but don't lose it since it will allow you to format/copy disks or create your own programs.