Discussion:
Atari Newbie Questions
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Martin Brunner
2016-04-17 02:07:11 UTC
Permalink
Hi!

I got an Atari Mega 1 (with Megafile 60 Hard Disk and 1224 and 124
Monitors for Color or Hi-Res Monochrome).

The TOS doesn't tell any Version number and the Hard Disk does not seem
to work (well, when I switch it on, I can't access Disk A: with the
drivers anymore).

So, I have some Questions:

How to get a game from the Internet to the Atari?
Can I use a PC drive, does it work with the Kryoflux somehow?
I was able to find some SFX or IMG files, but none of them suitable for
Kryoflux.

How do I get the hard disk to work? Will a newer version of TOS helb to
solve the conflict with A:?

Will I need the monochrome Monitor? I just want to use the Computer for
some games (that I'd like to have on the hard disk).

Thank you
Adam Klobukowski
2016-04-17 07:34:37 UTC
Permalink
Post by Martin Brunner
Hi!
How to get a game from the Internet to the Atari?
Can I use a PC drive, does it work with the Kryoflux somehow?
I was able to find some SFX or IMG files, but none of them suitable for
Kryoflux.
There are many options. I'd suggest you to get the floppy emulator from http://lotharek.pl/. With it, you can run games from any image.
Post by Martin Brunner
How do I get the hard disk to work? Will a newer version of TOS helb to
solve the conflict with A:?
If everything is properly connected, try turning on disk before ST, wait few seconds (old disks used tak its time to spin), then turn ST on. If after that it will not work, most likely the disk is broken.

There is no conflict, there can't be any conflict between floppy drive and harddrive. If floppy drive led is on, but it does not work, somebody might have connected the floppy cable to the drive the wrong drive - you can check it. If it still does not work, it is broken.
Post by Martin Brunner
Will I need the monochrome Monitor? I just want to use the Computer for
some games (that I'd like to have on the hard disk).
Most games work only on color monitor. There are some that work on both and very little that work on monochrome only.

Photo of the screen after boot might give some more details.

AdamK
Martin Brunner
2016-04-17 10:10:02 UTC
Permalink
Post by Adam Klobukowski
There are many options. I'd suggest you to get the floppy emulator
from http://lotharek.pl/. With it, you can run games from any image.
Ok, but can I download a game on the PC and copy it to a real disk somehow?

Or copy it on the Megafile harddisk?
Post by Adam Klobukowski
If everything is properly connected, try turning on disk before ST,
wait few seconds (old disks used tak its time to spin), then turn ST
on. If after that it will not work, most likely the disk is broken.
There is no conflict, there can't be any conflict between floppy
drive and harddrive.
Guess I tried that but had no sucess. So the hard disk should even work
with the oldest version of TOS if it is not formattet yet?
Post by Adam Klobukowski
Photo of the screen after boot might give some more details.
I just have the normal green TOS screen without anything special. Drive
A: and B: (which is both the same disk drive) and the paper basket.
David Wade
2016-04-17 12:47:05 UTC
Permalink
Post by Martin Brunner
Post by Adam Klobukowski
There are many options. I'd suggest you to get the floppy emulator
from http://lotharek.pl/. With it, you can run games from any image.
Ok, but can I download a game on the PC and copy it to a real disk somehow?
"It depends". Early Mega's have single sided drives and so won't read
720k floppies which are two sided, only a 360K single sided diskette.
Later machines had a PC Style 720K disk and would read normal DOS
diskettes. However diskettes formatted on the Mega won't read on the PC....

Most folks swapped the drive for a double sided. Can your Mega format a
two sided floppy? If so then it will read 720K disks created on a PC.
Most PC's with a floppy drive can create this type of diskette.
Post by Martin Brunner
Or copy it on the Megafile harddisk?
most games boot special code from floppy and can't be installed on a
hard disk.
Post by Martin Brunner
Post by Adam Klobukowski
If everything is properly connected, try turning on disk before ST,
wait few seconds (old disks used tak its time to spin), then turn ST
on. If after that it will not work, most likely the disk is broken.
There is no conflict, there can't be any conflict between floppy
drive and harddrive.
Guess I tried that but had no sucess. So the hard disk should even work
with the oldest version of TOS if it is not formattet yet?
Its an old drive, how can it not be formatted yet?. All versions of TOS
support Hard Drives. The Mega 60 will usually have a Seagate ST277R RLL
drive in. Most of these have gone to drive heaven....
....
Post by Martin Brunner
Post by Adam Klobukowski
Photo of the screen after boot might give some more details.
I just have the normal green TOS screen without anything special. Drive
A: and B: (which is both the same disk drive) and the paper basket.
Then its not seeing the hard drive. I would expect that the hard Drive
is in-operable.

Dave
Martin Brunner
2016-04-18 10:29:08 UTC
Permalink
Post by David Wade
"It depends". Early Mega's have single sided drives and so won't read
720k floppies which are two sided, only a 360K single sided diskette.
Later machines had a PC Style 720K disk and would read normal DOS
diskettes. However diskettes formatted on the Mega won't read on the PC....
Ah ok.

Well TOS shows me A: and B:. When I click on B: it says something funny
like "Insert Disk A into Drive B" and just will show the content of
floppy drive A: afterwards. Does this indicate if this has a two-sided
floppy?
Post by David Wade
most games boot special code from floppy and can't be installed on a
hard disk.
Ah ok.

But which format should the games be in, so that i could copy them on disk?
Post by David Wade
Its an old drive, how can it not be formatted yet?. All versions of TOS
support Hard Drives. The Mega 60 will usually have a Seagate ST277R RLL
drive in. Most of these have gone to drive heaven....
....
Ok, maybe it's broken but then I expect the system at least to do
anything else with the drive instead of not doing anything at all.

Guess the best option is that someone who knows how to do it just will
copy some games on disk for me. But these STX files do not seem to be
suitable for that purpose. Maybe I'd bring this computer to some meeting.

Thank you

Adam Klobukowski
2016-04-17 13:48:17 UTC
Permalink
Post by Martin Brunner
Post by Adam Klobukowski
There are many options. I'd suggest you to get the floppy emulator
from http://lotharek.pl/. With it, you can run games from any image.
Ok, but can I download a game on the PC and copy it to a real disk somehow?
Yes you can - but it is tricky. I gave you probably the easiest solution.
Post by Martin Brunner
Post by Adam Klobukowski
Photo of the screen after boot might give some more details.
I just have the normal green TOS screen without anything special. Drive
A: and B: (which is both the same disk drive) and the paper basket.
Other then A: and B:, disk letters are not shown on the desktop by default. You add them using menu options.

AdamK
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