Percom AT88 Atari Disk Drive

[joplinatari]

Hi all,

 

A year or two ago I bought a NIB Percom AT88 external disk drive at a flea market for a few bucks which apparently is designed for Atari computers. Wasn't into Atari 8-Bit computers at the time, so didn't do anything with it, but the Atari "bug" has now bit me and I have a 400 and a 800... so it might be useful.

 

Anyone heard of this drive and is it good or bad? Does it rank with the Atari 1050? It has something called a "doubler" board installed and the manuals mention a "DOS XL" disk which I don't have.

 

Any info appreciated. Thanks!

 

Steve

[sup8pdct]

Hi all,

 

A year or two ago I bought a NIB Percom AT88 external disk drive at a flea market for a few bucks which apparently is designed for Atari computers. Wasn't into Atari 8-Bit computers at the time, so didn't do anything with it, but the Atari "bug" has now bit me and I have a 400 and a 800... so it might be useful.

 

Anyone heard of this drive and is it good or bad? Does it rank with the Atari 1050? It has something called a "doubler" board installed and the manuals mention a "DOS XL" disk which I don't have.

 

Any info appreciated. Thanks!

 

Steve

 

If it is what I think it is, it will only do single and double density. the 1050 or enhanced density wasn't even around when this drive came out.

I have no idea what it would be like with some protected game disks.

Dos xl should be available at atarimania tho you will need to get it to a floppy somehow. if you have made a sio2pc interface, it would be easy.

 

James

[+Larry]

Hi all,

 

A year or two ago I bought a NIB Percom AT88 external disk drive at a flea market for a few bucks which apparently is designed for Atari computers. Wasn't into Atari 8-Bit computers at the time, so didn't do anything with it, but the Atari "bug" has now bit me and I have a 400 and a 800... so it might be useful.

 

Anyone heard of this drive and is it good or bad? Does it rank with the Atari 1050? It has something called a "doubler" board installed and the manuals mention a "DOS XL" disk which I don't have.

 

Any info appreciated. Thanks!

 

Steve

 

I've had several of different Percom drives. I still have one that is set up for a CP/M system. In the world of Atari drives, the Percom is an "OK" drive. If it has one significant advantage, it used ISA drive mechanisms with a stand-alone controller board. They are slow, and dead slow in double density. There were compatibility issues with protected games; however, most games have been "picked clean" by now, so that is likely not much of an issue these days. Last, at least the ones I've had, were not terribly reliable in double density, however were fine in single density.

 

-Larry