Farb Posted September 21, 2020 Author Share Posted September 21, 2020 16 hours ago, djmat56 said: Hi all. I used to contribute back in the day. In fact, I believe a lot of the tape images on the site are my uploads. @djmat56, it's great to hear from you! I hope you are doing well. Yes, many of the tape images in our archive are yours. Fortunately, we've been able to verify many of them over the past few years with contributions from others ? 1 hour ago, djmat56 said: This is the list of original disks...... Thank you for putting the list together. And thanks @toddtmw for cross-referencing the list with the preservation database ? 12 minutes ago, djmat56 said: More than happy to dump myself with the 1050. As @toddtmw indicated, we often have a better chance of preserving disks if we can do a flux dump with Kryoflux or SuperCard Pro. If you would be willing to send them to me in Germany, I can dump them and return them to you. However, I understand if you don't want to incur risk or cost to send disks, so we'll take dumps made on an Atari drive as a last resort. I honestly don't know the quality of an ATX that Respeqt generates as I don't even own an Atari drive anymore ? There will be titles that simply can't be dumped accurately using such a method (not sure if any of yours fall in that category though). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djmat56 Posted September 21, 2020 Share Posted September 21, 2020 What I can do maybe as a test is to try a couple of disks myself and dump them to ATX file with my setup and upload them here for someone to check / test. I did yesterday successfully manage to create an ATX of one of the Ultima disks that reported bad sectors as part of its copy protection using the Super Archiver and Respeqt and then dump it back to a floppy and it booted perfectly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farb Posted September 21, 2020 Author Share Posted September 21, 2020 (edited) You can certainly try that. Ultima disks are a very trivial example I would expect to work fine since they only leverage simple missing sectors. Just be aware that these old disks will vary in what kind of shape they are in and how many reads they will be able to tolerate before they begin suffering permanent data loss. So it is possible that a test boot or a test dump is the only completely good read you get. I've heard folks in the past disagree with that statement, but I've personally dumped and processed well over 1000 disks and have seen this phenomenon first hand. Update: If you try to dump them yourself, be sure to check the drive head in between each dump to check if debris has accumulated. If so, clean the head before the next dump. The build-up of head debris can easily prevent a good dump and possibly destroy the disk. Edited September 21, 2020 by Farb 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djmat56 Posted September 21, 2020 Share Posted September 21, 2020 Is there anything in particular on my list that you would like me to have a go with just to test? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toddtmw Posted September 21, 2020 Share Posted September 21, 2020 1 minute ago, djmat56 said: Is there anything in particular on my list that you would like me to have a go with just to test? Perhaps try one of the disks I did not list since those are already preserved and it can be compared to the preserved copy? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djmat56 Posted September 21, 2020 Share Posted September 21, 2020 good shout. Give me a short while. Will give it a go now........... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farb Posted September 21, 2020 Author Share Posted September 21, 2020 5 minutes ago, toddtmw said: Perhaps try one of the disks I did not list since those are already preserved and it can be compared to the preserved copy? @toddtmw beat me to it. I'd give both sides of Top Gunner Collection a shot since it's already preserved, would test missing sectors, duplicate sectors and whether skew alignment is replicated correctly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djmat56 Posted September 21, 2020 Share Posted September 21, 2020 Ok. Just tried two disks. Created ATX files using Super Archiver and then written back to floppy again and both work perfectly. caverns of mars test.atx choplifter test.atx 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farb Posted September 21, 2020 Author Share Posted September 21, 2020 (edited) Thanks for the ATX files. Caverns of Mars isn't protected but also doesn't match any dump we have - the sector interleave is different. I am uncertain if this is a legitimate variant or a side effect of the way it was dumped. Choplifter also doesn't match any verified dump we have. The closest match is to our [a] dump but it has data differences in the first two sectors and the interleave of the protection track is different. I'm also not sure here what the cause of the difference might be. Edited September 21, 2020 by Farb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leech Posted September 21, 2020 Share Posted September 21, 2020 Anyone use the Greaseweazle for this? I ordered one, but haven't hooked it up yet (as I need cables for power and such). But seems to be a cheaper alternative to the SuperCard Pro or Kryoflux. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blacka013 Posted September 25, 2020 Share Posted September 25, 2020 Hi all, has anyone come across a programme called Picture Bender by Stocksoft UK (c) 1986? Regards Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OmaOhneBH Posted September 25, 2020 Share Posted September 25, 2020 1 hour ago, blacka013 said: Hi all, has anyone come across a programme called Picture Bender by Stocksoft UK (c) 1986? Regards Found in a collection from User Zarxx! Picture Bender (1986)(Stocksoft)(GB)(Side B).atr Picture Bender (1986)(Stocksoft)(GB)(Side A).atr 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blacka013 Posted September 25, 2020 Share Posted September 25, 2020 Hi OmaOhneBH thanks for the info. Regards Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djmat56 Posted September 25, 2020 Share Posted September 25, 2020 On 9/21/2020 at 8:43 PM, leech said: Anyone use the Greaseweazle for this? I ordered one, but haven't hooked it up yet (as I need cables for power and such). But seems to be a cheaper alternative to the SuperCard Pro or Kryoflux. I too would be interested in hearing if anyone has used a greaseweazle. Thinking of getting one. What 5.25 drives are recommended? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ijor Posted September 26, 2020 Share Posted September 26, 2020 10 hours ago, djmat56 said: I too would be interested in hearing if anyone has used a greaseweazle. Thinking of getting one. What 5.25 drives are recommended? For the greaseweazle, you may want to check this thread: For the disk drive, if you are planning to write back images, it is better to use an older 48 tpi drive (40 tracks) and not a 96 tpi one (80 tracks). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leech Posted September 28, 2020 Share Posted September 28, 2020 On 9/25/2020 at 11:03 AM, OmaOhneBH said: Found in a collection from User Zarxx! Picture Bender (1986)(Stocksoft)(GB)(Side B).atr 90.02 kB · 14 downloads Picture Bender (1986)(Stocksoft)(GB)(Side A).atr 90.02 kB · 14 downloads That looks like both a pirated copy and original. If it were not for knowing that this happened all the time for originals and that printing a label with that quality for normal people being really expensive back then, I would think it was not original. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allan Posted September 28, 2020 Share Posted September 28, 2020 I even have original Atari Corp. disks that have blank disk labels. http://www.atarimania.com/utility-atari-400-800-xl-xe-dos-25_17584.html Allan 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mdivancic Posted October 4, 2020 Share Posted October 4, 2020 Folks: I have three old Alavon Hill titles on tape that I would like to preserve. I’ve been trying to get an account on Atarimaina’s forum so I could get the process started there, but I am getting no where after several trys. I have no desire to get into imaging tapes and disk myself, but I would be more than willing to send the tapes to someone to image. I have on tape: Tanktics Deniper River Line Close Assault (which it looks like has been preserved) Also, what’s going on with the Atarimaina forum? I have several original ST disk that I would like to do the same with if I could get my account open there. Any suggestions? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djmat56 Posted October 7, 2020 Share Posted October 7, 2020 (edited) OK. so I have just received my second 5.25 floppy drive and all seems to work as far as the drives concerned. I have tried dumping an original Atari 8 bit disk (Zaxxon) to an scp file and then writing back to a blank and works everytime. Tried converting various ATX files (using A8RAWCONV) to SCP and hardly any work. If I create more than one floppy from the same file it errors at exactly the same part so can't be the process of writing thats at fault. Is there something obvious I'm not doing? I've even tried non-protected ATR files to SCP and then writing and hardly any seem to work for me. BTW.....I'm using Greaseweazle with a 40 track PC 5.25 drive Edited October 7, 2020 by djmat56 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Claudio Cortés Posted October 14, 2020 Share Posted October 14, 2020 (edited) Hi! (sorry for the semi-off topic). Is there any archive with floppy labels scan/photos? I have a front end (Recalbox) wich I use to play my atari 8bit roms/images, I have all screenshots and boxes to create game list selection and art, but I want to include a diskette. In the case of C64 and MSX this material is abundant, but in the case of atari, there are very little compilations of this type of images (...or I have not found yet). Thanks !!!! Edited October 14, 2020 by Claudio Cortés Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cwilbar Posted October 14, 2020 Share Posted October 14, 2020 You'll have to navigate around, but pictures of box art and diskettes can be found on http://www.a8preservation.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fred_M Posted October 15, 2020 Share Posted October 15, 2020 There are some high resolution scans in this topic: 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farb Posted October 26, 2020 Author Share Posted October 26, 2020 Hi all, it long overdue for a new preservation torrent. If anyone is interested in creating and seeding one for us, please PM me. Thanks! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+remowilliams Posted October 27, 2020 Share Posted October 27, 2020 Updated https://mega.nz/folder/w503waRI#MsrmN9yWJ4LIgMZ4pZGNlw 5 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timothy Kline Posted October 27, 2020 Share Posted October 27, 2020 As always, the latest official preservation archive can be found mirrored at the URL below for Atari enthusiasts and collectors: https://atari-owner.com/fun/atari-preserved-software/ --Tim 4 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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