phuzaxeman Posted November 16, 2016 Share Posted November 16, 2016 I just got my Atari 800xl and it's been over 10 yrs. I forgot how to even load it until I watched a youtube video. My 1050 doesn't work anymore. I still have several disks. I read about the SIO2SD. Can someone help me and explain how it works? What do I need to get it started if I purchase one. Do I still need a 1050? Btw, I'm interested to know if Alternate Reality works too. Thanks. Been a long time since I posted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suspicious_milk Posted November 16, 2016 Share Posted November 16, 2016 It's a disk emulator. You put disk images (*.atr) or even executables (*.xex) files on a fat formatted (Windows) SD card, from your PC/Mac. The SD card then goes in the Sio2sd, and using is buttons and built in display, choose which disks are in which drives (D1 thru D8). It's like having eight 1050s, only a lot faster. You can also find 16MB disk images loaded with games (even AR). Search this forum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pixelmischief Posted November 16, 2016 Share Posted November 16, 2016 Congratulations on the 800XL and welcome! The SIO2SD is a very simple device to use. You format the SD card on your PC using the FAT32 filesystem and then you load images (XFD and ATR) on it. These are widely available on the Internet.; Google is your friend. Then, you put the SD card into the SIO2SD and connect it to the SIO port of your 800XL. Please be sure the Atari is OFF when you connect the SIO2SD to it. Once it's connected, turn the Atari ON. The SIO2SD has a few buttons and a text screen by which you will load the aforementioned images into drive devices (D1:, D2:, etc). It also supports a couple of hard drive device slots (H1:, H2:) which can hold images up to 16MB in size! I believe these have to be used with MyDOS and SpartaDOS. Not entirely sure. In any case, configure your disk images into the devices you want, cold boot the Atari, and "wallah!". The SIO2SD is much easier in the doing than in the telling, There are a few nuances to its use, but they are well covered. In my opinion, the SIO2SD is the very first and most easily and immediately useful upgrade that one can make to their 8-Bit Atari configuration. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Philsan Posted November 16, 2016 Share Posted November 16, 2016 When you'll have SIO2SD, here you'll find basic intructions to use it: http://www.santellocco.com/atari/consigli-sio2sd.htm#english Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shoestring Posted November 16, 2016 Share Posted November 16, 2016 (edited) Also look into SIO2PC from Lotharek. I think this is much more convenient , cheaper and more flexible. See this thread for details http://atariage.com/forums/topic/258937-Atari-800XL---where-to-start-and-what-to-get Edited November 16, 2016 by shoestring Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phuzaxeman Posted November 17, 2016 Author Share Posted November 17, 2016 thank you everyone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hunter44102 Posted May 3, 2017 Share Posted May 3, 2017 So what is the size limit of the D1: thru D8: drives on SIO2SD? I made 720K size ATRs (by using custom 2880 Sectors, 256 bytes/sector). But can I go higher? Can the D drives go up to 16MB also? Or do I have to use the H: drives for the 16MB? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_The Doctor__ Posted May 3, 2017 Share Posted May 3, 2017 huh? if your using a real sio2sd then of course you can go to 16! any drive of your choosing! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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