Atari PAC-MAN Fan Posted March 24, 2017 Share Posted March 24, 2017 Hello Everyone! I'm getting an Atari 600XL tonight. I made sure I had all the peripherals I needed to run it. I had everything except something to run backups on. I know there is an SIO2PC device to let you do that, but is there a less complicated way to do this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mclaneinc Posted March 24, 2017 Share Posted March 24, 2017 (edited) Easy answer, not that I know of and I'd seriously recommend a change of heart and to get one, they are not really complicated at all, 99% of people are up and running in minutes and there's no shortage of help on here. Either that or hope to get an old 1050 drive that a. works and b. is not expensive. I suspect many might have been put off by the thread name Whilst technically correct its a little intimidating, we prefer the term back up or even copy for these old disks, pirate makes us all sound like we have rows of Blu Ray writers burning off the latest films These days 99.9% of these games have long since being protected by copyright holders and most of those are now out of business and don't care as long as people enjoy them Edited March 24, 2017 by Mclaneinc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goochman Posted March 24, 2017 Share Posted March 24, 2017 As long as you have the pirated software on a floppy disk or cassette then you dont need a SIO2PC adapter. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Gemintronic Posted March 24, 2017 Share Posted March 24, 2017 What's the technical issue that make you include "pirated" in your question? Are your fully bought-and-paid for backups acting differently? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+MrFish Posted March 24, 2017 Share Posted March 24, 2017 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atari PAC-MAN Fan Posted March 24, 2017 Author Share Posted March 24, 2017 Sorry guys. I'm some what new here, so I don't know what you guys call this stuff. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mclaneinc Posted March 24, 2017 Share Posted March 24, 2017 (edited) Software is the best start And if you do not have a disk drive or a tape player then an SIO2PC is what you need.....If you only have what we call digital images ie files called atr etc then you will need an SIO2PC.. Edited March 24, 2017 by Mclaneinc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillC Posted March 24, 2017 Share Posted March 24, 2017 (edited) Software is the best start And if you do not have a disk drive or a tape player then an SIO2PC is what you need.....If you only have what we call digital images ie files called atr etc then you will need an SIO2PC.. Sdrive/SIO2SD devices can also be used to access ATR files, they are more expensive but also allow use without being tied to a PC. Edited March 24, 2017 by BillC 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atari PAC-MAN Fan Posted March 25, 2017 Author Share Posted March 25, 2017 (edited) Do they still sell 5 1/4 inch floppy disks and floppy drives? If they do could I just write the rom image to a floppy and load it from the Atari disk drive? Edited March 25, 2017 by Atari PAC-MAN Fan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DrVenkman Posted March 25, 2017 Share Posted March 25, 2017 Do they still sell 5 1/4 inch floppy disks and floppy drives? If they do could I just write the rom image to a floppy and load it from the Atari disk drive? You can buy Atari floppy drives all day long on eBay and several other specialized retailers and other collectors. But floppy disks generally haven't been made in years. There might still be places selling them but they're likely to be "NOS" (New, Old Stock) stuff. Which is fine, but we're coming up on the physical lifetime for these things - the magnetic particles are literally falling off the Mylar disk surfaces due to age. As the disks physically fail in this way, they become useless. I have two working 1050 drives but rarely use them to save wear and tear on my now-ancient 80's disks. Do yourself a favor and get some kind of solid-state storage: an SIO2USB type device to connect to a modern Mac, PC or Linux box (I actually use a Raspberry Pi Zero W for this purpose), an SIO2SD device (which keeps files on an SD card), or an IDE cartridge or internal device. Plenty of options if you're dedicated. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mclaneinc Posted March 25, 2017 Share Posted March 25, 2017 Real floppies have that true retro kick but seriously, the SIO2PC is the way to go or if the computer is no where near the PC then the SIO2SD will work as well, its down to cost and ease of use. You also have the problem that the older NOS floppies WILL at some point die unless you care for them perfectly (and even then they will fall over some time in the future..) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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