Writing ATX files with a Speedy drive ITS POSSIBLE

[rcamp48]

Apparently it is possible to write some ATX files with the Mini Speedy, I have done it, in order to do this before you boot up with MYCopier 2.1 , the one that says US Doubler, you must enable all of the check marks in disk emulation, then turn on the Happy drive window. Then because you have the emulated drives enabled as Happy drives , your Speedy becomes a Happy drive , dont ask me how but it just does, you cannot use Happy software as the two are different, but you can write your disk in Happy mode, whether its because the disk in question is not all that protected or it somehow copies it. I have copied maybe 4 disks that are atx, and they work, I will get a list later on, but this will do until someone writes a proper program for writing atx programs for the Mini Speedy. Russ

 

[+DrVenkman]

Yes, there are a number of copier programs that can write ATX files to real drives, using Mini Speedy, Happy drives and any number of other enhancements. Most of this stuff was figured out years or decades ago by dedicated crackers and pirate clubs. Even the Happy Warp software of the mid-80’s could copy many copy-protected disks and make duplicates. Some of those could be used in un-Happy drives, some required a Happy board or clone in order to boot ... results varied. 

 

Unfortunately, not all ATX files are identical since copy protection techniques varied a lot among disk publishers and over time, and not all disk drive enhancement boards can do the same things. And even more, there are disk protection techniques that simply cannot be replicated by any drive enhancement board using vintage Atari drive mechanisms. You need a modern computer, a Kryoflux or SuperCard Pro interface and a much newer “dumb” PC 5.25” drive mechanism to write out the flux images or ATX files of these disks to a physical floppy.

 

This topic isn’t really RespeQt specific though. Yes, the 4.3 branch of RespeQt can emulate Happy or Archiver drives, but disk copying and writing is a much more general topic than that. 

 

 

[Jacques]

On 7/13/2019 at 2:25 PM, DrVenkman said:

Yes, there are a number of copier programs that can write ATX files to real drives, using Mini Speedy, Happy drives and any number of other enhancements. 

That's interesting, could name some of them, please? I have SIO2PC with RespeQT (ATX, happy support) and VAPI 1050 (supports ATX, too) and need to write ATX image to the real disk. As for disk drives, I have 1050 Turbo (B.Engl) and CA-2001 with Polish TOMS Multi Drive turbo, too. But so far I haven't managed to successfully write ATX back onto disk (reading via SIO2PC works fine).

[Jacques]

On 7/13/2019 at 11:30 AM, rcamp48 said:

MYCopier 2.1 , the one that says US Doubler

Hello, could you please share that particular version?

[rcamp48]

16 hours ago, Jacques said:

Hello, could you please share that particular version?

I no longer have any of that software, I sold the system a long time ago, but am thinking about getting another system soon, when I do I will find the program that you want and post it, I might have it in my archives I will take a look. Russ

 

[Jacques]

@rcamp48

Oh, I hoped maybe you downloaded it from somewhere wnd would remember where from, anyway, thank you for response

[manterola]

Trying to create a floppy with my mini-speedy. The ATX is loaded without a hitch, and I used mycopier. It did not work. I remember RespeQT showing weak sector, but I'm not sure. Is it really possible? Maybe I should try compy branded software to make it happen? Which one? Another question: which kind of emulation should I choose in RespeQT?

As you can notice, I'm kind of lost how this really work. I guess a weak sector and other copy protection "weird" sectors should have a special extended write command codes... Please educate me about it. I have read a lot of post here in atariage, and I'm not sure how mini speedy works regarding this and how ATX and RespeQT emulate it.

 

[E474]

Hi @manterola,

 

   I think you need the MS Copy program for copying protected disks with any of the Speedy drives. Looking on pigwa, there's a disk image here, but I haven't tried it myself, so can't advise further: http://ftp.pigwa.net/stuff/collections/atari_forever/Ziny/Abbuc/

[manterola]

Thanks, but I tried, really tried (with speedy system disk), with MS-Copy (the one posted just showed up a time bomb for me)  and other sector copiers like MyCopyR, Uscopy, CopyMate.

The main issue I believe is that the Compy-shop software does not detect RespeQt as a valid Speedy drive, no matter the mode so it just shows one compatible drive (the real mini-Speedy drive) and other copy software (not compy-shop) sends kind of standard commands to mini-speedy drive.

Maybe I am not understanding the logic of this, but my understanding is that a "special" sector copier would send a special command to the drive, in order to produce a weak sector, for example. In my case, I am only getting blank sectors in those locations with MycopyR. So it looks to me that this specific sector copies does not work with speedy upgrades. On the other hand, The bibo/compy-shop software written for speedy upgrades fail to recognize RespeQt.

 

Of course, I also tried to plug/unplug/replug the real mini speedy drive and RespeQt to "fool" the system regarding the D1: one drive only issue.

Maybe is not possible to create a disk copy with weak sector and that is totally Okay, all is good, and I might need to invest in additional hardware in order to create those copies from ATX files.

[ijor]

I'm not sure about the exact ReseQt support for Speedy drive emulation, but I suspect it can't be used the way you are trying to do. I think that RespeQt supports only Happy and Archiver/Chip drives for copying ATX images.

 

Regardless of that, you can't (reliably) create weak sectors with the mini-speedy, or "normal" Speedy for that matter.

[rcamp48]

On 11/1/2020 at 6:30 AM, rcamp48 said:

I no longer have any of that software, I sold the system a long time ago, but am thinking about getting another system soon, when I do I will find the program that you want and post it, I might have it in my archives I will take a look. Russ

 

I do have  an Atari system again, I may be able to find the MyCopier 2.1 disk with the Happy routines in it, but it might take a few hours to find it, I have access to all of my files while I am again in isolation.

[+CharlieChaplin]

Hmmm, I don't think that Mycopier will work with any copy-protected disks or ATX images, because whenever it cannot read a sector (e.g. weak/phantom sector), it will therefore write an empty sector. Afaik, Mycopier supports ultraspeed but none of the special Happy or Speedy commands. Anyways, try it yourself, attached you will find Mycopier 1.c (bootdisk) and Mycopier 2.1 (option F from the menu).

 

---

 

Some programs that make use of the special Speedy commands are MS-Copy (M.Schubbert?), MS-Format (M.Schubbert?), Ultra Copier (B. Dongus?) and several versions of the Speedy Backup-Copy program (by different authors). In the 90s I had all these programs as originals, even with instructions, but still I did not understand how to use them (except Backup-Copy) and was never able to make functional copies of copy-protected programs, so I sold them. Yes, I also had Disk Master (the german program to create special formats and copy protections with a Happy or Speedy drive) with instructions and allthough they were written in german, they read like greek to me and so I also sold it. Nowadays I have found a few of these programs as fileversions, but still have no clue how to use them. There is also the Turbo 1050 Emulator (by E.Reuss?) which was a pirate/unlicensed program, but quite functional and gave you e.g. the Turbo 1050 Backup Machine after installation into the Speedy RAM. 

 

Attached are two ATR images for the Speedy that do contain fileversions of MS-Copy, MS-Format, Backup-Copy 1.1, Backup-Copy 1.4 and Turbo 1050 Emulator. When you load the Turbo Emulator, wait until the installation is complete (you will hear the Warhawk sound), then press Reset. Now a menu with Start, Select and Option appears (this is the original Turbo menu), press Option for the utilities, the Backup Machine II should appear (if not press Option again and again until it shows up). You can use it for copy-protected 90k disks only, press Start to copy a disk. When copying is finished, test the copied disk, in case it does not work you can load the Backup Machine II again, now press Select first (Xalign lights up), then press Start to copy the disk. When finished, test the disk again, if it works, good for you, if not, bad luck. To get rid of the Turbo 1050 simply power-cycle your Speedy drive (clear the RAM of the Speedy). Afair, the Backup-Copy programs also work with the Start key and do also only copy 90k disks. No clue how MS-Copy or MS-Format works (but MS-Copy, MS-Format and Ultra-Copier should also work with 130k format).

 

There is also one ATR image for the Happy (and most-likely also Speedy) that contains TB XL programs. These were type-in listings, released in the german Atari Magazin, by the same author who later produced the Disk-Master program (D.Wachter?). The programs are not made to copy, but to analyze copy-protected disks and to create special formats, namely: Sector Killer (Sekkill.TUR), Formatter (HapForm.TUR), Diskmapper (Mapper.TUR) and Track Analyzer (TrkAnlz.TUR). The listings were first made for the Happy, but later the author made them for Happy and Speedy (and I do not know which of them are Happy-only and which are for Happy+Speedy).

 

Mycopier.zip HAPPY_TB_Tools.zip Speedy_Backup.zip

[+CharlieChaplin]

On 4/8/2022 at 10:57 PM, CharlieChaplin said:

When you load the Turbo Emulator, wait until the installation is complete (you will hear the Warhawk sound), then press Reset. Now a menu with Start, Select and Option appears (this is the original Turbo menu)

 

More precisely: When you load the Turbo Emulator, wait until the installation is complete (you will hear the Warhawk sound), remove the disk and then press Reset (boot without a disk in the drive). Now a menu with start, Select and Option appears (this is the original Turbo menu)...