Question regarding compatibility between 1050 Drive and Atari 400

[Hogan]

Hi there. im not sure what category this goes in so I apologize ahead of time,

 

I saw an old 1050 drive for $50 at my local game shop and was curious if it was compatible with the atari 400? I asked the owner and he wasnt sure himself, so I thought I'd ask the experts here. 

 

Thank you, and merry christmas!

[+DrVenkman]

Sure, but with a couple caveats - to use BASIC with a stock 16K 400, after DOS.SYS loads (necessary to save and load to disk), you’ll only have something like 7K available. Second, most disk-based games out there require more than 16K. You’ll likely need to upgrade the RAM in the 400 to get full use of the drive. A 48K upgrade is do-able but will require soldering a couple wires between the RAM board and the motherboard.

[+Stephen]

1 hour ago, Hogan said:

Hi there. im not sure what category this goes in so I apologize ahead of time,

 

I saw an old 1050 drive for $50 at my local game shop and was curious if it was compatible with the atari 400? I asked the owner and he wasnt sure himself, so I thought I'd ask the experts here. 

 

Thank you, and merry christmas!

It is compatible, but keep in mind.  If the 400 has the stock 16kB memory, you won't be able to do much of anything with disks.  48kB upgrades are cheap and easy however.

 

Edit - I see the Dr. beat me to it!

[Rybags]

Even the power supply is compatible (though I suspect the 400 PS is probably insufficient for the 1050)