birdie3 Posted February 6, 2004 Share Posted February 6, 2004 Does anyone know why some of my disk games appear to not work on my 810 drive with my 130XE? I know that the disks may be shot but I am trying to rule out any other reasons like maybe the drive only handles games that are a certain size or something. Some games seem to only half load or the sprites go all crazy but are still partially controllable etc.. Are some drives capable of handling larger sized disks and conversley do some larger sized games not work on older disk drives like the 810? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nukey Shay Posted February 6, 2004 Share Posted February 6, 2004 That is correct. The 810 is single density only. But most commercial software was released as single density to take this into account. Also, some games may not work without loading the Translator disk first. That swaps out the newer OS that the XL and XE machines use...and replaces it with the older OS that the 400/800 used. What games? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
birdie3 Posted February 6, 2004 Author Share Posted February 6, 2004 Crap. This stinks. Tomahawk, The Great American Road Race, World Karate Chapionship, Seven Cities of Gold and a whole pile more. Thanks for the information. Anybody else have any comments? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nukey Shay Posted February 6, 2004 Share Posted February 6, 2004 Do you have a Translator? Somebody here will probably fire you off a copy of it for the cost of postage...all those games should be playable. I don't have one...since I use the older 800 beast. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nukey Shay Posted February 6, 2004 Share Posted February 6, 2004 Oh...and something else you might be interested in is the SIO2PC cable...so you can load games from websites into the real thing That is sold right here for 20-30...and you can also get them off ebay, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
birdie3 Posted February 6, 2004 Author Share Posted February 6, 2004 Yeah, I know about those. I have a Mac but I am working on getting a PC for this very sort of thing. PSSSSST.. Anybody got a translator disk they want to write for me? Please? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miker Posted February 6, 2004 Share Posted February 6, 2004 Hey, you'd better use this link: http://www.newbreedsoftware.com/xlsearch/x...tor&sortby=Name Have fun! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nukey Shay Posted February 6, 2004 Share Posted February 6, 2004 Right...but he would still need a way to get that on disk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miker Posted February 6, 2004 Share Posted February 6, 2004 Well... you can use either SIO-2-PC connected to the real atari drive or the program ataridsk. For this prog you need the 5,25" drive in PC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nukey Shay Posted February 6, 2004 Share Posted February 6, 2004 * gives up trying to explain Anyone have a copy on an Atari-compatable diskette? Instant karma boost Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Gill Posted February 7, 2004 Share Posted February 7, 2004 I have several translator versions as files on a bootable menu disk. If you can send me the postage cost, a copy is yours. Drop me a PM or email and I'll send you my address. Chuck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nukey Shay Posted February 7, 2004 Share Posted February 7, 2004 Chuck Gill: +karma You get your choice of blonde, brunette, or redhead virgins in the afterlife Or you can take what Jay is bringing down in the box. Psst...take the box...the girl in there is the talented one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mos6507 Posted February 7, 2004 Share Posted February 7, 2004 The 1050 supports enhanced density disks and the 810 doesn't. Maybe some commercial games were sold in enhanced density? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nukey Shay Posted February 7, 2004 Share Posted February 7, 2004 I don't know of much that was. Certianly not the games that he mentioned. It was in the companies' best interest to release the games in a format that would reach the most consumers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
birdie3 Posted February 7, 2004 Author Share Posted February 7, 2004 So, I need a translator program that allows the XE to process games via the 810 because it thinks that it is sending to an 800 which has a different OS that wont properly read XL/XE games. I could just get a better drive too, eh? Yeah.. I just picked up a DOA XF551 but if I could get that to work I would be in business. Otherwise, I need a translator or a newer drive like a 1050 or something. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nukey Shay Posted February 7, 2004 Share Posted February 7, 2004 Nono...you had the first part right, but the reasoning wrong. At the end of the computer's memory, there is a jump table that consists of addresses to jump to when the computer needs to perform something. People who made programs didn't need to locate the actual addresses of routines that did the functions like fetching a keyboard character...they would just JSR to the table instead - and the instruction at the table would jump the the right address. This solves the problem of if the OS ever needed to be changed or updated. But not all programmers used the table. So once the OS had been updated in the XL machines, those programs no longer would jump to the correct addresses (because the memory had shifted around a bit). The solution is to have a copy of the 400/800 OS on the disk. The XL disables it's rom OS and loads the disk into the underlying ram memory. This has 2 effects: The first is that the computer now "thinks" that it is an Atari 800 with all of the routines back in the original locations...so if you load in a program that isn't using the jump table, it won't matter - the program will end up at the intended target. The second effect is that the OS now resides in ram...allowing people to alter it A nice little side-effect for hackers See http://www.atariarchives.org/mapping/appendix18.php The type of drive you have makes no difference to the Translator. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fletch Posted February 7, 2004 Share Posted February 7, 2004 I too have a Mac and often transfer programs i download from the internet to my Atari 8-bits. I use a null modem cable for this. You'll need an 850 interface to get it done. If your interested I can give you more information. Pete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Gill Posted February 7, 2004 Share Posted February 7, 2004 birdie3, Are you holding down the option key when booting the games that don't work? Some games won't boot unless the onboard basic is disabled. Chuck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
birdie3 Posted February 7, 2004 Author Share Posted February 7, 2004 Problem solved. I unfortunately am the owner of a bad batch of disks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
birdie3 Posted February 7, 2004 Author Share Posted February 7, 2004 @Fletch: PM sent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
birdie3 Posted February 9, 2004 Author Share Posted February 9, 2004 I discovered that the 65XE is actually what part of the equation that is problematic. The games all work fine. That was cool to find that out. I picked up some great games. For whatever reason, the disk games wont load properly onto the 65XE. All games seem to crash after the attract screen. The good news is that they all load fine into my other 65XE and my 130XE but just not on this other 65XE I have. Some sort of harware damage obviously but I have no idea what it is. Cartridge games work perfectly but just not disks.. Does anyone know what would cause this to happen? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Like us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
AtariAge on Instagram
Watch us on YouTube
Chat on Discord
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.