3.4) What are the Atari 810, 815, 1050, and XF551 Disk Drives?

Subject: 3.4) What are the Atari 810, 815, 1050, and XF551 Disk Drives?

Section includes contributions by Andreas Magenheimer, TXG.

The Atari Disk Drives provide storage and retrieval of programs
and data on 5.25" floppy disks.

==> Atari 810 --- a 5.25" floppy disk drive
The least common denominator for the Atari. One mode of operation:
1) Single-Sided, Single-Density--
FM 40 tracks x 18 sectors/track x 128 byte/sector = 90K capacity
19.2Kbps transfer rate. 288RPM.
The 810 includes a 6507 microprocessor.
Shipped with DOS 1 (very early) or DOS 2.0S
earlier MPI version- push button door opening for disk access
later Tandon version- lift door, like a garage door disk access
two SIO ports
accessories from Atari:
CX8100 Atari 810 Blank Diskettes (5 per box)
CX8111 Atari 810 Formatted Diskettes II (5 per box)
CX8202 Atari 810/815 Blank Diskettes (5/box, certified for double density)

Third-party upgrades for the 810:
810 Archiver -- copy many copy-protected programs
Happy 810 -- Happy Backup, Warp Speed 52Kbps, 18 sector buffer
810 Fast Chip by Binary 10%-40% faster
810 Turbo by Neanderthal Computer Things (NCT) -- double-density
see: http://www.qnet.com/~dons/810T.html
810 Duplicator (DT-Duplicating Technologies) -- copy disks, double-density,
"read 18 sectors in the time normally for 1"

==> Atari 815 Dual Disk Drive --- dual 5.25" floppy disk drives in one unit
Were produced (all hand-built), but are very rare. One mode of operation.
Per drive:
1) Single-Sided, Double-Density--
MFM 40 tracks x 18 sectors/track x 256 bytes/sector = 180K capacity
19.2Kbps transfer rate. 288RPM.
The 815 includes a 6507 microprocessor.
Shipped with DOS 2.0D
MPI mechanism version- push button door opening for disk access
Tandon mechanism version- lift door, like a garage door disk access
accessories from Atari:
CX8202 Atari 810/815 Blank Diskettes (5 per box, certified for double density)
Stephen Knox writes (12/28/02):
I believe the story on the 815s was Atari didn't want to release them due to
severe QA problems with the drive but they had so many preorders they had to
release something. I think they filled the preorders and then cancelled the
model - Most of them got returned due to problems.

==> Atari 1050 --- a 5.25" floppy disk drive
Same as the 810, plus Dual-Density capability. Two modes of operation:
1) Single-Sided, Single-Density, 90K, 810 compatible
2) Single-Sided, Dual-Density, otherwise known as "Enhanced Density" because
it is not true double-density--
MFM 40 tracks x 26 sectors/track x 128 bytes/sector = 128K capacity
19.2Kbps transfer rate. 288RPM
The 1050 includes a 6507 microprocessor.
Shipped with DOS 2.0S, DOS 3, or DOS 2.5
DIP switches: Black & white left: Drive 1
Black right, white left: Drive 2
Black left, white right: Drive 3
Black & white right: Drive 4
Third-party upgrades for the 1050 (all add a true SSDD 180K capability):
US Doubler (ICD) SS SD/ED/DD UltraSpeed (US) 54Kbps, sector skewing
Happy 1050 SS SD/ED/DD Warp Speed 52Kbps, 36 sector buffer,
(Happy Computers) Happy Backup. also read/write 180K 5.25" MS-DOS floppies
I.S. Plate (Innovated Software) SS SD/ED/DD Ultra/Warp (USD/Happy clone)
Hyper Drive (Chaos! Computers) SS SD/ED/DD Warp Speed 52Kbps (Happy clone)
Super Archiver (CSS) SS SD/ED/DD UltraSpeed 54Kbps (US Doubler clone)
Super Archiver II(CSS)SS SD/ED/DD UltraSpeed 54Kbps (US Doubler clone)
Cheer-Up 1050 SS SD/ED/DD Warp Speed 52Kbps (Happy clone)
Speedy 1050 SS SD/ED/DD Warp Speed 57Kbps (Happy clone), 8kb buffer,
(Compy Shop, now ABBUC) DOS, copier, track & density displays, beep speaker
Mini-Speedy same as Speedy 1050, but without displays & speaker
Super Speedy 1050 SS SD/ED/DD Warp Speed 96Kbps (Happy clone),192K or
(Compy Shop) 256K RAM
SuperMax 1050 SS SD/ED/DD UltraSpeed 52Kbps (US Doubler clone)
Lazer 1050 SS SD/ED/DD Warp Speed and UltraSpeed 54Kbps
Engl-Turbo-1050 SS SD/ED/DD Turbo Speed approx. 70Kbps (uses
(german Turbo) Sector skewing that differs from USDoubler)
1050 Duplicator (Duplicating Technologies (DT))
SS SD/ED/DD "read 18 sectors in the time normally for 1"
sources(Jim Patchell)http://www.oldcrows.net/~patchell/atari/duplicator.html
Klone ???????

Rich Mier professes:
You've been plugging and unplugging the SIO cable with the 1050 power pack
plugged in, right? That's a no-no. Most of the time it's Okay, but about 1
in 10, 20 times, it will blow out 'U-1'. It's a CA/LM 3086 I.C. at the right,
rear of the main board. A 14 pin DIL chip. Actually it is an array of 5
transistors.

Unplug the power pack from the 1050, then unplug the SIO cable. Power can be
ON on the CPU. The problem has to do with the secondary winding of the Power
Pack. Remember, the problem only occurs 1 out of 10 - 20 times that you do
it, not all the time.

It doesn't really matter if the 1050 Transformer has power on or off, it
'Might' happen if plugged into the 1050. It is really bad on 810's.

One thing, if the system has been turned off for, oh say, 5 - 10 minutes it
won't matter. By then all the capacitors should be bled(sc?) to 0 volts.

==> Atari XF551 --- a 5.25" floppy disk drive. Four modes of operation:
1) Single-Sided, Single-Density, 90K, 810 compatible
2) Single-Sided, Enhanced-Density, 128K, 1050 compatible
3) Single-Sided, Double-Density, 180K, Percom & other 3rd parties compatible
4) Double-Sided, Double-Density--
MFM 80 tracks x 18 sectors/track x 256 bytes/sector = 360K capacity
Writes "backwards" to the second side of the disk, when compared to a two-
sided "flippy" disk with SSDD 180K format on each side
High speed 38400 bps burst mode usable only with SpartaDOS X, SuperDOS 5.1,
TurboDOS, DOS XE, and patched SpartaDOS 3.2.
Rotaton rate: 300RPM. Since all other Atari-specific drives run at 288RPM,
this results in rare compatibility issues. Specifically, these commercial
disks do not load in, and can be damaged by, the XF551:
- Flight Simulator II (subLOGIC)
- Blue Max (Synapse)
- Bank Street Writer (Broderbund). Conflicting reports about this one.
8040 cpu + external ROM or 8050 cpu with internal ROM
Shipped with DOS 2.5 or DOS XE.
DIP switches: Both dips down: Drive 1
Left down, right up: Drive 2
Left up, Right down: Drive 3
Left and Right up: Drive 4
Chinon-built XF551-cannot read/write/format backside if no timing hole
Mitsumi-built XF551--can read/write backside if to timing hole, if formatted
The key engineer/designer of the XF551 was Jose Valdes at Atari
Third-party upgrades for the XF551:
CSS XF Single Drive Upgrade--3.5", 720K floppy drive replacement
also read 720K 3.5" MS-DOS disks
see http://www.nleaudio.com/css/products/XFsingdrup.htm
CSS XF Dual Drive Upgrade--add 3.5" drive w/o losing the 5.25" drive
also read 720K 3.5" MS-DOS disks
see http://www.nleaudio.com/css/products/XFdualdrup.htm
CSS XF551 Enhancer--overcomes sensor for index hole, create flippy disks
see http://www.nleaudio.com/css/products/XF551enh.htm
CSS XF Update--replace drive OS, adds UltraSpeed
see http://www.nleaudio.com/css/products/XFupdate.htm
Hyper-XF--available for 5.25" or 3.5" floppy versions; uses sector skewing
aka and UltraSpeed (but no track buffer!); can use disk partitions
HyperXF (2 on 5.25", 4 partitions on 3.5") with mixed Densities (S/E/D)
or standard 360kbytes (5.25") / 720kbytes (3.5"); can
theoretically read/write ST/PC 720k disks (software is missing!)
OS created by Stefan Dorndorf/Germany;
photo:
XF-Speedy--replaces the 8040 CPU with a 65C02 + ROM + Memory