HiassofT
XF551 / 360K images
I'm trying to make an image 360K. works fine in altira... works fine with external SIO2SD... but I cannot make it work on a real XF551 (TRIED 3 good well known working units - I have several - and the issue is the same. After writing too the disk - it will not play games that are located on the second side. (you can see them when you list the file list) The disk is ofc DS DD - tested several times. I have also tired my double sided drives INGUS GT/LDW 2000 SUPER - the same issue persists.
I use this command > dir2atr -Q -b MyPicoDos405 -P games1.atr make
I have no idea why it does not work on XF551 - I tried with stock and HYPER FX roms. Thanks for any help.
PS. No problems with 180k/130k/90k... I'm positive that all the drives are fine - they do format in 360k without any problems - they also write with Verification on.
Atr disk attached
I can't reproduce that here, the image works fine on my XF551 and 800XL.
I used atarixfer to write the image to my XF551 using a Lotharek SIO2PC dual USB adapter:
hias@camel4:~$ atarixfer -f /dev/sio2pc -w /tmp/games360k_01.atr
atarixfer 0.30-240419
(c) 2002-2024 Matthias Reichl <[email protected]>
reading percom block
quad density
writing new percom block
disk configured, starting formatting
disk formatting OK
writing image to disk:
1417
writing finished successfully!
Then hooked up the drive to my 800XL, loaded Pac-Man from the start and Tumble Bugs and Twilight World from the end of the disk and all worked fine.
How did you transfer the image to disk?
Note that lots of sector copy programs struggle with XF551 "quad density" / 360k and often only detect and copy 180k - which matches your issue description.
I haven't tested myself but this sector copier should work: https://github.com/cstrotm/atari8bit-fssc
Matthias the image itself works but choosing ROBBO game results in an a head loop and nothing is loading.
sob., 6 gru 2025 o 13:54 Matthias Reichl @.***> napisał(a):
HiassofT left a comment (HiassofT/AtariSIO#7) https://github.com/HiassofT/AtariSIO/issues/7#issuecomment-3620222155
I can't reproduce that here, the image works fine on my XF551 and 800XL.
I used atarixfer to write the image to my XF551 using a Lotharek SIO2PC dual USB adapter:
@.:~$ atarixfer -f /dev/sio2pc -w /tmp/games360k_01.atr atarixfer 0.30-240419 (c) 2002-2024 Matthias Reichl @.> reading percom block quad density writing new percom block disk configured, starting formatting disk formatting OK writing image to disk: 1417 writing finished successfully!
Then hooked up the drive to my 800XL, loaded Pac-Man from the start and Tumble Bugs and Twilight World from the end of the disk and all worked fine.
How did you transfer the image to disk?
Note that lots of sector copy programs struggle with XF551 "quad density" / 360k and often only detect and copy 180k - which matches your issue description.
I haven't tested myself but this sector copier should work: https://github.com/cstrotm/atari8bit-fssc
— Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub https://github.com/HiassofT/AtariSIO/issues/7#issuecomment-3620222155, or unsubscribe https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/A7345DREX33TSMKMZVRLIYT4ALGWTAVCNFSM6AAAAACOGUFKL6VHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43OSLTON2WKQ3PNVWWK3TUHMZTMMRQGIZDEMJVGU . You are receiving this because you authored the thread.Message ID: @.***>
I can't reproduce this here either. Robbo loads and starts fine on my stock 800XL PAL.
Double-check (eg with a DOS) that the files were transferred correctly and also test with a stock Atari XL/XE to rule out compatibility issues with upgrades.
Another thing you can try is to disable highspeed SIO in MyPicoDos
I just tried robbo - goes back to menu. Tried Tumble - hangs, tried also the last game Twilight Worlds - the same hangs. I tried it on 3 XF551 and and INDUS / LDW. Tried now on a second well know disk DD/DS. Tried on 1200XL PAL / 800XL PAL / 800XL NTSC.
The only thing that comes to mind... maybe the program to write I'm using is bad? In some way? I use MYCOPYR or something like this. Can you point me in a another direction? Different software for burning disks? Thanks!
sob., 6 gru 2025 o 14:24 Matthias Reichl @.***> napisał(a):
HiassofT left a comment (HiassofT/AtariSIO#7) https://github.com/HiassofT/AtariSIO/issues/7#issuecomment-3620351708
I can't reproduce this here either. Robbo loads and starts fine on my stock 800XL PAL.
Double-check (eg with a DOS) that the files were transferred correctly and also test with a stock Atari XL/XE to rule out compatibility issues with upgrades.
Another thing you can try is to disable highspeed SIO in MyPicoDos
— Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub https://github.com/HiassofT/AtariSIO/issues/7#issuecomment-3620351708, or unsubscribe https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/A7345DSHXYUCIJ574YP34WD4ALKJRAVCNFSM6AAAAACOGUFKL6VHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43OSLTON2WKQ3PNVWWK3TUHMZTMMRQGM2TCNZQHA . You are receiving this because you authored the thread.Message ID: @.***>
Tried US SECTOR copier ... also no luck the same thing. Can you walk me through the process on your side? I must be doing something wrong. No idea.
sob., 6 gru 2025 o 16:01 sviru007 @.***> napisał(a):
I just tried robbo - goes back to menu. Tried Tumble - hangs, tried also the last game Twilight Worlds - the same hangs. I tried it on 3 XF551 and and INDUS / LDW. Tried now on a second well know disk DD/DS. Tried on 1200XL PAL / 800XL PAL / 800XL NTSC.
The only thing that comes to mind... maybe the program to write I'm using is bad? In some way? I use MYCOPYR or something like this. Can you point me in a another direction? Different software for burning disks? Thanks!
sob., 6 gru 2025 o 14:24 Matthias Reichl @.***> napisał(a):
HiassofT left a comment (HiassofT/AtariSIO#7) https://github.com/HiassofT/AtariSIO/issues/7#issuecomment-3620351708
I can't reproduce this here either. Robbo loads and starts fine on my stock 800XL PAL.
Double-check (eg with a DOS) that the files were transferred correctly and also test with a stock Atari XL/XE to rule out compatibility issues with upgrades.
Another thing you can try is to disable highspeed SIO in MyPicoDos
— Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub https://github.com/HiassofT/AtariSIO/issues/7#issuecomment-3620351708, or unsubscribe https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/A7345DSHXYUCIJ574YP34WD4ALKJRAVCNFSM6AAAAACOGUFKL6VHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43OSLTON2WKQ3PNVWWK3TUHMZTMMRQGM2TCNZQHA . You are receiving this because you authored the thread.Message ID: @.***>
See my first reply: https://github.com/HiassofT/AtariSIO/issues/7#issuecomment-3620222155
Copymate 3.8 and Disk Duplication 2.0 should also be able to handle 360k formats. See eg here: https://abbuc.de/forum/viewtopic.php?p=17243#p17243
Thank you. I will try. Heh I see you did not use real hardware while writing the image... that might be the solution here - maybe... I have SIO2PC. I understand you connected SIO2PC straight to XF551.