520ST small model w/ no floppy / general advice

[rubber_jonnie]

Another question! I've ordered a 720k external floppy drive, would the machine be compatible with 1.44mb external as well? I do have a spare WD floppy controller chip from my TT, would that upgrade the machine if I put it in?

I'll be honest here, I personally don't think that upgrading to 1.44Mb is worthwhile. This is my own personal opinion, and it shouldn't stop you from doing the upgrade if you wish to.

I have done the 1.44MB fdd upgrade, and you'll need a 1772 that is capable of running at the higher frequency needed for 1.44MB operation (Not all are), or the Atari Ajax FDD controller in order for it to work reliably.

However, for me the benefit of having 1.44MB was just not great enough for the amount of work that the upgrade took, and I eventually just took it out and went down the Gotek route.

Also, given your drive will be external, you'll need that extra wire Troed mentioned for DD/HD detection, which needs to go back to the add in board, so that is going to be harder to do with just an external drive.

AFAIK you can use a Gotek as an external drive, but I would suggest you ask around the forum to see if anybody else has done this with an original 520.

[Steve]

Okay, that's good advice. Because to be honest once I get the machine setup and get something like an ultrasatan, I'll install the USB drivers for Netusbee and use that for transferring files. Thanks for the input.

[rubber_jonnie]

Okay, that's good advice. Because to be honest once I get the machine setup and get something like an ultrasatan, I'll install the USB drivers for Netusbee and use that for transferring files. Thanks for the input.

You're welcome.

If it had been an earlier time with no options like Gotek or HxC, I'd have said do it, but not these days

[tzok]

AFAIK you can use a Gotek as an external drive, but I would suggest you ask around the forum to see if anybody else has done this with an original 520.

I have Gotek (HxC USB) in the external enclosure, I tried it on the 520ST and it works fine. Using Gotek in Atari ST DD interface mode you can use images up to 2,5MB.

[Steve]

Please post a picture of the mem upgrade

Okay, finally got it and had a look inside, here are the nudes:

ps I noticed the TOS eproms had clear glass tops, so I promptly covered them with masking tape as I think they can be wiped from sunlight? But I am not an expert on this.

Please if anyone can educate me on this particular model motherboard, things to watch out for, etc etc, as my knowledge of STM's is nil

Looks like the piggybacking small 2mb pcb ontop of that chip had fallen off, so I stuck it back on, could have been the reason someone sold it originally. I haven't turned it on or tested it yet. Just gonna give the case a clean first.

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[Steve]

Also the TOS seems to be a custom eprom as when I turn it on I get no Atari logo, it goes straight to the green desktop super quick. When I goto 'about' it shows a rainbow tos logo with the name of a person living in the USA, although this is a UK Atari.

[stephen_usher]

TOS 1.4 (Rainbow TOS) and all versions before don't have a logo at boot. Only 2.06 and 3.06 and above do.

As for names, there should be only the Atari copyright dates and nothing more.

[Steve]

Yeah no Atari copyright, just the name and address of a guy in the USA. I won't post a picture as it might be private info.

[Steve]

Looks like all the ram is found, I'll run yaart next.

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[Steve]

Get a ultrasatan, at least you can move it between machines easily... V1.5 booster is the only one I sell at the moment anyway, likely only one which fits.

Hey Chris,

From the photos I posted what do you think of the machine? The motherboard seems pristine and the ram upgrade looks very professional, I'm glad it works. I just ordered the 1.5 booster and fast tos 1.04 from you for this machine.