Retro Computing, Atari 520ST(FM)

[ares93]

So i recently managed to get my old 520STFM running again. And i asked a mate if he had any good games and apps for it. I now have roughly 600mb apps and games. bugger all, turns out they are emulator roms. ".st" filetype

does anyone have any idea how the hell i move those games over to floppy discs? i managed to format a few 1.44mb floppys to 720kb so those should be fine.

I run Windows 7 x64 and XP Home x86.

Temporary placing until i get it running right, then its going town to the retro corner at the shop.

 

[Santaman]

The surface material of 1.44Mb floppies is different than that of 720Kb floppies, so your Atari might simply not be able to read them.
Forget Windows 7, XP, 2000 or what not, you need DOS, a 98SE or Win95 or a real DOS boot floppy will work.
Now to the disks themselves.. 1.44Mb disks have two holes at the bottom, 720Kb floppies only one, you need to cover up the one at the right side.

If you've got that covered you can try: FORMAT A: /U /F:720 which will format it to 720Kb if all goes right.

Also, the Atari formatting and those of an IBM compatible machine are not entirely compatible, usually ST's could read IBM floppies, IBM compatibles could not read ST's floppies, no idea if an ST will actually read a downsized 1.44Mb disk, good luck with it.

 

[Marc]

The surface material of 1.44Mb floppies is different than that of 720Kb floppies, so your Atari might simply not be able to read them.
Forget Windows 7, XP, 2000 or what not, you need DOS, a 98SE or Win95 or a real DOS boot floppy will work.
Now to the disks themselves.. 1.44Mb disks have two holes at the bottom, 720Kb floppies only one, you need to cover up the one at the right side.

If you've got that covered you can try: FORMAT A: /U /F:720 which will format it to 720Kb if all goes right.

Also, the Atari formatting and those of an IBM compatible machine are not entirely compatible, usually ST's could read IBM floppies, IBM compatibles could not read ST's floppies, no idea if an ST will actually read a downsized 1.44Mb disk, good luck with it.

the following might be of help and talks about the use of an imaging program rather then simply copying the files to floppy.

http://www.atari-forum.com/viewtopic.php?p=90731

 

[ares93]

Thanks guys, you're lifesavers!

Right so here it is. I just slammed in a clean un-modded (hole on right side) 1.44mb HD floppy just for shits an giggles. Turns out it's recognized by the Atari. So I'm just gonna take one by one and format them. Hopefully it'll still be readable in windows. Found some drivers that should make it possible (according to the creator).

As for the rom files. They're all original floppys that were dumped to the hdd and, probably, converted to run with the emulators. I'm not sure, this was before my time. Anyway, I have games and apps in ".st" format pouring out of my ears. How do i make the little thing go onto the square big thing? Meaning move the rom onto the floppy. Drag and drop never works so that's out of the question without much thought.

 

[Santaman]

Seems that .st are image files so you indeed can't just copy them to a disk..

http://www.8hz.com/stdisk/page.html

^^ That proggy might be able to do so, its a DOS too though, no idea if it works with 7..

 

[Marc]

As for the rom files. They're all original floppys that were dumped to the hdd and, probably, converted to run with the emulators. I'm not sure, this was before my time. Anyway, I have games and apps in ".st" format pouring out of my ears. How do i make the little thing go onto the square big thing? Meaning move the rom onto the floppy. Drag and drop never works so that's out of the question without much thought.

That's where you probably need a program to transfer them across.

Ever burnt a CD or DVD from an ISO image because that's in effect what you probably have to do.

If you simply copies the .ISO to the DVD you'd have a single file on the media. But if you use the right software you can either open the .ISO file up and burn the extracted contents to a DVD or it does it automatically as you image.

So to move that on for the Atari, you either need a program that will allow you to extract the files from the .ST files so you can copy them on to the floppy or a program that will take automatically extract and copy the files.

Just a point on the later. If you work with a program can fully process the image i.e the ST file it might be able also make the floppies bootable (never used an Atari ST so just postulating here).

 

[ares93]

Right so my 1.44mb floppys work fine in the atari after a format.

I also found this app: http://piters.tripod.com/atari/floimgd.htm

That should write st files to floppys. My oönly problem now if the floppy is readable in windows or not. I'll check when i get home from school. I got a teacher hovering over me

 

[Marc]

Right so my 1.44mb floppys work fine in the atari after a format.

I also found this app: http://piters.tripod.com/atari/floimgd.htm

That should write st files to floppys. My oönly problem now if the floppy is readable in windows or not. I'll check when i get home from school. I got a teacher hovering over me

if that programs handles the copying of the files to the diskette, it might not actually matter or be required that the disk is readable by Windows.

 

[ares93]

if that programs handles the copying of the files to the diskette, it might not actually matter or be required that the disk is readable by Windows.

Either way, its not working. I can write the file to the floppy but it doesnt start at all. I dunno i there is a button combination or something in order to start the floppy in the drive, but the game wont start even if the floppy is correctly written and formatted by the program. I get some sort of text file and an empty folder.

Ordered a pack of original atari floppys off the web so i'll try with those. Until then i'm struggling with the 1.44 mb floppys...