388:
identifiable by a small sticker. These versions added an
External Data Separator Board which plugged into the socket for the FD1771 chip, providing more separation between the signals and improving read reliability. It also attempted to address the motor control speed issues, which required the Side Board to be replaced and the voltage of the circuit to be increased to 12V. As the original 9V power supply was retained, the conversion required more power to provide a second 12V output, increasing average use from about 20W to 30W. The upgrade was offered to owners of earlier models.
380:
positioned over the empty circles on the top of the drive below it, providing sturdy stacking. The front of the case had the power switch, similar to the one used on the computer and most other peripherals in the line. The unit drew about 20W, so it was normally turned off when not in use. Two LED lamps were placed on the front, one indicated that power was on and the other blinked when the drive was being accessed. The back of the case had two SIO ports to allow daisy-chaining, a ring jack for the external
372:
327:
22:
175:(FCC) had recently introduced standards to deal with the profusion of systems that connected to televisions that were causing significant problems with interference. The new rules were extremely strict, requiring a lengthy and costly testing suite to be run against any new product and anything that connected to it. Apple avoided this by not connecting to a television; instead, a 3rd party sold the required
408:
layout to reduce seek time and improve read performance as much as 30% over the original layout. The drive ignored the alignment hole, and thus did not need the two-hole "flippy disk" to use the second side. It did respect the write-protect notch, so using the back side of a disk required another notch to be punched or one of the many updates that allowed the notch to be ignored.
88:
213:'s 6507s being rated for 1 MHz but most of them actually being able to run at a slightly higher 1.1 MHz that the VCS worked at. Some of the deliveries invariably didn't work at 1.1, and these piled up, unused. As they had already been paid for, and were essentially free, they were perfect for low-cost controllers like the one in the 810.
318:, along with a wide selection of replacements for Atari DOS. Combining one of these drives with a replacement DOS offered higher performance and often true double-density support. As the double-density format had been set with the 815 in 1980, these drives used that format as the basis for their disks as well.
407:
The disks were formatted with 40 tracks, or 48 tracks per inch, with 18 sectors per track, for a total of 720 sectors per disk. Each sector held 128 bytes, for a total storage of 92,160 bytes/disk (90 kB). Later models with the C ROM, and a number of third party upgrades, used a staggered sector
334:
In April 1982, Atari began the process of designing improved version of the 8-bit series, then referred to as the Sweet 8 and Sweet 16. Changes to the plans led to only one of these designs being released as the 1200XL. Containing "no true innovations", the most notable change was the introduction of
379:
The 810 case was designed by Roy Nishi and Russ
Farnell. It used identical C-shaped sections for the top and bottom of the drive, with four small circular indentations embossed into the case where rubber feet were adhered on the bottom during assembly. This meant the feet on one drive were naturally
263:
magazine that the speed would tend to drift over time, causing disks written at different speeds to become unreadable without adjustment. This led to a number of small programs, like Snail and Drive RPM, that would test the speed of the drive in software in order to aid the user in adjusting it back
236:
In spite of these efforts to lower cost, the resulting drive was still more expensive than the Disk II, listed at $ 599 when it was introduced in 1979. It also had the disadvantage of running more slowly than the Disk II; although the underlying SIO bus was running at 19.2 kbps, the effective
399:
The original MPI mechanisms used a unique drive door mechanism. The door slid vertically and was sprung to hold it normally open, in the upper position, revealing the drive slot behind it. A handle-like extension on the front of the door allowed the user to pull it down to close it, which latched
391:
In
November 1981 a further upgrade was offered with the C-version ROM. This modified the sector layout during formatting to improve reading performance, as much as 20% on average. Like the DS, the C-version ROM was also offered to existing owners. From February 1982 the line switched to the "810M
358:
in
December 1982, there was no sign of a new floppy drive. One reviewer noted that when he went looking all he could find was the "old model 810 clunkers", and speculated that "we will be seeing a new drive from Atari within the next half year". This prediction came true; when the 1200XL finally
290:
For reasons unknown, the 815 was never produced in quantity. Small numbers were hand-built using Tandon drives during 1980 and a few shipped to customers starting in June, but full-scale production never began. It continued to appear on company price lists for the next year, with the last known
162:
went to
Shugart and asked for a stripped-down drive mechanism for $ 100; Shugart responded by shipping them 25 prototypes of a new model they called the SA-390. Woz's controller then provided the bits that Shugart had removed, allowing two drives to be controlled by a single card. The resulting
387:
The drive saw a series of improvements over time. The original 810 had problems with speed regulation and also had marginal ability to distinguish between clock pulses and data on some disks. Starting on 1 September 1981, all new 810s were built to the "DS" standard, for "Data
Separator",
302:
Third parties exploring the capabilities of the 810 system soon demonstrated that the 19.2 kbps speed of the SIO communications could be easily doubled. It was later revealed that the speed was not a limitation of the SIO port, but the maximum speed of the
216:
Atari's drives entered the market almost two years later than Apple, giving them time to take advantage of the rapid improvements taking place in the industry. Most notable was the entry of several other manufacturers to the drive market, including
254:
described the 810 as "noisy, slow and inefficient by today's standards, and it had some reliability problems" and then described the sounds as "At times it almost seemed sick, the groans and creaks were so intense." Brian
Moriarty, writing in the
339:
from Regan Cheng using off-white and black plastics will brushed metal overlay on switches and other fixtures. This led to the introduction of a new line of peripherals that matched the styling. Initially this included the
311:, introduced in 1982. It added a buffer able to cache one entire track of data, and along with the associated Warp Speed software, increased read performance about three times, making it very competitive with the Apple II.
363:. It offered the new "enhanced" or "dual density" option that improved formatted capacity to 130 kB, although it was some time before DOS was upgraded to support it. The 1050 quickly replaced the 810 in the market.
527:
404:, which was known as the "810T Analog". The main external difference was that the former push-and-lift door was replaced by a simpler turn-to-open latch. The drive was otherwise the same as the 810M.
294:
To support the larger storage capacity, the drives used a modified version of DOS 2.0, 2.0D. The controller was custom and only supported MFM, making the 815 incompatible with disks used in the 810.
237:
data rate was generally around 6 kbps, compared to about 15 kbps for the Disk II. This is one reason the machine was never considered seriously in the business market; applications like
48:
The single-density drive provides 90 kB of storage. The 810 has a data transfer rate of 6 kbps in most cases and a number of reliability issues. Third-party enhancements such as the
201:
to a single port. Using a cable made shielding to the required levels much easier, but also required the external devices to host the interface circuitry that would normally be placed on an
400:
when reaching the bottom of its travel. A button unlocked the door, causing it to flip open. In
November 1982, the drive mechanism switched from MPI to a new mechanism from
283:
double-density drive controllers were appearing, allowing the same disks to store twice as much data, 180 kB. Early advertising for the new machines often showed the
146:, introduced in June 1978 at the very low (for the era) price of $ 495 (equivalent to $ 2,312 in 2023) plus the interface card. The interface was based on a system
375:
The front featured the power switch and power and access LEDs. The rear has (left to right) two SIO ports, a switch for selecting the drive number, and the power jack.
225:(MPI). Atari arranged a deal with MPI for their mechanisms and designed their own controller to drive it, combining the 6507 running at 500 kHz with a standard
222:
536:, ...huge roomful of 1 MHz but not 1.1 MHz devices. So that's what they put in the peripherals, was 6507 that they had surplus lying around....
1006:
259:
magazine, described it as having "notoriously poor speed regulation" in maintaining its non-standard 288 RPM, while Garry
Francis noted in
63:, allowing 180 kB per disk, with two drives in one case. It was never put into full production and only small numbers reached the market.
459:
187:
that could be connected to external equipment, like on the Apple, as the openings would be difficult to shield property to avoid RF leakage.
205:
inside the machine. This drove up the complexity and cost of the external devices. To offset this as much as possible, Atari used discarded
179:
and thus Apple didn't need testing. Atari was determined to make a plug-and-play system that connected directly to the television, like the
929:
314:
The performance and reliability problems with the 810 also led to a thriving market for third-party drives like the Rana 1000 and
25:
An Atari 810 floppy disk drive with a worn door-open button. The toggle switch in the upper left is a user modification.
883:
862:
791:
396:
that finally solved the speed problems. It also replaced a number of components in an effort to improve reliability.
172:
1001:
198:
639:
920:
280:
226:
907:
683:
779:
355:
287:, which combined two drives in a single case and used MFM encoding. The price was listed at $ 1,495.
894:
433:
Testing the limits of the speeds that allowed reading was part of Dan Kramer's engineering logbooks.
996:
120:
70:
with the release of the XL series machines in 1983. The 1050 was replaced in turn in 1987 by the
163:
system operated at 15 kbps, making it faster than any of the competing designs of the era.
230:
307:
available in the lab where it was being developed. Best known among the many products was the
824:
802:
590:
124:
104:
38:
956:
209:
chips from the VCS production line as the basis for the interface. Atari had long relied on
392:
Analog" version. This added an entirely new card, the Power Supply Board, which included a
330:
The 1050 replaced the 810 in 1983, with a more compact design and larger storage capacity.
8:
107:
had originally been designed as part of a project to develop a driver chipset for a new
851:
155:
131:
in the CEO position in March 1978. He decided to redirect the chipset to the emerging
981:
948:
940:
879:
858:
837:
787:
516:
34:
873:
336:
151:
371:
304:
202:
184:
116:
990:
952:
944:
344:
218:
147:
132:
108:
815:
460:"The worst trade ever? Seven investors who sold Apple stock on the IPO day"
381:
308:
242:
176:
49:
326:
744:
741:
71:
42:
393:
360:
348:
341:
194:
159:
128:
67:
271:
1.0, sometimes known as DOS I. This was replaced by DOS 2.0S in 1981.
21:
268:
250:
191:
180:
95:
drives, which can both be driven from a single expansion card in the
315:
238:
210:
206:
139:
112:
96:
53:
737:
143:
92:
279:
While the 8-bit machines were first being introduced, the first
241:
were not competitive with the Apple II when run on the Atari or
59:
At the same time as the 810, Atari announced the double-density
648:
401:
384:, and two pin switches to select the drive number from 1 to 4.
359:
reached the market in June 1983, it was accompanied by the new
291:
reference being Atari's internal price list of 24 August 1981.
939:. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers: 48–58.
497:
665:
663:
424:
The standard for floppy drives of the era was 300 RPM.
758:
756:
754:
606:
604:
560:
558:
556:
554:
552:
550:
548:
546:
544:
542:
487:
485:
87:
52:
address these problems, as do replacement drives like the
875:
Breakout: How Atari 8-Bit
Computers Defined a Generation
718:
694:
660:
621:
619:
782:. In Small, David; Small, Sandy; Blank, George (eds.).
751:
601:
539:
482:
706:
111:. During the time the chips were being developed, the
74:
with a double-sided, double-density 360 kB mode.
616:
570:
470:
591:"Percom double-density disk drive for Atari micros"
37:for the Atari 400 and 800, the first two models of
850:
171:The new Atari machines faced the problem that the
988:
248:In a 1982 review for a third party replacement,
921:"ANTIC Interview 177 – Steve Smith, ANTIC chip"
803:"Everything you wanted to know about every DOS"
848:
503:
822:
354:When the 1200XL was introduced at the Winter
927:
491:
928:Tekla, Perry; Wallich, Paul (March 1985).
905:
610:
457:
123:of its era. Atari, recently purchased by
892:
836:Francis, Garry (January–February 1987).
786:. Creative Computing. pp. 116–117.
777:
762:
712:
370:
325:
86:
20:
18:Disk drive for the Atari 8-bit computers
930:"Design case history: the Commodore 64"
871:
835:
823:Dziefielewski, Lawrence (August 1984).
813:
800:
724:
700:
669:
654:
625:
576:
564:
476:
297:
1007:Computer-related introductions in 1980
989:
918:
849:Goldberg, Marty; Vendel, Curt (2012).
780:"New Member of the Family: Atari 1200"
738:"Atari introduces the 1200XL computer"
637:
588:
533:
197:, a system that allowed devices to be
150:had previously built while working at
56:with more storage and other features.
982:Atari 810 Disk Drive Operators Manual
681:
906:Moriarty, Brian (July–August 1983).
893:Moriarty, Brian (July–August 1983).
814:Current, Michael (12 October 2021).
190:This led to the introduction of the
183:. This precluded the idea of having
458:Galbraith, Tim (10 December 2020).
13:
975:
115:became very popular and propelled
82:
14:
1018:
919:Savetz, Kevin (9 February 2016).
173:Federal Communications Commission
103:The machines that emerged as the
771:
730:
675:
631:
589:DeWitt, Robert (26 July 1982).
427:
418:
138:One of the key reasons for the
682:Blank, George (October 1980).
582:
509:
451:
366:
321:
1:
440:
166:
445:
351:plotter, and 1025 printers.
66:The 810 was replaced by the
7:
801:Clausen, Eric (July 1985).
740:(Press release). New York:
517:"Interview with Joe Decuir"
267:Initial units shipped with
10:
1023:
853:Atari Inc: Business is Fun
641:Atari Engineering Notebook
504:Goldberg & Vendel 2012
77:
356:Consumer Electronics Show
135:market to take on Apple.
831:. pp. 36–39, 80–81.
492:Tekla & Wallich 1985
411:
121:initial public offerings
119:into one of the largest
895:"Happy 810 Enhancement"
872:Lendino, Jamie (2017).
778:Anderson, John (1983).
657:, p. 3.2.1, 7.3.1.
644:. Atari. pp. 7–9.
376:
331:
274:
231:Western Digital FD1771
229:drive controller, the
100:
26:
1002:Atari 8-bit computers
374:
329:
223:Micro Peripherals Inc
158:SA-400 floppy drive.
125:Warner Communications
105:Atari 8-bit computers
90:
41:. It was released by
39:Atari 8-bit computers
24:
638:Kramer, Dan (1980).
298:Third party upgrades
962:on 21 February 2021
908:"Utility #6: Snail"
825:"Disk Drive Survey"
747:. 13 December 1982.
142:'s success was the
784:The Creative Atari
688:Creative Computing
377:
332:
156:Shugart Associates
101:
27:
914:. pp. 94–97.
901:. pp. 81–82.
816:"atari-8-bit/faq"
727:, pp. 40–45.
35:floppy disk drive
1014:
971:
969:
967:
961:
955:. Archived from
934:
924:
915:
902:
889:
868:
857:. Syzygy Press.
856:
845:
832:
819:
810:
809:. p. 40-45.
797:
766:
760:
749:
748:
734:
728:
722:
716:
710:
704:
703:, p. 7.3.1.
698:
692:
691:
679:
673:
672:, p. 3.2.4.
667:
658:
652:
646:
645:
635:
629:
623:
614:
608:
599:
598:
586:
580:
574:
568:
567:, p. 3.2.1.
562:
537:
531:
525:
524:
513:
507:
501:
495:
489:
480:
474:
468:
467:
455:
434:
431:
425:
422:
257:ANALOG Computing
33:is the official
1022:
1021:
1017:
1016:
1015:
1013:
1012:
1011:
987:
986:
978:
976:Further reading
965:
963:
959:
932:
886:
865:
794:
774:
769:
761:
752:
736:
735:
731:
723:
719:
711:
707:
699:
695:
684:"Outpost Atari"
680:
676:
668:
661:
653:
649:
636:
632:
624:
617:
609:
602:
587:
583:
575:
571:
563:
540:
532:
528:
515:
514:
510:
502:
498:
490:
483:
475:
471:
456:
452:
448:
443:
438:
437:
432:
428:
423:
419:
414:
369:
337:design language
324:
300:
277:
185:expansion slots
169:
152:Hewlett-Packard
85:
83:Atari vs. Apple
80:
19:
12:
11:
5:
1020:
1010:
1009:
1004:
999:
997:Atari hardware
985:
984:
977:
974:
973:
972:
925:
916:
903:
890:
884:
878:. Ziff Davis.
869:
863:
846:
833:
820:
811:
798:
792:
773:
770:
768:
767:
765:, p. 116.
750:
729:
717:
705:
693:
690:. p. 174.
674:
659:
647:
630:
615:
611:Moriarty 1983a
600:
581:
569:
538:
526:
508:
506:, p. 466.
496:
481:
469:
449:
447:
444:
442:
439:
436:
435:
426:
416:
415:
413:
410:
368:
365:
323:
320:
305:logic analyzer
299:
296:
276:
273:
203:expansion card
168:
165:
117:Apple Computer
84:
81:
79:
76:
17:
9:
6:
4:
3:
2:
1019:
1008:
1005:
1003:
1000:
998:
995:
994:
992:
983:
980:
979:
958:
954:
950:
946:
942:
938:
937:IEEE Spectrum
931:
926:
922:
917:
913:
909:
904:
900:
896:
891:
887:
885:9780692851272
881:
877:
876:
870:
866:
864:9780985597405
860:
855:
854:
847:
843:
839:
834:
830:
826:
821:
817:
812:
808:
804:
799:
795:
793:9780916688349
789:
785:
781:
776:
775:
764:
763:Anderson 1983
759:
757:
755:
746:
743:
739:
733:
726:
721:
715:, p. 82.
714:
713:Moriarty 1983
709:
702:
697:
689:
685:
678:
671:
666:
664:
656:
651:
643:
642:
634:
628:, p. 54.
627:
622:
620:
613:, p. 94.
612:
607:
605:
597:. p. 48.
596:
592:
585:
579:, p. 37.
578:
573:
566:
561:
559:
557:
555:
553:
551:
549:
547:
545:
543:
535:
530:
522:
518:
512:
505:
500:
493:
488:
486:
479:, p. 19.
478:
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450:
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421:
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409:
405:
403:
397:
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385:
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346:
345:cassette deck
343:
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328:
319:
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288:
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272:
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228:
224:
220:
219:Alps Electric
214:
212:
208:
204:
200:
199:daisy chained
196:
193:
188:
186:
182:
178:
174:
164:
161:
157:
154:to control a
153:
149:
148:Steve Wozniak
145:
141:
136:
134:
133:home computer
130:
127:, had placed
126:
122:
118:
114:
110:
109:games console
106:
98:
94:
89:
75:
73:
69:
64:
62:
57:
55:
51:
46:
44:
40:
36:
32:
23:
16:
964:. Retrieved
957:the original
936:
923:(Interview).
911:
898:
874:
852:
841:
838:"Adjust It!"
828:
806:
783:
772:Bibliography
732:
725:Clausen 1985
720:
708:
701:Current 2021
696:
687:
677:
670:Current 2021
655:Current 2021
650:
640:
633:
626:Francis 1987
594:
584:
577:Lendino 2017
572:
565:Current 2021
529:
521:Atari Museum
520:
511:
499:
477:Lendino 2017
472:
464:Fast Company
463:
453:
429:
420:
406:
398:
390:
386:
382:power supply
378:
353:
333:
313:
301:
293:
289:
284:
278:
266:
260:
256:
249:
247:
243:Commodore 64
235:
215:
189:
177:RF modulator
170:
137:
102:
65:
60:
58:
47:
30:
28:
15:
966:12 November
899:A.N.A.L.O.G
745:PR Newswire
742:Atari, Inc.
534:Savetz 2016
367:Description
322:Replacement
227:FM encoding
43:Atari, Inc.
991:Categories
441:References
394:tachometer
361:Atari 1050
349:Atari 1020
342:Atari 1010
195:serial bus
167:New design
160:Steve Jobs
129:Ray Kassar
91:A pair of
68:Atari 1050
953:888477014
945:0018-9235
595:InfoWorld
446:Citations
309:Happy 810
269:Atari DOS
251:InfoWorld
181:Atari VCS
61:Atari 815
50:Happy 810
45:in 1980.
31:Atari 810
316:Indus GT
264:to 288.
239:VisiCalc
211:Synertek
207:MOS 6507
140:Apple II
113:Apple II
97:Apple II
54:Indus GT
144:Disk II
93:Disk II
78:History
951:
943:
912:ANALOG
882:
861:
842:Page 6
790:
402:Tandon
347:, the
335:a new
261:Page 6
960:(PDF)
933:(PDF)
829:ANTIC
807:ANTIC
412:Notes
72:XF551
968:2011
949:OCLC
941:ISSN
880:ISBN
859:ISBN
788:ISBN
221:and
29:The
285:815
281:MFM
275:815
192:SIO
993::
947:.
935:.
910:.
897:.
840:.
827:.
805:.
753:^
686:.
662:^
618:^
603:^
593:.
541:^
519:.
484:^
462:.
245:.
233:.
970:.
888:.
867:.
844:.
818:.
796:.
523:.
494:.
466:.
99:.
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