Atari 1050

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The Atari 1050 is a floppy disk drive for Atari 8-bit computers released in June 1983. It is compatible with the 90 kB single-density mode of the original Atari 810 it replaced, and added a new "enhanced" or "dual density" mode that provided 130 kB. Based on a half-height Tandon mechanism, it was smaller than the 810 and matched the styling of the new 600XL and 800XL machines.

By the time it was available, a wide variety of third party drives had been introduced for the 8-bit platform, many of which were faster and offered true double-density support for 180 kB. The lack of double-density support on the 1050 was a mystery to onlookers at the time, as the hardware had full support for this format. The launch was further marred by releasing it with the older Atari DOS 2.0S, S for "single", which did not support the 130 kB capacity. Atari replaced 2.0 with DOS 3.0 which supported the enhanced density mode, but used an entirely new format that was incompatible with earlier disks. The release of DOS 2.5 in 1985 finally addressed these issues.

The 1050 was launched directly into the rise of the Commodore 64 and the videogame crash of 1983 when sales of the entire 8-bit line plummeted. When Jack Tramiel purchased Atari in 1984 there were warehouses filled with unsold 1050s, which delayed production of a replacement. It was not until 1987 that the Atari XF551 was introduced, offering both double-density and double-sided capabilities and a double-speed transfer mode.