187 replies to this topic

[chrislynn5]

Does anyone have any information on a cartridge I have titled Checkbook Cartridge #CXL8001? Atarimania believes it to be homegrown, and it might be but it looks too real to me. I've attached pictures of the screen shot, inside, and outside. The chips inside say:
PERS FIN.
3-18-80
LO

I remember a long time ago finding a picture of a big box version of this.
I piocked this up in a huge purchase from somewhere in California about 7+ years ago. The box had all kinds of misc stuff including chips, boards, etc.

Anybody know what DBFA disk is?

Attached Thumbnails

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Edited by chrislynn5, Fri Feb 17, 2012 3:08 PM.

[GroovyBee]

I can't help you with info on the cart but you might want to glue that left hand sticker back over that EPROM window.

[chrislynn5]

Thanx, I will

[beamer320i]

It's a homebrew/fake, but a bloody good one! Great looking label, still nice to have.

[qix_maniac]

don't think someone in 1980 would of gone out of their way to make a fake ...perhaps a prototype that was only released on disk?

[Ransom]

I agree, it's very nice looking.

I've never seen any mention of it anywhere, though.  So either it's a very nice fake or a very nice proto.

[beamer320i]

qix_maniac, on Fri Feb 17, 2012 3:25 PM, said:

don't think someone in 1980 would of gone out of their way to make a fake ...perhaps a prototype that was only released on disk?

It wasn't made in 1980. I may be wrong, but if it was a prototype it wouldn't have a 'proper' label, just a plain/white label? Besides, them in the know (Atarimania) have confirmed the serial/CXL number doesn't bear out.

Edited by beamer320i, Fri Feb 17, 2012 3:31 PM.

[chrislynn5]

beamer320i, on Fri Feb 17, 2012 3:30 PM, said:

qix_maniac, on Fri Feb 17, 2012 3:25 PM, said:

don't think someone in 1980 would of gone out of their way to make a fake ...perhaps a prototype that was only released on disk?

It wasn't made in 1980. I may be wrong, but if it was a prototype it wouldn't have a 'proper' label, just a plain/white label? Besides, them in the know (Atarimania) have confirmed the serial/CXL number doesn't bear out.

Well, the label might not mean it wasn't a prototype. And the CXL number seems odd if someone just thought to "add" a number to it. Who would go to the trouble and make not only a perfect label (by everything I've seen) and add a number to it. I'm trying to find the booklet that I think I had, it was in Atari color materials and production looking.

The real question is what, and who, are the markings? And what is DBFA Disk mean? Thanx for your sloothing.

[chrislynn5]

Also note, might not mean anything, but it was in a box with a bunch of Atari documents, i.e. Disk Drive information marked 'Preliminary'. Almost like early architecture materials.

[chrislynn5]

And to also make this interesting, the cart's label paper appears to be EXACTLY the same has another cart AtariWriter. The paper has very specific striations, very distinctly Atari paper/process.

[Bryan]

PERS FIN = Personal Finances

DBAF = Database of Financial Accounts?

It would be interesting to see a dump of the whole thing to see what other text is in it.

Is it related to this:

http://www.atariage....artridge-found/

[Chuck D. Head]

GroovyBee, on Fri Feb 17, 2012 3:06 PM, said:

I can't help you with info on the cart but you might want to glue that left hand sticker back over that EPROM window.

The EPROM couldnt be affected by the camera flash, could it? Cause that would suck. Dont you really need to bombard that sucker with UV?

[chrislynn5]

Chuck D. Head, on Fri Feb 17, 2012 4:01 PM, said:

GroovyBee, on Fri Feb 17, 2012 3:06 PM, said:

I can't help you with info on the cart but you might want to glue that left hand sticker back over that EPROM window.

The EPROM couldnt be affected by the camera flash, could it? Cause that would suck. Dont you really need to bombard that sucker with UV?

Yes, many, many hours of UV (I have a UV EProm eraser). But it couldn't hurt covering it up

[chrislynn5]

Here's two dumps to play around with.

Attached Files

•  checkbook8KB.bin   8K   102 downloads
•  checkbook16KB.bin   16K   101 downloads

[chrislynn5]

Bryan, on Fri Feb 17, 2012 3:47 PM, said:

PERS FIN = Personal Finances

DBAF = Database of Financial Accounts?

It would be interesting to see a dump of the whole thing to see what other text is in it.

Is it related to this:

http://www.atariage....artridge-found/

I think Personal Finance was a tape or disk.

I put a blank diskette in the drive and it reads 'Boot error' when the cartridge tries to use it???

Edited by chrislynn5, Fri Feb 17, 2012 4:20 PM.

[GroovyBee]

Chuck D. Head, on Fri Feb 17, 2012 4:01 PM, said:

The EPROM couldnt be affected by the camera flash, could it? Cause that would suck. Dont you really need to bombard that sucker with UV?

It would take some weeks of direct sunlight to erase the EPROM.

[sloopy]

GroovyBee, on Fri Feb 17, 2012 4:30 PM, said:

Chuck D. Head, on Fri Feb 17, 2012 4:01 PM, said:

The EPROM couldnt be affected by the camera flash, could it? Cause that would suck. Dont you really need to bombard that sucker with UV?

It would take some weeks of direct sunlight to erase the EPROM.

weeks?

hours if you dont have a modern home window in between...

sloopy.

[www.atarimania.com]

Have to admit this is some weird shit...

From the pics, it appears to be a proto. Seems the coder was also able to have a special label made for the program! Sounds crazy but far from impossible!

I can't check the cartridge dump right now but this may well be some early code for a program that was eventually sold on disk for the 800. Maybe that odd serial number means Atari had plans for "big" cartridges specifically aimed towards the more serious, business-oriented 800.

--
Atari Frog
http://www.atarimania.com

[Gunstar]

chrislynn5, on Fri Feb 17, 2012 3:36 PM, said:

beamer320i, on Fri Feb 17, 2012 3:30 PM, said:

qix_maniac, on Fri Feb 17, 2012 3:25 PM, said:

don't think someone in 1980 would of gone out of their way to make a fake ...perhaps a prototype that was only released on disk?

It wasn't made in 1980. I may be wrong, but if it was a prototype it wouldn't have a 'proper' label, just a plain/white label? Besides, them in the know (Atarimania) have confirmed the serial/CXL number doesn't bear out.

Well, the label might not mean it wasn't a prototype. And the CXL number seems odd if someone just thought to "add" a number to it. Who would go to the trouble and make not only a perfect label (by everything I've seen) and add a number to it. I'm trying to find the booklet that I think I had, it was in Atari color materials and production looking.

The real question is what, and who, are the markings? And what is DBFA Disk mean? Thanx for your sloothing.

Data-Bank-For-Account. Initially it's probably just a formatted disk required.

If it's a prototype maybe it's compatible with the CX85 numeric keypad. I'd like to see more screen shots. There were a couple checkbook programs as type-ins in Atari magazines back in the day, and are probably online on the magazine disk ATRs.

If it's a fake label, it's the best I've ever seen, it even has the "brush" marks that all official Atari brown-labels have. I don't know if it's the material used or printing process, but it's distinctive markings and that doesn't look like scanned brush marks. On the other hand, my Atari BASIC cartridge has a different shade of brown at the bottom where the number is at, and the cart in the picture isn't a different shade, but I only have my Atari BASIC cartridge to go by, I need to see more labels for confirmation.

Edited by Gunstar, Fri Feb 17, 2012 5:42 PM.

[chrislynn5]

Gunstar, on Fri Feb 17, 2012 5:29 PM, said:

chrislynn5, on Fri Feb 17, 2012 3:36 PM, said:

beamer320i, on Fri Feb 17, 2012 3:30 PM, said:

qix_maniac, on Fri Feb 17, 2012 3:25 PM, said:

don't think someone in 1980 would of gone out of their way to make a fake ...perhaps a prototype that was only released on disk?

It wasn't made in 1980. I may be wrong, but if it was a prototype it wouldn't have a 'proper' label, just a plain/white label? Besides, them in the know (Atarimania) have confirmed the serial/CXL number doesn't bear out.

Well, the label might not mean it wasn't a prototype. And the CXL number seems odd if someone just thought to "add" a number to it. Who would go to the trouble and make not only a perfect label (by everything I've seen) and add a number to it. I'm trying to find the booklet that I think I had, it was in Atari color materials and production looking.

The real question is what, and who, are the markings? And what is DBFA Disk mean? Thanx for your sloothing.

Data-Bank-For-Account. Initially it's probably just a formatted disk required.

If it's a prototype maybe it's compatible with the CX85 numeric keypad. I'd like to see more screen shots. There were a couple checkbook programs as type-ins in Atari magazines back in the day, and are probably online on the magazine disk ATRs.

If it's a fake label, it's the best I've ever seen, it even has the "brush" marks that all official Atari brown-labels have. I don't know if it's the material used or printing process, but it's distinctive markings and that doesn't look like scanned brush marks. On the other hand, my Atari BASIC cartridge has a different shade of brown at the bottom where the number is at, and the cart in the picture isn't a different shade, but I only have my Atari BASIC cartridge to go by, I need to see more labels for confirmation.

Good point, I think the diskette I put in was unformatted (go figure)! AlsoI checked many of my stock atari labels and they all have the distinct brushed label with striations. I did see all the magazine article on code ofr Checkbooks so let's see if we can get it to work for some more screens! Please let me know, thanx all.

[AtariGeezer]

chrislynn5, on Fri Feb 17, 2012 4:17 PM, said:

Here's two dumps to play around with.

Which address ranges did you use in these dumps?
8000-BFFF,  A000-BFFF or ???

[Rybags]

It's 8K, the 16K dump is all $FF in the first half.  There's valid cart vector/flags @ $BFFA.

You should consider that it might not be XL compatible.  To test, maybe try DOS 2.0S in 48K 800 mode in an emulator.

[BillC]

Gunstar, on Fri Feb 17, 2012 5:29 PM, said:

There were a couple checkbook programs as type-ins in Atari magazines back in the day, and are probably online on the magazine disk ATRs.

I believe the best known "Checkbook" program for the Atari 8-bits is MicroCheck by Clayton Walnum. IIRC it was in an issue of A.N.A.L.O.G. in 1984(I remember typing it in), there was also an enhanced version for the 130XE released(1989?).

[Gunstar]

BillC, on Fri Feb 17, 2012 9:03 PM, said:

Gunstar, on Fri Feb 17, 2012 5:29 PM, said:

There were a couple checkbook programs as type-ins in Atari magazines back in the day, and are probably online on the magazine disk ATRs.

I believe the best known "Checkbook" program for the Atari 8-bits is MicroCheck by Clayton Walnum. IIRC it was in an issue of A.N.A.L.O.G. in 1984(I remember typing it in), there was also an enhanced version for the 130XE released(1989?).

Yeah, I used to use the 130XE version back then when I owned one. This doesn't look like Microcheck, I don't recall a DBFA option at the beginning.

But there were others, I'd bet at some point every mag that covered Atari had a type-in checkbook program. Compute! probably, Family Computing, Antic and Analog, and how about that really big multi-system mag, it was huge in every dimension...it may even still exist, but it used to cover Atari back in the day too, and I bet it had a type in checkbook program. In the early 90's late in the Atari computing era, there was Atari Interface magazine and they had a monthly disk that I think had a checkbook program on it one month.

Edited by Gunstar, Fri Feb 17, 2012 9:17 PM.

[AtariGeezer]

Rybags, on Fri Feb 17, 2012 8:53 PM, said:

It's 8K, the 16K dump is all $FF in the first half.  There's valid cart vector/flags @ $BFFA.

You should consider that it might not be XL compatible.  To test, maybe try DOS 2.0S in 48K 800 mode in an emulator.

Verified 8k, now to put a loader on it...

Jay

Edited by AtariGeezer, Fri Feb 17, 2012 9:14 PM.