28 replies to this topic

[VicViper]

The post in question.

https://rochester.cr...6309685052.html

Obviously not the best pic, but a few things caught my attention;

There appears to be one, maybe two toggle switches on the back of the computer

The two floppy drives under the printer are unclear, and ontop of the 1050 there appears to be 3.5" drive

Bags of computer chips? cant tell what those are

 

Any guesses on what any of this stuff is? im thinking about throwing an offer just because I'm interested in that sweet 128K of RAM.

[Nezgar]

The floppy drives are XF551's - somewhat rare and are worth a good chunk of his asking price IMHO

The spare 3.5" mech implies that at least one of those XF551's has a Modded OS to support the 3.5" mech, most likely can swap out the 5.25" mech

The 130XE switches are most likely alternate OS selects.

SIO to Parallel printer adapter

The chips in one of the baggies may be the original OS ROM's from the modded XF551

The other baggie looks a CSS Quintopus? 6 SIO ports connected in Star, instead of daisy chain. if it is CSS, the OS MOD in the XF551 may be a CSS one as well... then that may also imply that the alternate OS's in the 130XE are CSS Ultraspeed OS as well... And maybe more than 128K of RAM.

 

I'd buy it! and let us know what you find

[Bryan]

I'd offer $200. It's certainly worth that since XF551's are going for $100+ on ebay.

 

(and do it quick since you've posted it here!)

[Nezgar]

Another thought, Rochester NY was the home of CSS...

[MEtalGuy66]

Yeah. Jump on that deal before someone else does.. The 130xe has switches on the back.. probably a ram expansion.. The chips in the bag look like 1050 stuff.. maybe some spare roms/eproms, etc.. Theres also an ApeFace (or clone) SIO to centronics parallel printer interface..

The $250 is more than fair..

Edited by Albert, Mon Oct 9, 2017 11:12 AM.
Removed racial slur.

[Tickled_Pink]

"Jew him down"...........seriously ?

 

I really shouldn't laugh. Just caught me by surprise, honest. That's a new term to me.

[slx]

The bagged thingie could be a quintopus SIO multiplier.

[VicViper]

Well I've sent an offer, keep you guys posted. Wish there was more power supplies with the stuff.

[SoulBuster]

The 130xe may be one Like I have.  Mine has two switches in the back.  On mine, one switch changes the OS between Atari/US Speed/FixXL.  The second switch is to warm boot from the RAM Drive.

 

Definitely grab that stuff up.

[VicViper]

Are the xf551 power supplies hard t find?

[BillC]

Are the xf551 power supplies hard t find?

It's the same power supply used for the 800/810/1050, 9VAC and 31VA.

 

Any 9VAC power supply with sufficient current(and the correct connector) will work. Many listed on eBay are only 1A which is too low, 2A may be enough but 3A minimum would be my recommendation.

[kheller2]

Someone should snag this before I do:

https://newjersey.cr...6307964219.html

[Level42]

Someone should snag this before I do:
https://newjersey.cr...6307964219.html

OMG! I'd pick that up right now if I'd love on the other side of the Atlantic.....that boxed 800.....sigh...

[VicViper]

I grabbed it, just hooked it up, it boots up as "the ultra speed" os, you have a 320k computer. SCORE. didn't work when I tried to toggle the ram switch, the right switch appears to toggle between the OS.

[SoulBuster]

For the RAM switch, you have to boot the machine with a ram disk enabled.  Make the ram disk bootable by writing DOS to it or sector copying a boot disk to it.  Change the switch and then hold SELECT and press RESET for a warm boot.  It will boot from the ram disk as drive 1.

 

Excellent for 2 disk games or BBSs.

[VicViper]

How the heck do i post pics from my phone? anyway, all the drives light up, havent hooked em up to the comp yet. the one XF551 has a rainbow ribbon cable and a four slotted plug that connects to the 3.5" floppy drive. No idea what to do with all that. The 1050 has a toggle switch on the side, witch is..... curious. it also has a sticker simply stating "BATCH" placed on top of it. I found a loose sticker in the box that says atari 800-800XL chips, The Impossible. the chips are as follows; "800XL", both of these chips are labeled J349A with the TI logo on them. the next ones are labeled "Atari 800" and are 8307 Atari 1981, and two smaller ones with a bunch of numbers on them. another one labeled CO16150, with a bunch of smaller chips.

[SoulBuster]

The XF551 may be set up for a dual drive, 5 1/4 and 3 1/2 at the same time.  The switch on the 1050 could be a write protect switch.

[VicViper]

For the RAM switch, you have to boot the machine with a ram disk enabled.  Make the ram disk bootable by writing DOS to it or sector copying a boot disk to it.  Change the switch and then hold SELECT and press RESET for a warm boot.  It will boot from the ram disk as drive 1.

 

Excellent for 2 disk games or BBSs.

Is the RAM disc a special disk? I have very little experience with Floppy drives as i pretty early on decided not to mess with magnetic media and just use SD card devices. Definately stoked for that 320K though, now i can play Pang. For a second. Before it crashes 

[SoulBuster]

Booting DOS 2.5 should setup a RAM disk for you.  It should say so when booting that it is setting up a 130xe RAMDISK.

[Mechanicjay]

Someone should snag this before I do:

https://newjersey.cr...6307964219.html

Holy Ever Living Christ on a pogo-stick.

If I still lived 20 minutes from Chester, I'd be there already.

[MEtalGuy66]

Vic, all the upgrades you have mentioned so far are from this guy:

http://www.nleaudio.com/css/

[Tempest]

The 130xe may be one Like I have.  Mine has two switches in the back.  On mine, one switch changes the OS between Atari/US Speed/FixXL.  The second switch is to warm boot from the RAM Drive.

 

Definitely grab that stuff up.

 

That must be what's on my 130XE I just picked up (says Atari/US+/FIX on it) and it also has a 320K RAM upgrade switch.  Thanks for the info!

 

Gotta get that power switch working...

[pixelmischief]

Holy Ever Living Christ on a pogo-stick.

If I still lived 20 minutes from Chester, I'd be there already.

 

Big daddy is swooping in right now.

[kheller2]

 

Big daddy is swooping in right now.

 

I've debated now for days about going after this stash...

best hurry.

[VicViper]

Vic, all the upgrades you have mentioned so far are from this guy:

http://www.nleaudio.com/css/

Pretty cool CSS is in my city, are they still active though? looks like the web page was last updated in 2000.