Mot Posted July 24, 2004 Share Posted July 24, 2004 I found an Atari 800 in a thrift for 5 bucks and inside the left cart slot was a loaner cart. I was hoping for some new game or something or core but I fired it up and found that it had a clock ticking away at the top and a partial word processing test. The exact words on the screen are: 00:01:56 USE <- AND -> TO SET LEFT MARGIN ABCDEF And the left and right keys moves the ABCDEF back and forth, while the clock keeps ticking away on the top. This does not sound very hard to do, is it? This loaner has the co. and address: Kantronics 1202 E. 23rd Street (913)842-7745 Lawrence, Kansas 66044 The next question I have is, when I opened the memory expansion slots up there are boards in there with out coverings, is that they way the Atari 800’s came? Or are these something strange? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted July 24, 2004 Share Posted July 24, 2004 You probably have a Ham Radio software cart. I believe Kantronics made something called Hamsoft / Amtor. The caseless rom boards aren't unusual. The earlier versions had a bad habit of overheating so people removed them from their cases. Tempest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cx2k Posted July 24, 2004 Share Posted July 24, 2004 The ram and rom modules in the 800 can be found in both styles, with and without cases (ie. bare boards). Nothing special there. The Kantronics cart I'm pretty sure is cartridge for utilizing and hooking up a Ham radio to the Atari 8-bit, not a loaner cart. I can't find mine at the moment or I would power it up and verify it for you. Regardless, it's a good find if you're a collector of Atari 8-bit carts. John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curt Vendel Posted July 24, 2004 Share Posted July 24, 2004 Matt (Tempest) is correct, it is a Ham Radio application cartridge, the 800 you show a picture of is a later version where Atari placed the ram and OS boards bare without cases to resolve an overheating issue and to cut production costs and make the Atari 800 more affordable/competitive. Curt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mot Posted July 24, 2004 Author Share Posted July 24, 2004 I guess I didn’t describe it all that well. When I said what it did above, that is ALL it does! It does almost nothing and yes it is a loaner, it is just a board with a chip socket with a chip in it. It is not a mass production cart at all. You can see part of it on the picture on the left. I can take more pictures also. I still think someone was writing a word processor application and this was a small part of the application or a test of it. I don't think ham radio software needs margins. Maybe they just had/bought the loaner board from Kantronics. Memory boards in the 800 computers seem to me very valuable. Is this correct and how does one tell what these boards are? Is there a FAQ to read somewhere? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deathtrappomegranate Posted July 24, 2004 Share Posted July 24, 2004 Is the chip an EPROM? If so, and it's in a socket, it could be almost anything. If you have access to SIO2PC hardware and software, a dump of the cart would probably tell the story. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted July 25, 2004 Share Posted July 25, 2004 Perhaps Kantronics was making another product? The ERPOMs don't necessarly mean it's a prototype. Some small run carts used EPROMs. Memory boards are very cheap. They're nothing special. However if you yank them out and look at the boards, they should say what they are on them. I'd guess they're a 10K ROM and 3 16K RAM boards (standard 48K 800 set up). Tempest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mot Posted July 25, 2004 Author Share Posted July 25, 2004 Loaner cart thing has a chip in it with the following writing for the chip: D2732A-3 L2283188S PGM @ 21V © INTEL 79 And a hand written label "AH1.3" As far as d/l the chip image: a) I don't think it is worth the trouble as moving the letters "ABCDEF" back and forth is not that exciting. b) I didn't know someone could get the cartridge image to the SIO slot somehow, I suppose you load up DOS or something first? c) I have a SIO2PC that I built and it was working fine with my wife's company's laptop but then it fried the laptop some how and I never used it again. My wife was pissed. (And I had both Atari 800 XL and the laptop plugged into the same power strip but as the power supply has no ground, maybe I should have grounded the XL chasse? Maybe it was my wiring and so I should just buy one from AtariAge.) I was just reading in games on the Atari and playing them for about a month, very fun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deathtrappomegranate Posted July 25, 2004 Share Posted July 25, 2004 Well, that's an EPROM. Also AH x.x was Kantronics' way of referring to Hamsoft revisions, so I guess that's probably what it is. Or, at least, what it was. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Callipygous Posted July 25, 2004 Share Posted July 25, 2004 Loaner cart thing has a chip in it with the following writing for the chip:D2732A-3 L2283188S PGM @ 21V © INTEL 79 And a hand written label "AH1.3" This is not a loaner. The early carts are bare boards. Later they put them in cases. Nothing much happens when you test it because a Computer Interface for the HAM radio must be attached to the Atari for it to do anything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted July 25, 2004 Share Posted July 25, 2004 I find this all very ineresting. If you ever want to sell that cart let me know. Tempest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mot Posted July 26, 2004 Author Share Posted July 26, 2004 What did the ham radio - Computer Interface look like? I can go back and try to find it! I did look around for the power cord but could not find it. I think I would have saw a SIO type cable if they had one but could have missed it. Does anyone have a web site or picks of this stuff? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Callipygous Posted July 26, 2004 Share Posted July 26, 2004 There were several different manufacturers of interfaces that work with Atari, commodore, apple etc. Dug out my box turns out that I have the same exact cart version as yours. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mot Posted July 26, 2004 Author Share Posted July 26, 2004 Callipygous, Did you or can you try running with out the ham radio attached to see if you get the same results. I will go back and try to find this equipment (that weird logo on the top looks familiar). I really don’t want this stuff separated if at all possible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Callipygous Posted July 26, 2004 Share Posted July 26, 2004 Its been a few years since I acquired this thing. Don't remember if I tried it at all, but its meant to link the Atari through the interface to a Ham Radio. So you need the Interface AND a Ham radio setup. There is really no point in hooking up the Interface only, since you can't send or receive anything. Again, the way I understand it, there were several interface boxes available, so you may find a completely different one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mot Posted July 26, 2004 Author Share Posted July 26, 2004 ...there were several interface boxes available, so you may find a completely different one. Good point I will look for anything and mostly the SIO type cord hopefully attached to a Ham radio. What did the computer do for you? I have heard of people letting a computer do the Morse code translation for you is this what it did/does? And was it just for sending or both send/receive? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Callipygous Posted July 27, 2004 Share Posted July 27, 2004 Mot, I am only a collector and never had a Ham radio nor had this unit operational. This information is from the instructions: "Now the menu will be displayed giving you the choice of three transmit/receive modes, (MORSE,RTTY, ACSII)....." I think you are correct. The Hamtext program takes advantage of the computer environment, using the Atari to buffer, translate, print and save files. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mot Posted July 27, 2004 Author Share Posted July 27, 2004 Thank you Callipygous. I went back to the same store but didn't find anything. Oh-well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mot Posted July 28, 2004 Author Share Posted July 28, 2004 I know you all are tired of this thread by now but I found some links. I guess you can still buy this equipment (just not the Atari Software) from here: http://www.mfjenterprises.com/products.php...prodid=MFJ-1224 and here is a document for it: http://www.hy-gain.com/man/mfjpdf/MFJ-1224.pdf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mot Posted July 28, 2004 Author Share Posted July 28, 2004 and this one too: http://www.atarimagazines.com/v4n7/radiomo...emsoftware.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Callipygous Posted July 30, 2004 Share Posted July 30, 2004 Mot, or you could build your own: http://www.atarimagazines.com/v4n7/morsecode.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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