joelm

She's going to try to send me the source code. I'm not sure about her plans, or lack there of, to release it, but if I can get it up and running I'll see what I can do to get it archived.

... old thread but, another lost Atari 8-bit title will see the light of day again; my aunt found her source code.

Mine arrived while I was away for work. Everything looks good but, since I got my 64K upgrade working fine, I may not end up installing it unless I find another XL computer for a decent price.

I have no idea, as I said, some of the early 48K software doesn't work but XE carts and later 48K+ software works just fine. In fact, Rescue on Fractalus actually seems to run much better now, despite the fact that Beach Head doesn't recognize the memory upgrade. I suspect the OS is the root of the problem with the memory test but, apparently, the full 64K (or whatever should be available) is capable of being utilized so the computer must be able to address is properly. Regardless, the upgrade seems to be working as good as can be expected.

RodLightning- Thank you for that response, I had assumed all 64K would show up on the built-in RAM test. I read that 800 XL's apparently don't show the full 64K on the built-in test either. It got me thinking and I tried out a couple titles from later in the 80's and they worked just fine. I did some checking and found out that some earlier software for the Atari 8-bits doesn't work right on the XL line because if the way it's programmed. So, it appears that the upgrade I installed IS actually working. Sadly, Beach Head and Combat Leader don't work on my upgraded 600 XL. Thankfully Rescue on Fractalus does work. One thing I noticed is that my video is much noisier than it was before the upgrade. Now my screen has some lines on the left when I'm running certain programs (especially cartridges) and the screen has some light "snow". Is this a result of the upgrade or do I just need to adjust a POT somewhere?

Any chance that someone with a working 64K upgrade could run a memory test and verify that 4 lines of 16 memory blocks will show (in addition to the two ROM blocks) when the test is complete? As an aside, when I access the test by typing "bye" after basic loads, it shows 8 fewer RAM blocks than when I boot directly to the test by holding down option during power-up.

This is how it looked when I opened it up, except that I had swapped the RAM already. Edit: I'm going to stop posting things from my phone, for some reason it's creating double posts.

This is how it looked when I opened it up

Yes, they are. Strangely, they were bent out and pre-jumpered to pins 4&5 on the R8323 chip when I opened up the computer for the first time. I've never seen that variation before but I tested it after removing those jumpers and it worked fine so I proceeded with the 64K upgrade.

So, I'm not sure where I went wrong. I installed the 64k upgrade in my 600XL but the memory test only shows 48K and 48K games on floppy won't load (Beach Head) says "48K RAM not available, please rectify". Everything works fine except it acts like it's still only 16K when turned on, except the memory test which shows 48K as I mentioned above.

Multiple post

Some of this configuration talk is above my head. I guess what I'd like to know boils down to, is there a configuration where my 600 XL will be fully compatible with original 400/800/800XL software requiring more than 16K of memory? I'm thinking, put the 48K floppy in my 1050, turn everything on like normal, and have the 600 XL operate just like an 800 XL with more memory? My main concern is having something to act as a day to day replacement for my current 800, which I would like to preserve by using less.

Ah heck, put me down for 1 for a 600XL.

On the advice of Kevin Savetz I'm putting the word out about my search for a software title my Aunt Ann McBain Ezzell wrote back in 1984 (I'm not sure why it didn't occur to me to post this earlier). My Aunt was a Contributing Editor for the Michigan Atari Computer Enthusiasts newsletter (MACE Journal) for many years and wrote numerous articles and reviews in that publication (many issues are currently available online at Archive.org) The software is a math game, called "Count With Bunky", written for a competition being held by Verbatim and Scholastic looking for educational software. Winners received a bunch of hardware and the potential for their title to be published. According to my Aunt, it's partially written in Basic with some assembly for the animations. It was listed as being published by Swifty Software INC, out of Melville NY, in The Blue Book For the Atari Computer, 1983/84 Edition. If anyone knows of this title, or has a copy or disk image somewhere, please let me know.

Zippy arrived the other day and looks great. I'm hoping to get some time on the cartridge tonight. Thanks again Spry!