Jump to content
Have You Played Atari Today?
2600|5200|7800|Lynx|Jaguar|Forums|Store  

oracle_jedi

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Content Count

    743

  • Joined

  • Last visited

Posts posted by oracle_jedi

  2. Posted

    Well my board has a 8050, a WD1772 and no socketed ROM. There is an empty U6 for a 2764 chip.

     

    Can I still do the upgrade? What do I need to do here?

     

    The 8050 has an internal ROM. On the PCB of the XF is a jumper wire to put the 8050 into 8040 compatibility mode (no internal ROM). In that mode an external (EP)ROM is required, which is U6.

     

    Now if I could only remember how to recognize what jumper wire it is.

     

    OK, so I am going to have to find and move the jumper (any help appreciated!), solder in a socket into the empty U6, insert the ROM and also probably end up re-soldering the floppy connector.

     

    Does sound about right?

     

    Not quite the simple upgrade I hoped for!

     

    Thanks

  3. Posted

    I am trying to do the XF551 3.5 mech conversion, and I am confused.

     

    I have a 720K drive and the replacement ROM courtesy of TJLazer. I thought it was a straight ROM swap and I read somewhere the ROM is usually socketed.

     

    Well my board has a 8050, a WD1772 and no socketed ROM. There is an empty U6 for a 2764 chip.

     

    Can I still do the upgrade? What do I need to do here?

  4. Posted

    I've owned a 400, an 800, two 800XLs and two 1200XLs plus assorted 810 and 1050 drives. For the most part I've had rock solid reliability.

     

    Certainly my Atari hardware has done better than most of my PC era kit, which typically runs four years before starting to exhibit some sort of hardware failure, so my guess you just got unlucky. I've not even had the typical 1200 keyboard issues unless you count the missing 8 and 9 keys from one used machine that came to me broken.

     

    As for emulators. Yes they rock. With a click of your mouse you can test a given configuration, copy files at super-warp speed or try hardware options you might not have. Newer emulators emulate the screens more faithfully than ever before giving artifacting as well as other things like timing lines and moire effects that you used to get on old CRT based TVs.

     

    But using an Atari isn't just about the 320x192 256-colour display from ANTIC and GTIA, nor the four channel monaural sound from POKEY. There is something tactile about pressing the real keys of a real 1200, touching the plastic of a real CX40, the click of the power switch or the glow of the red LEDs. The abrupt click from the 400's cartridge door lifting or the feel of solid tank-like quality from closing the drive door of an 810. Nothing brings back Christmas 1984 like sliding the 800XL out of the styrofoam clam shell box inserts.

     

    Those machines have a smell, they have a feel, an aura, hell they have a soul!

     

    You just can't emulate that.

  5. Posted

    Well, I finally got my RAM 320XLs going tonight. I had been on vacation for a good part of the late summer (when they arrived) and then I didn't have my 800XLs out and set up. So I tried it tonight with mixed results.

     

    Bottom line: Works great on NTSC. Doesn't work on PAL.

     

     

    I also have a PAL-B 800XL purchased from B&C about 18 months ago.

     

    I have the Numen demo running right now at VCF MidWest 5.0 with the 320XL memory expansion in the back.

     

    The problems is not anything generic to the PAL 800XLs from B&C.

  6. Posted · Edited by oracle_jedi

    A multi-standard monitor like some Amiga 1084s models will handle PAL

     

    Not all the 1084S monitors were so versatile. My 1084S-P monitor is NTSC and will only show PAL in monochrome. I have not see any dual standard Commodore monitors in the U.S.

     

    Being in Chicago though you are close to at least two world-standard appliance vendors who still stock CRTs able to display composite pictures in PAL and NTSC. Alternatively some LCD monitors can also do it. My gallery has a Samsung TW215 with my PAL 800XL connected.

     

    Some people have suggested buying multi-standard monitors off EBay too. The was a JVC unit recently that was popular but I forget the specs.

  8. Posted

    Picked up two C1702 monitors off Craiglist last week.

     

    Haul included a boxed C64 and 1541 disk drive. This is the first 64 I have owned, so I am having some fun discovering what it can do, but also some frustration.

     

    Sure, I remember the C64 when it was the hot machine, lots of friends had them. I remember playing games like Elite, Entombed, Dambusters and Thing on a Spring.

     

    Now when I try to find those games to download, I am finding they are almost all PAL-only (this is an NTSC machine), or they come in T64 format.

     

    I have a VIC-20 and I have Jim Brain's uIEC device, I am familiar with D64 and PRG files, but how I get a T64 file to load on a real 64?

     

    Are most 64 games PAL-only? Where is the "fandal" or "atarimania" site for the 64?

  9. Posted

    Nogo: Numen - loads all the way but then blank screen. The disk images work ok on the Emulator but not the real hardware.

     

    Do you tested the one disk version? In fact I use Numen for testing every card before shipping.

     

     

    Downloaded another copy from Fandal and this one works. Previous one was from Atarimania.

     

    Thanks

  10. Posted

    I've had my NIB PAL 800XL (B&C Computervisions) waiting for this!! I can't wait to run all the Euro software!! To finally run NUMEN on real hardware will be very pleasing!!! :) :) :)

     

    Where is pic of the enlcosure?

     

    Tested my 320XL card last night on a PAL 800XL bought from B&C about 18 months ago:

     

    Works: Bombjack, Yie Ar Kungfu, Commando.

     

    Kinda Works: Mean 18 (display corrupted on 2nd shot - will check again)

     

    Nogo: Numen - loads all the way but then blank screen. The disk images work ok on the Emulator but not the real hardware.

     

     

    Hardware used for test:

     

    Atari 800XL PAL - SVideo mod, BASIC disabled by lifting pin 11 of the PIA chip, no internal memory expansion.

     

    320XL expansion card in default configuration.

     

     

    I am going to do more testing in the coming days, but even without Numen working, this is a wonderful expansion option.

  11. Posted

    Archivers sells a plastic photo storage box with built in dividers that works really well for XL/XE cartridges.

     

    The box includes a carry handle and is easy to stack horizontally or vertically.

     

    It also includes a space underneath for larger prints, that works well for manuals including the larger ones shipped with the original 400/800 cartridges.

     

    Each box will store about 70 XL/XE type cartridges.

     

    Amazon has the same unit listed here:

     

    http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000S14TMG?ie=UTF8&tag=atariage&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B000S14TMG

  13. Posted · Edited by oracle_jedi

    Okay I have the mod and just have a quick question... The Pokey chip lead has a easy connector on it... Did you use it that way, or cut it off and solder direct?

     

    Thanks!

     

    (I'll be working on this in a few weeks, and will document it also)

     

     

    I soldered a wire from R160 to ourside the RFI shield, and then connected the EZ hook to the wire there and wrapped it in electrical insulation tape.

     

    My reasoning was that it was not possible to insert the entire EZ hook assembly through the hole in the RFI shield, and so running a line out seemed simpler.

     

    Throughout the installation I was trying very hard not to directly hack the 5200 mod board, since if the upgrade didn't work, I was planning on trying to re-sell the mod to a 5200 owner. This was also the reason for the 40-pin IC socket cradle I made instead of soldering the 8 GTIA lines directly onto the mod.

     

    Since I now know the mod does work, you could cut the audio line, feed the cut wire through a hole in the RFI shield, and then re-attach it. But if you use the EZ hook to attach to pin 37 of POKEY, you will have to carefully place the plastic part of the hook so it does not get dislodged when you re-assemble the 400. I didn't like the idea of that large hook assembly "floating about" inside the 400

     

    HTH

  14. Posted

     

    Sidecars don't seem to ever work out. The TI99's is odd beast if you ask me. That transformer weighs a ton, and while it had some devices, it didn't seem to be that popular.

     

    * jumps on the dead topic *

     

    The TI is an interesting case when discussing a 1090 style box.

     

    The TI started with sidecars to add memory, disk drives, printers and speech as well as other options.

     

    As more units were added, the user had to locate another power socket, but also enough desk space to accommodate an ever widening machine.

     

    In the end TI scrapped the side-car solution and replaced it with a 1090-style Peripheral Expansion Box, which placed everything in a single unit. Estimates state that 1 PEB was sold for every 10 consoles. While convenient, it made expansion expensive, as the user had to purchase the pricey, bulky and noisy PEB before they could add extra memory, a disk drive or the RS-232 interface options.

     

    I find it interesting that for the TI-99/2 and TI-99/8 machines, TI planned a Hexbus solution of intelligent peripherals that no longer needed the PEB. The Hexbus solution sounds a lot like SIO.

     

    Maybe Atari got it right in 1979.

  15. Posted

     

    Thank you sir... I think I can follow this... Do you have a picture of the extra holes you drilled (just out of curiosity)

     

    Thanks

     

    Very welcome!

     

    I added four new pictures showing the cooling holes, the SVideo socket and an annotated image of the CPU board showing the eight tap points ( use zoom as the text is small ).

  16. Posted · Edited by oracle_jedi

    Very nice... Any chance of a detailed how to, for those of us who are dense :D

     

     

     

     

    Installing the 8bitdomain (aka Retrokidz) 5200 AV mod in an Atari 400.

     

     

    Disclaimer - the following instructions are based on my own experimentation. I will not accept any responsibility for damage to your beloved Atari 400 as a result of trying to replicate this!

     

     

     

    The 8bitdomain 5200 AV Mod is designed as a solderless AV mod for an Atari 5200 game system.

     

    The mod adds Composite and SVideo output to a 2-port 5200 game console.

     

     

    It achieves this by having the user remove the original GTIA chip. The GTIA is then inserted into the mod, and the mod board inserted into the socket vacated by the GTIA.

     

    The mod taps eight lines of the GTIA to generate its output. Signals to and from the GTIA are not interfered with and most of the 40 pins are simply pass-thrus on the board.

     

     

    Indeed, the mod only really requires eight lines on the GTIA:

     

    Pins: 3, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 27 and 31.

     

    It also uses pin 37 of POKEY to generate the audio, which is output to a standard 3.5mm audio jack.

     

     

     

    Since the 5200 and the Atari 400/800 systems share the same basic architecture, including use of the GTIA display chip, the mod works in an Atari 400.

     

    However installation is more complicated and not solder-less.

     

     

    Although the mod works in a 400, it will not physically fit. This is due to the following:

     

     

    On the 400/800 CPU board, the ANTIC chip is too close to the GTIA to allow the 5200 AV mod board to fit. The mod board is designed to be low profile but requires several inches of space to the right of the GTIA chip to fit properly. In a 400/800 CPU board, this space is occupied by the ANTIC chip.

     

    The board could be stacked with an IC socket to lift it clear of the ANTIC, but this does not work either. The board has an seven pin connector that sits to the side of the GTIA socket, into which is connected the Composite, SVideo and audio outputs, as well as the audio in from the POKEY.

     

    On a 400/800 CPU board, this space is occupied by the motherboard.

     

    Also, even without lifting the mod board clear of the ANTIC, the board will not fit under the heavy 400 RF shield. Atari did not leave enough room for after market modifications.

     

     

     

    Therefore, to fit the mod board into the 400, we must replicate the required pins to a more suitable location outside of the RF shield.

     

     

    You will need:

     

    Nine pieces of wire cut to about 2ft each. I use 25 gauge electronics grade wire from Fry's. If you can get multiple colours it will help you greatly.

     

    Each piece of wire needs to be stripped to expose 1/16 inch of bare wire at each end.

     

    A good soldering iron.

     

    A good quality de-soldering tool. I recommend a solderpult.

     

    A clean static free work space.

     

    I also recommend a 40 pin IC socket and a small piece of strip board (veroboard).

     

     

    This is in addition to the equipment recommended by the mod provider:

     

    1. Phillips & Flat blade screwdriver.

     

    2. Needle nose pliers.

     

    3. Sharp angled cutters

     

    3. Hand drill (I used a power drill).

     

    5. 1/8" and 1/4" bits.

     

    6. 1/2" hole cutting tool.

     

    7. Awl or scribe

     

    8. Xacto knife.

     

    9. Metal Ruler.

     

    19. Anti-stat mat with wrist strap

     

    11. Tin Snips

     

     

     

    For the purposes of the description I will use the following orientation:

     

    Top refers to the component side, bottom to the foil side of any circuit board.

     

    400 Main Board: south is the controller jacks side, north is the CPU and RAM boards side, east is the power board side.

     

    CPU Board: south is the edge connector, north is the opposite side. The GTIA is located on the west side of the CPU board.

     

    Picture references can be seen in my gallery under "Atari 400 AV Mod gallery"

     

     

    NOTE: I also STRONGLY recommend that you add some additional cooling to your 400 when you do this mod.

     

    I ended up drilling four vent holes along the top of the RF shield, plus a further set of four holes at the base of the RF shield, to facilitate cooling the 400's CPU board.

     

    A power drill with a 3/8 drill bit will cut through the case in about 4 seconds, so this is a simple additional step while you have your 400 in pieces.

     

     

     

    To install the AV mod board:

     

    1. Disassemble the Atari 400.

     

    The Atari 48K memory expansion instructions give a good overview of how to dis-assemble a 400.

     

    http://www.myatari.com/ebay/48k400.pdf

     

     

     

    2. On the 400 main board, locate resistor R160 next to the POKEY chip.

     

    The chip is the large 40-pin IC on the main board and typically has a code of CO12294.

     

    Pin 37 is on the east side of the IC and located toward the RAM and CPU boards.

     

    Immediately to the east of the IC is a resistor marked R160. De-solder the south leg of the resistor. Then insert one of the pieces of cut wire so that both the wire and the resistor leg are in the barrel. With 25-gauge wire this is possible. Then re-solder the resistor leg.

     

    (See IMG_2806.JPG)

     

     

     

    3. On the CPU board, locate capacitor C302 immediately north of the GTIA chip.

     

    The GTIA is western most chip with and typically has a code of CO14805.

     

    The western leg of C302 is adjacent to an unused barrel. Examine the board under light and you will see both of these connect to pin 3 of the GTIA. This is the GND line.

     

    Either de-solder the western leg of C302 or the unused adjacent barrel, and solder in another piece of cut wire.

     

    In my example I used brown wire.

     

    (See IMG_2799.JPG)

     

     

     

    4. Locate Pin 11 on the CPU edge connector.

     

    Note you are looking for pin 11 of the edge connector, NOT the GTIA IC.

     

    Immediately above pin is an empty barrel. This traces back to Pin 31 of the GTIA (the L0 line).

     

    De-solder the barrel and solder in a wire.

     

    In my example I used white wire with a blue stripe.

     

    (See IMG_2799.JPG)

     

     

     

    5. Locate Pin 2 on the CPU edge connector.

     

    Note you are looking for pin 2 of the edge connector, NOT the GTIA IC.

     

    Immediately above pin is an empty barrel. This traces back to Pin 25 of the GTIA (the CSYNC line).

     

    De-solder the barrel and solder in a wire.

     

    In my example I used red wire with a blue stripe.

     

    (See IMG_2799.JPG)

     

     

     

    6. Locate the three resistors to the immediate east of the south of the GTIA chip.

     

    It is hard to read the silk screen on my board, but the southern most resistor looks to be R307.

     

    De-solder the southern leg of each resistor, adding a wire to each one, before re-soldering them.

     

    These three resistors connect to pins 22, 23 and 24 of the GTIA (the L1, L2 and L3 lines).

     

    In my example I used the following colours: pin 22 - yellow, pin 23 green, pin 24 white.

     

    (See IMG_2799.JPG)

     

     

     

    7. Again, locate the same three resistors to the immediate east of the south of the GTIA chip.

     

    The north of each resistors connects to a common line that can be traced to pin 27 of the GTIA.

     

    This is +5V line.

     

    De-solder the northern leg of any resistor, add a wire and re-solder it.

     

    In my example I used black wire.

     

    (See IMG_2799.JPG)

     

     

     

    8. Locate the empty solder barrel to the immediate east of the three resistors in the previous step.

     

    Solder in a wire to the empty barrel.

     

    On the bottom of the CPU card you can see this traces back to pin 21 of the GTIA.

     

    In my example I used red wire.

     

    (See IMG_2799.JPG)

     

     

     

    9. Group the eight wires on the CPU board and tie with a plastic tie to keep them neat.

     

    Thread the eight wires from the CPU board, plus the wire from pin 37 of POKEY, through the hole in the RF shield next to the colour adjustment that is mounted on the CPU board in the north east corner. Do not add the POKEY line to the bundle with the plastic tie. It will be simpler for future dis-assembly if the POKEY line is left separate.

     

    Use electrical tape to secure them to the side of the RF shield.

     

     

     

    10. Solder a 40 pin IC socket into the strip board.

     

    You will need a small piece of strip board only slightly larger than the IC socket, although there is space for much larger ones if you wish.

     

    The IC socket only needs to be soldered on pins 3, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 27 and 31.

     

    I recommend also soldering pins 1, 20 and 40 to ensure a good secure fit.

     

     

     

    11. Taking your bundle of wires from step 9, solder each one to the strip board so that the relevant connection is made back to the GTIA inside the RF shield.

     

    If you followed my color convention the connections are as follows:

     

    Pin 3 - Brown.

     

    Pin 21 - Red

     

    Pin 22 - Yellow

     

    Pin 23 - Green

     

    Pin 24 - White

     

    Pin 25 - Red with Blue Stripe

     

    Pin 27 - Black

     

    Pin 31 - White with Blue Stripe.

     

    (NOTE: Pin 37 of the POKEY is not soldered to this strip board)

     

     

     

    12. Insert the mod board into the IC socket on the strip board ensuring you keep the same orientation so that Pin 1 is connected to Pin 1.

     

     

     

    13. Using a drill, mount the Composite, SVideo and audio jacks into the 400's case.

     

    I found that the the under-side of the case, on the left hand side as you look at the machine, toward the front, made a suitable mounting point.

     

    This allows the new connectors to stay hidden from view. Be sure to mount the jacks high enough to allow the plugs clearance from the desk, remembering that the case plastic is angled.

     

    (See IMG_2815.JPG)

     

     

     

     

    14. Attach the line from pin 37 of POKEY to the green EZ Hook of the mod. Seal the connection in electrical tape to ensure no shorts.

     

     

     

    15. Insert the seven pin connector from the Composite/SVideo/EZ Hook jacks to the header on the mod board.

     

    The blue line should be closest to Pin 20 of the IC socket, the Green line closest to Pin 21.

     

    (See IMG_2804.JPG)

     

     

     

    16. Test and Re-assemble your Atari 400 with Composite and SVideo out.

     

    When you re-assemble the 400, you will need to carefully feed the excess wire from the CPU board through the hole in the shield as you drop the main/CPU/RAM board assembly back into place. Make sure the entire assembly drops neatly back into place. If there is any displacement, remove and try again.

     

     

     

    17. Congratulations, you have now joined an extremely select group of Atari enthusiasts.

     

    There are probably fewer Composite/SVideo capable Atari 400s than Atari 1400XLs!

     

     

     

     

    Please! - post some picture of your AV modded 400s if you do this!

  19. Posted

    Hey guys. Got a couple of A400s that will power up but will not show video over RF. I either get interference or no signal at all. Reading the 400/800 service guide, I saw that the A400 combines the signal at the power supply board. Has anyone ever tried to use this signal to build a composite hack for the A400? Saw that there are 5200 hacks that may work, but many of them aren't in production anymore and all of them seem to focus on the CTIA/GTIA. If you have any information, please let me know. Thanks.

     

    Cliff

     

     

    I shoe-horned the 8bitdomain 5200 A/V mod into my Atari 400. It gives very good SVideo and Composite output.

     

    You can see the pictures in my gallery.

     

    HTH

  20. Posted

    That is something that i've always been curious about as to why commodore users had to physically modify their hardware just so it would register 2 separate disk drives, could you imagine Atari users doing the same thing with their 810's/1050's etc, surely it would'nt have added to the base price for a commodore disk drive to add a toggle switch (a la 810/1050 etc) at the back of the drive and make life easier for commodore users

     

    They should have added a track-zero sensor before they added the toggle switch. Ever tried formatting a new disk in a 1541? It's painful!

     

    Commodore were grand masters of eliminating absolutely every non-essential (and several essential) parts from their machines to maximize profit and minimize the price.

    • Like 1

  21. Posted

     

    Anyone have experience with the XM1541?

     

    Tempest

     

    Yes, and its picky as hell.

     

    Couldn't get mine to work under Win2000 or XP at all.

     

    Ended up taking an old Dell laptop and installing DOS6 on it, then running Star Commander, which allowed me to transfer singe PRG files, but then timed out after each transfer.

     

    Since alot of people got theirs to work ok, either im doing it all wrong, or my desktops have something in the parallel port/windows drivers thats interfering.

  22. Posted

    Can't get ICE-T to work: I go into the dial dialogue and the input field fills with the letter "j"...

     

    I had this before - if I recall this was the fix:

     

    Keyclick Setting

    When initially using this program, I had a problem with "screaming Js". I won't go through all the details, but if you have such a problem, try changing the key-click to "Quiet" or "None". I know this tip has helped at least one other person besides me. I don't know what causes it, but it does fix it.

  23. Posted

    Does it come with some software to enable the atari to boot the .atr files?

     

    Yes it does, you can download the ATR images down to an SD card and then use the device to mount them as though they were real floppies.

     

    Solid state technology means no mechanical failures and SD card capacity is so high now you can pretty much have your entire collection on a couple of cards.

     

    Much simpler than the old cassette systems!

     

    HTH.

  24. Posted

    Hi guys - just wondered if anybody has ever managed to graft an sio port from a 1010 tape deck onto a standard tape deck of any description and how did you do it? So that I dont have to rely on the often unreliable 1010 atari deck. Any diagrams etc would be nice too! If anybody has achieved this, did you get much better reliable loading?

    Many thanks guys.

     

     

    Questions.

     

    This is a joke right?

     

    If you want to try this for the hell of it, then cool - but have you considered you will not only need to transplant or emulate the SIO supporting circuitry, but also the FSK circuitry.

     

    If the 1010 isn't working, why not get a 410 or XC11 deck instead.

     

    Why are you using a tape drive at all? Get an SIO2PC or SIO2SD device and ditch the deck.

AtariAge
Forums
Store
General
Follow AtariAge

Copyright ©1998-2021 AtariAge

×
×
  • Create New...