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Hi all, just started to collect all needed infos, parts and order PCBs for make my 1088XEL - and was surprised, that my GALEP-5 universal programmer doesn´t support the PIC 12F1571 (used for V-GATE). After look at the typical chinese programmer for something between 40-70 Euros I saw, that all these ones also didn´t support this special PIC. How you are program this PIC? I didn´t order a Joy2PIC-Stik, because normally my Galep-device can all, so it´s nice to use the XL itself, but easier with the universal programmer. Any hint welcome. Jurgen

I planned a new personality card for the Atari 800. It shall be no replacement for the Incognito, but will combine four flash-based operating systems, 64 KB base memory (you don´t need the memory modules anymore) and 512 kb axlon expanded memory on one single, cheap solution. Maybe other features, too. But today I´m working at The Expander 600XL and some Atari ST stuff. So little time...

At the "shipping costs" site from Rewindgames (assuming you´re an U.S. resident): United States/Worldwide: Sadly postal rates have gone up. TNT, DHL and DPD are now asking a lot. If you want to order a few light items, please contact us before you order. We will try to find the cheapest option for you. Envelope post up to 350gr: € 6.65 Packets up to 2kg: € 24.00 Packets 2kg - 10kg: € 52.00 The "envelope post up to 350 grams" is something similar to the "Deutsche Post Einschreiben" I used before. Packets up to 2 kg costs here 24 Euros, nearly same price like in Germany. I´m pretty sure, most other postal services in other countries will change their rules also. Maybe some of them didn´t update their websites yet.

The cheapest option is "DHL Päckchen" (small parcel) for 16 Euros. But this is without tracking and insurance - something I never do, specially when paid with Paypal due their terms and conditions ("seller protection"). So additional 4 Euros must be paid, then you must pay 20 Euros for up to 2 kg and max. size of 90 cm (Length + Depth + Height together added). For 1 kg goods this price is much lower then the other way, but for my light-weighted shipments is double expensive than before. Such services like parcel force exists in Germany only for business users and have their focus on parcels with 5 kg and more. I´m pretty sure when you use parcel force in UK for 200 grams with insurance it´s also double (and more) expensive than standard royal mail. Regarding your quick look... that´s the problem with quick looks - please read my text carefully. These options ("Warensendung international") requires to be a registered business user (company) with a lot of costs and things to fulfill the requirements of U.S. (and other countries) customs terms and conditions. Special labels are needed. And much more...

Hi all, some changes for further orders from me... Since January 1st 2019 it´s impossible to ship goods for 9 Euros worldwide any more, because "Deutsche Post" (German equivalent to "U.S. Postal Service (USPS)") changes his standard business conditions. The postal product "letter" (which I used before) doesn´t allow ANY kind of goods anymore - just paper, documents and magazines ("print items"). ANY content of hardware or "things" in general is denied. To prevent to include any goods, you can´t label such shipments with the international CN22 customs declaration form any more. If the destination postal service and/or customs will detect any goods in letters, the shipment is withhold and will be destroyed or return to sender with terrible extra fees. As a private person like me there´s no chance to use other, cheaper ways than DHL freight (standard parcels). The smallest product is "DHL Päckchen", which offers up to 2 kg weight and 50 Euros insurance for 20 Euros. If you want more insurance, I must use "DHL Paket", which is much more expensive. By default 50 Euros insurance is enough, I never have problems with lost or damaged parcels in the last years. Everybody who has ordered something from me before knows, that I packed very well. Without insurance the price would be 16 Euros, but I can´t sent without tracking number due to Paypal terms and conditions. At last, without the 50 Euros insurance and tracking number it´s something like a game of chance, if the parcel would arrive you or not. These changes are NOT a special german thing… the general terms and conditions of the "Universal Postal Union" (UPU) was changed and deny from now on the shipment of goods in letters. Main booster for the changes within the UPU rules was the U.S. government with the "Stop Act" to prevent drug smuggling. Read more here: https://govtrackinsider.com/stop-act-would-require-postal-service-to-scan-incoming-packages-from-overseas-for-opioids-ad5d174ad1a9 IMHO the good idea behind the containment of drug trading was only one motivation, but maybe not the most important one really - if you watch political discussions, global trading agreements etc., but it´s now the game we have to play and affects to all members in the Universal Postal Union(which causes to be ALL countries on this planet…). For companies there are new ways of shipping possible which include goods, but I can´t register as a company. These special shipments require - for example - a complete digital transfer of all infos, invoices, included parts and their country of origin to the (U.S.) customs authority before shipment was dropped off and specialised, barcode labels for the shipments. Of course you´ve to pay for these services and you must sent a minium quantity each month. So for "little people" only the standard parcel services remains, which are expensive. Sorry. Maybe one day new ways will be open, but today I didn´t see any other chance. This affects shipments worldwide - not only to or from the U.S. Jurgen

This isn´t easy when using the XF551 circuit as a most compatible base. You will need twice base frequency (16 MHz instead of 8.333 MHz) for the FDC, an AJAX FDC or one of the selected 1772-02-02 variants (they work flawless with overclocking) and at last complete new firmware which runs flawless at higher CPU (8040/8050) speed, too. And the firmware must be enabled for switched HD/DD. IMHO this ongoing project shall be a simple just-replace-the-PCB-and-do-two-little-things solution for not dozens of bucks, specially the today useless single sided SF354 is offered anywhere for a few USD/Euros at eBay etc., most Atari ST users have also a bunch of it in the basement When asking for HD and "more modern" solutions, I think, it´s better to buy a Karin Maxi Drive or similar solution. Or anybody try to re-create the HDI from ABBUC (no... myself hasn´t any time for such a job, my desk is full with other projects!).

Theoretically such a solution is easy to made. 1. Dropcheck makes a new PCB of the re-imaged XF551 PCB. Because no power supply part is needed (the SF354/SF314 has 5 and 12 volts), the PCB can be much smaller and, more important, must NOT require a XF551 as a organ donor. All parts are availible except the special oscillator, but Dropcheck has also made a fine solution. 2. With the Hyper-XF O.S. you can attach any 3.5 80 track mechanic. No other changes possible, and Hyper-XF is much better than the genuine firmware Just my 2 cents.. I would do that way

Yes. Above the both ROM sockets are some 0R resistors used as jumper bridges. It´s easy to mod the 1200XL to work like a 800XL, which gives more compatibility. 1. Remove the both 24 pin sockets and solder 28 pin sockets in. 2. Change the "jumper resistors" from W9/W13, W8/W12 and W7/W11 to the opposite one´s if you want to keep it genuine 1200XL like For upgrading to a 800XL: 3. Remove 0R resistor at W6 and connect addressline A13 (taken from pin 3 of the MMU for example) to pin 26 of the bottom ROM socket (U13) 4. Burn the desired XL O.S. into one 27128 EPROM, placed in the bottom ROM socket (U13) 5. Burn, if you want, Atari- or Altirra-Basic into one 2764 EPROM, place it into the upper ROM socket (U12) 6. Burn a GAL16V8 with the MMU jedec code for the 600/800 XL 7. Connect pin 18 of the MMU socket to pin 11 of the PIA socket That´s all. Now you have a 1200XL with internal BASIC and, I suggest to use this, a Rev.2 800XL OS, which gives the best compatibility to all software (IMHO).

Hmm. Maybe you grab the COLOR signal from the wrong point? It´s a long time ago since I built an UAV into a 2600 Junior, so I don´t remember really where I connect COLOR, but looking into Jerzy´s schematics: I would suggest to remove that cap (C50). The 1k pull-up resistor must remain. Grab the COLOR signal anywhere between pin 9 of TIA and C50. The pad you´re used (R54) is not found in the trace of COLOR, but I think it´s a mistake in the schematics.

Did you try to re-adjust the color using the color-pot? Same behavior like with all Atari computers :-)

The are some "injectors" on the market, DVI and/or HDMI input, analogue audio using RCA and the device mux them all together to one HDMI output with audio. But I didn´t find a smaller than 10x8 cm, this won´t fit. The owner of this 5200 wants, if possible, a nice solution built-in.

Thanks, but this doesn´t work this way - the television hasn´t an additional analogue input for audio. Only when switched to SCART input, the RCA jacks for audio are used

Hi, I´ve built the Sophia DVI into an Atari 5200 console and it works fine. But what I missed: The Audio output. The 5200 shall be connected to a standard 40" TV with HDMI only. Video works fine with a DVI to HDMI cable of 3 meters. Now I look for a nice option to integrate the Audio of the 5200 console into the HDMI video stream. My 1st wish was to include this into the 5200, there´s enough space. Does anybody here have a suggestion for a small DVI & analogue Audio to HDMI converter? I saw the Monoprice item at the beginning of this thread, but this device is not really small. Any hints welcome. Jurgen

Interesting issue When I read the posts before right, you´ve changed OS-ROM, BASIC-ROM and MMU already. So I would focus on smaller parts. One possibility - I´ve had this issue some years ago - is a missing or defect (yeah, possible!) resistor. Check R4 (3k, near by the MMU) and the voltage of pin 14 @ MMU. This pin always should read high (something more then 2.5 volts is fine) as long no real PBI device is attached and running. When pin 14 - called MPD, MathPack disable - is left open or grounded, then the address area $D800-$DFFF will be reserved for external use by a PBI compliant device. This will cause in a ROM checksum error, because the floating point math routines located in the same area can´t accessed and self-test will report an error. Check this pin...

Sure I will

Overlooked. Sure I will help. Sent a PM.

Just one hint... do you try it with the right version of the 29F040? AMD offers to variants... AM29F040 and AM29F040B - the "B" is very important. The both versions differ in sector sizes, protection schemes and some other small details. IMHO the "B" version is more common in retro-stuff, but check it.

Sounds good. IMHO this Rockwell-chip is something like a PIC or ATmega today - I would wonder if Rockwell "just" uses his 6507 CPU and 6532 RIOT, mix them together with a ROM for the firmware and that´s all. So the most important part is the firmware itself. The hardware could be replaced by an ATmega or similar.

I didn´t own one of these 32-in-1 OS switchers, so just "something completely different" (by Monty Python )... I´m remembering such problems when Steven changed the Flash-ROMs from AMIC to AMD - new, special flash write routines were needed to make the newer AtariMax 8 MBit Flashcarts work fine. How the changed (selected) OS is stored? Does anybody knows this? Maybe the selection is stored in the "first" OS (the menu) itself. Maybe his code checks the access to the flash-chip. This would be one reason why changing to another flashchip won´t work. Just an idea...

There are HUGE differences in quality and parts used by the manufacturer. I wouldn´t say "replacing caps" is something like a mantra or nonsense, it depends on the personal experiences some hardware guys made. When we´re talking about the first production waves of the Atari XL series for example, I´m in. Never need to replace a cap on an rev. A or B type Atari 600 XL, 800 XL or 1200 XL. But the newer, mostly in Europe offered versions with Freddie-IC and all XE series have definitely lower quality caps. I have had to repair a lot of systems, where the major caps (470 uF, located beside the power switch and the O.S. ROM ("800XLF")) looks good, but weren´t. Systems are instable, sometimes they hang etc. - after changing this caps all were fine. Several times the caps are beginning to "take their hat off" (visible deformation at the upper part, cap will blow out). But also some 400/800 systems are affected. If you have an Atari 400 or Atari 800 with long usage time, sometimes the big 4700 or 6800 uF electrolytic cap at the power PCB is bad. Also instable system, and voltages with a lot of ripple. This also for 1050 disk drives. Heavy used drives have defect or near-by-defect caps, and if you don´t exchange them, you might cause other defects in case of overvoltages. Most times the 78xx linear VRM burns and the rest is safe, but not always. I´ve done repairs at over hundreds of systems and disk drives, and my opinion is easy: Better change the most important caps for a few bucks - we´re talking about +30 years old components...! Also regarding high-end HiFi components... it depends massively on the manufacturer and used parts - and, not to forget, on the time the device wasn´t powered on! Some years ago I got a Bang & Olufson amplifier as a gift, build in the early 80s. I was curious - and quite silly - and power on the amplifier... after a few seconds both big caps of the output stage blast away. The amplifier was not used for over 20 years... Last word: Ask any Amiga 600 or 1200 owner regarding "caps"...

Sent a PM to Voy for paypal address

I would take one :-)

a.) Using an Atari 800 without Incognito or another heavy modification you can only access 48 (or 52KB with some hacks) memory at once. All other solutions require bank-switching. Without mods to the mainboard and personality cartridge the last 16 KB can´t access by RAM, even if you put a 64 KB RAM cart in. The old series (400/800) never include such mechanism like the XL/XE series. b.) I´m quite sure that only one of the non-standard (i.e. 8 or 16 KByte) RAM carts works fine. And only in the middle slot, where all needed Sx select lines are availible

When we´re talking about mylars for this Stackpole XL keyboard: ... then I´m pretty sure there´s a lot demand. In Germany (and maybe other countries, too) this keyboard model is found often - and more often one or more keys are not working due to defect mylars.

As already mentioned, Covox can´t be detected by software. It uses 4 bytes of address space and uses typically the addresses $0280 or $D600. Covox switching on/off is only possible with the Stereoboard made by Candle.