Calibus

OK, I disassembled my 800, removed the POKEY and transplanted it into the 1200XL. Same symptoms - so that tells me the POKEY is fine. Note, since the 800 is a bit of a pain to re-assemble, I did not try the 1200XL POKEY in it - but I expect that it would have worked. I'm now going to see if I can find a readable schematic for the 1200 and see what all drives the SIO port. I assume this is where the previously mentioned resistors and capacitors come in:

OK, I found a DOS 2.5 ATR image on atarimania, mounted that via APE and successfully booted off of it with my 800. That tells me the SIO2USB device is working - as well as whatever ASIC in the 800 that drives the SIO port is OK also. Your symptom of a bad SIO port sounds like what I am experiencing. When the 800 powers up - I see activity on the SIO2USB device - TX/RX - and I do NOT see that with the 1200XL - so it looks like the SIO port *IS* dead. Since replacing the POKEY fixed things for you - I'm going to try swapping POKEYs between my two computers and see if that is it.

Apologies in advance if I should start my own topic - and I will if asked. I also have a 1200XL that I have been refurbishing. I have already performed the keyboard mylar fix after watching FJC's informative videos, and then installed a UAV and U1MB. The upgrades all seem to be working properly - except for the fact that I can't upgrade the U1MB from the ancient original firmware due to an SIO issue... History of the SIO issue: I have created a simple 3 wire SIO2PC cable and tried accessing an ATR via RespeQt - but was unable to access the disk. A directory command from SDX always results in a 138 error. After triple checking the wiring, I suspected the SIO port might be the factor, so I found an AtariMax SIO2PC USB adapter I tucked into a drawer once I found RespeQt. I figured this commercial adapter would be a good acid test of my SIO port - and either prove it was working or not. Not wanting to spend money on APE - I installed the shareware version - plugged the adapter into the 1200XL - tried to get a directory listing - and same 138 error. Interestingly, the TX and RX LEDs on the adapter never blinked. Should I start my diagnosis with the steps I quoted - or should I start someplace earlier in the chain? I read a comment about replacing R63 - is its presence really a symptom of what I am seeing? I do have a 'scope and a fairly good idea how to use it - I just need to know what to probe. I am using a brand new SIO cable to connect the AtariMax SIO2PC-USB to the 1200XL - so I'm sure it is not the cable. As far as chip swapping is concerned - I do have what I believe is a functional 800 at my disposal, I'd try its SIO port - but I'm not sure how to use it with APE or RespeQt since I don't have a Sparta cart for it. (I'm super new to the World of Atari and I'm trying to break in via the 800 and 1200XL) Again - if I should make my own topic for this issue - let me know and I'll do so. Thanks Jim

(Apologies in advance if responding to an old post is frowned on - but he DID ask... It just took 5 years...) I was actually searching via google on using an RPi to talk to an Atari via SIO - and one of the links it threw my way was this one: http://www.lemon64.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=46482 Spoiler alert - the initial posts in the thread pooh pooh that the idea is even possible - then someone out of the blue proves them wrong...

Yep - I'm on the list for two - and a remote also. I don't have a board number yet - but I'm in the queue and paid - so I'm happy.

Recently picked up one on ebay 83S DA 48802 123 Made in the US I'm sorry I waited 35 years to grab one of these...

As someone who had neither Atari or Commodore in the 80s (TRS-80), I’m finding this topic very informative. Back then I wished I had an Atari 800 but settled on a 2nd hand TRS-80 for economic reasons. Thanks to the magic of eBay, I now have multiple commodore and Atari computers and someday I’ll hopefully have time to find space to set them up.

They were just plugged into jacks randomly so I could take a picture showing the cable ends and the panel on the TV at the same time - w/out having to hold the cables in the place. The TV was off. If I'm interpreting the diagrams correctly - my cable pinout is thus (Looking at the pins on the cable's DIN connector) 1 3 4 5 2 1 - Red - Composite Luminance 4 - White - Composite Video 2 - Gnd 5 - Yellow - Composite Chroma 3 - Black - Audio (Assuming I transposed my plug pins to the socket pins correctly) So I was way off assuming Yellow was composite. I disassembled the 800 so I could scrub the upper and lower shells - I was quite surprised to see the amount of shielding in this thing, a far cry from the zilch shields in my TRS-80 Model 1 I'll put it back together tomorrow night and try using the white wire for composite.

Hi, I recently bought an 800 via ebay which joins an 800XL I bought on ebay some time ago. The 800XL didn't come with a video cable, but the 800 did - so I'd like to test out both of them with a TV set. The video cable I have is a 5 pin DIN to 4 RCA plugs. Red, White, Yellow, Black. My TV can handle component and S-Video and I am assuming composite also. I took a picture of the cable ends randomly plugged into the TV just for the ease of being able to show the cable ends and the TV connectors - the TV was off at the time... My TV has two input choices for this block of connectors "AV" and "S-Video" I am assuming that composite and component are both handled via "AV" and the standard S-Video connector is utilized when set to "S-Video". In "AV" mode with just the yellow connector (Universal color for composite in my experience) plugged into the TV - I get nothing. Trying some other simple arrangement also resulted in nothing. Is my best bet to get another cable with a standard S-Video end and go that route? The auction pictures showed it (800) generating output - so I'm sure it can - I just need a little help doing it. Any suggestions appreciated. Jim

No sign of Wolfram since this post? I was interested in the latest version too. Oh well. Jim

So, no current memory upgrades available for an 800 past 64K?

Hi Bryan, Please put me down for two in the November batch 800 800XL Whichever type you recommend for those models. Jim

"The member jacobus cannot receive any new messages" Jacobus - if you're seeing this - I'd be interested in a copy if possible Jim

Ah, late to the party again I see :-( I'm working my way through the Antic podcasts - and I just recently listened to the one talking about this game. Jim

Well, I'm not interested in juggling floppies - I have enough TRS-80 ones in my collection already - so it sounds like SIO2SD is probably perfect for me. I see there is a ton of software on archive.org - dunno if that is "THE" place to search or not, but it will definitely do for a start... I'm definitely not looking to add a ton of hardware to a system - but I did order one of these: http://atariage.com/forums/topic/249405-new-4mb-ram-expansion/- it was in my "impulse buy" price range and sounded useful. I also couldn't resist one of these: http://atariage.com/forums/topic/263986-ultimate-atari-cart-electrotrains-purchase-thread Now - what am I looking to get out of the Atari experience? Way back in the day I just had my trusty Model 1 TRS-80 and some friends had Ataris and I was quite jealous of their graphics and sound capability. I actually bought an 800 XL in 2007, but I didn't have anything handy to use as a monitor - so it was relegated to a closet and forgotten about till recently. (I still don't have a monitor - but I'm actively looking - and keep getting distracted by stuff I see here along the way) The games interest me obviously, and I am equally interested in what makes them tick. I've heard about the custom chips in the computers and would like to poke and prod at them via BASIC and assembler to see what I can make them do. I also picked up an Apple IIgs in 2007 and blew the dust off that recently - and now I'm really interested in learning 6502 assembler since it could be applied to both families. I figure this is my opportunity to catch up on what I was missing out in the early 80s... Jim

For someone just getting into Atari retrocomputing with no original disks - you would recommend the SIO2SD? Jim

Is this still available? I was reading all about the RAM 320XL which doesn't appear to be available - and someone suggested this mod instead. I'll read the previous pages tonight - but please - gimme a spoiler - are these still for sale? I'm interested in one for my 800XL Jim

As usual, I'm late to the party :-( Any updates?

Ah, looks like Ultimate 1541-II is what I'd be looking for. From glancing at the product webpage, looks like it's fairly plentiful also. Thanks for the tip on the power supplies, I wonder if it is just due to age, or did these power supplies go bad back in the day also? Jim

Hi, back in the 80s I was a TRS-80 user, and was quite aware of the presence of the Commodore 64 (as well as the Atari, Apple ][ etc etc) but didn't have the money for one. I'm thinking of sticking my toe in the Commodore waters (I always wanted a machine with hardware sprites and GOOD sound) and I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions for a new buyer on what to look for in a system - and what to run away in terror from. (i.e. Rev 1 = Good, Rev 3 = Bad etc) Ideally, I'd like to be able to use it with a VGA monitor, which I can share with other computers that are also VGA capable, such as my Apple IIgs. I also don't really want to mess with tape - plenty of my youth was wasted waiting on slow TRS-80 tapes, and I already have a pile of 5.25" drives, so I'd rather not add to that either. I'd ideally like to be able to acquire some sort of compatible floppy emulator that uses compact flash cards or preferably SD cards. If there is already a topic where people discuss "Must Haves" or similar, I'd appreciate someone pointing me to it. thanks Jim

Yep - I saw that and decided I was patient enough to wait - as opposed to the 100% markup of that auction. Someone else wasn't though

Looks like Run #5 is on for November this year... (page updated 5/5) http://dreher.net/?s=projects/CFforAppleII&c=projects/CFforAppleII/main.php And for those that can't wait - a new one is on ebay http://www.ebay.com/itm/Brand-New-CFFA3000-with-Remote-for-Apple-IIe-and-IIgs-/132183792043

Hi, I have an Atari 800XL and I am looking for a flash cart that can handle both cartridge games and floppy based ones. I found the Side2 here: http://www.lotharek.pl/product.php?pid=68 But it seems kinda small flash size - 256K? especially compared to the Ultimate SD Cart - which seems to only support cartridge images. As someone completely new to the Atari scene - which is more prevalent - cartridge or disk based software?

I bought one on the 30th and it shows as being in the mail - guess I just got in under the wire... I was considering one of the 8meg upgrades too - guess I should have went with it.

Ok, I'm glad to hear that I should be able to use either drive to boot from. If I take a disk image that was originally on a 5.25" disk - can I put it on a 3.5" disk via ATDPRO? Or will it need to go back on a 5.25"? Is there a breakdown of the differences of each disk image type? Looking around ftp://ftp.apple.asimov.net/pub/apple_II/images/games/adventure/ I see: .dsk/DSK .nib .2mg .po ATDTPro is supposed to handle them all (and more) I'm assuming that one or more of these are probably for protected disks - and ATDTPro can write them OK - but if I wanted to copy the protected disk from one drive to another I'd need Copy II+? Back in the day on the MSDOS side, I used to use a hardware card (Copy II PC Option Board) to backup copy protected disks. Judging by what I read in the Copy II+ manual, no such hardware was required on the Apple II? Besides the aforementioned CFFA3000 - what is considered a "must have" card? My empty slots are just asking to have something plugged in. I did order a DarkSound sound card along with the Floppy Emu - and I see they have a 4meg and 8meg expansion card. Are the ram expansion cards usable outside of GS/OS? My interests at this time are purely recreational (Games!) but I will eventually want to try dabbling in assembler.