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What happens if you set the 1050 as D2?

Definitely an Alps style keyboard. This was a great pick up for you! It's kind of on the rarer side to find an Alps keyboard on a fully socketed Hong Kong machine. I know, because I own one just like it and it took quite a good deal of looking for this specific machine in order to find it. I put a U1MB into it too. It is a great XL to own.

Very nice. This will be a good machine to get your feet wet on installing some mods. Please post a picture of your case and keyboard too so that we can get a whole look at your new XL.

That message has been on the site for a few years now, at least three. I haven't talked to Lance since last summer though, so I don't know anything current. Pete seems to have completely disappeared from Facebook, so I can't ask him either.

Yeah. I bought one like that once. It was in a black label Hong Kong case so I was sure that it was safe. When I opened it up though I found that the shielding had already been removed at some point before and that it had a later revision motherboard inside which was mostly soldered. Someone had obviously pieced this machine together from two or more XLs. Good luck and let us know what you get!

Hong Kong made 800XLs should always be fully socketed, assuming that the motherboard in that case is its original one.

So what exactly do I need to know about using a Pokeymax as a stereo board? Can I run an audio out directly off of it? Because I have a SOPHIA board sitting waiting to install and am thinking that a stereo enabled Pokeymax might be a perfect compliment to it.

I am totally planning to order one (or maybe two) Pokeymaxs. However, because of the pandemic, Pennsylvania has closed the doors to nonessential businesses for the time being and this directly affects me. So I am out of work until the crisis passes. I have committed to not buying anything other than necessities until I am back to work full time. So hopefully there will be some Pokeymaxs available to order in a month or two when some sense of normality returns to the world.

@johnnywc - Well, I've been running a little bit behind on Atari stuff recently so I just got the opportunity try this out yesterday. Fantastic work! I can't say that Zoo Keeper has ever been one of my favorite arcade titles but this feels really at home on the 2600 and good fun. Once again, I am totally impressed by what you have been able to force this ancient hardware to do.

So, is this why the 1200XL's case was so huge to begin with? Because it was directly based on the floor plan of the XLD integrated floppy disk drive design and not because it actually needed all of that extra architecture? Or was the 1200XL actually designed in order to look like it was twice the machine of its intended marketing sister, the 600XL? Because the latter is what I've always thought. So which actually was the horse and which was the cart?

I wanted a 400 for years and finally managed to scratch that itch last autumn. This made me pretty happy and I've kind of decided that I don't really need to get any more systems for the time being. Maybe one of these days I'll get a 1200XL or a XEGS too but they're way on the back burner for now; I am quite satisfied with what I have right now. The only other piece of hardware that I am still kind of covetous of would be an Indus GT floppy drive. I have no real need of one since I already own a 1050, SIO2SD, and SDrive-MAX but the Indus GT is just so darned cool looking. Maybe if I get anything else "new" this year it will be one of these.

Even without the 48K upgrade, this looks to be a really nice machine. From what I can see in the pictures it looks like there is very little yellowing to the plastic, if at all. Nice that the foam inserts are all there too. $50 is a great price too; by comparison, I bought a much more yellowed and used 400 last autumn for $65 w/o an original box and thought that I had gotten a pretty good deal. Color me a bit jealous!

The XEGS power supply is 5V 1A. A XL requires a minimum of 5V 1.5A. If you use a XEGS power supply on a XL machine, you are not getting enough amperage. The reverse is OK though, it is perfectly fine to use a 1.5A PS on a XEGS machine.

As a complete novice, I felt like this a few years ago but @DrVenkman convinced me that opening up and working on my own XL was ultimately a very satisfying experience. He was totally right too. I've made a few blunders in my learning process along the way but all of the fun that I've had has completely overshadowed any frustration. And I love having been able to figure stuff out for myself. I completely recommend taking the plunge yourself.

I am reasonably sure that the UNO software is incompatible with a stock 400/800. The Ultimate Cart should run fine but may give you trouble in shutting the cartridge door. This is only a minor inconvenience though and easy to remedy. I own both a SIO2SD and a SDrive-MAX and recommend them both. You will need to get the alternate 800-specific "Sio2SD.xex" file to use the SIO2SD onscreen menu on the 800 though.

I've owned this 400 for a few months now but haven't had the chance to really do much with it before today. So far, so good. Everything that *should* work with it seems to be working, including the Ultimate Cart. I do have tf_hh's "48/52K RAM Card" and "Super Color CPU Card" to put into it at some point; maybe in March when I have a scheduled day off all to myself. I am completely new to the 400 and have always been an XL guy up to this point, so what is the deal with the two different serial numbers? NTSC ATARI / 252 AV 214653 (top sticker) AV 091995-16 (bottom sticker)

An U1MB XEGS would be just about perfect with a wireless keyboard attached.

Tf_hh's 512K expansion board is such a great upgrade and really easy to install on a socketed XL. I highly reccomend it. It is very unlikely that you will be able to find a RAM 320XL to buy. Lots of people want one and there are very few to be had.

I own one a later Taiwanese manufactured, fully socketed 800XL that came with BASIC REV.C. I'm pretty sure that all of the fully socketed Hong Kong made XLs came with REV.B though.

I have a SOPHIA board in one of mine. It gives a beautiful, crisp, and clear digital signal so that the 600XL can be used easily on a modern screen.

Is it stupid that the inclusion of 7800 "Food Fight" is the one and only thing that is making my consider picking up one of these systems?

I am still leaning toward the idea that an ANTONIA board would be the right answer for this 600XL. The ANTONIA would completely replace the SALLY, the MMU, the RAM, the DELAY, the OS, and the BASIC chips.

I have one of these on order from Amazon so that I can connect my SOPHIA DVI out and audio out to one single HDMI input. Unfortunately, my shipment box seems to have gotten lost in the mail and the replacement is back ordered and won't be delivered until February 28th. I am looking forward to giving it all a try and hope that this is the all-in-one solution that I have been looking for.

No lie, what I would probably be inclined do is to contact Simius about getting an ANTONIA board to put into it. The ANTONIA will act not only as an OS replacement but also as a RAM upgrade. It's a win/win for the 600XL as far as I am concerned. I have one on one of my 600XLs and it is a fantastic piece of upgrade hardware. You can send Simius a PM here : https://atariage.com/forums/profile/26134-simius/

I wholeheartedly recommend any and all of tf_hh's products. His 600XL upgrade will give you a 576K machine and is quite reasonably easy to install.