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

machf

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Content Count

    138

  • Joined

  • Last visited

Posts posted by machf

  3. Posted

    This one will work alot better:

     

    1) It uses full-wave rectification, so you can use the transformer from a standard 1050 "PSU-BRICK" and you wont get any "hum" in the 5VDC line.

     

    In fact, you could build it to simply plug "in-line" with your existing 1050 power input wire, and "split-off" 5VDC for the computer. The 1050 PSU transformer has plenty of current capacity to run both.

     

    2) It also has the power indicator on the OUTPUT of the power supply so that it actually indicates if the PSU is working.. And it also uses an LED, to eliminate the possibility of a burned-out bulb..

     

    The way you had it, the lamp would only tell you that there was AC power coming in. The transformer, diodes, or regulator could be fried, and that light would still come on.

     

     

    This is fine for eliminating your computer's "POWER BRICK"...

     

    However, lets remember that if your going to build everything intot a tower case, a PC AT power supply is THE ONLY WAY TO GO..

    PC power supplies generate a wide range of DC outputs, including 5v and 12v, and have MUCH BETTER noise filtering and plenty of current capacity as well. And as we discussed above, atari disk drives really run on 5VDC and 12vDC. Theres no reason to require 9VAC if everything is going to be custom wired inside a computer case..

     

    Don't get me wrong... first, I didn't make that one, it's just that since it had screws, it was easy to open it to look at the inside back then. A regular XL/XE power supply would have needed cutting the casing. The important thing I wanted to point out was that all three +5V pins are tied together, and also all three ground ones. So, you don't just solder one of the +5V pins to one of the AT power supply's red cables, you solder the three of them to the same red cable. And all three groud pins to a corresponding black cable, similarly.

  6. Posted

    What about the 130XE/800XL?

     

    Here's the pinout.

     

    Power Adapter Plug (all but 400,800,1200XL,1400XL,1450XLD):

      7   6
3	   1
5	 4
2

    1. +5V

    2. Shield

    3. Ground

    4. +5V

    5. Ground

    6. +5V

    7. Ground

     

    I'm assuming you use another red wire from the PC power supply, Yes? Does it matter what +5V pin you use from the Atari?

     

    Allan

    A long time ago, I made this (very rough) schematic of the custom power supply the 800XL of my cousin's children used. All +5V pins were connected together, as well as all the GND pins. And it worked fine (still works fine, I got it from them several years ago - being an early model, it has socketed ICs, ideal for modding). So, you could just do the same.

    post-20130-1216315495_thumb.png

  7. Posted

    And I don't get why you people have so many problems with multipart files... speaking of which, here's the 1050 FSM as a PDF, just open the last zip of the set after you download all three, and extract the file. No renaming needed whatsoever.

    Because most archivers insist on changing the file extension to something like .z## on all but the first/last part of the archive. And when you try changing the parts with the .z## extension to something that the forums will allow you to upload you have to rename them back to what they were or the archivers get confused and won't extract the files.

    I still use PowerArchiver 6.11 (last free version, IIRC), which doesn't do that, it will use filename###.zip instead. Similarly with WinRAR 3.0 for RAR instead of ZIP files. When did archivers start doing that with the extensions?

    Zip has always been kind of ass backwards since it puts the index/dir info in the LAST/end part of the archive instead of at the beginning for the header and as it adds files, etc. like a lot of other compression formats do.

    Yes, I know...

  8. Posted

    I don't think its possible it will work on a cartridge or through an expansion, this has to be wired directly onto the Ataris' motherboard to work.

    The only signal I need that is not on the cart slot is composite luma, which I can get from the monitor connector.

    So, it's a purely external add-on, huh? Good to know...

  11. Posted · Edited by machf

    Hmmm... it's marked "J1", with J2 apparently being the 5-pin connector on the left. I'd like to take a look at the traces on the other side of the board...

     

    The 40-pin IC is probably a FDC, the 28-pin U5 some memory chip. RAM, likely? As the EPROM is on the top left edge and this isn't a PROM... and I don't think it's a custom ROM.

    Oh, I get it: THAT is the FDC, the 40-pin IC is the processor.

     

    The 14- and 16-pin ICs are most likely TTL gates... as ijor said, it's probably the external logic the non-Happy designs used.

     

    Again, I'd like to take a look at the backside...

  13. Posted

    I'm just surprised that Atari didn't bring any of their 'concept' case designs into commercial reality....according to atarihistory.com (CV's site), Atari were toying with the idea of Tower Config'd PC stylee cases long before the XT/AT stylee pc's stopped being flat tops/base units

     

     

    I'm sure it's possible to rip out an Atari mobo, rework the power supply (to that of an old 145/200 watt pc) and stick everything into a modern day tower pc case

    That's the easy part, you'd probably use an AT power supply (not an ATX one), the hardest part would be fixing the mobo inside the case... but also remember, you'd need an AC 9V supply for each of the disk drives (if you're placing them inside the case too). And a couple adapters and an extender cable for the keyboard, which would probably remain inside the origina A8 casing. Didn't someone already do this long ago? I even remember it had the cartridge slot on a 3.5"FDD bay...

     

    With regards to the video output, you just rework the existing rf/video output on the atari mobo into an s/vga or FPD compatible video output (so you can see things in HD (High def)

     

    FPD (Flat Panel Displays)

    That's NOT easy. The default A8 video outputs are composite video, S-video and RF; VGA uses component (RGB) video instead. Maybe you could buy one of those commercial converter boxes and stick it inside the case... I'd be happy with having standard output connectors for the regular A8 video signals.

  15. Posted

    Here's an ad from a Spanish magazine (Muy Interesante #38, VII-1984, pp. 10-11) advertising the remote joysticks as equipment for the 800XL, so I see no reason why they wouldn't work with the 800 too, and not just the VCS... no mention of the power supply, though. If it did indeed use the VCS's power supply, then it's just a simple 9V DC 500 mA supply with a standard plug (+ at the tip).

     

    I've heard they were very uncomfortable to handle, given the size of the bases (the batteries and required additional circuitry required more space than was available inside the standard joystick casing), so keep that in mind...

    post-20130-1216085782_thumb.jpg

  16. Posted

    Back to the FRAM idea: I'm considering building a simple proof-of-concept circuit based on an old OSS cart which already has a 4-bit register mapped to $D5xx.

    Does that mean it's going to use the cartridge slot, then?

  17. Posted

    Hmmm... from what I'm reading, Rally Speedway apparently is an improved version of Intellivision Auto Racing, so we both mean the same episode, then.

     

     

    Probably but it's definitely Intellivision, as also mentioned above. :)

    Yes, it's most likely, given that the other one was an Intellivision game too. The year of the episode would probably further confirm that.

  18. Posted

    I went to the flea market off highway 92 Saturday on the way home from visiting a friend, and managed to snag four carts for the 8-bit for a total of $10. The games are as follows:

     

    Soccer (Thorn EMI)

    Oooh, that's a classic. A friend of mine kept his 130XE only to play it, basically, after he switched to the ST/TT line.

    K-Razy Shoot-Out (K-Byte version, worth $25 alone apparently, rated R5 by DP)

    Didn't know there was a cart version...

    Q*Bert

    I think I have that one lying around, used to belong to my cousin's kids. I'll get it out and play it again, it's fun. I think it's one of the carts which I managed to crack, just to see how it was done.

     

    Hey, for some reason it doesn't want to work on the 130XE... works fine on my 800XL, though.

    Frogger

     

    I'm rather impressed with what I found.

  20. Posted · Edited by machf

    For the quotes, I just manually add

    [/quote]

[quote]

    tags where I want to break the flow of the quote.

     

    As for the 800XL schematic, yes, it sounds like that one I scanned a while ago. Maybe the best option would be to take the sheet to a photocopying shop and have it reduced (from an A2 to an A4 size), and scan the reduced copy. And there's one that was redrawn, available as a GIF file here, but it only has the circuitry for the UK (PAL) version, without the notes mentioning the diffrerences in the US (NTSC) version.

     

    And I don't get why you people have so many problems with multipart files... speaking of which, here's the 1050 FSM as a PDF, just open the last zip of the set after you download all three, and extract the file. No renaming needed whatsoever.

    1050_FSM_001.zip

    1050_FSM_002.zip

    1050_FSM_003.zip

  22. Posted

    Attached to this post is the Sam's ComputerFacts for the Atari 800XL.

     

    This one is pretty hard to find. Finding a paper copy is next impossible anymore.

    Didn't know that, or I would have scanned it yesterday too...

     

    I use Corel PhotoPaint for most of my scanning and touchup work. I find Photoshop to be just way to slow and bloated for what little I use it for.

    I know the feeling...

     

    If anyone here thinks that they can do a better job or has better stitching software that can handle minor page warp please send me a PM and I'll send you a few of my original 600dpi PNG scans to work on. If they come out better I'll build a new PDF and upload the revised edition for all to enjoy.

    I haven't downloaded them yet, so I can't comment on that...

     

    BTW, I converted those GIF scans of the 1050 FSM that Rybags linked to into a PDF... would it be worth uploading now, or not anymore?

AtariAge
Forums
Store
General
Follow AtariAge

Copyright ©1998-2021 AtariAge

×
×
  • Create New...