Marius

It does not happen very much, but I 100% agree with Mathy. And I can remember I once bought something from him, and his aftersales service is excellent too. Ofcourse... If he posts too much, that can be annoying, but hey... you could ignore it. It can't be his fault, the csa8 dried up. And starting a public offense about someone personal... hmmm that appears to be a little below the belt too to me. But ok. It's free to give your opinion Marius

And besides of the costs.... What do you think of copyright issues of the design of the PCB and the case etc.? It is already an issue of using the XL/XE OS ROM in emulators... So reproducing atari computers must lead to same troubles. And last... I think only the already existing hardware gives the unique feel of the atari. Even a remake of an atari 800xl would not give the real feel I think... (unless it is really a 100% copy with same chipset etc) But who is going to make new GTIA's, ANTIC's, POKEY's and all that custom stuff? And who has blueprints of those chips to remake them? Marius

If I were a games coder I would (re) make for the atari 8bit: bubble bobble prince of persia double dragon port of a few 2600 games, such as midnight magic, private eye and barnstorming and other nice games, which would be possible to make (I guess): secret of monkey Island I and II Remake: a fresh Asteroids would be great (like the 7800 version) And what about The Addams family (I love the ST version) But unfortunately I'm more a tool-coder Marius

And how did that happen? I do believe every word you type, but I can't imagine ONLY the function-keys are damaged, and nothing else on the board. What happened to that poor XEGS? Played baseball with it Anyway,.... it works again, and that counts! Marius

And how did that happen? I do believe every word you type, but I can't imagine ONLY the function-keys are damaged, and nothing else on the board. What happened to that poor XEGS? Played baseball with it Anyway,.... it works again, and that counts! Marius

What a strange memory upgrade. I looks like pins are connected at the wrong side of the PIA. At least on not so common pins... I guess... Marius EDIT: Ah I see it now... it is due to the sticker on it... on the last picture I saw the pins go further to the normal side of the pia.

My little and modest experience is that the people from yesteryear are VERY used to DOS 2.x like DOosses. So everything that looks, and works, and feels like that thing they were used to use those days, do want to continue that feel, and chose for MyDOS... Like I said: everybody is free to use whatever DOS he wants to use, ofcourse! But sometimes I have the idea that the format-incompatibility and the command-line interpreter scare most people, and so they decide to leave SpartaDOS for what it is. I used my atari 800XL from 1984 - 1990 always with Dos 2.x (1050 drive) and I never heard of SpartaDOS at all. In 1990 I sold all the atari stuff, but regret that, so bought "millions" of 8bitters back from 1994 till now. As soon as I got SIO2PC and BLACKBOX, and get used to work with 16MB partitions, I found out -for myself- that spartaDOS is the better alternative (compared to MyDOS). Perhaps because in 1990-1994 I used a DOS PC... and spartaDOS looks like msdos on PC? I don't know. I'd say: why not give it a try longer than 5 minutes? Perhaps it is an idea when I setup a nice 16MB partition with some tools, games, demos etc. on it, and put it somewhere online to download. This might be a good start for some people to give it a try Marius

Ah ok. That's too bad. It could have been a great test. Your caps were clearing up things indeed. Btw. there is also such a thing as boldface bu ok I'm very curious what is going on with that XEGS. I have a few myself, and except for the fact they are my 'youngest' atari 8bitters, I'm not very fond of them. I hope youngest means they will last the longest.... but even of that I'm not so sure :s Marius

No it is not unclear. The only thing that is/was unclear was if he was talking about a XEGS or XE. The TECHNICAL part of the XEGS keyboard is the same as the normal XE keyboard. So I'm still curious what would happen when he unscrewed the XEGS external keyboard case, and put a normal XE keyboard in that open case, and connect it. I'm not sure, but I think the console keys on the replaced keyboard are able to work then. IF they do work, there is nothing wrong with the GTIA and the computer at all, but there is indeed a problem around the function keys on the logic board of the XEGS. I think everybody here on this board knows what an XEGS is, and how it looks like... Marius

Anyone uses the dos he likes most, and in my opinion this has anything to do with custom needs. I don't like DOS-ses with Menu's... They are always returning when you don't want that. I don't like slow and stupid solutions like mem.sav things. I've been using SpartaDOS 3.3a for a long time, and I love it most. It is very flexible, and works perfect on 16MB partitions, and with MAC/65. As far as I know it is bugfree (important). MyDOS is not my favorite. The only thing I like on MyDOS is the compatibility with DOS 2.x ... but that's all. But anyone is free to use any DOS he wants. Global there are two types of users. The people who like DISKS, and the people who like to use large partitions. And when you are a large partition lover (16MB) your choice is not so big Marius

Hi! From this side of the world, I hope your real-life issues are no heavy problems like health-trouble or other serious trouble. Anyway: good luck, and take your time! Greetings from Holland, Marius

Are you able to replace GTIA chip? I don't think the problem lies in a bad GTIA, but if it is on a socket, you could give it a try. Console keys are controled by D01F (on GTIA) but it probably is not in the GTIA. Another trick could be: open the external keyboard, and insert a normal XE keyboard. Don't close case. I'm curious if the normal XE keyboard console keys will work now. (I'm not sure it that is possible at all on a healthy XEGS) ... if that works, your problem is on the mainboard for sure. Marius

Thanks for you very interesting contribution. I did contact the seller, and now he told me he tried that Atari with some other brand PSU!!!!! Hey simply KILLED the atari with a wrong PSU. I don't know what happened. Or +/- swapped, or bad voltage :s.... Anyway I think I let this one go. I have really PLENTY of atari 130XE's and I'll strip it for nice chips like the bankswitching pal. Let's hope that one is still alive. That 130XE came in a brandnew case and brandnew keyboard. So I'm still glad... If any has an idea what could be damaged due to a wrong PSU. He told me it was a commodore 64 PSU, but as far I know that one does not fit in the atari PSU connector.... Marius

it is an XEGS ... not an XE. (I guess). Marius

Yes, but that was not my point. The Keyboard connector (external keyboard) is a very bad thing on XEGS. It really can disturb things. That is why I want to know: is the problem also there when there is no keyboard connected. But I found out my XEGS does not boot a disk when no keyboard is connected (sigh). So you have to test it with a game. Anyway: the first test is: test the console keys on the XEGS without, and with the external keyboard connected. Good luck Marius

Do these console keys functionate properly when keyboard is NOT connected? And do they fail as soon as the keyboard IS connected? Here... I wrote a little tool for you in the Mac/65 assembler. It is a bootdisk. I'm not sure what happens when your keyboard is not connected. I hope it still boots. If it works without the keyboard connected, give it a try! Without keyboard you don't have the HELP key, so to exit tool press RESET or switch off computer Greetz Marius

Hi folks, Today I received an ebay bought 130xe. When I opened the package I was VERY happy. This XE is brandnew. Perfect Grey. Keyboard in mint state. And inside the xe also all shiny and now dust or other dirt or traces. So far so good. The XE does do: turning on results in a red power led, and a BLACK SCREEN and some hisssssssssssssss noise from the speaker (very soft). I use a good PSU, and a good cable. What could be the cause. It does do a little thing (the black screen looks like the black screen a healthy atari gives when turned on...) So I think: CPU might be ok. Perhaps OS? But a dead OS results most of the time in a RED screen here. Any ideas? I have tested this with MONITOR cable. On NTSC and PAL. It does NOT boot. Perhaps the bankswitch chip? Or does an atari 130 xe with a bad bankswitch chip still startup right? Thanks Marius p.s. It only did cost 3,50 euro. So I'm glad with a brandnew case and keyboard for that money. But a working atari 130XE brandnew.... that would be better

This problem lies in the fact that the atari does not produce a real 50Hz or 60Hz video output. Only half the scanlines are send the first, and the other half of the scanlines the second cycle are produced. Your Video capture card expects a clean 50Hz or 60Hz (PAL/NTSC) signal. I have had this problem too with a TFT television. A cheap one. (Don't know if more expensive ones don't have that problem). That TV showed green lines between the some scanlines and a strange picture. I think this is the same problem. Perhaps you could change a setting on the PC/MAC software to handle odd/even scanlines that way. Marius

No I asked author of firmware if it could be possible to make a SWAP D1: <> D2: keycombi on it. And he made that. It is much more convenient to setup a two sided game or demo ONCE and then use a SWAP disks key to flip disk! And with the FIRMWARE upgrade in the Setup modus, this prevent a firmware upgrade by accident. Very good upgrade this 2.3 Greetz Marius

That is very strange. I have 3 Sio2SD build by you and I upgraded them from the SD card. Something that shouldn't be possible if I follow your text above? Greetz Marius p.s. I'm still VERY happy with these Sio2SD's by the way. You did a great job!

That one is cool either!!!! Haha. Such an old game, and still definately cool. Thanks! Marius

I doubt that. Basic is a HIGH LEVEL language, even when it is compiled. Since it uses a RUNTIME package, it is not really compiled, like an assembler will compile it. And even REAL basic compilers, do not compile to a very compressed and fast code. The fastest language next to Assembler is Action I guess. Turbo Basic is really a great language, but it is a BASIC. And compared to lower level languages, basic is, and always be a slower alternative. Compiled or not. But don't get me wrong: I really like Turbo Basic. Marius

It is a good question. I was looking for such thing too for a long time. Since the compatibility of PC 3.5" disks is so much higher (compared to the atari 8bit formats) I think there where no needs to make such program. I know there was GHOST LINK... but that was more something like a file-server. If you know an APE look-a-like program that emulates a FLOPPY DISKDRIVE on PC (or MAC) to boot your Atari from it. Let me know! Marius

Livewire 2? Where can I find that version? I remember why I loved this game so much. Those days... I only had 1 800xl and a 1010 tapedrive. All games in BASIC. Cool ofcourse... but this game was short to load, and it ran FAST ... Those days.... I did not know how to program Machine Code, but with games like Livewire I got curious about MC... I really wanted to learn that language. Now in 2007 I know MC... but only to program tools and a little intro. I really should learn to program games like livewire myself. Greetz Marius

THAT IS THE GAME!!! Indeed... it was called Livewire!! Woooohoooo... I think I had it on one of my tapes of the "Stichting Atari Gebruikers" (Atari Users Foundation) ... or perhaps a disk. Hmmm now i have to get this game. Any Ideas? thanks man! Can't wait to play it again. Marius I found it on atarimania! Thanks for the help. I'm SO glad. Have to transfer the game to my 800XL tonight! I have looked for this game so long. Real fond memories of this game.