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erichenneke

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Posts posted by erichenneke

  1. I've said this many times and will still stand by it 100%. It has yet to fall me... 

     

    Get a multimeter, and check continuity from each key contact on the flex mylar circuit to the edge that plugs into the connector. 

    Anywhere there is a break/open you start to narrow it down, closer and closer until you pinpoint the exact open.

     

    Then use some copper trace paint (I just get mine from automobile rear-window defroster repair kits, permetex works great!) to bridge the gap. Sometimes there are many!  I use a toothpick to paint the trace. 

     

    Be patient and use the multimeter... pinpoint, paint it. And repeat.  Until you have a full continuity reading on your multimeter for each mylar key contact.

    Plug it in, and you are good to go.

     

    I started using this method many years ago, intending it just to be temporary until I could get new mylar.  But I've done this to at least 8 systems over many years, and NONE of them have ever failed again!

     

    Eric

     

     

  2. 30 minutes ago, FM7801 said:

    For anyone in the Greater Toronto Area, giving away for free my NTSC Atari XEGS system (bought it as new old stock about 10 years ago) and Atari 130XE systems, with 2 joysticks and 2x AtariMax cartridge + programmer. I am getting out of the physical hardware hobby (Altirra is plenty for me to scratch that nostalgic itch), but would hate to take these beauties to the landfill. So if you are in the area and interested, please swing by and pick them up.

    Where are you located in Toronto?  Very interested.

    Eric

  3. I really hate to hear this. International Karate was, and is still to this day, on my regular rotation for the Atari 8 bits. Definitely a go-to game, and quite a joystick destroyer too!!!  ...the ultimate compliment!    Drop Zone, yeah, wow.  The performance of Drop Zone is still a head scratcher as to how he squeezed that performance out of the machine, and it's just so darn hard because of that... but what an amazing game!  

    • Like 1
  4. 8 minutes ago, Simon Carter said:

    Got a bit of an odd one. Been cleaning up some 1050 drives, and after getting one back up an running, I tested it with a Turbo Basic 1.5 floppy. Loads into Turbo Basic fine. However, after entering DOS, trying to return to BASIC using option B returns a 'No Cartridge' error, even though I've just come from there. Using DOS 2.5, and an unmodified 65XE.

    Pressing reset just loads up the DOS menu.

     

    Powering down and restarting loads TB straight into a TB ready prompt...as expected

     

    It's almost as if going to DOS from TB causes the computer to forget it has built in BASIC

     

    Confusticated. Any advice?

     

    Edit: Binary Loading the Autorun.sys works taking me back to TB - although at the expense of any unsaved work

     

    Si

    Turbo basic xl is not the same as basic from a memory address standing. The DOS command for run cartridge points to the start of the atari basic rom starting address. You can use a Run at address command from the dos menu to do the same thing with turbo basic xl, but it's a different address. I can't recall the exact address off top of head though because I haven't done that in awhile.  

  5. I have definitely root-caused memory issues back to specific chips that were MT ram far more often than other brands.  But if they are soldered down and doing fine i'd leave it alone. 

     

    I always chunk the bad MT chips in the garbage when I root-cause them as actually being bad of course, but otherwise I keep them around and use them(in sockets) and have a bunch of them that have been in use for many many years without problems.  So I don't think it should be quite so black and white, especially if they are soldered in.   

     

    But for sure, if you have a machine that uses any MT and the system starts doing anything goofy... that's the FIRST THING to check are those MT ram chips!   Oh, and for God's sake, don't solder any MT ram into new places they aren't already soldered into for any reason! 

     

    Eric

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