erichenneke

Both slider switches set to the left = drive 1

Try cleaning the head well with alcohol and Qtip, and then after it all dries out well, hook it up to the 800xl and place a disk in it and see what happens when you turn everything on. Drive first, then the 800xl.

Here are some pictures I took of some recently acquired original commercial disks, and some documentation, that atarimania site shows as "missing". Hope this is helpful. I can dump the disk images and scan the manuals too if needed, but those seem to already be out on atarimania. Let me know if those are needed. Eric

Cheers and happy birthday to Atarians everywhere, of all ages. https://www.facebook.com/1146190691/posts/10222137457242528/?flite=scwspnss Sent from my KB2005 using Tapatalk

I'll add my endorsement for the Hercules workshop cable as well.

I did the same (pal into ntsc case) and it never seemed to quite come together perfectly. I mean, it is fine and after a little wiggling to get the board into the best possible position, and the chassis parts into just the right place, then I was able to get screws in, in just the right order and torqing some while loosening others, and, well... you get my point! It was anything but a natural fit with the pal board inside the ntsc case. But in the end, it can fit. I always thought I just had a chassis or a board that was just slightly out of spec tolerances, or perhaps both chassis and board are at the opposite edges of their tolerance specs and the stack up was just too tight. But reading this makes me feel like it is probably normal and just due to some actual, albeit small, differences between the pal vs ntsc measurements. Interesting. Eric

Well, if you just look at what was "being sold" in terms of the hardware a consumer purchased and received, it did have 8X 4164 RAM chips that were 8Kb each, so the consumer did, literally, recieve 8X8= 64Kb. I mean, theoretically the customer could buy the system, remove the 64Kb RAM and use all of it in another system, or sell it, as 64 Kb of RAM... because that's exactly what it was. Not saying I don't get your point about what was "usable" or "available" as RAM. It was a little deceiving for sure. But the buyer did literally get 64Kb of RAM. Right?

This is really great. Especially for folks who want to avoid physically modifying these machines in any way.

I'd REALLY like to know the trick to making this work, step by step, because I have tried everything and didn't work for me. And others have also told me that it doesn't work that way with sdrive max, so I had given up.

I TOTALLY agree with this SIO2USB comment too.

But if you have the sdrive max in the sio chain as well then the boot device must be D1: off the sdrive max. So in that case you have to change the physical drive to D2: (or D3: or whatever) so there is no D1; conflict.

I love both devices, each better/easier for specific purposes. My only minor complaint on sdrive max is that I wish there was an easy way to boot off of a real floppy drive as D1: and have the sdrive max set as D2:, D3:, etc. I was surprised and disappointed that there isn't a way to do that. Otherwise, it's a fantastic and super easy device to use.

Speaking of, does anybody correctly make/source a simple case for a standard size drive like a standard 5.25 floppy?

Looks cool. ?

I have to say that all these suggestions are very good and I agree with all of them from my experience working on XL boards. Including use of a desolder gun tool. That said, I often find myself going back to the traditional suction ball, and some copper braid as needed. No one single solution ever seems to get through every pin successfully so you have to be prepared to use a combination, perhaps a different approach for each pin! My best and most consistent results come from first putting the board in a clamp to hold it perpendicular to the work desk surface. I then shine a bright light from one side so I can "see" a shadow through the board from the other side. This helps more than your expect(at least for me it does!) I compress the suction ball and then place the hole in the suction tip over the end of the pin to be unsoldered on the bottom side of the board. Keeping it steadily in place with the suction ball compressed. Then I touch the hot solder iron tip to the pin to be desoldered from the top side of the board right at the very point where the pin goes into the board(touching the board a bit too right at that joint). Wait 2-3 seconds (but not too long!!) And you'll see the solder liquify and as soon as it does, release the solder suction ball so it will suck the solder out of the barrel around the pin. You should also lift the solder iron off the pin as you do this too, because again, you don't want to leave it dwelling too long. You might have to repeat a few times, but let it cool each time first to avoid overheating the chip or the board surface. This usually works well for me and then I might touch a spot or to with the solder braid (on bottom and/or top side) of the board as needed to try to wick a bit more away from the pin. Often, even then, a stubborn pin or two will remain "stuck" to one side of the barrel. Then I use the solder iron from the bottom side to touch the pin and gently coax it to the center of the hole and then release and hope it cools without re-sticking. Just remember to give it a rest each time you try, so it can all cool down in between attempts.

Great options y'all !! I would have never considered calling them "shunts" !! That was probably the magic word I needed. Ha! But both of those dip switch options would also work and clearly be lower profile than the red ones I have. I like those really low black ones, it looks like they would be harder to accidentally knock the settings out of place on those too. Thanks again!

The switches I bought are red. Perhaps the blue ones are lower profile. I'll check that out. I was considering just plugging wire jumpers into the open socket to make the appropriate connections too. I haven't actually tried it yet though. Will give that a go too. Still would be cool to find some of those "original style" jumper chips if they exist though. ? Thanks!

Still good advice though! ?

Anyone know where I can get more of the jumper "chip"s like those used in some percom drive models? They aren't really chips per se, even though they plug into a socket. They are just a bunch of jumpers, essentially, that either bridge a circuit or break a circuit depending on which legs you bend out so they don't plug in (or do plug in). The problem with this, of course, is that you can only bend a leg pin so many times before it snaps! I bought some dip switches that insert into the socket, which is great for tinkering, but the problem with this approach is physical clearance... You can't put the percom case back on the unit without hitting the dip switch "chip" (because it's a bit taller) and usually results in switches getting changed, if it fits at all! So I'd like to get some replacement "jumper chips" like percom originally used if they can still be sourced or found out there. Anyone know? Sent from my KB2005 using Tapatalk

But much louder!

Another example... That fix works!!! ? The pbi sheild can be left off honestly, but you have good advice from others here regarding how to reinstall. I've done some with and some without the shield.

I agree, I enjoy playing 2600 berserk. But 800 version, not so much.

Did you ever get the conductive paint and give it a try? Sent from my KB2005 using Tapatalk

So happy these are coming out in English now!!! Sent from my KB2005 using Tapatalk

I agree! Sent from my KB2005 using Tapatalk