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GreyHobbit

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  1. There must have been at least one run produced because I have had a PokeyMAX 3 sitting here for a long time. I guess the FPGA supply issue probably stopped/postponed any further production. I have never got around to trying to install it yet. The only manual I remember having seen is for the PokeyMAX 2.
  2. I used to have one of those interfaces back in the 80s. It was cheaper than an 850 but had to be the last item on the SIO daisychain because it did not have SIO passthrough. Miracle Technologies sold a quite popular modem in the UK called the WS2000. It could manage 300 baud full duplex and 1200/75 baud split rate (1200 baud download/75 baud upload) This 1200/75 mode was used in Europe (I don't think it was widely used in the US) for the Prestel/Minitel ViewText systems, but also many BBSes allowed access at 1200/75 for faster download speeds at the expense of a pretty terrible upload rate. Modems capable of 1200 baud full duplex were ridiculously expensive at the time in the UK. It was accepted that the 850 interface and most Atari 8-bit comms software weren't able to use different rates for upload and download, so MultiViewterm and the Datatari interface were developed to fill this gap. The Datatari interface worked with the R-Verter driver so it could be used with other comms software such as Amodem or Bobterm. It turns out the 850 can do split baud rates, if you set up the connection and then directly store the values into the Pokey registers AUDF1-4. In Basic, that meant setting up the connection with the XIO 36 & 40 commands and then POKEing the relevant timer values into $D200, $D202, $D204, $D206 *after* concurrent mode is active.
  3. I think it looks like a Computerhouse OS Controller Board, I used to have one in a 130XE back in the late 80s. There are a few conversations in the forums about it...
  4. I think I read that he had a long distance home move recently and all his Atari gear was boxed up for the transition. I'm pretty sure he posted somewhere recently that he was starting to get it unboxed again so maybe there'll be new content soon.
  5. I was sorely tempted to bid as I used to have a Controller Card in one of my 130XEs back in the day. But I also thought it would go for £200+ and £150 would have been about my limit anyway as things are right now. Someone definitely got a bargain...
  6. I hope it goes without saying (because I forgot to say it!) that the new loader is superb and worth every bit of the anticipation we've had for it. Thanks for all the hard work you put into providing new features and capabilities for our beloved Ataris!
  7. Thanks for the suggestions @Beeblebrox, I'll definitely try those out. I run my XL & XEs from a USB adaptor which is rated at 5V 3A, but I can try powering it from some original Atari 5VDC PSUs that I have in storage here. The 74F08 upgrade will have to wait until I can find some time, I bought a handful of them once before when I had some issues with the 800XL and the Side3, but I seemed to narrow that problem down to an issue when the Sophia2 DVI output from my 800XL was connected through an adaptor into an HDMI switchbox that was also receiving a signal from my PC at the time. With the Sophia2 connected straight to the monitor's DVI port I've had no problems with it since. So I had no real reason to start desoldering chips at the time. If I thought I could work out how to remove all the mods from the XEGS and return it to near stock, I'd maybe get another U1MB for it... but then I'd want another Sophia2... and another Side3... and another FujiNet... and the car needs petrol and the dog needs fed, so with the way the economy is floating down the river these days that's probably not a good idea! Not to mention the chip shortage...
  8. To be fair, my XEGS is a bit of a FrankenXEGS, I posted about it a couple of months ago. It has a stack of piggybacked ROMs, an RS232 circuit wired to the SIO port, an additional PIA providing a parallel printer interface, and a 128K RAM upgrade (at least, those are the mods that I am aware of!) So I wouldn't be surprised if there are timing issues, there are patch wires everywhere across the PCB! I'll try the Side3 with it again when I get a chance, I don't have the desk space at the minute to have the 800XL and the XEGS sut up at the same time, it's kind of chaotic here! If you can point me to the JED tool, the JED update file and some instructions, I'll give it a test and let you know how it goes.
  9. I just flashed the new beta loader on my XEGS, and it seems a bit glitchy. The menu locks up and sometimes the screen just turns to a display of apparently random data and PMGs. It seems to work fine on my U1MB upgraded 800XL. Could this be related to the XEGS-SW emulation issue you mentioned that affects the first run of carts? My Side3 was an early one that I had on pre-order from before the release date. If so, I'll offer to test the JED flashing tool. I think I have the correct Lattice cable, I bought one from eBay a while back when you mentioned there was a JED update coming, although I can't remember where I stored it off the top of my head! I haven't tried using it yet, and I run Linux exclusively so I'd need to set up the software or get a Windows VM running, but if my Side3 needs a JED update to work with the XEGS I'll certainly give the flashing tool a go. Geoff
  10. I have had almost no free time lately to do any further investigation with this XEGS yet, but I did use the Atari ROM Checker by JAC! to dump the three OS ROMs. The Atari ROM is unsurprisingly identified as Atari OS Rev 4 1987-05-07. The other ROMs show as Unknown. They initially report the checksum as incorrect and rescan with the checksum fixed. Both the correct and incorrect checksum versions for both ROMs are reported as Unknown. The dumps are attached in case anyone is interested in examining them. Aside from the slightly wonky video output (although I am running it through a cheap AV2HDMI converter which probably doesn't help) I'm finding the XEGS to be a lot more fun than I expected, the detachable keyboard is nice although it might be better with a curly phone-type cord to give it a bit more flexibility and reach. I assume all the mods in this particular XEGS will make it a nightmare to get to a state where I could install a U1MB? Geoff 800OS.ROM CUPIDOS.ROM
  11. I picked up an modified XEGS from eBay. It has two knobs on the top, one labelled CUPID; ATARI; 800 O/S, and the other labelled MISSILE; GLAXIAN; BASIC; EDITOR. The CUPID label interested me, I used to have a ComputerHouse card in a 130XE with a CUPID parallel printer interface, so I kind of hoped there might be a ComputerHouse card in this XEGS. Sadly it appears not, but there are 25-pin connectors on the back labelled 'Modem' and 'Printer'. As the first knob looks like an OS selector, I'm guessing it has an OS modded for the CUPID interface, a stock XE OS and the 800 OS-B ROM. The other knob must select ROMs in the cart area. (Although the cart select appears to do nothing if the ATARI OS is selected, it only boots to Basic and a READY prompt. The 800 O/S option only boots to a screen prompting to boot from disk or cassette. With the OS set to CUPID, the cart selector chooses between Missile Command, Galaxian, Basic and the Assembler/Editor, but with a custom font.) Anyway, when I lifted the lid, someone has clearly spent a lot of effort on this! Look at those stacked EPROMs! Looks like the RAM has been expanded and two pins on Freddie have been lifted and connected elsewhere I'm not yet sure what's going on here. What chips are piggybacked here and what might be the purpose of this? I think some of the wires trace back to the mod on the Freddie chip. Is it something to do with the memory upgrade? I assume it's been upgraded to 128kB but I haven't got running a sysinfo program to check. There's a veroboard above the SIO port, I can't see the components as it's soldered to the shield and connected through to the 25-pin connector labelled 'Modem' so I'm guessing it's an R-verter type RS232 mod. There's an MC6821 piggybacked on the PIA (I think) connected to the Printer port. This only arrived in the post yesterday and I've had no time to do much other than plug it in and confirm that it appears to work fine, lift the lid and take these photos. I'll have to try to dump the ROMs for the CUPID/ATARI/800OS options and see if they can be identified. But as I have neither a modem nor a parallel printer anymore it's probably more of a curiosity than anything, but I got it for about £140 and looking at others on eBay I think that's reasonable enough. I might have to do something about the video output, it's not great... Geoff
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