GreyHobbit

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.

Amazon (UK) pre-order

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.

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...

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.

571428

I'm definitely interested too

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...

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!

Sounds good, thanks.

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...

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.

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

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

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

I tried the static build but unfortunately it gives a "Segmentation fault (core dumped)" error on my machine. However, some more Googling after I tried the static build took me to a page that seems to have provided a solution. I had to update the fontconfig cache like this: rm -rf ~/.cache/fontconfig sudo fc-cache -r -v Which seems to have done the trick because I now get this much more readable display So it was an issue with my config, not the Flasher executable. I flashed one of my FujiNets and everything looks like it worked successfully.

I downloaded the Linux_x64 binary but I get a display like this, all font characters show as little squares. This also happens with the current compiled binary version of the flasher, I had to clone the github repo and run it as esphomeflasher to see correctly rendered text. The output in the shell when I run FujiNet-Flasher is: Gtk-Message: 19:42:51.328: Failed to load module "xapp-gtk3-module" Gtk-Message: 19:42:51.328: Failed to load module "canberra-gtk-module" /usr/lib/gvfs/libgvfscommon.so: undefined symbol: g_task_set_name Failed to load module: /usr/lib/gio/modules/libgvfsdbus.so Gtk-Message: 19:42:51.346: Failed to load module "colorreload-gtk-module" Fontconfig warning: "/etc/fonts/fonts.conf", line 5: unknown element "description" (FujiNet-Flasher:5500): Gtk-WARNING **: 19:42:51.392: Could not load a pixbuf from icon theme. This may indicate that pixbuf loaders or the mime database could not be found. I'm not sure if my system (Manjaro) is missing some particular font. Is there a specific font it's compiled to use? Sorry this doesn't really help test the new beta, but at the moment I can't see what I'm testing

Thanks everyone for all the comments. Very interesting reading and while I am reassured about the strength and durability of the acrylic, I am not particularly happy about having my 400 and 800 permanently displayed on them. The 400 & 800 are considerably heavier than the 130XE or 800XL and I'm not going to risk it. I'll either use the acrylic shelves for displaying some of my Atari software and books or I will find another solution entirely that is less fear-inducing I had the 800 on the acrylic shelf all day yesterday, and it seemed stable and sturdy, but I still took it down every time I left the room! Moving home or remodelling are probably off the agenda, it would a) probably not meet with my wife's approval and b) cost money I'd rather be spending on my Ataris... One wall here is fully loaded with the double-slotted brackets @StickJock suggested and they are holding a *lot* of weight (including the 400 & 800) They are quite high up so I can really only see the joystick ports on the computers from any angle in the room, I might investigate mounting them on some sort of angled bracket that sits on the shelf, that's a good idea @scorpio_ny I'd be interested in the STL files and I'll see if I can find someone to print them for me, I'm not sure what services are available in the UK. Geoff

Thanks for the replies, they have reassured me. I'm just worried about leaving my precious 800 hanging on the wall about 5 feet off the floor and directly above my PC! The shelves came from Amazon and are mounted to a brick wall with two screws and the 5mm rawlplugs that were supplied. I don't have any specs apart from the physical dimensions. The shelf flexes a bit when I put the computer on it but I suppose that's to be expected. The 800 looks like it's bound to topple forward, but it's the angles of the case that make it appear to be mounted vertically, it seems stable enough. I'm working in this room today so I'll leave it up there and listen for sounds of cracking!! :-) (As for my username, I needed a gamertag years ago, my hair went prematurely grey, I'm rarely the tallest guy in any group and I can't count how many times I've read LotR so it seemed appropriate lol) Sent from my AC2003 using Tapatalk

I recently bought some clear 5mm acrylic shelves (15"x5") to display my 8-bits computers, I've seen photos of similar displays by other retro collectors online. I am more than happy to display my 130XE & 800XL on these, but when it comes to putting my 400 & 800 on the shelves I am concerned that they may not support the weight, particularly the 800 which is about 4.6kg. Does anyone have experience with these acrylic shelves and are they strong enough to safely mount a 400 and 800 to the wall? Thanks Geoff Sent from my AC2003 using Tapatalk

I sent all the disks to Matt (who was also posting on this thread) since I don't have the hardware mod anymore. I didn't hear if he was ever able to preserve or archive any of the ones I wasn't confident about copying. Sent from my AC2003 using Tapatalk

Thanks for your reply, I thought the 800 issue might have been voltage-related but wasn't sure. I was investigating it again and noticed that when I touched the Q3 transistor the audio track started to come through, but with a lot of crackle. Even when I stopped the tape the crackle continued and got louder until I pressed Reset on the 800XL which reversed the POKE 54018,52. There may be a dry solder joint on Q3, or possibly the transistor is bad. I'd like to confirm that before I try to source a replacement. That schematic is very similar to the one I have, thanks for the link to the user manual.

I picked up an XC12 from eBay and it loads programs ok, but with, for example, the Conversational French cassettes, there is no audio in the spoken sections. I tried playing a normal audio cassette with POKE 54018,52 but there's no sound with that either. The cassettes play ok in a standard cassette player. (Oddly, I tried it on my 800, in case the U1MB in my 800XL was causing an issue, and there is no audio there either, but when I enter the POKE 54018,52 and press Play, the 800 does a soft reset. The tape motor starts up when entering the POKE command with the play button already pressed.) I can see a digital signal on the Data In pin when playing a cassette, but no signal at all on pin 11 when there should be an audio channel, so I'm guessing the left channel is being read ok but the right channel signal is getting lost somewhere between the head and SIO pin 11. Has anyone found a service manual for the XC12? I can only find the 1010 service manual and I'm not sure how much of that will apply equally to the XC12. This schematic is the best info I can find on the workings of the XC12. Thanks Geoff

I think ultnogos.rom is the SIDE2 version of the full firmware, the u1mbs3.rom is for use with the SIDE3. You can flash the u1mbs3fw.rom to the 'Firmware' slot in UFLASH to update it for use with the SIDE3. Sent from my AC2003 using Tapatalk

I guess with a lot of these newer upgrades the 40+ year old hardware is being pushed to places it was never meant to go. Fun and exciting as it is, there's a limited test base to find where all the kinks are going to be so new hardware can't be fully tested until it's in the wild with a significant user base. I suppose at least with FPGAs etc there's a good chance to iron out 'hardware' problems with a flash upgrade. All your firmware upgrade work is proof of that, it's nothing short of miraculous. I've been experimenting with the XL again briefly, I'm wary about powering it on and off too much, seems like that's asking for trouble, like flicking a light on and off to see if the bulb is faulty... "no... no... no... no... yep, I knew it was!" With the Sophia2 connected to the HDMI switch as the only input, things seem fine. As soon as I power up my PC then the XL starts giving the black screen on powering it on (most times). Pressing System Reset takes me through to the normal boot process. With the Sophia2 connected to the DVI input of my monitor, so far the XL boots successfully every time, which makes me think it's the HDMI that is the common factor and nothing to do with the U1MB or Side3 firmware. I'm struggling to think how another HDMI signal into a switch can affect the XL so that it refuses to boot. Maybe there's some kind of signal being fed back directly to the Sophia2 and interfering with my Atari? Anyway, I'll try again over the next few days and see if I can definitively say it only occurs when the Sophia is connected through the HDMI splitter *and* the PC is also hooked up and running. The Side3 looks like it's working perfectly, SDX reads the config from an APT drive on the Side3 and there have been no issues with that at all.