a8maestro

Some of these manuals are scanned, edited, and posted at...http://atari.a8maestro.com/info/8ball/ballsa.htm Rick

This is my drawing of the upgrade... http://atari.a8maestro.com/info/8ball/memory/600xl64k.jpg. Rick

I am working to get the manuals put up at http://atari.a8maestro.com/info/8ball/ballsa.htm Rick D.

I have updated the page, the POST OFFICE is now ready. The link below is fixed as well, I hope. Lords of Space is next. Rick

I did this drawing for my kit... http://morethangames.a8maestro.com/proda8/adv-ek0042.htm

I have some info at: http://atari.a8maestro.com/info/8ball/ballho.htm Rick D.

Hi, Yes, I am still here. I only have 4 to 5 hours a week to make things, and some things take a long time as I have to start from scratch. I got the full time job because things had died down to where I was spending almost no time on orders. Wouldn't you know I'd have a rush the first week of the new job while still working the old one for a couple of weeks longer! I am trying to fill orders first come, but making extra for stock as well. One at a time is ineficient. Long bouts of (now slow) emailing back and forth with questions puts that order(if one) at the end of the queue. The biggest delay has been in getting the tube cases for the A8 and Jaguar AV BOB made...a whole new faster and more accurate system has resulted. And 50 cases in stage one. But I still need good weather to paint and finish them. A set of those orders is in final assembly. Orders have been going out in batches per my main web page. I don't know about paypal "redirect" issues. As stated earlier, since I have no way to protect my paypal email address on my web pages from spam, all email sent to it is considered trash. I have to go and look at paypal for orders. My responses will be from my site or from gmail due to some places that don't like my website. And again as stated, if you don't want to wait, don't order. I will eventually read emails. If there is one that wants a refund, I'll process it. My current policy on Paypal disputes is a refund and the order gets trashed-I just don't have the time to mess with it. Obviously you didn't read the main web page notes. If you have a dispute and still want the product, cancel the dispute. Even if it were not for work, Thanksgiving thru New Years is way hectic. Less free time than normal. I am trying to post updates on my main page. I am catching up and building to a big new batch of shipments soon. Rick D MTG

I've double confirmed the jumper settings and they are as you describe. There is no hard disk interface card or any other card other than the main logic board. The ROM is version 3.02+. I have re-seated all of the socketed chips. The power supply rails are a nice clean 4.93v with no ripple. When powered up, it makes one disk-type beep, then pauses about 2 seconds, beeps again, prints BOOT ERROR, pauses 2 seconds, and repeats. To confirm, this will work on an 800XL, right? I can't remember if these units were 400/800 only wor if they worked on newer machines. The ATR8x00 will work on all atari 8 bit computers that can use sio peripherals. Rick

Hi, In Atari mode, the ATR8x00 acts like a peripheral controller. It doesn't boot any driver. It already knows about drives and printers. You do have to load a driver so the Atari can use R:, but the ATR is ready for that too. It will want a standard, non atari, drive to boot from, numbered 0/1. If you want to boot CP/M, then you will need several disks to setup the Atari as a terminal, and the ATR as a CP/M computer. I am working on a set for an order and will make more. The manual for the ATR8000 is online here...http://atari.a8maestro.com/info/8ball/atr8x00/atr8kman.txt. The CP/M manual is not part of this manual. I add info as I get it or make it to...http://atari.a8maestro.com/info/8ball/ballho.htm. Rick

have you heard back form him at all? I've gotten no response Hello, I am still around. But after starting a new job at the end of August, I got a rush of orders. Some 8 orders and 20 or items I did not have made(one item in almost 2 years because I needed to make the case). I am just now finally getting them finished. I rarely get to look at email more than once or twice a week. Because of the holiday, less than that. I will catch up. As far as the ATR-8000, I do have another tested good unit. You can have a problem with either the drive or the atr8000. Format the 1050 disk 5 to 10 times in a row to see what happens. Or do a full 'format, write data, read data' cycle(even with DOS to make sure it boots each time) 5 to 10 times on a disk with the 1050 to check out the media. Use a damp head cleaner on both drives. All of these things are nearing end of life. One of the reasons I have tossed out so many commercial and used floppies-I have ~1000 new ones to keep me a few more years. Rick

Omniview XL/XE can create a real looking ramdrive. Up to double sided/double density with 256K, with a 130XE format memory upgrade. I have a Mydos boot disk set up for 2: 1 is a 720 sector 810 dive(6 banks), the other uses the rest of the banks for a regular Mydos ramdisk. There are a lot of things that need "J" disk dup, and the destination has to act real. a8maestro

I am just wondering if anyone is interested in meeting up and talking classic computers/game systems somewhere in/near Austin, TX. Places include Gattis pizza, Lakeline Mall, Barton Creek Mall. A8maestro

I have started scanning the manuals for this. "Connect" and "City" are ready as text only files in different formats. At http://atari.a8maestro.com/info/8ball/ballsa.htm. Rick D Any links to my old atari site at www.a8maestro.com/atari are dead. It is now atari.a8maestro.com, with some things moved.

Hi, MOA is/was a great game. I have held a few gaming rings with it. Always fun to play. I could set up 4 systems to test it when it was developed. It would have been nice to have V2. I try to keep my Gamelink pages updated. Rick D.

I am building an (analog)RGB adapter for the Jaguar. At this time, it works perfectly on the ST Color Monitor. Still working on the vga test. Composite and svideo also work fine. Rick

Do they make one that has just composite video instead of S-video? Note that the Jaguar AV Svideo cable does include a composite video jack. Rick

Hi, Still looking for people that have an interest in making, selling, and buying things, for any older arcade, computer, console, or handheld system. Including MAME. Especially in the Central Texas area. I still do a lot, but finding others hit a roadblock a long time ago. Are they just not out there any more? Visit:http://gamer.a8maestro.com/index.html. Thanks, Rick D.

Hi, My ST sale has about a month to go at:http://morethangames.a8maestro.com/mtgcat.htm. After that, electronics recycling, probably. Thanks, Rick Detlefsen More Than Games

Not as much needed for typical uses of file transfer or getting on the internet now. But, if you like to do things in the real world, you can still use if for X10, information displays, caller id, data loggers, electronic calipers. The point is not to always use the most modern means, but to have fun. The printer port is handy if you don't always want a PC turned on next to the A8. Rick

I've done development and testing using patriot 1 Gig micro sd. I'll use them in another version soon. Rick D.

Hi, Are you using the AT-846 interface? You may need to open it and reseat any socketed chips. And check for bad solder joints, broken wires, leaking caps, corrosion. Rick D.

Yes, good writeup. I'd say in short to anyone - SDrive supports one drive, with four image 'slots' - which are not modifiable once you have 'booted' your application/game. SIO2SD supports four drives SIO2USB supports three drives SIO2PC (USB/serial) / APE supports eight drives Actually, SDrive supports 4 drives, D1: thru D4: all active at the same time, with D2-D4 swappable with D1 at any time. Rick D.

Its easy to create new .ATRs using APE. I used an older DOS version. Just use the Create command, and set the size for what you need, and give it a name. For Sdrive I needed blanks of various sizes disks, so created one in each. These are the source blanks disks. I copied them over, initialized them, and copied back to the pc(safe storage). I have a zip file on my site with each disk, and a copy of Mydos. Its at http://morethangames.a8maestro.com/proda8/...blank.zip. They need to be unzipped and initilaized in the DOS of your choice if it isn't Mydos. Then just make copies as you need, and give each a new name. Make sure to have spares when using apps as you can't just grab one from a box. Support APE! Rick D.

It runs quite nicely. Spent one Sunday afternoon while I was on chat letting it run a demo .ATR. Drunken Chessboard is quite nice. So, kits, circuit boards, and program atmega mpus are now at my site. I have also posted my efforts at programming, and started info on using it. http://morethangames.a8maestro.com/proda8/adv-ek0130.htm Should be enough extra info on how to make it yourself, and/or assemble it, use it. Thanks for info. Rick D.