cwilbar
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Posts posted by cwilbar
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On 12/8/2020 at 3:22 PM, phaeron said:First, don't use the SuperCard Pro software for Atari disks. The broken defaults mean that you have to fudge a bunch of settings to read an Atari disk with it, and writing one with it is almost guaranteed not to work since it can't handle non index aligned tracks. C64 profile will not work by itself either as it specifies 35 tracks instead of 40.
Second, double-check your drive model. According to online references, FD-55E-02-U appears to be an 80 track drive, not a 40 track drive. In that case you would need to specify 96tpi instead of 48tpi. The symptom of a track density mismatch is that only track 0 reads and writes successfully.
Make sure you have the latest version of a8rawconv in this thread, which is 0.94. Then, image a plain unprotected disk like a DOS disk to an ATR file and check that it reads successfully with an emulator or a disk image utility. Then, write it back out to a disk to verify that that works too.
What is broken with the scp software ? I made images and wrote them with the scp software (on 40 track drives) (once I determined found a solid working drives in my collection). However, I was only imaging commercial disks, so they may have been index aligned.
Are there any known commercial Atari disks that were not index aligned ?
-- Curt
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I believe the CM-5 is an RGBI monitor (Red, Green, Intensity) and is a digital RBG (not analog), like IBM CGA and EGA graphics used.
Definitely research this first, as I'm going by memory which isn't as accurate as it once was 🙂
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In addition to reproduction labels, might be an interesting idea for individual labels representing different popular upgrades, all in the same style/font/etc. Then you just have a sheet with pre-cut 'upgrades' and peel off what you have in a system and stick it by the real or reproduction Atari factory sticker. Could even have different colors/fonts/styles to match the different colors/fonts/styles used by Atari over the years.
Unfortunately my skills here wouldn' take me beyond laser printed labels 🙂
But maybe the idea resonates with others.
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54 minutes ago, cornchip said:I sent off a message to the seller about the damage that occurred during shipping. Hopefully we can come up with a fair resolution for both of us. It would be nice for Ebay or any of the shippers to pay up some type of insurance payment. I'll update this thread when I find out more. In the mean time, another Atariage user has messaged me with a parts machine for sale. It might just be what I'm looking for. Fingers crossed.
Regarding insurance from a shipping company.... I believe this is always the responsibility of the shipper to file/collect a claim. Your recourse should be with the seller, and they can attempt to involve a shipping company for an insurance claim if they wish to do so.... however in my opinion from my own experiences, none of the time should it be granted. Almost every time I've received something damaged in transport it is the fault of the person packaging the shipment. My motto is proper packing is the cheapest insurance. Unfortunately too many people think peanuts, one layer of bubble wrap, or just the cardboard container is all that is required...... and I never flinch at going after the seller for partial/full/etc refund. Sucks to be them, but if they had packaged the item better they wouldn't be having the loss and hassle.
I don't think I've ever had anything I've shipped arrive damaged. I use bubble wrap, styrofoam, other types of foams, extra cardboard, plenty of tape, etc.... and I rarely use peanuts, and I never leave space for items to shift around in transit. Its amazingly simple, but from my experience many (eBay) sellers haven't a clue how to ship things so they arrive undamaged 😞
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3 hours ago, mytek said:I believe they had two modes that were switchable. One that worked by pulsing the directional inputs, and the other that used Quadrature Encoding which is the same principle as used in a mouse, including the ST mouse. The pulsing mode allowed the trackball to work with any joystick program, whereas the Quadrature Encoding mode required a program to support it (e.g., missile command). The encoding mode is far better in operation than the pulse mode.
Thanks for this. Still learning about old Atari gear 🙂
I found the following conversion info for CX22 and Wico trackballs to support quadrature encoding. I have one Wico trackball where someone added a DB9 port on it.... wonder if it is for this.... I'll have to check.
Either that or someone added a port to plug in their joystick so they could have both controllers connected and use whichever one they wanted..... which is what I presumed was the case until learning that some Atari stuff supports quadrature encoding. Diamond GOS supports this with the Atari ST mouse driver apparently.
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On 10/23/2020 at 2:55 AM, mimo said:Correct, the wico is not a true trackball
eh ?
I thought the Atari and the wico's worked by pulsing the appropriate joystick pins based on speed of rotation and direction. If the Atari does not work that way, what way does it work ?
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I've seen cases on eBay, and I'm sure some fellow AtariAge users may have one as well. I purchased a case to re-case my original 400 as the case is badly yellowed, has a dent in the 'Atari 400' badge on the cartridge door (from a moment of misplaced anger in my youth 🙂 ), and some broken vent fins in the back from transport/storage during move/reorganization.
I bought a lot of stuff off eBay, an 800XL, 810 drive (IIRC), Atari 800, diskettes, carts, cables..... and the 800 case was destroyed during transit. It didn't work as well, but I fixed that and the issue with the 800XL. I did get a really good price and did try to work with the seller, but they ignored my messages. I was going to file a case, but I didn't want to risk having to send everything back (just wanted a partial credit), as even with it broken I got a good deal (it just wasn't a great deal anymore).
400 cases pop up more often than 800 cases. There was one 800 case on eBay, but it was a bit more than I wanted to pay, so I passed on it.
If you didn't do so, take it up with the seller, and see about getting a partial refund. Most sellers that make poor shipping mistakes have worked with me when this has happened in the past (minus my 800 & 800XL lot 😞 ).
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If that din port on the back is for video, lets hope that power supply hasn't been plugged into that port to test the 400 !!! I doubt 5V driven into the video circuit outputs would be a good thing .....
I'd vote that this came from a collector with multiple systems, that probably all went to Goodwill.... and someone mixed up the power supplies....
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I had one where the color pot failed.... if you can measure the resistance between the pins, there should be a center and two ends. End to end should be the resistance of the pot, and as you move the pot, the resistance from the center to each end should change. If any measurement is open, the pot could be at fault.
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Yes, mech is good. I took my spare 1050 PCB w/Tandon firmware (this is a Tandon mech) and tested the mech. I've tested the Happy enhancement on this spare PCB with the mech, and all good.
The issue is on the 1050 PCB. I'm suspecting a failure between the read head and the FDC, but if there is any post processing before shipping off to the SIO, could be logic in there too. Figured it would be easiest to trace the signal from the head through to the FDC to confirm/reject the theory that it is somewhere in there.
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I recently aquirred another 1050. This one has a genuine Happy enhancement in it.
Initially it did not turn the drive spindle.
I tested another PCB in the 1050 and everything worked. So, issue is on the PCB.
I tested the Happy enhancement on the spare PCB, works great.
I then noticed that all the 47uF caps had leaked causing corrosion. I removed all the parts that had corrosion, cleaned up the PCB, tinned the pads, re-used components that were fine, replaced one broken resistor and found a broken trace (for the ground side of the drive motor !).
Now it spins the disk, tracks the head (though the tracking sounds 'rough' where with my spare board it sounds smooth, though on both boards it appears to be tracking out and back to track zero).
I tried swapping the FDC and RIOT, no change.
However, disks will not read. I'm studying the schematic to figure out the best points to trace the signal from the read head through to the FDC.
Anyone seen a failure in the circuitry between the heads and the FDC ? (I'm guessing the issue is there, but that may not be so).
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1 hour ago, Blues76 said:Yes... but not in Ebay I would assume, right ?
You can find deals on eBay. But you have to be patient. Sometimes things aren't listed great. Sometimes there are a few items, and picture #1 is for a lesser cost item, and some people don't look past photo #1.
Sometimes it is an as is, untested item. Many times I have done this and the item(s) are fine.
$600 is high (IMNSHO) for a XEGS.... but I can't say I know the price of a boxed unused XEGS.
If you're looking for deals, just need to keep looking, be patient, and don't be impulsive.
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Are the back issues (physical) available anywhere ?
If not, are pdfs available ?
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Years ago I was very sick and thought I was having a heart attack. Turns out that fear gave me a panic attack. I had problems with fear and panic for months afterward.
I had been given an anti-anxiety, but I had to stop taking that, as it f'd with my head something fierce (very scary random thoughts I won't go into). I stopped taking the meds and dealt with it as best I could.
Eventually it did get better and I haven't had a panic attack in years.
Hang in there, panic attacks suck. At least it sounds like the meds don't hijack your mind like the ones I tried did.
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awesome that someone who wants it was able to save it from potentially being scrapped at a point. I'd have probably grabbed it if you were closer.... though I'm not sure I should adopt too many more CRTs 🙂
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to learn more about the XL keyboard variants.
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Also.... make sure your power supply is not the dreaded 'ingot'. Search for ingot power supply in the forums and you should find posts about it.
If you have a multimeter check your power supply voltage. It should 5.0-5.2V ideally. While that won't stop the SIO from working, if the PIA has popped, you'll want to make sure it is not from a bad power supply sending too much voltage into the XL.... or you'll start blowing Sally, Antic, GTIA, Pokey, ram, etc.
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Could be the 6520 PIA chip. The SIO command line is driven by the 6520 PIA.
Are the chips in your 800XL socketed ? Do you have another you can borrow the PIA from for testing ?
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cool. Another way to fix the 600XL is to us an SRAM module (Lotharek sells these). They allow you to do away with multiple components on the Atari mainboard... including the delay line.
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You'll have to navigate around, but pictures of box art and diskettes can be found on http://www.a8preservation.com
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eBay alchemy.... turning poop into gold 🙂
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On 10/11/2020 at 2:55 PM, BIGHMW said:I know there are a few XEGS fanboys on here, but my choice of getting a 65XE is simply because I have to use the keyboard to go through the menu on the Ultimate Cart, as opposed to simply a joystick like on the 2600, 5200 and the pending 7800 multicarts. And, you also, in the case of the XEGS, have to have the console there too along with it, just to start and reset when you reboot the main menu or start gameplay, along with the controller of choice, and that is too much I would have to drag out of my a/v rack just to be able to play a game on it. It's all in one unit with the 65XE as opposed to the separate console and keyboard to contend with on the XEGS. I don't have a lot of room in my small apartment I make home to BIGHMW.com World Headquarters at Bishop Park here in Port Townsend, WA, so compactness is the key.
I haven't made any commitments, so I'm still up for suggestions.
There are multiple multi-cart solutions.
I believe that some allow you to use the joystick for selection vs the keyboard.
Atari computers have varying keyboards of different quality, feel, and durability. So, the ability to use any PS2 keyboard with an available adapter on the XEGS is cool. You can do the same on some(?) of the computers, but you have to open up the Atari to add in that ability.
Just some more info you may not have been aware of (the keyboard adapter was previously mentioned)
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investing on speculation in any market will have winners and losers.
When the speculator isn't getting their return, eventually they decide it isn't worth it, and dump the stuff to get out of that investment area.... if enough of these happen, the whole market comes crashing down as all the speculators get scared and start dumping before the prices crash.
Can't say how big it could crash, or when it could, but sooner or later, there likely won't be as many people interested in this old stuff at some point in time.... thats when the supply/demand curves change.
Baseball cards have had boom and bust cycle(s), etc...
I haven't seen this happen in the old computer arena yet.... not sure it has happened to any great degree in console stuff either.... but that doesn't mean it can't happen 🙂
This stuff is a hobby for me. I enjoy the projects, fixing some things.... I need to get better at selling though..... as I've accumulated way too much computer stuff over the years 🙂
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I always laugh when you watch an item, it ends, it gets released, it ends, that might happen 1-2 more times, then it gets relisted for a higher price....
WTF.... if it didn't sell at X, it isn't going to sell at (1+something)*X !
Maybe eBay needs a feature than when an item doesn't sell it is automatically relisted at 10% more 🙂
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a8rawconv, a new raw disk conversion utility
in Atari 8-Bit Computers
Posted
Archiving my originals has been on hold for a bit, so my memory may be incorrect on writing out disks with the SCP software..... I am a command line junkie.... so while I did all my reading with scp software (set to 6? revs), I may have done all my writing with a8rawconv.
Wonder what Jim Drew's plans are regarding this issue ?