aileronster

I ran mine off a 4 Amp USB charger I use to charge my phones. Worked fine. Also an over volt condition (12 Volt power supply for a 5 volt device) is how you blow the system. Amps are what an electronic device can pull. It might pull .8 amps, it might pull 1.5 amps depending on what its doing. Amps are on tap. So I find this odd. But if the device is sensitive to say 5.6 volts versus 5.2 volts. That might be an issue. You could check to see if your usb charger is running a little hot in the voltage range. If you have a multi-meter. Actually its probably under-voltage. A cheap usb charger might be running at 5.0 volts and once you pull 1 amp its drops below 5 volts to say 4.8 or 4.7. It will be interesting to see what this turns out to be.

For the short period of time I got to play it diagonals are acting strange for me as well. : (

I'm suppose to get mine today. Holymoly... didn't expect it on the 28th. Wow!

TheC64 Maxi reads file extensions to know what type of file it is but more important they have flag settings that allow you to set information that is needed for that particular game. Things like what joystick port is needed to play the game, is it in PAL video format. Is it Vic20 or C64 system, etc, etc. It doesn't care what order they are given or how many. Just that its logical, (i.e. Cant have c64 and Vic20 flags at same time.) https://www.manualslib.com/manual/2023346/Retro-Games-Thec64.html?page=67#manual I imagine they are going to do the same thing. Yes you have to do it yourself but once set your good to go forever so its nice.

I will be one of those that learns to program it. Because I didn't have one when I was young. I will go through the books that came with it and others that people talk about. So I can compare it to other 8 bit computers of that era.

No cracks in any of the keys I'm currently worried about, haven't looked at any others. Thinking of Jerry rigging cherry shift key stabilizers with some rubber cement as a test, if that works I could bond them to the board. At least for now that's the idea.

Okay, I got the keyboard puller and took out the offending keys and one more for good measure to get a look around. Seems I have a type 4 board according to this thread. Though I could be wrong. Anyways I'm including a photo to show what the keys look like, they do not have any side loading (canted) supports. Which explains why its happening. Adding silicon grease looks like it might be risky as it will probably get into the mylar area and contacts. Id have to apply it to the key posts and then it sits inside the square sleeves. It don't believe it will solve the problem. Actually I don't have any ideas on how to solve this. But thank you everyone for responding and trying to help.

Okay I just ordered a Keycap puller, considering the age of the computer, I don't want to mess it up so its going to be a couple days before it arrives and I make an attempt. I have silicon grease, which should be inert to the plastic components, and shouldn't drip. I'll try and make sure it doesn't come in contact with electronics. I'll also check the metal spring wire rail which considering how much it rocks side to side, makes me think that could be the problem. Thanks for you guys recommendations. We'll see how this goes.

So I was reading the book Breakout about the Atari 8 bit computers, and having grown up in the 80's and seeing a friend get on a BBS with ATASCII I was blown away by the capabilities. I grew up on an Apple II+ myself. I've been having a huge nostalgia crush on all the old 8 bit computers for the last couple years and in my ignorance decided to buy an Atari 800xl according to the book above which suggested getting it from Best Electronics. So I did just that and when I received it (looked great for its age) the right shift key was sticking and the left would sometimes work sometimes not. I wrote the owner and asked if I could get a replacement key for left side and if just using the keys that were skipping (Sometimes register sometimes not) would fix them or if there was a trick to fixing them. He said that if I felt it was a problem after a few days send it back and he will fix it. I didn't like the idea but I did sent it back. Now you have to understand that I favor the inside of the shift keys. Which I explained and sent two photos in the box to show how my pinky finger rests on the keyboard and which keys were not always working. See photo below: The photo is at a slight angle by the way and I lifted my hand to better show my pinky. Yes it curves in a lot... Needless to say he sent me back a replacement that was even worst, and now the left shift key actually locks up , plus the control sticks as well now. But the other shift key does in fact work; so there is that. I'm at a loss of what to do. He offered me an XE computer as a solution; of course it would cost more. But I'm done its not the computer I wanted... and it honestly felt like he was playing some kind of sick joke and I'm dejected. I'm not saying he did that... it just felt that way and I'm not trying to bad mouth his company either. But because of the experience I actually want to just throw out the system. I wouldn't sell it to someone like this unless they knew what they were getting into (buying for parts.) I bought a bunch of books on Atari, and the SDrive-Max and the AVG cart. Now I'm waiting for the cart to get here so I can just unload it all and forget about this experience. But before I do that... I'm asking you guys for help... Is there a way to repair the shift key and the control key so it doesn't stick? It so bad I cannot actually get it to go down on the shift key without serious force which can't be good for the key and makes it impossible for me to use (Unless I was to press dead center of the key which my finger wont do.) I took typing class in high school so I don't hunt and peck. Also I planned on doing a good bit of programming learning the 6502 in assembler, player missile graphics, and just going through the whole Atari thing that I didn't get to experience. So a working keyboard is essential. Any suggestions would be much appreciated. Thanks. BTW... I've debated writing this because I didn't want to bad mouth anyone but I'm at a loss of what to do.

I also would like to know if these are still available or if they will be available soon.