gobo

Good news everyone! I adjusted the Color POT and it looks pretty good. Still has some bars but not too bad. Might be able to blend them out by adjusting the sharpness of the monitor. There are a few artifacts shown when I put up all 256 colors but so far I haven't noticed it anywhere else. I think a UAV is in the future but for now I'm OK with the results. Heck at this point I'm not even sure if there was ever problem with it turning on because when I plugged it in today using the same 3 outlet extension cord (and after its been powering on fine) it didn't power on. At first I thought WTH but I switched it to another outlet on the same cord and it works fine. Would not have been happy ripping it apart and later finding out it was that! So basically it looks like that messy looking upgrade was working all along, all it needed was the POT to be adjusted. I'm a little embarrassed actually but I learned something along the way! And thanks for all of the help.

Had some time today to try out a few things on the 600XL. First thing I did was hook up the audio lines to a speaker like kheller2 said. When I tried the new extra audio connection I got nothing but when I attached the ex-RF port I got a beautiful Atari fart. Music to my ears and no smell.;) I had originally tried to hook it up from there to a TV's RF. Next I tried an S-Video to HDMI adapter that I borrowed and viola I had a picture too. So the RF works as audio, the other "audio" port does nothing unless I'm missing something and S-Video produces a picture. Memory is 64k and tests fine. I'm very happy and surprised it's working at all with no changes. The only problem now is that the video output is off. The colors are wrong and there are vertical bars. When I tried to set the background to a shade of grey, the bars disappear and the picture is very smooth. Would the next move be to swap out the GTIA. Was trying to avoid dismantling my 800XL. Would it be hard to dismantle the s-video hack (and use a more modern video solution)?

Thanks Sugarland. I'm going to try both of those ideas. I'm new at troubleshooting electronic circuits and ICs so I appreciate all the help I get!

Well there may be life in it yet. I switched out the keyboard and now the LED comes on. Guess even the keyboard was bad! This thing might turn into Princess Fiona next! Still nothing on screen, not even a blip when powered on with both S-Video or RF. The multi-meter says 5v at the power port input inside the XL and on the lower lead of the power switch when it's in the off position but when I turn it on the voltage drops to 4.2 on the power switch (lower and middle lead) and everywhere I check on the motherboard that should be 5v. I wonder why someone would go through the trouble of doing all that work in such a nice looking case. I guess I'm shallow because if it was ugly and beat up it would be easier to let it go! Next step is to get rid all of the upgrades.

No offence, but what a mess! Apocalypse Now (Colonel Kurt). "The Horror, the horror". Worst example of a bodge job ever Can you say it's and accident waiting to happen that actually did. LOL Guys, tell me what you REALLY think! 😀😃 And she's such a beauty...on the outside! Maybe I should just rip it all out and go back to stock. Would almost feel bad undoing all that hard work! Weird thing is both power supplies are putting out 5v. The USB one is rated at 3 amps. Even the SIO port says 4.2v. Maybe that capacitor by the power switch? The 4.2v it seems to be system wide. Would it not even turn on without an BASIC chip? The back panel has an S-video and an audio jack. The RF jack is still there. It does look scary in there!!

Hi I bought a good looking 600Xl off of ebay months ago on a whim (never had a 600xl). It came with a 64K upgrade and an S-Video upgrade. I finally got around to trying it and it's dead as a door-nail. The power supply tested at steady 5.1v that works on another 800xl . I also tried a modern USB PS as well that works on the 800xl. The 600xl's LED stays off when powered on, nothing on the screen, no sound. I've never worked on fixing an Atari on the hardware side and I don't know what I'm doing overall but I did use a multi-meter on all of the chips and they are all getting about 4.2 volts. Should it still be 5v by the time it gets to the chips or is that normal? I re-seated the chips and that did nothing. Not sure if the upgrades have anything to do with it either but it was sold as tested and working. None of the chips get very hot to touch. The motherboard itself looks clean other than the spaghetti. I've attached some pics but not sure that will help. The voltage is even 4.2 at the SIO port and the keyboard cable that supposedly powers the LED. Is that low enough to keep it from even turning on?

Thanks Sugarland! I think I'll try it. All the years ago growing up I had a Type 4 and thought it was great. It felt so solid. I have an 600XL with one now but can see that it has problems with the shift keys etc. The Type 1 feels so different. It's amazing how different the 800XL keyboards felt for the same computer model. We all had them and had totally different experiences! I have an extra Type 4 with problems. I'll post a pic of my Type 1 with Type 4 function keys after I switch them out if its possible to do.

Always loved following this thread. Now I have a question. I Finally got an 800Xl with a type 1 keyboard. I must say that the feel of it is my absolute favorite. I only used type 4 and type 2 before. But there is always a catch isn't there? While I love the keyboard itself, I don't like the function keys. They are looser than the other ones, don't have as much give and worst of all seem to sink in below the case which looks kind of ugly. Does anyone know if there is a fix for that. Do I just have a bad copy? The 800XL itself looks like new and possibly unused. Even the power supply and RF cable have never been unwound.

I really like the idea of the cut down version with the 1mb ram upgrade, selectable OS and XL/XE compatibility with something like the SIDE-3 plugged permanently on the Cart-port. Most people here probably have some sort of multi cart already. It wouldn't change the case or keyboard at all, that would take away from the Atari 400's charm. >It's a massive thick aluminum anvil. It'll survive ww3 LOL Not sure what it is about that but the way that looks is one of the things that make the 400 so cool.

Stumbled across this older thread doing a web search. God I would love one or two of these if they are ever made. I'm probably in the minority here but I think the 400 is just awesome. Probably because it was my first computer. Even back in the day I thought I'd want it over the Atari 800. I thought the 800 looked more like a typewriter, the 400 just looked more futuristic. Not that I had the money for an 800. I didn't even mind the keyboard back in the day. I do have an Incognito 800 now though. I actually got my 13 year old son an Atari 400 for Christmas and he loves the way it looks on his desk. He frequently jumps on it with friends for some quick gaming. They are intrigued by it. He's always very impressed by that solid block of metal you see when you open the cartridge door. (I was too:). Unfortunately it can't play all the latest software releases, which would impress his friends. My son points out that it's 1979 tech! Something about the Atari 400 being able to run the best stuff would be so cool and make it more useful as such a great game machine. Put me down for 2 if they are ever made!

Weird. I typed up a reply a few days ago but it's not here. Must not have hit submit! There seems to be more options than I originally thought. If I understand though, if I buy a "ST2VGA Black" and use it with any of the monitors or TVs on lists like the one at Best Electronics Here: http://www.best-electronics-ca.com/monadapt.htm ...then I can use all three ST modes on those panels that cover the 15khz to 70khz range. I can't use the SCART solutions because I live in the USA. The device I mentioned in the first post might work also albeit expensively. I like the small size of the ST2VGA Black and that it has a button to switch between color and mono. I wish there was also something similar that would plug into the Floppy Drive port for SD cards. I want to keep things compact. Back in the day I had an STF then STE then Falcon030 but I always like the original STm's sleek form factor the best. Now I've finally got one with 1mb one that looks great. Once I get it connected to a screen I'll know if it actually works !! :)

Hey there! Was looking to get back into the ST. Just bought a 1mb STm on ebay. From what I understand, unlike the 8-bits, it's still hard to connect to modern displays. I was looking around on Amazon and came across this device. Could you hook it up to an ST with a ST2VGA cable and then to a modern display using a VGA to HDMI cable/converter. Know it's not cheap but was wondering if you guys think it would even work. https://www.amazon.com/AllAboutAdapters-15Khz-RGsB-Converter-Scaler/dp/B074GC2K2F

Thanks for all the help. You guys are way ahead of me on the technical side of things!! I've always wanted to learn assembly and I think its time I give it a go as I'm limited to programming in Turbo BASIC. So far I've been modifying little BASIC ML routines available to the public figuring out how it works. I was so happy to find the great DLI code in this thread to add colors, I've been looking for one like this for a while and this seemed perfect, (until I added the PMGs). It just might be a while now before I update my old game!

I also noticed that if I press a key on the keyboard the wobble speed increases.

Here it is working fine without the PMGs

I'm still having a bit of trouble with the DLI routine that I can't figure out. I set 8 DLI color change rows in GR.7+16 with 4 Players on the screen as a test. I am getting a wobble for some reason but only with color 3 and only in a stripe of a few pixel width about 25 rows from the left. The strange thing is that I don't get it until the line where I activate the PMG's by Poking 559,62. A poke 559,34 and no wobble. I've tried moving the DLI and PMG's around to different memory locations to see if there was a conflict but the results are the same. I also tried using less than the 8 DLI color changes to see if that helps. I also switched the DLI ML routine from DATA statements to a string to save space but I also tried it with the data statements too. Everything looks good but after days of trying, I just can't figure it out. Can you think of anything I missed? These are the times I wish I new assembly language! I attached the code to this message and in the screenshot, the three wide horizontal bars are in color 1,2&3 from top to bottom with an extra vertical color 3 bar where the DLI wobbles. DLITEST.LST

Think I'm getting it! Thanks again for the help.

That seems to work! Thanks! One question though. Can it be moved lower by 1K increments or does it have to be 4k.

Sorry to revive an old thread. I'm trying to get a handle on using DLI's for adding color and I was wondering; in the above code, where does the TABBAK=7*4096 figure come from? I tried to insert the Graphics 7+16 version of this code code into a program I'm working on as a test and when I do it seems to overwrite the screen memory. Thanks for any help!

Actually I tried LitDOS 2.08 with TBXL again but this time using the TBXL.XEX file from the LiteDOS 2.05 ATR and it works. I guess there is something wrong with the TBXL.XEX file on the LiteDOS2.08 ATR and nothing wrong with LiteDOS 2.08 itself.

That's great! It works perfectly with LiteDOS 2.03, the last version I downloaded. I also tried it with the latest LiteDOS 2.08 but after it loads TBXL it drops back to LiteDOS's "1" prompt. Not sure if there's a bug in the newer version or if I did something wrong. Thanks again for the help!

Thanks for the answer. Makes sense. I guess I was looking for a free lunch.

Hi Sorry to bump an old thread. Can anyone tell me where I can download the pmtbb2.zip file or maybe share it with me if anyone still has it. The link above is dead. Thanks

It works perfectly in Atari BASIC! Here is the Atari BASIC code to load and run it.) Thanks so much again! MLPADDLE.BAS