yorgle

This intrigues me.... what does it do that sio2sd can't?

I agree about 2600 Adventure being one one of the greatest games of all time. A true testament to the fact that good gameplay can overcome just about any other limitation. I just downloaded Joust for my 1200xl and though it looks great, the 2600 version plays 100% better. I'm curious about Galahad- what was it like? I've never heard of it before.

Here's something to try when everything else fails in fixing keyboards: The H and J keys on my newly acquired 600xl would randomly work/not work. I thought it was a broken ribbon cable and spent hours messing with that. Then just for the heck of it, I remelted the solder joints directly below each of the non-working keys. Works 100% now.

Hey, thanks guys. Metalguy66: that kit sounds exactly like what I'm looking for. Do you have Bruce's email address?

If you can give me the Atari Coxxxx number for the BASIC C rom, I've probably got one you can have. I recently purchased a whole mess of Atari chips in an attempt to resurrect my dead 600xl. I know there are at least 6 roms in the pile.

Does anyone have a pic of the back of a PAL 600xl showing the placement of the monitor jack. I'm planning to add one to my new US 600xl now that I've finally gotten the keyboard fixed and 64K ram upgrade done. I'm wondering where the factory jack would fit.

Well, I managed to finally get something off my workbench, namely, my 600xl. The keyboard issue turned out to be the ribbon cable. A little resoldering took care of that. Then went on to add the 64K RAM modification. First time ever attempting something like this and HOOHOOO!!! it works! PRINT FRE(0) returns a beautiful 37902! Learned in the process that too much coffee makes soldering more difficult.

My CIB 600xl arrived today. Seller actually shipped it in the Atari box- he just taped the ends shut and slapped a shipping label on it, ruining a perfectly good box. The computer itself is in excellent shape- no yellowing. The "H" and "J" keys don't work for some reason so I'll be pulling it apart tonight. Plans for this one are 1) 64K Ram upgrade 2) Internal SIO2PC-usb 3) Monitor port-video mod.

And one more...

Hey, this thing is fun.

Yeah, that 1541 was a snail, but it was alot easier to use.

Is there such a thing as an OS that has a DOS built in? I recall from my mis-spent days of youth (the Commodore years) that I never had to load a DOS in order to use the disk drive. Is there and Atari equivallent of this?

Thanks. I would never have thought of trying joystick commands.

I've been experimenting with programming using the Touch Tablet and can't figure out how to read the trigger button on the stylus. I had assumed it was one of the paddle triggers just like the buttons on the Tablet, but that doesn't seem to be the case. Anyone know how to read the stylus button using BASIC?

I've changed the red power led on my 1200xl to a blue led so it matches the display on my sio2sd. I plan on doing the same thing to my 1050 so everything matches.

Sure, but anything you put on it has to be coded for OSS's proprietary bank-switching scheme. So it wouldnt be real useful for developing stuff for "normal" atari carts (if there is such a thing.) It doesnt match the normal atari 8k/16k cart standard, nor does it match teh XEGS supercart standard. Whatever you developed for it would also have to be used on an OSS bank-switched cart. Also, as soon as you turn the power off, or un-plug the cart, it's gone.. Heres what you could do with it.. get ROM images of all the OSS cart ROMs.. and save them to your atari's hardisk. Then write a simpleprogram that switches the banks of the cart, one at a time, and writes the ROM image of whichever .ROM file you specify into the cart, in the appropriate way.. Then you could use that OSS language.. And when you want to switch, just "write" the next language into it teh same way.. You can take a normal OSS cart and stick a 27512 EPROM in it, with 2 switches, and have all 4 langauges in ROM on a single cart, hard-switchable, which makes alot mre sense and is easy to do.. So.. NO.. Its just a novelty for collectors, really.. As I thought... beyond my simple uses. I see there's a similar cart called "Persistent RAM" on ebay right now. Any idea what that's all about?

Dead 600xl. Extra chips, anyone???

Would it be useful for anything other than developing languages, e.g., as a programmable cartridge to store games, programs, etc.?

My guess is that this is a RAM cartridge with it's own powersupply (battery) and that one setting (marked RAM) simply provides additional RAM and the other (marked ROM) is really RAM holding a bootable OS. Keep in mind this is only a guess.

I've got a working 800xl that I'd be willing to trade for some 2600 cartridges (joust, warlords, keystone capers, maze craze, in particular). You really don't need a floppy drive unless you already have programs/games on disks (or like me, you really want the "retro experience" of using floppys". You can pick up an sio2pc for less than $30 from a number of vendors and that will allow you to set up 8 virtual floppy drives on a pc or laptop. PM me if you are interested.

Great stash of stuff. Don't forget to add that 1200xl to the registry. What shape is the 1027 in? I've found that the rubber character wheels turn to mush if they've been stored for a significant time with the ink roller installed.

At the risk of being a pain in the lower regions...I know I signed up way back but PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE MAKE SURE I AM STILL ON THAT LIST!!!!!!!!

Hey metalguy, do you have docs for the keyboard mod. Thanks. Yeah but its just a hand-drawn diagram. Id have to scan it.. I have two machines built this way so far and am looking for a 1200XL to do my remaining 130xe.. Its well worth it.. the 1200XL keyboard rocks. Your mod is intriguing, but I really don't like the idea making physical changes to my 1200xl case considering that they are somewhat rare. So far, that's what has kept me from internally installing my sio2sd. How much cutting is actually involved to replace the 1200xl motherboard with an xe board? Still, I'd like to see your keyboard diagram because I can see myself creating something like this: remove (and safely store) 1200xl motherboard. Install xe motherboard inside a 1050 case or simply hide an xe somewhere out of site, but run sio-looking cords to the 1200xl for the keyboard and power on/of switch.

How would I go about ordering such a setup for my xl?

HAHA. KEWL! Did smoke come out of it? Hmm. well at least you learned somthing.. Yeah, smoke came out. I learned that what my older brother always told me was true: that all electronic devices contain smoke. Once you let the smoke out of them, they don't work anymore.