1200XL Owners Club (serial tracker)

[BrianUsher]

5 hours ago, Beeblebrox said:

@BrianUsher  hey... Looking at your 1200's serial number it looks ours were on the same product line, with yours At 13834 and mine at 13829 ? (maan I am such a nerd!!) 

@Beeblebrox  I noticed that as well!  I love it!  They're reunited in a way!  LOL

 

Incidentally, when I bought mine in 2001 (for $25! with a 1050 and 1030) everything worked great.  The keyboard then stopped working over the years while in storage but I was able to bring every key back to life by pressing each key repeatedly and also wiggling each key while pressing them.  It took some time and effort, but it really worked well.  I love my 800XL (bought new in 1984) and its Alps "type one" keyboard, but the 1200XL's is as good or even a little better.  And I love the looks of the 1200XL.  It's a classic.

 

My 1200XL had also yellowed quite a bit, but I left it in a window on the south side of my house for a couple weeks and it looks practically new again after some sun exposure.  I rotated and flipped it every few days and it really cleared up the yellowing.  Odd as I always thought it was UV that caused the yellowing.

[Beeblebrox]

@BrianUsher  (Just realised I meant production line, not product).

 

$25 inc the 1050 and 1030! I know everything is relative and that was 20 odd years ago but still that was a bargain. The 1200XL goes for 10x that now just for the standalone machine. In my experience you can't really source them over here in the UK at all, hence why I sourced mine from the States in the end. Luckily the shipping and import fees weren't nearly as bad as they usually are for Ebay listings.

 

When I was doing research into bringing some keys back from the dead I did read the ol key hammering works on certain occasions. I did try that for a while. Mine was a little more involved and I fixed the mylar to get it work eventually work, but worth the effort. Fully working keyboard and it is one of the best on any A8 I own for sure.

 

I agree the 1200XLs are lovely looking machines and it's more rewarding to add one to my collection given the mixed history of the 1200XL and it's pivitol place, (for both good and bad reasons), in the Atari computer timeline. Plus only 105,000 ever made within a 4 month period before it was canned!! 

 

I believe we only have 500 ish logged here in thie thread. I suspect a lot of 1200XLs and other A8s are languishing in attics/lofts and garages across the planet.

 

I really like the angled joystick ports and the hidden side cart bay, (although the top loading cartridge bays of the 800XL and 600XL are by fast the most practical/accessable - especially for the lights of SIDE3.)

 

The elongated casing and all the function buttons too. (Although I am not sure if any games or software really took advantage of these extra keys!)

 

I have 800XLs with all types of the manufactured keyboards - ALPs following by the better of the two AWC made ones are my fav). I do like the junkyness of the 800 keyboard though.

 

Yeah, the yellow isn't a problem for my 1200XL, and I always assumed it was UV light that caused yellow before I new about the sunlight trick.

 

laters

 

Edited March 24, 2022 by Beeblebrox

[tep392]

I have an update for the list.  S/N 72R DA 10475 203 is currently in the list with Timothy Kline listed as owner.  Please change owner to me.  I received this unit in a trade with Curt Vendel a couple years ago.

[+kheller2]

4 hours ago, tep392 said:

I have an update for the list.  S/N 72R DA 10475 203 is currently in the list with Timothy Kline listed as owner.  Please change owner to me.  I received this unit in a trade with Curt Vendel a couple years ago.

Updated.

 

 

BTW --- What left handed person designed the 1200XL joystick, power and cart, on the left side!?!?

 

[ACML]

You know what they say, "Left handed people are in their right mind".

[Phlod]

Greets all!

A couple of months ago I won a local auction for a pile of random computer things, and in that pile was one of the nicest looking 1200XLs I had ever seen.  Got it home, hooked it up and turned it on, and lo!  Not only did it work, but the keyboard is beautiful, and fully functional!  Now, reasonable people might disagree on whether or not I spent too much on this lot knowing what it contained, but I'm happy with it.  There was also an 800, and a 130XE, plus 2 850 interfaces with one actual 850 serial cable, and a few SIO cables to boot.

It seems that the S/N is not currently on the list, so I wanted to add it.

72R DA 15434 213 - Roger Mier

 

--Phlod

[Beeblebrox]

1 hour ago, Phlod said:

Greets all!

A couple of months ago I won a local auction for a pile of random computer things, and in that pile was one of the nicest looking 1200XLs I had ever seen.  Got it home, hooked it up and turned it on, and lo!  Not only did it work, but the keyboard is beautiful, and fully functional!  Now, reasonable people might disagree on whether or not I spent too much on this lot knowing what it contained, but I'm happy with it.  There was also an 800, and a 130XE, plus 2 850 interfaces with one actual 850 serial cable, and a few SIO cables to boot.

It seems that the S/N is not currently on the list, so I wanted to add it.

72R DA 15434 213 - Roger Mier

 

--Phlod

@Phlod  Nice win!  Love to see some pics sometime 

[Schadret]

Picked up a 1200xl recently (working! whew). Here's the serial # info:

 

[+kheller2]

If anyone has some thoughts on a better way to arrange the data, please let me know.  I plan on taking a look at the 400/800 lists and I did some work on a 7800 list a while ago that I stupidly didn't release yet.  There was a nice 5200 list I saw a while ago.  I wonder if the list maintainers could get together and come up with a standard/normalize dataset.   I would love to set up something that the Intellivision registry web site.. but I know that's not going to happen by my hands.

 

hmm

 

[Phlod]

On 3/25/2022 at 11:48 AM, Beeblebrox said:

@Phlod  Nice win!  Love to see some pics sometime 

Ah!  Right!  Pictures!

 

[CommodoreDecker]

 

 

On 3/24/2022 at 5:50 PM, ACML said:

You know what they say, "Left handed people are in their right mind".

 

What about the ambidextrous? I resemble that remark. ?

[Schadret]

On 4/1/2022 at 12:41 PM, Schadret said:

Picked up a 1200xl recently (working! whew). Here's the serial # info:

 

I can make a new thread if people think that would be better.. my question is now that I have a 1200XL, are there any mods I should get (I have a FujiNet)? I never had a 1200xl when I was young - I had an 800, then 800xl, and finally a 130xe. I ran a BBS for a long time on the 130xe - can Basic XE/FoReM XE run on a stock 1200xl?

 

Given that I have the Fujinet and can access all my disk images via the TNFS server on my PC, I don't think I need anything to be able to connect a HD or read files from an SD card or anything like that. 

 

I've seen some mentions of video mods - is one of them worth getting (if there are multiple)? (I'd like to hook it up to my computer (hdmi or displayport) monitor.. right now I'm going to a older TV with a DIN->composite cable, but it's not ideal having that TV around for no other purpose when I have 3 monitors for my PC already on the desk.

[hueyjones70]

I have this one that is not listed: 83S DA 037233 183

[Ricky Spanish]

On 3/24/2022 at 2:44 PM, kheller2 said:

Updated.

Here's another update for you; 72R DA 24629 253 now belongs to me now. 

[Adventuregirl78]

I have acquired an Atari 1200xl and I would like to know how and where to test it? Can anyone help me? Thanks!

[leech]

16 minutes ago, Adventuregirl78 said:

I have acquired an Atari 1200xl and I would like to know how and where to test it? Can anyone help me? Thanks!

Do you have any peripherals with it?  I highly suggest getting a fujinet, though with the 1200xl, you will want to check if the SIO port has the voltage mod applied.  Otherwise you will need an external power source for the Fujinet.  Granted there are benefits to having one anyhow.

 

But generally as a test, you should be able to hook it up to a TV via composite or RF (though both are starting to disappear).

[ACML]

Need to add a new one to my stable.  Excellent condition, reasonable price, couldn't resist!  I think since it was from Canada, other bidders may have not noticed the bids were in Canadian dollars, not USD.  

 

83S DA 79287 143

 

Edited December 4, 2022 by ACML

[+kheller2]

Three more units and we will have 600 1200XLs in the owner list.  I'm amazed and saddened at the same time.

 

USA	ATMC	-	Total
337	256	4	597

[Teapot]

Made in Taiwan

 

Outside: 72R DA 23997 243

Inside: DA 243 REV. A

[hueyjones70]

I have a new number to add to the list, 72R09285 recently purchased on eBay

[+kheller2]

We hit 600 1200XLs on the registry today.

 

600 more to go!

 

[+craigmaloney]

I have one:

 

Made in Taiwan

 

FCC: BPA72R1200

72R DA 00620 153

 

Had this one on my shelves for a long time. Unsure who was the original owner but picked up at one of several conventions (likely CinciClassic)

[bradjewell]

My sticker has some damage on it, but here's a picture.

 

Edited January 8, 2023 by bradjewell

[Killerwatts]

hi, i bought 83S DA 020009 from T.A.P.

i'll have to do some mylar work on it, so i'll update with any info from the keyboard connector.

[AtariBob800]

Hello everyone,

 

I just wanted to post my Atari 1200XL to the group. I found a text file on a floppy where I wrote a letter to order it.  I got it in about 1988 or 1989 (letter didn't have a date) from San Jose Computer for $69.00 as a factory new unit. At the time I was into astronomy and wanted to run Atari Planetarium and needed a 64K machine as I only had an Atari 800. If I remember correctly the 800XL was more so I got the 1200XL. Don't we all wish we could get factory new 1200XL's for $69.00 now. Here's a pic and the serial. Looks like 17th week of 1983 so I guess it sat in a warehouse for 5 or 6 years until I came along.  It's been in storage for about the last 20 years so its spent a lot of it's life sitting around. Oh and of course the keyboard doesn't work.