What does XEP80 display look like?

[Tyrop]

I'm thinking of buying an XEP80. Old reviews say its has a real sharp display. I'm curious to see what a good 80 column display on an Atari 8 bit looks like. Can anyone point me to a screen shot?

[Goochman]

I have one of these - looks like a great green screen youd see on an Apple II or such. Problem with it is not alot of software supported it therefore is uses are minimal

[mimo]

just do an s-video mod if your Atari does not output it already.

much more worthwhile

[danwinslow]

Or do both. You can use the XP80 with two displays, one for the xp80 and one for Antic

[Tyrop]

I have it hooked to a Commodore 1082 monitor. I would like 80 columns mainly for Mac/65. I put a lot of comments in my code and I'm finding 40 columns a little limiting.

[sniperstorm]

I have it hooked to a Commodore 1082 monitor. I would like 80 columns mainly for Mac/65. I put a lot of comments in my code and I'm finding 40 columns a little limiting.

 

 

I have one I can sell you in the box. Only thing is. I dont have power supply for it. Anyone know where to get one, or what other atari products use the same one?

[Goochman]

Funny - only pics I could find online were crappy scans from Antic on Turboword 80 and DOS

[+Guitarman]

I have a couple. I'll try and get one hooked up and do a screen shot, since I'm porting my video through a capture card in a PC. I should be able to get a few good screen shots. Plus, I have a copy of AtariWriter80 that I will screen shoot also.

Edited June 14, 2007 by Guitarman

[+Guitarman]

OK. Here are some screen captures of the XEP80. The output is running into my Dell SIO2PC station through a ATI video capture card. I was actually suprised at the output running it this way. Very nice.

 

 

Here using AtariWriter80

Here using the XEP80 Boot Disk (DOS 2.5)

 

Here using BASIC

 

I hope this gives a good idea of what the XEP80 looks like.

[+Guitarman]

I have one I can sell you in the box. Only thing is. I dont have power supply for it. Anyone know where to get one, or what other atari products use the same one?

 

 

It uses the same PS as the 2600 or SX212. Could also use a standard PS with output of 9VDC, 500mA, 1/4" tip/sleeve connector, tip+, sleeve-.

Edited June 14, 2007 by Guitarman

[Tyrop]

Wow! THanks for going through the effort to make those screen shots! I think the 80 columns looks great. THis will come in handy for Mac/65 (which I think I saw a driver for). Thanks for posting. I think I will buy one.

[+Larry]

OK. Here are some screen captures of the XEP80. The output is running into my Dell SIO2PC station through a ATI video capture card. I was actually suprised at the output running it this way. Very nice.

(snip...)

I hope this gives a good idea of what the XEP80 looks like.

 

A couple of questions -- You indicate using the XEP80 with an ATI capture card. Which card are you using. I have 3 different AIW cards, and none will reproduce the XEP80 monochrome signal. Does your XEP80 display overscan the screen? How many lines and how many columns can you display? On NTSC systems, the XEP80 frequently can display no more than 23 lines and 78 columns (sometimes less). And being monochrome, the XEP80 signal cannot be reproduced by many modern display devices.

-Larry

[+Guitarman]

A couple of questions -- You indicate using the XEP80 with an ATI capture card. Which card are you using. I have 3 different AIW cards, and none will reproduce the XEP80 monochrome signal.

I have an old ATI TV tuner card that also has a composite video in jack. That is what it is connected to. It should work on any capture card with composite in jack.

 

Does your XEP80 display overscan the screen? How many lines and how many columns can you display?

When used with a regular monitor (I tried it with a Commodore 1802), the picture from the XEP80 did run off the left side of the screen a bit. Just adjust the horizontal size of the monitor. Through the capture card, I was running it in a window and saw exactly what was in the captures.

 

On NTSC systems, the XEP80 frequently can display no more than 23 lines and 78 columns (sometimes less). And being monochrome, the XEP80 signal cannot be reproduced by many modern display devices.

The XEP80 output is standard composite and should work on anything with a video in jack.

[+bf2k+]

Looks great... I am going to have to get my XEP-80 out and see how well it does. Software has to support it ... correct??

Edited June 15, 2007 by bf2k+

[+Guitarman]

Looks great... I am going to have to get my XEP-80 out and see how well it does. Software has to support it ... correct??

 

Most, yes. I think most text based apps that sit on top of DOS will probably work. Just load the app from a disk with DOS and the driver on it. Atariwriter80 has its own driver on the media. Cart based programming languages should all work. I think there are other apps that support it directly but I'm not sure which.

Here is some info I found.

 

All programs that use the standard screen call (E:) should be compatible with the XEP80 Module. The software provided by Atari supports a 320x200 graphics mode - this mode only support direct bit images. Note that you can't use all of the standard graphic capabilities of the Atari anymore.

 

Although Atari recommends a monochrome monitor for usage with the XEP80, it runs fine with any type of composite monitor. The output looks great on a Commodore 1084 for example.

 

Along with the module comes a software-package containing an AUTORUN.SYS file, which is the XEP80 handler. If you want to use the module with an application that is compatible with the XEP80, which has it's own AUTORUN.SYS file, you can append the application's AUTORUN.SYS on the module's AUTORUN.SYS.

 

Editors for the XEP80:

AtariWriter 80 by Atari

TurboWord by MicroMiser

emacs subset by Stan Lackey

MAE and its previous standalone editor ED