in8regs Posted February 23, 2011 Share Posted February 23, 2011 Were there games that required a 1200xl, 800xl, 130xe, or xegs over the original 800 to run? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mimo Posted February 23, 2011 Share Posted February 23, 2011 Yes, quite a lot Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
in8regs Posted February 23, 2011 Author Share Posted February 23, 2011 Yes, quite a lot How about the 800xl vs 130xe? Are there older games incompatible with newer models? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mimo Posted February 23, 2011 Share Posted February 23, 2011 no, as long as you.have a 64k xl or xe you are pretty much good.to.go Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
in8regs Posted February 23, 2011 Author Share Posted February 23, 2011 no, as long as you.have a 64k xl or xe you are pretty much good.to.go Ah, OK, so if an 800 were upgraded to 64k+, that would get rid of the requirement issue for most games? I found this website: http://www.atarimuseum.com/faqs/HARD_FAQ.HTML that goes over memory upgrades past 48k for the original 800. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mimo Posted February 23, 2011 Share Posted February 23, 2011 unfortunately not, the XL and XE use bank switching different to the 800. You can still play loads of games though, probably 80% or so of the total Atari 8bit library. If you enjoy it you can pick up an XL or XE pretty cheaply Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adam242 Posted February 24, 2011 Share Posted February 24, 2011 Were there games that required a 1200xl, 800xl, 130xe, or xegs over the original 800 to run? The way to go is picking up an XL or XE and installing the AtariMax 32-in-1 OS upgrade. This gives you software compatibility with the entire range of Atari 8-bit machines, without the need for a 'translator' disk. Easy to install, easy to use, the price is right. And if you want to be able to run all the latest current releases, a memory upgrade isn't too hard to do either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sup8pdct Posted February 24, 2011 Share Posted February 24, 2011 Were there games that required a 1200xl, 800xl, 130xe, or xegs over the original 800 to run? There are some older ones that required os rev A and/or os rev B that came with the 400/800. These can be over come with patches to the programs or translator disk or os change for xl/xe. 4 player joystick games do require a 400/800 but there are not many of those and even fewer people playing them 4 at once. James Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
in8regs Posted February 24, 2011 Author Share Posted February 24, 2011 (edited) Were there games that required a 1200xl, 800xl, 130xe, or xegs over the original 800 to run? The way to go is picking up an XL or XE and installing the AtariMax 32-in-1 OS upgrade. This gives you software compatibility with the entire range of Atari 8-bit machines, without the need for a 'translator' disk. Easy to install, easy to use, the price is right. And if you want to be able to run all the latest current releases, a memory upgrade isn't too hard to do either. You forgot to list your Atari cat in your tagline:) Edited February 24, 2011 by in8regs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adam242 Posted February 24, 2011 Share Posted February 24, 2011 Were there games that required a 1200xl, 800xl, 130xe, or xegs over the original 800 to run? The way to go is picking up an XL or XE and installing the AtariMax 32-in-1 OS upgrade. This gives you software compatibility with the entire range of Atari 8-bit machines, without the need for a 'translator' disk. Easy to install, easy to use, the price is right. And if you want to be able to run all the latest current releases, a memory upgrade isn't too hard to do either. You forgot to list your Atari cat in your tagline:) His name is Julius... that's his favorite place to hang out, on top of my collection. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
in8regs Posted February 24, 2011 Author Share Posted February 24, 2011 Were there games that required a 1200xl, 800xl, 130xe, or xegs over the original 800 to run? The way to go is picking up an XL or XE and installing the AtariMax 32-in-1 OS upgrade. This gives you software compatibility with the entire range of Atari 8-bit machines, without the need for a 'translator' disk. Easy to install, easy to use, the price is right. And if you want to be able to run all the latest current releases, a memory upgrade isn't too hard to do either. You forgot to list your Atari cat in your tagline:) His name is Julius... that's his favorite place to hang out, on top of my collection. So that's the official name, the Atari Julius:) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+orpheuswaking Posted February 24, 2011 Share Posted February 24, 2011 Were there games that required a 1200xl, 800xl, 130xe, or xegs over the original 800 to run? The way to go is picking up an XL or XE and installing the AtariMax 32-in-1 OS upgrade. This gives you software compatibility with the entire range of Atari 8-bit machines, without the need for a 'translator' disk. Easy to install, easy to use, the price is right. And if you want to be able to run all the latest current releases, a memory upgrade isn't too hard to do either. Nothing wrong with the 32-1 OS upgrade, but if you are just looking for compatability and you have someone who can burn eproms you can do a 4-1 OS a lot cheaper... I have several in my machines and have yet to find something that wont run under one of them (I'll have to go check to remember what four I put on them though) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hatta Posted February 24, 2011 Share Posted February 24, 2011 This may be a dumb question, but what does the 32-in-1 or 4-in-1 actually do? 32 what in 1 what? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pilsner73 Posted February 24, 2011 Share Posted February 24, 2011 (edited) This may be a dumb question, but what does the 32-in-1 or 4-in-1 actually do? 32 what in 1 what? It's 32 OS versions in 1 chip. Got www.atarimax.com and check out the page for more information. Edited February 24, 2011 by Pilsner73 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hatta Posted February 24, 2011 Share Posted February 24, 2011 It's 32 OS versions in 1 chip. Got www.atarimax.com and check out the page for more information. So it's like JiffyDOS for C64s? Why do you need 32 of them and how do you know which one you need to use? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sloopy Posted February 24, 2011 Share Posted February 24, 2011 no, JD just modifies the C= OS for faster speeds and easy disk commands... in the atari the OS can be modified for many things, some are as simple as changing the effect of the option key at boot (hold down option to enable built in basic, instead of disabling it), others are OS's that have high speed disk drive routines, some have 80 Column capabilities, and others have a built in machine language monitor (OmniView/OmniMon). there are OS's with support for using MyIDE directly, and some more with other modifications. more then 4 seems overkill especially on a machine that is just for games, and not development of some kind... sloopy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alphasys Posted February 25, 2011 Share Posted February 25, 2011 It's 32 OS versions in 1 chip. Got www.atarimax.com and check out the page for more information. So it's like JiffyDOS for C64s? Why do you need 32 of them and how do you know which one you need to use? There are 2 basic versions of OS's for the XL/XE systems. One that enhances the XL/XE OS (High speeds SIO routines, 80 column output, Built in machine language monitor/editor, ramdisk handling and/or custom boot-up screens/fonts/colors/Floating point package) and one that makes 400/800 software (mostly) work on the XL/XE (so called "translators", usually with one or more of the previously mentioned enhancements as there's 6k extra space in comparison to the 400/800 rom). None of these are mandatory, but are just there to enhance your Atari 8-bit experience and in case of translators, to enable you to play the "older" games without having to load the "translator" from disk. Lots of these custom OS-es have a "monitor" built in, that enables you to change program properties on the fly. Mostly a programmer thing. Not really useful if you only play games. A little more in depth: Although the Atari 400/800 and XL/XE range are largely the same kind of machine, the XL/XE lack 2 joystick ports in comparison. This is because the leads that were used for the "extra" joystick ports are now used for switching of the OS/Basic/Self test and in XE machines (or expanded XL machines), for addressing RAM banks of the extra memory. Also, some of the "entry points" for OS routines have been changed between the 400/800 and XL/XE systems, making software using those routines fail, as they address a function on the "wrong" location. Translator OS versions "correct" that behavior, making "older" software able to run on the "newer" machines. My "Avatar" here is an example of a customised OS with an animated (not apparent from the avatar) startup screen using the memory where normally the self-test would reside. Also includes a custom font. (400/800 has memopad, XL/XE has a self test with routines to test the RAM, color and sound output, and keyboard input.) Some of these OS-es will only reveal their "enhancements" with software that's specially written for them, as for example, Omniview, which has a built in 80-column output mode. Others only have use with specific enhancements, as for example, Q-Meg, which can use 256k of extra memory as ramdrives, in varying density modes, and even can boot from a ramdrive as if it's D1:. 32 OS versions may be a bit of overkill, but if there's the room on the chip, why not use it? I have 10 OS versions in my real machine, 40 to choose from in the emulator environment and that list is still growing (as I keep finding and making more and more custom roms for varying applications, mostly cosmetic changes). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hatta Posted February 25, 2011 Share Posted February 25, 2011 Wow, thanks for the thorough response. I will have to invest in one of these. Interesting bit about the joystick ports, I thought they were just cutting costs. I guess that means you can't hack in extra joystick ports on an XL? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mimo Posted February 25, 2011 Share Posted February 25, 2011 I have 16 joystick ports on my xl Check out the multijoy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lumbee74 Posted February 26, 2011 Share Posted February 26, 2011 I recently bought a xegs from a fine member of the AA community. I never had an atari computer before, but despite not having a lot of games for it yet, I have really enjoyed it. I would recommend it as a must buy as well as the entire line of xe/xl computers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alphasys Posted February 26, 2011 Share Posted February 26, 2011 (edited) Wow, thanks for the thorough response. I will have to invest in one of these. Interesting bit about the joystick ports, I thought they were just cutting costs. I guess that means you can't hack in extra joystick ports on an XL? Adding joystick ports to an XL would mean using a special interface, like the multijoy interface. It's not the same as the 4 ports on the 400/800 series though. Those 2 joystick ports are used for a purpose on the XL, just not to address joystick inputs. But then again... Basic was a cartridge on the 400/800... XL/XE has it built in. They needed a means to turn it off, 1 lead from a joystick port. When are you really gonna find 3 more friends to play one of the few games that can handle 4 players anyways? Then they figured, why not do the same for the OS... Another lead gone. Oh and we had this new self-test thing... Another lead. Then they built the XE... 64k more memory. 4 banks to be switched... 2 more leads. It all sounds a bit like a botch-job, but there's a real purpose for those leads, sacrificing 2 players. [edit] Remember that when these computers were made, chips were really expensive... So they had to use what they had. Cutting costs, yeah, but adding the functionality otherwise would have made them even more expensive to build. And really... When do you have 3 friends over to play one of the few games that actually supported 4 players? [/edit] Edited February 26, 2011 by Alphasys Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrianC Posted February 26, 2011 Share Posted February 26, 2011 Too bad the Genesis 4p adapter can't be used for 4p on the XL. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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