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What can a 130XE do that an 800 can't?


toptenmaterial

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I am going to be getting a 130XE soon, and already have an 800. My experience with the A8 line has been the 800 and, from time to time, the 5200 (which I am inclined to include in the A8 line). Now, I have a pretty good sense of what the Atari 8-bit machines can and can't do. But what can the 130XE do that the 800 cannot? Are there better games available?

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The extra memory can be used as a RAM disk. 64K games will work. Not sure how many games NEED 64K.

 

In my opinion, the 800 (or 800XL) is better than the 130 XE. Just my opinion mind you...but I've always had trouble reading the reset/start/option/help buttons on the XE's, the XE keyboard is kind of squishy, and the cart port is hard to work with. I ended up selling mine, as I never used it. 800XL is my main choice...easiest to use for me. Let us know what you think once you get yours.

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I am going to be getting a 130XE soon, and already have an 800. (...)

 

 

Lot of it depends on your memories and personal preference... but (functionally speaking), you may consider getting Incognito, upgrading your 800 with it, and never look back.

 

Just watch how nicely VideoBlitz runs on the "JM" 800... :grin:

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Comparing XE with Atari 800 (OSB) is much more different, than comparing 800XL to 130XE.

 

When I had to chose between an 48K 800 (PAL) and a 130XE (PAL) without anything else... I am afraid I would have to pick the 130XE, since it simply runs much more software. Not only the titles with extra memory, but also the titles that use XL/XE os, and the memory beneath the OS (so 64KB).

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I am going to be getting a 130XE soon, and already have an 800. My experience with the A8 line has been the 800 and, from time to time, the 5200 (which I am inclined to include in the A8 line). Now, I have a pretty good sense of what the Atari 8-bit machines can and can't do. But what can the 130XE do that the 800 cannot? Are there better games available?

The most significant inability of the 800 is disk versions of SpartaDOS. Significant to me because I prefer SpartaDOS 3.2g. MyDOS 4.53 works fine.

There are some games that don't require extra memory, but do require an XL/XE because they use RAM under the OS, which 800 doesn't have.

Edited by russg
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Russg said it quite well. SpartaDos is a biggie (though SpartaDos 1 will work).

 

I have a Atari 800 which I like a lot. I have the incogneto... which I need to install.

 

I think the reason I have not jumped on that is my current tinkering on the 800 does not need it. But then right now I run Flickerterm for calling out, and most of the games I play run just fine with 48K.

 

So when you start to notice the lack of 64K or above or the XL/XE memory is in things like ICE-T XE, some demos, applications (I remember there was a new word processor that I had to slap in Warerat's XL/XE mod to run)

 

But other than that, the 800 unmodified can accomplish a lot on its own. It also has one of the better keyboards, best video out, and when you get tired of the memory limitations, it can be upgraded further now. :)

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Yes, but only the XL OS and upwards have the fine scroll register at $26E. Poking non-zero there will do nothing on an 800.

 

It's not really a register. It's a flag for the OS that tells it to manage fine scrolling in GRAPHICS 0. After poking the location you have to call graphics 0 for this to work.

 

It is slick looking and also great if you like to watch really, really, really, slow listings scroll by.

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