OSNXL & OMNIVIEW 80 XL

[Wally1]

hi

 

I am thinking about getting these two chips

 

does anybody know anything about them?

 

like, no soldering I believe, right?

 

and is there a 400/800 compatible OS built into OSNXL?

 

what does the 3 mode switch do...?

 

and how decent is omniview 80, can I put both upgrades in the same computer?

 

thanks a million my Atari brothers

Walter

 

 

oh yeah B and C computervisions is kind of busy these days

Edited November 17, 2013 by Wally1

[BillC]

hi

 

I am thinking about getting these two chips

 

does anybody know anything about them?

 

like, no soldering I believe, right?

 

and is there a 400/800 compatible OS built into OSNXL?

 

what does the 3 mode switch do...?

 

and how decent is omniview 80, can I put both upgrades in the same computer?

 

thanks a million my Atari brothers

Walter

 

 

oh yeah B and C computervisions is kind of busy these days

Whether or not soldering is required or not depends on whether the OS chip is socketed. Also unless you have an aftermarket OS upgrade, or stack the ROM chips with switching, the limit is one OS chip per machine.

 

Some alternatives for multiple OS are:

Newell RamrodXL; vintage plug-in board with sockets for 3 OS chips, rarely available for sale.

Atarimax 32-in-1 OS upgrade; overkill in my opinion, does include 800, Omnimon and Omniview OSs

Candle's Ultimate 1MB upgrade; has 4 selectable OS choices, 1MB RAM, SpartaDOS_X & RTC, user flashable.

For those with access to EPROM burners 2 or 4 OSs can be burned into a single larger EPROM, with switches installed to high address lines for selecting OS.

[Wally1]

"the limit is one OS per machine"

 

 

so what does the 3 mode switch do?

 

thx

[Roydea6]

3 way switch one way for OS1 second way for OSNXL third way for OMNIVIEW, so that only one is available at a time..

And turn off power between switch moves.

[Wally1]

so if I buy OSNXL, it has omnview built-in?

 

I don't have to get two separate chips..? (like B and C advertises)

 

that's great

 

and OS1 I guess is just the standard XL OS...

[Rybags]

If you have the skill and spare Eproms on hand then it's worthwhile, otherwise for not much extra cost is one of the AtariMax OS upgrades.

 

I've got a 32in1 that I was thinking of selling - been unused since I upgraded my 800XL with Ultimate 1 Meg.

[Wally1]

I think im gonna get the osnxl

 

thanks Rybags!

[BillC]

"the limit is one OS per machine"

 

 

so what does the 3 mode switch do?

 

thx

OSNXL is just an 800 compatible OS for the 800XL by Newell. You were probably reading about the Ramrod XL upgrade board I mentioned earlier, which plugs into the OS socket and has sockets for 3 OS chips, which had OSNXL and Omniview installed.

[Wally1]

now I'm confused

 

You're saying it is just a 800 compatible OS..?

 

the old reviews for OSNXL describe it having Omnimon built-in.

 

so what exactly is the osnxl chip that B and C sells for 29.95, if

it's just an 800 OS then it entirely replaces the old chip?

 

one review said that OSNXL has OMNIMON built in, is this right? (I hope so)

(it also has FASTCHIP..? and other features like faster typing and faster cassette baud rate)

 

 

so I guess I will have to buy OMNiVIEW separately, too.

 

that's cool however.

Edited November 18, 2013 by Wally1

[BillC]

now I'm confused

 

I thought OSNXL was Omnimon and Omnview, a combo of sorts that you accessed w/a 3 way switch.

 

You're saying it is just a 800 compatible OS..?

 

the old reviews for OSNXL describe it having Omnimon built-in.

 

so what exactly is the osnxl chip that B and C sells for 29.95, if

it's just an 800 OS that is pretty good but how do you toggle between them?

OSNXL, Omnimon and Omniview are all just replacement OSs with different features. The Ramrod XL is a circuit board which plugs into the 800XL OS socket and has sockets for 3 OS chips, with a switch to select the active OS.

 

The review you read must have been for the Ramrod XL, like this one. The review could also have been for an OSNXL already installed in a Ramrod XL which didn't state which features were of the OS and which were of the circuit board.

[Wally1]

okay thanks BillC

 

I'll figure it out

 

prob gonna buy the osnxl and omnview 80 chips

 

and see what I can sort out

 

enjoy life

[BillC]

okay thanks BillC

 

I'll figure it out

 

prob gonna buy the osnxl and omnview 80 chips

 

and see what I can sort out

 

enjoy life

I just want you to be able to make an informed decision, rather than finding out afterwards that what you order isn't what you thought it was going to be.

[Wally1]

right thanks

 

all clear

[+David_P]

Or, there's always the Ultraspeed plus OS from CSS:

 

http://nleaudio.com/css/products/ultraspdplus.htm

[ryanr256]

OSNXL will let you use the Omnimon monitor and gives you an 800 compatible OS with a few added features.

 

OmniviewXL gives you an 80 column display that may or may not work with a specific program.

 

Ramrod XL gives you a board that three OS chips can be plugged into (Original XL OS, OSNXL, OmniviewXL). The board has a switch which will allow to select which OS you want to run before you boot the machine. This board plugs into the OS chip socket on the motherboard.

 

If you are just buying the chips, you will have to come up with your own switching system to switch between the various OSes unless you want to disassemble your XL before each boot.

 

I have the RamrodXL in my 800XL. I don't use it much anymore though. I have it because I used OmnimonXL quite a bit back in the day. Actually, that's why I have the 800XL. Nostalgia.

 

If you want the full benefit of OSNXL and OmniviewXL, then look for the RamrodXL. It will give you the most flexibility with little hassle. I don't think just having the chips will be of much benefit to you unless you want to install one in place of the XL OS and leave it there. But, that's my opinion.

 

[edit]

If your 800XL has soldered chips, you'll need to unsolder them and either solder a socket for the new OS chips or solder the new OS chips on the motherboard. Or, you can leave the original OS chip in place, but then you'll have to cut legs on the chip, add solder a switch to the cut legs and solder the new chip to the old.

[/edit]

 

-Bob

Edited November 18, 2013 by ryanr256

[BillC]

Or, there's always the Ultraspeed plus OS from CSS:

 

http://nleaudio.com/css/products/ultraspdplus.htm

It's my understanding that Bob is no longer selling Atari upgrades, and that this site is for informational purposes only.

[BillC]

right thanks

 

all clear

I went back and investigated a bit more and learned that OmnimonXL and FastchipXL are components of the OSNXL OS, while I thought OmnimonXL was a separate OS(at least that the way I've usually seen it referred to). And this is with owning a Ramrod XL/OSNXL enhanced machine for about 25 years

[Wally1]

thanks Ryanr256

 

very clear now

 

yeah i'd like to replace the stock xl os with the osnxl.

pretty sure my xl is socketed, thankfully

 

some very nice features.

 

the ramrod board is hard to find nowadays and I'd rather not install a switch besides

 

@BillC, yeah I surmised the same thing from that review.

[BillC]

thanks Ryanr256

 

very clear now

 

yeah i'd like to replace the stock xl os with the osnxl.

pretty sure my xl is socketed, thankfully

 

some very nice features.

 

the ramrod board is hard to find nowadays and I'd rather not install a switch besides

 

@BillC, yeah I surmised the same thing from that review.

Even with the Ramrod board there's still a switch needed, the only multiple OS upgrades that don't require a switch(that I know of) are the Atarimax 32-in-1 OS or the Ultimate 1MB upgrade(and Incognito for the 800). This is because they use a menu utility to select the default OS.

[ricortes]

On cell so typo city. There is software that checks for stock os so you need that. The omniview has the best 800/400 compatability. Limit on using the 80 column mode is it only works with programs that don`t use their own routines. Stuff like basic or dos work fine, Action or Speedscript, not so much.

 

Omnimon is a great hacking tool. Ability to jump to a monitor in the middle og any program, built in asm and disk routines. You can even insert a game cart, jump to monitor, boot dos, and binary save the cart.

 

A few other features in there depending on model. Stuff like built in ramdisk hanflers and ATR8000 support.

 

May nag on Ramrod is it uses ~wirewrap socket. Pins are huge! Insert that puppy in your mobo & a regular ic will never fit right again.

[Mclaneinc]

Omnimon is excellent and very recommended, I'd suggest that any rom OS's you add are truly switch able and you can also just run the plain OS since some games will detect Omnimon and overwrite itself as protection.

 

And to add more to the confusion there's also Ultimon (similar to Omnimon) which its very kind owner John Lawson has made public to use and he's also working n an upgraded new version but he's a VERY busy guy.

Edited November 18, 2013 by Mclaneinc

[russg]

OSNXL, Omnimon and Omniview are all just replacement OSs with different features. The Ramrod XL is a circuit board which plugs into the 800XL OS socket and has sockets for 3 OS chips, with a switch to select the active OS.

 

The review you read must have been for the Ramrod XL, like this one. The review could also have been for an OSNXL already installed in a Ramrod XL which didn't state which features were of the OS and which were of the circuit board.

OSNXL is the Omnimon plus custom (fast?) 800XL OS, it is one OS chip. Ramrod XL is a three OS simple plug-in (if socketed OS), that holds OSNXL(has Omnimon monitor), Omniview(80 col), and stock XL/XE OS.

Omnimon is a fantastic device, you hit OPTION/RESET to enter the monitor and from there can do lots of things, most notable dump any cart to disk sectors. Then use my RW13 to dump sectors to a file.

You select the OS you want with a three-way switch. You can use any three OS you like, you don't have to have three, I don't have Omniview, only have two OS, stock and OSNXL.

(I think you can dump memory to a file with DOS 2.5/MyDOS 4.53 write mem to file, but I never realized that). B&C sells just the OSNXL OS for $30. Newell sold the RamrodXL three OS plug-in device.

I don't think B&C sells the RamRod.. Today, probably if you want OSNXL and every other OS known in the universe, you might consider a Atarimax 32 in 1 OS upgrade, I don't know if that requires

soldering, probably does.

edit: OSNXL was also a Newell item) AND just to be complete, a RAMBO XL is a 256K Newell XL/XE upgrade.

AND ALSO ICD bought Newell and FTe bought ICD.

Edited November 20, 2013 by russg

[ryanr256]

...

edit: OSNXL was also a Newell item) AND just to be complete, a RAMBO XL is a 256K Newell XL/XE upgrade.

AND ALSO ICD bought Newell and FTe bought ICD.

I've always thought that the Newell memory upgrade was different than the Rambo.

 

-Bob

[russg]

I've always thought that the Newell memory upgrade was different than the Rambo.

 

-Bob

You are correct. The Newell 256K XL upgrade is just the Newell 256K XL upgrade. The Rambo XL 256K upgrade is a ICD/FTe product. Sorry. Actually, the Newell also belongs to FTe.

I still have a Newell 256K board.

 

There's also a European 256/320K famous upgrade that escapes me at the moment. And today, you gotta have the U1M 1 meg upgrade and a bunch of other upgrades.

Which might go to another thread of when is an Atari no longer an Atari.

Edited November 20, 2013 by russg

[ryanr256]

You are correct. The Newell 256K XL upgrade is just the Newell 256K XL upgrade. The Rambo XL 256K upgrade is a ICD/FTe product. Sorry. Actually, the Newell also belongs to FTe.

I still have a Newell 256K board.

 

There's also a European 256/320K famous upgrade that escapes me at the moment.

My 800XL has the RamrodXL and Newell 256k mods in it. I've also done the SuperVideo 2.1 mod on it.

 

It's the pride of my collection.

 

I'd like to find a Rambo board (or two).

 

But we digress. :-)

 

To reiterate what has already been said, running the OSNXL (w/Omnimon) alone probably isn't a good idea. Most of the later software recognizes Omnimon and won't run with it active. So you need some way to switch to a "normal" Atari OS to run that software.

 

-Bob