+slx Posted November 17, 2017 Share Posted November 17, 2017 Found this on EBay. As I don't think Atari ever sold 850 kits I assume someone got a stack of 850 boards from an Atari warehouse sale and added a photocopied sheet with parts and instructions. Has anyone ever seen this before (or even built one)? Going this way would allow building an 850 with "normal" connectors, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AtariGeezer Posted November 17, 2017 Share Posted November 17, 2017 I bought one of those kits last year for $10, but haven't built it yet. Board looks authentic.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_The Doctor__ Posted November 17, 2017 Share Posted November 17, 2017 The boards are 100% authentic. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mathy Posted November 17, 2017 Share Posted November 17, 2017 Hello guys Wasn't there a company decades ago that sold this kind of stuff. They had ads as big as a whole page in some computer magazines. Sincerely Mathy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+slx Posted November 18, 2017 Author Share Posted November 18, 2017 (edited) I I bought one of those kits last year for $10, but haven't built it yet. Board looks authentic.. If you write "kit" was there more to it than just the board and the - I assume - quartz oscillator? In order to get it up and running, wouldn't you need an EPROM with the R: handler and the "firmware"? I didn't doubt the authenticity, just wondered if it was a common item or more of a one-off or small series. Edited November 18, 2017 by slx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bandit Posted November 18, 2017 Share Posted November 18, 2017 American TV Sold that, It was cheap, I bought it just to hang on wall. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+kheller2 Posted November 18, 2017 Share Posted November 18, 2017 I"m amazed they were still making 850s in March '84 (looking at solder mask) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+JAC! Posted November 18, 2017 Share Posted November 18, 2017 Nice find. Never knew bare boards were sold. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Level42 Posted November 18, 2017 Share Posted November 18, 2017 (edited) They probably wanted to make some money of the stack of unpopulated boards they were left with after they found out the 850 wasn't moving.....The 850 was crazy expensive at first. I think I bought one around 1984 maybe early 1985 when the price here plummeted to 150 Dutch guilders, which was a bargain compared to original price. Mind you, the complete 850 is one heck of a quality built device, entirely in Atari's early FCC/tank style and.....it's another computer around the computer. Just like the 1050 it has a 6507 on board....in fact...the thing is ALMOST an Atari 2600....only TIA is missing Edited November 18, 2017 by Level42 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Level42 Posted November 18, 2017 Share Posted November 18, 2017 I"m amazed they were still making 850s in March '84 (looking at solder mask) Not sure if that's a date code. Usually date codes are YYWW (YY=Year, WW=weeknr.). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AtariGeezer Posted November 18, 2017 Share Posted November 18, 2017 I If you write "kit" was there more to it than just the board and the - I assume - quartz oscillator? In order to get it up and running, wouldn't you need an EPROM with the R: handler and the "firmware"? I didn't doubt the authenticity, just wondered if it was a common item or more of a one-off or small series. It does include the crystal, the instructions also tell you how to read the original ROM and configure the board for a 2532 EPROM. Maybe not a full kit, but kit is used a bit loosely 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mathy Posted November 18, 2017 Share Posted November 18, 2017 (edited) Hello Andre ... after they found out the 850 wasn't moving..... Not sure about the early years, but a lot of the later stuff wasn't moving because Atari wasn't moving it. Not because people didn't want (or didn't have the money) to buy it. Sincerely Mathy Edited November 18, 2017 by Mathy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Level42 Posted November 19, 2017 Share Posted November 19, 2017 I remember the 850 was about 450 Dutch guilders or so....maybe more. Competitors started selling Centronics ports at about 150 Guilders.... But yeah, Atari never promoted it very much.... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+slx Posted November 19, 2017 Author Share Posted November 19, 2017 Mind you, the complete 850 is one heck of a quality built device, entirely in Atari's early FCC/tank style and.....it's another computer around the computer. Just like the 1050 it has a 6507 on board....in fact...the thing is ALMOST an Atari 2600....only TIA is missing No doubt about that but I suppose most people didn‘t need what the 850 could do and were content with a small SIO to Centronics converter that didn‘t need a power supply of its own and cost much less. The fraction of users needing more than one serial port or more than a SIO or Joystick port connected modem must have been smaller by several orders of magnitude still. But you can‘t blame Atari for misestimating the market. It took some time for the industry to find out that peripherals like modems and printers are best left to third party suppliers. Gesendet von iPhone mit Tapatalk 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidMil Posted November 20, 2017 Share Posted November 20, 2017 I can't even begin to imagine how much software I downloaded from BBS's. Used my 850 with my old acoustical coupler and then a 835 and finally a Hayes 1200 baud smartmodem. I usually did it over night when everybody else in the family was asleep. David 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fred_M Posted November 22, 2017 Share Posted November 22, 2017 (edited) I have one in my collection too. If people are interested in the documentation, here it is Edited November 22, 2017 by Fred_M 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Level42 Posted November 22, 2017 Share Posted November 22, 2017 Should we build it Fred ? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Stephen Posted November 22, 2017 Share Posted November 22, 2017 Here's 600dpi scans of my bare board. Hmm - it looks like the forum may have resized the files. I have uncompressed 600DPI files, if these do not show up that way. They are 46MB each, I can upload them somewhere to a free hosting site if needed. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Level42 Posted November 23, 2017 Share Posted November 23, 2017 (edited) Someone with too much time at hands should turn this into an Eagle CAD (or whatever else) file And produce some gerbers....than we can have them produced in China for close to nothing....Now building it up is a different story. Redisigning to an SMD version would be nice.....this board would REALLY shrink a lot when SMD would be used. [EDIT] It would already shrink a lot if the entire power section would be removed and we'd supply it with a USB power supply....[/EDIT] Don't think 6507 and PIA's are available in SMD but.....o well....never mind....this could all fit in an FPGA or maybe even simpler IC's today. Maybe you can emulate the whole thing with an Arduino ? I have no idea....do we actually still need Centronics and RS-232 ? Maybe an SMD version and let the guys in China buildit for us ? Would be a nice little board to add to a 1088XLE Edited November 23, 2017 by Level42 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Level42 Posted November 23, 2017 Share Posted November 23, 2017 Checked schematics. Too bad, it doesn't look like you can skip one of the PIA'.s. And the clock circuit uses 10V but I bet there are ways around that... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+slx Posted November 23, 2017 Author Share Posted November 23, 2017 When redisigning it, putting more oomph into it to allow >9.600 baud speeds in and out would be interesting. I certainly lack the electronics knowledge to even contemplate such a project as much as I lack applications for 57K modem communication on the Atari but it sure would be cool 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ivop Posted November 23, 2017 Share Posted November 23, 2017 What would be the use of a re-imaged 850 in this day and age? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
venom4728a Posted November 23, 2017 Share Posted November 23, 2017 To connect this, or even build the wifi module interface into the new board. http://biosrhythm.com/?page_id=1453 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+MrFish Posted November 23, 2017 Share Posted November 23, 2017 Here's 600dpi scans of my bare board. Hmm - it looks like the forum may have resized the files. I have uncompressed 600DPI files, if these do not show up that way. They are 46MB each, I can upload them somewhere to a free hosting site if needed. 850 PCB 00_cr.png 850 PCB 01_cr.png Just upload them here in two separate posts. Last time I checked the limit was 50mb. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Stephen Posted November 23, 2017 Share Posted November 23, 2017 Just upload them here in two separate posts. Last time I checked the limit was 50mb. OK - if anybody wants the full size files, just shoot me a message and I'll post them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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