Sugarland Posted March 9, 2018 Share Posted March 9, 2018 (edited) A friend of mine recently got an 800 that was used for a few hours (if at all) and then packed away and stored in a basement for nearly 35 years. The owner recently passed away and many unused (?) computer products were found. Presumably he was a computer hoarder. The machine does work. I took these photos on the 8th of March 2018. In one photo the color can be compared with a yellowed 800. In the spirit of appreciating the beauty of the 800 and sharing here on the forums, I am granting limited rights use of the photos. You may use them freely for personal non commercial use and for archiving and for free use here on the forum. They may not be used them for commercial or monetary gain. The photos may be used at Atari gatherings for non monetary purposes. I retain all other copyrights to the images besides the limited rights granted here. The machine is date coded 203 (20th week of '83) so it is one of the last made. Edited March 9, 2018 by Sugarland 15 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+MrFish Posted March 9, 2018 Share Posted March 9, 2018 Excellent! Encore! More pics! Love seeing these ancient machines unearthed in new or mint condition. The 600XL looks great too. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sugarland Posted March 9, 2018 Author Share Posted March 9, 2018 MrFish glad you enjoy them! I feel the same. Atari porn! As you request here are some more. Note: There is dust in between the keycaps in some of the images. That's the original dust from before he boxed it back up in '83. So that's the story behind the 80's dust. It says how long he had it out before he boxed it back up. Looks like about 1-2 days of dust. As you know, the keycaps come off easily and can be wiped/cleaned so its no problem. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+MrFish Posted March 9, 2018 Share Posted March 9, 2018 MrFish glad you enjoy them! I feel the same. Atari porn! As you request here are some more. Yeah, she's a beaut'. I had a real nice one, that I ended up selling. I think I posted the pictures up before, or maybe that was the mint 1200XL; I'll have to check. Note: There is dust in between the keycaps in some of the images. That's the original dust from before he boxed it back up in '83. So that's the story behind the 80's dust. It says how long he had it out before he boxed it back up. Looks like about 1-2 days of dust. As you know, the keycaps come off easily and can be wiped/cleaned so its no problem. Oooooh!! Original dust!! Haha... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Level42 Posted March 9, 2018 Share Posted March 9, 2018 Jeezz....looks sexy But.....No love for the 600XL ? Was that boxed after 1-2 days uses too ? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sugarland Posted March 9, 2018 Author Share Posted March 9, 2018 Oh the 600XL has never been used or opened. That's the original Atari bag still sealed. The pink bag with chips behind it is the memory upgrade ready to go if he wants to open it. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tjlazer Posted March 9, 2018 Share Posted March 9, 2018 Wow! Amazing find. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_The Doctor__ Posted March 9, 2018 Share Posted March 9, 2018 (edited) I would just use an aero duster, would not pull the key caps at all Edited March 9, 2018 by _The Doctor__ 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Level42 Posted March 9, 2018 Share Posted March 9, 2018 Oh the 600XL has never been used or opened. That's the original Atari bag still sealed. The pink bag with chips behind it is the memory upgrade ready to go if he wants to open it. Nice...... But I wonder where all those chips would go in the 600XL ??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Nezgar Posted March 9, 2018 Share Posted March 9, 2018 But I wonder where all those chips would go in the 600XL ??? I was thinking the same thing, if those are 4464's you only need 2. Maybe the rest were to upgrade other 600XL's as well. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RAM Posted March 9, 2018 Share Posted March 9, 2018 That belongs in a museum! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sugarland Posted March 9, 2018 Author Share Posted March 9, 2018 That belongs in a museum! Yes it does. The owner believes so as well. He is considering exactly that. If any of you know a good museum who is able to pay for it please reply here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mclaneinc Posted March 9, 2018 Share Posted March 9, 2018 (edited) That, is a thing of beauty! Trouble is that if its out in strong lights its going to turn... Don't you just hate the idea of knowing the only way to keep a thing in great condition is not to use or see it (must try that with the wife ) Edited March 9, 2018 by Mclaneinc 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+mytek Posted March 9, 2018 Share Posted March 9, 2018 Put it in a sealed glass case purged of any contaminates with nitrogen gas. Then use LED lighting from outside of the case to illuminate it. The glass will also filter out any UV from getting to it. There may be other precautions, but I'm sure a good museum would know what would be required to preserve it. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sugarland Posted March 9, 2018 Author Share Posted March 9, 2018 That, is a thing of beauty! Trouble is that if its out in strong lights its going to turn... Don't you just hate the idea of knowing the only way to keep a thing in great condition is not to use or see it (must try that with the wife ) Yes it's a real dilemma. What about using UV Archival varnish spray? I just sprayed some of the satin on a non working (no chips work it seems) 600XL as a preliminary run. It seems fine. I remember FJC recommended it in one of his vids. He suggested satin iirc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marius Posted March 9, 2018 Share Posted March 9, 2018 I was thinking the same thing, if those are 4464's you only need 2. Maybe the rest were to upgrade other 600XL's as well. These was a pretty common upgrade with 1 bit memory chips that had to be piggyback stacked. 4 in each slot. I had an 600xl that was upgraded to 64kb that way. It was even possible to upgrade to 256Kb using stacked 1bit 256Kb rams. I did create a 320XE using this method on a 4 bit memory 800XE back then. In the end it turned out to be quite unstable. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sugarland Posted March 9, 2018 Author Share Posted March 9, 2018 I was thinking the same thing, if those are 4464's you only need 2. Maybe the rest were to upgrade other 600XL's as well. Yes correct. They are 4464's that came in this quantity. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Level42 Posted March 9, 2018 Share Posted March 9, 2018 (edited) Well, looking at the pic with the yellowed (I'd say browned in this case) 800 comparing it to the unboxed one, it seems I'm pretty lucky with my PAL 800.... Edited March 9, 2018 by Level42 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sugarland Posted March 9, 2018 Author Share Posted March 9, 2018 Well, looking at the pic with the yellowed (I'd say browned in this case) 800 comparing it to the unboxed one, it seems I'm pretty lucky with my PAL 800.... Yes browned is it. That's also a very nice 800! Beautiful. I see you've taken great care of it. The brown 800 is brittle while the other is not. So it's not just about color/appearance but the strength of the plastic. I think the brown one must have been stored in a hot attic or garage loft (25yrs I was told). Attics can get very hot in summer times in this area. There is some irony here in that the brown one has better video quality than the mint (?) one. The brown one has no vertical lines and looks close to VGA using s-video. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Level42 Posted March 9, 2018 Share Posted March 9, 2018 Thank you !It's been with me for about .....10 years now I guess..... was very lucky to get it from a list like Craig's list here.....for only 50 euro's.......it's definitly worth at least four times that now.....800's are rare in Europe, the PAL version is even more rare......but I'll never sell it.....never ! It has 2 small "bad spots". One is in the center under the space bar....the place where the screw is driven into the plastic....But all in all it looks fantastic with almost no yellowing. I've always wondered about the extreme shiny keys...but I guess that's standard ?Yes the plastic is the be handled carefully....I only open the lid with two hands to prevent any damage... There is probably a very easy explanation for the brown one producing a better video signal: it could VERY well be that the electrolytic capacitors in the "NIB" one are bad, or at least not as good as the brown unit. Caps don't like doing nothing. They will age worse when "shelved" then when they get some regular exercise. Following this my advice: open it. Check for leaking caps.....seriously....it would be terrible if electrolytic gel would be eating the PCB's ...... 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sugarland Posted March 10, 2018 Author Share Posted March 10, 2018 Thank you ! It's been with me for about .....10 years now I guess..... was very lucky to get it from a list like Craig's list here.....for only 50 euro's.......it's definitly worth at least four times that now.....800's are rare in Europe, the PAL version is even more rare......but I'll never sell it.....never ! It has 2 small "bad spots". One is in the center under the space bar....the place where the screw is driven into the plastic.... But all in all it looks fantastic with almost no yellowing. I've always wondered about the extreme shiny keys...but I guess that's standard ? Yes the plastic is the be handled carefully....I only open the lid with two hands to prevent any damage... There is probably a very easy explanation for the brown one producing a better video signal: it could VERY well be that the electrolytic capacitors in the "NIB" one are bad, or at least not as good as the brown unit. Caps don't like doing nothing. They will age worse when "shelved" then when they get some regular exercise. Following this my advice: open it. Check for leaking caps.....seriously....it would be terrible if electrolytic gel would be eating the PCB's ...... Yes the caps I was worried about also. He says it's a very high priority to change them. Will be done soon. Before we first powered it on, he tried opening up the case and was unsuccessful. It seems jammed from inside. There are five screws on the underside and the top panel needs to be off, right? Then the top half of the case should lift up? It wouldn't budge. He's afraid of breaking it by pulling too hard. Changing the caps is the next thing to do with it. If someone here builds a time machine, please go and tell Atari to use thicker plastic on the 400/800's among many many other things. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sugarland Posted March 10, 2018 Author Share Posted March 10, 2018 Also yes I agree that the brown one being used seems to have kept the caps in better shape. About the shiny keys yes they are like that. They smooth out over time I think but my 800 experience isn't enough to say too much. The 800 keycaps are awesome. Heavy and solid feel to them. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geister Posted March 10, 2018 Share Posted March 10, 2018 I wonder when Atari stopped putting the plastic cases on the RAM and personality boards? My 800 had the winged plastics cases on all of the expansion cards. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
a8isa1 Posted March 10, 2018 Share Posted March 10, 2018 A beautiful sight but it makes me sad. My 800 has been on one desk or another since the day I took it out of the box in 1980 and it looks like it has. At least, it still works. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mclaneinc Posted March 10, 2018 Share Posted March 10, 2018 A beautiful sight but it makes me sad. My 800 has been on one desk or another since the day I took it out of the box in 1980 and it looks like it has. At least, it still works. Ever heard of tempting fate Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.