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Mint Atari 800 photos


Sugarland

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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.

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Edited by Sugarland
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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.

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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!! :D Haha...

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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 ???

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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 by Mclaneinc
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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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 ......

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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.

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