Hello and RAM Upgrade Question.

[gs80065xe]

Hello fellow Atari 8-Bit enthusiasts. I began using Atari's on an 800 in 1980 or 81. Used it until 88 when we bought another 8-Bit users collection which included a 65XE. Unfortunately, I was short sited and no longer have the 800. Over the last years I've dabbled with Atari 8-Bit on the 65XE or Atari800 emulator on Linux.

 

I have a question about a RAM upgrade my 65XE came with. It was installed prior to 1989. I believe it is 256K. There is a toggle switch. And I forget what it was for. I recently replaced the keyboard mylar. While I had it open I decided to check out the upgrade. Not quite sure why certain things have been changed. Looks like the switch connects to the ROM chip. And I think this chip appeared piggybacked on the original. GTIA, POKEY and Freddie have new connections to a piggy backed 74LS151N. And the RAM chips appear to have been replaced with socketed 256K bit chips. Anyone familiar with this old style upgrade? What's up with the toggle switch and ROM?

 

Thanks for any help...

[Osgeld]

I am no expert but if I had to guess on the switch and rom its to change the OS from the XL-XE to the original from the 400/800's

[JR>]

Yep, looks like the switch toggles the OE lines to choose between to original rom and one burned into the eprom.

Edited March 23, 2018 by JR>

[1050]

Concur, the switch is changing the OS that the machine

boots with. But we can't know which of two OS you have

there. Move switch when power is off please.

 

Some memory testers to help pin down the extended memory

part.

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/189604-small-thing-memtest-10-1996-jaku-b/?do=findComment&comment=3815398

[gs80065xe]

With the switch off it is a standard XL/XE Rev 2 OS.

With the swith on, it is an OmniView256 by David Young. Supposed to offer 80 column and ramdisk support.

 

Thanks for the help guys. Here I was thinking it was something to reset if there was an issue with the ram upgrade all these years.

[gs80065xe]

Read the Omniview document here : https://archive.org/stream/NewellIndustriesOmniviewManual/Newell%20Industries%20Omniview%20manual_djvu.txt. When I do control A and a warm restart, the screen changes as expected. But the characters look all wrong in basic. Semicolon and asterisk were OK. But the rest looked garbled. Ill have to search my diskettes for 80 column software.

 

As for the RAM, do I need the Omniview rom to take advantage of it?

[1050]

Might be the case where BASIC redoes the character

set and thus you are not using Omniview's set then.

Just a guess, I don't know much about it.

 

No, you don't need the Omniview rom to have and use

your extended memory. It just allows for that function

from the OS is what the 256 part is about. Might even

run into troubles that way when trying to run DOS that

will set up the ramdisk for you while you are running

the Omniview rom, again don't know much about the

Omniview 256 part, but there could be potential

conflicts as my main point.

 

Which DOS are using at the moment and/or the most

fluent in? And with that information we can point

you to how to set up a ramdisk in your extended

memory. Cartridges like BASICXE/XL can use your

extended memory as is. So when you want a ramdisk

and use of BASICXE then you have some set up to do

that disallows the dual use of some banks of memory

and that isn't too hard. But again it's best to know

the DOS being used first.

[gs80065xe]

I havent used the drive for awhile. But I prefer Spartados 3.2. I need to figure out how to force basic to us monochrome and see how it looks there. I think the doc I read said Omniview works best in monochrome.

Edited March 25, 2018 by gs80065xe

[1050]

SpartaDOS will work out fine with it's RD.COM files

to detect your extended memory and format the ramdisk

then. Can be done via startup.bat file too.

 

SpartaDOS Construction Set has the details if you

didn't know that there were instructions for such

things.

http://www.atarimania.com/documents-atari-400-800-xl-xe-manuals_2_8.html

 

Perhaps Set Color to half on black for the gray look?

I do very little in BASIC so not going to be much help

there.

[Geister]

What kind of monitor are you using with the computer in 80-column mode. When they say monochrome is best, I believe they are talking about a monochrome (green screen or black and white) monitor. Nothing to do with basic color selections, etc. If you have an actual color TV or even a cheap color monitor (CRT, not LED) then you could be seeing artifacting in 80-column mode due to how the character set is modified by Omniview.

[gs80065xe]

Its an LCD TV connected using composite video. I used to have a monitor. But no longer. I no longer have any CRT monitors.

[JR>]

The characters are only 4 pixels wide, so they aren't the easiest to read. Add in artifacting from the composite video and it can get pretty bad. Try holding down the START key and typing a letter key. This should cycle through colors. Keep doing this until you find a color combination that is easier to read. Also START + RESET reverses the colors I believe.

Edited March 25, 2018 by JR>

[Osgeld]

Add in artifacting from the composite video and it can get pretty bad.

This is true, I spent a few years and went though a number of TV / monitors that could display apple II 80 col text, not as sharp as a high resolution mono monitor would from back in the day, but just freaking readable

 

I have 2 HDTV lcd's and a home grade trinatron tube that can't do it, my 13 inch craig brand (LCD "720p" aka 1024x768 stretched) TV from the discount overstock store does it perfectly (along with 240p over component, which nothing else in the house will)

 

that is why in the olden years you kind of had to make a choice, color or 80 col, least with the Apple II and IBM PC computers, cause on a color screen with composite input its a tall order thanks to color artifacting

Edited March 25, 2018 by Osgeld

[JR>]

A TV or monitor with separate Chroma an Luma inputs or svideo will help a lot. Just connect the Luma signal, even to a composite input, for monochrome/grayscale.

Edited March 26, 2018 by JR>