Not Steve Posted January 22, 2019 Share Posted January 22, 2019 Hello again, I am finally doing it. I have thought about it for years, since before there were little itty bitty computers - but now not only is it possible, but everyone seems to be doing it. I am going to guy my 600XL and recreate it with a mini computer inside. Yeah, not very interesting. But, I will be using an arduino as a keyboard controller. Also another arduino to power the joystick ports. Also another one to power the cartridge slot. Also another one to power the SIO port. Ok, maybe not all of those. I am still mulling it over. This is the fun part, deciding what is realistic. So I am pretty sure that I can get some sort of a pi into this 600xl box, and also there is room for a battery. And I see walkthroughs on getting a cartridge reader to work. And it seems likely that I can re-use the old joystick port connectors and feed some sort of a controller. But the question I have is, what should I do with the SIO port? I have de-soldered the port and it is sitting here. I am looking at pinouts online to get it connected to something. But for what purpose? I am trying to brainstorm. There will be what looks like a 600XL. It will power on without a power cable, and it will have WiFi and bluetooth. It will be a novelty, but also a retro gaming machine. Well, an atari emulator. But then there is the SIO port. I do have another 800XL that I am leaving stock ... one of the options would be to make the 600XL's SIO port into an SIO/SD like something to emulate a drive for the 800XL. Unless anyone thinks there is a way to put a raspberry pi into my 600XL then wire in the SIO port to something and be able to load programs from cassette? The closer this thing can behave to a stock 600XL the better. You guys get it. Right now I am leaning towards just having that port to plug in my 800XL and back things up, even if it is not connected with the rest of the guts of the 600XL. So what else would there be to do? I mean, other than sacrifice my MINER 2049ER cart and wire in an LCD so I can have a display ... that wouldn't be possible, would it? Other options? PROGRESS I have opened up the 600XL and removed the motherboard. I have de-soldered and removed the joystick ports, SIO port, cartridge connector, and keyboard connector. I have ordered several <$10 controller boards with lots of pins Am I missing something obvious? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Nezgar Posted January 22, 2019 Share Posted January 22, 2019 The thought of purposely gutting and salvaging parts from a working 600XL makes me sad... 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Not Steve Posted January 23, 2019 Author Share Posted January 23, 2019 "working" is the best part ... I was going to breadboard the chips (so very glad they are all in sockets!) but then I saw this prototype replacement 8-bit atari motherboard that I may be able to swap the chips into... https://ataribits.weebly.com/1088xel.html I need to read up on that, but basically I'm looking to use the chips to build a new 8-bit atari, but I can add a lot of the mods as I go, upgrade RAM, etc. ... looks like someone probably already figured that out and can sell me a kit or something, so cool beans. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tinman Posted January 23, 2019 Share Posted January 23, 2019 I unfortunately dont have the technical knowledge to offer any advice, but I hope youll post photos and information when youre done! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gozar Posted January 23, 2019 Share Posted January 23, 2019 But then there is the SIO port. I do have another 800XL that I am leaving stock ... one of the options would be to make the 600XL's SIO port into an SIO/SD like something to emulate a drive for the 800XL. Unless anyone thinks there is a way to put a raspberry pi into my 600XL then wire in the SIO port to something and be able to load programs from cassette? The closer this thing can behave to a stock 600XL the better. You guys get it. Right now I am leaning towards just having that port to plug in my 800XL and back things up, even if it is not connected with the rest of the guts of the 600XL. So what else would there be to do? I mean, other than sacrifice my MINER 2049ER cart and wire in an LCD so I can have a display ... that wouldn't be possible, would it? I would think you would have to make changes to the atari800 emulator before you could do anything with an SIO port hanging off of the Pi. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Not Steve Posted January 25, 2019 Author Share Posted January 25, 2019 I would think you would have to make changes to the atari800 emulator before you could do anything with an SIO port hanging off of the Pi. Ok well, for $90 I can get a SBC ASUS running Windows 10 with a 40-pin GPIO and an Arduino chip. So I am thinking arduino to SIO, and perhaps be able to open some sort of a data channel? These SBC are made to pass the GPIO data to the OS and stuff, that's the whole point, right? I think it should work. Imagine Atari 8-bit GUI running in an emulator on Windows inside a 600XL case, with the SIO port behaving properly. lol. I'll see what I can come up with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMontezuma Posted January 25, 2019 Share Posted January 25, 2019 Have you already seen this? http://blog.tynemouthsoftware.co.uk/2016/08/atari-65xe-usb-keyboard-and-joystick-with-raspberry-pi3.html?m=1 I played around with atari800 sources to add support for real floppy drives, but I failed due to timing inaccuracies in the emulator: https://github.com/atari800/atari800/issues/22 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Not Steve Posted January 26, 2019 Author Share Posted January 26, 2019 https://blog.lmorchard.com/2018/03/01/sio2pi/ Looks like this dude has done this maybe. Perfect. I love using other people's work. I mean using, like, this is going to be my desktop replacement lol. I'd love to get this to work on that Windows 10 SBC. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Not Steve Posted February 6, 2019 Author Share Posted February 6, 2019 It looks like my controllers are finally here for the keyboard. I need to find a connector, a way to connect to the keyboard ribbon. I've seen people solder straight to the ribbon but I need something a little more forgiving. Ordering the SBC in a week or so. And I got everything covered as far as mounting the SBC, I bought a hot glue gun and extra sticks. lol, kidding. And I'm not going to run Raspberry Pi, I'm running Windows, so what's a good name? A 600XL running Windows 10? more updates in a week or so. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Like us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
AtariAge on Instagram
Watch us on YouTube
Chat on Discord
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.