New Atari 600XL owner!

[kerobaros]

Hi all! Recently received a 600XL from a friend, and it seems to boot just fine. Now I need to upgrade the RAM on it, which seems easy enough, along with put a monitor jack into it. Are there any kits available for either of these mods, or do I have to track down all the individual parts myself?

 

Once I get all that done, I'll have to decide between getting an Sdrive or the Ultimate/SIDE combo... thoughts?

[Paul Westphal]

64k mod. Ram chips are 4464’s. Best electronics might still have a monitor port kit, and consider the UAV board from The Brewing Academy 

[JR>]

2nd the UAV.  Very simple way to get good video out f the 600xl.

[xrbrevin]

cartridge solutions load games very quickly, SIO devices are a little slower but not much and both are v.user-friendly to use

UAV gives great image quality and fitment is straightforward/uncomplicated

[Paul Westphal]

Xrbrevin, if you could share a high Rez pic of your 600xl UAV install I would greatly appreciate it.

[Paul Westphal]

FYI - It’s hard to tell in the pic, but one foot on that resistor next to the 4464 ram chip has been cut, lifted and had the wire soldered to it.

[kerobaros]

Alright, I ordered some 4464 compatible ICs from eBay, we'll see how long they take to arrive. Looking at the Brewing Academy's storefront, it seems that I want the plug-in model of the UAV board, right? Is there a good place to get the correct DIN socket for the monitor jack?

[xrbrevin]

12 hours ago, Paul Westphal said:

could share a high Rez pic

here is my 64k mod:

 

here is my 600XL UAV - with explanation

 

due to height of the components surrounding the 4050 chip, i decided to relocate the UAV board as shown in the image. to do so, i had to run link wires instead of the usual direct method.

the bottom 2 wires are DC +/-

the group of 5 wires above that are the input signals from the 4050 chip to the UAV

the top 4 wires are the display output signal to the display port 5-pin DIN

 

the guidance material i used is here:

UAV.zip

 

but i also got v.good support from user: @Bryan who i bought it off

[xrbrevin]

5 hours ago, kerobaros said:

I ordered some 4464 compatible ICs

for a 600XL you need 41464 ICs - they are 18-pin (see my innards pic above)

im not sure but arent 4464 the same as 4164? if so they are 16-pin and used in the 64k & 128k Ataris

might be worth a check

[mimo]

@tf_hh makes a ram upgrade, 512k iirc.

Also, check out how he uses a cable for av out on his SCCC board for the 400, it may be easier to do something similar for your UAV upgrade on the 600xl?

[kerobaros]

3 hours ago, xrbrevin said:

for a 600XL you need 41464 ICs - they are 18-pin (see my innards pic above)

im not sure but arent 4464 the same as 4164? if so they are 16-pin and used in the 64k & 128k Ataris

might be worth a check

The ICs I bought are NEC D41464C-10s, which appear to be 18 pin. Thank you for the clarification!

[xrbrevin]

4 hours ago, kerobaros said:

D41464C-10s

fast ones eh? should be an agile 600XL after that  😁

[BillC]

On 12/30/2019 at 2:22 AM, xrbrevin said:

for a 600XL you need 41464 ICs - they are 18-pin (see my innards pic above)

im not sure but arent 4464 the same as 4164? if so they are 16-pin and used in the 64k & 128k Ataris

might be worth a check

4464 and 41464 are both numbers that have been used for 64k x 4-bit DRAM chips, used in several Atari 8-bit models, and compatible with the 600XL for a 64k upgrade.

[xrbrevin]

yes, inconsistent part numbering..

pincount confirmed good for this venture tho 🙂

[BillC]

19 hours ago, xrbrevin said:

yes, inconsistent part numbering..

pincount confirmed good for this venture tho 🙂

Not really, the part numbers differed between manufacturers. I know them as 4464, probably because of TI, many others used 41464.

Fujitsu: MB81464

Motorola: MCM41464

NEC: D41464

Samsung: KM41464A/KM41C464P

Texas Instruments: TMS4464

Edited January 3, 2020 by BillC

[kerobaros]

If the Postal Service cooperates, I should have two deliveries today: one package with my RAM ICs, and one package from the Brewing Academy with a new power adapter, a monitor jack, and a UAV board. I desoldered my channel 2/3 switch and cleared the solder out of the monitor jack mounting holes before work last night in preparation for a busy evening of soldering. Quite excited! I'll keep you all updated how things go.

 

Also, I managed to rig together an SIO2PC cable the other day from parts I had around the house already, and tested it out by loading the cassette version of Space Invaders. Any suggestions for what I should use to test my system after I get things out back together?

[xrbrevin]

sounds like you have a good session lined up hehe 🙂

test with your favourite games but also try 64k games too. it should behave just like an 800XL after the RAM mod. the inbuilt RAM self-test should be booted with option held in order not to load basic.

UAV is super-sharp compared to standard so any software will give pleasing results

[Sugarland]

I also recommend UAV connected to a cable running to a female 5 pin DIN coming out of the back of the computer like the SCCC uses. This way no case modding/drilling is needed.

[flashjazzcat]

The 600XL has great s-video once the blurring cap is removed. If you can be bothered to find/do the 600XL Supervideo mod, it's even better.

[kerobaros]

7 minutes ago, flashjazzcat said:

The 600XL has great s-video once the blurring cap is removed. If you can be bothered to find/do the 600XL Supervideo mod, it's even better.

Blurring cap? Please elaborate. 

 

Only got the RAM today, UAV is somewhere between the west coast and the midwest. Oh well. 

[SS]

I am late to the party on this one but I have a 600XL with an ANTONIA board and a SOPHIA board installed in it.  This gives the 600XL a huge RAM upgrade, seven selectable OS and BASIC slots, and a digital output.  It is pretty much a perfect machine now.  

[flashjazzcat]

On 1/4/2020 at 12:25 AM, kerobaros said:

Blurring cap? Please elaborate

I forget the component number at this point, but if you search for tf_hh's comments on 600XL video tuning, all will become clear (literally!).

Edited January 7, 2020 by flashjazzcat

[+tf_hh]

On 1/4/2020 at 1:25 AM, kerobaros said:

Blurring cap? Please elaborate.

 

It´s a 180pF ceramic cap, mostly in disc shape, with component name C109. Remove it and the picture will be MUCH clearer.

 

[xrbrevin]

is it still beneficial to remove the blurring cap even if you already have UAV installed?

[flashjazzcat]

I did this plus a full SuperVideo mod on one 600XL and aside from some feint clocking bars (which perhaps the blurring cap was supposed to obscure) which may be alleviated by better cable shielding, s-video is really nice... one level below UAV quality, IMHO.