Did i get a good deal?

[hobbyhands]

I think I did. Saw an add come up on the local classifieds. for $125, and jumped on it.

 

800XL

1050 Drive

2600 Atari

Ghostbusters on floppy for 1050 drive

Assorted paddles and joysticks.

 

I already have a working 800xl and a tape drive, and printer.  But I thought hey why not have an extra 800xl .

 

I hope the 800xl works.  The power supply is bad though. 

 

I have not test everything yet. But the 1050 drive works as I loaded ghost busters. Go figure the floppy still works after all these years.

Edited May 29, 2020 by hobbyhands

[archeocomp]

That seems to be a good deal

[+davidcalgary29]

Certainly worth it if everything's working. I think the days of getting a mammoth haul for fifty bucks are long gone now. 

 

The biggest score may be in the accessories. You can never have enough Wico controllers, in my opinion.

[_The Doctor__]

Bad power supply is usually the ingot, and that usually means repair of 800XL follows...

[leech]

4 minutes ago, _The Doctor__ said:

Bad power supply is usually the ingot, and that usually means repair of 800XL follows...

I lucked out, when my ingot went poof, it didn't do anything to my 130XE.  Then again, maybe it is only the XLs that die that way?

[_The Doctor__]

it's an equal opportunity killer, if you stop using it while the computer is still functional but the hum bars are moving up the screen...your usually okay... If you see it die and don't keep trying to use it and flipping the power switch, you might be okay or get lucky... but normally when the power supply is dead and the computer is for sale... the machine has issues or is dead. Not that you can't be blessed with the miracle machine that survives the death of the power supply and subsequent 'testing' by powering up the machine with the dead brick.... it's a fry factory... anything's possible.

[hobbyhands]

I'm pretty new to 800xl.  Like I mentioned before. I do have a working one, and can write and read to my tape drive. I have written a few very basic programs.  Is there a trick to writing and reading to the 1050 drive or is it similar?

[JagChris]

If the system survived you can get cool little modern replacement power supplies from The Brewing Academy for cheap. I love mine. The brick went into storage.

 

https://thebrewingacademy.com

Edited May 29, 2020 by JagChris

[spacecadet]

49 minutes ago, leech said:

I lucked out, when my ingot went poof, it didn't do anything to my 130XE.  Then again, maybe it is only the XLs that die that way?

My XL didn't die either, but the power supply clearly went bad... all the common symptoms (diagonal lines on the screen, nothing working). I replaced it and the computer's been fine ever since.

 

I think it's just that if you catch it quick enough, hopefully no damage is done. It happened to me once and I quickly shut the system off. I let it sit and tried it again and then quickly shut it off again. And then I replaced the power supply.

[BillC]

1 hour ago, leech said:

I lucked out, when my ingot went poof, it didn't do anything to my 130XE.  Then again, maybe it is only the XLs that die that way?

When my INGOT died in the late 80's it only took out the 41256 DRAM in a RAMBO XL upgrade, all the other chips were still good. 

[StickJock]

1 hour ago, hobbyhands said:

I'm pretty new to 800xl.  Like I mentioned before. I do have a working one, and can write and read to my tape drive. I have written a few very basic programs.  Is there a trick to writing and reading to the 1050 drive or is it similar?

You will have to boot up with a DOS disk in the drive first.  Then, from basic, you can type:  SAVE "D:FILENAME.EXT"  and LOAD "D:FILENAME.TXT"

 

Try testing out your new 800XL with your known good power supply & cables.  Easy way to see if it is working.  Just verify everything is working with your old one, then unplug all the connections and plug them into the new unit.

[BillC]

1 hour ago, hobbyhands said:

I'm pretty new to 800xl.  Like I mentioned before. I do have a working one, and can write and read to my tape drive. I have written a few very basic programs.  Is there a trick to writing and reading to the 1050 drive or is it similar?

You need to boot a DOS to use the 1050, or use a cartridge based DOS.

There are a large variety of floppy based DOS, and only a couple that are cartridge based.

 

You should look at the "Topic for newbies" thread:

 

[Sugarland]

2 hours ago, hobbyhands said:

I think I did. Saw an add come up on the local classifieds. for $125, and jumped on it.

 

800XL

1050 Drive

2600 Atari

Ghostbusters on floppy for 1050 drive

Assorted paddles and joysticks.

 

I already have a working 800xl and a tape drive, and printer.  But I thought hey why not have an extra 800xl .

 

I hope the 800xl works.  The power supply is bad though. 

 

I have not test everything yet. But the 1050 drive works as I loaded ghost busters. Go figure the floppy still works after all these years.

 

Craigslist prices vary widely. If you bought these as 'untested' then IMO $125 is not bad but not a great price either. Depends on condition, original boxes, etc..