Old but new Atari 8 bit user

[BobJones]

Well I finally did it.  I missed my old Atari 400 from my childhood and today I purchased a modded Atari 800 xl from eBay.   I am super excited.   I also purchased an SD Card adaptor to allow me to play games off SD cards  I even found my old Star Raiders cart and joystick from back in the day.  I am pretty sure I have a monitor that will work so I cannot wait to play Cosmic Balance, Archon, Seven Cities of Gold, Agent USA and so many other games on real Atari hardware rather than via an emulator.

 

[+Stephen]

Welcome - you'll be amazed at all the cool new stuff that's out there.

[BobJones]

Once I assess the hardware I will need to see about the new stuff.

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[Sugarland]

Awesome!! Welcome back! You had a 48k 400 and disk drive?  This page has new software releases http://a8.fandal.cz/

[Mclaneinc]

Have fun Bob, and I know you will...

[snicklin]

I am glad that you are back in the Atari arena Bob. It is always good to try and keep our numbers up.

 

Some people come, some go and unfortunately some pass away. So to get a new person back into the Atari scene is always great. We also occasionally pick up C64 programmers looking for a new challenge.

 

I also love it when I hear of youngsters who just happen to stumble across the Atari and then end up loving it. 

 

Keep a look out for the hardware that may make your Atari experience better. Examples I can think of is things like cables for connecting your Atari to a TV with better than RF quality, AtariMax cartridges and even the SD card solutions like you have for improved loading.

 

Were you ever into programming the Atari? If so, will you be giving this a go?

[BobJones]

I did dabble in some programming but very limited. Not much extra time but we will see.

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[gilsaluki]

It's a VERY additive hobby.  Getting more expensive as well.  But, with the SD device, games, etc. can be had for free.   I have never left the Atari scene, much to my spouse's chagrin.  Get Yoomp!  It is amazing. 

[Max_Chatsworth]

On 9/25/2020 at 9:21 PM, BobJones said:

Well I finally did it.  I missed my old Atari 400 from my childhood and today I purchased a modded Atari 800 xl from eBay.   I am super excited.   I also purchased an SD Card adaptor to allow me to play games off SD cards  I even found my old Star Raiders cart and joystick from back in the day.  I am pretty sure I have a monitor that will work so I cannot wait to play Cosmic Balance, Archon, Seven Cities of Gold, Agent USA and so many other games on real Atari hardware rather than via an emulator.

 

Hey there. I'm in a similar boat...I had a 400 then 800XL growing up..and I recently wanted to get back into it..but had none of my old hardware. I have bought a working stock 400..but I really want to get an 800XL in good working condition with upgrades for power, video, memory and then go with a cart/SIO2PC type solution.  Can you give me the specs/price you got?

[Max_Chatsworth]

On 9/25/2020 at 11:14 PM, Sugarland said:

Awesome!! Welcome back! You had a 48k 400 and disk drive?  This page has new software releases http://a8.fandal.cz/

Were there 48K 400's stock back in the day?  Mine only had 16K and I thought they all were out of the box?

[mimo]

1 hour ago, Max_Chatsworth said:

Were there 48K 400's stock back in the day?  Mine only had 16K and I thought they all were out of the box?

I think they were all 16k , Atari did sell a 32k upgrade but I remember saving my paper round money to have a 48k upgrade done by the local video rental shop 

[BobJones]

All the 400's were 16k stock.  I too upgraded mine to 64k.   My 400 was modded with a bank select cartridge copier system (Pre the PILL) with switches and such, along with a raised keyboard.  I also had a percom disk drive and a indus GT drive too along with my tape drive.  Later in my 8 bit times I had a 130 xe and one of the last Atari Disk drives for the 8 bit but the number escapes me.  

 

Max as soon as I get this 800xl I will drop you the specs.  I want to confirm it is working and see what all has been installed.

 

I jumped on Altari a few nights ago just to mess around trying to remember programming on the 8bit format.  line numbers in atari basic... how quaint.   I had forgotten about those.

 

 

[+davidcalgary29]

1 hour ago, BobJones said:

All the 400's were 16k stock. 

 

Or 8K initially.

[Robert Cook]

6 hours ago, davidcalgary29 said:

Or 8K initially.

I believe the original intention was actually for the 400 to come with 4K and the 800 to come with 8K (and the full keyboard, of course) out of the box, but that never actually happened, and both were initially released with 8K.  Personally, I don't recall the 400 ever having only 4K, rather 8K and then 16K to start with, stock.  It wasn't long until the 800 started coming with 16K and then 48K--happened in a flash, or at  least that's how it felt, then and now.  I have seen at least one 8K 800 that was apparently never upgraded, though, so for a short time these two computers must have had the same amount of RAM, 8K, out of the box.

[Mclaneinc]

All the 400's we sold were 16K OOTB with good old me doing the upgrades, wasn't aware of the lesser memory ones, presuming they were US released only?

[BobJones]

How interesting. I never saw the 8k models. What a picture of how tech has changed.

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[Tillek]

Welcome to the party....

 

If you don't mind telling people your general area (like maybe start with state/province and narrow down in PM) you might be able to find some like minded individuals.

 

This stuff is always best shared.

 

[Sugarland]

Yeah we had 8K gaming in 1980 meanwhile the all mighty nVidia RTX 3090 can't do 8K gaming very well.

 

 

[Robert Cook]

6 hours ago, Mclaneinc said:

All the 400's we sold were 16K OOTB with good old me doing the upgrades, wasn't aware of the lesser memory ones, presuming they were US released only?

Probably, and barely so, at that.  It wasn't all that long until Atari had settled into the "standard" 16K in the 400 and 48K in the 800 that most are familiar with.  And the latter is a good thing, too, or else maybe the support wouldn't have been even as good as it was.  Nothing is absolute, but in retrospect anything in the 8-bit world that didn't become widespread pretty quickly tended to miss out on software support.  I can name prominent examples for all of the common platforms.  On the Atari 8-bit series, 48K of RAM had all-too-frequently become the common baseline, and that was limiting enough.  The C64 was lucky to have 64K as its baseline, but it couldn't get past that in terms of support, and while the Apple II series managed to get some 128K support, in terms of audio it was nearly entirely limited to its original beeper (neither the Mockingboard nor the Phasor got all that far) and there was even less support for its higher-resolution graphics modes (ironically, the 80-column card that enabled the latter was a big success with business software in text mode).

[elmer]

13 hours ago, Mclaneinc said:

All the 400's we sold were 16K OOTB with good old me doing the upgrades, wasn't aware of the lesser memory ones, presuming they were US released only?

 

A 48KB 400 was the first computer that I bought with my own money back in 1982, from a computer dealer in Birmingham (UK), two bus hops from Edgbaston and somewhere near Aston University IIRC. ?

 

Could that have been one of your upgraded machines?

 

If so, THANK YOU! I loved that machine for many years until I could afford to replace it with an 800 so that I could stop getting bruised fingers.

 

[BobJones]

Ok all, here is the specs on my 800 xl. Some of this stuff I have to read about...

Atari 800XL Computer with Video, Memory, and OS upgrades. This 800XL has the Wiztronics 256K memory upgrade, the SuperVideo 2.1 upgrade, and an operating system upgrade that provides the improved XL/XE operating system and the Omniview 80 operating system. The operating system is selected by use of the channel selection switch in the rear of the computer. The video upgrade provides a sharper image in composite video than the stock video image and it also provides Luma/Chroma outputs that give the best image possible on the XL machine. The luma/chroma can be used on some older monitors and they can be combined with a y-cord adapter to provide S-Video. The computer comes with a power cable that can utilize any USB 5V 1.5 Amp power supply (phone charger). It also has a video cable with luma, chroma, composite, and audio outputs. There is also a y-cord adapter. The Omniview-80 gives 80 column on screen viewing for some word processors and for basic programming. The computer has the top of the line mechanical keyboard. The motherboard is about 50% socketed. The computer housing is clean and has no cracks or scratches.

System checks out and I already played a bit of Star Raiders. Any hints on how these cables are supposed to work and this 80 column display os...



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[+davidcalgary29]

2 hours ago, BobJones said:

Ok all, here is the specs on my 800 xl. Some of this stuff I have to read about...

Atari 800XL Computer with Video, Memory, and OS upgrades. This 800XL has the Wiztronics 256K memory upgrade, the SuperVideo 2.1 upgrade, and an operating system upgrade that provides the improved XL/XE operating system and the Omniview 80 operating system. The operating system is selected by use of the channel selection switch in the rear of the computer. The video upgrade provides a sharper image in composite video than the stock video image and it also provides Luma/Chroma outputs that give the best image possible on the XL machine. The luma/chroma can be used on some older monitors and they can be combined with a y-cord adapter to provide S-Video. The computer comes with a power cable that can utilize any USB 5V 1.5 Amp power supply (phone charger). It also has a video cable with luma, chroma, composite, and audio outputs. There is also a y-cord adapter. The Omniview-80 gives 80 column on screen viewing for some word processors and for basic programming. The computer has the top of the line mechanical keyboard. The motherboard is about 50% socketed. The computer housing is clean and has no cracks or scratches.

System checks out and I already played a bit of Star Raiders. Any hints on how these cables are supposed to work and this 80 column display os...



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Now that's a dream machine! Pics, please. I've never seen the Wizztronics upgrade.

[Mclaneinc]

14 hours ago, elmer said:

 

A 48KB 400 was the first computer that I bought with my own money back in 1982, from a computer dealer in Birmingham (UK), two bus hops from Edgbaston and somewhere near Aston University IIRC. ?

 

Could that have been one of your upgraded machines?

 

If so, THANK YOU! I loved that machine for many years until I could afford to replace it with an 800 so that I could stop getting bruised fingers.

 

It sounds like a Maplin machine, certainly from that location, but its wasn't me that did it, probably a guy called Mike IIRC, I was in the Main London branch..

 

After a bit of thought I may be wrong, the Birmingham branch was in Erdington which is a couple of miles away from there..

Edited September 30, 2020 by Mclaneinc

[+Larry]

On 9/29/2020 at 6:15 AM, Mclaneinc said:

All the 400's we sold were 16K OOTB with good old me doing the upgrades, wasn't aware of the lesser memory ones, presuming they were US released only?

Hi Paul-

Very early 800 computers had a whopping 8K in the U.S.  A good friend had one of these. But soon after shipped with 16K.  I'm not sure about the 400, but if they were released at the same time, I doubt that they would have had more than an 800. I didn't get mine until 1982, and it was one of the early 48K models.

[Mclaneinc]

Hi Larry,

 

8K....Wow....And I bet they were a pretty penny for that amount of ram...