Thinking of getting an XEGS! Advice appreciated.

[jerseystyle]

Hello All,

 

  I saw that Adventure 2 is getting an XE version, so i thought it'd be a good time to finally pick one up.  I know very little about the Atari computer line (I have a 2600, 7800, 5200, Jag, Lynx, so am pretty familiar with the brand however) but I've always been meaning to look into 80s computing (will probably get a Commodore 64 Mini to dip my toe in there as well).  I thought the easiest thing would be to get an XEGS, an Atari Max Cart, and then some of the killer homebrews like Adventure 2.  Does that seem like a good plan?  Would there be a reason to get an Atari 400 (or whatever) instead?  Any advice or feedback is appreciated as I know next to nothing about 80s computer stuff.  And I'm not to into collecting games (other then homebrews)- I tend to get systems and multicarts instead, so game prices don't matter a whole lot to me.

Edited December 29, 2020 by jerseystyle

[oracle_jedi]

The XEGS is an okay choice.  It will play Adventure 2 AFAIK, and most cartridge games for the Atari 8-bit line.  It has composite video out as well as RF.  But does not have SVideo as native.

 

You will need to get a keyboard to play many of the more indepth games, such as Flight Simulator II or Rescue on Fractalus.  If you want to explore the wider library which is very deep, you will also need a disk drive or virtual disk drive to load disk images.  There are many SD card based options to choose from.

 

You might also consider an Atari 65XE.  It is the same as the XEGS but includes the keyboard built in, and also has SVideo output as native, but is otherwise the same.

 

An even better option would be the 130XE.  The same as the 65XE but with 128K RAM and more expansion options.  A better choice all round.

 

All XE systems have about the same build quality - about the same as the Jaguar, so somewhat brittle.  The older 800XL is better made, but limited to 64K RAM (same as the XEGS/65XE).

 

The 400 and 800 systems are the originals from 1979 .  They are limited to 48K RAM and the 400 has only 16K RAM and a touch sensitive keyboard and RF only output.  It is good for collectors but a poor choice for someone new to the platform. 

 

All systems can be expanded beyond the limitations listed here, including the 400, if you are handy with a soldering iron and willing to hunt down hand-to-find expansion options.  

 

 

 

 

[Justin Payne]

oracle_jedi pretty much covered it all. Just to add a little, you said you like Multicart, there are many SD card cart solutions. I have the Ultimate Cart and love it but do a bit of asking around to see which one might suit your needs. Because this Atari line is a computer, there are also disk drive/cassette SD Card solutions, the latest being the FujiNet that has a TON of features and it probably the king right now but if you like to tinker, you can make the SDrive-max with an Arduino, a touch screen, and a few other parts. In any case, there are a ton of options and many people hear to help you make the best decision that fits your needs.

[+MrFish]

1 hour ago, oracle_jedi said:

All systems can be expanded beyond the limitations listed here, including the 400, if you are handy with a soldering iron and willing to hunt down hand-to-find expansion options.

 

Many expansion options are currently not hard to find, but are rather quite easy to get a hold of; and some of them require no soldering at all (PBI or ECI expansions for 800XL/600XL/130XE).

 

[+MrFish]

I like the XEGS; but one thing to consider when buying it compared to the other 8-bit machines is its size on the desk (if that's where you plan to use it). It takes up a rather large portion of real estate, when attached to the keyboard. There are, of course, options to make it more desktop friendly though; for one, it can be used with a keyboard cable extender (the provided keyboard cable length is short); with an extender, the main unit can reside in its own space, with the keyboard by itself in front of you, similar to how one uses a PC; the only difference being that some of the buttons located on the main unit need to be accessed for various functions while it's being used; so the main unit can't be too far away from your hands.

 

Edited December 29, 2020 by MrFish

[TGB1718]

3 hours ago, oracle_jedi said:

All systems can be expanded beyond the limitations listed here, including the 400, if you are handy with a soldering iron and willing to hunt down hand-to-find expansion options.  

As @MrFish says, very easy to find upgrades, here are 2 links to tons of nice goodies  , there are many others too

 

Have a look at this topic on this forum :- 

 

https://thebrewingacademy.com/

 

https://lotharek.pl/

[gilsaluki]

I  am a BIG fan of the XEGS unit.  I like everything about it.  I love the pastel buttons (some hate them).  I like the form and fit.  The picture I get on a CRT is great (for me).  Easy to internally upgrade to 130XE RAM.  I use the TransKey and an IBM Model M keyboard (clicky).  It is my daily driver. I have all the other models, just like the XEGS the best.  Other than the 130K memory upgrade and keyboard, nothing else (IMO) needs to be done.  I still don't know people want will the extra ram-bank memory, overkill (IMO).

[+Cafeman]

8 hours ago, oracle_jedi said:

The XEGS is an okay choice.  It will play Adventure 2 AFAIK, and most cartridge games for the Atari 8-bit line. 

 

Yes the XEGS plays Adventure II XE , no difference from any other A8 platform with at least 48K RAM.   The XEGS was my main testing platform for the game, and I expanded the game code to use the joystick on the Title Screen and the Console Buttons in-game if desired, to allow XEGS owners with no keyboard attachment to be able to play it.   FYI! 

[BIGHMW]

Getting to the XEGS and its detachable keyboard and the rather short cord length issue, any old 5200 extension cord (or other 15-pin cord with an 8-7 pin configuration) will work well with it, you say you already own Big Sexy (and so do I), well if you happen to have a 5200 controller extension cable for her then that'll work just fine.

 

About the 400, basically that is a 5200 in itself only with a keyboard, as both have only 16K of RAM in them, so you're not missing much.

 

Also, I have read right here on the AA forums that there are simple solutions to make a PS/2 (PC) keyboard work with the XEGS too, look 'em up.  

[jerseystyle]

Thanks for all the advice and links. I really appreciate it. I’ll start digging through the info y’all provided and do some more research. Thanks in advance for helping me get a good start on this!

[BIGHMW]

You bet bro, no problem.  Good Gaming everybody!!!

[BIGHMW]

BTW, here are some vintage (really? you call 1989 vintage?) commercials on the XEGS on how good (and highly underrated and underappreciated) it really is.  

 

BTW, they say the XEGS plays hundreds of games, at the time of this commercial series (1987-90) that was true, you can now update that to THOUSANDS of games if you include all the homebrews, hacks, and other games they (and we) have contributed to it with over the past 3 decades (and more coming baby!!!)  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[+MrFish]

Most of those commercials talk about the pack-ins: Bug Hunt (lame) and Flight Simulator II (painfully slow). Terrible pair of pack-ins, which I'm sure didn't help sales and the machine's image much. I suppose the idea with Bug Hunt was to compete with Duck Hunt (notice the similarity in their names) on the Nintendo. Well, Duck Hunt is immensely more entertaining. Flight Simulator II was suppose to show off the aspects of the XEGS' computer side. It's an impressive program from a technical standpoint, and many people do enjoy what it has to offer in the way of simulation; but I wager this was not the case with the general public; many people (myself included) just can't get past the boredom that the 3D visuals end up providing; there's practically nothing to see, and it takes forever to get to the next nothing to see. I suppose that's why missile command was thrown in: to save the consumer from the other two pack-ins. A solid arcade game, albeit nearly ancient by that time. I guess they were going for the cumulative effect, but I think most will agree that one killer pack-in is a lot more satisfying.

 

What the XEGS did have going for it was the 8-bit computer library of existing titles, and the new XEGS carts. It was thousands even back then, but I suppose hundreds was impressive enough at the time -- compared to Nintendo's supposed 80 games.

 

[BIGHMW]

3 hours ago, MrFish said:

What the XEGS did have going for it was the 8-bit computer library of existing titles, and the new XEGS carts. It was thousands even back then, but I suppose hundreds was impressive enough at the time -- compared to Nintendo's supposed 80 games.

 

Does anyone have a link to all the original XEGS releases so we can download them too, much like the other 3 major Atari systems (2600, 5200, and 7800), or are they mixed in the Homesoft Collection I may already have?

[Atari Nut]

Several of those commercials Ray posted above show the XE BIOS screen looking like the 7800 BIOS screen.  Did they just show the 7800 BIOS for the commercials or did the XEGS also have that?

[+MrFish]

1 hour ago, BIGHMW said:

Does anyone have a link to all the original XEGS releases so we can download them too, much like the other 3 major Atari systems (2600, 5200, and 7800), or are they mixed in the Homesoft Collection I may already have?

 

Here are all the XE Game cartridges. It includes official releases and unfinished (but nearly finished and playable) protos, and a couple hacked carts.

 

The only ones not included are Xenophobe and the Demo cartridge. The demo cartridge just demos games that were released. Xenophobe is not included because this game is still being sold at Video61 and part of the proceeds are going to Fandal, who is the one that purchased the original proto cart from Ebay (for big money) so that it could be played (rather than being held hostage, which was its former state) by the Atari community.

 

All of these cartridges are available in other formats too (XEX, ATR), but will often only work on memory expanded machines, because of the requirements when converting from cart format to executable binary.

 

[Edit: Missile Command also wasn't included here, since it was never an XE cart release; but I suppose it should be included in the group for completeness. It's also different from the release version of Missile Command, which is only fully-working with OS-B.]

 

XE Game Carts.zip

 

Missile Command (XE).rom

 

Edited December 30, 2020 by MrFish

[darwinmac]

7 minutes ago, Atari Nut said:

Several of those commercials Ray posted above show the XE BIOS screen looking like the 7800 BIOS screen.  Did they just show the 7800 BIOS for the commercials or did the XEGS also have that?

I'd say they did it for the ads. I own an XEGS and I've never seen that BIOS screen. 

 

Bob C

[+MrFish]

15 minutes ago, Atari Nut said:

Several of those commercials Ray posted above show the XE BIOS screen looking like the 7800 BIOS screen.  Did they just show the 7800 BIOS for the commercials or did the XEGS also have that?

 

The XEGS got built-in Missile Command instead of a BIOS screen. 

 

[BIGHMW]

4 hours ago, Atari Nut said:

Several of those commercials Ray posted above show the XE BIOS screen looking like the 7800 BIOS screen.  Did they just show the 7800 BIOS for the commercials or did the XEGS also have that?

it is the 7800 BIOS screen, I also own a 7800 as well as all 3 other systems (2600, 5200, and XEGS) and neither of them have that one, that definitely is the 7800 screen, very misleading if you ask me ? 

 

Good call and better observation at that too, but yeah even @PacManPlus can tell you that it definitely is the 7800 BIOS screen (even his avatar might give you a hint), I don't think the XEGS even has one, I know the 5200 does have one on Atari's own releases but not the XEGS.

[BIGHMW]

Thanks @MrFish!!! Now after I pay all of my bills and get back on par with all rent bills and debts paid in full (when Donald Trump's $600.00 comes my way, with Joe Biden pushing for more $$$ later on) I can then fill all the gaps in the XEGS collection by indeed going to the AA store and getting all the 8-bit titles I don't yet have and to Video61 to get a whole slew of carts (including Xenophobe) and also to Atarimax to get a few dumping adapters for all 4 of my units and the Maxflash USB Programmer to load all the titles onto the assigned SD cards for all 4 of my multicarts!!!

 

Now if only 5200 Tempest was available for 8-bit along with the other 5200 titles (we all know by now that both the 5200 and XEGS are the same graphically although worlds apart in both RAM and power capacity) everything would be great!!!

[+MrFish]

BTW, a lot of people don't know about this hidden section on the AtariAge site: Atari 800/XL/XE Rarity Guide

 

It's incomplete, but there's a lot of material in there, including downloadable cartridge ROMs.

 

[bfollowell]

19 hours ago, MrFish said:

BTW, a lot of people don't know about this hidden section on the AtariAge site: Atari 800/XL/XE Rarity Guide

 

It's incomplete, but there's a lot of material in there, including downloadable cartridge ROMs.

 

Yeah, I certainly didn't know anything about it. I don't see any links to it from anywhere. Without a direct link, how would a user access this page, or are they not intended to?

 

Thanks for posting.

 

[+MrFish]

11 minutes ago, bfollowell said:

Yeah, I certainly didn't know anything about it. I don't see any links to it from anywhere. Without a direct link, how would a user access this page, or are they not intended to?

 

It's Albert's WIP. He's talked about getting back at it over the years; but we all know how things like that can go. So, yeah... he's not trying to draw attention to something that's half-baked.

 

Oddly enough, that's I how discovered AtariAge back in 2005. I was doing Google searches for ROMs, and I ended up on those pages. Didn't even realise right away the extent of AA, since my focus was on file collection at the time.