Atari with more than 128kB

[+orpheuswaking]

9 hours ago, Sugarland said:

 

Yes. There were very late model 800XL's (EU only IIRC) that came from the factory with 128KB of RAM. Also all European 65XE's used a 130XE mobo that made 'getting additional 64BKB' very doable. Probably the same for the 800XE.

 

No those were 800XE models, which again were rebadged 130XE motherboards with half memory. 

[NISMOPC]

24 minutes ago, orpheuswaking said:

No those were 800XE models, which again were rebadged 130XE motherboards with half memory. 

I actually just recently rcvd one of those (800XE), but haven't opened it yet to see which version I have.

 

I also just found out my Sharp Aquos 4:3 LCD accepts PAL signal, so this could get interesting. 

 

Might be able to finally see some of these 1000's of PAL demo's on PAL hardware

Edited January 28, 2021 by NISMOPC

[+MrFish]

3 hours ago, DrVenkman said:

800XE models? I’ve seen pics, never in person. 

 

He said XL (look what I'm quoting). I assume he's talking about the 800XLF; but I don't ever recall hearing about any of them being 128 KB machines.

 

Edited January 28, 2021 by MrFish

[+slx]

12 hours ago, Sugarland said:

 

Yes. There were very late model 800XL's (EU only IIRC) that came from the factory with 128KB of RAM. Also all European 65XE's used a 130XE mobo that made 'getting additional 64BKB' very doable. Probably the same for the 800XE.

 

Are you sure that was from the factory and not from the importer/distributor?

[Sugarland]

Yes there was a thread here on AA about 128K 800XL's with unpopulated motherboards shown too.

[+orpheuswaking]

7 minutes ago, Sugarland said:

Yes there was a thread here on AA about 128K 800XL's with unpopulated motherboards shown too.

I looked for it but can't find it, do you have a link?

 

[Sugarland]

10 minutes ago, orpheuswaking said:

I looked for it but can't find it, do you have a link?

 

 

No sorry. It was more than a year ago. More like two years ago. I'll see if I can find it.

[+MrFish]

6 minutes ago, orpheuswaking said:

I looked for it but can't find it, do you have a link?

 

I've been waiting for @kheller2 to weight in here; because I know he owns 800XLF's and has a bunch of threads on here talking about them.

 

[+MrFish]

7 minutes ago, Sugarland said:

No sorry. It was more than a year ago. More like two years ago. I'll see if I can find it.

 

This is probably the thread you're thinking about: 130XL (800XLF+128K) aka the first 130XE

 

[+CharlieChaplin]

A picture of an 800XL mobo (afair fully populated) with 128KB RAM can be seen in the BEST catalog. Think it is an extremely rare prototype or something like that... (16 chips with 8k RAM each = two rows with 8k chips).

 

But thats where Tramiel Atari got the idea from for a 128k machine. Same with the XE/XEGS carts, they were not newly designed, they were also taken from unused designs of Atari Inc.

 

[Sugarland]

I remember someone commenting here on AA that they had at least one factory 128K 800XL and saying that they were 'out there' in the EU wilds. Different thread from what was mentioned and different from the guy linked from that thread who ended up not having a 128K machine. 

 

Edit: but yes they are hard to find or rare.

Edited January 29, 2021 by Sugarland

[+kheller2]

19 hours ago, CharlieChaplin said:

A picture of an 800XL mobo (afair fully populated) with 128KB RAM can be seen in the BEST catalog. Think it is an extremely rare prototype or something like that... (16 chips with 8k RAM each = two rows with 8k chips).

 

But thats where Tramiel Atari got the idea from for a 128k machine. Same with the XE/XEGS carts, they were not newly designed, they were also taken from unused designs of Atari Inc.

 

Black and white hi-res photo from the catalog is here: 

 

 

 

I'm not sure if Tramiel (Corp) got the idea from Inc. or not.  That was one of the things I was discussing with Curt.  There were at least revisions to the 800XLF board, not to mention the SECAM/ROSE version(s), and certainly you can see that the 128K 800XLF (130XE) board is a derivative of the 800XLF work.  A good 80% of the 128K board is the same as the 800XLF board, the extra 64K was grafted on by moving the original 8 RAM chips to the left a bit and consolidating some other parts (which was already mostly done with the 800XLF board).

 

There was some cost reduction going on and trying to figure out which 8bits to sell.

 

A 4Q84 memo (no real date on it, but implies it was written 8/84) states that the 64K 800XLF is a new design with Rose being the first 8/31/84.  I personally disagree with that statement because there is a 800XLF NTSC/PAL R1 board copyright 4-84, which was followed up with the typical 9-84 R3 board.  In my mind the 64K 800XLF was certainly something Inc. was working on before Corp.  But I have no documented proof of that other than what is etched onto a motherboard.   Supposedly the 800XLF with CGIA and Freddie was from 9/83, and let's not forget the 800XL-CR (cost reduced with Keri).  Side note: comparing the stock 800XL schematics to the 800XLF+CGIA is interesting in how you could just drop in components on hand drawn paper. Anyhow, all these Freddie designs were done by Inc in 83/84.

 

Now the 900XLF (USA NTSC 65XE) was being worked on in late 84.  That used the all new case design from Corp.  Which makes me think the 128K 800XLF was something they were trying out to see if the 128K was not only possible but also what case they would use for it.  The 900XLFK(keri) board never made it.

 

 

 

[+orpheuswaking]

On 1/29/2021 at 3:22 PM, MrFish said:

 

I've been waiting for @kheller2 to weight in here; because I know he owns 800XLF's and has a bunch of threads on here talking about them.

 

I've had 4 XLF's over the years and they have all been 64k... I found one thread talking about it and someone said they had one but after checking the machine was 64k and the box they said showed 129k was long gone. Over the years I have only ever heard anecdotal evidence of these showing up in the wild. 

[+MrFish]

3 hours ago, orpheuswaking said:

I've had 4 XLF's over the years and they have all been 64k... I found one thread talking about it and someone said they had one but after checking the machine was 64k and the box they said showed 129k was long gone. Over the years I have only ever heard anecdotal evidence of these showing up in the wild. 

Yeah, I saw that thread too (it was linked to by @kheller2, in the thread I linked to above). The guy's posts about it begin here: "I *own* an 800XL with 128k (NTSC)."

 

[+x=usr(1536)]

Deleted ?