The New Atari 1200xl!

[Mazzspeed]

I like the cartridge port on the side/back, a cartridge port on the top center of the device seems a bit intrusive to me.

 

I can only imagine the towers many BBS's had in the day with carts stacked out the top of 800XL's!

[leech]

2 hours ago, Mazzspeed said:

I like the cartridge port on the side/back, a cartridge port on the top center of the device seems a bit intrusive to me.

 

I can only imagine the towers many BBS's had in the day with carts stacked out the top of 800XL's!

I like the Cart tunnel on the side like the 1200xl the best.  It's out of the way in all regards.  The numbered  XE systems bother me in the back because they never feel like they're quite steady, gravity pulling it in weird ways, plus if you try to move your keyboard closer to the monitor, you can't, and you may move your keyboard forgetting the cart is in there and end up setting it on something that bends it.  So for me it's up top, or hidden away inside the massive 1200xl.  Granted the SIDE2/3 cart doesn't fit right in the 1200xl...

[Faicuai]

4 hours ago, leech said:

Granted the SIDE2/3 cart doesn't fit right in the 1200xl...

Correct, and

 

Anything that does not fit on this day-and-age on the 800 and 1200XL constitutes a serious "offense" on my Retro-book.

 

No justification for having to dremel / sand my SIDE2 shell cart (as I did) so it would fit on my 800 (as it naturally does on my 800 XLs), no reason for it to be still produced as is, considering the minor fitting changes required, no reason for NOT having a dedicated / custom version for the 1200XL (ok if more expensive due to supply/demand), and no reason for the PHi2 drama on the 800 (other than an overlook or surprise during design). 

 

In fact, it turns out that without me EVER making any PHI2 mods on left-cart port of my Incognito 800, it actually runs (flawlessly) my SIDE1 and SiDE2 carts / HDs, and it does so concurrently with Incognito's own PBI HD (!) Not sure how it happens, but I even have more anecdotes (tests) with SIDE2 and my 1980 CTIA 800...

 

 

Edited April 14, 2021 by Faicuai

[Mazzspeed]

I agree that you shouldn't have to mod carts to fit. However you need to bear in mind that we are packing more into those little cart's these days...

[zzip]

19 hours ago, leech said:

Yeah, I'm not exactly a design expert, so can't really decide what I would have done different while keeping the pastel colors and made it more kid-like.  I mean I always preferred the aesthetics of Sega's consoles over Nintendo's, which I think is what Atari was shooting for as their competition, when they designed the XEGS.  Tried to figure out why the pastel colors, as it seems more like what the SNES had going for it, vs what was on the original NES, but the XEGS came out in 1987, the NES in 1983, and the SNES in 1990.  So not sure what else was out around '87 for them to think 'yeah, pastel colors would be awesome on the gray.'

Pastels were popular in fashion and design in the late 80s so that's probably where the influence came from.   I never was a fan of that in general,  but it would have fit in with the times.  

[+mytek]

Think Miami Vice.

[+MrFish]

I think somebody at Atari was eating a pack of Necco wafers, set a few on the proto console, and then said, "hey, check this out!"...

 

 

[leech]

1 hour ago, mytek said:

Think Miami Vice.

I was going to suggest the copious amounts of cocaine that execs were doing.  That also explains all the designs Atari started but never finished! 

Tubbs and Crockett for life!

Edited April 14, 2021 by leech

[+mytek]

[zzip]

1 hour ago, mytek said:

Think Miami Vice.

I think you're right,  that's probably where all the late 80s style trends sprang from

[Gunstar]

The 1200XL's hidden side cartridge ports has always been one of my favorite reasons for the 1200XL being my favorite in the 8-bit line. Starting out first with a 130XE, I too, always hated the rear port that made it difficult to plug and unplug cartridges and the flimsy feeling of them just hanging there and the top ports of the 600/800XL, though convenient, I always hated the aesthetics because it made them look like consoles instead of serious computers as well as the pass-thru issues and towering carts looking bad and getting in the way of view-ability. I feel the same for the XEGS too, though I know it was released as a console. The 400 and 800 were great with the hidden ports under a door, and barring that I feel the recessed side cart port is the best alternative. As too the issues of non-Atari carts not fitting, it wasn't one, for me, until I got Dropcheck's SSDX cartridge which uses a C64 cart case. She didn't release the cart extender until after I purchased the SSDX cart. But I just used my Dremel and sanded down the sides of the 1200XL's side plate cartridge "tunnel" and now every cartridge I insert fits perfectly fine. Though the SSDX cart stays inserted 99% if the time now anyway, and I use it's pass-thru.

 

I also always preferred slightly larger 8-bit computers too, another reason I love the 1200XL is the larger footprint makes it look like a more seriously powerful computer, like the large Apple II's and 800's that became my standard as too what a quality and powerful computer should look like. That preference has never changed for me. That along with the beautiful aesthetics, cartridge port and controller placement, fantastic feeling keyboard, and room for upgrades inside all played a part in my falling in love with the 1200XL. So much so that I was willing to go the distance to correct it's minor faults and final design limitations and in the spirit of the original "sweet sixteen" 1000 and later 1400XL designs gave it the missing PBI port, factory-edge-connector style and all the incredible upgrades that, together make it far more than was dreamed of with even the 1000 or 1400XL. I made it into the dream machine it should have been from the start, and far surpassed it.

[leech]

1 hour ago, Gunstar said:

The 1200XL's hidden side cartridge ports has always been one of my favorite reasons for the 1200XL being my favorite in the 8-bit line. Starting out first with a 130XE, I too, always hated the rear port that made it difficult to plug and unplug cartridges and the flimsy feeling of them just hanging there and the top ports of the 600/800XL, though convenient, I always hated the aesthetics because it made them look like consoles instead of serious computers as well as the pass-thru issues and towering carts looking bad and getting in the way of view-ability. I feel the same for the XEGS too, though I know it was released as a console. The 400 and 800 were great with the hidden ports under a door, and barring that I feel the recessed side cart port is the best alternative. As too the issues of non-Atari carts not fitting, it wasn't one, for me, until I got Dropcheck's SSDX cartridge which uses a C64 cart case. She didn't release the cart extender until after I purchased the SSDX cart. But I just used my Dremel and sanded down the sides of the 1200XL's side plate cartridge "tunnel" and now every cartridge I insert fits perfectly fine. Though the SSDX cart stays inserted 99% if the time now anyway, and I use it's pass-thru.

 

I also always preferred slightly larger 8-bit computers too, another reason I love the 1200XL is the larger footprint makes it look like a more seriously powerful computer, like the large Apple II's and 800's that became my standard as too what a quality and powerful computer should look like. That preference has never changed for me. That along with the beautiful aesthetics, cartridge port and controller placement, fantastic feeling keyboard, and room for upgrades inside all played a part in my falling in love with the 1200XL. So much so that I was willing to go the distance to correct it's minor faults and final design limitations and in the spirit of the original "sweet sixteen" 1000 and later 1400XL designs gave it the missing PBI port, factory-edge-connector style and all the incredible upgrades that, together make it far more than was dreamed of with even the 1000 or 1400XL. I made it into the dream machine it should have been from the start, and far surpassed it.

I haven't found a use for any PBI stuff yet, especially with other upgrades out there now.  I do want to take one of my 1200xls and send it off to get the Rapidus / vbxe / u1mb ugrade.  Probably will rhis summer, and then use it as my main Atari.

[Gunstar]

10 hours ago, leech said:

I haven't found a use for any PBI stuff yet, especially with other upgrades out there now.  I do want to take one of my 1200xls and send it off to get the Rapidus / vbxe / u1mb ugrade.  Probably will rhis summer, and then use it as my main Atari.

Mine is slated to get at least a Rapidus, and VBXE, and other unique DIY upgrades. I've been upgrading along different lines for both my 1200XL and 800 as I see no reason for two Atari's that are virtually identical in upgrades. I went with a 32-in-1 OS and Rambo 512K and a MyIDE 2. Except for the MyIDE 2, these and dual Pokey were installed in the 1200XL long before U1MB, VBXE and Rapidus even existed.

 

I felt exactly as you, and others have mentioned at the time; that I had no use for a PBI with the modern upgrades like MyIDE 2 (and U1MB/Side-1/2/3). I gave it a PBI port simply because I knew I could. But my hobby is as much about retoring, maintaining, modding and upgrading vintage hardware at least as much as it is about using the hardware and software (in as many diverse ways as possible, just for the joy of using them). It was a challenge just like climbing a mountain metaphorically. Especially in making an authentic edge-connector PBI port out the back like other XL's, instead of a parallel port that then requires an adapter with said edge connector as other used in their PBI mods. Another reason is to create my own version of the "sweet sixteen" project's Atari 1000, and the legendary 1400XL sort of rolled into one and taken far beyond the next level with modern OS, graphic and memory expansions. The only difference before and after the PBI is that I have removed the internal Rambo 512K upgrade (Atarimax clone) and reverted it to 64K internal dram memory, and now have a Syscheck 2.2 XL that I use for a total of 576K memory. There's actually nothing else I can think of needing or wanting to use the PBI port for a this time, except a Turbo Freezer*.

 

This leads me back to my 800 and the *Turbo Freezer, which I have, but I actually use it with my Atari 800 which I also made a real PBI port for as well, since I got an Incognito with it's PBI support and connector. And of course the Incognito, for all intents and purposes, is an U1MB+Side for the 800. Both computers still have more upgrades slated for them, common and unique, but both different. Another example is the 800 has a Pokeymax 2 Quad+Covox in it, and the 1200XL is getting the latest Pokeymax 3 with the 2 has and more, like dual SID.

 

Besides gaming, both machines are used for different over-all purposes. The 1200XL for programming, word processing, and finances and records for personal and business.  (that is learning to program) and the 800 for a research and development of real-world projects with connect exterior machines and devices. And not only make use of all four controller ports of the 800 for I/O to other devices in the real world. I'm also about to install a dual PIA board and ad an additional four controller ports for even more external I/O possibilities. The 800, instead of VBXE, has a Sophia 2 with it's new GTIA modes. Both machines And while both were NTSC machines, both have been converted to PAL, though I intend to revert the 1200XL to NTSC again. Both machines will be used for their unique audio/video upgrades. I have a blog of my 800 and it's mods and upgrades so far in my profile. I intend to have a blog for my 1200XL too soon.

Edited April 15, 2021 by Gunstar

[leech]

@Gunstar

You may need a bumper sticker that says "my other computer is also an Atari."

Very awesome.  I want to put the modern mods in a 1200xl as I feel it overall has the best 8bit keyboard, and want to try to port/enhance the remastered Ultima IV for the C64 to utilize the VBXE... make the best looking Ultima IV there can be!