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Need info on this ATARI 800XL system


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On 7/4/2021 at 4:13 AM, DavidD said:

Anyone know anything about the "Chelco Group of Companies"? 

 

They appear to have a website (https://chelcogroup.com/) but it's not exactly clear as to what they actually DO... other than some sort of general conglomerate investing stuff.  There is a reference to electronics manufacturing, but...

Chelco=China/Chinese Electronic Company.  They made a lot of the 1010s.  I have two music boom boxes that were made by Chelco.  Not of good quality, I might add.  

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Chelco 800XL are not uncommon. They usually don't get that yellow, and use Stackpole keyboards. I also own an NTSC 600XL chelco that also came looking great. They can be distingished (AFAIK) by the black label and byt he PCB (of course). Chelco also manufactured the White beauty power supply, therefore sometimes, if your lucky you get this highly respected power supply with your 800XL.

One problem though, is that the upper half of the case has the offwhite and dark plastics  "glue" together, making retro-bighting more complicated, but in my case I never needed to RB any of my two Chelco Atari computers.

 

 

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I live in Ohio and have the tools, antistatic mat and skills to open it. And would be happy to document the insides and send it back to you. 
 

I have the ability to dump the roms, but if the roms are not socketed I’m not the best person for that job. 
 

PM me if you want my address.

 

thank you. 
Todd

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  • 3 weeks later...

@burnthesehills First of all, congratulations for this "sample". Only a very small number of them have survived today, that's for sure. So this computer is a fantastic piece in a collection.

Then, is it just me exaggerating or is the metal "Atari 800XL" badge/label different from the production models?

800XL is definitely "bolder" on this one.

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On 7/25/2021 at 6:21 AM, ldelsarte said:

@burnthesehills First of all, congratulations for this "sample". Only a very small number of them have survived today, that's for sure. So this computer is a fantastic piece in a collection.

Then, is it just me exaggerating or is the metal "Atari 800XL" badge/label different from the production models?

800XL is definitely "bolder" on this one.

 

Indeed it does look slightly different from production models. There are two production model badges variants. One is more bold than the other, however this preproduction one is a little different, more bold and the zeros are more round?.  Good catch.

 

With regards to the texture on the Stackpole XL's here is Perifractic unboxing one that is clearly rough texture at about the 11:07 mark.

 

 

 

 

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On 7/25/2021 at 6:06 AM, DavidD said:

I feel like I'm missing something obvious here, but.... Southbridge MA?

I spoke with my his daughter about this today.  She said that, at the time, he was the only East Coast Atari employee.  He worked out of his home and had white van with ATARI graphics on it.  Once a month, he had to fly to CA for meetings.  He always complained because he was old school and would show up in a full suit and tie and everyone there would be wearing polos and t-shirts.  She said they had a massive fax machine in their home that was as big as a filing cabinet and he had a work room with a large drafting table.

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The badge looks like a typical Chelco badge to me. The blank space in the chelco badge is a lot less than in the other 800XLs and 00 are wider. See how the L is almost at the end of the badge (first image is a "normal" 800XL and second is a Chelco build)

What does looks different is the texture of the Stackpole (Type 4) keyboard. The working sample posted has smooth keycaps.

DSC_0040.thumb.JPG.a67a51b0f873c17af1ba7a93c59fbad6.JPGDsc_0039.thumb.jpg.771fa5fc8a4e181bb27c65d42bfc1560.jpg

Edited by manterola
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  • 10 months later...

Just a heads up that Joe (burnthesehills) and I worked out a trade deal (just a year in the making, mostly my fault for taking so long) and I will be documenting this apparently rare 800XL for everyone.  Yes, I will do ROM dumps if they are different, etc.  I haven't even opened it yet, just removed it from its super safe packaging material.  ☺️

 

 

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Preliminary notes:

BASIC Rev B, 600 XL OS REV 1.

The shield was held in place by two I twists, similar to the very funky CHELCO 600XL.  In fact the chip layout on this 800XL reminds me of the 600XL layout in that funky unit. The key caps are the smooth semi-gloss, reminiscent of the 1200XL or the REV3 600XLs. The keys feel stiffer to push down then the normal keyboard variant of this type.

 

There seems to be one less TTL chip on here than in the normal production run.  Someone want to confirm?

U21 used for UK/PAL is not present nor is there a place for it.

 

Looks like the PBI has +5 wired to it.

 

The fitting of the board in the case obviously has some issues, not everything sits flush and some parts of the board were cut to make it fit.  Some of the traces look damaged from the bottom shield not being attached properly (if it even could have been).  I have not powered it on, and won't for a while until I check it all out.

 

 

Funky 600XL:

The funky I twists you can see at the top here:

http://www.atari.org.pl/forum/viewtopic.php?id=12054

 

 

Large hastily taken pictures attached here, these are NOT my fingerprints :) 

 

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IMG_0131.thumb.JPG.4f7119076e3a425e81f7cab423f5e322.JPG

 

IMG_0132.thumb.JPG.807ae062248f566263cdd5481482fce4.JPG

 

IMG_0133.thumb.JPG.ea2c99a5b60a9f84a7043006175e6118.JPG

 

IMG_0134.thumb.JPG.61517b50d1b3fcef55266bcea51bb14f.JPG

 

IMG_0135.thumb.JPG.51b1ad4d20e13eaca628a80c5766f31e.JPG

 

 

 

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