Gotta Start Somewhere...

[_The Doctor__]

APE can work with FTDI cables utilizing VCP and software modes, this is both good and bad... as with all FTDI cables, you can't switch baud rate quickly enough to emulate an XF551 or iNdus drives properly!

The AtariMax device cables in conjunction with APE can do so without issue handling the emulation and real drives correctly whereas FTDI and RespeQT can not.

APE provides internet modem/serial port

APE can drive more than on serial cable

APE provides PC mirror across practically all DOS variants

 

PCLINK on RespeQT is incredibly great used with SDX however.

Edited October 13, 2021 by _The Doctor__

[eightbit]

5 hours ago, Mazzspeed said:

Can the FTDI based SIO2PC based devices be used with APE?

 

Yes indeed. I have used Lotharek's SIO2PC USB device and another homemade device by someone (can't recall who atm) and both were detected by APE and worked fine.

[Beeblebrox]

@clh333 hercules cables are great and double shielded. I received my din to s-video with RCA audio output cable last week.

Remember as I mentioned unless you establish you have a newer 800XLwith the Freddie chip, you will have an 800xl with no chroma hooked up so will get a black and white image with svideo if you choose to go down that route at a later stage. 

 

Great you have a Hong Kong made fully socketed board by the sounds of it. Will save you time if you ever need to install U1mb or replace bad chips. 

 

Perhaps post some images of the 800XL inc the back and open it up if you are comfortable doing so and take some more pics. It'll help us help you. ?

 

And I definitely second watching Flashjazzcats excellent vids on YouTube. ?

Edited October 13, 2021 by Beeblebrox

[VicViper]

On 10/11/2021 at 9:11 PM, scorpio_ny said:

Welcome and congrats @clh333!

 

Here a thread that shows and talks about the "ingot" power supply that @kenames99 and @tep392 had mentioned:  Ingot Power Supply --> Garbage Can?

 

And there are no stupid questions! A lot of members here are very knowledgeable with the systems and as you already seen, glad to help out. 

 

Well, learn something new everyday. Off to shop for a new power supply, guess I've just been lucky so far.

[TemplarXB]

The Fujinet is probably the single most fun modern accessory I’ve gotten for any of my retro systems. 

 

Also, I highly recommend checking out Atariprojects.org and browse around for fun ideas of things to do with your new A8.

 

[eightbit]

2 hours ago, VicViper said:

Well, learn something new everyday. Off to shop for a new power supply, guess I've just been lucky so far.

Yep, that Ingot is a horror show. I had to replace the RAM in an 800XL some years back due to that damn monster.

[BillC]

The serial number label can often be used to determine where it was manufactured and the video output format.

The first 3 characters are for the manufacturing location and the next 2 are for the video output for the earlier labels, the format appears to have changed when after it became Atari Corp. under the Tramiels.

I don't know all the locations/product codes, but the following are some I have determined.

 

83A = Hong Kong-Atari Wong

7YJ = Hong Kong-Chelco

72R = Taiwan-?

 

HA = 800XL/NTSC

HP = 800XL/PAL

HU = 800XL/PAL(UK)

 

[Mazzspeed]

I don't see why you'd want to emulate an Indus or XF551 under RespeQt. RespeQt handles DD ATR's just fine, I do it all the time using Div 0.

[_The Doctor__]

Most of us have seen why very quickly indeed when using the real drives to back up our catalogs of disks to atr, atx, or breaking out our files to a folder. You would come to also greatly appreciate the ability when writing your disk images/folders of data back out to the actual drives onto new media. It makes these tasks so much more bearable/enjoyable. That precision is critical when attempting to doing such chores.

[Mazzspeed]

When using real drives, sure. However with reliable media becoming hard to source and the drives even harder to source in many locales, I don't know whether that's of much of a concern to most. Personally I see the benefit of an adapter supporting both APE and RespeQt being more important to many.

[clh333]

On 10/13/2021 at 9:19 AM, manterola said:

In order to test what you have while waiting for the Hercules video cable you can use the RF output with any Rca-Rca cable and the adapter of the picture which is super unexpensive and ready available everywhere (amazon, ebay, etc). I guess it's called rca female to F-type male, or something. 

Then you need your TV in "ANT" and make it tune channel 2 or 3.

 

 

Well, it took a little searching but I finally found an adapter, such as was illustrated by manterola, in my box of miscellany.  I routed the signal out of the Atari RCA , into a VCR antenna in, out of the VCR line out and into a Commodore 1902A monitor.  All considered the image was pretty clear.  I haven't received my Hercules Workshop cables yet but hopefully the image is better still using them.

 

The machine boots into BASIC with an OK prompt and I can enter and run a small program.  I understand this is not Microsoft BASIC and I'll need to find a reference for this dialect.  The seller included an Extended BASIC cartridge but I was unable to access its contents - again due to lack of knowledge on my part.

 

No word from AtariMax but I did pick up a cassette unit and two SIO cables from eBay.  I haven't tried booting from the drive and won't until I give it a good cleaning.  Making progress and still enthused.  Thanks again for all help.

 

-CH-

[Beeblebrox]

@clh333 IMHO you don't need to worry too much about Basic etc at this stage, (unless you want to learn to program of course ). The machine boots to it's inbuilt Atari Basic already, (hence the ready prompt). It's only the early models of Atari computer that needed an Atari basic cartridge for Basic.

What are you interested in doing with your XL? If it is retro gaming then there are many options for allowing you to download and run 1000s of free abandonware games. Go to the pinned topic for newbies and returning Atarians for lots of info on this fantastic machine.

 

A quick and cheap/easy way aside hooking up your Sio2pc devices is to get an sio2sd device or an Sdrive Max device. Newbie pinned topic thread covers these.

Cheers

Edited October 16, 2021 by Beeblebrox

[Tillek]

Well, the one question is if you really have a registered copy of APE, or just the demo (which does a lot in itself) that he includes with each one.

 

You should be able to tell by installing it.  Usually there is an installer, and then the patch to upgrade it.

 

Also, those CDs that came with it likely include a host of disk images and other files that will keep you busy for quite some time.

 

I would recommend that you take any recommendations to buy other devices and upgrades and such until you really get to know it more.  The SIO2PC and SIO2USB you already  have will do much of what the other devices do (and in many cases, if you really do have the registered software, will do it even better as it has been time tested over a long period of time).

 

The thing about Atariage, is when you ask about things like this, everyone and their cousin chimes in without so much as a thought as to what you plan to use it for and just recommends their favorite upgrade (or in some cases, any upgrade they can think of that hasn't been mentioned yet).  You'll pour hundreds of dollars into it before realizing what you want to do with it or that what you already had works more than fine for what you want to do.

 

So just have fun exploring!

[clh333]

1 hour ago, Tillek said:

So just have fun exploring!

Thank you, I will!  I made the plunge into 8-bit computing in 1982 with the purchase of a Kaypro II computer, with which I did invoicing and file-organization for my small business; commercial photography.  This was in the early days of digital imaging, and most of the advances in the field of graphics were being made on 65xx micros; there wasn't much available for the Z80.  Eventually my business tool became a hobby and my hobby eventually became an occupation: I ran a digital marketing operation, worked as a webmaster and systems analyst, did custom database programming.

 

Now with time on my hands I've been "backfilling" my knowledge of these old technologies.  Recently I've been reading about 6502 assembly language, a dialect I have never used.  The author presented programs for the Commodore and the Atari, and I was struck by the fact that the Atari was slightly different from the rest of the 65xx herd.  I decided to acquire a machine and see what it was all about.

 

Where this takes me is TBD, but already I have been impressed with the capabilities of the SIO chain, which has been described as an early version of USB, and with the fact that they eschewed the Microsoft BASIC and wrote their own.  Already I like them.

 

I'm an inveterate tinkerer and puzzler and anyone with a pet project or a pet peeve is welcome to give me an earful.  Thank you all for your suggestions.

-CH-

Edited October 16, 2021 by clh333

[clh333]

On 10/12/2021 at 4:19 AM, Mazzspeed said:

U1MB and SIDE3 would be my first upgrades, followed by Sophia 2 if the global semiconductor shortage ever comes to an end. Do you plan on connecting to BBS's (you need to connect to BBS's)?

SIDE3 first, I think.  Thank you for the recommendation.  Amazing that there are such resources for a computer that hasn't been produced in so long.

 

Don't need to connect to the Internet; pursuing acquisition of old-school technology, i.e. 300 bps modem, for now.  

 

-CH-

Edited November 6, 2021 by clh333

[Mazzspeed]

8 hours ago, clh333 said:

SIDE3 first, I think.  Thank you for the recommendation.  Amazing that there are such resources for a computer that hasn't been produced in so long.

 

Don't need to connect to the Internet; pursuing acquisition of old-school technology, i.e. 300 bps modem, for now.  

 

-CH-

No problem my Friend.

 

I think it's great that enthusiasts are still developing hardware for retro platforms, it's just a shame that the retro platforms themselves are becoming more expensive than the modern upgrades available for them!

[clh333]

A little progress report, and a question or two...

 

I have been going through the various items in the original purchase and adding items to round out the system. In addition to extra SIO cables and new power supplies:

• Added a 1050 drive for extra storage.
• Got the 1025 printer working and added a fresh ribbon.  It's slow but the printout is good quality.
• Purchased a 410 and changed out the bands to get it working again.
• Have been experimenting with burning software onto 2764 EEPROMS and loading them onto carrier boards.  I found the Editor Assembler binary and now have that on a cart.
• Purchased an 850 in unknown condition; it lights up but that's all I know for now.  If viable I have other non-Atari (non-SIO) items I can interface with.
• Also purchased an MPP 1100 printer interface and an MPP 1000E modem, both unproven as yet.

I was interested in the MPP line because it connected to the joystick port - no need for an 850 or SIO cable.  Then I found out MPP was the precursor to Supra Corp., with whom I am familiar. 

 

Which brings me to my questions:  Is there a difference (electrically, operationally) between the front JS port and the rear one?  Seems the rear port works better with the Koala Pad and the modem. 

 

The MPP modem came damaged and already modified (an extra switch and a 9VDC battery connector) but after finding the Smart Terminal binary on Atarimania, loaded it onto an EEPROM.  Subsequently I found the Operator's Manual on the Internet Archive and realized the setup expects a disk drive to be attached as well.  Using Manual dial I can enter a number and invoke dialing.  The modem indicates "off hook" for maybe ten or fifteen seconds then hangs up and I am returned to the main menu.  AFAICT the call does not go through, but I'm not seeing feedback from the modem, either.  I know this was a popular modem back in the day; does anyone have any diagnostic suggestions?  Command set?

 

Thanks for your replies.

[clh333]

Now officially oh-fer-two on the joystick port interface:  An MPP 1100 parallel port interface, acquired recently, also designed to plug into the joystick port, timed out with a BASIC 138 error code.  Researching the topic I found that MPP furnished a custom ROM with the device that replaced the system ROM and included a handler for the joystick interface.  Best Electronics has this IC for $17 but I think I will just find one that uses the SIO interface for now.

 

I guess you could call this progress...  At least I'm learning.

 

-CH-