Is the Atari 1200 xl rare?

[homerwannabee]

I picked up the Atari 1200 xl along with 12 games and also the atari 1010 tape recorder and the atari 1027 printer for $20. I do not have much information on this system. I had to get it because I didn't even know that there was an Atari 1200.

[+FujiSkunk]

It's hard to find, to be sure. It was Atari's first XL system, even before the 800XL and 600XL. I don't remember the exact details (someone around here does, I'm sure), but it didn't stay on the market long because, while it had quite a few extra features over the 400 and 800, it had some problems that kept it from getting a wide audience. Atari then pulled it in favor of their other XL machines.

 

They do go for a pretty penny, at least they did the last time I sold one. In a single eBay auction I had an 800 and a 1200XL, both of which I thought were broken. I listed them as such, and they still went for a lot more than what I paid for them. This was three or four years ago, and I haven't seen one since.

[Almost Rice]

They are a tiny bit more rare than the other Atari 8bits because they were only made for 1 year, but still readily available. The reason they go for more than other Atari 8bit computers is because they are preferred for their hackability(space and sockets) and keyboard. There is much more room under the 1200xl than a comparable 800xl.

I like the keyboard, but I like the 800xl keyboard even more.

 

The negatives are video needs some modding for better output and no PBI. The 800xl or 130xe is preferred because of the PBI. most 800xl are socketed, but their video seem to be the worst.

 

BTW, $20 is a great buy.

Edited September 2, 2006 by Almost Rice

[JamesD]

It's hard to find, to be sure. It was Atari's first XL system, even before the 800XL and 600XL. I don't remember the exact details (someone around here does, I'm sure), but it didn't stay on the market long because, while it had quite a few extra features over the 400 and 800, it had some problems that kept it from getting a wide audience. Atari then pulled it in favor of their other XL machines.

 

They do go for a pretty penny, at least they did the last time I sold one. In a single eBay auction I had an 800 and a 1200XL, both of which I thought were broken. I listed them as such, and they still went for a lot more than what I paid for them. This was three or four years ago, and I haven't seen one since.

The 1200XL is the scarcest of the 8 bit Atari's. It was more expensive to produce than the later models and the war with the C64 + compatibility issues with the new ROM lead to it's demise.

I only see 1 or 2 of these on ebay at any given moment but I saw twice that once when one sold really high. That always leads to a lot of listings for the rare machines.

This one with 256K and a bunch of extras is over $100:

Auction

 

Most of it's problems were related to the ROMs it has and using different ones usually makes most stuff work on it from what I read. I don't have one myself but I would like to get one. It has the best keyboard (at least most people say so) of any of the 8 bit machines so it's worth keeping if you get your hands on one.

[deathtrappomegranate]

Very nice score for $20!

[Crimefighter]

Hmmmm....didn't know the 1200XL was a rare machine...I have one. Bought one on sale when they were trying to sell off the stock at a department store back in 1984 or 1985.

[+Larry]

"Rare" lies in the eye of the seller. (especially in auctions... )

-Larry

[Beetle]

Here in europe the 1200xl could be described as really rare. The last one on eBay.de was over 85 Euro IIRC. For 20 US$ - i would say its a steal.

 

Beetle

[kevin242]

Im not suprised they are rare in Europe since they were never sold there. The 1200xl had another

problem besides the XL OS which was not compatible with a few games some 3rd party cartridges would

not fit into the side cart port. Also the 1200xl didnt feature basic built in. I think the main problem

with it was like someone else pointed out it was too expensive to compete with the C64.

 

Personnaly I think it is a toss up between the 800 and 1200xl which one has the better keyboard, but

the 1200xl has always been my favorite 8bit.

[BoatofCar]

The 1200XL was my very first computer I still have it too! I'd pick up that deal you got for $20 in a second.

[homerwannabee]

Well I just got finished testing it and it works sort of The only way I could get it to turn on was pulling down on the power cord and tucking it under the system. Also when I tested the games Some worked and others did not. For instance River Raid worked and so did Kaboom but other games like Galaxian and Star Raiders had a rolling screen. While others didn't work in it at all. Is the rolling screen from the power supply or is it the 1200xl being incompatable with some of the games?

[+Guitarman]

I have 3 1200XL systems. They are probably my favorite. One of them has the Atarimax 32in1 rom upgrade which also includes a BASIC rom and will make the 1200XL compatible with anything. The other option that I installed in another 1200XL is the first half of a PBI mod that Bob Woolley came up with. The mod is the addition of a OS rom from a 600XL/800XL and also the BASIC rom, giving the 1200XL the same abilities as the other XL systems. Either upgrade works great. Both of my modded 1200xl's also have 256K memory upgrades in them. I have one 1200XL that I am leaving stock. Here is the mod instructions for the Bob Woolley upgrade, minus the PBI addition, taken from the Atari Museum website (a must visit).

 

A Parallel Bus Interface for your 1200XL

 

By Bob Woolley SLCC

 

If you did the CLEARPIC modification in the August Journal, then

you qualify as a 1200XL nut, just like me. No use fighting it, though,

you really do yearn for the MIO type stuff that all the 800XL/130XE users

have been bragging on. The easy way to get one is to buy an 800XL, but

since when do we have to take the easy way out? Face it, you want an MIO,

you gotta do this mod. You might even get a disk interface thrown in.

There are only two hardware functions that are missing on the 1200XL that

are required to run the Parallel Buss - a 16K ROM select and the

-EXTernal SELect input. All the other circuitry already exists in the

1200XL. So, let's get a 16K ROM in there, first.

 

The 1200XL OS does not have the PBI code in either of its two 8K

ROMs, which means we'll have to either recode an EPROM or use the 800XL

or 130XE (same chip) OS ROM. Since many people don't have an EPROM burner

and don't want to spend $150 for one, maybe $5 or $10 for an Atari ROM

out of an 800XL (CO61598B) is a good idea. Also, it really isn't legal to

copy the Atari ROM into an EPROM, even for your own use. Even if you

destroy your source ROM, even. Atari was nice enough to provide an easy

upgrade path, use their ROM. OK? First thing you may find is that the

1200XL ROMs are 24 pin devices and the new ROM is a 28 pin package. No

problem. All of the 1200XL main boards have 28 pin sites for the ROMs.

All you need to do is pull the 24 pin socket at U13 and solder in a 28

pin unit. One more address line (A13) is needed, so remove the W6 jumper

and solder a wire from pin 23 of the CPU chip (U21) to the top pad of W6.

Now, plug the 800XL OS ROM into U13. The 16K ROM select is just as

simple. Take a look inside your 1200XL. See the chip that has 20 pins

(U14)? That is your MMU. It is the main difference between a 1200XL and

an 800XL. Same number of little pins, same number of inputs and outputs

..... But the 800XL IC has the 16K select for the OS ROM. So, lets jump

right in and swap the MMU with the 800XL part (CO61618). Fits just fine,

doesn't it? Pull out all the jumpers except W11, W12 and W9 and you have

a ROM select line that will select the address range from $C000 to $FFFF

in a single ROM, like the 800XL.

 

Since the 1200XL has two ROM sockets, and there may be some hard

core nuts out there that just must have the internal Basic ROM, get a

version C ROM and bend up pins 24 and 21. Plug this ROM into U12 and

solder a wire from pin 24 of the Basic ROM to +5v at the top of C11 (just

to the left of U13) . Solder another wire from pin 21 of the ROM to the

left hand pad of W7 (which should not have a jumper in it) . One more

wire from pin 18 of U14 to pin 11 of U23 and your machine has Basic under

the covers, just like the big guys ! Now you get the thrill of holding

down OPTION when you want to boot without Basic, where those of us who

don't do this section only need to pull the cartridge. To be fair,

though, SpartaDos will now turn Basic on and off in your 1200XL with the

Basic On and Basic Off commands - which is kinda nice.

[deathtrappomegranate]

Well I just got finished testing it and it works sort of The only way I could get it to turn on was pulling down on the power cord and tucking it under the system. Also when I tested the games Some worked and others did not. For instance River Raid worked and so did Kaboom but other games like Galaxian and Star Raiders had a rolling screen. While others didn't work in it at all. Is the rolling screen from the power supply or is it the 1200xl being incompatable with some of the games?

 

A few games will only work with the pre-XL OS of the 400/800, but none of the titles you mentioned are in that category. Maybe you could say what games you have?

 

In many cases, cleaning the edge connectors of the cartridges will resurrect them.

[kevin242]

Well I just got finished testing it and it works sort of The only way I could get it to turn on was pulling down on the power cord and tucking it under the system. Also when I tested the games Some worked and others did not. For instance River Raid worked and so did Kaboom but other games like Galaxian and Star Raiders had a rolling screen. While others didn't work in it at all. Is the rolling screen from the power supply or is it the 1200xl being incompatable with some of the games?

 

Galaxian and Star Raiders should work on the 1200xl. One possible reason they are making the screen

roll is the cartridges may be PAL format. I had the same problem with some PAL carts on my 2600.

[deathtrappomegranate]

One possible reason they are making the screen roll is the cartridges may be PAL format.

These games were not released in separate PAL/NTSC formats. The same carts were sold on both sides of the Atlantic.

[lord_mike]

Hmmmm....didn't know the 1200XL was a rare machine...I have one. Bought one on sale when they were trying to sell off the stock at a department store back in 1984 or 1985.

 

He he... me too! $99 at Northeast Appliance and Audio! A definate steal at the time! (and yes, I still have it.. dind't realize that it was considered to be rare!)

 

Thanks,

 

Mike

[Gunstar]

I have one, had it for about two years now, it definately has become my prefered 8-bit, I already sold off my 800 system, I did keep my 130XE for two reasons though, one, it was my first Atari 8-bit so I keep it for nostalgia, and two, it's upgraded to 320k. My 1200 I've totally hacked, I think everything but the PBI which doesn't interest me, I never had a black box or MIO board with the XE, which has PBI compatibility, so if I never used it, and probably never will, why upgrade the 1200 with a PBI? With Myide the whole hard drive reasoning is shot out of the water. My favorite part about the 1200 is the keyboard, but it also just looks so much cooler and more like a real computer than a "toy" that the other XL's and XE's are often refered to as(toy). The 1200 looks like a serious computer like the 800 and Apple II's. But it is great to hack away on with all it's room inside, even enough room in there for a hard drive, and it doesn't have to be a tiny notebook drive either, a slim 3.5" will fit!

 

I remember ads in Atari magazines back in the day that were giving 1200Xl's away FREE witht the purchase of a printer or other items. I wish I had bought one then, but I had avoided it like the plague due to all the rumors of it's incompatibilities. And rumors they ALL were as far as I'm concerned. Although I have the 32-in-1 OS in it now, I NEVER came across one single Atari program in two years that did not work on it just as well as on my XE, only the few 800 titles that are just as incompatible with the newer XL's and XE's. It's "incompatibilities" is all bull shit! I know it was true in as much as incompatiblities with the 800, but the later Atari machines never fixed that anyway, and it was nothing a translator disk couldn't fix, except for a couple carts. Besides the 800, it's the best quality made machine Atari Inc. or ATari Corp. ever sold, period, including the ST/TT/Falcons. Like the 800, it's a TANK.

[BoatofCar]

A little off topic, but is there any way to "fix" the cartridge slot so it doesn't take the strength of ten to pull a cart out? Is this a common problem or is my machine just a fluke?

[Crimefighter]

They shouldn't be hard to pull out, I never had any difficulty.

[Gunstar]

I've come across two cartridges that are a bit harder to remove than normal Atari cartridges and those are the MyIDE and Maxflash carts, but even they aren't HARD to pull out, just a bit tighter. The cartridge slot was one of the other things I love about the 1200 that I forgot to mention before; I never cared for the XE with the rear slot, that was always a pain for me to reach behind, and I definately hate the other XL's with the top loading cart, I hate having a cartridge sticking straight up out of a computer like it's a game console, it's just not right, and if you have pass through carts with two or more, then you start building this "tower" that gets in the way of your view of the monitor and just looks plain dumb. the 1200's side slot has easy access, and like the 800, the cart is hidden away in the recessed slot. Very cool.

[kevin242]

I've come across two cartridges that are a bit harder to remove than normal Atari cartridges and those are the MyIDE and Maxflash carts, but even they aren't HARD to pull out, just a bit tighter. The cartridge slot was one of the other things I love about the 1200 that I forgot to mention before; I never cared for the XE with the rear slot, that was always a pain for me to reach behind, and I definately hate the other XL's with the top loading cart, I hate having a cartridge sticking straight up out of a computer like it's a game console, it's just not right, and if you have pass through carts with two or more, then you start building this "tower" that gets in the way of your view of the monitor and just looks plain dumb. the 1200's side slot has easy access, and like the 800, the cart is hidden away in the recessed slot. Very cool.

 

 

Yea but Krazy Shootout wont fit in there!!! WTF?? I remember people were actually taking hack saws to their carts so they would work properly on the 1200xl.

 

You are right about the tower of carts on the XL's, but if like most people you only had one cart at a time in the slot it wasnt a big deal. Even tho I loved my 130xe back in the day, it was a real pain to get carts in and out of and I can only imagine what a PITA it would of been if I could of afforded Spartdos X, Real time 8 and Basic XE. Imagine those sticking out the back of your computer!!

Edited September 12, 2006 by kevin242

[LYNXGUY]

while it had quite a few extra features over the 400 and 800, it had some problems that kept it from getting a wide audience

 

If I remember correctly and I do, my best friend had to get what is called THE FIXXL to run certain games and programs.

 

I believe I read on this site that there were 2 versions of the 1200XL

[+Guitarman]

Get a 32in1 upgrade from Atarimax. You will never have to worry about the OS again!! Plus you get the built in Basic RevC. It is a very nice upgrade and works great.

[carmel_andrews]

All released 1200's were NTSC only

 

It was unclear or unlikely that the 12xx or 14xx were going to be sold in europe, howeever i did happen to come across a PAL modified (prior to the Diry mod) 1200 back in the very early 90's