A way to use a 1200XL keyboard on a 800?

[courtesi]

I know some people have put the 1200XL (regarded as the best keyboard) in 800XL's. But I've read that while the 800XL was designed to be fully compatible with the 800 - it wasn't the case. So I'm asking if there is a way to put this keyboard in the 800 instead.

[Urchlay]

I know some people have put the 1200XL (regarded as the best keyboard) in 800XL's. But I've read that while the 800XL was designed to be fully compatible with the 800 - it wasn't the case. So I'm asking if there is a way to put this keyboard in the 800 instead.

 

Well, I recently replaced the keyboards in my 800 and my 1200XL... without taking them apart again right now, I'm going to say the keyboard connectors were the same (or very very similar, I didn't count the pins), so it's at least possible that the 1200XL keyboard might work on an 800...

 

...but the 1200XL keyboard won't physically fit inside the 800. You'd have to cut up the front (top) of the 800's case to make room for the extra row of keys (start/select/option/help/etc), and you'd have to figure out a way to mount the 1200XL keyboard (drill new holes, since the screws are in different places). I wouldn't do this to my 800, even if I liked the 1200XL keyboard better (which I don't. I actually prefer the 800 keyboard, at least if it's the original with the brass contacts).

 

The person you really want to talk to about this is MetalGuy66. He's the king of this stuff...

[+Guitarman]

If I were you, I'd use the 1200XL (if you have one) and install the 32in1 OS upgrade from Atarimax. This will give the 1200XL the ability to run the stuff that the XL's had problems with by using the original 80 OS when needed.

[Urchlay]

If I were you, I'd use the 1200XL (if you have one) and install the 32in1 OS upgrade from Atarimax. This will give the 1200XL the ability to run the stuff that the XL's had problems with by using the original 80 OS when needed.

 

I can't speak for the original poster, but I have an 800, a 1200XL, and an XEGS... and I use the 800 pretty much exclusively. Compared to the 800 (even its composite output), the 1200XL and XEGS look like crap. The 800 is also the only one with s-video output, which looks so good it almost makes my eyes hurt (but in a nice way). I also like the 800 keyboard a little better than the 1200XL (and the XEGS keyboard is so bad, I can't stand to use it at all).

 

I know it's possible to fix the 1200XL's video (the supervideo/clearpic mods), and some day I will... and at some point I'm going to want more RAM than 48K, which pretty much means using an XL/XE. But I'll always keep the unmodded 800 for gaming, if nothing else.

 

I don't suppose a 32-in-1 OS upgrade exists for the 800, does it?

[courtesi]

The 800 is also the only one with s-video output, which looks so good it almost makes my eyes hurt (but in a nice way).

 

How are you getting s-video output on the 800? I thought it only had composite video output?

[Urchlay]

How are you getting s-video output on the 800? I thought it only had composite video output?

 

Nope, the 800 has composite and s-video at the same jack.

 

The 1200XL (and most, if not all, XLs) have the same jack, but for some reason the chroma pin isn't hooked up. Means they can't do s-video without being modified, though they were originally supposed to.

 

The XEGS just has a regular RCA jack for composite, and another for audio. They did away with the 5-pin DIN (not sure why; surely two jacks are more expensive than one, even if they're different types of jack?)