Forrest

I added 4 momentary push buttons to the Atari USB Joystick from Legacy Engineer, that I bought about 10 years ago. The buttons are configured in RetroPie (left to right) as A, Start, Select, B. This button assignment works well with RetroPie and I use Stella to run 2600 games. B will exit Stella. It was easy to add the buttons - just solder the button wires to the button holes on the board. The Atari800 emulator still requires a keyboard in addition to the joystick because F2 is Option, F3 is Select, F4 is Start and F9 is exit emulator. Here's a picture of the joystick with the added buttons.

TobyJennings and Mr Robot, Thanks to both of you for the updated instructions. I used Mr Robots instructions a few weeks ago and they worked fine. I'm not a programmer and I'm not interested in compiling the source code if the binary (hex) file is available. Mr Robots instructions should work on a Windows machine, substituting Xloader https://github.com/xinabox/xLoader in place of HexUploader

FYI you can find high quality 5V 2.5A power supplies for $10 - these were designed for the Raspberry Pie and have a micro-USB connector. You'll need to splice in the DIN power plug to match your Atari. https://www.8bitclassics.com/product/atari-xl-xe-power-supply/ also sells a 5V 2A power supply with the Atari connector for $14.99

Avery, I've spent the past few days installing RetroPie on a a few Raspberry Pie systems and really appreciate how great Altirra runs Atari 8-bit programs. The sound emulation is what places Altirra above the other emulators. Fruity Pete version 1.1, with stereo sound enabled is spectacular. Altirra, running under Wine Stable 4.10 on my Mac Mini is every bit as good as running on a Windows 10 machine. My ranking of Atari 8-bit emulator sound performance is: 1. Altirra version 3.10 2. Atari800 version 4.00 3. lr-Atari800 version 3.00 For you RetroPie users running on the single core Raspberry Pie B+ 512MB, there is a loud buzzing with lr-Atari800. This can be eliminated in RetroPie by doing the optional core install of Atari800 and switching your emulator from the default lr-Atari800 to Atari800. I mentioned this on the RetroPie forum today.

I'm curious on how well it works with the NTSC 800XL. I bought a Porta video/s-video to VGA converter two months ago on Amazon, and it only outputs a greyscale image with vertical bars when hooked to my 800XL with and without the Chroma mod.

The 400 isn't easy to upgrade - with the most important parts of the computer encased in a metal block. The 800XL and 130XE are much easier to upgrade. Another option is running the Altirra emulator on a Windows computer, along with a USB Atari joystick. The Atari 800 Best Game Pack pinned near the top of this forum is a good place to start.

A Dell Optiplex 745 is only worth about $75. I wouldn't spend too much on upgrading the memory as it can't be used in a newer computer. Upgrading to 4-8 GB if you want to run Windows 10 is a good idea. An SSD isn't really needed on such an old machine. Note the Dell Optiplex 745 is available in 4 sizes. The Minitower can accept a full-size graphics card up to 75W, while the Desktop and Small Form Factor can only accept a low profile graphics card. The Ultra Small Form Factor cannot accept a graphics card. A new graphics card won't make any difference in viewing video's or web browsing. If you want to do any gaming, I would start with a newer used computer such as Dell Optiplex 790 with a i5-2400 Quad Core, 8 GB and 500 GB Hard Drive for $170 and add a graphics card.

I just ran Questron under Altirra 3.10 on my Mac, and had no problem with the program recognizing the number keys. I did not change any of the keyboard settings - the default key press - raw keys, layout - natural works fine.

The Atari Wireless Joystick CX42 was released in the 80's and uses RF technology. The base station has it's own power supply and an extendable antenna. Each joystick has a flexible antenna that's about 10 inches long. I will try plugging the Atari 400 into a VCR to see if I get a picture on my TV.

I would add some 1 inch hex standoffs installed inside the bottom of the case. This should give you room to mount the 3.5 inch drive and the add-on boards. You can mock it up first, without cutting your original case. If it all fits, you can extend the EMI shield with some copper tape and cut 1 inch high plastic pieces to go around the perimeter of the case.

I connected a set of Atari Remote Control Wireless joysticks CX42 to an Atari Flashback 2 yesterday and they did not work. Additionally, I was not able to power off the Atari Flashback 2 by pressing the power button on the Flashback console. It seems power was being supplied from the joystick base station thru the joystick connectors! After disconnecting the base station and connecting wired joysticks, the Flashback worked normally. Is this normal behavior for the Wireless joysticks? The wireless joysticks were previously connected to an Atari 400, but this setup hasn't been used for a few years. Troubleshooting help wanted.

Recent reply here http://atariage.com/forums/topic/288709-adopting-two-520-ste-machines/?hl=%2Bpower+%2Bsupply&do=findComment&comment=4269769

I think the drive looks great. It looks big enough to sit an Atari computer on top.

SF314 is the 720K, double-sided drive. SF354 is the 360K, single-sided drive

I see lots of activity on the Mongrel Edition (Version 2) https://exxoshost.co.uk/forum/viewforum.php?f=73 True 16 MHz mode sounds interesting, Any idea when this board will be released to the general public?

RockfordDash, In the third picture, the soldering technique for connecting the wires to the Raspberry Pi Zero W is poor. I recommend soldering thru hole headers to the Pi and the 5V to 3.3V level converter board, and then using DuPont wires to the connect the pins. This will provide a robust electrical connection and no further insulation is needed on these wires. TheMontezuma documented the SIO2PI project at http://atariage.com/forums/topic/209010-sio2pi-raspberry-pi-as-a-floppy/ The files are linked in this post. SIO2PI is less expensive top implement than SDrive, as the Raspberry Pi Zero W lists for $10 and Microcenter.com frequently has it on sale for $5. The 5V to 3.3V converter board sells for $2.95 to $3.95 for U.S. assembled boards. Sparkfun.com sells the level converter, P/N BOB-12009 for $2.95 while Adafruit.com sells the equivalent BSS138 for $3.95. Less expensive versions made in China sell for less. The SIO2PI potentially is more powerful - as the Raspberry Pi includes WiFi, Bluetooth, a much faster CPU and dedicated GPU and more memory than the Arduino.

Glad you got the Logitech F710 working with your Mac Mini.

All the emulators I've seen on Windows and Macs configure the controller from WITHIN the emulator program.

Glad you made progress in using the Logitech F310. The Apple store lists the Nimbus SteelSeries as Mac, iPhone and iPad compatible - so it should work fine. You should assign the 2nd controller within the Atari800MacX. Logitech controllers historically have good Mac compatibility, so my guess is the F710 controller should work fine with your Windows and Mac's. I've tried using XBox controllers with Mac's in the past with poor results. XBox One S wireless controllers work fine with Windows 10 machines with Bluetooth. Note you'll probably need to connect the controller to the Windows 10 machine with a micro USB cable to update the firmware in controller. After the firmware is updated, the controller will work wirelessly.

Just wondering if a 20K potentiometer would work better for this application. You would only have to turn the knob 1/2 a turn to go from 0K to 10K. I'm not sure if the extra 10K of resistance would be a problem.

In Atari800MacX, you can determine if the controller is recognized by clicking Preferences-Gamepads-Identify Gamepad 1. In this screenshot, my Atari (Legacy Engineering) USB joystick is identified as USB_Classic

You should be able to get controllers working with Atari800MacX. Make sure you are using version 5.01, which was posted on the Atariage forum a few months ago. I'm using a Mac running OSX 10.13.6 and tried 4 wired USB controllers. An old Gravis Gamepad Pro, Atari (Legacy Engineering) USB joystick and a Logitech F310 (switch set to D mode) all worked fine, but a GeeekPi SNES USB Gamepad didn't work correctly. You should only have 1 controller plugged into your Mac at a time while you configure Atari800MacX. In Atari800MacX select Preferences-Controllers and Preferences-Gamepads to configure them. I haven't spent much time trying Bluetooth controllers with my Mac. The wired Logitech F310 is highly rated, is available locally and on-line for about $20 and works well with Windows, OSX and Raspberry Pi. There is a switch on the F310 allowing use in X mode (XBox) and D mode (Direct). For Windows and Raspberry Pi, it's recommended you run the gamepad in X mode while the gamepad runs better in D mode with Macs.

boxpressed, Thanks for the video above on running emulators on an Amazon Firestick. I did not know that was even possible.

The problem with a Windows based emulator is you're subject to the endless amount of Windows updates. By comparison, I setup a Raspberry Pi running RetroPie months ago and haven't to update the OS or RetroPie since. A Raspberry Pie boots in seconds, and has USB, Ethernet, WiFi and Bluetooth and the OS is free.

I've watched a lot of the 8-bit Guy's video's. He's knowledgeable and I enjoyed his video's, but think he's got an uphill battle to design a full 16 bit 6502 based computer and be able to sell it for his projected price of $50-$100. The completed C256 sells for $459