David_P

Would it be worthwhile to set up discussion groups and a source repository at somewhere like Source Forge for this project? Atari Age doesn't really have the tools for managing a distributed development project like this.

The Atari 6502C is not pin compatible with the older 6502 chips found in the 400/800. Thus the difficulty in upgrading the CPU to a 65C02 or a 65816 - the pinout is wrong. To upgrade an xe/xl, you need a daughterboard that re-routes the signals to the proper places - to my knowledge, there are only a couple that need to be changed, but it's been quite some time since I read the specs.

Look for the VENDEV FAQ, posted to comp.sys.atari.8bit on a semi-regular basis - it lists current vendors and developers.

There was also the G: driver in ANALOG, which would print out to Epson-compatible printers in beautiful ATASCII. A very nice bit of programming that supported alternate charsets, too...

Another option might be to try MAE, written by John Harris (of Frogger and Jawbreaker fame). It's floating about out there in the interwebs...

I suspect the intent in offering the Cart was as a form of copy protection. I think Best is still offering the cart/disk combo for sale- and MyAtari may have a few as well.

I have an "Atari XE Game System" green monitor. When a lightgun gave up the ghost, I took the Atari label from its side and glued it on to a Tandy green monitor...

I seem to recall an ANALOG review. This was similar to the "Atari Zucchini" series of articles by Lee Brilliant, on converting an 800 to a printer buffer - a custom SIO cable between the parent computer and the slave 800; the 800 would act as a printer buffer and print out via the joystick ports to any Centronics parallel printer (in other words, it would act as the P: device). I also recall another cart from the same company that would have your second computer act as a RAMDISK. Anyone interested in learning to program SIO / CIO could do much worse than reading the Atari ZUcchini articles from ANALOG.

There's only the standard TV out; adding the monitor output takes some work on your part. There's also only 16K RAM; some game cartridges do require more RAM (mostly later ones)

I have made it to "Blue Max" but only 4th class... every time I get all the targets early and hit the bunkers in the city on the first pass I somehow manage to crash into another plane. But I still go back...

I think ANTIC ran an article many, many moons ago in their "Tech Tips" explaining the 5v switch method - in fact, it's what I've got in one of my 800xls (socket soldered on top of the OS ROM, 27128 plugged in on top). That may explain why that 800xl gets flakey when I try using an Atarimax flash cart...

In the Atari cart version the screen DL screw-up upon bombing your own hanger went away. Anyone out there ever reach the esteemed rank of Blue Max first class?

A question: I just picked up an XEGM (no keyboard) on Ebay. All the chips are soldered except for ANTIC. Any one have a hypothesis as to why that one particular chip would be socketed?

It used to be available at the Umich archive; if that doesn't work out, I know I have a copy somewhere - the problem si that my Atari stuff is mostly still in storage, so no guarantees as to when I can find it. It's a drop-in replacement within the OS; what I did was take the XL OS, replace the FP routines, add John Harris' Hyper E:, and add a routine from Antic so CTRL-SHIFT-P would dump a GR 0 screen to P:, then burned it into a 27128 (losing the International charset in the process, but still having a few hundred free bytes to play around with). Again, once I dig out my disks I'll upload...

I was watching that one. Missed the end!! Good purchase!! I'm thinking about a hardware / software combination to let it act as a server (using SIO) for up to 4 other computers... kinda nifty to have multiple megabytes of disk space accessible to multiple computers...

XEGS, with power supply but no keyboard, for $1.57 (plus shipping).

Brad Koda at Best may still have some in stock (http://www.best-electronics-ca.com/); alternatively, B&C Computervisions (http://www.myatari.com/) may also be able to set you up with a 48K board for the 400.

MULE Blue Max Star Raiders BallBlazer Hardball

Slightly OT: The Montreal Atari Club was named at its first meeting "The Reunion of Atari Montreal People" or TRAMP. It was intended as a joke; at the second meeting the club was renamed the "Montreal Atari Club Atari de Montreal", or MACAM. Lots of memories there...

Drac030: Many thanks. The site is occasionally inaccessible from here, but it's a good list... I only need to polish my Polish!

I'm interested in seeing what device drivers exist for the Atari 8-bits. I'll list the ones I know, and I'd ask one and all to add any others they know about. S: Screen P: Printer E: Text Editor C: Cassette K: Keyboard D: Disk drives R: RS-232 device (Atari 850, PR Connection, MIO, Black Box etc) G: Graphics printer device from ANALOG N: Null device, from Antic (I think) M: For the Multiplexer interface, originally from CSS Any other ones you can think of off the top of your head?

Can't find it with Best or Myatari (B&C Computervisions) but there was an Atari 48K board for the 400. Best is still offering a 32K board for $25.00 - see http://www.best-electronics-ca.com/800.htm, item #CB101377. Brad sometimes has items in stock not listed on the site; it's probably worth an email.

And the promised pictures of the FTE Sweet 16 upgrade. Top shot is as installed in my 800xl (in the top of the photo are from PIA to expanded RAM). Bottom shows the other IC mounted on the bottom.

I believe you are correct. After a comprehensive set of tests (some would say I merely played a bunch of games, some 400/800 only, with the switch in both positions. But I call it testing) it appears that one position is the 400/800 OS (with OPTION to enable BASIC), while the other is the default XL OS. Here are photos (top and bottom) of the upgrade:

What type of adapter, specifically? Power adapters are available from sources like www.myatari.com or www.best-electronics-ca.com; TV adapters may be available from the same sources. There are also memory adapter cards that will take your 400 to a whopping 48K.