GoldenGraham

Which Atari computer/console is this on?

Awesome SainT, was there many issues raised from the beta testing...? and have you got any idea of what the price will be yet?

I found that using the second socket for the GTIA made the whole Sophia board sit too high above the 800xl motherboard, such that the keyboard/case rubbed on the Sophia board as you screw the main plastic case of the 800xl back together again. I found a better way of making the main Sophia board sit properly and freely whilst still being able to screw the whole 800xl case back together again without boards/components/cases touching. Instead of using the second socket for the GTIA... I de-soldered the socket from the small 'SP8334' ic that sits beneath the upper half of the main Sophia board and re-soldered the 'SP8334' ic back directly (without it's socket) on to the 800xl motherboard. This then gives the Sophia board the necessary clearance from that small 'SP8334' ic without having to use the extra GTIA socket. Might be worth you reading the full guide I wrote on my Sophia 800xl installation on this thread back on Tue Dec 18, 2018 12:33 AM. I actually found the most difficult part was fitting the smaller Sophia board that contains the DVI socket. It's an awesome upgrade when fitted properly. Happy to help with any more queries on this anyway. Good luck!

Another vote here for the 5200 cart style... I think it's retro design, looks and form are excellent. Good work SainT with recent progress and listening to users views! Do you know yet when you might be needing those beta testers...? Look no further!

Yes I'm well happy with my Iiyama Prolite screen. I haven't noticed any back light leaking... but then again it's just the screen that I use with my Windows PC mainly for working from home... so I'm not too sensitive to any such issues. My Iiyama Prolite works great as far as I can tell, quite good inputs and outputs on it too... including a potentially useful hdmi in. It's huge (which I like) and only cost me £100 second hand a few years ago so definitely no complaints. Without wishing to go 'too' off topic here... In terms of other hardware upgrades for the 800xl... has anybody got any advice/tips for replacing the original huge external Atari power brick... with something more compact, lightweight and safe...?

The screen pictured in my writeup above is a 19 inch NEC Multisync LCD 1970NXp. I bought it second hand off eBay a few years ago for my Atari ST, they are readily available and can be bought at quite low prices. It's the perfect monitor for older computers and games consoles as it can handle the very low horizontal refresh rates of those 80s and early 90s machines. I haven't tried circle tests or colour tests on it but as far as I'm concerned it works perfectly with my 5:4 Sophia 800xl. I use this screen for all of my retro gaming needs. The only other screen I've tested my Sophia on (purely to see how Sophia handles a wide screen) is my more modern widescreen Iiyama ProLite E2773HS. This screen also displays the Sophia output exactly how I would like it to, that is with the 5:4 aspect ratio maintained and not stretched to fill the wide screen. Has anyone else managed to fit a Sophia to an 800xl whilst keeping the RF metal shield fitted and being able to completely close the external plastic case, with no rubbing anywhere? Are there any other upgrades anyone can recommend for my 800xl apart from Sophia and the Ultimate Cartridge...?

Hi folks, I thought I'd share my experiences with fitting the Sophia DVI board to my 800xl. I haven't covered *every* last detail so please ask if there's anything I've missed in this writeup... The first picture shows how I've had to remove (de-solder) the socket of the small ic beneath the Sophia board and then re-solder this small ic directly to the motherboard. This is the only way that I could seat the Sophia board low enough to enable the plastic exterior case of the 800xl to close completely. The most difficult stage of the fitting was removing the TV modulator from my 800xl. This took a higher powered soldering iron to de-solder the 3 large solder 'blobs' that secured the 3 mounting points of the TV modulator. Despite people on this thread claiming that it is 'obvious' how the small DVI board should be mounted to the 800xl motherboard, it is not at all obvious... especially as my Sophia was not supplied with the 9 'board to board' mounting connector pins that are required. I bought my mounting pins separately (eBay item 352397816844) cutting out my 3 sets of 3 pins using a craft knife as required. I then soldered the 9 pins to the 9 holes marked on the small DVI board. With mounting pins now in place it was then a matter of soldering the DVI board at the 3 holes on the 800xl motherboard left by the removal of the TV modulator. It is soldered at the desired height so that the DVI port is accessible through the DVI size hole I had dremel'd out of the plastic case... Now, in the following 2 photos you can see I've cut (using a Dremel tool) a DVI shaped hole in the back of the 800xl case where the circular hole for the old RF (TV) cable was. Finally the following photo shows how I have used a hacksaw to cut (butcher!) the necessary opening in the large metal RF shielding that enables this shielding to be completely screwed down without touching the Sophia. All credit goes to Simius for this simply amazing video upgrade. It brings my faithful 35 year old 800xl into the new millennium and when combined with the Ultimate Cartridge, makes accessing my Atari nostalgia fix so much more straight forward If only there was such a great video upgrade available for my ST and Jaguar... My only criticism would be the lack of any fitting instructions and the missing 'board to board' pins that are essential for mounting the DVI socket board to the 800xl motherboard. Next up for my 800xl is a careful retrobrite. I'll finish with some comparison photos showing Sophia DVI video output versus SCART (s-video) output. No competition! Great fun... many thanks Simius

Okay,thanks Simius... but how exactly is the DVI board 'secured' firmly to the motherboard? The DVI board has no screw holes in it to match the holes that were left by the TV modulator. So do I need to drill some holes in the DVI board to enable me to screw it to the motherboard... or do I use a strong glue to bond the two boards together perhaps...? Thanks.

Thanks for the link jowi. I figured out a way of creating more space for the shielding and case closure on my 800xl by removing the ic mount of the Dm74LS158N ic that's just above the GTIA. Now, I have removed the TV modulator and plan on fitting the DVI connector in its place. However, there doesn't seem to be any detailed info on this thread as to exactly how the DVI connector can be firmly mounted to the back plastic case of the 800xl. Does anybody have any advice on how best the actual DVI connector can be firmly mounted on the back of the plastic case of the 800xl...? Thanks.

Received my Sophia rev C board this week for my 800xl. Works amazingly well but now trying to figure out how I can fit it whilst still being able to fit the metal shielding to the inside of my 800xl. Has anybody been able to re-fit the metal shielding... perhaps by 'modifying' (cutting into and bending) the metal shielding to provide clearance over the Sophia board? If so I'd be very interested to see photos. I understand the metal shielding is there to avoid electrical interference from other electrical devices. Do I really need to be worried about electrical interference without my metal shielding... or are there usually no adverse effects of running an 800xl without metal shielding...? Next I need to mount the Sophia DVI port to the back of my 800xl. Has anybody done this successfully...? I've seen one person's photo of how this was done from the outside of the case... but photo's from the inside of the case would be far more interesting. On an 800xl, is it recommended to remove the TV modulator and mount there...? If so how is the TV modulator removed and what method/tools are used to mount the DVI port...? Many thanks, Graham.

Hi, I'm interested in buying an Ultimate cart or an Uno cart, depending on price. I would like it supplied with cart case if possible but this is not essential. Please could you point me in the right direction as to who I can purchase from and how to do so and with prices including shipping to the UK. Many thanks.

Thanks for the tip but I think I'd rather keep the French original keyboard than put an ST keyboard in. I want to try to keep it 'original lookin and genuine'. Thousands!? and who is Giga? No, I paid £306 to some French dude on eBay, it's a French Falcon and it's faulty, hence the low price.

Hi all, I need a Falcon UK keyboard (not an ST keyboard), new or second hand, I can exchange a French Falcon keyboard as part of a deal if need be. Or any advice on where I can purchase one from is welcome. Best Electronics is the only place I know of. Many Thanks.

Thanks Aaron, yes my soldering on the Recom part was pretty p!ss poor, but I was quite pleased with everywhere else. I never realised that small Recom part was so expensive either... $7 really! I used Duratool Sn60/Pb40 solder 0.032" containing 2.2% flux. I also used my small pot of flux in places where needed. Yes I should've glued down the ide cables really but nothings rattling so far thankfully It never crossed my mind to remove the original lcd socket as it wasn't mentioned in any of the guides I used. I never noticed it impeding me at any point anyway. I know a lot of people find these jobs a pain in the a$$... but for me the fitting process is every bit as enjoyable as the end result. Whilst waiting for my 'turn' for the Lynx SD card reader, my next project is Chris Swinson's 32 mhz booster for the Atari STE

@CowDog360: Yes, right at the very end of my writeup there's a hyperlink to some pictures of various stages of my installation. How do you rate my soldering on the PCB...? Thanks for your words of wisdom on installing these too, sounds like you've done a lot! I perhaps shouldn't go on about other ones too much on this thread but the speaker I ordered is 8 ohms too and 0.5w. So I'm expecting it to be a lot louder at least. What I'd really like though is an improved dynamic range... i.e. more bass and better mid range. This is the one I've ordered anyway... http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2-Pcs-Black-Plastic-Shell-Round-Internal-Magnet-Speaker-40mm-8-Ohm-0-5W-/361358006748?hash=item54229d99dc:g:qcUAAOSwpIdW8RTH Please keep me posted on your rechargeable lithium battery. How much running time do you expect to get from it fully charged? Will we be able to completely reproduce one from your instructions or will you be selling them ready made perhaps? Ideally I'd like it to be chargeable via a micro USB charger similar to the one I use for my mobile phone. Cheers.

A big 'shout out' (and a HUGE thank you!) goes out to McWill for this truly amazing screen mod for my Lynx II. As many have said before me it enhances the games so much, breathes new life and interest into the Lynx and is worth every penny. I did the fitting of the screen mod myself, together with VGA connector and the 5v mod that McWill recommends... and it all worked FIRST TIME! . Anyway, I thought I'd share a few points as follows... - I have a little soldering experience and found that with the help of YouTube video's and McWill's notes... and making sure you get organised in advance with all of the necessary soldering equipment... it's quite a straight forward job if you give yourself plenty of time and take great care. Also McWill himself was very informative and responsive on the AtariAge Instant messaging service. I also found the de-soldering part very difficult to begin with... but after watching a couple of guides on YouTube about de-soldering I soon mastered it. I mostly used the solder 'sucker', but also found that de-soldering braid was helpful at times too. - I found the fitting of the VGA connector to the exterior of the Lynx2 case the most challenging part as there is almost zero info to be found anywhere on this part. It was basically a case of whittling away at the plastic case with a sharp knife until you have a hole that fits. - Numerous times I would screw everything back together only to find that there was dirt or scratches beneath the plastic lense in front of the screen. Here I found a lint free cloth and a compressed air can to be very useful to clear the dirt/dust. I used car polish to remove the small scratches that I'd made, the plastic screen lense now looks perfect and better than ever! - Re: the VGA connector, I spotted someone's idea earlier on in this thread of using a thin 'pin header' as an interface between the Lynx and the VGE connector... to avoid having to cut into the lynx case to accommodate the vga connector. Whilst a neat solution, I decided against this idea as I think the VGA connector looks fine on the back of the lynx if you make a half decent job of it, and it means anyone can simply use any standard VGA cable to connect the Lynx to a monitor. - Another point re: the VGA connector, I opted to use the mounting screws that are supplied with the connector. I drilled 2 small holes in the Lynx case to accommodate the 2 connector screws. Now the thumb screws that come standard on VGA cables can be used to securely screw the VGA cable to my Lynx. - It's important that you mount the VGA connector on a flat (not angled) face of the lynx. I mounted mine a little too far away from the power socket which caused problems in attaching the second screw for the connector. Also, make sure you mount the connector so the metal 'plate' of the connector is on the INSIDE of the lynx, it looks far neater this way rather than being on the outside. - If there's anyone else like me based in the UK who's having trouble getting this mod fitted for whatever reason then please feel free to get in touch and I'll give you a quote, however I'd recommend using McWill's fitting service for 55 Euro's (plus postage of your Lynx to and from Germany) for as long as he provides the service as I don't think I'd be able to do it for less £. - For me the next mod for my Lynx will be RetroHQ's Flash card reader... and also an upgraded/modern speaker. The only mod that doesn't seem to be well catered for at this stage is a re-chargeable battery cell... to enable people to power their Lynx in a similar (wireless!) way to how they power their mobile phone. I've also heard recently about a 24mhz cpu booster that was mentioned on here recently... I'd be really interested to hear more about that if anyone has any info? Finally, a couple of very minor complaints as feedback just for McWill's benefit... Very minor complaints 1) Whilst I found the LCD mod in general very good value for money, I thought the 5v mod was over priced at 10 Euro's for what is essentially just a Recom R-78E5.0-0.5 component. I have no idea how to work the volt meter (multimeter) that I own to check that the voletage wasn't over 5.45v, so to be on the safe side I just fitted the 5v mod anyway However, since fitting the 5v mod I'm little concerned as to whether or not it was a good idea... since hearing what other people on this thread have said about it being a battery drain. However I've heard that the original diodes/components used for 5v regulation also result in battery drain. So I'm not sure which option is best... replacing the original 5v regulation components 'like for like'... or fitting the (Recom) 5v mod recommended by McWill...??? 2) On ordering, I didn't realise that the mod kit came without wires... however I soon found out that IDE ribbon cable from an old PC is an excellent choice. It is perfect thickness and avoids having a confusing spaghetti nest of wires inside your Lynx. 20cm length for ALL wires worked fine for me. 3) A small section (about 7mm square) of the LCD PCB next to a screw hole had snapped off at some point. This meant that the screw I insterted through this half-hole was in-effective. I don't want to dwell for too long on these 3 very minor complaints as the mod in general is of course truly amazing. I just wanted to include them for McWill so that he may improve his service. I'll finish with another huge thank you to McWill for investing so much of his time and effort in something that everyone on here enjoys so much... . Please keep up your amazing work! Here's some pics of my fitting experience

Also very interested in upgrading the Lynx II stock speaker if anyone has any suggestions?

Hi SainT, great work! Please add me to your pre-order list for the SD cartridge (with case) for the Lynx. Funds £ ready when needed. Many thanks, Graham.