Larry

@foft and @santosp have already demonstrated with the eclaire XL that it is feasible to recreate the Atari computers with FPGA. Whats missing is a case (or a form factor that would fit the existing case(s) and the ability to attach a real Atari keyboard. I have one of them, and it sure feels real to me.

@ClausB, just curious -- did the checksums slow down the the ramdisk operation much?

I think I understand what you're asking... When I started out, it was all about software. I was enthralled by the "shiny new thing" of home video games. But as time wore on, games provided less and less of a kick. I wrote quite a few Basic or hybrid-Basic utilities; then even that wore thin. But hardware still provides nice new "toys." It is still enticing, so hardware is my answer to your question! P.S. I am still amazed by Altirra and Phaeron's knowledge. Lots of others, too, but Altirra stands out.

A lesser-known one (I think) is the Swifty Utilities, available at Atarimania. These are credited to Jerry White and Fernando Herrera. They are Basic utilities, and it was the first Basic utilities package that I bought BITD. I had a lot of fun with these, and used them a lot.

Can you share a little more info about the board? And how does your ramdisk differ from other available ramdisks?

I went through that Expander thread tonight. Really interesting product -- hopefully the docs will turn up. Even if they are "terrible" (as the reviewer stated), I'm sure it's much better than no docs. Also interesting that Brad Coda (BEST Electronics) entered into the mix trying to buy the product/rights. What makes this OS intriguing to me is that it provides some features that AFAIK only otherwise exist in the Ultra Speed OS from CSS, and of course, it is locked up with protection firmware.

Here's a 2021 thread about that OS. The Newell Ramrod XL board was really neat stuff BITD. I've still got two of them. Wow! I sure used to burn a bunch of eproms.

Here's a related question that I found no answer for -- what is the general life expectancy of a good brand (such as Xilinx) CPLD? I have read that an FPGA's life is estimated at 10-15 years. I'm just curious because our 80's hardware has lasted for 40+ years (mostly intermittent use). I would presume that in general, lower voltage mean less heat and longer life? Are there any that now run in the 1+ volt range?

Looks like it is BLOAD, so all the OP needs is a multicart or such. I'm not aware of any cartridge format spreadsheets for the A8 (certainly not in the U.S.). The Atari 8bit is great, but without any peripherals/accessories, it's pretty limited.

Amazing graphics! Between this app and the HAVO, I may have to get a VBXE installed! The original A8 release was graphically pretty terrible, IMO. For anyone interested, there is a lot of Popeye trivia and info. Here's a good place to start: https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=Popeye+cartoon+characters&atb=v371-1&ia=web or the sites: https://popeye.fandom.com/wiki/Full_character_list https://popeye.com/

Isn't the flat one that didn't produce a signal the same type as used on the XEP80-II (to produce both 40 and 80 columns)? IIRC, @mytek said that some of these work and others don't? Perhaps you got one that didn't?

Most folks used Adaptec MFM - SCSI converters. (I've never seen a SASI system). But there were a few Seagate SCSI drives that could be used directly with the MIO. Interestingly, some firmware versions of the common Seagate 20 MB SCSI drives could be formatted down to 256-byte sectors, but other firmware versions for the same drives could not. My first HD system was a 10 MB Miniscribe MFM drive, a "shoebox" housing (with an Adaptec converter) and a 256KB MIO. Ultimately I had quite a collection of MFM (mostly) and SCSI drives for the MIO and BB, including 1/2 height, 3-1/2" MFM drives. Arguably, the best of these was a Conner 200 MB SCSI drives that still works today. Not quite as fast as using a SCSI - IDE adapter with compact flash, but almost. Thanks for the walk down memory lane!

Just for fun -- if you were doing this today, can you guesstimate how much smaller the PCB could reasonably be? I had two of these, and they both had chip failures within six months of purchase. I don't remember which chips, but both were fixed under warranty. But these were awesome in the 80's. @warerat's updated firmware was a real game-changer for the MIO. Of course, today SCSI isn't the best choice (same with Black Box), but by using a SCSI to IDE adapter, they both are still really useful tools.

BASIC or ML or ? Can you share any details on how you came upon it?

@Dopeyman06 Just curious -- did you consider the UAV? I've done both Clearpics, but I'm not sure about testing the UAV in a 1200XL (I was a Beta tester for the previous version of the UAV, so I probably did test the 1200XL). I can say that the UAV gives amazing picture quality in other Ataris. I don't understand why folks would opt for the complexity of doing a relatively tedious mod like original Clearpic or Super Video, when there are much simpler methods to get to a very good display. (Not rhetorical -- I don't get it.) @bob1200xl Maybe this thread? (Look especially at Bob's post near the end.)