Best option for 80 column display

[yorgle]

I've been thinking about buying an XEP80 but have read some really negative reviews. What do folks here think is the best option for 80 column display for my 1200xl? Is there any sort of internal mod that can be done to have the option for 80 columns right from boot?

[atarifan49]

I've been thinking about buying an XEP80 but have read some really negative reviews. What do folks here think is the best option for 80 column display for my 1200xl? Is there any sort of internal mod that can be done to have the option for 80 columns right from boot?

 

Well for me, the XEP80 was nice to use with Spartados X cartridge. Spartados X was about the closest I could get to having XEP80 available on boot up. And you need to have a disk that contains your config file to activate the XEP80.sys driver that's on the Spartados X cartridge. And using Atariwriter 80 was probably the best word processor to use with the XEP80.

 

Well for internal, unless someone develops a parallel bus version of the XEP80 I can't see any better method. One thing to note about the XEP80 is that its based on a National Semiconductor chip used to operate dummy terminals. This chip was designed more to work with green / amber screen monitors that have better character resolution than standard color video monitors used with the 8bit Atari. It's important to match the XEP80 up with a good green / amber screen monitor. And you would want to have a color monitor still connected to the Atari for when you need to see screens put out by the ANTIC/GTIA chips.

 

Its a shame that ICD halted development on their 80 column video on the MIO. I'm just wondering how much better that would have been than the XEP80. At least the MIO is parallel bus based. But this wouldn't help you unless your 1200XL has been modified to have a parallel bus.

 

Just take careful note of what you want to be able to do with the XEP80 and ensure you can locate a good monitor to use with it before taking the plunge. Using the wrong type of monitor with it can produce characters that are not completely drawn due to inadequate resolution on the monitor.

 

My two cents...

 

Glenn

[Mathy]

Hello Glenn, guys, girls

 

One thing to note about the XEP80 is that its based on a National Semiconductor chip used to operate dummy terminals. This chip was designed more to work with green / amber screen monitors ...

 

It's the NS405. The datasheets will tell you, that it can be used to generate colors. And also that you are free to assign as many bits as you want for each basic color (Red, Green, Blue).

 

Greetings

 

Mathy