Jumping back in with both feet...

[TheEditor]

I have been looking all over Craigslist and eBay for an 800 to get into my old 8-bit days and I finally found something I think is a great start:

 

Atari 800 home computer, 48K

Atari 810 floppy drive
2 Original Atari

Power and SIO cord

Pac-Man & Frogger carts

Music Construction Set diskette

Pinball Construction set diskette

all manuals

several Atari 800-specific books

several disks, no idea what is on them

 

all working for

 

 

wait for it....

 

 

you won't believe it....

 

 

ready...

 

50 bucks.

 

 

So how did I do? Alot better than some of the prices I have seen on RAPebay.

 

[+Stephen]

Awesome score!

[Hyperboy]

Hells Yea!

[TheEditor]

Updated now with the pics of my haul. Hopefully someone can tell me if they are US or non-US manufacture. The ROM/RAM carts are 10K ROM (in a case), 32K RAM (bare board) and 16K RAM (in case).

[TheEditor]

Sticker from back of 810.

Edited September 19, 2013 by TheEditor

[TheEditor]

Sticker from back of 800. Inside the unit in the back of the left cart slot is a small white sticket with 'DOM' on it in black text.

[AtariGeezer]

Sticker from back of 800. Inside the unit in the back of the left cart slot is a small white sticket with 'DOM' on it in black text.

DOM = Domestic = US NTSC model... Great score

[BillC]

Updated now with the pics of my haul. Hopefully someone can tell me if they are US or non-US manufacture. The ROM/RAM carts are 10K ROM (in a case), 32K RAM (bare board) and 16K RAM (in case).

As you should have realized from the labels they are both of US manufacture, there are some 800s made by Atari Wong of Honk Kong as well, but I believe the numbers are very small. The one I have was made in the 23rd week of 1983, but has a very low serial number, 83A AW 00620 233

My US made 800s don't have the 83A in the serial number, so I expect this is the code for the Atari Wong manufacturing plant

[TheEditor]

Well, after geting my SIOviaArduino project up and running and having access to more software for the A8 I was able to really test it and found out the Space Bar either was dead prior to me getting it or died not soon after. I took the machine apart and there is nothing evident wrong with the Space Bar but it does not work. I have pictures of the unit and the are of the Space Bar that I can upload if any thinks it would be worth it to see and possibly provide insight into why it is not working. I am going to call Best and B&C tomorrow and see if they have replacemants and what they cost. I can say the keyboard have a rainbow wire colored cable, not a ture as we know it today ribbon cable, as I believe it is a very early production run 800.

 

Any help, thoughts or input appreciated.

 

T.E

[eeun]

Nice setup. Got an 800 myself just last Thursday, my first. Came with an 810 and an 850 interface. The 800 was dirty and full of cat hair, but fully working.

I've owned many 8-bits over the years, and foolishly got rid of everything about six months ago. Obviously a decision I regretted, and I'm doing my best to make amends.

 

The 800 keyboard uses mechanical switches, so you should check the switch connection on your spacebar with a multi-meter. That way you'd determine whether it was a bad switch, or a problem elsewhere. Also, the 800's keys should pry off by hand quite easily, revealing the switch mechanics. I suspect it just needs cleaning. 30 years of kids, coffee and pets. My select/option keys were a little tempermental, and a touch of contact cleaner sorted them out.

[TheEditor]

Thanks eeun, I will check ou the keyboard further and also have a colleague of mine, who knows a crap load more about electronic than me, take a look at it and see what he can do.

[BillC]

Thanks eeun, I will check ou the keyboard further and also have a colleague of mine, who knows a crap load more about electronic than me, take a look at it and see what he can do.

The keyboard on Atari computers is a known failure point as it is used a lot, partially due to the fact that the game Defender uses it to activate hyperspace jump.

There are some threads in the forum about this, here is one about a repair: http://atariage.com/forums/topic/197108-800-keyboard-space-bar-repair/

[TheEditor]

I tore the A8 down and found the following. 1. the unit is very clean for the age and 2. it appears to be a second generation unit, thanks for the gentleman at B&C for his confirmation of this on the phone today. My testing shows the following:

 

(Image of the back of the keyboard at the solder points for the Space Bar is attached.)

 

Depressing Space Bar button produces no response on screen

Continuity check results with button pressed:
Green to Blue = Good
Green to Yellow = Good
Yellow to Blue = Good
Green to Purple = BAD, should be good with key pressed
Yellow to Purple = BAD, should be good with key pressed

No evidence of anything on the bottom of the board being damaged
No evidence of damage to the key switch from the outside

Under the key cap there is a square plunger that is hollow which has a solid fin on the left side and a fin of 4 tiny fingers on the right, when the square key cap socket is depressed the center of the button goes down and the fins come together to complete the circuit. There is evidence of any damage to the back side of the keyboard or the end near the Space Bar button. On the back side of the keyboard there are four screws on either side that appear to remove the bottom circuit board from the front side key switch area. I removed them and still cannot remove the board. Down there center of the board back is a double sided foam tape strip to protect the cable from being pierced by the solder connections. I guess it is possible there are screws under the tape that I am not aware of.

 

Anyone have thoughts or input? I am going to have a colleague of mine look at the keyboard tomorrow and see if he can fix it.

 

T.E

Edited September 24, 2013 by TheEditor

[TheEditor]

Resolved. The bad side had a broken trace. A friend soldered in a jumper and that appears to have resolved it. While he was in the machine and since it was apart anyway I had him add a momentary contact switch from CPU rst to ground as a cold reboot for less wear on the power switch.