Atari 800 newbie...

[Muzz73]

Hey, all...

 

I've had 600XL & 800XL machines for years, but never owned an Atari 800 before. Thankfully, I have one on the way and am pretty stoked about it. I do have a question or two, though, and any help would be appreciated.

 

First, my 800 has the 6502 CPU, not the 6502C. Is this going to cause a compatibility issue for me at some point?

 

Next thing is... the 48K of RAM. My 800XLs came stock with 64K (as 800XLs do) and I had my 600XL upgraded to match, so I've never given much thought as to whether or not I could run something, nor have I paid attention to which of my games will run under 48K and which required 64K. Is this also going to be a problem?

 

I'm sure I'll have more questions as I go...

 

Thanks in advance!

[BillC]

Hey, all...

 

I've had 600XL & 800XL machines for years, but never owned an Atari 800 before. Thankfully, I have one on the way and am pretty stoked about it. I do have a question or two, though, and any help would be appreciated.

 

First, my 800 has the 6502 CPU, not the 6502C. Is this going to cause a compatibility issue for me at some point?

 

Next thing is... the 48K of RAM. My 800XLs came stock with 64K (as 800XLs do) and I had my 600XL upgraded to match, so I've never given much thought as to whether or not I could run something, nor have I paid attention to which of my games will run under 48K and which required 64K. Is this also going to be a problem?

 

I'm sure I'll have more questions as I go...

 

Thanks in advance!

With the standard 6502B CPU Atari used 4 extra chips to allow it to be shutdown by ANTIC, the 6502C(Sally) allowed Atari to eliminate 3 of these chips. There was even a version of the 800 CPU board that used the 6502C(I believe this was only used in PAL 800s).

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/180704-800-with-6502c

 

The Incognito upgrade adds many features(1MB RAM/SDX/RTC/PBI/CF interface/multi OS/XL-XE modes) to the 800. What I believe to be the last run should be shipping shortly, there should still be a few available if you are interested.

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/217325-incognito-run-3-interest-thread

[Muzz73]

I am very interested in an Incognito. I posted on another thread, asking if anyone ordered extra ones just to see the run happen, but didn't get any responses. I'm hoping to get lucky once the boards actually arrive into peoples' hands.

 

So I should be alright on the CPU thing, but what about the RAM? Is the difference between 48K and 64K crucial on the A8, like it is on the Apple ][+?

[BillC]

I am very interested in an Incognito. I posted on another thread, asking if anyone ordered extra ones just to see the run happen, but didn't get any responses. I'm hoping to get lucky once the boards actually arrive into peoples' hands.

 

So I should be alright on the CPU thing, but what about the RAM? Is the difference between 48K and 64K crucial on the A8, like it is on the Apple ][+?

Some software won't run on an 800 to to lack of RAM and others due to the differences in the OS's, and there is also PAL software that doesn't run/display properly on any NTSC system. The Incognito upgrade resolves the RAM/OS issues, but not the differences between NTSC/PAL systems.