Is there a list of available hardware/upgrades for the Atari 8-bit computers?

[Zolaerla]

While perusing the forums, I keep hitting terms I have to look up, mostly related to hardware or upgrade options available for the system. Is there a list of all of these things to help figure out what does what and what they are for? Even better, if the lists describe how to use them or has examples of software that takes advantage of them. The best I've found so far is the Altirra manual, but it only has a limited list that doesn't cover a lot of what I keep seeing or running into. I had to do loads of research to find out about various drives back when I was learning hardware SIO coding.

 

The closest I found was just a list of what addresses some hardware uses, but doesn't explain what they are in any way:

 

Some of these things are never properly explained anywhere like the Sophia or Incognito where I just scratch my head wondering what the heck these are even for. Or what the differences between the various graphics mods (like UGV vs UAV) or carts (Uno, AtariMax, SIDE2/3/3.1, etc.) or all sorts of other things are. Especially confounding are the actual Atari peripherals with their largely meaningless numbers for names of everything (just by numbers, I have a 130, 800, 1050, 1224, and 1040, and if you aren't in the "know", you'd have no idea what that means). I have found some of the hardware upgrades for sale on various sites that don't explain why you'd go through the trouble of buying and installing them in the first place.

 

Thanks!

Edited March 9, 2023 by Zolaerla

[Beeblebrox]

 A good place to start is the pinned newbies topic at the top of the AA forum:

 

also look at the Atarimania FaQ: 

http://www.atarimania.com/faq-atari-400-800-xl-xe.html

 

I could try and list things out in semi-detail but tbh a lot of reading is usually needed and all mods have plenty of info on them. As you can imagine for modern day upgrades (eg since the millenium) there are quite a few.  (Hardware creators such as Tf_hh, Candle, Simius, Mytek and many others have created quite a few of these amazing upgrades between them).

 

Also there is no way around it - there is generally a learning curve and a lot of things you'll need to familiarise yourself with. It's retro computing after all so there will always be a learning curve.

 

Video enhancers/upgrades (internally installed):

 

For Sophia 2 you can go here: https://thebrewingacademy.com/products/sophia-2-dvi-output-gtia-replacement

 

For UGV go here: https://ataribits.weebly.com/ugv.html

 

For UAV go here: https://thebrewingacademy.com/collections/atari-800-xl-xe-xel-xld/products/tba-ultimate-atari-video-uav-board-for-400-800-xl-xe

 

For VBXE go here: https://lotharek.pl/productdetail.php?id=53

 

For Spectre AV go here: https://lotharek.pl/productdetail.php?id=362

 

Supercolour CPU board for Atari 800: https://www.van-radecke.de/STUFF/tfhh_HW_info.pdf

 

Multicarts

 

AVG: https://avgcart.tmp.sk/

 

SIDE2/3 (3.1) Go here: https://retrolemon.co.uk/atari-8bit-storage-devices/53-side3-cartridge.html   and here: https://atari8.co.uk/firmware/side3/

 

Atarimax:https://atarimax.com/flashcart/documentation/

 

Ultimate cart: https://github.com/robinhedwards/UltimateCart

 

Uno:https://thebrewingacademy.com/products/atari-xl-xe-uno-cart?variant=16644272652388

 

Fujinet:  Wireless and peripheral emulator device: https://fujinet.online/ and here: 

 

 

 

Drive emulators (usually SIO based)

 

Sdrive max: https://atari8bit.net/tutorials/de-re-sdrive-max/

 

Sdrive simple: https://ataribits.weebly.com/sdrive.html

 

SIO2PC: https://lotharek.pl/productdetail.php?id=108

 

SIO2SD: https://lotharek.pl/productdetail.php?id=58

 

 

Ram/big hitting O/S system upgrades  (internally installed although some external ones in the pipeline)

 

U1MB for XL/XE machines: go here: https://lotharek.pl/productdetail.php?id=246   and here: https://atari8.co.uk/firmware/ultimate-1mb/

 

Incognito (for the 800): https://atari8.co.uk/firmware/incognito/  (video at the bottom of the page also)

 

The two latter ones are great system upgrades that give the A8 1MB of ram and a PBI hard disk drive, (in the case of the U1MB you get it when used in conjunction with the SIDE3 cart; in the case of Incognito for the 800 it has it's own compact flash card slot onboard).

 

There are also plenty of other internal and external RAM and or OS upgrades

 

I have U1MB and SIDE3 for my XL/XE systems and also Incognito (for my 800).

 

Diagnostic/ram/OS upgrade external PBI/ECI plugin devices

 

Syscheck II  (512k ram and a host of diagnostic functionality): https://www.van-radecke.de/STUFF/tfhh_HW_info.pdf

 

Hope that helps?     I will have missed a lot! 

Edited March 9, 2023 by Beeblebrox

[TGB1718]

@Beeblebrox beat me to it, but just to add in the Topics for Newbies link, on the first post there's

a PDF document with loads of the devices listed with links to each of their documentation

[Beeblebrox]

@TGB1718  

 

Ah well, Didn't take me too long to list em.

[woj]

And on top of that there is plenty of YT videos where you can see these things in action and learn how to install them, most notably by @flashjazzcat, but there are also others.

 

In any case, it's not exactly a 15 minute job to get a good overview and understanding of all these, regardless of whether there are good all in one sources.

[+MrFish]

Here's a place for info on the cool: Turbo-Freezer 2011 - Usage Info

 

[Zolaerla]

Thanks everybody. At least that is a start with some of this stuff. I've been going through lists and forum posts and whatnot since about August, and trying to figure out some of this stuff is just frustrating since there isn't some sort of central knowledge archive or the like for anything. I've been debating making a database site to keep track of all of this stuff...

[Beeblebrox]

Thing is the whole scene is based - for the most part - on enthusiasts and people doing these things in their spare, often limited time. Yes some make (very) little money out of it but it is still based on dedicated and very clever individuals giving up their time and sharing their knowledge. Furthermore the Atari 8-bit scene has been going for nearly 50 years with countless hardware mods, upgrades, and decades of discussions. New hardware and software projects are coming out all the time.

 

There are the likes of the pinned newbies thread here on AA and the Atarimania FAQ which covers a lot of the background stuff. Yet whilst yes it can be frustrating not to have a central place, to do such a thing is a pretty big undertaking which a lot of people just don't have the time to dedicate too. A database sounds great and is most welcome. I just think it's understandable something hasn't been done to date which needs updating all the time and be accurate.

 

A lot of forum posts and topics are duplicates sure - and often a lot of reading is needed/,. Unfortunately that's the way forums work. 

[Zolaerla]

I've been making e-commerce sites since 2000 for a living, so the skill to make the DB site is not lacking on my part. But yes, if I did start such a thing, having other admins to help contribute data would be most welcome, esp. as time moves on and because obviously other people know this stuff better than I do. I'm still having trouble even getting my Ataris to show up on a screen at all since I have really awful luck with finding terrible peripherals (I have an SC1224 for my ST at least, but I can't even get a screen from the XE and XL at the moment). I am not remotely new to working on cataloguing tons of Atari 8-bit stuff, since I used to do a video series on YouTube going in depth on numerous old games called Joy of Computer Gaming.

 

I was thinking of just starting with a hierarchical tag-based data storage system, similar to my Trailer Trash system for Steam games (WARNING: lots of swearing about horrible, sickening, and stupid games -- this is a personal project site): https://junk.zolaerla.com/TTCategory/Never-Seen-Before-Negative (just a sample category)

but nowhere near as advanced as the "Super Search" systems I've built professionally (cause man, setting this stuff up takes MONTHS to code): https://www.golflocker.com/mens-golf-shirts

 

I think having a list of different types of links (base/official docs, purchasing links, installation instructions, programming instructions, etc), a description of what it does, what system it's for, and data cross-linking and the like would be nice. Pretty easy stuff from my perspective, but everywhere I look in this community, there's nothing like that...

[reifsnyderb]

@Zolaerla A central database sounds like a great idea.  A nice feature would be for hardware developers to be able to add there own hardware.

[Beeblebrox]

@Zolaerla BTW there is also the excellent Atari wiki site:

 

https://atariwiki.org/wiki/Wiki.jsp?page=Main

Edited March 13, 2023 by Beeblebrox