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Atari Falcon - factory bodge?


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A very unique computer came in for quality of life improvement; an Atari Falcon - C-LAB MK1 edition.

 

So far everything is testing good, but I did notice it has a very strange bodge over U63.  Anyone know what this does??

 

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Isn't this one of the clock fixes? There are a few different ones (each one with advantages and disadvantages) but the question is "is this one that the MK-I received from C-Labs? Or was the MK-I a "vanilla" Atari falcon board and one of the previous owners did this? Maybe someone who knows falcons better than me can chime in...

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7 minutes ago, larrylaffer said:

Isn't this one of the clock fixes? There are a few different ones (each one with advantages and disadvantages) but the question is "is this one that the MK-I received from C-Labs? Or was the MK-I a "vanilla" Atari falcon board and one of the previous owners did this? Maybe someone who knows falcons better than me can chime in...

You're right!! Thank you. Quick google search got me pics of someone else finding this on their falcon!

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But the question I have is this: Aren't C-Labs supposed to have done those fixes in their Falcons? If so, is this their work or is this a transplanted motherboard from an Atari branded falcon? Don't get me wrong... It is great to have a working falcon these days... But I would be curious to know if it is an original mk-i or not.

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1 hour ago, leonk said:

A very unique computer came in for quality of life improvement; an Atari Falcon - C-LAB MK1 edition.

 

So far everything is testing good, but I did notice it has a very strange bodge over U63.  Anyone know what this does??

 

IMG_7238.jpg

Looks like the one from this haul

Any chance you are repairing the other falcons too?

 

… and yes I have a morbid curiosity about how many systems total will be saved/restored.

 

 

Also is it normal for c-lab mk1 to have a white kb?

http://msx.fab.free.fr/mpc2/atari/atari16-32/c-lab.htm

the link seems to show the dark grey one, the case as well looks different (but that could be due to the yellowing).

Edited by phoenixdownita
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2 hours ago, phoenixdownita said:

Looks like the one from this haul

Any chance you are repairing the other falcons too?

 

… and yes I have a morbid curiosity about how many systems total will be saved/restored.

 

 

Also is it normal for c-lab mk1 to have a white kb?

http://msx.fab.free.fr/mpc2/atari/atari16-32/c-lab.htm

the link seems to show the dark grey one, the case as well looks different (but that could be due to the yellowing).

I can confirm, he's been helping me out with the Falcons, very very thankful for his hand in the restoration process of these computers :)

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2 hours ago, phoenixdownita said:

Looks like the one from this haul

Any chance you are repairing the other falcons too?

 

… and yes I have a morbid curiosity about how many systems total will be saved/restored.

 

 

Also is it normal for c-lab mk1 to have a white kb?

http://msx.fab.free.fr/mpc2/atari/atari16-32/c-lab.htm

the link seems to show the dark grey one, the case as well looks different (but that could be due to the yellowing).

I can also confirm 1 Falcon, which was pre-ordered, was shipped out today, restored to good working shape! I have high hopes all the others will work again

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2 hours ago, phoenixdownita said:

Also is it normal for c-lab mk1 to have a white kb?

That is also interesting... As far as I know C-Labs bought the falcon intellectual property from Atari when Atari went bankrupt. The white keyboard in falcon was observed only when Atari started selling the falcons, for just a few machines and until the grey keyboards got produced (they were delayed and Atari was in a hurry to start selling). How a C-Lab ended up with a white keyboard is a bit of a mystery... To me at least...

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Falcon and 1040ST share the same key caps, stems and rubber domes. Apart from the key cap color different, the actual PCB is a bit different also and the connector to the motherboard is very different (There's a lot more pins on the 1040ST than Falcon - almost 2X as many!)

 

So one can move key caps between the 2 computers.  I suspect either the previous owner, or C-LAB themselves did it for this unit.  We will never know the real answer.  :(

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No doubt about the compatibility of the keyboards, the grey color of the keys is the main difference. But probably this falcon did not leave the factory "wearing" a white keyboard, as to me (and someone please correct me if you think otherwise) the gap between the time where C-Labs took over the falcon line of computers, and Atari shipping first falcons with white keyboards is too long...

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1 hour ago, Snowbound1996 said:

I can also confirm 1 Falcon, which was pre-ordered, was shipped out today, restored to good working shape! I have high hopes all the others will work again

Meaning you sold a restored one?

The going rate of falcon is pretty high, for parts 900+us$ and working conditions easily 2000+us$ … 

Edited by phoenixdownita
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There is some confusion over whether the Clabs Mk I's came with the clock patch. I had a conversation with someone on Atari Forum who got quite irrate when I insisted my Clab Mk I came with no fixes and I had to get them done later, whereas he insisted they all came fixed. The simple answer to this apparently I found out later was that you could have the fixes applied when you ordered from the supplier, and so a lot of them would arrive fixed as new. Mine was ordered stock and did not have the fix. I got the clock fix and the line out changes done later when I got into Cubase Audio.

Regarding the keyboard colour, could it be it came with a non- US keyboard and he swapped it out for the US one which is a fairly easy and cheap swap? Personally I would have put up with the foreign keys, I have another original Falcon with a similar arrangement, an ST keyboard has been swapped in, but the light colour doesn't sit right for me personally.

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