questions about 800XL components

[ace]

okay, first I want to say AWESOME SITE!!!!

 

now I use a 1200XL and I am wondering if its worth saveing my two extra 800XL computers for parts? or even if the parts inside are compatable? I ask this because I dont use the 800's because I dont have the power cords to make them go. also I have heard of people hot rodding their ataris and hooking them to ibm based equipment and such. I am interested in what I can do to improve my 1200XL but not destroy it in the process.

 

also what cartrages are ccompatable with these machines? my brother had a 130XE that used the same size cart. but besides it and the XL series is there others that use this size cart.? and where can I find them?

 

one other question... where do you get NEW floppys formatted for Atari use?

[classics]

All the VLSI chips in the 800XL can be installed in the 1200XL as replacements. They are identical, though the 1200XL may have an older version of ANTIC than the 800XL. You only need the newer ANTIC if you expand the 1200XL beyond 64k memory, otherwise they are interchangable.

 

1200XLs are fun to expand, they have a lot of room inside for bulky upgrades like hard drives. Here are a few upgrades you might try.

 

http://www.atarimax.com/warpos/ (32-in-1 OS upgrade, internal BASIC, XL/XE MMU. Note this is my own product, so take my recommendation with a grain of salt )

 

http://www.mr-atari.com/myide.htm (Internal or External IDE interface, works very well.)

 

http://atrey.karlin.mff.cuni.cz/~pavel/ata.../800xl256K.html (256k upgrade that can be adapted to the 1200xl, I have used it on many machines)

 

http://www.geocities.com/atarimods/supervid5.html ('Super Video' 1200XL upgrade. I do this on the 1200XLs I upgrade, the results are incredible, well worth the work)

 

With an OS upgrade pretty much all cartridges that fit in the slot will be compatible, at least those designed for the 'left cartridge' slot. Without it 90% of cartridges will still work, but anything that requires an Atari 800 OS or uses undocumented XL/XE entry points may not work. Cartridge compatibility is almost identical to an 800XL, the OS is just different.

 

For floppies you should get blank double sided/double density (not high density) diskettes. Check eBay, they are getting harder and harder to find. You might also check out APE/SIO2PC and/or MyIDE so you can do without floppies.

[lbaeza]

Hi

one other question... where do you get NEW floppys formatted for Atari use?

 

Floppydisks.com sells unformatted 5.25 inch low density DS/DD disks.

 

Regards

[ace]

Thanx guys! I am stoked, Ive had my atari put away for a year or so and have just recently pulled it out and rekindled the spark. thx lotz for the links classics!