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XL with a 400/800 OS


lbaeza

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Hi

 

I just bought Gorf and Demon Attack, two excelent cart games for the 400 and 800.

 

Just for curiosity, I plugged Gorf on my 800XL computer, but nothing happens on the screen. I know some old games have compatibility issues with the XL/XE computers. I'm sure this must be the case. This issue led me to the next questions:

 

Can I replace the XL's original OS with a 400/800 OS (A.K.A. OS-B) ?

Will the XL launch Gorf after I replaced the original OS?

 

Regards

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Have you tried usining the Atari Translator disk? This will allow you to load the earlier 400/800 OS in memory and should allow these carts to run.

901533[/snapback]

 

Sure the Translator Disk will do it. But what about burning an EPROM with the 400/800 OS and put it into the 800XL? I have a burner and some eproms...

 

Regards

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Have you tried usining the Atari Translator disk? This will allow you to load the earlier 400/800 OS in memory and should allow these carts to run.

901533[/snapback]

 

Sure the Translator Disk will do it. But what about burning an EPROM with the 400/800 OS and put it into the 800XL? I have a burner and some eproms...

 

Regards

901542[/snapback]

It will work with an old os into the XL.

I have 4 OS in my XL one of them is the old one and I never had a problem running 400/800 only games (except if the need 4 joystick ports of course).

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I have 4 OS in my XL one of them is the old one and I never had a problem running 400/800 only games (except if the need 4 joystick ports of course).

 

Excelent!

 

One question before I put my hands to work. What are the other OS's? I know you must have one XL OS and a 400/800 OS. But what about the other two? One of those must be MYIDE OS, I bet...

 

Regards

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Update

 

Tonight I programmed the 400/800 OS (OS-B) in a 27128 EPROM. I put this EPROM into the 800XL, turned it on, and it didn't work :( The XL refuses to launch with a OS-B on it.

 

I have some questions about it, though. First thing I noticed is that OS-B is only 10KB, but XL-OS is 16 KB. So, there are 6KB 'unused' on the EPROM. The XL-OS pinout is the same as the 27128. Should the OS-B (10K) be programmed on a 27128 (16KB) EPROM? Or should be used another kind of EPROM? Is the pinout of the original XL-OS ROM the same pinout of the 400/800 OS ROM?

 

Any comments are welcome.

 

Regards

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Update

 

Tonight I programmed the 400/800 OS (OS-B) in a 27128 EPROM. I put this EPROM into the 800XL, turned it on, and it didn't work  :(  The XL refuses to launch with a OS-B on it.

 

I have some questions about it, though. First thing I noticed is that OS-B is only 10KB, but XL-OS is 16 KB. So, there are 6KB 'unused' on the EPROM. The XL-OS pinout is the same as the 27128. Should the OS-B (10K) be programmed on a 27128 (16KB) EPROM? Or should be used another kind of EPROM? Is the pinout of the original XL-OS ROM the same pinout of the 400/800 OS ROM?

 

Any comments are welcome.

 

Regards

902803[/snapback]

 

 

The 800 OS is a 24 pin ROM where the XL is a 28 pin. I think the only way you are going to get the 800 OS in the XL is to get AtariMax's 4in1 or 32in1 OS upgrade. It is a flash rom upgrade that houses up to 32 different 8it OS's in one chip. You select the OS you want by booting while holding the select key down. It will then give you a menu of OS's to choose from and the 400/800 OS is one of them. Once selected, it will continue to boot with the selected rom until you change it.

 

The 4 OS's in the original 4in1 upgrade were:

APE Warp+ OS

Your standard XL/XE OS

A public domain Atari 800 Compatible OS for running those 800 only disks and cartridges

Your Standard XL/XE OS w/ Reverse BASIC Feature

 

The 32in1 has an amazing selection of OS's including the 4 above.

Edited by Guitarman
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32in1?   Thats scary!   I want one :-)

 

 

 

Curt

 

 

The 32in1 has an amazing selection of OS's including the 4 above.

902842[/snapback]

I've got the 32in1 OS upgrade and it simply rocks! (like all of Steve's products) Highly recommended :)

 

post-5887-1122955863_thumb.jpg

902870[/snapback]

902914[/snapback]

 

I don't quite understand the various XL/xe o's and what they are (on the illustration)

Edited by carmel_andrews
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Hi

 

By the way, I tried both PAL and NTSC versions of the OS-B on my XL with no success....Help!

 

Regards

 

PS: My guess is this problem is due to the fact of putting a 10KB binary in a 16KB EPROM. What should I append to the remaining 6K? Append zeroes to the binary? Leave it blank? Append the first 6K of the binary file? Help!

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  • 4 months later...

If you're using the OS-B 10K binary image, you must offset the start of data. That way you're starting at $D800 which is where the 800 OS starts, as $C000-$D7FF are unused (EPROM absolute addresses $0000-$17FF).

 

So in your EPROM burning software, make sure to load the binary file at offset $1800. I've done this on my 130XE. Use a 27128.

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(for me 4 systems + latest QMEG-OS is really enough).

 

For me, two systems are enough: the XL OS and the so called DracOS. XL OS is only a rescue OS in this setup.

 

I really don't know an *useful* program which would require the 400/800 OS. The only one I ever knew was EASMD. But MAC/65 is a better replacement and it doesn't require translator disk. I suppose that it is better to search a working replacement for old crap 400/800 OS dependent software, than install 32 OSes out of what 31 will never be really used.

Edited by drac030
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Perhaps just for the record, but I should note that some programs (at least in their original form) require a true 400/800. No translator (disk or ROM based) helps.

 

. I suppose that it is better to search a working replacement for old crap 400/800 OS dependent software, than install 32 OSes out of what 31 will never be really used.

 

I have a hard time understanding this position. You are talking about “installing 32 OSes” as it would be a problem. Yes, you probably will never all use all the OSes. So what? You aren’t actually “installing” multiple OSes in the sense that this means for a PC. You don’t need any more work to install this than any other multiple OS ROM upgrade. It doesn’t take more space on disk or more RAM.

 

It is true that for most of us, 8 or 4 instead of 32 would be more than enough. But Steven’s price is more than reasonable. And a smaller version, with less OSes, would probably reduce the cost and price in a very small amount to be significant.

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I have a hard time understanding this position. You are talking about “installing 32 OSes” as it would be a problem. Yes, you probably will never all use all the OSes. So what?

 

So this means that having 32 ones is useless from the point of view of an Atari *user*. I don't think that if your software requires more than 1 OS, you can construct any useful and convenient environment out of it.

 

This perhaps may be useful for running old software (3 OS-es are enough for this, though, namely OS A, OS B and XL OS), but so far I didn't see a reply regarding the question what old software is so useful, so that you can't find a better replacement which works on the standard OS?

Edited by drac030
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I have a hard time understanding this position. You are talking about “installing 32 OSes” as it would be a problem. Yes, you probably will never all use all the OSes. So what? You aren’t actually “installing” multiple OSes in the sense that this means for a PC. You don’t need any more work to install this than any other multiple OS ROM upgrade. It doesn’t take more space on disk or more RAM.

 

It is true that for most of us, 8 or 4 instead of 32 would be more than enough. But Steven’s price is more than reasonable. And a smaller version, with less OSes, would probably reduce the cost and price in a very small amount to be significant.

989835[/snapback]

Correct, if it had four OSes it would cost the same. So no harm there, Steve was able to throw in the extras as an added bonus without increasing the cost

 

I should also point out that the OSes listed in that screenshot that have RB next to them are reverse basic OSes. Meaning they are patched so that I don't have to hold down option while booting to disable basic. And that is VERY handy ;)

 

And while it's true that I probaby won't be using an Arabic 1200 OS anytime soon - having APE WARP OS, Omnimon, MyIDE etc alone is worth the price.

Edited by remowilliams
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I have a hard time understanding this position. You are talking about “installing 32 OSes” as it would be a problem. Yes, you probably will never all use all the OSes. So what?

 

So this means that having 32 ones is useless from the point of view of an Atari *user*. I don't think that if your software requires more than 1 OS, you can construct any useful and convenient environment out of it.

 

This perhaps may be useful for running old software (3 OS-es are enough for this, though, namely OS A, OS B and XL OS), but so far I didn't see a reply regarding the question what old software is so useful, so that you can't find a better replacement which works on the standard OS?

990319[/snapback]

]

 

Just think of the 32-in-1 as a "one size fits all" solution, of course you will never use them all, but everybody can get the same upgrade and use whatever OS they want or need. And for the "just in case" factor; you may one day come across some unique program that will only work on one specific OS for some reason, it's nice to know you don't have to worry about it and no matter what you want to use, it will work with one OS or another on your computer. Some of them, like WarpOS, are much faster which is good for some things too.

Edited by Gunstar
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  • 2 weeks later...
Hi

 

I just bought Gorf and Demon Attack, two excelent cart games for the 400 and 800.

 

Just for curiosity, I plugged Gorf on my 800XL computer, but nothing happens on the screen. I know some old games have compatibility issues with the XL/XE computers. I'm sure this must be the case. This issue led me to the next questions:

 

Can I replace the XL's original OS with a 400/800 OS (A.K.A. OS-B) ?

Will the XL launch Gorf after I replaced the original OS?

 

Regards

901514[/snapback]

 

Crazy question, but have you tested these carts on an Atari 400/800?

 

The blank screen reminds me of when a cartridge is dirty or not plugged in right and you have to play with it (strangely nudging to the side a bit) to work.

 

So my question is... dirty contacts maybe?

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