A tale of two Atari 800's
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- Опубликовано: 11 сен 2024
- Here's a second quick video with a bit more detail of the mylar-based keyboard function, fix, and results.
• Atari 800 mylar keyboa...
I recently received two amazing donations from a viewer and a friend...two Atari 800's!
Each had a few minor issues to resolve to bring into tip-top shape.
Both needed keyboard work with each computer having a totally different type of keyboard mechanism. One also had the issue of not being able to run Basic for some reason.
Spoiler I get both fully up and working by the end.
#vintagecomputing
#retrocomputing
#atari
#atari800
#atari8bit
Glad you got my old 800 working. I felt like it was something simple, but did not have spare components to test with.
I originally thought it was the Basic cartridge and that when the cartridge booted to "Ready" that it was working. I didn't try actually programming in Basic until I started the video....I thought I had the solution that it was just a bad Basic cart.
I got a later model 800 on closeout for $299 after the 1200XL was released.
It came with a bare personality board and RAM boards and only washers instead of latches holding down the back cover.
You do NOT have to keep turning the 800 off before inserting cartridges.
Just popping the hood will cut the power. That way when you close the hood the computer will reboot.
I'm curious to see. I recently got my trusty 800 back after thirty years in my sister's basement.
It seems to work OK but the keyboard doesn't work at all.
I did notice when I put my Missile Command cart in that it would occasionally glitch and restart so there may be something else going on.
Fortunately, the Atari 400 that I bought used for $20 in 1985 because I thought it looked cute still works as well as it did the day I bought it. I upgraded the RAM back in the day so it could run all the software that my 800 could.
The cassette interface never worked for me so I had to load software from disk. Unfortunately neither of my disk drives work right and the cassette drive sort of works, but I can't use it with my 400 and I can't boot cassettes on my 800 because I cannot press any key to continue.
I'm glad I also have a lot of cartridges.
Thanks for the tip with the cartridge lid. The mylar keyboards are more problematic in my experience...this is my 4th one worked on besides a second 800, a 1200xl, and two XE's. All of the ones I've had, have had issues. With patience, they are definitely repairable. Good luck getting your old 800 going again!
I feel it maybe comes from having been an 800xl owner? I also always turn off my machines before changing cartridges (its the right pattern for the 800xl; Keeping that same pattern everywhere avoids forgetting and changing a cart with the power active) ^^.
@@goddessesstartrekonlinefle3061 for me I think it comes from the screeching noises that my 2600 would make when changing carts with the power on
@@powerofvintage9442 lol.
What a collection!
FYI, mix oxyclean with hydrogen peroxide. Soak the plastic in it and put in the sun. It will remove the yellow discoloration. Worked great on my st.
Like you, I predicted it was the floating point ROM. The clue was that the BASIC cart would use the FP ROM while the game carts which worked would not in most cases because floating point would be too slow and wouldn't be needed in most cases. Instead, the games would use vastly faster assembly language routines to do the limited integer math they'd usually need.
I did think it was the Basic cart to begin with until I started trying the keyboard....
Great trip down 800 lane! FYI, the audio at the end of the video got all echo-y. Not sure what happened there...
Dang, weirdness...
An Incognito 800 is the best 800 ;-)
You did not show if the mylar KB was fixed. Nor show how you fixed the mylar KB. fyi
I showed the 800 with the Mylar keyboard typing in basic with multiple characters when testing the basic cartridge. Fixing the Mylar is simply removing it from the PCB which is done with a hair dryer and lots of patience peeling it off. This only works if the Mylar isn’t damaged.
@@powerofvintage9442 Sorry, My bad, I missed that. I hate this getting old thing that happens!
Why remove the mylar if it was working? It it was not working before you removed the mylar, what did you do to the mylar or the keyboard get it working?
I would have used the working OS board and swapped chips one at a time from the other 2 boards to find the bad chips.
Putting the chip in one leg off, I have done that uncounted times! Glad to see I'm not the only one that does that ;)
Please keep make these videos. The more Atari out there the better !!
@@KLund1100 Good questions! It wasn't working a couple months ago when I had gotten the 800. I fixed it then, but wanted to show that both keyboard types can often be fixed. See the follow-on video here with the keyboard fully worked and tested along with a little more detail on the mylar "fix". ruclips.net/video/Lb0vlw3tf20/видео.html