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 Post subject: BEST 800XL Upgrade
PostPosted: Tue Oct 25, 2011 7:44 am 
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Joined: Tue Oct 25, 2011 7:16 am
Posts: 7
Location: UK
Hello all,
I'm new so please be gentle! :)

Firstly, back in the 80's I owned an 800XL with a 1050 drive. I spent far too long playing Drop Zone, Eastern Front, Boulderdash and Zybex and never actually did any coding. I gave all my gear away when I got an Amiga and now - over 20 years later I'm regretting it. :(

I'm expecting delivery of a ebayed PAL 800XL (no floppy) with a view to doing some coding (hopefully with C and/or Action!)
I'll be coding/testing on a PC with an emulator but eventually I want to be able to run stuff on a real machine.

There seem to be many different ways of transferring files to/from the 800 but...and here come the questions...

1. What do you guys recommend and what do I need in the way of cables etc?

2. Do you need a 1050 drive for the SIO2PC thing to work?

3. Other than transferring files to/from the 800 what upgrade would you guys recommend? (e.g more memory, selectable OS's etc)

All help and advice gratefully recieved.

regards
Barnsey


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 Post subject: Re: BEST 800XL Upgrade
PostPosted: Tue Oct 25, 2011 2:51 pm 
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Joined: Sun Aug 10, 2003 11:51 am
Posts: 68
Location: The Netherlands
Welcome back to the Atari 8-bit!

barnsey123 wrote:
1. What do you guys recommend and what do I need in the way of cables etc?

2. Do you need a 1050 drive for the SIO2PC thing to work?

3. Other than transferring files to/from the 800 what upgrade would you guys recommend? (e.g more memory, selectable OS's etc)



1. For transferring files from a PC to Atari, I recommend the SIO2PC-USB in combination with the APE software. SIO2PC-serial is also good but lots of newer PC don't have a serial port anymore. An alternative would an USB adapter based on an FTDI serial2usb chip. But I couldn't get that to work with APE but it works good with AspeQt.

If you would like a stand-alone solution (no PC attached), look for a SIO2SD or S-Drive device. These are little PCBs that emulate an disk drive using disk images on a SD-card. For more info see also the topic for newbies on AtariAge.


2. No 1050 drive is needed. Only if you have old Atari floppies that you want to transfer to a disk image, you need a real disk drive.


3. Lots of newer software requires more than 64KB memory. So try to upgrade it to 128KB (64KB expansion) or better 320KB (256KB expansion). S-Drive or SIO2SD is also recommended. After this, newer software makes use of a 2nd Pokey chip so a stereo upgrade is also a nice extension. Also nice are the AtariMax flash carts for instant access to dozens of games.

Robert



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 Post subject: Re: BEST 800XL Upgrade
PostPosted: Wed Oct 26, 2011 4:07 am 
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Joined: Tue Oct 25, 2011 7:16 am
Posts: 7
Location: UK
Thanks Rob,

I wonder if you could clarify: On the SIO2PC-USB link it says:
"Important Note: This product requires a SIO cable and real Atari 8-bit computer/disk drive to function. These items are not included with purchase."
(my italics)

This seems to suggest that I need an Atari drive and an SIO cable. Is this not true? Do I *ONLY* need them if I've got old floppies (I haven't).

Please advise...I'm getting all excited! :)


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 Post subject: Re: BEST 800XL Upgrade
PostPosted: Wed Oct 26, 2011 6:28 am 
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Joined: Tue Oct 25, 2011 7:16 am
Posts: 7
Location: UK
I understand now...I just need an SIO cable to link the SIO2PC-USB to the Atari.

"Attach a standard Atari SIO cable to the Atari Computer or to the last device in your SIO chain.
Attach the other end of the SIO cable to the SIO jack on the SIO2PC/ProSystem Interface."

Now onto ebay for an SIO...


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 Post subject: Re: BEST 800XL Upgrade
PostPosted: Thu Oct 27, 2011 12:31 am 
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Joined: Sun Nov 02, 2003 8:15 am
Posts: 1549
Location: netherlands
Beside SIO2PC-USB (which can run upto 128kbps) I use SIO2SD and 1Mb+MyIDE-cartridge.
IDE-to-CF-adapter with master/slave. Master-CF for MyIDE-parititons and Slave-CF for fat32.

Also I have an 800xl with MyIDE inside and runs a 6Gb 2.5" drive and has a 4Mb-sim-module (2Mb usable)

You need to checkout my latest BIOS on the forum (there are youtube videos of it)
:-)

Later,
Sijmen.


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 Post subject: Re: BEST 800XL Upgrade
PostPosted: Thu Oct 27, 2011 12:40 am 
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Joined: Sun Aug 10, 2003 11:51 am
Posts: 68
Location: The Netherlands
barnsey123 wrote:
Thanks Rob,
This seems to suggest that I need an Atari drive and an SIO cable. Is this not true? Do I *ONLY* need them if I've got old floppies (I haven't).


Yes, you need a SIO cable to attach the adapter to the Atari.
But as I said before, you only need a Disk drive if you want to read real floppy disks on a PC. With the SIO2PC-USB interface you can also attach an Atari disk drive to a PC to make a disk image of a real floppy. But if you don't want/need to read real flopies, you don't need an Atari disk drive.

Robert



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 Post subject: Re: BEST 800XL Upgrade
PostPosted: Thu Oct 27, 2011 5:19 pm 

Joined: Mon Jun 21, 2004 7:53 am
Posts: 354
The sky and your wallet are the only limits! :wink:

APE software + Atarimax USB interface (requires 1 SIO cable)

Atarimax/MyIDE internal flash IDE interface with Transcend DOM module. Mr-Atari's MyIDE 4.6 OS/driver is a dramatic upgrade from previous versions!

Mega-Hz 512KB memory upgrade. At the current time, this is THE memory upgrade (IMO).
http://mega-hz.no-ip.com/Angebote/512K/512k.html (use Google translator)

Quick and Easy Video Upgrade for the 800XL (also -- many, many other mods and interesting topics at AtariAge)
http://www.atariage.com/forums/topic/41 ... for-800xl/

That should keep you busy for a bit...

-Larry

barnsey123 wrote:
Hello all,
I'm new so please be gentle! :)

Firstly, back in the 80's I owned an 800XL with a 1050 drive. I spent far too long playing Drop Zone, Eastern Front, Boulderdash and Zybex and never actually did any coding. I gave all my gear away when I got an Amiga and now - over 20 years later I'm regretting it. :(

I'm expecting delivery of a ebayed PAL 800XL (no floppy) with a view to doing some coding (hopefully with C and/or Action!)
I'll be coding/testing on a PC with an emulator but eventually I want to be able to run stuff on a real machine.

There seem to be many different ways of transferring files to/from the 800 but...and here come the questions...

1. What do you guys recommend and what do I need in the way of cables etc?

2. Do you need a 1050 drive for the SIO2PC thing to work?

3. Other than transferring files to/from the 800 what upgrade would you guys recommend? (e.g more memory, selectable OS's etc)

All help and advice gratefully recieved.

regards
Barnsey


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 Post subject: Re: BEST 800XL Upgrade
PostPosted: Fri Oct 28, 2011 11:11 am 
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Joined: Tue Oct 25, 2011 7:16 am
Posts: 7
Location: UK
Hi Larry,

thanks for that. 512Kb eh? I'll deffo take a look.

My 800xl arrived yesterday (not yellowed either!) and more bits to follow. Can't wait to get stuck in. :)

There's almost TOO MUCH available to play with. It's good to see that the scene is still going strong. :D

My aim is to produce a shoot-em-up with grit and soul - something emotive - and learn all the stuff I should have done back in the day. I'm spread pretty thinly at the moment though with other projects.

Regards


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 Post subject: Re: BEST 800XL Upgrade
PostPosted: Wed Nov 02, 2011 8:36 am 

Joined: Mon Jun 21, 2004 7:53 am
Posts: 354
Well, I may have to change my memory recommendation already:

http://www.atariage.com/forums/topic/18 ... tarts-now/

Should be truly "plug and play."

-Larry


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 Post subject: Re: BEST 800XL Upgrade
PostPosted: Wed Nov 02, 2011 2:07 pm 
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Joined: Tue Oct 25, 2011 7:16 am
Posts: 7
Location: UK
Hi larry,

that looks too good to be true. Memory upgrades and no dicking around with a soldering iron!?

Looks like the business to me!

Thanks for that!
:D :D :D
barnsey


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