Atari 800XL Hardware Enhancements.

I have decided to upgrade my Atari 800XL with some hardware interfaces available on the Lotharek website.

Current situation of my Atari 800XL:

• Ultimate 1MB from Sebastian Bartkowicz (Candle) with the latest FJC Bios.
• VBXE + DIN Connector for RGB/Audio Output (RF Modulator Removed)
• Simple Stereo + U-Switch + Jack 3.5 Stereo for auxiliary Audio Output.
• SIDE 2 / AVG Cartridge

New interfaces installed:

• P-Covox + 3.5 Stereo Jack for Audio Output.
• SRAM 64Kb.

After installing the SRAM 64Kb module i have removed also this series of IC which are no longer used from the Atari 800XL.

• 8 X RAM NEC 4164C
• 2 x SN74LS158N
• 1 x DM74LS51N
• 1 x SN74LS375N
• 1 x Delay Line EP8212 (C060472-D)

Gallery:

Atari 800 XL (VBXE-RGB/U1MB/Stereo Pokey/Side2) my Favourite Games

My Atari 800 XL Hardware Configuration:

• VBXE (RGB output)
• Ultimate 1Mb
• Stereo Pokey
• Side2 Cartridge

You can buy this additional hardware from this site: lotharek.pl

Favourite Games:

• Bosconian
• Time Pilot
• Scramble
• Popeye
• Bomb Jack
• Ms Pacman
• Pacman
• Pitfall II
• Donkey Kong
• Mario Bros
• International Karate Enhanced Edition
• H.E.R.O.

Gallery:

Download: my Favourite Atari Games (694)

SpartaDOS X (or SpartaDOS 4.0) is a disk operating system for the Atari 8-bit family of computers, that closely resembles MS-DOS. It was developed and sold by ICD, Inc. in 1987-93.

Ten years later SpartaDOS X considered abandonware has been picked up by its enthusiasts, and developed further. These unofficial revisions, incorporating many of the utilities written since 1992, cleaning many identified problems and including numerous improvements.

Highlights:

• Improved compatibility of 1 MB RAMBO and 576k Compy Shop RAM extensions with the internal BASIC on XL/XE.
• CAR.COM: added support for the Weronika cartridge: to run the dedicated programs, use CAR /F filename.ext;
• INIDOS.SYS should now work for SIDE2.
• Fixed a major bug in the S_VBXE driver, which caused occasional hang ups after the Reset key was pressed.
• CON.SYS: 80-column mode can now survive a warm reset.
• CHKFAT.COM: new command line tool to verify FAT file systems compatibility with our FATFS driver
• New program: MD5 hash tool
• SC now version 1.0.0

Please read the release notes (the whatsnew.txt file) for full information.

The new SpartaDOS X 4.48 runs on the following hardware platforms:

• intSDX128 and intSDX128 “flash”
• IDE Plus 2.0 interface (*)
• Maxflash 1Mb
• Maxflash 8Mb (*)
• Maxflash MyIDE+Flash
• MyIDE II RAM
• MyIDE II ROM
• SIC! Cartridge 256k (*)
• SIC! Cartridge 128k
• SIDE HDD cartridge (*)
• SIDE2 HDD cartridge (*)
• SuperCart cartridge (*)
• Ultimate1MB (*) (**)
• Turbo Freezer 2005 (*) (***)
• Altirra and Atari800 emulators

(*) – includes MAN on-line help
(**) – also use with Incognito board and Turbo Freezer 2011
(***) – use with Freezer ROM only

Dowload: SpartaDOS X 4.48 with Toolkit (1268)

source: sdx.atari8.info wikipedia

Atari 800XL Upgrading.

Installation and preparing:

• VBXE v2.1 Interface Installation.
• Simple Stereo + U-Switch Installation.
• Formatting and partitioning CF Card (Sandisk ULTRA 2Gb) for the SIDE 2 Cartridge/SDX.

Software update:

• Update the Ultimate 1MB (First batch 2011) Flash AM29040BL.
• Update Ultimate 1MB (First batch 2011) Xilinx XC95144XL JTAG Firmware (v1 to v2)

Upgrade/Fix:

• Fixed some wrong connections of the old installation from the Ultimate 1MB to the Atari 800XL PCB.
• Removed the RF Modulator and installation of a Female DIN (8 pin + GND) for the RGB output + RGB CTRL + SYNC + AUDIO (Stereo)
• I have also made a cable from a male DIN (8 pin) to Scart, fully shielded of a four meters lengths.

All these interfaces can be purchased on the lotharek website.

Some photos of the installation:

12►

This is the 6th edition of the New Years Disc for Atari. In this issue you can find a lots of interesting things to begin a new year with our beloved Atari.

In this issue you can find:

Disc one:

• Fireworks (animation) by Miker
• Hopp 20012 (game) by PP’s
• New Year Monkey (animation) by Miker
• New Year’s Bunny (intro) by Sikor & Miker
• Merry Xmas 1 (animation) by Charlie Chaplin
• 2012 Intro (PAL recommended) by Heaven

Disc two:

• Merry Xmas 2 (animation) by Charlie Chaplin
• New Year 2K12 (intro)  by Sikor, Innuendo & Miker
• Scrolling Street (intro) by PP’s
• Endtro (intro) by Blowjobb
• new year intro 2012 (intro) by Agenda

Disc three:

• Moon Cresta (gamepreview for VBXE) by Rybags
• Happy Bars (intro) by MaPa & PG

Download: New Years Disc 6th edition (2012) (942)

source: atarionline.pl