Most liked posts in thread: What's new Pussycat too?

I'm the big kid, always wanted a scope even though I understood almost zero about electronics, they just looked 'cool'. these days I've learnt a little from watching things like Adrians Digital Basement but I still realise that I've got no need of one and even if I had the money it would be a stupid purchase (needless to say I don't have the money, the car is looming fast with funds on one side)

I love the compactness now of these things, all that diagnostic ability in a little corner at the back of the desk but I'm more than happy to be the YT viewer watching these bits of kits being used properly.

 

Hi Paul
I'm really pleased you ended up with one, I'll have a quick look and get it sent over. Jacek
sorted all the diagrams himself as far as I'm aware, but I know they did change a few bits to make it easier for all the connection types.

 

I did scan the threads for help but could not see much, I'm more than happy to get a DVI plug and a scart and wire it up, I just don't know exactly what pins to use (bar RGB), and if it needs resistors etc?

I also searched through the threads re installation and found very little, I presume with an XL its purely remove GTIA, use provided socked, plug in Sophia and that's it bar said video cable...I've not seen mention of component removal or addition except for an 800 install. Spotted the post re pin 1 on the PCB which is handy.

So thank you Graham, any help super appreciated!!

After being out of the race for one to suddenly getting one out of the blue, I just want to make sure I don't bleep it up

 

Hi Paul
I've created a Blog with a jump table for software and links to cables.
I'm still awaiting my Sophia2's last update on postal service 0:58 on the 7th when it left Poland so down to Royal mail to update.

As SCART is analogue be buying a DVI-I to VGA cable this needs to have the additional 4 pins round the blade so a 24 + 5 connector. at the DVI end, the Active type don't seem to have these.
I'll have to update the SCART details
When I last spoke to Jurek it didn't need any resistors to put the SCART equiped TV into the correct mode (needs 3.3V) and DVI usually 5V so changes to the wrong mode) However I now believe Jurek outputs 3.3V on the 5V line when switched to RGB & Syncs. I need to confirm

https://atari-owner.com/club/blogs/sophia2-pdf-configuration-program-links.18/

PM sent with file. need to re check with Jurek

 

Brilliant, Andy. As per Paul, full credit for getting another Atari classic bit of hardware up and running again. Sounds like someone else might benefit from a working 1050 real soon if Andy chooses to sell.
As you know, mate, a little something was sent off in the post for you earlier.
Btw, has your Chrimbo card turned up yet?
The post, at the moment, is all over the place.
Some items come next day (Bev's Amazon Prime) whereas others take weeks to show up.

Btw, just a little heads up, we had a bit of a disaster here last weekend after Doris's infamous CHRISTMAS IS CANCELLED speech on Saturday evening.
Still half asleep from exhaustion from her job and feeling crap after realising that was her folks trip off to come and see us Boxing Day, Bev fell downstairs and broke her leg...
Leg now in plaster, on crutches, fibia broken and awaiting a date this week for an operation and possible couple of days in hossie over Christmas...

GREAT!

What a crap year we've all had and ours ends.... pants, pants, pants.

 

Gawd Andy, I'm so sorry to hear about Bev please pass on Pam & I's best wishes to her for a speedy and safe recovery.

One of my friends lost his wife to Covid late last week, kind of hits it home. Mum had her first Vaccine Monday, but has sadly deteriorated in other ways over the last months.

I think with what’s been going on over the last year both Pam and I along of course with many others are feeling very stressed especially as neither of us are now happy with the children turning up as Corvid positive, from contact at school. Really don't know why they keep incubating the bloody virus in our school's

Anyway Rant over and sorry..

As you may have noticed not been online very much recently, but I'll get back when my head sorts it self out or the drugs kick in

I've a number of PCB designs I need to send off, along with other bits and bob's not even fitted PokeyMAX and now Sophia2 has turned up.

I've also been working on a USB keyboard interface, has to use a reasonable powerful processor to enumerate properly., and had some positives.. very much harder than PS/2 to work with but should allow wireless keyboards and maybe mice.
Had some issues with my XEGS build so I need to resolve that and move on.

 

Well we know from American research that they do love testing stuff in remote area's of foreign countries as the normally nomadic people there can be watched and controlled to a degree, sort of sandbox research in a more real way. Now we have noticed that this new more taxing variant has been found in German, Holland and Italy. Now I could be very wrong but all of these locations are the pathways from various countries to here and if you look at the possibility of viral abuse elsewhere it could be the cause.

Again its pure speculation and it could be a genuine chimera mutation here but with COVID being so worldwide spread I just wonder how its was classed as a UK only thing yet we know its IS elsewhere. Have we deliberately infected ourselves?

Its possible, we know that we stealth sprayed a flu like virus on people on London Bridge during the 50's to see what the reaction was, yup released info showed this is true.

But I doubt a UK government would sidestep something as serious as this as ok, its just so dangerous to so many it would be hard to cover. So unless the whole upper tier of the UK government suddenly stop appearing in public I think its highly unlikely we did this to us.

I don't like conspiracies, well only to pick at them as they are so absurd in many cases, nano bots in vaccines, bitcoin numeration schemes built in to the nano bots etc etc..Puhlease...

Can people not understand the complexity of that, just from a computing standpoint it is absurd, we would have to basically shut down entire facilities from doing their normal job to try and over see this and the number of facilities needed let alone the man power is just impossible.

Sometimes we just get it wrong, we mess around with viruses, we even patent them but then like Fukushima, something goes horribly wrong that was not meant to happen. The damage to the Ocean that Fukushima has and still causes if just wrong but it was not deliberate, just a feck up. And the same happens with viruses, we mutate them and then some idiot fecks up it it goes in to the open and viruses love that because that is their thing, to flourish and mutate in a hospitable environment.

So, why has the UK been named as the producer of this variant, pass, I'm willing to bet its not from here but its a 50 50 bet...Being what it is it could be a UK mutation..I just don't think it is.

 

The trouble with this video is just who is on there, most folk I checked on are also very political, mostly anti vaccine and anti lockdown , some with connections to far right parties.. In fact 5 out of the 6 people I checked all follow the same political stance.

I can't be bothered to check them all, my look at a few more but they all offer no proof of their claims, its a bit like the Architects for truth movement in the twin towers thing, lots of voices but very very little hard data and a lot with certain agenda's to push.

All I can say as a person who tested positive along with my wife is that I did get one effect from it and that was the loss of taste and smell, I've never had that in my life before and I'm one of those people who gets the flu and it stays with me for ages. Also this tiring in new and the effect on Cindy has been huge and the tiredness in her is nothing that I've ever seen from her in my life. She's not a tablet / meds lover and keeps herself healthy but this wiped her out.

From the sound of it, it did the same to Bev and as she is in the NHS and medical I bet its nothing like anything she has had or seen before.

Could it all be a huge plan to depopulate us, well yes but the plan would need to have been in place for years and a huge long term agreements with numerous governments, most of whom don't trust each other. The actual precision and detail and labour involved would make going to Mars and populating seem like a feature we can do now.

So as much as its possible to force a virus and vaccine on people for nefarious reasons the actual task is cripplingly hard to pull off and keep quiet. I just don't think there would be a total co-operation around the world, sure we can use the words "New World Order" and "Illuminati" but in actual practice its a club that many probably do want to be in but a controlled multi nation / person unit that hides in plain site is not as feasible as some would try and make you believe. Are there secret or not so not so secret societies that the rich and world leaders belong to, yes there are and I'm sure when they have their huge men only meets there's discussion about how they would like the world to be ran but doing it without the world knowing is a bit harder than that. It requires far too much non questioning agreement between far too many people and we know most of these people have no trust but in themselves.

Sorry, as they say on Dragons Den, I'm out...This isn't for me...Its fun for a discussion tho...

 

Certainly looks in nice condition, and a shame the key switch post etc. won't help with your 800's keyboard repair
if you wanted to check the keyboards guts without opening it check this link https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_PC_keyboard
There are links off to the Type F & type M keyboards.
h
I'd really like one of the original metal backed 84 key ones to match my IBM XT 5160 however they command ridiculous prices
I guess I'll have to put up with the clone keyboard it has, although I may weight it down with a load of blue tac inside.

 

It certainly feels a lot better than the PS/1 or any of my many USB keyboards, not that they are anything special to start. But it feels good enough that I'm going back to the wired keyboard and give my wireless USB to the Xbox 360. It's worth being wired up again as long as the cable reaches from where I want to keyboard to the PC underneath.

 

Or As it has a ps/2 keyboard plug, try wiring in via the TK-II clone I sent you, at least you end up with a good keyboard for your 800 on a temp basis..

 

@Graham My 800 keyboard is "fixed" and working fine for now, it's just that I noticed some of the NOS plungers I installed almost a year ago now have already developed cracks in the corners. Also for future repairs. I still prefer the feel of my Hi-Tek 800 keyboard over the feel of this PC keyboard, which, in fact, I am typing this message on it, as my PC has legacy ports on it too.

The keys are a bit narrow, it's a bit "deep" were they are concave, so it's a bit different for me and will take some getting used too. But the keyboard feel is the best I've used on a PC in a long time. It's not mechanical, and certainly not some Cherry-standard mechanized board, but it is very nice, and I am quickly getting used too the keyboard the more I type here...

 

Sorry Matt I remerber you had your 800 Keyboard working now, think you said one of the contacts was permanently shorted.
I guess I've missed a lot of posts and goings on .. I'll have to try and catch up.
IBM genrally made good keyboards, even the 'all' plastic one's being fairly heafty so thankfully stay still on the desk.
pleased your putting to good use...

 

I ment to ask what the model number was off the back, that way you can find out what type of switches it uses, I'd guess from what I've read and the timestamp from the PS/2 connector, either a membrane keyboard or the type with the little rubber dot's on a membrane, both still use the bucking spring bit to actuate, both are quieter than the original 84 Key XT type mechanical only boards.
Please note they are still very very good keyboards to type on.

 

I tell you what though, after looking up RT101 and scrolling through some images, I found some images of some wonderful looking keyboards that have suddenly made me want to build a 1088XEL with a brushed-metal case too. It's the first time I've had an idea that I might want an all-new Atari 8-bit as well as my upgraded 800 and 1200...Of course I'll have to find one of these for sale and at a price I can afford, or a cheaper knock-off. These look like something one might find for a few thousand in a Skymall catalog or at that new high-end specialty site 'Touch of Modern' or whatever it's called.


Ok, I found it on Alibaba.com, it's only $270-370, so attainable if I really want it...

https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/IP65-with-trackball-ESD-mechanical-Keyboard_1695575081.html

 

These are custom order, with your choice of PS/2 or USB and touch-pad or trackball, trackball can be 400 dpi mechanical (what I am getting) or 800 dpi optical.

 

Absolutely incredible for the money, Matt.

When these things were first announced, I thought it was a ruddy April's Fool joke - I mean...3D printer?? WTF?!

But no, they do exist.

I still find them the most amazing concept.

Hours/months of fun ahead!

 

Note HOURS is exactly right, I believe they are still dog slow (I want to be wrong on this)....

Great little beast for Matt, I'm sure there will be mods going everywhere..

It would be a waste with me, probably get turned on once and never again, my creative juices just don't drip let alone flow...

 

Yeah, you can't expect it to print out as fast as your inkjet, that's for sure. I guess the average, depending on how fine you set the print, is anywhere from 30 minutes to 36 hours. This Atari cartridge holder, that SKR (ABBUC & AA) printed, he said it took him 13 hours to print.

 

Fook.....That is a bit of time...

The only thing I found and I don't know if its down to the printing settings is that my SD-Max's printed SIO plug got caught on the edge and then started to sort of unravel..You could see individual threads of the printing material just coming apart..Very odd..

Mind you, its not like Star Trek when you just beam an object to make it

 

Wow that looks good Matt, I must admit that the prices are gradually comeing down, and at some point I'll get something, although I fancy making it, we'll see, thankfully things like print heads etc, you can purchase, I'd be happy making the mechanical bits, and thankfully have a Lathe, and access to a Lathe and Milling machine at work as well.
Thinks like print head, heated build plate etc, that I'd buy in.
Looking forward to seeing what you can do with it, I know from others that it takes sometime to get it setup and working well, two guys I know of had to shield theres from any draft, and keep the whole thing in a box to keep the temperature constant during the printing.
I'm sure your going to have great fun, especially producing parts for your Robotic arm(s)

On my side of things I've just recieved a box of goody's , alongside Andy,'s Oric Microdrive and PSU.
Richie, has confirmed that the Microdrive controller works with a gotek, also included
However I'm now the very proud owner on an Oric Atmos, so with this I can play with Andy's microdrive as also included a few disc, with Sedoric DOS on PLUS PLUS, I've also become the owner of a number of PCB's Atari cart board, Oric Dianostics, Spectrum Disk drive etc etc, looks to be about 15-20 boards, some I've not identified as yet..

I am however preparing a little package to send back to Richie, and another slightly diffrent one for Andy..
May take me another week to finalise. (Finalize Matt )
Just so you know I'm itching to get it setup, but really need to finish off an 800XL I'm working on.

Andy Richie
Thank you so much for Thinking of me and for a great treat.

Trully nice Gents. Hope we catch up tomorrow on a video/voice call.

 

HeHe Paul's in as well Andy that's assuming we are on for 3PM ??
I think Al was going to set up a link

 

Yeah, it's looking lively now tomorrow, Graham.

Is my maths co-processor right with the Fantastic Four, forming-up -

me, thee, Paul and Andy V.... so far?

 

Hmm depends
Motorola 68881, 68882
or Intel, 8087, 80187, 80287, 80387, 80487, 80587
anything Pentium like had it included ..
However, they are used for floating point Math ...
so only bit's (Hehe) of us will be turning up .. (Well there a lots of dead brain cell's when you get older)

 

Its superb...And if you have a socketed machine its 2 secs..

The picture is pin sharp on my HDMI, just about to make an RGB cable for a real crt (if the bloody virus will let me pick the cable up from my mate, he's the other side of London and I don't want to be the one person they stop to ask why I'm out, I don't think making an Atari cable will cut the mustard..200.00 fine)