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

@Paul "Mclaneinc" Irvine If you are too tired, Sunday morning is a great time for some arcade shooter action. I haven't played mine yet either, had it for about two months, as with several other games and Atari goodies I've had for months and have yet to try since my 800 is disassembled.

I might have had time for a game or two otherwise, but have been busy with work, chores and errands to attempt much electronic work since last spring. I've taken a couple of things apart to study for possible adaptation (TRS-80 Coco mouse, 7800 console) but no actual solder-to-the-circuit on any of it and most is still disassembled and in boxes or bags awaiting time for me to get back to them.

I haven't actually played any 8-bit system since winter's end, except one evening with the 7800 after I got it from @nysavant and then promptly took it apart to upgrade the video from composite video to S-video/Chroma-Luma and haven't had time to actually do more than pick out needed components for the job, otherwise it's also been sitting still disassembled and I haven't even tried my new 7800 Dragonfly hardware upgrade & SD card drive since I got it! I am planning on working on the 7800 this evening, and if I finish it, then over the weekend I'm going to finish up and assemble my 800.Unless I decide to side-track myself working on the trailer and getting ready to move work benches, furniture and equipment in...

I've just been playing 90's and post game consoles a little here and there for the past 6 months! Otherwise for my vintage systems and electronics all I've done is some re-arranging and re-re-arranging as I've gotten new items and furniture, and that is going to be happening again very soon as I'm finally going to get my new office/shop trailer this evening after a couple of false starts.

 

Go for it, Matt.

I'm very much looking forward to your return to your vintage kit, after all the furniture rejigging, but also how the reassembly and upgrades go with your 7800 and 800.

Should be great to see how these beauties perform real soon.

GAME ON!

 

never mind about the Coco series being like the TI-99/4A chaining out the side, I miss-remembered. I was browsing ebay to see what's available for peripherals and stumbled across the TRS-80 multi-pak device, so I don't think TRS-80 peripherals have pass-thru like I thought. I'm going to need one, as even the disk drive plugs in there instead of the serial port like I assumed.

 

It's in the five year plan. This Coco will go where my 800 is now, and the 800 will go to my new office/shop trailer. The trailer is my extension for now. I will be installing work benches and a desk, so I'll probably have room for the C64, when I get one, out there too. Or move the coco 2 out there and install the C64 next to the 1200XL. Until I build on to the house. I think I'm only going to get a C64 and be satisfied with my Atari 8-bits and the TRS-80 CC2 and a C64 system and that will be it for me for vintage computers.

 

Brilliant - life gets better all the time, Matt!

Happy installing and fitting out.

 

My brother just noticed that the AC unit doubles as a heating unit as well.

 

Matt, my friend, do you sleep?

Always on the go...Fair play to you..

 

I'm about 6hrs kip a night, Matt, so know where yer coming from.

NEVER enough hours in a day for sures.

 

They say, "the devils work is never done" but he would be hard-pressed to keep up with you Matt

I believe you work in your sleep

 

Inspiration often comes to me while I lay in bed at night at least...

 

Not quite, but I can't keep it a secret, I'm too excited...inspired by...





I came to this decision after yellowing returning with a vengeance after retro-brite a few years ago, and with an 810 that has cracks in the case that need repair and an splotchy complexion anyway, and long thought and pondering finding "800 beige" paint and restoring. But finally concluded, since I am already beyond the point of no return with an already custom hacked case, I figured "why not create as close to the dream you've had ever since you first saw the IBM 'ATARI' PC?". But this won't be exact, no case modification or exact colors, etc. I'll be putting my own unique twist on it too...check out my custom key-cap decals! I've been meaning to add graphic symbols to my Atari keyboards anyway, but with Worst (Best) Electronics being the only source...

This will be my whole 800 system: 800, 810, 410, CX85, mouse (TRS-80 converted), a joystick and possibly my extra Atari touch-tablet.

Of course the letters "IBM" will never touch this system except for on the appropriate keys, it will still have a Fuji badge and the Atari 800 name, though they will be new, to match the motif, and I may still add the "personal computer" or other unique signifiers.

The system will still be accompanied with the contrasting black of the 2 Indus GT drives, LCD monitor and my home-made wood monitor stand that I already painted black to match.




All paint colors chosen for closest match to the colors in the picture, but based solely on my memory of the colors in the picture and what colors where available. Not bad, oy?

Keyboard decals will only be used on keys that will be white (the lighter grey keys with print in the "IBM" picture) the colored keys I have a different plan for restoring the key-cap text.

I was also given inspiration to do this from my TRS-80 Coco 2*, as it sat where the 800 will sit, while doing testing. By the way, that's also my "new" refurbished PC standing on end there, I finally have a Windows 10 computer, which I am using right now.
My old Win 7 PC is still set up in my room.



*(which, by the way, also got it's new Hitachi 6309 replacement CPU for the Motorola 6809, with 1.78Mhz "turbo" mode. With an external 512K & OS-9 card I will be Coco 3 compatible, except for graphics, so Coco 3 OS-9 compatible except for Coco 3 only games)

 

My NOS Avalon Hill games arrived today, with versions on each's cassette for Atari 8-bit and TRS-80 Coco.

Also another couple of sets of custom Atari key caps, these in black, which I got only to use the graphic symbols off of them for my 1200XL computers. The key cap decals with the graphic symbols will be cut in half and the half with the graphic symbols will be attached to the front of my 1200XL keyboard keys, just like the original graphic symbol stickers produced by Atari. The rest will be saved for a rainy day; possibly an all black Atari in the future? Poly-Play, where I got the Avalon Hill games, and also have the new Atari 8-bit, Infocom-like, game on pre-order also sells the custom Atari key cap vinyl decals in black and white, if anyone is interested.

https://www.polyplay.xyz

 

Trying to identify the responsible of the damage for the C64 I mentioned above in this thread. Bingo!

https://www.pictorial64.com/fault.htm?id=u14_1

MOS 7709 or the equivalent should be enough for the fixing. U14 chip has been extracted and found broken.

 

Thank you so much, Baker, your post is truly illuminating, to say the least. I've learned a lot in just a couple of paragraphs. My friend Carlo, who is actually taking care of the broken C64, told me he wasn't sure that the F version could work in the long run because he never used it before to replace the U14 IC on a C64. But I'll pass your post to him, so he can proceed with what he's got.

 

Thank you Alex, I certainly had no patriotic intentions or thoughts, just the mock-up image image from '79 that was love at first site (Ignoring the letters IBM on it of course).

Though IF the deal had happened and IBM PC's had Atari 800's at their heart, I would have bought a brand I've never bought in my life. Even if the IBM version of Colleen (800) was more expensive than the Atari branded one (assuming Atari branded 800's would have existed at all, if IBM signed a deal with them making it the PC) because I prefer the white, grey and blue to the 800's beige, brown and yellow/orange touches. Don't get me wrong, I always like the look of the 800 line, when the colors are new. But I still prefer a white and grey computer to beige and brown.

But what I think of when I look at the white 800 is that it would look very much at home in a white-coat scientific research lab or computer lab or hospital lab.

 

My Dragon project arrived today. To whit a DragonPlus Electronics Dragon Power Board. The Dragon range of computers have an external power supply with a rather unusual 9 Pin D-Sub connector. This feeds into a separate PCB inside the case which in turn takes the power and supplies -5V -12V and 5V to the main board. The internal power board also takes the composite video feed and routes it to the UHF modulator and a composite video DIN connector.
So if you pick up a Dragon off feeBay without a proper Dragon PSU it is tricky to get it powered up without hacking something together from various bits and bobs.
This is where the new power board comes in, it basically replaces the old internal power board. The big plus for this is that you only need a 12V 3A PSU with a standard power jack, no more D-Sub power sockets. It provides a cleaner, less noisy power supply to the Dragon with minimal heat and some fast blow fuses. It also can be configured for a D32,D64 and Tano Dragon. It also has connections for the RGB expansion to output the RGB feed through the new DIN connector. There are also headers on the PCB to supply 5v to power something like a Gotek drive meaning one less extra plug is needed.
So I’ll be starting to build this next week and take some pictures then.
Details from the website below…
https://www.dragonplus-electronics.co.uk/product/dragon-psu-board-kit-version/

 

I've been trying to get a MOOH board/module for over a month for my TRS-80 Color Computer 2, but no replies from two e-mails I've sent in that time thus far. I'd like to recommend it to you @Vyper68 for your Dragon, if you hadn't heard of it yet, it's compatible with both Dragon's and TRS-80 Coco's with multiple cool features built in along with an SD card drive.and NitrOS-9 and Fuzix OS's.

It seems to be the Dragon and TRS-80 Coco equivalent to the Atari 800's Incognito board roughly, maybe include CP/M on the 800 too, like I have with my Indus GT drives with the ram upgrade and CP/M OS.

But I won't bore you with details in case you already know about it and just leave a link if you don't. But who knows if it's available anymore...

http://tormod.me/mooh.html

 

Well, I was waiting for the paint to cure and some free time to clear-coat my Atari 800 system, but now that the paint is completely dry, the weather isn't with rain and too high humidity to even paint indoors, if I had a spot.

So in the mean time, with a rainy day off from work, I've made my key cap labels for the blue and grey keys and have been working on the name plates with a graphic art program, but they aren't finished yet.

So I cut out the decals and have laid them out on the keys for a preview and I thought I'd show you blokes too. Now the decals are transparent, they just have the paper backs on them still, so you will have to imagine solid color key caps with the black text (except the FUJI inverse key, which is a white vinyl decal like the qwerty keys). And, of course, they may not be perfectly centered and straight atm as the paper backing slippery.

Also, I'm not sure about the smooth-corner rectangles around the words on the reset and function keys, I may decide to remove them and go with straight text like originally labeled. At first I had the function keys and all left and right side keys (control, return, etc.) encircled the same way, then decided it was too much and detracted from the look of the colored keys and only kept them on the function keys. What do you guys think? Do the function key labels look good or should I do straight text on them as well? And if you guys think the encircled labels look good, should I do the same on the +ENTER key of the keypad (I had it encircled then removed it too), or leave it as is, like original?

What do you lads think about the blue arrow keys with the white text on black vinyl decals? Do they look good or would clear labels like the grey keys above them look better, keeping the keys all blue with black text? II wanted them to be a bit different than any other keys, but keeping the same color motif. I tried the white vinyl decals I have on the blue arrow keys, but didn't like the contrast it created and felt the black decals look better. But maybe I should just keep them solid blue with black print too and ditch the two-tone key color? I keep going back and forth, I like the black key tops then I don't. I do like the white top on the grey FUJI inverse key though, that stays no matter what.

The grey CX85 keypad face plate looks rough right now as I did some touch up (more still needs to be done) with a brush, but the clear coat will smooth out the texture and it will disappear. And there are some spots here and there all over on all the white cases and keyboard that need to be touched from my handling and assembling. All will be touched up just before a couple coats of clear coat goes on that will protect the paint from further chipping, scratching, etc from being handled/used.

 

I think all blue keys with black keys would look best Matt

 

Also, though I haven't shown a side-shot of the 800 yet, just like the 810 face plate and front controller port panel as you might have noticed, the 800's side panel has been painted grey too. I intend to high-light all the relief text on the front and side 800 panels and on the 810's face plate. But I would like get your opinions on the color of the relief text. The choices available to me are white, black, blue or silver/metallic. Naturally at first I was deciding between painting the text either black or white, but then I started thinking it might give it a bit more flair, yet still possibly look good if I paint it to match the blue keys and ATARI name that will be on the name plate, or maybe metallic like the FUJI badge.



EDIT: Also, I've made a final decision on the text of the new name plate, what the machine will be called, Using the same font and style of the original name badge, the full name will be 'ATARI 800CX*,' though slightly smaller than the original text, and underneath it will have 'Personal Computer' like the mock IBM in the picture. The colors will be a grey background with a blue ATARI, as close to the Periwinkle blue of the keys as I can match, the Personal Computer will be black, and the 800 and CX name and designation will be outlined font like the original 800, though I haven't decided on one of the colors for the outlined text yet, or if the 800 and CX should be the same outline color. My first choice was white, or the 800 white and the CX blue. What do you guys think? The 810's name badge will match the 800's minus the "personal computer" and "CX."

I decided to not to name the model 'XT' for two reasons, though I really do like @nysavant 's idea of XT because that's a cool designation, but, one, I'm doing all this in homage to the colors of the mock-up 800 in IBM livery, not in homage to IBM or their XT line, and two, couldn't think up what the T designation could stand for, which is a must for me, they must have some meaning regarding the computer.

* There are two reasons I chose CX which stands for Custom eXtended line, as there is too much in upgrades and mods to be more precise, inside and out, than "custom," but it is 100% compatible with the extended line XL/XE computers. You might ask "why not 'XC' instead of 'CX' to keep in line with the XL and XE's? Because 'XC' implies that it was an extended line computer that was customized, and not a pre-extended line 800 that is customized, which includes extended line compatibility. The second, lesser reason is that the 'CX' matches the keypad (and other controllers) and mouse designations of 'CX.'

 

Oops. Blue keys with black text

 

OK, this suggestion I will go with (I decided against your XT suggestion and explain why above in an EDIT of the post).

 

It's all looking really good Matt. Not normally a fan of re-painted computers but your CX looks really smart in this case (pun intended). Almost a stock look, especially when matched with the peripherals. Kudos to you

 

Thanks for the link Andy, and additional explanation and pics.

I know what you mean about shipping these days, those mats cost me double just for that, and I believe the small boxed game I sent @Paul "Mclaneinc" Irvine recently cost about $25, half the cost again of that game. I'm going to have a couple computers to ship in the near future, and that will probably cost me what the computers themselves sold for used a few years back before the "gold rush."

 

I posted about this with a picture in the hardware forum, but I suppose I should show it here too, since this thread is a much busier one. I finally got a mini short-wave radio with SSB (single side band) that is needed to communicate with the WEFAX station in New Orleans, though I'll give it a big CB antenna I have from and old truck I bought and attach it to the roof of my Fujilab trailer to make sure it can receive good. It's Arduino board based kit style-though I paid for an assembled one since I have too many hardware projects slated already.

As a reminder, this is for my WEFAX decoder board project (from Antic magazine-see thread), which I have all the parts for, but just need the time to assemble it.