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

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.

 

This kit radio is the only one I could find for under $100, it cost me $60 assembled, kit form is selling for $30-35. All other radios I looked at, including the one @Graham suggested in the WEFAX thread, that had SSB, were well over $100 except for one just over, but it was a Chinese one, with the broken English translated text in the listing, and, of course, the features including SSB were not clear, so I figured it best to steer clear! I didn't want to spend more than $100 since I'm not sure how much use it will actually get yet, if I'll enjoy WEFAX or if the devices will just collect dust.

It brings all the up to the minute weather info, charts, images and radar that the ships at sea use from the entire globe, while the weather app just gives you the normal layman's info of the local weather, with no radar or any of that, though you can look up local weather in most parts of the world with the Fujinet Weather app. it will show all of this on the Atari screen as B&W high-res images or you can print them out for full-sized higher resolution.

 

Matt,

You've done another quality job there, mate - very cool and professional looking.

As you say, you could still faff with the proportional spacing to get it a little closer an authentic match to the original Atari logo but as it stands, I'd still give it 11/10.

Great work, fella.

That ATARI IBM 800CX gets another step closer to reality.

 

Cheers for those pics, Matt,
Just like us this time last year, it's a race against time to get things just so and how you want em to look so as to be able to celebrate all your hard work with family/friends when we like to get together and eat, drink, be merry and catch up on all the stuff life chucks at us.
You're doing sterling work there on the shower room/bathroom and kitchen as I know virtually all your work you are carrying out yourself on top of everything else you do to keep the home on an even keel and ensure everyone's fine and dandy.
You've also had the recent heartbreak of the loss of your beloved pets so we can appreciate you've had a massive amount of stuff going on.
Wishing you all the very best on hitting your finished work home improvement targets by Thanksgiving, bud.
By my reckoning, you;ve got...
six days, mate...
Good luck, fella!!

 

It's funny sometimes how you don't notice how dirty something is until you see it in a picture! I'm referring to my cabinets under the sink in the kitchen. I need to get those cleaned! A high traffic area by the sink that we rub up against a lot. That's probably mostly from me too, as I wash up my hands , arms and face at the kitchen sink after doing oily, greasy mechanic work. Which is pretty constant with all the machines I have to maintain, in fact, I'm currently replacing the drum brakes on my Blazer, but jumped on the house remodeling while I wait for parts to be delivered. So it's most likely a result of my dirty jeans rubbing the cabinets while washing.

 

Thanks Andy. My brother is doing the painting and helping me with the flooring, but I had to do all the taping and floating as he's never done that before. He also finished painting the metal roof, something that I left half done for a couple of years as I just didn't have time with proper weather to ever finish it. He also finished up the last quarter of the floor insulation under the house I hadn't finished either. But that's it, the rest of the total rebuild (except for the roof, it was still solid) was all me.

The roof, the one wall were the stove and cabinets are, about half the sub-floor and of course the joists and foundation which were also still solid, are the only things left original. I had to rebuild everything else after my uncle let it all go to pot, the drunk he was, living in it for 25 years after my grandparents died. But it would have cost about twice as much if I tore it all down and started all over with a totally new house. I managed to save the roof by rebuilding the outer walls in 8 foot sections at a time, bracing the areas with 2x4 planks and a bottle jacks to hold the areas steady while tearing out the old wall sections and fitting in the new wall sections, so it wouldn't collapse. That was a major task, especially alone, but I did it.

The reason the house is long and narrow (75'x16'), like your town house Andy, is that about 40 years ago it actually was a mobile home. But my grandfather tore it all down to the steel/iron frame, still using that as the floor joists, then built a foundation under it, then built a real house on top of it all. He did it all himself pretty much like me. We plan on adding on of course, and when we are done it won't look long and narrow anymore, even though half of it will still be long and narrow inside.

 

Nice one, Matt.
That was my impression too - long and narrow - but with lots of interesting bits sticking out here and there.
As you say, very much like ours (Brenski's comment once was, wow - that new kitchen could double as a bowling alley, Baz!)
Amazing that this house of yours has had such a rich history of ad hoc add ons and building around existing structures - it makes it quite unique and the time and effort you have committed to make this home for you and making the structure solid and secure.
It's a shame your unc hit the bottle but he won't be the first or the last to fall victim to the demon drink.
Thank god you inherited it and were focused and driven into putting in the damn hard work, using every ounce of your skills, to save the place from total abandonment and probable collapse.
Excellent work once more, Matt - with a little help from your bro - keep it, literally in the family.
Builders would've charged $100,000s.

 

That's nasty Matt, it seems the fate of many an 800 including mine, I dropped it years ago and broke the case at the back and split the spacebar in half..

Here's hoping you can do a near invisible repair..

 

Here, here, Matt/Paul.

I have all kinds of issues with various glues - just lately I've been trying to re-glue broken wood shards and splinters from the bottoms of doors which were recently planed... badly! All that I got was very gluey fingers and the wood refusing to adhere back to the door at all (only to my fingers) but with masses more patience and some UHU, I got there in the end.

Your broken plastic jobs will hopefully heal a darn sight better with the glues you mentioned, Matt

These things happen, mate - don't feel bad about it - just show the Atari Owner world that you will get even and make a better job than ever before.

Hit it, bud (but not too hard!!)

 

While I was attempting to glue and set the front corner that broke on the cartridge door, I fumbled and dropped it again, this time breaking the back corner on the same side! DOH!



So, I glued it back too. I decided just to use Loctite brand super glue, the type I've been buying for a couple of years now, as it seems to work for me as good or better than Crazy Glue or other brands and it has a nice squeeze bottle that doesn't clog and dry so easily and I can usually squeeze out the right amount. I figure that normally when it's all assembled, those are low-stress areas that never even get touched except when cleaning.

I have not yet put the screws back on the 410 and 810 as I am still going to add internal LED lighting to them to match the 800CX. That and just details of labeling keys and precision painting the raised text on the computer and drive face and/or side plates to really make it all "pop" but still conservative and ready for business.

I was able to get the most recently broken piece glued back with just a hair-line crack that should disappear with paint and clear coats. The other one, larger and with more jagged edges, I was unable to get in perfect position before the super glue would no longer allow adjustment. So I'm doing a little body work on it to hide the off-set crack line before touch-up painting.

The broken hinges I have decided will have to be reinforced by splints, hidden to the best of my ability on the inner sides of the 6 hinge arms (three on each hinge). Otherwise I fear it will soon break again, with with only glue, from the stresses of the springs when closing. Luckily my door moves smoothly when it opens and doesn't "spring" up, so there will be little stress or shock that way. I will probably try and replace the door though due to the broken hinges, if it were just the corner cracks I wouldn't. I'll work on it this evening.

Otherwise everything else is painted, touched up, clear coated and being left alone for 72 hours to make sure it's properly cured. I have already put the 410, 810, CX85 and mouse back together, as they've had 24 hours so handling wouldn't leave fingerprints behind. But they won't be touch again for a few days. The keyboard is also re-assembled with all the keys getting clear coats. I still have to label the grey and blue keys, but waiting for them to cure.



I am going to have to redo the space bar and one key from the keypad as they got raisin-skinned just in one small spot on the space bar and only on the top of the key. They had been finished and cured for weeks, so I can only figure that the one key and that area of the spacebar were not perfectly clean, some fingerprint grease or whatnot I painted over and the clear coat revealed what would have started flaking and peeling soon enough anyway.

 

Awesome, Matt.

The cool shmule finish you've achieved there on your 810s, 410 and CX85, look absolutely class.

I'm certain that once you;ve glued and re-assembled the 800CX itself, the whole new family will look stunning lined up / stacked-up together.

You are so close to a classic renaissance job here, Matt and don't worry about the odd goof - they say genius is a fine line between one state and another and you are so close now to reaching the great goal you set out to achieve with this re-imagined project.

"Stick" with it, if you'll excuse the pun.

 

Me, I'm floating all over the place, having my daughter home for the weekend is always top of my list, then there's stuff with the council and the inlaws just are a HUGE problem.

As for colour schemes / layouts, I'm not your man...I would be the world's most loathed interior decorator

 

Nice Matt. That colour combo is epic. Great work.

 

Matt, apparently there's a new version with colour text mode..See the AA forum..