An 800xl refurb / S-video mod for a friend
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 25 ส.ค. 2024
- Picked up this 800xl for a friend looking for an Atari 8-bit computer. This one fit the bill and just needed a little love.
Cleaned up, made the modification for s-video out, made a USB power adapter, tested everything and played a little Pacman.
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Your friend is incredibly lucky and I know how grateful as well.
Atari and Commodore computers offered way more bang for the buck than the equivalent Apple II family of products. I've always wondered how Apple kept a stronghold in the education market for so long. Their software and hardware were inferior in comparison to the Commodores and Ataris. Many claim it due to the Apple II's open architecture, but the Apple IIc managed to sell despite lacking expandability. Moreover, most schools didn't bother to upgrade their machines. Their only major competitive selling point of the Apple products was its 80-column video, which was a requirement for any sort of word processing.
The real not so acknowledged reason, however, was the Apple II's build quality and aesthetics. They were very rugged--enough to survive abuse in a classroom environment. It also was a beautifully designed machine which to this day still looks gorgeous. Steve Jobs was a genius and understood this very early on. People pay for what they want, not for what they need. If it catches their eye and they want it, then it sells itself. All you need to do is justify their wants as legitimate needs.
I also believe I recall that Apple won an early education bid in Minnesota with the MECC, with them becoming the largest distributor of computers in the 1980's. Later there were some significant tax incentives allowing Apple to "donate" computers for tax writeoffs (others manufacturers probably could have done this as well).
@@powerofvintage9442 Initially, Apple was awarded a huge contract by the state of California to provide computers. Unfortunately, Apple priced themselves out of their hard won educational market, opening it up to their competitors. Google's low cost and underpowered Chromebooks combined with it's free online cloud products now dominate the market. Surprisingly, Apple doesn't seem phased. Their latest iMacs machines are not portable and too flimsy to survive a typical classroom environment, whereas the Chromebook is cheap enough to handout to every student.
Tell your friend to get an AVGcart or a SUBcart.
He will have the best experience out of his Atari without soldering.
The AVGcart comes with 512kb ram expansion(PBI cable needed) and a video/music player turning it to a multimedia power house. If he gets the SIO cable he will enjoy amazing compatibility with all available files.(ATR,XEX,CART,BIN,ROM, CAS)
THe SUBcart comes with 1mb ram expansion (PBI cable needed) plus a stereo upgrade to enjoy all the games /demos supporting this feature.
Its the best solution because at the same price you get the Cartridge (SD card) and the upgrades that come with it.
Did you remove capacitor C54 and C56 before soldering the wire under the motherboard?
Nope, the directions I've used don't mention any removal of any components. What is the intent of removing the capacitors?
@@powerofvintage9442removes the jail bars in s-video
Few months ago I bought similar magnifying glases but then I bought different set. For me those have too short focal point and you need to be very close to see anything.
ps. Nice video.
I agree about the focal point...I find myself very close to where I'm working with them on.
Hi. What model of upscaller do You use?
It is a generic composite / s-video to HDMI converter from Amazon. I've had it for 4-5 years or so. No brand name that I can find.
Did you use the Commodore composite + S-video cable? Is the pinout the same?
No the pinout is different for Atari 8-bit and C64 s-video