Jurgen's 512k upgrade for the Atari 8bit line takes care all issues with homebrew games that demand more RAM. SUBcart is also a great solution and far better value of money compared to the U1MB. This cartridge offers a SD medium loader, 1MB/4MB memory expansion, flawless compatibility with ALL types of files , OS selector, a stereo sound upgrade/covox(BETA), perfect movie/music playback and all that at half the price of a U1MB+SIDE3 combo.
Great Video as usual. I just moved so my future retro lab is in boxes waiting to be unpacked. I have a 130XE that needs a GTIA chip. Hopefully this weekend I can be unpacked enough to start working on it.
@ 3:12 - encryption only prevents the chip being read back after programming & verification, to prevent IP theft. Does not effect operation after programming.
For me the choice of badge comes down to whether you want it to be in your face that it's modified, or more a sleeper, where it looks stock externally. Not having much knowledge or awareness of these machines until recent times I don't really have an opinion either way. Whatever loosk the coolest I guess! As something of a "retro noob" I'm enjoying seeing and learning about these machines.
I would think the floating point speed improvement would be a huge win for some of the older BASIC games. I remember Invasion Orion being fun but extremely slow, so this would certainly help. On the other hand, I'm sure there are plenty of BASIC games where this would mess up the timing.
Today I just did the 320KB upgrade on my 65XE following your video and it worked first time! :) I was worried becuase of Jan Beta's failure but mine just worked. Thanks!
While I'm not a fan of the red Atari logo (reminds me too much of The Company That Calls Itself Atari) I *love* the 320XE model badge so I say go for that! Great video, as always Mark!
The "encryption" setting for the GAL is not altering the equations that are burnt into it. It just sets a security fuse so you cannot read it back (copy protection). The TL866 cannot verify (read back) its contents and compare it to the JEDEC file. So calling it "encryption" might be misleading by the TL866 manufacturer.
Yeah, it's nice to have that option but I doubt anyone using a cheap programmer like the TL866 is really worried about protecting their IP. I'd rather leave it off just so I can verify that these old ICs actually work correctly
Nothing wrong with a bit of "tv cooking show prep", who wants to look at soldering led setting anyway ;) Informative video! Whats in place of the GAL to start with? Another GAL but with different logic in it?
It was empty apart from 3 jumpers. In the 130xe there is a 16 pin PAL there to address the 2nd ram bank. I believe the GAL contains the same logic as the PAL with some extra bits to handle the 128-320K banking
The floating point upgrade may not be useful if you don't run many basic programs or do any programming yourself but for me, it's fixing something that Atari should have fixed with an update themselves. Apple offered several versions of Basic to fix performance issues along the way. I guess it just depends on how you thought about computers back in the day. Were the devices that deserved continuous improvement or were they just appliances that were tossed and a newer version replaced them? I feel that Atari failed it's users when they never came out with an expansion chassis for the XL/XE series. Maybe I'm just an old die-hard.
Great job. Enjoyed your upgrade methods. The period correct hardware is great! I need to do this sort of upgrade considering how expensive is the U1MB. I'd say go with the 320XE badge. XE video quality varies but is better than XL. Did you have an A8 back in the day?
Thanks! I didn't have an A8 back in the day, in fact nobody I knew had one, at least from what I remember. Very cool machines and definitely very capable for an 8bit micro. I've worked out a pretty decent video upgrade that involves only a few cents worth of parts. That'll be the subject of a later video, along with the 320XE badge, and maybe even a ROM switcher 🤔
A great memory upgrade is Jurgen's 512k board(the same guy responsible for the upgrade found in this video). Easy to install, the price is good (25euros) and with software control over the active memory size. (you can set it to 256,512 or off). IF you are interested I can send you more details. Now the video quality depends on which XL and XE model you compare. My XL freddie (800xlf) is equally good to my 65xe(900xlf board).
@timcross3461 good question and not one I have an answer for. But I just checked and I do have the .xex file. You can find it here drive.google.com/file/d/1daHNj7aHyV2pvV9gJeR3IbsB_6KPF24K/
What is that black wire? Yiu dont need to unblank the cable and directly solder to that memmory chain. Is it some special cable. I am amateur and this looks interesting wire to solder with.
It is called wire wrapping wire. It worked but is not really intended to be used that way. What would work better is magnet wire, it has a thin enamel coating and burns off cleanly when heated with the iron. You can see it being used in this video th-cam.com/video/RCU6gTgCxgM/w-d-xo.html
I know nothing about Atari, but did buy a 65To see about updates. I did wonder: If the Option key to exclude BASIC is reversed, would that fix the problem with the two games?
Definitely get the coloured 320XE badge.
Countries like Poland have been amazing sources of Atari mods. Fantastic stuff still being created for such a wonderful product line.
Jurgen is German, but yes the Polish Atari scene is going strong in all fronts (software/hardware).
Jurgen's 512k upgrade for the Atari 8bit line takes care all issues with homebrew games that demand more RAM. SUBcart is also a great solution and far better value of money compared to the U1MB. This cartridge offers a SD medium loader, 1MB/4MB memory expansion, flawless compatibility with ALL types of files , OS selector, a stereo sound upgrade/covox(BETA), perfect movie/music playback and all that at half the price of a U1MB+SIDE3 combo.
Great Video as usual. I just moved so my future retro lab is in boxes waiting to be unpacked. I have a 130XE that needs a GTIA chip. Hopefully this weekend I can be unpacked enough to start working on it.
@ 3:12 - encryption only prevents the chip being read back after programming & verification, to prevent IP theft. Does not effect operation after programming.
Cool video - thanks :-) - And you´re pronouncing my name perfect!
Thanks Jürgen, and thanks for sharing this modification
You 're a great fellow , it turned out very cool
Jan Beta sent me, subscribed.
For me the choice of badge comes down to whether you want it to be in your face that it's modified, or more a sleeper, where it looks stock externally. Not having much knowledge or awareness of these machines until recent times I don't really have an opinion either way. Whatever loosk the coolest I guess! As something of a "retro noob" I'm enjoying seeing and learning about these machines.
I would think the floating point speed improvement would be a huge win for some of the older BASIC games. I remember Invasion Orion being fun but extremely slow, so this would certainly help. On the other hand, I'm sure there are plenty of BASIC games where this would mess up the timing.
Today I just did the 320KB upgrade on my 65XE following your video and it worked first time! :) I was worried becuase of Jan Beta's failure but mine just worked. Thanks!
Excellent. Yeah not sure why Jan is having so much trouble with his but hopefully he will work it out soon
While I'm not a fan of the red Atari logo (reminds me too much of The Company That Calls Itself Atari) I *love* the 320XE model badge so I say go for that! Great video, as always Mark!
Thanks Josh. I did end up going for the 320XE badge, I think you can catch a glimpse of it in the SXE mod video
320XE. No doubt!
Good looking machine.
The "encryption" setting for the GAL is not altering the equations that are burnt into it. It just sets a security fuse so you cannot read it back (copy protection). The TL866 cannot verify (read back) its contents and compare it to the JEDEC file. So calling it "encryption" might be misleading by the TL866 manufacturer.
Yeah, it's nice to have that option but I doubt anyone using a cheap programmer like the TL866 is really worried about protecting their IP. I'd rather leave it off just so I can verify that these old ICs actually work correctly
since the console is not the original anymore add the 320XE sticker
Nothing wrong with a bit of "tv cooking show prep", who wants to look at soldering led setting anyway ;)
Informative video! Whats in place of the GAL to start with? Another GAL but with different logic in it?
It was empty apart from 3 jumpers. In the 130xe there is a 16 pin PAL there to address the 2nd ram bank. I believe the GAL contains the same logic as the PAL with some extra bits to handle the 128-320K banking
The floating point upgrade may not be useful if you don't run many basic programs or do any programming yourself but for me, it's fixing something that Atari should have fixed with an update themselves. Apple offered several versions of Basic to fix performance issues along the way. I guess it just depends on how you thought about computers back in the day. Were the devices that deserved continuous improvement or were they just appliances that were tossed and a newer version replaced them? I feel that Atari failed it's users when they never came out with an expansion chassis for the XL/XE series. Maybe I'm just an old die-hard.
Great job. Enjoyed your upgrade methods. The period correct hardware is great! I need to do this sort of upgrade considering how expensive is the U1MB. I'd say go with the 320XE badge. XE video quality varies but is better than XL. Did you have an A8 back in the day?
Thanks! I didn't have an A8 back in the day, in fact nobody I knew had one, at least from what I remember. Very cool machines and definitely very capable for an 8bit micro. I've worked out a pretty decent video upgrade that involves only a few cents worth of parts. That'll be the subject of a later video, along with the 320XE badge, and maybe even a ROM switcher 🤔
A great memory upgrade is Jurgen's 512k board(the same guy responsible for the upgrade found in this video). Easy to install, the price is good (25euros) and with software control over the active memory size. (you can set it to 256,512 or off).
IF you are interested I can send you more details.
Now the video quality depends on which XL and XE model you compare. My XL freddie (800xlf) is equally good to my 65xe(900xlf board).
Great video, where do I find the System Information programme (SI226) you used in the video?
drac030.krap.pl/en-si-pliki.php
@@TheRetroChannel what is the trick for using the si226.arc file? I assume the arc file is an archive file? What program can extract it?
@timcross3461 good question and not one I have an answer for. But I just checked and I do have the .xex file. You can find it here drive.google.com/file/d/1daHNj7aHyV2pvV9gJeR3IbsB_6KPF24K/
What is that black wire? Yiu dont need to unblank the cable and directly solder to that memmory chain. Is it some special cable. I am amateur and this looks interesting wire to solder with.
It is called wire wrapping wire. It worked but is not really intended to be used that way. What would work better is magnet wire, it has a thin enamel coating and burns off cleanly when heated with the iron. You can see it being used in this video th-cam.com/video/RCU6gTgCxgM/w-d-xo.html
I know nothing about Atari, but did buy a 65To see about updates. I did wonder: If the Option key to exclude BASIC is reversed, would that fix the problem with the two games?
Unfortunately not, I even tried the original hi speed SIO rom which doesn't include the BASIC swap and it still crashes when loading those games.
Where can you buy an eeprom compatible with Atari XE? Thanks