Box full of 800 hardware

[marciolsf]

Hi!

 

A co-worker of mine recently gave me a box full of treasure... A box full of atari 800 hardware parts! He even went as far as putting some of the parts together into a working 800 model, inside of a big and heavy wooden box (gives a whole new meaning to "heavy sixer"). I probably have the biggest atari 800 in existence! It actually works just fine, it turns on and displays the memo pad, but it seems to be missing some components (such as the cart slots).

 

The other thing it is missing is a knowledgeable owner ... The "box" has a disk drive "built-in", but I don't have any floppies for it, and even if I did, I wouldn't know how to load it. I do know someone who has quite a collection of software in floppies and disks, so, assuming that I can borrow some of the floppies, what are the basics of loading it up? Is there a FAQ somewhere that explains the process?

 

Anybody can help this very excited new atari owner?

[ClausB]

Any pictures? Inside and out?

[mimo]

welcome

 

http://www.atarimania.com/faq.php

[marciolsf]

Some parts of the FAQ listed above (thanks Mimo!) indicated certain basic commands to load programs... So, do I need basic to do anything with the 800? Or just having DOS will do? All that I get when I turn the machine on is the Memo Pad, and I'm able to type in it, but that's all. I do have some extra expansion cards that I haven't tested yet, maybe one of them will have the "built-in" basic I've heard mentioned somewhere?

[marciolsf]

and yeah, I'll add the pictures tomorrow morning :-)

[machf]

Some parts of the FAQ listed above (thanks Mimo!) indicated certain basic commands to load programs... So, do I need basic to do anything with the 800? Or just having DOS will do? All that I get when I turn the machine on is the Memo Pad, and I'm able to type in it, but that's all. I do have some extra expansion cards that I haven't tested yet, maybe one of them will have the "built-in" basic I've heard mentioned somewhere?

 

ATARI BASIC came on a cartridge for the 400/800 models, the XL/XE had it in a built-in ROM (though you could still plug in a cartridge instead).

[nathanallan]

I can't wait to see the pics! I got a box of stuff once, but it sounds like it pales in comparison to your find!

 

Nathan

[marciolsf]

This is the box as it sits on the floor.... it's quite heavy!

With the cover removed. Note the extra fan added on the far left. It's not running right now, I haven't tried fixing it yet, but it's wired to run when you turn the whole thing on.

Close-up of the main board, with the three memory modules, plus the OS (on the bottom) and an unknown board on the top. Not sure what it's supposed to do, but it has a potentiometer attached to it.

All the spare boards I have... there seems to be enough to just about put another 800 together.

Here's the floppy drive, not sure which model. I don't actually have the power supply for it, but I plugged the main one in and it worked. I'll just have to dig a 9V unit out.

Here's a close-up of the main board. Notice that it only has one connector for the cart slot, so chances are this board is for a 400, not a 800. Can anybody tell me if a cart would plug directly into the connector, or am I missing parts?

This spare board does have the 2 connectors, but I don't know if it works. I might try to put this one in the box and see if it powers on.

 

and here's a screenshot, to prove that the whole thing works.

 

My brother in law is looking for his collection of floppies. Hopefully he'll have either a DOS or a BASIC floppy. I also have more pictures if anybody is curious about what is what in here. From what I can tell, I have spares for the OS, memory and "strange board with potentiometer", plus power boards for the 800 and the floppy

[JellE]

Oh wow... that is way too neat. Congratulations!

[classics]

It even has a bootleg Happy 810 installed. Thats some nice hardware hacking there.

[+remowilliams]

Wow. That was the last thing I was expecting when somebody says 'box of 800 hardware'

 

[nathanallan]

From what I read I thought he meant a box of parts, not installed into a box, which is ultra cool!

 

Nathan

[Almost Rice]

I have never seen a 800 with the Right Cart port removed. Did the hacker do it?

[marciolsf]

No, actually, what happened is that, during one of the times atari was sold, one of their distributors had a warehouse full of stuff that they decided to empty out. My friend went there and bought out and purchased all that you see in the pics.... The board came without the second connector, so it could have been considered a "defective" board

[ClausB]

an unknown board on the top. Not sure what it's supposed to do, but it has a potentiometer attached to it.

That's the CPU board. It also has the ANTIC and CTIA ICs, the ground-breaking graphics chips of their day.

Notice that it only has one connector for the cart slot, so chances are this board is for a 400, not a 800. Can anybody tell me if a cart would plug directly into the connector, or am I missing parts?

It's an 800 motherboard, just with the right cartridge connector removed.

 

Any "Left" cartridge will plug into the remaining connector, but you'll have trouble plugging an Atari cart into it because you're missing the plastic piece that opens the cartridge door. You'll have to stick something sharp into the bottom of the cart to open the door and expose the "fingers", then plug it into the connector label side forward. Or, to match the rest of your system, take the cartridge PCB out of its case and plug it in (ICs to the rear!).

[sup8pdct]

My brother in law is looking for his collection of floppies. Hopefully he'll have either a DOS or a BASIC floppy. I also have more pictures if anybody is curious about what is what in here. From what I can tell, I have spares for the OS, memory and "strange board with potentiometer", plus power boards for the 800 and the floppy

 

 

It has been setup as a dos only box.

I noted the 810 drive is a late one with a data separater board and a separate head amplifier board.

I was wondering what that extra board on thew wrong side of the 810 side board was...

The 2nd slot wasn't used for much anyway.

The 800 board is fully populated with all cards.

The spare 800 mother board looks complete. the cards that go in to it from front to back are:

Personality board or rom board. it is the one with the 3 24pin chips and several logic chips.

1st ram slot. This one MUST have ram in it. Atari made 2 sizes, 8K and 16K

2nd ram slot. This one was also used to put extra ram in that was banked switched. this was a 3rd party device made by Axlon

3rd ram slot. There was a 3rd party 80 column board that want into this slot The 2nd slot had to have 32K in it.

Processor slot. 3 40pin chips and a logic chip

 

The first 4 slots could be accessible under a removable top because when the 800 was first made, Ram was very expensive and could be upgraded as needed.

But as usual, ram price dropped and latter ones were sold with 48K.

 

The ram card on the spare 800 board has something hanging off of it. could you take a pic of that please?

 

James

[carmel_andrews]

If memory recalls, it was one of Atari's retail distributors (Sears i believe) that told Atari to do a low cost version of the 800, as Sear's thought that the 800 would'nt be as mass marketable as a low cost version (hence why Atari ended up with the 400 as well)

Edited July 13, 2008 by carmel_andrews

[Bryan]

If memory recalls, it was one of Atari's retail distributors (Sears i believe) that told Atari to do a low cost version of the 800, as Sear's thought that the 800 would'nt be as mass marketable as a low cost version (hence why Atari ended up with the 400 as well)

 

I really want to make a joke about this wooden thing being the really really cost reduced model, but it has an 810 in it which throws off the economics.

 

Maybe this is the inspiration for the 1450.

[carmel_andrews]

well an 800 cost nearly 1000 usd when first released and the 810 i recall was betw 250-300 usd

 

Sorry i can't remember what the 400 was...(probably betw 5-750 usd)

[marciolsf]

My brother in law is looking for his collection of floppies. Hopefully he'll have either a DOS or a BASIC floppy. I also have more pictures if anybody is curious about what is what in here. From what I can tell, I have spares for the OS, memory and "strange board with potentiometer", plus power boards for the 800 and the floppy

 

 

It has been setup as a dos only box.

I noted the 810 drive is a late one with a data separater board and a separate head amplifier board.

I was wondering what that extra board on thew wrong side of the 810 side board was...

The 2nd slot wasn't used for much anyway.

The 800 board is fully populated with all cards.

The spare 800 mother board looks complete. the cards that go in to it from front to back are:

Personality board or rom board. it is the one with the 3 24pin chips and several logic chips.

1st ram slot. This one MUST have ram in it. Atari made 2 sizes, 8K and 16K

2nd ram slot. This one was also used to put extra ram in that was banked switched. this was a 3rd party device made by Axlon

3rd ram slot. There was a 3rd party 80 column board that want into this slot The 2nd slot had to have 32K in it.

Processor slot. 3 40pin chips and a logic chip

 

The first 4 slots could be accessible under a removable top because when the 800 was first made, Ram was very expensive and could be upgraded as needed.

But as usual, ram price dropped and latter ones were sold with 48K.

 

The ram card on the spare 800 board has something hanging off of it. could you take a pic of that please?

 

James

 

 

Thanks for the additional info!. I'll get a close shot of the ram cards. The other ram cards also have that "something" hanging from it. My friend mentioned that he added additional memory to the cards, I'll get additional details on that today. Someone else in the thread guessed correctly, the extra board connected to the floppy is indeed a "happy" mod.