4 replies to this topic

[KulorXL]

I've been on these forums a few times before pertaining to this matter, but never before with pictures as to back up my claim.
Long story short: A guy who fixes these sorts of things for a living said it wasn't standard, perhaps a mockup or a prototype. It wasn't until I got another 600XL that I was able to fully document the differences. And now, I present to you, as I like to call it, the CHELCO-TAR.

5: Chelco-Tar on the left, standard on the right.
6: Notice the different font used for the keyboard printing. Also, the "'" symbol is identical to the "/" symbol. Also notice the visible screw right under the spacebar.
8: Stepped keys! I seriously wonder why Atari ever changed this; this thing is great to type with, as opposed to the chaulky-feeling standard keys.
9: Parallel Bus, power switch, and the housing are all different.
10: This power switch really sucks, it's ungodly hard to operate. Also, the holes for the switch box, channel select switch, and power switch are all noticibly smaller.
11: Close-up of the parallel bus. Everything else is aligned fine, so why isn't this...? Bottom metal things are a lot bigger. There's one on the top that's just as big, but not visible. Also, no metal backing.
12: No serial number (not even a trace), missing holes in the casing that are present in the standard. Visible differences on the inside that I can't get to.
13: Overview of the insides. Is there supposed to be a red wire hooked to the cart door? It doesn't seem to serve a purpose. Havn't opened my standard 600XL up yet, so can't point out any differences.
14: CHELCO...?
15: The thing preventing me from further exploring this thing; notice, the tab is actually bigger than the hole it's inserted in. They're all like this, too.
16: I'm not sure if this is standard or not...close up of the Chelco logo. Hard to see in the pic, so I enhanced it in Chelco.png.
18: Chelco-tar on the left. Hard to tell from the pic, but the text is a lot lighter and harder to read.
Also included is Tarry.png, a snapshot of the thing in action. I could never really get a better signal than this...

Maybe this can help someone verify for sure just what this thing is?

EDIT: Sorry, had some issues with uploading it. Download it here: http://rapidshare.de...3/CTar.zip.html

EDIT 2: Do all model 1 power supplies look like this? http://cgi.ebay.com/...1QQcmdZViewItem
'Cuz if so, I have one with some apparant differences as well. It's also worth noting that Chelco-Tar didn't work with a model 4 (I think) power supply that worked with a standard, only the model 1. I havn't tested it on any others.

Edited by KulorXL, Mon Dec 12, 2005 9:02 PM.

[Almost Rice]

I have Chelco 600xl too. There are key differences. My keyboard is of the standard flat (600/800xl), power switch is standard.

I have the top of the Case with the Chelco icon with "Chelco SC 835 (600xl)" like chelco.png

#14 Like DSC00014.jpg. My Motherboard has:
Chelco 1983
P/N:150600008
REV.8A 600XL

#12 Like DSC00012.jpg. I have the same black serial tag except mine has a white serial number on it. All 3 of my 800xl have white tags. The serial number is on a long sticker stuck on top of the tag. Maybe yours came off. All my 800xl have them imprinted on the white tag.

#13 Like DSC00013.jpg. I have the red wire from the cartridge door to the Motherboard. None of my 800xl have this

#15 I dont remember how I got it off. The shielding is still there, but I dont remember it being hard to take off.

All of the output align fine. I have no PBI peripherals so I cant test alignment, but it looks to be centered.

I have always thought the 600xl was of higher quality than my 800xls since all chips were socketed. It was my first 8bit and has basicly been my test mule. I have never had problems using the power supplies I have. I have the "Black Beauty", 3 of the top and rightmost adaptors, and 2 of the crappy #3 the middle top in the link(one of which outputs 6+ volts. (Image was taken off of B&C's web site)


Its too bad it was my test mule. If its rare, then I have really devalued it. I bought it from some catalog chain in San Francisco.(I think it was Consumers Union or eXchange) I think it was the Summer of 84. I got it for $49 brand spanking new. The sale happened just about the time I was about to buy a Coco2. If it did not happen, I probably would have never gotten so involved with Atari 8bits.

I will get pics for you later this week. Maybe I will scan the parts so you can see some detail. Also I only have this one 600xl. I do not have one to compare to like you do. I can only refer to my other 800xls. Maybe if I could see what a regular 600xl looks like, I can tell you what ever else is different about it.

Attached Thumbnails

• 

Edited by Almost Rice, Mon Dec 12, 2005 10:37 PM.

[KulorXL]

Awesome, so I'm not the only one. I see you're in Houston...I thought perhaps these were models released in Mexico, but yours sounds rather different from mine...
And yes, the Chelco-Tar is of outstanding quality, whereas the standard one is sorta cheap.
Revision 8A? They made 8 friggin' revisions? I wonder what the black famous proto 600XL says...if these are proto/mockup 600XLs, then yours is obviously farther along in development and closer to the final than mine, which sounds about right. Possibly the last one before the final model? Though it wouldn't make sense for you to buy a prototype brand new back in those days like that...
Maybe Chelco did make and mark all the 600XLs. Like I said, I've yet to open up the standard one. My standard 600XL has the black tag with a white serial sticker on it as well.
I'll post up pics of the standard in the same areas when I can.

[Almost Rice]

KulorXL, on Mon Dec 12, 2005 11:37 PM, said:

Awesome, so I'm not the only one. I see you're in Houston...I thought perhaps these were models released in Mexico, but yours sounds rather different from mine...
And yes, the Chelco-Tar is of outstanding quality, whereas the standard one is sorta cheap.

No, I dont think it was a Mexican release. If anything it may have been special inventory since I did buy it in San Francisco which was only 50 miles away from Atari HQ.

Here are my pics that I scanned. They are HUGE!!! But you can see the significant things. The shield has lots of rust from all the finger oil that I have put on it.. I did not scan the keyboard since it looks to be standard xl.

Any requests for a particular part of the 600xl?

Attached Thumbnails

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

[KulorXL]

The inside looks almost identical to my standard 600XL, aside from the Chelco logo.
I speculate that this (yours) is a very early model, before Atari made Chelco take their name off the board.
But does that mean all 600XLs were manufactured by Chelco...? Interesting...
Included are some pics of the standard unit: http://rapidshare.de...ardTar.zip.html
Sorry about the quality on these; the other ones were taken outside during the day, but these were taken at night during the last minute before I had to return the camera I was borrowing.

23: No Chelco logo! Woh...!
24: However, mine does have some gibberish on the keyboard. Two red wires to the door on this one.
27: Noticibly bigger printing.
30: Chelco-Tar on top, standard on bottom.
31: Shield removed. If only I could do this on Chelco-Tar...
32: Different ribbon cable for the keyboard, and a closer view of the line of resistors not present in the Chelco model and the lack of a Chelco logo.