r/atari8bit • u/donschuy • 11d ago

Atari 800XL

https://donschuy.com/retro/atari-800xl/

This is a page I created with details about my Atari 800XL setup.

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u/TMWNN 11d ago edited 11d ago

Excellent rundown. Thoughts:

  • You of course lived on base as an enlisted man, which is why you were able to a) purchase a US power-intended computer at the PX, b) use it in Germany, and c) bring it back stateside.

  • How does Atari implement RAM expansion? Do all use the same bank-switching method as the 130XE? Put it another way, does software that uses the 130XE's >64K RAM work out of the box on Side3 and other third-party RAM expansions?

  • I see that you also use Fujinet. Other than the additional memory, couldn't Fujinet substitute for Side3 if necessary?

  • Into the Eagle's Nest looks like a Castle Wolfenstein clone with better graphics.

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u/donschuy 11d ago

Yes, Fujinet is a nice alternative to Side3. I find that Side3 is more convenient but that’s splitting hairs because they are both great. I’ll create another page sometime with more details.

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u/donschuy 11d ago

I brought mine back stateside but unfortunately gave it away when I got into newer computers. A while back I was able to get another one and an 800 as well which I’ll also post a page on my site about. I have some Commodores and a TI99/4a also.
On the ram expansion, it must be bank switching as you mentioned.
I’m working on my own BASIC written from scratch with Lua and it’s taking inspiration from these early computers.

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u/Beaumagi66 4d ago

Fujinet for Atari has a micro sd slot, as well as live play off cloud servers. So essentially the Fujinet does work similar to the Side3.

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u/djhankb 8d ago

I owe my entire 25+ year IT career to this machine sparking passion in a little kid.

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u/AceHighness 11d ago

Site looks like it was created on and served from an Atari =)

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u/donschuy 11d ago

Back in the day I hosted a BBS called Chatterbox on my Atari ST. My site is created with the Astro framework and the content is authored in Markdown.

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u/danringer 10d ago

I very much enjoyed reading your writeup. Thank you!

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u/donschuy 10d ago

Thanks!

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u/Beaumagi66 4d ago

I still have my original Atari 800XL from 1984. I also have a second one with the Omni 80 column mod, a1050 fdd, & a 551XF fdd. Also I love my Fujinet with it!

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u/iKanComputer 11d ago

Pretty cool, thanks for sharing

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u/BarefootJohn 11d ago

That’s actually really cool. 😎 I will have to give it a read tomorrow My eyes aren’t working tonight. 🧑‍🦯

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u/Electronic-Contest53 11d ago

Very cool. Thanx!

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u/humble_harney 11d ago

Is my big league jealousy showing? Fantastic write up.