The Naked Atari 800

Blogs & guides and tales of woo by forum members.
User avatar
rubber_jonnie
Site Admin
Site Admin
Posts: 14893
Joined: 17 Aug 2017 19:40
Location: Essex

Re: The Naked Atari 800

Post by rubber_jonnie »

Well, 3.546894Mhz crystals are very much unobtanium it seems, I've searched all over RS, Farnell, Digi-Key and Mouser.

Closest to 3.546894 Mhz I could find was 3.5Mhz, and not sure that would be good enough. Also, shipping for a part that costs pennies is ridiculous.

I did manage to find some on eBay being sold by the brewing academy, but at $9 per crystal and nearly $23 shipping I'm not going to be buying those.

I think perhaps I can borrow one from a 2600Jr as I have a couple of those I don't really need too much since I have a 2600+/7800+ and a light sixer.

Time to go and have a look round my workshop.
Collector of many retro things!
800XL and 65XE both with Ultimate1MB,VBXL/XE & PokeyMax, SIDE3, SDrive Max, 2x 1010 cassette, 2x 1050 one with Happy mod, 3x 2600 Jr, 7800 and Lynx II
Approx 20 STs, including a 520 STM, 520 STFMs, 3x Mega ST, MSTE & 2x 32 Mhz boosted STEs
Plus the rest, totalling around 50 machines including a QL, 3x BBC Model B, Electron, Spectrums, ZX81 etc...
User avatar
PhilC
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 7442
Joined: 23 Mar 2018 20:22

Re: The Naked Atari 800

Post by PhilC »

rubber_jonnie wrote: 20 Dec 2025 11:44 Well, 3.546894Mhz crystals are very much unobtanium it seems, I've searched all over RS, Farnell, Digi-Key and Mouser.

Closest to 3.546894 Mhz I could find was 3.5Mhz, and not sure that would be good enough. Also, shipping for a part that costs pennies is ridiculous.

I did manage to find some on eBay being sold by the brewing academy, but at $9 per crystal and nearly $23 shipping I'm not going to be buying those.

I think perhaps I can borrow one from a 2600Jr as I have a couple of those I don't really need too much since I have a 2600+/7800+ and a light sixer.

Time to go and have a look round my workshop.
Might have one of those too, will look later on.
If it ain't broke, test it to Destruction.
User avatar
olivier.jan
Site sponsor
Site sponsor
Posts: 338
Joined: 01 Jun 2020 08:00

Re: The Naked Atari 800

Post by olivier.jan »

Let me be a bit stubborn, it seem 14.187576 crystals are more available (https://rudedogretros.co.uk/product/ata ... 187576mhz/) and will do the job once divided by 4 ;-)
Retro stuff
520 STF/ 1040 STE / Mega ST / 2 Mega STE / 2 H5
2 x 600XL with U1MB /SOFIA 2/ AVG CART / and a few 1050
Apple //c, Commodore 128, Mac Classic, SE/30, LC, IIvi and PB G3 (Clamshell)
Amiga 600 and a few 486 and 386.
Many Nintendo G&W and other electronic games from the late 70s/early 80s.
User avatar
rubber_jonnie
Site Admin
Site Admin
Posts: 14893
Joined: 17 Aug 2017 19:40
Location: Essex

Re: The Naked Atari 800

Post by rubber_jonnie »

olivier.jan wrote: 20 Dec 2025 14:07 Let me be a bit stubborn, it seem 14.187576 crystals are more available (https://rudedogretros.co.uk/product/ata ... 187576mhz/) and will do the job once divided by 4 ;-)
I do actually already have one from an XE to which has been upgraded to VBXE, but have just stolen the correct one from a 2600JR so no massive rush now.

I have another annoying issue I need to fix that's higher priority...

I just managed to damage the SD card in my A500 RGB2HDMI and I need to replace it.

:dizzy:
Collector of many retro things!
800XL and 65XE both with Ultimate1MB,VBXL/XE & PokeyMax, SIDE3, SDrive Max, 2x 1010 cassette, 2x 1050 one with Happy mod, 3x 2600 Jr, 7800 and Lynx II
Approx 20 STs, including a 520 STM, 520 STFMs, 3x Mega ST, MSTE & 2x 32 Mhz boosted STEs
Plus the rest, totalling around 50 machines including a QL, 3x BBC Model B, Electron, Spectrums, ZX81 etc...
User avatar
rubber_jonnie
Site Admin
Site Admin
Posts: 14893
Joined: 17 Aug 2017 19:40
Location: Essex

Re: The Naked Atari 800

Post by rubber_jonnie »

OK, so I fixed the A500 RGB2HDMI SD card. Or rather I threw it in the bin and replaced it as I'd managed to crack it down the middle.

So, behind a bit because of that, but I did dig this out:

IMG20251220162000.jpg

Will have a look and see what I need to build a circuit with a clock divider and will see how I get on.
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
Collector of many retro things!
800XL and 65XE both with Ultimate1MB,VBXL/XE & PokeyMax, SIDE3, SDrive Max, 2x 1010 cassette, 2x 1050 one with Happy mod, 3x 2600 Jr, 7800 and Lynx II
Approx 20 STs, including a 520 STM, 520 STFMs, 3x Mega ST, MSTE & 2x 32 Mhz boosted STEs
Plus the rest, totalling around 50 machines including a QL, 3x BBC Model B, Electron, Spectrums, ZX81 etc...
User avatar
olivier.jan
Site sponsor
Site sponsor
Posts: 338
Joined: 01 Jun 2020 08:00

Re: The Naked Atari 800

Post by olivier.jan »

74LS/HCT/ACT/161 or 163 will do. I’ve been using 74HCT163 in a small 6502 based SBC I built a few years back: run the CPU at 14.187576 and get a proper 3.546894 frequency for the video.
Retro stuff
520 STF/ 1040 STE / Mega ST / 2 Mega STE / 2 H5
2 x 600XL with U1MB /SOFIA 2/ AVG CART / and a few 1050
Apple //c, Commodore 128, Mac Classic, SE/30, LC, IIvi and PB G3 (Clamshell)
Amiga 600 and a few 486 and 386.
Many Nintendo G&W and other electronic games from the late 70s/early 80s.
User avatar
rubber_jonnie
Site Admin
Site Admin
Posts: 14893
Joined: 17 Aug 2017 19:40
Location: Essex

Re: The Naked Atari 800

Post by rubber_jonnie »

olivier.jan wrote: 20 Dec 2025 22:57 74LS/HCT/ACT/161 or 163 will do. I’ve been using 74HCT163 in a small 6502 based SBC I built a few years back: run the CPU at 14.187576 and get a proper 3.546894 frequency for the video.
Thanks.

I seem to be Mr Clumsy at the moment, aside from breaking the SD card in my A500 RGB2HDMI I spilled a drink on my Macbook last night and now no keyboard so reverting to Windows while I see if I can fix it...

On the plus side I'm down to the keyboard, it's quite simple to disassemble, on the negative side I have no idea how to get the keyboard out now I'm here.

So the 800 is parked for now...
Collector of many retro things!
800XL and 65XE both with Ultimate1MB,VBXL/XE & PokeyMax, SIDE3, SDrive Max, 2x 1010 cassette, 2x 1050 one with Happy mod, 3x 2600 Jr, 7800 and Lynx II
Approx 20 STs, including a 520 STM, 520 STFMs, 3x Mega ST, MSTE & 2x 32 Mhz boosted STEs
Plus the rest, totalling around 50 machines including a QL, 3x BBC Model B, Electron, Spectrums, ZX81 etc...
User avatar
stephen_usher
Site sponsor
Site sponsor
Posts: 7376
Joined: 13 Nov 2017 19:19
Location: Oxford, UK.

Re: The Naked Atari 800

Post by stephen_usher »

Oh! Hopefully not one of the riveted in keyboards!
Intro retro computers since before they were retro...
ZX81->Spectrum->Memotech MTX->Sinclair QL->520STM->BBC Micro->TT030->PCs & Sun Workstations.
Added code to the MiNT kernel (still there the last time I checked) + put together MiNTOS.
Collection now with added Macs, Amigas, Suns and Acorns.
User avatar
rubber_jonnie
Site Admin
Site Admin
Posts: 14893
Joined: 17 Aug 2017 19:40
Location: Essex

Re: The Naked Atari 800

Post by rubber_jonnie »

stephen_usher wrote: 21 Dec 2025 11:33 Oh! Hopefully not one of the riveted in keyboards!
It is riveted in...

Also screwed in, which makes no sense at all.

So since everything else works, I took out the guts and I'm flushing the keyboard through with IPA, it's all I can do for now as I'm not ripping out the old keyboard until I have a replacement, which I don't even know if I can get.
Collector of many retro things!
800XL and 65XE both with Ultimate1MB,VBXL/XE & PokeyMax, SIDE3, SDrive Max, 2x 1010 cassette, 2x 1050 one with Happy mod, 3x 2600 Jr, 7800 and Lynx II
Approx 20 STs, including a 520 STM, 520 STFMs, 3x Mega ST, MSTE & 2x 32 Mhz boosted STEs
Plus the rest, totalling around 50 machines including a QL, 3x BBC Model B, Electron, Spectrums, ZX81 etc...
User avatar
stephen_usher
Site sponsor
Site sponsor
Posts: 7376
Joined: 13 Nov 2017 19:19
Location: Oxford, UK.

Re: The Naked Atari 800

Post by stephen_usher »

:crossed1:
Intro retro computers since before they were retro...
ZX81->Spectrum->Memotech MTX->Sinclair QL->520STM->BBC Micro->TT030->PCs & Sun Workstations.
Added code to the MiNT kernel (still there the last time I checked) + put together MiNTOS.
Collection now with added Macs, Amigas, Suns and Acorns.

Return to “MEMBER BLOGS”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: ClaudeBot, davemacblack, prog99, rmahlert, semrush [bot] and 25 guests