Falcon B52803000012 service blog

[Steve]

Hey guys,

I'm currently working on the following Falcon and this will be my service blog. This board is rather interesting with some bodge wires on the board, which are Atari fitted. Also it is fitted with a very old TOS 4.01 which I've personally never seen before, rather exciting :)

As you can see from the TOS screenshot, it boots with a dithered green background (with no floppy or hdd) which made me wonder, since Falcons usually boot with a blueish background. Also it did not seem to have any of the '3D' windows that Falcon TOS usually has. So I removed the RAM module and found 4.01 stamped on the ROM. Cool stuff. @mikro ;)

We plan to:

• Re-cap motherboard
• Fit EXXOS PSU
• Fit Exxos clock patch
• Replace NVRAM with Exxos module
• New CF card IDE
• New Fan
• New fast TOS 4.04
• Wait states removal
• Resolder ports
• Clean floppy drive
• And a general clean as she is a dusty old girl

Revision information:
B52803000012
B5 = First batch
28 = October 1992, first production month
0 = Pilot production
3 = PALB
000012 = Apparently the 12th unit produced

Link to history.

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[mikro]

Wow, this confirms my earlier findings. There was a batch in 08/1992, too. So far I have seen only 10/1992 Falcons, cool. I'm pretty sure this is the first Falcon batch ever, presented at Atari Messe'92 in August.

Btw, my Sparrow had the exact obscure RAM card.

[photonstorm]

I bought this Falcon (it's my machine) from HiSoft as they were winding up their Atari products and clearing out.

It's my understanding that they used it as one of their development machines, so it makes a lot of sense they had it right from the very start.

Cheers,

Rich

[Steve]

Hey @photonstorm good to see you here :)

PSU finished tonight, beautiful blue PSU to make the falcon fly :D

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[pixelpusher]

Hey guys,

I'm currently working on the following Falcon and this will be my service blog. This board is rather interesting with some bodge wires on the board, which may or may not be aftermarket. Also it is fitted with a very old TOS 4.01 which I've personally never seen before, rather exciting :)

[...]

You got the bodge wires by factory - see my motherboard screenshot here: https://www.exxosforum.co.uk/forum/viewt ... =59&t=2525

That machine also was received in 1992 directly from ATARI.

[Steve]

Cheers @pixelpusher I think the serial number on this means it was the 12th falcon produced?

[photonstorm]

12th? Wow. Is that worldwide or just EU?

[Steve]

12th? Wow. Is that worldwide or just EU?

B5 = First batch
28 = October 1992, first production month
0 = Pilot production
3 = PALB
000012 = Apparently the 12th unit produced

Link to history.

[Steve]

Tonight just dusting and cleaning the old girl up.

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Much better:

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[Steve]

Just a quick test in the morning after leaving overnight to make sure completely dry & pop TOS 4.04 in. Next will be on to the re-capping.

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