exxos's Atari, Amiga & retro forum

Woo hoo !

New fun expected soon.

:D

HigashiJun wrote: 27 Feb 2025 22:24 Woo hoo !

New fun expected soon.

:D

I found a matching PSU, not sure if it was for a 1027 printer or a 1050 drive, or maybe even a 400, but it works great:


Checked the RAM and it has 16KB and the basic cart works just great:


And some carts to test it:


And last but by no means least, here it is with it's much smaller relative :)


Once the weather gets better i.e not raining and cold, I'll put the case out in the garden in a nice warm hydrogen peroxide bath, as the brown is just a bit too brown.

Otherwise everything works, so next up I need to find some extra RAM for it. I'm shocked how good the image is over RF, it's rather better than I expected, though my baseline was 600/800XLs, which didn't have great RF.

Aside from a RAM upgrade I think I'll leave it stock. Maybe a video out upgrade perhaps.

The only repair it really needs right now is the metal shield inside the lid which has become detached. Other than that it's a really solid machine.

@rubber_jonnie

Good news !

Glad to know that no much work is needed on this newcomer.

8-)

HigashiJun wrote: 27 Feb 2025 23:28 @rubber_jonnie

Good news !

Glad to know that no much work is needed on this newcomer.

8-)

Indeed :)

@rubber_jonnie just so you know, I cleaned all sockets with electrical contact cleaner and reseated the chips and the only other thing it needed was the variable inductor on the modulator adjusting.

It really is a good picture on the RF, better than my 800 but I use comp video lead on that anyway.

PhilC wrote: 28 Feb 2025 08:39 @rubber_jonnie just so you know, I cleaned all sockets with electrical contact cleaner and reseated the chips and the only other thing it needed was the variable inductor on the modulator adjusting.

It really is a good picture on the RF, better than my 800 but I use comp video lead on that anyway.

Thanks for all the preventative maintenance :)

Quite impressed TBH, one of the better RF signals for sure.

Was it you and I that were discussing 'Attract mode'? Well the 400 does have it:

Star Raiders II when booted:


And when 'Attract mode' kicks in:


So the 400 definitely has it, and I'd bet the 800 does too as everything else I have (600XL, 2x800XL, 65XE, XEGS) all have it too.

@rubber_jonnie yes we were. I'll have to dig out the 800 and try it over the weekend.

PhilC wrote: 28 Feb 2025 10:41 @rubber_jonnie yes we were. I'll have to dig out the 800 and try it over the weekend.

:dualthumbup:

OK, so I couldn't help myself and I did what any self respecting retro nut and collector did, and took the 400 apart :)


I always like to inspect any machine I get and it's interesting seeing the architecture of the 400 when compared to the later machines.

The metal plate is reattached to the cartridge door now too :) I need to look for a RAM upgrade now.

OK, so the memory upgrade is ordered, but I expect it'll be a while as it's coming from the US. I did plump for the 1056K board that gives 48KB of standard RAM plus a 1008KB Axlon upgrade.

A bit over the top but I only want to do this once :)

Next up I need to look up video output options.