[HN Gopher] Atari 800XL Remake
___________________________________________________________________
Atari 800XL Remake
Author : gtirloni
Score : 166 points
Date : 2023-04-21 12:11 UTC (10 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (revive-machines.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (revive-machines.com)
| nickt wrote:
| It's great to see a real SIO port, as well as USB.
|
| SIO always felt ahead of its time, particularly its ability to
| attach multiple devices to the bus.
|
| Joe Decuir who did chipset design for the VCS and Amiga is well
| known for his work on SIO, USB, Fax Modems, ITU modem standards,
| Bluetooth. You could say his career has been a serial success! :)
| EvanAnderson wrote:
| Joe spoke about SIO being used as prior art in a patent troll
| case re: USB. I believe it was in one of his VCF talks.
| fernly wrote:
| Have we hugged to death? "revive-machines.com refused to
| connect."
| Lolaccount wrote:
| Man, I love this ... Atari 800xl was my first machine ...
|
| Thanks, bookmarked.
| snvzz wrote:
| I'd be interested if this was open hardware.
|
| Otherwise, I'm better off with either buying an used Atari 800xl
| or with miSTer.
| mdswanson wrote:
| Readers might also be interested in a MiSTer FPGA-based system to
| emulate many hardware devices from your childhood:
| https://www.retrorgb.com/mister.html
| criddell wrote:
| The predecessor to this, the Atari 800, is the computer I wanted
| when I was 12. A TI-99/4A is the computer I got. It was still a
| wonderful gift that set me up for the rest of my life.
| garbagecoder wrote:
| That's funny! I wanted an Apple ][ but my dad got me the 800xl.
| Looking back, it makes sense. The Atari was about $100 and the
| ][ was like $1000 and I was a little kid. I wouldn't buy my
| kids a $1000 computer now and that's 2023 dollars!
|
| But I am so glad I got the Atari. I learned BASIC, assembly,
| and Pascal on it. I would type in games from the back of the
| magazine. And here I am decades later!
| cesaref wrote:
| Yes indeed! I remember a store near me having B-17 bomber on
| the original 800, with it's synthesised voices and that was a
| glimpse into the future. I'll gloss over the ethics of a game
| about bombing cities, sold to children, but it was a more
| innocent age I guess.
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B-17_Bomber_(video_game)
| plicerin wrote:
| B-17 bomber was an Intellivision exclusive
| cesaref wrote:
| Well I never knew this. I guess the shop had an Atari 800
| on the table and the game playing on the monitor and I put
| them together!
| retrocryptid wrote:
| My uncle worked for TI, so we were pretty deep in the 99/4
| world. But later in the 80s I saved my pennies and bought a
| 600XL and later an 800XL.
|
| On paper they were pretty similar, but there was definitely a
| different "feel" between the 99/4 and Atari 8-bits. Atari went
| to great lengths to remind people their 8-bit line were more
| than just game consoles, but at the same time I think they had
| the most flexible graphics systems and the best games.
| criddell wrote:
| I had big player-missile graphics envy.
|
| Every once in a while I find myself on eBay thinking about
| buying the system of my childhood dreams. That would be a
| TI-99/4A, the speech synthesizer, the peripheral expansion
| system (with floppy drive), the memory expansion cart, and a
| dot matrix printer. I don't pull the trigger though because I
| know it would give me a weekend of fun and then it would sit
| gathering dust.
| justin66 wrote:
| Atari 8-bit was a remarkable computer architecture. This is an
| odd target for a nostalgic clone, though. There are still a lot
| of used systems available, some lovingly restored by people who
| really know what they're doing.
| cduzz wrote:
| I've got a pile of legacy hardware in the basement that's all
| in some way tedious to try to use.
|
| One of my sons watches "speed running" videos that spend
| endless amounts of time discussing how mario jumps here or
| there to put a sprite into the wrong slot resulting in a stack
| overflow allowing a goomba to set the level counter to a weird
| hex value. He loves to play 8 bit games on his chromebook in
| dosbox.
|
| I'd want to leave this thing in his room connected to a cheap
| 12in hdmi monitor and a reliable USB power supply to let him
| noodle with day and night, rather than his "has too many
| distractions" chromebook.
| justin66 wrote:
| There's at least one fanatic who sells Atari 800XLs (and
| other Atari systems) on eBay, and he does things like test,
| refurbish, and update with HDMI interfaces, etc. I don't
| disrespect what the remake folks are trying to accomplish but
| I tend to think dealing with the refurb guy might actually be
| a more rewarding experience, with a simpler path towards
| getting support if it's needed.
| angry_moose wrote:
| Have there been any attempts to truly revive 8-bit hardware?
|
| Every one I've seen (including this one) are some form of
| emulation, either FPGA or software.
|
| It's great, but I've always wanted a brand-new faithful
| recreation of something like an 800 or C64.
| m000 wrote:
| An implementation with chips similar to the originals would
| probably cost an order of magnitude more. Which would mean the
| venture would not be financially viable.
|
| Some of the challenges that would balloon the costs:
|
| - Source ancient-tech components.
|
| - Guarantee rights to reproduce the original board design.
|
| - Make sure that everything works the same as the original,
| down to the tiniest quirk.
|
| - Interface the ancient components with modern output ports.
|
| - Do everything correct the first time (updates are not
| possible), or face hordes of angry customers.
|
| - Do everything in a short timespan, or face hordes of angry
| crowdfunding supporters/customers.
| codezero wrote:
| Ben Eater has a nice 8 bit kit that uses real chips, he also
| has a great video series. https://eater.net/8bit/
| fredoralive wrote:
| A true replica would probably involve spending a large amount
| of money on fabbing custom or otherwise out of production
| silicon.
| sixothree wrote:
| Most of the replicas have that issue when it comes to PLAs.
| They sometimes use FPGAs for those particular chips.
| reaperducer wrote:
| You can buy new boards, cases, and components to make most of a
| C-64.
|
| I think there are just two chips that have to be replaced with
| drop-in FPGAs: the SID, and I think the CIAs.
|
| Unlike today's machines, 8-bits were usually made with mostly
| off-the-shelf parts.
| justin66 wrote:
| > It's great, but I've always wanted a brand-new faithful
| recreation of something like an 800 or C64.
|
| I'm fairly sure a full array of replacement parts are available
| for the C64, from the keycaps all the way down to the PCB. You
| could build a new one for yourself, theoretically (except for
| the 6502, etc.). I think one of the Commander X16 guys (not the
| balding white guy, the vaguely European guy) has done something
| like this.
| diydsp wrote:
| Fpgas can be undistinguishable from the original logic. There's
| nothing magic abt those digital guts except slower, hotter
| chips. You can build a c64 100% now from new parts! Only the
| SID's analog items have to be emulated.
| justin66 wrote:
| > Fpgas can be undistinguishable from the original logic.
|
| In my experience when you try to get this point across to the
| nostalgic, you're tilting at windmills.
| retrocryptid wrote:
| The problem with you kids is you clearly didn't get enough
| paint chips in your diet. That's probably why you tolerate
| python.
| bluGill wrote:
| In that era many games depended on obscure things that the
| logic did by chance.
| Keyframe wrote:
| Check out C64 reloaded (mk2) and ReAmiga.
| Nokinside wrote:
| When I see picture of an old computer, I remember how it smelled.
| Very nostalgic feeling.
| evo_9 wrote:
| For my 55th Birthday last summer, I pulled my original Atari 800
| out of storage and played Star Raiders and MULE non-stop for a
| weekend. Great fun. The most challenging part of getting the 800
| running was finding an old enough TV that I could connect the
| game box too.
|
| I also couldn't get my 810 disk drive working, so I found a copy
| of MULE on eBay burned on a ROM, so that was a nice find.
|
| Great old machine, I think I'll buy one of these, the addition of
| HDMI and USB alone are worth it. Plus it'll be fun to write a
| game on that thing, something I dabbled in as a kid and was my
| start as a programmer so so long ago now.
| michaelcampbell wrote:
| I have such good memories of both of those games, and the first
| Archon with the overpowered unicorn.
| (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32pAGs9AiCo)
|
| Oh, also Behind Jaggi Lines and BallBlazer. (One or both of
| those they renamed somewhere between beta and production, but I
| had, let's say, "not quite commercial" versions of them.)
| CWuestefeld wrote:
| BallBlazer was excellent. I could never figure out what was
| the point of Jaggi Lines (actually Rescue at Fractalus, I
| believe).
| randombits0 wrote:
| BallBlazer/Blaster was an unreleased LucasFilms game, if I
| remember correctly. It was leaked and so wildly pirated
| that they didn't bother releasing it.
| bobbyrullo wrote:
| Archon might be my favorite game of all time...But what's
| this with the overpowered unicorn? Was it way more powerful
| than the dark side equivalent (basilisk?)? Did they release
| another 8-bit version or something?
| karmakaze wrote:
| The unicorn was the fastest. The Basilisk was fast but not
| quite as, and could withstand more hits. (Or maybe I'm
| mixing it up with the bigger Serpent thing which was slow
| but very powerful?)
|
| The best is finding a unicorn on a dark square and
| attacking it with a 'pawn' and charging it all zigzag-like.
| A lucky club swing could kill the unicorn, result in a
| real-world punch, and temporarily end a friendship. Stakes
| were high in that game.
| dlevine wrote:
| I'm a bit younger than you, but I was visiting my mom a few
| weeks back, and found my old NES in some boxes she had saved
| for me (along with a few of the better games). Thanks to the
| composite connector, I managed to plug it into a modern HDTV
| and it worked just fine. My old copy of Zelda somehow even had
| a working save battery.
|
| My mom made an offhand comment like "someone isn't sleeping
| much tonight."
|
| The new games are more complex and realistic, but there is
| still plenty of joy in those old systems and games, especially
| for those of us who grew up with them.
| lizknope wrote:
| Are you a galactic cook or a garbage scow captain?
| inoop wrote:
| Maybe also take a look at the Mister project if you haven't
| already. Same idea of using FPGA to reproduce old hardware but
| broad support for many home computers, game consoles, and
| arcade boards
| evo_9 wrote:
| Interesting, thanks for mentioning this.
|
| Pretty cool
| idea/project:https://www.theverge.com/22323002/mister-fpga-
| project-retro-...
| glonq wrote:
| The only problem with MULE is that the theme song gets stuck in
| your head for a week!
| mdswanson wrote:
| It just got stuck in my head for a week at the mere mention
| of the game.
| fuster wrote:
| My first computer! Lots of fond memories. Loading programs from a
| cassette in particular sticks in my head.
| retrocryptid wrote:
| This sorta reminds me... whenever I have a bit of free time and
| I'm tired of commenting on HN, I daydream about what the next
| generation of Atari or Commodore 8-bit machines would be like
| (not STs or Amigas, but something still mostly 8 bit.)
|
| I was thinking you might get a windowing system where each window
| held a "Virtual 800XL" so you could run multiple apps
| simultaneously, and an OS that shared peripheral access to real
| devices. Definitely a faster SIO port. Maybe something like
| FujiNet to communicate between virtual XLs (and other, real XLs.)
| If I made such a beast today, it would definitely have a built-in
| SD Card reader. Maybe a built-in trac-ball and no mouse buttons
| since you could use the select and start buttons.
| alexisread wrote:
| You mean like the super xe?
| https://forums.atariage.com/topic/287546-super-xe-game-machi...
| Scoped in 1988 with Ricoh.
|
| Add a gui and you have an interesting machine
| https://youtu.be/T14dL9MeMHE
|
| However, in the light of the 16bit ascendence I can see why
| this was canned.
| retrocryptid wrote:
| Very cool!
| fentonc wrote:
| I built this! It's amazing! It's a 16-core Z80 running at 140
| MHz: http://www.chrisfenton.com/the-zedripper-part-1/
| retrocryptid wrote:
| This is absolutely crazy! (And that's the best compliment I
| know.)
|
| You could have spent your time studying for the CISSP exam,
| but instead you did something that made the world a more
| beautiful place.
| butterisgood wrote:
| That's. Insane! I love it!
| lonelygirl15a wrote:
| Or one of the Foenix systems, like:
|
| https://c256foenix.com/16bits-new-retro-computers/?v=7516fd4...
| unwind wrote:
| The Commander X16 [1]?
|
| [1]: https://www.commanderx16.com/
| retrocryptid wrote:
| Yeah. That's pretty cool. I lived in Dallas for half my life
| and am surprised I never ran into the 8-bit guy at 1st
| Saturday or various users group meetings. I think we're about
| the same age. Love his channel, didn't know he was doing
| this. Thx for the pointer.
| kabdib wrote:
| You might have wound up with something a lot like the Apple II
| GS.
|
| (At least one Atari engineer I know worked on the IIGS.
| Personally I thought it was crazy to work on 16-bit machines
| when 32-bit architectures like the 68000 were just coming into
| the marketplace).
| retrocryptid wrote:
| Yes and no. The 6502 die size was tiny compared to most 16
| bit and all 32 bit cpus. It was ALWAYS going to be cheaper.
| For quite some time (maybe even still) WDC had a great
| business selling 6502 family cores matched with semi-custom
| IO on the same die as device controllers.
|
| But the IIgs was a crazy machine. My mom brought one home for
| a couple months when the school district she worked at
| adopted them. It was surprisingly usable, though the screen
| resolution was a bit low.
| kabdib wrote:
| Fun fact: The Macintosh II (68020) had two 6502 processors
| on its motherboard, somewhere in the I/O system. Originally
| intended to do some kind of I/O acceleration, they were
| never used by MacOS. I heard they just ran Mandlebrot-
| generation test code.
| rjsw wrote:
| The IIfx, Quadra 900 & Quadra 950 each have two 6502
| processors. They offload ADB processing (keyboard and
| mouse), the floppy disk and serial ports. MacOS uses all
| of them, NetBSD can use ADB offload.
| nickt wrote:
| I dunno. The 6502 looks pretty large with this version.
|
| https://monster6502.com/
| retrocryptid wrote:
| I'm sure there's a die-shrink coming soon
| CWuestefeld wrote:
| OP mentions "USB socket for connecting external memory, such as
| programs"
|
| I wonder if that means that there will be some internal interface
| for USB-based storage like a flash drive to be seen by the
| computer as a floppy disk?
|
| There really needs to be some way to get images of ancient disks
| mounted through modern hardware, since 40-year-old floppies are
| going to be very iffy, and it's pretty tough to source new floppy
| disks to re-write to.
| sixothree wrote:
| I might be misunderstanding the question and treating you like
| you are dumb. If so I'm sorry.
|
| That has been the drive for pretty much all vintage computers
| lately - emulating floppy or hard drives allowing them to load
| and save disk images. I would assume and hope this USB
| interface is similar.
|
| Here are a few examples:
|
| https://www.bigmessowires.com/floppy-emu/
|
| https://scsi.blue/
| CWuestefeld wrote:
| Yeah, I think we're in agreement. It's just that the OP
| doesn't specifically mention this, and I think it's relevant.
| phkahler wrote:
| So can it actually connect to an original floppy drive and read
| my disks? That would be super fun! Protector II here I come!
| Solfeggietto!
| naikrovek wrote:
| These days, lots of businesses seem to be based on Nostalgia as a
| Service, almost.
|
| Maybe it's not a new idea. I don't know.
| whartung wrote:
| One thing I've learned hanging out on vintage computer
| communities is that you can not use your lenses to understand
| the motivations of the folks who practice the hobby.
|
| Commercial nostalgia has been around since classic cars, Happy
| Days, and 50's diners.
|
| I do know that, on the whole, this stuff is not for me, and
| that's fine. But I still like to hang out and reminisce about
| the time of my youth and the foundations of computing as I
| experienced them. That said, I have a Model 100 that I can't
| part with.
|
| A friend of mine has a small collection of vintage Macs. He has
| a very nice specimen of the G4 Cube that I dabbled with one
| day. It's a beautiful piece of hardware. But, oh my word, is
| that box slow. It is glacial. I don't know how good it was in
| the day, I have to assume it was competitive, which means
| everything we did back then was glacial, we just couldn't
| appreciate it.
|
| But it's a nice piece of sorta kinetic sculpture, and it brings
| him joy, so who's to question that.
|
| Hang out on vintage forums with folks with their racks of PDPs,
| assortments of beige, 90's PCs, old Apples. Trying to bring
| Windows 98 to life to play a game, connecting a pair of modems
| to call each other, rebuilding a power supply on some garage
| filling Data General Nova, etc. Just eclectic collectors. No
| different from Hummel figurines.
| irdc wrote:
| I'm thinking it's a generational thing: people who grew up with
| machines such as the Atari are now of the age where they'd like
| to re-experience part of their youth.
| hn8305823 wrote:
| Just like the resurgence of the Shelby GT500 in 2007.
|
| If you were 12 in 1969 and dreamed of owning/driving one, in
| 2007 you were 50 with $$$ and nostalgia.
| bigbillheck wrote:
| Maybe it's just that you've aged yourself into the target
| markets for that kind of thing.
| skeeter2020 wrote:
| The 8-bit computing renaissance has been going on for quite
| some time. I think it's a combination of 1. the age &
| experience of the original audience, 2. tech changes that make
| it much easier to design, build and supply retro-inspired
| computers and 3. the appeal of a stand-alone "computer" where
| an individual can hold the entire design in their head without
| massive abstractions. There's a lot of sad, negative, stupid
| things in the world today but the state of the NEW 8-bit scene
| is amazing. If you're a purist for original 8-bit gear it is
| not as great.
| eschneider wrote:
| They were also a LOT of fun to program as you could really
| learn every bit of the architecture. Being able to do
| edit/compile on a modern box and download to something like
| the Atari makes it a lot nicer than native development was in
| the day. (IIRC, back in the day, some folks would cross
| compile on DEC boxes for similar reasons.)
|
| I'd probably do a lot more 8-bit work in my spare time, but
| bare metal embedded systems scratch similar itches for me
| and, well, folks will pay for that sorta thing. :)
| jasoneckert wrote:
| If Nostalgia as a Service is a thing, this project could be
| considered an edge appliance for it...
| drivingmenuts wrote:
| oh, how I miss that form factor.
| cstross wrote:
| On a related theme, here's the Spectrum Next, Issue 2:
|
| https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/spectrumnext/zx-spectru...
|
| (Delayed about two years due to supply chain problems -- their
| FPGA was back-ordered for over a year -- but due to ship in 3-6
| months' time: the ultimate Sinclair Spectrum revival.)
| DrNosferatu wrote:
| Let's not forget the MSXVR:
|
| https://msxvr.com/en/tienda/msxvr-computer/
|
| (even if not FPGA-based, still pretty cool)
| blame-troi wrote:
| I've got one of the first run. It's back in the box, I was
| always more of a Tandy guy. The RC2014 is also more my speed.
| CPM.
| fortran77 wrote:
| From the description:
|
| > Our engineers write code only in C and HDL languages.
|
| Hooray! No Rust in this box.
| retrocryptid wrote:
| Or python. So there's a chance the code will still compile in
| two years.
| vhhn wrote:
| Fun story.
|
| My first computer too. Got it from my uncle without any manuals,
| we spend a whole afternoon writing down a code of a game from a
| magazine letter by letter. We thought we will just press the
| "Start" functional key on the right side. To our surprise, sadly,
| absolutely nothing happened! After few more hours, my dad came
| home and it took him few guesses to finally type "RUN" in the
| console...
| c0nsumer wrote:
| Not to take away from this thread, but here's a fun project I did
| a few years ago to make a SD based external floppy emulator for
| Ataris like the 800XL:
| https://nuxx.net/wiki_archive/A/SDrive_NUXX
|
| I reused an existing OSS project and sold some kits and nice
| enclosures and stuff to make it more than a DIY PCB-based
| project. Was fun and a nice learning experience, and it also gave
| me a reason to start poking around with the old Atari hardware
| that I grew up with.
| garbagecoder wrote:
| This was my first computer. Not the first one in my house, but
| the first one that was mine.
| alvarlaigna wrote:
| [dead]
| eschneider wrote:
| Ooooh, this is nice. I may have to see about getting one of these
| when/if my Atari 400 gives up the ghost. I still have a few games
| I like playing on it. :)
| christkv wrote:
| M.U.L.E for the money.
| huslage wrote:
| M.U.L.E. is still one of the best games ever. I played that
| to death.
| eschneider wrote:
| M.U.L.E.'s great, but in my case it's Zaxxon (believe it or
| not, on cassette :) and a cart version of Joust.
| the_af wrote:
| The C64 tape version of Zaxxon was the "good one", right? I
| loved that game.
|
| Believe it or not, I never played M.U.L.E. I know
| everything about the creator and the game, and why it's a
| landmark, but I never encountered it back in the day!
| bluGill wrote:
| I keep hoping for one of the open source clones to become
| playable, but they never seem to get that far. Someday I'll
| have to contribute myself I guess.
| tempodox wrote:
| The 800XL was my first Atari, before the ST. It was quite
| hackable, and within a few months I didn't need a disassembler
| any more. I could read the 6502 instructions directly out of a
| hex dump and could write them in hex, without an assembler (6502
| has so few instructions, you can memorize them all). Fun times.
| Math functions in the ROM were all operating on BCD -- there was
| no FPU, of course.
| hn8305823 wrote:
| I always liked the original Atari 800 case design. I felt it was
| intentionally designed to not look like a boring computer, but
| _something_ else.
| jghn wrote:
| Then there was the Atari 400 with that awful membrane keyboard
| :(
| ihatepython wrote:
| It was awful, but it was still better than the 2016 Macbook
| keyboard.
| retrocryptid wrote:
| I would disagree. With an Atari 400, you knew you could
| upgrade to a real keyboard by buying an 800. But with
| modern mac laptops, your only option for a real keyboard is
| an external one, but you have to also carry a usb-c to
| usb-a adapter around to connect it. And it's hard to use as
| a laptop with an external keyboard hanging off it.
|
| I still prefer the Atari 400 membrane keyboard to the
| chicklet keys on modern macs.
| eschneider wrote:
| You could upgrade the atari 400 to a 'real' keyboard,
| though not a great one. It would just replace the
| membrane keyboard.
|
| And as much as I'm not a fan of the chicklet keyboards,
| they're 100x better than the atari 400 membrane keyboard.
| No. Contest.
| ihatepython wrote:
| Just for the record, I agree with you. I'm not sure if I
| worded my response correctly.
|
| I also think the keyboard on the Speak & Spell is better
| than the 2016 Macbook keyboard.
| retrocryptid wrote:
| There's a nostalgia hit! SNS: SPELL
| MRGHHSHFG. Me: what? SNS: SPELL
| FHJFRJEBRBDN. Me: what ARE you saying!?
|
| Bit of trivia: my uncle was the executive at TI that
| green-lit the Speak-N-Spell. I was a tad bit older than
| the target market, but got invited to be in one of the
| early focus groups they used to gage reaction to it. I
| thought it was the coolest thing since sliced bread and
| saved my pennies to buy a speech synthesizer for my 99/4
| after seeing it.
|
| But yes, it had a worse keyboard than even the original
| 99/4.
| hn8305823 wrote:
| I would say it was the worst membrane keyboard of all time
| but the Sinclair ZX was definitely worse.
| xp84 wrote:
| Even as a 5-year-old when they let me use it in Kindergarten,
| I knew that keyboard was garbage :D
| neilv wrote:
| I think the Atari 800 looks a bit like an IBM Selectric II
| typewriter, made to be more sleek, like a spaceship.
|
| https://www.vintage-calculators.nl/P1010274s.jpg
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Atari-800-Computer-FL.jpg
| rob74 wrote:
| Now that you mention it, it does look like a typewriter!
| Typewriters had a lid in the same spot so you could access
| the mechanics if something got stuck. And in the space where
| the type levers (or type ball) would be in a typewriter, the
| Atari 800 had its cartridge and expansion slots...
| aNoob7000 wrote:
| Here's a remake of the Commodore 64. With more advanced features.
|
| https://www.commanderx16.com/
| the_af wrote:
| If you are looking for a "retroremake" of the C64 that's
| actually an ARM chip running inside a functional C64 breadbin
| case, with working keyboard, I recommend TheC64 [1] (full size
| version, not the Mini which is just a game console).
|
| You can program in basic and assembly language with it, plus it
| has HDMI output so no additional cables or adapters required to
| connect it to an LCD.
|
| Internally it's running a modified version of VICE.
|
| [1] https://retrogames.biz/products/thec64/
| christkv wrote:
| If you are looking for a C64 remake there is https://mega65.org
| Findecanor wrote:
| The Mega65 is actually a realisation of an unreleased model
| that only made it to prototype stage back in the day, but
| yes, it is backwards-compatible with the C64.
| skeeter2020 wrote:
| It's more inspired by the zeitgeist of the C64, but definitely
| not a remake.
| woodrowbarlow wrote:
| the Atari 800XL looks closer to the ultimate 64:
|
| https://ultimate64.com/
|
| an FPGA mainboard that can cycle-exact emulate the 6510, plus
| various disk drives, printers, cartridges, etc., with modern
| I/O and storage.
| Aloha wrote:
| It's not - because it cant run C64 software (outside of basic)
| unmodified, the internal memory map and graphics hardware are
| very different
| aNoob7000 wrote:
| You are correct, but I wonder if any new hardware is going to
| be able to mimic the old completely.
| retrocryptid wrote:
| Somewhere I saw a project where someone made a new
| motherboard for a 99/4A so it would fit in a mini-itx case
| and tweaked the ROM so you could add an external PS/2
| keyboard. After buying the board, you bought an original
| 99/4, yanked the chips out and used them to populate the
| new board.
|
| I don't know if that really counts as "new hardware" but it
| was an interesting idea and was supposedly very compatible.
|
| Or maybe I dreamed that.
| nickt wrote:
| The Mega 65 gets pretty close, they say "highly
| compatible".
|
| https://mega65.org/
| 300bps wrote:
| It's actually pretty easy to port C64 software - both
| Assembly and BASIC. It uses the exact same BASIC and same
| processor family as the Commodore 64, NES, Apple II and many
| others.
|
| Memory map, graphics and sound are the biggest challenges in
| porting because those are different. But code to translate
| between these will get better and better. Lots of ports from
| other systems already.
| glonq wrote:
| Super cool. I had a 130xe as a teen, but I moved around a lot
| since then and travelled light so unfortunately it's in a
| landfill somewhere now :(
|
| I was always slightly envious of the c64 for getting more/better
| games, but cherished my atari for some of the great titles that
| were unique to that platform.
|
| I also credit my atari for getting me online at a blazing fast
| 300bps to some great local BBS's.
| gbourne wrote:
| The first program I ever wrote was on an Atari 800XL - in BASIC.
| It played the theme from Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
| sanity31415 wrote:
| My parents got me an Atari 800XL for my 8th birthday in 1985. It
| came with a very terse list of Basic commands along with a few
| program listings from which I learned how to program.
|
| Stuck with Atari over the years, through an 520STfm, and even a
| Falcon 030 - before eventually switching to a PC running Linux in
| the late 90s while a student.
|
| Last year I went on eBay and bought one of these (I have no idea
| where the original one ended up), was so much fun.
| wintogreen74 wrote:
| When I think about what clueless Atari execs did to the machine
| and company, driven by ignorance and greed, it makes me really
| mad. It was such a good machine and they were desperate to not
| let any 3rd party make money, hence software, for it they
| essentially killed the company (amongst other bone-headed
| mistakes).
| snvzz wrote:
| You think Atari execs were bad? Don't even get me started
| with Commodore.
| dberg wrote:
| dude, same! Got mine in 1985 (i was 9, not 8) and it was THE
| machine that got me hooked on computers. BASIC coding, playing
| Missile Command, so classic.
| CWuestefeld wrote:
| I got my 800 when I was 16, so I'm a bit older than you. I,
| too, had a 520ST. I later added a daughterboard bringing it up
| to a full 1MB RAM, and also make a little mod to expose a
| composite video connector on the back panel.
|
| I never met anybody who had a Falcon, though. Very cool.
| randombits0 wrote:
| The Magic Sack by David Small made your ST a Mac!
|
| PC-Ditto (a NEC V20 chip on a daughter card soldered to the
| 68000!) made your ST a PC!
|
| Awesome hacker box, those STs.
| BubbleRings wrote:
| I think you mean 1M of RAM, not 1G.
| CWuestefeld wrote:
| Indeed. Corrected, while it still lets me.
| bitL wrote:
| What would be the benefit of these old clones beside learning to
| create hardware? RPi4 can probably replace them all with
| emulators. I'd rather see old games resurrected by improving
| graphics through stable diffusion and increasing refresh rates.
| zabzonk wrote:
| i bought one of these ultra cheap when currys (dreadful uk
| electrics store) decided it didn't want to inventory or sell them
| any more - must have been mid-80s? yay, star raiders! very nice
| 8-bit computer.
| retrocryptid wrote:
| I bought an 800xl explicitly to get star raiders (probably
| around the same time, I remember it was reasonably
| inexpensive.) I kept expecting my C64 to have something just as
| good, and though elite was good, it wasn't star raiders good.
|
| So... at least for me... Star Raiders was the Atari 8-bit
| Killer App. (And weirdly, I came to like SynCalc a bit later.)
| mikerg87 wrote:
| hopefully it will get something similar to fujinet built in or at
| least be able to support it
|
| https://fujinet.online/
| dillera wrote:
| If it accurately emulates the SIO port and timings, FujiNet
| will just work on it. There is no need for something
| similar....
| Keyframe wrote:
| Nice, but so far it's only future tense text and rendered images.
| Let's see it when it's out!
| phendrenad2 wrote:
| This is awesome, and I'd love to see more of it. Seems like Amiga
| and Atari get all of the love (because the company is defunct),
| but I still hold out hope that someone will make a recreated
| Macintosh II or something.
| st3ve445678 wrote:
| I would love to see a complete modern pc wrapped in a retro
| styled keyboard like this. With usb-c power and video output you
| could just plug it into a monitor with one cable.
| the_third_wave wrote:
| Get a full-sized keyboard - a model M would work fine here -
| and a laptop with a broken screen plus some assorted bits and
| pieces. Fit the motherboard from the laptop in the keyboard
| after making the required openings in the keyboard enclosure.
| Hook up the power supply and a monitor and voila, a keyboard
| PC.
| mydriasis wrote:
| Raspberry Pi 400 might be a good halfway point for you!
| st3ve445678 wrote:
| Yeah, I actually have one. Pretty cool little machine, but
| too slow, ugly and no ssd built in.
| agloe_dreams wrote:
| I know it's not fully a modern computer, but that sounds like a
| Pi 400 to me.
| retrocryptid wrote:
| Can confirm. Using a PI400 as my SDR rig. It does have a
| little of the old C64/994/800 feel to it. But the keyboard is
| pretty crappy.
| wintogreen74 wrote:
| the keyboard is loads better than the Atari 400 keyboard
| though!
| retrocryptid wrote:
| Well, yes. That's definitely true. And I've been thinking
| about hacking a repurchased klacky-key keyboard into my
| PI400. It shouldn't be TOO hard.
| cmiles74 wrote:
| It's quite a bit bigger than an Atari 800XL, but I jammed a
| whole PC in an old Mac SE case.
|
| https://www.reddit.com/r/pcmods/comments/11zqznn/jammed_new_...
| donpdonp wrote:
| you might enjoy https://cyberdeck.cafe/
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