Building an Atari Super Salt Diagnostic Cartridge for the Atari 8-bit computers (400/800/XE/XL)

[@DrawdenionGames1]

Now this is a good video to make the algorithm. Got here from my recommended

[@AnotherMaker]

That's good to know! I guess my keyword stuffing at the end of the title worked :) Thanks for watching.

[@C64istanbul]

Thank you for this great Video 🙏

[@AnotherMaker]

Awesome. You're the real hero here :)

[@lilbill6089]

There are a number of Atari 8-bit video improvements. The do-it-yourself super video mods give you s-video output. The Ultimate Atari Video board gives even better s-video output, and there's a board that will give you digital out using DVI-D. I don't remember the name of that one. You'll have to do some digging into each of these to see which (if any) works with the XEGS. I've never owned one so I'm not familiar with the hardware differences compared to the standard XE series.

[@AnotherMaker]

Thanks so much for that info. I'm definitely going to look into those. That's pretty much the only letdown with this machine.

[@lilbill6089]

@@AnotherMaker I remembered (finally) the DVI board is called Sophia. As if that's not enough, there's yet another board called VBXE that has RGB output! Lots to choose from.

[@AnotherMaker]

@@lilbill6089 Thanks! I do remember people talking about the Sophia. I've never heard of the VBXE. I'm researching all these. I really appreciate the info.

[@tripplegracing8276]

Those technicians you are mentioning made you feel like they just beamed down Mr Scott from the USS Enterprise to come and fix your fault. Awesome video, that eprom programmer I think might be a worthwhile investment

[@AnotherMaker]

Yeah. I definitely miss those days. Now people just throw things away. I don't think you would go wrong with any of the XGECU programmers. I have a more expensive one, but I put all my wear and tear on this cheap one and use it every day.

[@tripplegracing8276]

@@AnotherMaker I know you mentioned in the mailbag video you had two of those programmers

[@AnotherMaker]

@@tripplegracing8276 lol. I forgot. :)

[@joegott1627]

I noticed that near the end of soldering, that it appears that you are creating two solder bridges on the back of the board. What are these used for? At each spot on the board that I'm referring to, it has 8K stamped near them. - Joe

[@AnotherMaker]

It is the size of the rom

[@BluePlanetMedia]

What is the difference between 27xx and 28xx eproms?

[@williammentink]

Iirc, 27C eprom are uv erasable eprom (they have glass window) and 28C are EEPROM.

[@atakandemirel9386]

[@AnotherMaker]

Thank you!

[@SimmeringPotpourri]

I have several Atari 8-bit machines, including the 800 and XEGS. As far as the XEGS, since it was supposed to be a gaming machine (hence the GS in XEGS) it only had composite out which was a downgrade from the previous systems. The funny thing is that Atari bungled the video on the XL and XE lines and forgot to wire up the Chroma signal. There are many video mods out there for Atari computers but you would have to modify the case to install these and I'm not a fan of doing that. Still, AtariAge's forum is the best place to find info stuff like this. That being said, I think your video output looks good but you can go here and you can see what the colors should look like en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Atari_8_bit_GTIA_NTSC_palette.png. As far as this SALT, I see that they have a short board version that will work in all of the machines BUT they do suggest you use a case if you're going to use it with an 800xl. In any case, I went to PCBWay and put one in my cart and it was $23.69 + $5 shipping. I don't want to seem cheap (but here I go) but that seems kinda expensive for an unpopulated board. I'm sure if I purchased multiple, I would see savings but since I only really need one, I wonder if you know of anyone that sells these cheaper or ever populated? Also, I see you mention that there are different ROMs for different versions of the Atari but then there is version 2.07. Can I assume the different versions were original SALT ROMs and the 2.07 version supports all Atari versions? Yes? I'm going to assume you haven't tried this with RAM upgrades such as the Ultimate 1 meg or with something like the VBXE/VBXL. It would be interesting to know how that might affect this. Thanks in advance for any info you can provide.

[@AnotherMaker]

Sorry for the slow response. I've been out of town. It's good to know that my XEGS isn't too far off from what it should be. I appreciate the link too. TBH, I can't really understand what it is about these boards in particular that are more expensive on PCBW. I order a lot from them and most fall under the $5 limit and then if you select USPS for shipping, you can get them rather cheap. I do think you're right on the 2.07 rom. They're all different, but I haven't read up on the different versions. Are you located in the USA?

[@SimmeringPotpourri]

@@AnotherMaker Yep. USA.

[@AnotherMaker]

@@SimmeringPotpourri If you contact me through the about button on my youtube channel, I'd be happy to send you one.