Is this the best Atari 8 bit peripheral ever made? I think it might just be!

Is this the best Atari 8 bit peripheral you can get? I actually think it might be! This episode has been sponsored by our good friends at PCBWay.com - Check out their website for all your PCB fabrication needs. pcbway.com - PCBs for as little as $5!
Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
Follow the shack on twitter: / the_retro_shack
Support the channel: ko-fi.com/theretroshack
References
fujinet.online
github.com/FujiNetWIFI/fujine...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_SIO
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plug_an...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_...
www.lifewire.com/what-is-usb-...
ftp.pigwa.net/stuff/mirror/www...
www.atarimania.com/documents-a...

[@igorperuchi2114]

I got the Fujinet in 2021, it`s an amazing device, with it I can even read wikipedia articles on my old 600XL! We must thank Thomas Cherryhomes and Joe Honold, the brains behind this fantastic project!

[@nickfifteen]

Wikipedia?! Where can I find that XEX/ATR?? I know there's the Astronomy Picture of the Day, which blows my mind that that exists :D

[@papasnejk87]

@@nickfifteen yeah!

[@NullStaticVoid]

all these pics of Atari peripherals really bring me back to junior high when I spent 6-8 hours a day on my 800. Makes me want to go buy one on Ebay and get back to playing Star Raiders.

[@nickolasgaspar9660]

The Atari 8bit computers were ahead of their time. First home computer with: -"USB" type of port . -architecture based on co processors.(Jay Miner) -S video output, -an extensive palette of colors (256 GTIA ) -4 sound channels. -Hardware scroll and sprites.

[@therealjammit]

Joe Decuir, the guy who designed the SIO on the Atari, also worked on the creation of the USB port.

[@guaposneeze]

In retrospect, it's almost impressive how completely Atari managed to crater as the market evolved, considering how danged good some of their earliest hardware was and the lead they had over some of the more successful early competitors.

[@nickpalance3622]

I saw Joe D. speaking at the 2019 Vintage Computer Festival East (which had an Atari 8bit 40th anniversary theme that year). That was a great great weekend. I had (still have) an 800XL back in the day. I remember Sears selling the Atari line (also had the Sears version of the 2600). I wasn’t aware of the crash at the time as a child. I wanted the 1450XLD that I saw in a 1984ish brochure. Of course, we now know that never came out. Not that I was likely to get that for Christmas anyway. And of course the C64 took off and my friends got that instead (well, one had a Plus/4 :-) … ). Considering the debacle of the Intellivision Keyboard component (which I never knew of back then) and the fiasco of the Adam (which did interest me), it seems a shame that Atari didn’t release the XEGS in 1983 (vs 1987 or so under the new Tramiel Atari) instead of the 5200 (which I bought with my chore and lawn mowing $ in the fall of 1983 and loved playing). By the late 80s it was too late. But in 1983 there was already a strong catalog of games on cart, tape, and disk. People could start off playing cartridge games and then dip their toes into floppy disk software- plug in the keyboard and a printer and do homework and taxes and budget etc. But alas no it didn’t work out that way.

[@slaapliedje]

​@nickpalance3622 My understanding was that it was due to licensing. Like Atari lost the licenses for doing releases of the console version of Donkey Kong and other games. But they could release computer versions, which were licensed differently. If they had released a 400 in console form that could use the same cartridges (which to be fair, outside of the higher capability of joysticks, larger cart size and lack of a keyboard, the 5200 is basically an Atari 400) then they would have potentially broken those license agreements. Besides, Star Raiders needed that analog joystick...

[@user-rt9zq8rs9k]

​​@@guaposneezeThat's unfair to put ALL the blame on them . They made a faster , more powerful computer than the Macintosh and in color AND cheaper YET no one bought it because too many consumers bought the -" only a game machine 🐂💩 ".

[@goreman1976]

the best memories of my childhood, I was 9 years old in 1985 when it came into my hands as a gift from my father, I still remember when he arrived with the box, I had had a bad school year and my old man arrived with the gift of a lifetime, From that moment until today I am active in video games. It marked my life ✌

[@TheSulross]

hmm, the brlliance of the fujinet has convincingly made the case that the Atari 8-bit computers were objectively the best of breed

[@nickfifteen]

Yknow, I never grew up with the Atari/Commodore wars, I was an Apple kid growing up in the 80s... so when I finally got a chance to enjoy using an Atari 800XL and Commodore 64, with no prior biases and going in completely blind... I found the Atari 800XL had a stronger case as being the better of the two machines... tho the C64 still spits a good game! It's like 55/45 Atari/Commodore in my eyes. When I then got a FujiNet for my 800XL and then an SD2IEC + EasyFlash 3 for my C64, I found the FujiNet to be WAAAAY more versatile. While I'd love to see something like this for the C64, I'm glad it came out for the Atari first.

[@Doug_in_NC]

@@nickfifteen I’m with you. I had a VIC 20 but neither an Atari 8bit or a 64. I have both now, and I definitely feel the 800XL is the technically superior machine except for sound capabilities, even only considering what was possible in the ‘80s. Disk drives were much faster, you could actually run various flavors of disk operating system (SpartaDOS is my favorite) which are more powerful than what you could get on a 64, and all that on a computer platform from 1979.

[@nickolasgaspar9660]

​@@Doug_in_NC I had the same opinion on Atari 8bit sound capabilities until I dived in to the huge Polish(and other Easter European programmers) library of games and demos of the 90s-2000s. Pokey's High Pass Filter can emulate sawtooth sound waves something most software developers had missed .

[@JH-pe3ro]

The 64 had an advantage in simplicity of graphics programming: you could count on more base RAM being available since it was a newer platform, and the graphics modes were likewise made to take advantage of that, so you could use all the available colors and draw larger sprites by plugging values to registers without getting too deep into the details. As well, the C64 manual actually told you everything you needed to really get started. To get the best out of the Atari needs time to iterate on the best use of the display lists to get the right balance of memory, raster time, and fidelity, and Atari was reluctant to actually give developers any documentation so it took a while for the books and articles to come along and dispell mysteries, and as you get into the post-C64 era and more of the games are ported, they start to just look like downgraded C64 games because they did whatever was simplest and most compatible with the 48k 800 spec. A more substantially updated Atari 8-bit platform around the time of the C64 was always possible, but as with everything else Atari, completely fumbled.

[@mortimore4030]

The C64 is more limited than the Atari with sound, as the C64 has three channels, compared to Atari having four. POKEY is better sounding than the nasal and farty sound of SID as well.

[@LaurenGlenn]

"And we put every game possible that was ever made on a single 1TB micro SD card..... and we had room for....." :) I love retro stuff like this.

[@JosephTyson]

I have a v1.6 Fujinet for my Atari 800XL and it is simply incredible! Thanks Thom Cherryhomes and the rest of the team for such a versatile, multi-function peripheral and software stack.

[@PCBWay]

Way to go Scott! What an honor of us to have you here on our 8th Anniversary Celebration 🎉🥂！

[@TheRetroShack]

Thanks! Been quite the journey so far! I’m thinking a little competition to celebrate! Thinking cap activate!

[@nicholasfarley5967]

You can play robotron with two joysticks. The original cartridge had a special box with a plastic tray that would house two Atari joy sticks so you could play like the arcade.

[@TheRetroShack]

Yep, plugged in the second joystick and wow - what a difference! Just like the arcade but without the dumdumdum of the footsteps :) Love it :)

[@billkendrick1]

@@TheRetroShack Get yourself an arcade style dual-joystick (like Edladdin's). They're also great for 2-player games like Joust (my wife's favorite)!

[@jthorsell5469]

Spy Hunter also came with a plastic tray for 2 joysticks, not sure where that went but I still have my 600XL

[@weedmanwestvancouverbc9266]

​@@TheRetroShackI plan on building myself a a cradle to but I want to identical joysticks like a Waco not the original ones

[@woodch]

I got Robotron for my Atari 400 back in the day, and it came with the plastic joystick holder for two sticks, and I'll never forget coming home from school to find my mother playing, swearing up a storm, and actually doing really well! Was a bit of a bonding moment for us.

[@lancenutter1067]

I had Atari 400 I upgraded to 64k and a real keyboard. Cassette drive, but later 2 disk drives. Really enjoyed that old machine.

[@redleader7988]

This brings us to the unique Atari Central Input Output (CIO) system. Each device can be read or written to as an abstract device, either as a physical or virtual device. You could do crazy things like write to the keyboard, but that speaks to the flexibility of the system. You could even create your own device for any use you can imagine. For instance, you could create a new CIO device that prints tiles to the screen, or write to a completely modern hardware device. I believe that's how the VBXE graphics adapter works and possibly the FujiNET.

[@kc5402]

The Ramdisk on the Atari 130XE used the CIO system too.

[@tschak909]

Clarification: ATR, and XEX files are streamed directly from the network, and are not stored on device. ATX files, which have copy protection, ARE temporarily brought into the ESP32's memory so that timing can be guaranteed.

[@nickfifteen]

The fact that I can play games straight from an server still blows my mind. What actually made me realize that I was accessing the actual files versus making a local copy was after loading Ultima games and seeing other people's save files in it! 😮

[@kaitlyn__L]

@@nickfifteen hmm, is there any anti-griefing protection? Otherwise, it’s only a matter of time before some jerk comes along…

[@newkillergenius]

Haha! Yes! Welcome to the machine. See you in the BBS'!

[@billkendrick1]

Time for a follow-up video showing Bocianu's weather forecast app, my ISS (international space station) Tracker and Astronomy Photo of the Day (APOD) viewer, and some multiplayer games (MIDImaze, and modern stuff)!!!

[@shawnj4545]

This really shines when you combine with high-speed SIO, with a ROM replacement. Something like the Ultimate 1MB which provides ROM replacement, 1MB RAM upgrade, internal SpartaDOS X, also a real time clock (Fujinet has this too). Your robotron load would have been a couple of seconds rather than tens of seconds in that case.

[@pon2oon]

The UK is nearly always the one that comes up with the best retro-upgrade candy! Oh what is a lowly American computer collector like me to do, in the magical land of NTSC?

[@markholle3450]

Amazing piece of hardware for late 70’s Atari. I wanted this computer back in the day.

[@tschak909]

Thank you sir, for such a wonderful video. :) -Thom Cherryhomes -- FujiNet Team

[@johnhunt1725]

The Atari 850 is not a modem. It is a digital interface that provides parallel printer and serial RS-232 ports so you can connect 3rd party printers and modems. Atari branded printers and modems connected directly via the SIO port, so you did not need to 850 for those.

[@nickpalance3622]

In the earliest days, that wasn’t always the case. The 830 Acoustic Modem needed to be hooked up thru the 830, and I believe Telelink I was the cartridge based terminal software for it. Now, the 835 Direct Connect Modem was nice in that it hooked up directly to your phone line (no acoustic coupler bull) and hooked up directly to your 800 via SIO. That’s like double “direct connect”! Think that’s what Telelink II cart was for. The 1030 modem (and all rest of Atari branded modems) were SIO. I read that it had software in ROM and a feature of SIO was being able to boot from the ROM on a peripheral. Don’t quite know how that works but maybe just like how a floppy disk drive delivers boot data over SIO. I had the XM301 and it came with a floppy disk to boot the driver and run .. XE term was it? Didn’t have an SIO pass thru but also didn’t need its own power supply. Later I bought an SX212 modem and it had both SIO and RS232 (for ST but in my case I upgraded to Amiga - long live Jay Miner!). I guess a user could hook it up via RS232 to an 850 (or more likely then an ICD P:R:Connection) … but I used SIO and SX Express terminal software. Keith Ledbetter, right? Think that name is burned into my head. Also no SIO pass thru. How did I print? I had a Panasonic KX something (1091 or some such digits) that we bought from Electronics Boutique at the new mall and had a Xetec interface cable.. SIO to Centronics with a bunch of dip switches.. I see these for sale on eBay. Maybe I swapped cables but I did print a few emails from BBS’s. Did I save the text in the terminal software and then recable and reboot? Hmmm… Back to the subject, 825 80-Column Printer also needed the 850 in the early 80s. But yeah the 1025 printer that replaced it in the XL line was SIO. I think the modem drivers set up the R: and for sure that’s how the Atari 850 and ICD P:R:Connection worked. Did the SIO modems use R: in their drivers or another letter? Foggy… I just booted the terminal sw disk and mostly didn’t care. Except I was generally curious and trying to learn everything I could but I think the minute details of the modem drivers were not high on the list back then. But I did pick up some Hayes AT commands. ATDT and when I started out had to use ATDP since we didn’t have touch tone service until I “had enough” and researched it and explained to my dad that we could it free just had to call Ma Bell and ask for it (that you had to do that is further proof how crazy/stupid the phone company was). Lastly, I still remember ^S and ^Q … still useful on some UNIX terminals 🙃

[@randomunavailable]

I love the trend of new tech coming available for vintage machines.

[@jackeldogo3952]

Holy Star Raiders, Batman! This may just be the impetus for me to finally get my 800XL keyboard fixed.

[@tschak909]

It looks like I will need to clean up the older versions of NDEV that are hanging around on atari-apps. :)

[@Breakfast_of_Champions]

Nice Atari win again😄

[@JohnZyski]

That really looks great.

[@ZathrusGizmo123]

Excellent video! Well done, sir!

[@animeanibe]

This is brilliant. Thanks for sharing.

[@merman1974]

Fascinating hardware, going online and printing are great ideas. And I'm looking forward to the team developing a C64 version.

[@tschak909]

it's coming. :) If you want to help, jump on the discord. :)

[@matthewcresser6344]

I love the way new technology is giving old technology a new life. It just goes to show how good old technology was

[@OneEyedJack1970]

Engineered for the future!

[@vhm14u2c]

Thanks for sharing!

[@RobSchofield]

Gaaah! Why did you tell me about this? I'm halfway through converting a 65XE into a 6809/128k machine!! Now I'm going to have to find ANOTHER one for this. Sigh. 😉

[@tenminutetokyo2643]

They also sell new replacement SIO cables.

[@bryndaldwyre3099]

What an amazing device. Adds so much awesome functionality in a simple device.

[@tschak909]

Thank you.

[@BokBarber]

I was trying to buy one of these just last week. So upset that they're all out of stock and seemingly will be for the foreseeable future. I'm on their mailing list but grabbed an S-Drive Max for the time being.

[@michaelhill6453]

As ever, brilliant video. That is a mind-blowing piece of kit--also, it also gives me a whole new level of appreciation for the Atari. Even without the new peripheral, it had so many valuable features.

[@JosipRetroBits]

Very nice peace of hardware! Great video :)

[@TheRetroShack]

Many thanks :)

[@erikmerchant567]

That is a lovely add-on for an Atari. A shame they are not in stock. Thanks for introducing this to me, as I think this is a winner of a product.

[@tschak909]

Reach out to me, as there are multiple vendors.

[@billgroves380]

@@tschak909 I'm interested - can you share who the other vendors are?

[@tschak909]

@@billgroves380 The Brewing Academy, ArcadeShopper are two. RetroLemon, Zaxon are two more. Now, If you have a vendor you want to see carry FujiNet, TELL THEM TO MAKE SOME, and if they need help ,send them our way. The entire project is open, and we do not charge for licensing.

[@billgroves380]

@@tschak909 Much appreciated - I discovered the Brewing Academy right after asking. I also appreciate the other options & have saved them on my list to look into. Cheers! Embedded systems EE & Atari 800 fanatic since 1982 (thanks Dad! Best gift ever!).

[@markthackray3185]

Ruddy awesome!! Must have.

[@nickfifteen]

When I got my thrift store-picked Atari 800XL running, I decided to buy whatever I could to max it out. It was right around then when I discovered the FujiNet along side other devices like the Sdrive Max and the Ultimate Atari Cart... and after seeing the features of them all, I found the FujiNet to be the ultimate no-brainer. I did end up also getting an Ultimate Atari Cart, if only to also be able to play cartridge games and apps, as that's the one thing the FujiNet can't do. But that's fine, the FujiNet already does SOOOO MUCH already it still blows my mind how useful it's been for me. :D

[@Curious_Skeptic]

Peeps still playing with antiques. Awesome!

[@jesperlundbyrasmussen7844]

Brilliant device !

[@fragalot]

12:04 OMG BobTerm!! You have re-sparked my early teen years.

[@DTM-Books]

Everybody knows the ultimate accessory for an AtRi 800XL is a 4-player adapter for MULE.

[@mattedsmith]

That's a wonderful integration with old hardware!

[@TheRetroShack]

Amazing isn't it? :)

[@gregargendeli2973]

looks like much more fun than my ATR8000 device :)

[@fernandodesantos5923]

That was great! Do you have something that demos how to connect a HD monitor to the Atari 8 bit?

[@panpaletkalg2550]

honestly if you have an 8-bit atari of any sort Fujinet is a must have

[@TheRetroShack]

Couldn't agree more!

[@michaeldibb]

12:32. The internet did exist back then but the World Wide Web didn't. Bulletin Boards were a thing back then, I remember computer magazines with telephone numbers to access the BBs.

[@MatthewJohnCrittenden]

Simpler Days right? Typing in code from magazines. Jumpers for goalposts. ;)

[@nickfifteen]

The fact that the Internet existed back since the 70s at least still blows my mind, and I was born in 1982! The other thing that blows my mind is the ability to send email on old machines like this and have it still be understood by any modern computer (and vice versa).

[@jimb12312]

@@nickfifteen SMTP (Email protocol) was invented in 1980, nearly 2 years before the C64 was released.

[@nickfifteen]

@@jimb12312 exactly! I also remember hearing about a book that was written during the production of the movie 2010, the sequel to 2001 released in 1984, where the production staff used this new high-tech futuristic means of communication which would definitely be used in the year 2010: electronic mail! So yeah, it's still blows my mind knowing that the systems we use today can still be accessed on these old machines.

[@kaitlyn__L]

@@nickfifteen that being said, early email could be arcane and weird! A lot of the earliest systems weren’t built with worldwide connectivity in mind, so you just had a username for the company (or university) network. Then, “bang paths” were created when more servers were linked together, where the user had to specify a path of handoffs from machine to machine, starting with some major publicly available host. Thus you could have half a dozen different paths to try to reach you, and of course every computer which temporarily held on to your message could theoretically hold on to a copy. You can see some remnants of that initial operational style in how eg AOL used to only require AOL screen names if emailing another AOL user, the domain part was optional. Nowadays Gmail still makes you type in domain though. (Had to make some changes since we’re not allowed examples anymore..!)

[@timmooney7528]

That is impressive. Plus, there are resources out there that are easy to get from.

[@tschak909]

Thank you. And the network device opens the Atari up to the Internet at large, as it can handle crypto, and has built on JSON and XML parsers. :)

[@giulianomarco]

0:25 Did Dave Prowse escort you across the road in the 70s? "You must be out of your toiny moinds!" (Always remember the Green Cross Code!) 😁 EDIT: Or was it Alvin Stardust... 🤪

[@SteveInScotland]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/hpqugoJsd7utr6M

[@nickolasgaspar9660]

Waiting for my SUBcart which adds Cartridge,Floppy drive and Cassette support, 1MB RAM, Pokey Stereo Sound, RTC and an Audio/Video player. All that just by plugging a cartridge and its add-on cables. That might be the best peripheral ever made for the platform.

[@slowlymakingsmoke]

Now I like the idea of command line access to BBS’s, maybe even telnet or FTP. Is the Fujinet available for other machines?

[@systemchris]

This is absolutely amazing! It's a pity that this never went onto the Atari st

[@waynestuart2755]

This makes me want to get my ye olde 800XL out again and get one of these toys. But I'm scared. If it doesn't work anymore, I'll be devastated!

[@tonyjev]

The FujiNet is an amazing device and this video was excellent in presenting its features. I love the ability to boot with different DOS versions as each had different features like speed testing of floppy drives. A couple of extra points. Some utilities for floppy drives require being on an inserted floppy as they require D1 location, which the FujiNet occupies. Added drives require address change to D2 etc. . I have used the FujiNet to download utilities to the SD card, and then copy them to a floppy for this purpose. The FujiNet will also work on Atari 400s and 800s as well as XL models. However Atari 400s and 800s boot up before the FujiNet gets power up from the SIO and FujiNet is not recognized. However, this is solved by providing power from USB and connector is there. I have accidentally kept the USB connected when inserted into my 800xl and thankfully I did not fry the device. Not sure of this, but I think it is safer to disconnect USB power when connecting to any XL. These supply power to the FujiNet through SIO port and XL recognizes the FujiNet just fine. Finally it will work on the A400, but you need upgrade to 48k. I had A400 with 32k upgrade and boot just stalled after splash screen. 48k upgrade and it works perfectly. Very impressive engineering in this device.

[@AngeloTelesforo]

Amazing gizmo and excellent video! You compared the Atari interface to usb, but I see it more like a SCSI thing than usb.

[@nasty_niff]

Atari sio is the grandparent of usb

[@chrisbranson1490]

Great video, and great device! I always enjoy your videos because they seem to get straight to the point and keep on the point - great work 🙂

[@michaelstoliker971]

Yes, yes it is. As for whether the SIO = prehistoric USB, consider that both the Disk Drive and the 850 Multi-I/O device loaded their drivers across the SIO bus on boot up. This party trick preceded the USBs driver discovery by years and years. The best thing about the Fuji net is that it is being made to work as a standard across multiple PCs and consoles to allow for cross platform gaming.

[@MrLurchsThings]

I really need to get one of these. When you pull down an ATR from online, does it keep a copy locally for next time you use it?

[@TheRetroShack]

Unfortunately not - when you eject the disk you’d have to re-download it.

[@martindebes414]

can you mount a blank image and copy to it? Would also be cool to transfer between physical disks

[@TheRetroShack]

@@martindebes414 Yep, you can have a physical drive attaché also and copy from physical disk to virtual disks using a copy program :)

[@mnemo70]

The ATR is not actually "downloaded", but just a few sectors are cached from the TNFS server at a time. So it's actually accessing the file "live" during load. ATX (copy-protected) disk images are downloaded because that is required for timing reasons to keep the disk protections working.

[@m0nde]

Amazing, I wonder if something like this will ever be available for the C64.

[@PrivateSi]

Fun and useful kit for an excellent and good looking 8 bit micro that was even back then more than a just a games machine, even though that's what it was mainly used for. The one thing these types of devices for computers with no memory expansion port need is a direct connection from the CPU or memory controller and a driver to enable max-speed data transfers. Something that sits on one of the chips, like some CPU upgrade modules. Kind of overkill though, and this gets the job done, all-be-it at floppy disk speeds.

[@redleader7988]

The Dragon Cart uses the cartridge port on the Atari to provide the TCP/IP stack at DMA speeds. It is extremely fast compared to FujiNET. There are games like 8 bit slicks that let you play against online players. It works with both the Dragon Card and FujiNET, but Dragon Card gameplay is smooth, where FujiNET is choppy because it has to wait for CIO interrupts. The downside to Dragon Cart is that it takes up the cartridge port, and it is no longer being supported. The expansion ports on the back of the XL and XE models (PBI and ECI bus) are direct connections to the system's internal bus. Newer versions of Dragon Cart are planned that will utilize the PBI and ECI bus instead of the cartridge port.

[@PrivateSi]

@@redleader7988 .. Yes, I wondered about the cartridge port but I don't know much about it. Quite often they're slower reading ROM than the CPU can read RAM and worse, often they don't allow writing data to the ROM port. I see the Atari allows writing data to it instead of just ROM access requests.

[@genjii931]

The Internet was about 10 years old when the Atari 800 came out. :)

[@dazecm]

Mind blown! :)

[@akira808state4]

The problem of the XL series is that they were incompatible with the earlier 400/800 series. Certain programs which used illegal calls to the OS would result in failing to run on the XL series. Atari moved certain routines in memory and added a diagnostic program. Unfortunately , this caused certain programs which relied on the illegal calls would fail to run. Atari released a set translator disks, which loaded the older OS from 400/800 into memory of the XL machines. Unfortunately, it completely resolve the compatibility issue.

[@shawnj4545]

That incompatiblity was sort of overblown, Atari released a translator disk that resolved almost all those issues, and it was a subset of programs anyway that were using undocumented entry points in the OS, with everything released later on pretty much always working on both (well except where specific features of the XL were needed, like RAM under the ROM, PBI interface, etc.)

[@eekee6034]

Haha! I've been saying Ataris had a sort of USB for years, but I didn't know there was a link between the two. :) On the other hand, it was too far ahead of its time in that it made all the peripherals rather expensive. Every peripheral except the tape drive had to have its own microcontroller to speak the protocol. The tape drive could be cheap because it didn't speak the protocol, there was a separate wire just to tell the motor when to run. The 1020 is a plotter. It's fun! :) I wish I'd got my act together in the 90s. I wanted to hook up my old Atari to a PC to emulate all these devices, especially the disk drive. It wouldn't have been too hard, just a matter of level shifting to RS-232 in hardware, picking which RS-232 lines will represent some of the Atari's signals, (I think Command is the only essential one besides TxD & RxD,) & writing some code on the PC to work with the protocol and serve virtual disks, sector by sector if I remember right. It was not a complicated protocol. But I don't know if I would ever have made it as polished as the FujiNet. :) It even matches the style of the XL series. The only thing that bothers me is it takes plotter output and turns it into a PDF; a format which was pure aggravation for me for the 90s and at least half of the 00s, but it's an old gripe now. I guess it makes sense for the output of the actual printers, and maybe even the plotter if you don't make too much use of the fact that the plotter has a continuous roll of paper. :p

[@TrashfordKent]

Would be neat to see a vbxe install to go alongside

[@Barnaclebeard]

7:59 -- nice edit

[@johnathanstevens8436]

Yes, I have a FujiNet for my 800XL and I haven't had to play with the floppy or cassette drives at all. Great device. The development team is working on other variations for new platforms now. (Coleco Adam, Apple II and Atari Lynx from what I've seen lately.)

[@nickpalance3622]

They are still working on the Coleco Adam version? I sat down and watched someone tinker with the hardware interfacing to the ADAM and then a software guy debugging the ADAMnet protocol to get the thing to boot a virtual copy of Donkey Kong Jr. that was October 2021 at the Vintage Computer Festival East. They looked like they were on the cusp of success. I’d love to get one for my ADAM (and a few for my 800XL collection and 130XE)

[@johnathanstevens8436]

@@nickpalance3622 I checked, ADAM version is in their online store now but it's out of stock. You can sign up for an email notification.

[@pm71241]

Hehe... and it comes in XE look too.

[@mnemo70]

Really, really good video. Straight facts, no smalltalk. Just a quick note: You don't need to switch to the list of disk devices before pressing OPTION to boot because the Atari itself will ALWAYS boot from D1: .

[@TheRetroShack]

Thanks and glad you enjoyed it :)

[@datacipher]

“Straight facts” lol. It’s a paid ad dude… unreal. Gullible idiots…

[@tomd3448]

Hmm on 800XL mine seems to start loading the online games (starts making the disk drive loading sound when you press option) but then goes to a blue screen and ready prompt every time. Any ideas what I'm doing wrong? My SIO2SD loads fine so I don't think the SIO port had any issues.

[@Colin_Ames]

This looks like an amazing piece of kit. I don’t own an Atari, so am not in a position to take advantage of it, but I am very impressed.

[@billkendrick1]

Versions for Apple II, C64, Coleco Adam, Atari Lynx, and maybe others?, are in the works!!!

[@mechamania]

Serial I/O wasn’t the only peripheral port on the 800XL. There were two DB9 controller ports, too. Sayin’ ‘cause it is a peripheral handled by USB, now - and the 800 had four of them, which is another reason I wish REVIVE were making an 800, instead of an 800XL (despite USB hubs that would make it the other two obsolete), ‘cause everyone could plug their controllers directly into the front of the machine. The 800 also had far better aesthetics and keyboard, for computers both essentially made in 1979. Of course, with Serial I/O location on an 800, that sweet “multi-peripheral” (MP) wouldn’t fit... It would be amazing if that Serial MP thing were to work with an RM 800XL. It could use every modern peripheral, which it should be able to do. I don’t see a reason why not - but I do see me parting with a few hundred bucks, soon enough. That should also be able to be daisy-chained into an OG Atari 1050 floppy drive, to digitize files. Wish there were a daisy chain port, on the 410 tape drive. I still have some disks and tapes... That’s awesome!

[@saundby]

#FujiNet is absolutely awesome. I have one for each of my Atari 8 bit machines. Now I need a comparable mega cartridge that will complete my modernized 8 bit systems.

[@blackterminal]

One each? Rich?

[@jp2enlimited761]

nice nice nice!

[@rudyvalentin1789]

To this day, I regretted putting my 800XL system on eBay.

[@blackterminal]

Never sell anything your not 100 percent sure you won't want back..it's a unpleasant lesson I've learned

[@Nichodeamus_2]

What is the music which plays at the END of your videos, while doing the text crawl?

[@TheRetroShack]

Just something I knocked up in GarageBand :)

[@simongould3534]

Nice video. :) . Now I know why I've been busy today. ;)

[@mjp29]

I thought it would be the Fujiinet cartridge. And look how fast it is! Hooking an SD card to a C64 takes FOREVER to load a game (just like the Commodore disk drive was so slow!!)

[@KasranFox]

it kind of makes me want to get an atari 8-bit just so i can also get and use one of these

[@tschak909]

The goal for us, is to bring FujiNet to every single 8-bit computer and console by the end of the decade. :)

[@KasranFox]

@@tschak909 y'know, i was just thinking about how cool it would be to have one of these in a cartridge form factor or something for the NES. good luck on your quest!

[@tschak909]

@@KasranFox it is planned.

[@tron3entertainment]

I once checked out an older PC for someone at my former job. He claimed he rebuilt the machine and now the USB was much slower than usual. Fortunately, it was a Dell. Checked the drivers. Updated the BIOS for good measure and updated the USB from 1.0 to 1.1, Problem solved. Speed back to normal.

[@oldschoolcompsci]

will it work with an atari 2600 converted to a computer w/keyboard?

[@mastercylinder1939]

Do you think they could include a 1040st emulation in the future and the ability to run Cubase?, that would be awesome.

[@PaulGrayUK]

Seems like the Atari is interfering with the audio, adding a ferret core around the output of the Atari video out may well aid with that by the sound of it as seems to pick up some interference EMF emission when the screen is updating. EDIT - may be the emulation box (as maybe it is disc activity-related and sound does seem to lend itself to being that now hearing it a bit more - can wrap in aluminium foil to quickly test that one as a hacky solution.

[@almerian]

Do you mean the standard beeps for loading and "fart" sounds while accessing devices?

[@PaulGrayUK]

@@almerian No

[@almerian]

@@PaulGrayUK Ok, I'll have another listen with headphones later.

[@PaulGrayUK]

@@almerian definitely a grounding interference issue - same I had on a PC via headphone socket if I had a USB stick in use in one of my front ports, was grounding, added ferrite coil loop to the audio header and that helped hugely. many quality cables have them built-in, the wiki en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferrite_bead covers it better.

[@AdamSommer70]

Great overview of the FujiNet! Do you know if there's something similar for the C64?

[@TheRetroShack]

The Fujinet team are working on a c64 version I believe - I'll reach out and try to get an early sample :)

[@peterxyz3541]

THIS…THIS!!!!!!!!!! 👍🏼

[@papa_robot]

Fujinet is also a CP/M emulator

[@Jimbaloidatron]

Yes it is. :-)

[@Gaming-Enthusiast]

This is so cool 👌👌👌

[@TheRetroShack]

Indeed it is! :)

[@kranibal]

🤯🤯🤯

[@musclesmouse]

I bought one but have not put it to use

[@eyesolatedrock]

😮

[@frankowalker4662]

Holy crap, that's so cool. :)

[@tschak909]

Thank you.

[@GantryG]

🤯.

[@Raketenclub]

why not mention Fujinet in the Topic? Would have saved a lot of time.... :D

[@1960ARC]

This sounds like a very exciting product. I love my Atari machines so will get one of these at some point. Really brings back memories seeing bulletin boards.

[@tjtarget2690]

Notification Squad! :D

[@gochadc]

aaaaaand is out of stock.

[@TheRetroShack]

Some of my videos tend to have that effect :)

[@blackterminal]

Too many cool gadgets. Not enough money.

[@ropersonline]

It's kind of incredibly annoying how the aspect ratio of your screen (as presented from about 6:30ish) is totally wrong. It should be 4:3, but it's 16:9. Honestly, it's so bad, it would be better to redo this whole video.

[@kaitlyn__L]

It bugged me too and I’d like it to be different in the future, but I think suggesting the entire video needs to be re-exported is a little bit much. Plus, in this case, it’s covering up the real display on the TV - if I was seeing a 4:3 screen capture overlaid on a 16:9 output recording of the screen, I think that would bother me even more. In that way it might not even be recoverable on this footage, and would simply need to be a precaution for next time

[@ropersonline]

@@kaitlyn__L You're right, fixing this video would require going scene by scene because there are scenes that are currently correct, and if you, say, go to stretch site to compensate, then the currently correct scenes will be displayed incorrectly.

[@nasty_niff]

Side 3 is better

[@mnemo70]

It's something VERY different.

[@angelicamarch3407]

No its Not! Fujinet is a Network Adaptor and more Side3 Cant do that!

[@nasty_niff]

@@angelicamarch3407 network adapter ain't needed. Does it load all files? No! hard drive? No

[@tschak909]

@@nasty_niff FujiNet opens the door to a whole new set of possibilities.

[@angelicamarch3407]

@@nasty_niff Yes it does do Hard Drives!!