#FlashJazzCat rips into the declining quality of #Ultimate1MB boards from #Lotharek.
This used to be such an amazing upgrade for #atari8bit computers. Not anymore. Such a pity.
I think this is a hard lesson for the retrocomputing community in depending on proprietary designs for modern upgrades. If the U1MB had been released under an open licence, we could have routed around quality problems. Because we can't do that, I'm inclined to agree with FJC that the U1MB is effectively dead.
#Mondo8Bit doesn't trust MT4264-15 memory chips, and that's exactly what I've got in this #Atari130XE.
I'm in here to fix the jammed power switch, which #Mondo8Bit zips through in this video (the audio levels are all over the shop - have your finger on the volume control): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXLC7QLT_LU
The board looks very clean otherwise, to my very untrained eye. No bulging caps, no broken solder joints. Does anyone know what problem those bodge wires are intended to solve?
I'll do the #FlashJazzCat technique of spraying the chips with 99% alcohol when the machine's powered up, to see which chips are running hot:
I am having an unreasonable amount of fun rediscovering the amazing #atari8bit universe. My trusty original #Atari800 has been fitted with #lotharek's #INCOGNITO board and #FujiNetPro (and a flawless 1050 floppy drive for good measure). Figuring out how to get all this hardware playing nicely together has taken me a few evenings of experimentation and many hours trawling through the #AtariAge forums! I'm getting the hang of it now. #SpartaDOSX is thankfully quite like #MSDOS, with a pleasing #Atari accent.
It's funny - games don't really interest me. It's the utility software that floats my boat. Can I actually be productive with #FlashJazzCat's #TheLastWord #WordProcessor? I can see myself writing official correspondence with it, printed to one of the many printers emulated by the #FujiNet.
Is #AtariPril a thing? Attempt to use an 8-bit Atari for all your computing needs during April? I might just get enough skills built up by then to be somewhat productive!
Amin Girasol