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Fun projects for your Atari 8-bit home computers and video game consoles

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Category: Hardware

Purchase an Atarimax SD Multi-Cart for Atari 5200 (10-15 mins)

May 25, 2019 moorejh Games, Hardware, Software

Task: Purchase an Atarimax SD Multi-Cart for Atari 5200 Needed: Web browser Time: 10-15 minutes Introduction My previous post covers purchasing an Atari 5200 console if you don’t already have one. As with all Ataris, the cartridges can be quite expensive with prices of $20

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Purchase an Atari 5200 (30-60 mins)

May 25, 2019 moorejh Hardware

Task: Purchase an Atari 5200 Needed: Web browser Time: 30-60 minutes Introduction Atari released the 5200 in 1982 as a sequel to the successful 2600 console. It competed with the Intellivision and ColecoVision but was never very popular due to its poor design and lack

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Purchase an SDrive-Max Floppy Emulator (15-30 mins)

May 11, 2019 moorejh Hardware, Software

Task: Purchase an SDrive-Max Floppy Emulator Needed: SDrive-Max Time: 15-30 minutes Introduction The ability to boot software from SD card devices makes using Atari computers a breeze. These devices allow you to load up lots of executables and ATR files on an SD card and

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Purchase an Atari 850 Interface Module (15-30 mins)

April 20, 2019 moorejh Hardware

Task: Purchase an Atari 850 Interface Module Needed: Web browser Time: 15-30 minutes Introduction The Atari Serial Input/Ouput System or SIO was designed to allow the computer to communicate with peripherals such as the 810 or 1050 disk drive. An advantage of the SIO is

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Tips for Finding Local Atari Hardware and Software (15-30 mins)

April 14, 2019 moorejh Collecting, Hardware, Software

Task: Tips for Finding Local Atari Hardware and Software Needed: Persistence! Time: 15-30 minutes Introduction The easiest place to find Atari hardware and software is on eBay. However, even the most common Atari goodness is way overpriced. There is also the problem of shipping that

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Fun With The Atari Touch Tablet (15-30 mins)

March 31, 2019 moorejh Graphics, Hardware, Programming

Task: Fun With The Atari Touch Tablet Needed: Atari Touch Tablet Time: 15-30 minutes Introduction I got an Atari Touch Tablet along with the Atariartist cartridge for Christmas back in the early 1980s. This was one of my favorite Atari gifts ever. I had so

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Load Cassette Games on Your Atari 2600 (10-15 mins)

March 16, 2019 moorejh Games, Hardware, Software

Task: Load Cassette Games on Your Atari 2600 Needed: Arcadia / Starpath Supercharger, compatible cassette game Time: 10-15 mins Introduction One of the many limitations of the Atari 2600 video console system (VCS) was that it only had 128 bytes of RAM. This and the

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Connect Your Atari Computer to an LED Screen (30-60 mins)

March 10, 2019 moorejh Hardware, Video

Task: Connect Your Atari Computer to an LED Screen Needed: LED screen, connectors Time: 30-60 mins Introduction I previously posted some details on how to connect your Atari computer to an LCD screen using composite video or composite converted to S-video. What if you want

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Replace the Ribbon and Paper in an Atari 1025 Printer (10-15 mins)

March 3, 2019 moorejh Hardware

Task: Replace the Ribbon and Paper in an Atari 1025 Printer Needed: 1025 printer, ribbon, paper Time: 10-15 mins Introduction I never had an Atari printer back in the day. We had an Epson MX-80 dot matrix that worked quite well. So, I have been

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Purchase an Indus GT Disk Drive (15-30 mins)

February 10, 2019 moorejh Hardware

Task: Purchase an Indus GT Disk Drive Needed: Web browser Time: 15-30 mins Introduction My favorite disk drive is the Atari 810. It was my fist and I love the aesthetics. However, the 810 could only read and write about 90k of data and was

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Make Custom Atari 2600 Cartridges (30-60 mins)

February 3, 2019 moorejh Hardware, Software

Task: Make Custom Atari 2600 Cartridges Needed: Binary, label art Time: 30-60 mins Introduction When I finished my Atari 2600 homebrew game Gene Medic I couldn’t wait to make it ‘real’ by having an actual cartridge made. Fortunately, the folks down at Atari Age make

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Tips for Storing Atari Computers and Consoles (10-15 mins)

January 19, 2019 moorejh Hardware, Modifications

Task: Tips for Storing Atari Computers and Consoles Needed: Web browser Time: 10-15 mins Introduction I got most of my Atari collection in the early 2000s when it was cheap and somewhat plentiful. I could tell as I acquired and cleaned each item that many

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Test the RAM of an Atari 400 or 800 (10-15 mins)

January 1, 2019 moorejh Hardware

Task: Test the RAM of an Atari 400 or 800 Needed: Atarimax MaxFlash or similar Time: 10-15 mins Introduction I remember being really interested in the diagnostic tests that were included in my friend’s new Atari 1200XL. These allowed you to test the RAM and other

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Backup Cartridges to Floppy Disk Using “The Pill” (15-30 minutes)

December 16, 2018 moorejh Hardware, Software

Task: Backup Cartridges to Floppy Disk Using “The Pill” Needed: Floppy disks, disk drive, The Pill, The Pill software Time: 15-30 mins Introduction Software pirating was rampant back in the early 1980s and there were plenty of software and hardware tools that made this easy.

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Replace the Ribbon and Paper in an Atari 820 Printer (15-30 minutes)

December 1, 2018 moorejh Hardware

Task: Replace the Ribbon and Paper in an Atari 820 Printer Needed: Atari 820 printer with replacement ribbon and paper roll  Time: 15-30 mins Introduction I never had an Atari 820 printer back in the day but have always wanted one because it beautifully matches

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Connect Your Atari Joystick to a PC (10-15 mins)

November 9, 2018 moorejh Emulators, Games, Hardware

Task: Connect Your Atari Joystick to a PC Needed: Atari Joystick and a USB adapter Time: 10-15 minutes Introduction The Atari 400 and 800 were by far the best gaming computers when they hit the market. This was largely due to the awesome ANTIC graphics chip

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Purchase an Atarimax Maxflash Cartridge (30-60 min)

October 14, 2018 moorejh Hardware, Software

Task: Purchase an Atarimax Maxflash Cartridge Needed: Atarimax Maxflash Cartridge, USB Cartridge Programmer, A to A USB Cable, and Maxflash Studio Software Time: 30-60 mins Introduction I love the ease of use of cartridges compared to cassette or disk. Fortunately, there are some easy modern

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Purchase a Harmony Cartridge for the Atari 2600 (10-15 mins)

October 7, 2018 moorejh Hardware

Task: Purchase a Harmony Cartridge for the Atari 2600 Needed: Harmony Cartridge With SD or microSD Card Time: 10-15 mins Introduction When I was programming my Atari 2600 game “Gene Medic” I wanted to be able to test it on original hardware since there are

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Connect Your Atari Computer to the Internet using the SIO2PC from Atarimax (15-30 mins)

September 30, 2018 moorejh Hardware

Task: Connect Your Atari Computer to the Internet using the SIO2PC from Atarimax Needed: SIO2PC Time: 15-30 minutes Introduction Although the internet was invented before Atari 8-bit computers were released in 1979 it was not available to most of us until years later. I don’t

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Connect Your Atari Computer to a PC (15-30 mins)

September 29, 2018 moorejh Hardware, Modifications

Task: Connect Your Atari Computer to a PC Needed: SIO2PC Time: 15-30 minutes Introduction Cartridges and floppy disks are great but sooner or later you will want to tap into the huge archive of software that is available on the internet. You can certainly boot

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Install the Happy Board for the 1050 Disk Drive (45-60 mins)

September 16, 2018 moorejh Hardware, Modifications

Task: Install the Happy Board for the 1050 Disk Drive Needed: 1050 Disk Drive & Happy Enhancement Time: 45-60 minutes Introduction The Atari 810 disk drive could read and write single-density disks with about 90k of data. Atari’s followup drive was the 1050 that was

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Repair an Atari 1020 Printer (30-60 mins)

August 25, 2018 moorejh Hardware

Task: Repair an Atari 1020 Printer Needed: 1020 printer, 3D printed gears Time: 30-60 minutes Introduction I had an Epson dot matrix printer with my Atari 800 back in the day. It served me well but wasn’t that great with graphics and was only black

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Purge Dangerous Power Supplies (15-60 mins)

August 5, 2018 moorejh Hardware

Task: Identify and remove dangerous Atari power supply units and label the safe ones Needed: Labels and pen Time: 15-60 mins Introduction If you are like me and have a number of different Atari home computer models and peripherals then you also have a large

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Clean an 810/1050 Disk Drive Head (15-30 min)

August 4, 2018 moorejh Hardware

Task: clean an Atari 810/1050 disk drive head Needed: Phillips-head screwdriver, Q-tip, alcohol Time: 15-30 minutes Introduction I started out back in the early 80s with an Atari 400 computer and a 410 cassette recorder for storing programs. Working with the 410 was tedious and

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