Monthly Archives: September 2016

computing, nostalgia, project

Building SIO2Arduino to enable an Atari 800XL to use SD Cards

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Last winter, I built an SIO2Arduino circuit – it is an adapter, that enables the Atari to use disk images loaded on to a regular SD card.

My build of the SIO2Arduino SD Card Adapter
My build of the SIO2Arduino SD Card Adapter

To the Atari, the SD card works just like a floppy drive.  It’s was built following the instructions found here:
http://whizzosoftware.com/sio2arduino/

With a program called SDRIVE, I can select a disk image on the SD card, and then load it:

Selecting an Atari image on the SD card using the SDRIVE program
Selecting an Atari image on the SD card using the SDRIVE program

I never did get the adapter working perfectly – I can load certain disk images, such as ballblazer, but not others, like Karateka.  I think it would take a lot more investigation, and perhaps digging into code, to figure out how to fix this issue.

ballblazer running on Atari from SD Card
ballblazer running on Atari from SD Card

Until I get a suitable TV, this is likely as far as I’m taking this particular project.

nostalgia, project

Playing around with an Atari 800XL

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My “RetroPie” days of emulating old games on the Raspberry Pi are over – from now on, I can play the real thing.

I was given a friend’s old family computer, an Atari 800XL in 2011.  They still had all the parts, except the custom molded cable that connects the floppy drive to the unit.

Receiving an Atari 800XL in 2011Receiving an Atari 800XL in 2011

5 years to the month, I finally got around to ordering a cable from a company in California that still has pretty much everything Atari ever made in stock: http://www.best-electronics-ca.com/

I picked up a Donkey Kong cartridge (pictured) along with my cable order (the available, never released Bruce Lee prototype cartridges exceeded my budget).

As I don’t have a TV, I connected it to a PC with a Hauppage TV card.  As I don’t have the correct cables, I only get a black and white picture (I don’t have a composite cable, and the brightness and colour signals are split).  Also, Donkey Kong is unplayable with this setup, as the TV card adds a significant lag (eg: Mario jumps half a second after you jump).

Donkey Kong on an Atari 800XL
Donkey Kong on an Atari 800XL
In another post, I’ll write up how I hacked up one of the floppy cables and built an Atari floppy emulator with an Arduino, so that I can download Atari software from the Internet and load it off an SD card:
gardening

2016 Balcony Crop

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Our 2016 balcony crop has come in. A bit of a disappointment this year, as we were away for most of August, and were not able to care for the garden as much as we would have liked.

Corn from our 2016 Crop
Corn from our 2016 Crop
  • The corn was harvested too late – by the time we returned home, it was overripe and tasted pretty gross.  It looked OK.
  • Our sunflowers and some of our other flowers died
  • Some of our carrots fared well and tasted great, but another planter of carrots died
  • One of our tomato plants died, the other is still doing well and bearing a couple ripe tomatoes every day

I need a balcony friendly watering system!