The Atari 800XL / Part 1 - Trash to Treasure - Computer History & Restorations

● A new Trash to Treasure series is upon us, this time it's the Atari 800XL - A machine with a history that laid the foundation for many others that we loved, familiar names, and a battle for supremecy at the height of the 8bit micro wars.

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[PXAbstraction]

Me personally, I'd like to see a full restoration. I think any machine like this that's in full working order deserves to be brought back to its former glory and enjoyed as such. I get the value of a museum piece but with the fantastic work you put into restorations, I think this deserves it too.

[janstraburg]

I'd definitely prefer a full restoration.

[CommodoreFan]

I'd love to see this machine restored to it's former glory with a matched key if possible.

[Wallygjs]

I would always want to return it to as new condition, so that it looks representative of what the original designers and manufacturers intended. I think leaving things damaged and worn doesn't give the machine the respect it deserves. If it was your own machine and only you were going to use it and the scars had special memories to you personally then great keep it as is. But if it;s on public display as an example of the genre then it should look its Sunday best!

[winstonsmith]

I'm glad more people are awakening to qualities of the Atari 8-bit computers designed by the late, great Jay Miner. I bought a 400 well before the C64 came along which copied the custom chip concept, modified it to expand memory, added a mechanical keyboard, and attached a thermal paper printer via the game ports. I designed a circuit I piggybacked onto a hacked, junked game cart and wrote an assembly language program which allowed me to dump cartridges to tape preceded on that tape by a loader routine. I never used it for piracy, I made it just to do it. Yes, seriously. This was made possible by EXCELLENT technical manuals sold at the time by Atari. I later bought an 800XL, did a bunch of mods to it and later moved on to a 1040ST. I wanted an Amiga, but the 1040ST system was cheaper than the 1000 and I'm frugal.

[ricardobornman]

Give it the works, make it look like new. Reminds me of my 800XL when I just got it. These were awesome little machines.

[-Steven-]

I agree with most of the comments on here it should be a full restoration of the machine, return it to its former glory of when it was first purchased. Thanks for all your trash to treasure videos, i love watching things being restored.

[hamishthepolarbear]

The finest 8-bit pre-built micro series. Also this was the model I had, the best 8-bit machine I ever owned (ZX Spectrum, Dragon 32, Oric Atmos, Atari 800XL). In so many ways the ST was a step back but eventually I got my favourite ever pre-build - Atari TT030, the best computer Atari ever made.

[richjback]

“We have a letter that tells us what he’s got up to with this computer”... “the story of this computer is filth”

[jennika]

I'd love to see a full restoration. If I still had my grandfather's TRS-80 Model 1, that's what I would want to do to it.

[svrsakura]

+1 for full restoration!!

The History of the device is what makes it special, all the love and devotion previous owners showed it... and the frustration from playing Atari games...

[markwalsham]

Neil, great to see you got my old 800XL running again, that diagnostic screen was a real step back in time for me! I personally would go for option 2, clean it up but not try and make it box fresh, as I spent many many hours using it and battle scars are great! Thank you!

[DarrenCoull]

Looking like new for sure. The cream and brown colour scheme tell us all about the era of this machine! :-) Great to see this getting some love - I had an 800XL, 1050 Disk Drive, 1010 Cassette and 1020 printer plotter - used to load a game from cassette during the 1hr lunchtime from school (I lived literally across the road!) and ate lunch while it loaded - if I was lucky, and it successfully loaded, then got about 10 minutes of game time before heading back to school!

[hmbrz]

personally I think just cleaning it and repairing whatever prevents it from working normally is the way to go, it doesn't look to be in bad shape.

[fensoxx]

There was something wonderfully different about this video. It was a little more interactive maybe? A little less scripted? That you mentioned "I haven't tried this yet", etc.. I felt like I was there with you at the work bench troubleshooting. It was fantastic my favorite yet. I'm no director but whatever lightning in a bottle you caught on this episode I would love to feel more of. Thanks for that!

[jaycool]

I'm probably in the minority here, but I'd like to see it become a museum piece that shows its history with patina and battle scars. This would include the machine itself, the letter, all peripherals, software etc., each of which tells a part of the story of the original owner and their exemplary first steps into the dawn of the digital age.

This may be my nostalgia speaking, as the 800XL was also my first computer, and I even had the same grey XE tape drive with it. I still love the design and think it's one of the most beautiful machines ever created, both inside and out. I think this particular one is in good shape overall, just as it is.

[dunebasher]

Quick fact correction about CTIA/GTIA - CTIA was only fitted to the first 100, 000 US-market 400/800 machines. It was never fitted to any PAL-market Atari 400/800s, which were all GTIA from the start.

Even in the USA, 400/800s that still have a CTIA are rare. Once GTIA became available, Atari offered free upgrades for machines that were still under warranty, and out-of-warranty upgrades were less than $70.

Since programmers started writing software that required GTIA, owners had a very definite incentive to upgrade.

[pauloninjinha]

My brother have one of those! Didn't knew about the diagnostic test!
Looking forward for this series. Greetings from Brazil!
Btw, 24:18 - Promenade by Mussorgsky.

[DanNobles]

25:55 *retro-computer restoration expert blows into cartridge and it works perfectly*

[nuanil]

I had an 800XL with a pair of 5 1/4 drives back in the day. Was a fantastic little machine.