Brian Reifsnyder Designs an "Advanced Remake" of Atari's 800XL Mainboard
Better joystick ports, clearer video, lowered component count, and more: this is the board Atari wishes it had designed back in the 1980s.
Vintage computing enthusiast and Atari fan Brian Reifsnyder has designed a replica Atari 800XL mainboard with a difference: it incorporates a range of quality-of-life updates, from higher-quality S-video output and improved joystick ports to a reduced component count.
"Like many projects, this board has considerably evolved. The original intent was to take the Atari 800XL system board (C061851 Revision D) and add some upgrades," Reifsnyder explains of the tweaked replica board. "After some discussion, on the Atari Age forums, many additional changes were made."
Launched in small quantities in 1983, the Atari 800XL was designed to succeed both the earlier Atari 800 the unpopular and the overpriced Atari 1200XL. Featuring a design that emphasized reducing production costs and a built-in BASIC programming language, the Atari 800XL is based on the MOS Technology 6502 eight-bit processor running at 1.79MHz and paired with 64kB of memory expandable to 128kB.
Unlike the 1200XL, the Atari 800XL — and its smaller sibling, the 600XL — would prove a hit for the company, leaving no shortage of fans today remembering the device with fondness. For those whose original devices have succumbed to the ages, though, there's Reifsnyder's board — delivering both a replacement for the original mainboard and some welcome upgrades.
Among the enhancements included in Reifsnyder's board design are improved joystick ports, isolated audio and video ground planes to reduce noise, S-video output alongside composite, prototyping areas for additional hardware, the option of fitting 64kB, 128kB, or 320kB of memory, a ROM switch, and a reduction in component count through switching dynamic RAM (DRAM) to static RAM (SRAM), a combined OS and BASIC ROM, a new audio circuit, simplified power and clock circuitry, and a programmable logic device (PLD) which replaces multiple discrete components.
"The board is available as a bare board, a mostly bare board with the programmable logic chips in their sockets, or as a completed board," Reifsnyder writes. "Please note that the buyer will have to supply a non-returnable and functional 'donor board' as some of the components are no longer made and will be used to create your new finished and tested re-make board."
The upgraded board is available to order on Reifsnyder's Tindie store, priced at $44.95 for the bare board, $89.95 with programmed and installed logic components, or $294.95 as a complete, assembled board.