Back to where it all began – Atari 800XL

My first computer was bought by my parents for me and my sister to use.

Obviously, my sister didn’t get a look in and fortunately wasn’t that bothered, so I spent many hours playing games (normally the £1.99 Mastertronic budget titles I could buy with pocket money) and learning to program in basic.

Years went by and the computer got sold for very little at a bootsale (mint and still boxed). A Spectrum +2, Atari ST, Amiga and finally a PC for university followed, but over the years my nostalgia for the old 800XL with its matching tape drive has grown.

And finally I have one! And it needs work!

A motley crew of bits and pieces

The computer itself is heavily yellowed but is believed to be working. It’s labelled as “Wants cleaning” which is definitely a fair assessment!

The matching 1010 tape drive is not in the greatest shape – the front has been removed and the metal badging is missing

A little bit broken

The XC12 tape drive is (I believe) made to match the facelifted XE computers, but apart from being dirty looks to be in much better order.

This tape drive looks better

Until you read the label underneath that says “broken”, suggesting all is not well under the surface

Ah maybe not

Also supplied was a stack of cassettes that may or may not work

And a power supply for the machine was also provided.

The power supply for the 1010 tape player isn’t here and the XC12 tape player doesn’t appear to need a separate power supply at all.

Other than that, I appear to have everything I need to remember my formative years in computing. So what’s the plan I hear nobody asking…

…Ok well I’ll tell you:

First up, I’m going to test the power supply, then hook up the computer to an old portable TV I have and see if it powers on and runs basic.

Next, I’m going to try both tape players and work out what’s wrong with them (after finding out what power supply I need) and get at least one of them working/loading one of the tapes.

Then the cleaning, retrobrighting etc will commence.

Finally, I’m going to look into scart/component cables rather than the old coaxial and will install an SD card loader into the tape drive (probably the matching but heavily damaged 1010 tape deck – I don’t want to butcher a good one), so that it looks the part but I don’t have to wait 15 minutes for a game

If I can get the XC12 tape player working I’ll probably try to sell it or trade it for a good condition 1010 so that I have an SD converted 1010 and an all original one.

So that’s the plan. It may be a few days before I get a chance to begin, but I’m very much looking forward to getting this up to scratch and being used again!