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My 1200XL has a Multiple Personality Disorder (Part 2)

5/1/2022

 
Today I'll be talking about how to operate this system, since Part 1 already went in depth on what hardware and modifications were required.

Below is a table covering basic operation of the system in order to select what OS you want active, and if desired, what Language SLOT you want selected as well.

As can be seen the original L1 and L2 LEDs have been reassigned to indicate whether a SLOT or Cartridge is inserted (L1), or what OS is in play (L2). When SHIFT is added to any one of the selection hot keys, it simply modifies which OS is to be used, by selecting the 2nd bank of the OS EEPROM, with the first bank holding the default OS.

Note: The last selection that you make is stored in non-volatile EEPROM memory, and restored upon the next power-up of the system - resuming where you left off.
SELECT
STOCK 1200XL Keyboard
Optional PS/2 Keyboard
LED L1
LED L2
SLOT 1 + OS 1
F1
ALT+F1
ON
ON
SLOT 2 + OS 1
F2
ALT+F2
ON
ON
SLOT 3 + OS 1
F3
ALT+F3
ON
ON
SLOT 4 + OS1
F4
ALT+F4
ON
ON
NO SLOT + OS 1
OPTION+F1
ALT+ESC
OFF
ON
+ OS 2
ADD SHIFT
ADD SHIFT
NO CHANGE
OFF
To make this concept a bit easier to understand, I did a short demonstration video of the system in action.
Keep in mind that any two Atari 8-Bit OS variants can be used. So for instance you could have OmniView 80 in one bank and the stock XL/XE in the other. Same goes for the Language EPROM, where any combination of four 8K language, application, and/or games could be pre-programmed.

This is what I have in my test EPROMS at the moment.

32K Dual OS (27C256 EPROM)
  1. OS 1 = HSIO patched XL/XE (default)
  2. OS 2 = Stock XL/XE (selected with SHIFT)     I changed this to OmniMon XL, and it works great!
32K Quad Language (27C256 EPROM)
  1. SLOT 1 = BASIC RevC
  2. SLOT 2 = Altirra BASIC
  3. SLOT 3 = Assembler/Editor
  4. SLOT 4 = SpeedScript

Each time a new selection is made, a Cold Restart (similar to Bob Woolley's FREEZER) is initiated in order to reboot into the new configuration without requiring a power cycle of the computer. Whereas the SIO 5V/Ready signal is power cycled to reboot something like an SDrive sitting on that serial bus.

This is all perfectly timed, and happens automatically in the background when changing selections.

I think that covers it for today, but stay tuned, because there might be a Part 3 if I decide to get into how the code in the TKII-PB1200's PIC chip performs some of this magic.

- Michael

    Author

    My name is Michael St. Pierre and in the early 90's I decided to create my very first Atari 8-Bit upgrade. It was called TransKey.
    ---Then soon after Atari folded and I left the scene ---
    25 years later I came back with a mission to improve upon what I had started so long ago.

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