[vcf-midatlantic] 8-bits and 80 columns

[Andrew Diller]

> On Jun 25, 2022, at 9:31 AM, John Heritage via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic at lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
> 
> Atari 8bit -- XEP80 official accessory but almost no one bought it;  used
> joystick ports.. slow and limited 80 column (black and white?).  Atari did
> have a 60 column graphics/text mode IIRC.   there is a software hack that
> uses narrow characters for '80 columns' but hard to read, and came out
> after the machine was no longer commerically sold.
> 

You can buy a re-designed, modern XEP-80-II today - it does most of what the original did plus it does native HDMI upscaling for you - i.e. you can use it just as a HDMI converter for your Atari video (like a retrotink does). This model is _not_ slow.

I did a in-depth video review of the XEP-80 II here. It's pretty cool.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q31gSFRtHRA <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q31gSFRtHRA>


> TRS-80 - no native 80 column support?

Model 100 had the DVI. Photo in action below. The DVI did beautiful 80x24 on a composite mono monitor.
https://forum.vcfed.org/index.php?threads/tandy-radio-shack-disk-video-interface-dvi-for-model-100-102-and-200.34776/post-426698 <https://forum.vcfed.org/index.php?threads/tandy-radio-shack-disk-video-interface-dvi-for-model-100-102-and-200.34776/post-426698>

-andy