OS Diffs Atari 800 <-> Atari XL/XE Series#

Answers-Tips-and-Relevant Information

by Paul Alhart

I really like my 1200XL, but at the same time I really hate having to use the TRANSLATOR to boot up certain software. What to do? I Translated the offending software to run on my system and filed my Translator Disk away in the back of a drawer somewhere.

You can do the same. In the beginning, Atari said, "If programmers use the PUBLISHED VECTORS into the Operating System (O/S), their programs will run on ANY 8-bit Atari Computer." (IF is such a big word.) To make a long story short, some programmers did not follow this rule, but to save a few bytes, jumped right into the O/S. This was fine before the XL/XE machines came along with a different O/S.

The published vectors are still the same as Atari promised, but they point to different locations in the O/S. The following list gives the published vector location and the vectors name followed by the ILLEGAL O/S entry points. If you find that a program Jumps to F3F6 to open the screen, (20 F6 F3) and you have an 800XL, change the code to (20 8E EF). Remember: Low byte/High byte.

I have found this to be the most common ILLEGAL jump. The next most common are the "K: Get/Put" calls. I spent many hours Peeking into my operating system with a lot of help from Compute's Mapping The Atari to come up with this list. It now saves me lots of time and hopefully will help you also. Note: Translated software will only run on the O/S that it has been translated for, so keep an original copy as back-up.

VectorLabel800XL/XE1200XL
200 VDSLST E790 C0CE C0E7
202 VPRCED E78F C0CD C0E6
204 VINTER E78F C0CD C0E6
206 VBREAK E78F C0CD C0E6
208 VKEYBD FFBE FC19 FC0C
20A VSERIN EB0F 1A23 E929
20C VSEROR EA90 19E6 E88A
20E VSEROC EACF EAEC E8C9
210 VTIMR1 E78F C0CD C0E6
212 VTIMR2 E78F C0CD C0E6
214 VTIMR4 E78F C0CD C0E6
216 VIMIRQ E706 C030 C054
222 VVBLKI E7AE C0E2 C019
224 VVBLKD E905 C28A C2A3
226 CDTMA1 EBEC EC11 EA2E
E400 E:OPEN F3FC EF94 EEF8
E402 E:CLOSE F634 F2D3 F17E
E404 E:GET F63E F24A F18F
E406 E:PUT F6A4 F2B0 F1F5
E408 E:STATUS F634 F21E F174
E40A E:SPECIAL F63D F2C3 F17C
E40C E:JUMP F3E4 EECD
E410 S:OPEN F3F6 EF8E EEED
E412 S:CLOSE F634 F2D3 F17E
E414 S:GET F593 F180 F0D6
E416 S:PUT F5B7 F1A4 F0FA
E418 S:STATUS F634 F21E F174
E41A S:SPECIAL FCFC F9AF F903
E41C S:JUMP F3E4 EF6F EECD
E420 K:OPEN F634 F21E F174
E422 K:CLOSE F634 F21E F174
E424 K:GET F6E2 F2FD F242/F247
E426 K:PUT F63D F22D F17D
E428 K:STATUS F634 F21E F174
E42A K:SPECIAL F63D F22D F17D
E42C K:JUMP F3E4 EF6F EECD
E430 P:OPEN EE9F FEC2 EC63
E432 P:CLOSE EEDC FF07 ECA3
E434 P:GET EE9E FEC1 EC62
E436 P:PUT EEA7 FECB EC6C
E438 P:STATUS EE81 FEA3 EC44
E43A P:SPECIAL EE9E FEC1 EC62
E43C P:JUMP EE78 FE9A EC3A
E440 C:OPEN EF4C FCE6 ED1A
E442 C:CLOSE F02B FDCF EE03
E444 C:GET EFD6 FD7A EDAE
E446 C:PUT F010 FDB4 EDE8
E448 C:STATUS F028 FDCC EE00
E44A C:SPECIAL EF4B FCE5 ED19
E44C C:JUMP EF41 FCDC ED0F
E450 DISKIV EDEA C6A3 C2A9
E453 DISKINV EDF0 C6B3 C2B9
E456 CIOV E4C4 E4DF E4DF
E459 SIOV E959 C933 F74E
E45C SETVBV E8ED C272 C28B
E45F SYSVBV E7AE COE2 C019
E462 XITVBX E905 C28A C2A3
E465 SIOINV E944 E95C E739
E468 SENDEV EBF2 EC17 EA34
E46B INTINV ECD5 C00C C00C
E46E CIOINV E4A6 E4C1 E4C1
E471 BLKBDV F223 _F223_ FCE1 _SLFTST_
E474 WARMSV F11B C290 C34B
E477 COLDSV F125 C2C8 C37B
E47A RBLOKV EFE9 FD8D EDC1
E47D CSOPIV EF5D FCF7 ED2B
E480 PUPDIV F223 FCE1
E483 SLFTST xx 5000
E486 PENTV EEBC CAAE
E489 PHUNLV E915 CAEB
E48C PHINIV E898 CA34