[Games of The400 Mini]

TheC64 mini has an onscreen keyboard that pops up on the right side of the screen when one of the special buttons on the joystick is pressed.

 

Curt Vendell sold a USB Atari Joystick many years ago, and Hyperkin has been selling their Trooper II USB Atari Joystick for the past few years. If you search the web, you’ll find it easy to interface an Arduino to an original Atari Joystick to connect thru USB.

[Atari Maximite]

The CMM2 is being sold again in low volumes for $165.50 at https://www.rictech.nz/micromite-products

 

The PicoMite VGA was released about 3 years ago and the firmware has been continuously update, so many functions of the CMM2 are available on the much lower cost ($35). For more info, check out https://geoffg.net/picomitevga.html

 

The board designs are open source, so you can either order your own PCB and parts and build it yourself, or order a bare PCB from Tindie for $12 https://www.tindie.com/products/land_boards/raspberry-pi-pico-card-with-vga-sound-kbd-v3/

[A new 27 inch monitor that is available and works 100%!]

Microcenter was only charging $99 for new - in store only.

[A new 27 inch monitor that is available and works 100%!]

I bought a Dell SE2722H 27" last month at Microcenter, and hooked it up today to my wife’s 1040STE - works perfect in color. My monitor has a manufacture date of 1/23. I’m using the Exxos ST2VGA adapter. 
 

Have to try out sound now.

 

Thanks for the buying advice - saved about $200 by not buying an OSSC.

[What is it with SDX and ED Atari DOS 2.0/2.5 disks?]

Atari User Groups were a big source of info in the 80’s. Many groups exchanged newsletters with each other to share the knowledge.

[A very merry Atarian Xmas to all..]

Merry Christmas

[What is it with SDX and ED Atari DOS 2.0/2.5 disks?]

The ED 130K format never caught on, because double density drives were available for sale a year or so after the 1050 Drive hit the market. The Indus GT and Rana drives were sold for about the same price, but had double density and a track display. Coupled with the release of MyDos, which looked very familiar to those used to working with DOS 2.0 it was an easy upgrade. If you had two drives, it was simple to copy files from a 90K SD floppy to a 180K DD floppy - so you didn’t have to keep buying floppy disks. ICD’s USDoubler was an inexpensive upgrade for the 1050 Drive to go DD.

[Porch Pirates]

Deleted - double post

[Porch Pirates]

I wonder if home owners insurance will cover the theft?
 

It would be good if the seller and buyer can work out a deal to insure the box gets into the buyers hands. Hold the package at the post office?

[Atari Financial Report Haven't even opened it yet... time to pour a cup of coffee. $ALATA $PONGF]

I bought some Atari stock today - we’ll see how it performs.

[Atari-inspired, new "8-bit" computer]

The Pico56 looks interesting - just might build one.

 

The design for the PicoMite VGA was released about 3 years ago and the firmware author has been updating the Firmware and MicroMite Basic with new features on a weekly basis - see https://geoffg.net/picomitevga.html.

 

The VGA graphics and sounds commands are amazing and fast, considered there is no dedicated GPU. Attack of the Petscii Robots has been ported to the PicoMite VGA and PicoMite - all running Basic. Check out this video of a late Alpha release https://youtu.be/vA65PJIsT8I?si=aleXahRu48apbf-J

 

The PicoMite VGA can be built for about $20 (including custom PCB).

Basic development can be done directly on the PicoMite VGA, thru a computer running a terminal emulator or on a computer running MicroMite Basic for Windows.

 

The standard PicoMite or the WebMite can be interfaced to a small touchscreen LCD by simply connecting the Pico pins with the LCD with DuPont wires - a board isn’t needed.

[Atari50 collecton is getting an update next Tuesday!!]

I was surprised to see the Steam update size was 11.3 GB. Assuming the (11) 2600 games were 8 KB each and Lynx Warbirds is 128 KB, that adds up to 218 KB or .000218 GB. What else was in the update?

[1200XL Cartridge Slot Problems]

@Dropcheck has designed a cartridge extender for the 1200XL - see http://www.bitsofthepast.com/cartridgeboards.html#. The files and P/N are at the link if you want to order and build your own

[Solder paste]

The silver solder is better is a myth from the 80’s.

 

I pay more for name brand solder such as Kester.

 

Use the solder temperature range listed on the solder mfr data sheet

[Emulation on PC question]

I am curious to find out how Drawbridge or Greaseweazle works with Hatari or Steem SSE.

 

On the Amiga side, from within WinUAE, there is a drop down menu where you can select the Drawbridge or Greaseweazle floppy interface.

[Source for Refurbished 410, 1010, or XC12?]

FYI Console5 carry’s belts for the 410, but it looks like they are out of stock https://console5.com/store/atari-410-program-recorder-cassette-player-4-piece-belt-kit.html

[My unfortunate experience with Lotharek]

It would be nice if there was a U.S. based distributor for Lotharek.

 

FYI there’s nothing shady about Pirate Ship. You get a discounted shipping rate from USPS, and the packages are shipped by USPS.

[Emulation on PC question]

I’ve heard of the Drawbridge for reading and writing Amiga floppies. I googled and found it works with Atari ST disks also see https://github.com/RobSmithDev/ArduinoFloppyDiskReader

 

 

[Atari 800 Mario Brothers - Unreleased?]

FYI I just saw this interesting video posted a few days ago, stating Atari was leading on Nintendo and Sega for years - in an effort to delay the competition from bringing the NES and Genesis to market. Doesn’t surprise me there was lots of bad blood between the companies. https://youtu.be/TSzhH79CC1c?si=ErPzljyWcvCg9-9N

[Are they still making these?]

AFAIK, there are no issues with the Fujinet 1.3 thebrewingacademy has been selling for the past year. They have all been fixed.

[eproms and a card? So this came in a large lot I picked up.]

I’m not an expert, but those two big blobs of solder on the side opposite the chips doesn’t look right. As a minimum, I would use a multimeter to check those connections compared to a real Atari computer cartridge.

[Joystick alternatives?]

The Hyperkin Trooper feels well made. I use the Trooper 2, which is the USB version.

[Falcon 030 - Video Options?]

A couple of seconds on Google and I located both male and female DB19 connectors for $6 or less

[Best path of reclaiming an Atari800XL]

Judging from the pictures, the plastic housing around the cart slot looked like it was dirty but in good shape. It really should be cleaned and reinstalled

[Floppy archiving in the Boston area?]

FYI you can buy Greaseweazle v4 on Tindie https://www.tindie.com/products/emmybeararcades/greaseweazle-v4-fully-assembled/