x=usr(1536)

Ehh, not necessarily. It's usually possible to reuse the power connector and splice it onto a new PSU. Keeps everything original except for the PSU itself.

Yup, Nightmares. One of the horror anthology-format movies that was popular around the time. Estevez was in the 'Bishop of Battle' story. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086014/?ref_=fn_al_tt_2

I'm seeing the same thing here, too. It seems like CDs pressed between 1984 and 1992-ish were of higher build quality than ones from the mid-'90s on to the early 2000s. My theory: that was the time of peak CD sales, so cranking them out as quickly and cheaply as possible was key; longevity wasn't - and especially not once digital music formats (including streaming) started becoming mainstream.

Put it this way: it's a decent B-movie horror flick that's better than it should be. Never read the Stephen King story that it's based on, so can't comment to that aspect of it, but if you like AC/DC and movies playing off of the comet-passes-the-earth-and-we're-all-screwed theme, it's fun.

Pac-Man and its relatives are a great example of how convoluted IP ownership can become. Just on the arcade side: Pac-Man: Namco, licensed to Bally / Midway Super Pac-Man: Namco, licensed to Bally / Midway Pac & Pal: Namco, no distribution outside of Japan Pac-Man and Chomp-Chomp: Namco, almost licensed to Bally / Midway, but they decided against it in the end Pac-Land: Namco, licensed to Bally / Midway Ms. Pac-Man: created by GCC, licensed to Bally / Midway Pac-Man Plus: created by Bally / Midway Baby Pac-Man: created by Bally / Midway Professor Pac-Man: created by Bally-Midway Jr. Pac-Man: created by GCC, licensed to Bally / Midway Pac-Mania: created by Namco, licensed to Atari With all of the parties involved, lawsuits, bankruptcies, mergers & acquisitions, subsequent changes of ownership over the years, etc., it's a small miracle that any of the rights to it other than the original game were at all able to be determined. The fiasco surrounding Ms. Pac-Man's ownership a few years ago was a really good example of this.

OK, so you didn't get the joke; I can understand that sometimes the delivery can be a bit off. However: It wasn't being used 'against you,' as you put it. It was in response to someone else's comment: He's also Soylent Green! The part in bold is added emphasis on my behalf, and is where the response was directed. You weren't even on the radar when I made it. Therein lies the heart of the problem: by your own words, you assumed it was an insult. It wasn't. It was a dumb throwaway joke made in response to something else entirely. Missing the humour is one thing; jokes sometimes work better in the mind than they do in delivery and I've certainly delivered my share of ones that fell flat. But - and I'm going to be completely straightforward about this - assuming that something is an insult because you don't understand it isn't helping matters any. Much like @bent_pin, I've also witnessed you take things incredibly defensively for no very good reason other than that someone else presents an opinion to the contrary, or even just mild disagreement. Relax. Everyone isn't out to get you, even if they have a difference of opinion. This is a hobby and it should be fun; getting spun up over it isn't worth it and ultimately only detracts from your enjoyment of it. Believe me, I've been there and can speak from experience on all of this.

Y'know, it's funny, but I've recently been thinking of picking up a nominal amount of PONGF stock. This has nothing to do with any illusions of it becoming my retirement portfolio or being the launchpad for a lucrative career move into day trading, but rather because it would give me a tiny sliver of skin in the game. This way, the next time someone spouts off about having an opinion regarding an Atari product without actually owning it, I can start my reply to them with, "Speaking as a shareholder in Atari, SA..." The view from the high horse will be amazing.

It's probably safe to say the same about the Coleco Adam, though it turned out to be a total disaster for both customers and Coleco. The main reason why the console-as-computer idea never really caught on was because the console and home computer markets were (and still are) totally different. Console gamers generally weren't looking for a gateway drug into the world of computing, and computer users generally weren't interested in console gaming - at least, not typically to the same extent as console gamers. Although the XEGS had what was probably the best overall execution of the concept, it still had its flaws that showed how these types of machines typically sat in a no-man's-land between console gaming and home computing. It was also a dead concept by the time the XEGS arrived in 1987; I'm having a difficult time thinking of anyone else who followed the same pattern after 1987. The Amstrad GX4000 and Commodore 64GS don't count as those were not designed for use as computers.

Before calling it a day on this thread, I really would like to know your answer to the following: When I wrote this, what did you think I was referring and/or alluding to? Again, genuinely curious. Not asking to be antagonistic, but rather because I think that my comment re: Soylent Green may have held a different connotation for you than it did for me.

Maybe. For my part, at least, I'm under no illusions that all this crap will continue to be worth about what I paid for it, possibly even less

That's flat-out speculation, not investment. He's basically sitting on the shares hoping that they'll increase in value so that he can cash out as opposed to having a long-term investment strategy for them. It reminds me of the people with a house full of crap, and all the crap will be worth something someday.

Quick update: it appears that the sum total of information regarding the main IC (marked 'AV775C') consists of people looking for datasheets for it, or mentions in a few reviews. The datasheets themselves, however, do not appear to be readily-available, though the IC appears to have been used in a few different low-end A/V converters. Interestingly, the basic circuit design has been incorporated into other devices using a different form factor. This Livejournal post (in Russian) shows essentially the same circuit in a mini-VGA converter. The main IC is shown to be a MacroSilicon MS1851, but it"s not a pin-for-pin equivalent to the AV775C - the MS1851 has 16 pins per side, whereas the AV775C has 20. This leads me to believe that while the AV775C may be a knockoff of something, there's more than one hardware revision of this basic design out there and the MS1851 may not be what it was based on. Having said that: a bunch of the pins on the AV775C seem to just be sunk straight to ground, so there's no good way of telling what's going on from just a visual comparison.

The Aliexpress converter arrived today. So far, its sole purpose has been to provide images of its internals. Chances are good that that will be the sum total of its lifetime achievements, but I may trace out the pads on the CON1 connector and see if anything interesting comes of it. If anyone knows someone who is willing to open up the Apollo / Atlas converter, please point them towards these pictures. A Coke says that the internals are the same.

Yup. This particularly started affecting laserdiscs in a significant way starting in the late '90s. Pretty much any optical disc media can be subject to it - that doesn't mean that they will be, but given that the major formats (CD, Laserdisc, DVD, Blu-Ray, various proprietary formats used by consoles, etc.) all use similar construction methods, it's definitely a real concern. Related: There is a counterpart to disc rot that affects ICs: bit rot. It's been known for decades as well. Realistically, as long as the media (disc or IC) was manufactured in a clean environment, not abused during its lifetime, and was stored in environments that were no detrimental to its health, the lifespans can be considered indefinite. What that really means is 'indefinite until it fails', which isn't easy to quantify. I have no doubt that there will be a ton of media that outlasts our lifetimes and then some, but entropy being what it is most will not. There's really no set number. Magnetic media from the 1950s has been successfully read and recovered, while media from even the past decade may be unrecoverable. Wire recordings from much earlier than that are still playable. It's pretty much case-by-case.

The Junior. Love the compact form factor and its looks fit in with the 5200 and 7800.

Backing up for a moment: it's more accurate to say that the A8 range is based on the 5200. The 5200 was scheduled to replace the 2600 roughly three years after its launch, but Atari, having already designed the hardware for what would become the 5200, decided to use that platform to move into the home computer market. That was in 1979; the 5200 eventually went on sale in 1982. As for differences between the A8 and 5200: no PIA on the 5200 so no SIO, a completely different OS ROM, incompatible controllers, an expansion port on the 5200 that isn't replicated on the A8s, etc. Sure, they share SALLY, POKEY, ANTIC, and GTIA, but there's more to it than just recasing an A8 and calling it good.

That one should be OK, but testing it before plugging it into the machine is very much recommended Pinout is: POKEYs are not cheap these days. Best Electronics has them, as does The Brewing Academy. Other than that, outside of taking a chance on a non-working machine and hoping that it yields good ICs the options are fairly slim. A couple of years ago, I picked up somewhere in the region of 384K of mid-1990s manufacture NEC RAM. The ICs were pulled from unknown sources, but it's been working great. Can't remember where I got it from, but it was probably an electronics surplus site. Too many counterfeits on eBay / Amazon to make it worth buying it there unless I'm familiar with the seller and their reputation.

I'd also suggest adding tools to the list that make working with the machine from a desktop computer easier. Stuff like atrfs and a8rawconv, for starters.

Yeah, that's not the best. Can you use a different power supply? If you happen to have the original one, please post a photo of it here before using it - there's one 110V PSU (the 'Ingot') that's known to kill systems. Any solder bridges and/or splatters anywhere on the board? One thing worth noting: as @Beeblebrox mentioned, you have MT RAM in that machine. It's known to be not the most reliable. This may be a contributing factor to the behaviour you're seeing if not outright responsible for it.

This is not the first forum where he's done something like this. I watched him pull pretty much the exact same crap on another forum of which I also happen to be a member, and he didn't make himself any more popular over there than he did here.

You may want to reconsider placing the monitor on top of the 800. The more room that the machine has to vent its heat, the better.

"Eskimo." If anyone gets the reference from just one word, well, colour me impressed

Tacos.