Muzz73

You can always get a NOS one from one of the Atari dealers, put it into your 800XL and then do a repair to get the old one working again. Never hurts to have a spare (as we all know).

That will work fine. I know you are wanting to go all original, but that cable is going to be in the back, where no one will see it most of the time, so I think you can fudge your way past it.

If you don't already have one, I'd recommend grabbing a speech synthesizer unit. It makes any of the games that support it a little extra fun (like Parsec).

Yes! And if I still had enough left to live comfortably for my remaining years, then all you guys would have to pay for would be the shipping!

Same here... I ordered a MyIDE2 a few months ago, didn't really hear from him, but received the product within a week.

I had always heard that E.T. was not necessarily the worst game of all time, or even the worst 2600 game, but that it was Atari's worst game ever. I might agree to that. Worst 2600 game ever? Nope... I owned Sorcerer by Mythicon temporarily. I acquired it in a trade, played it a couple of times, then immediately gave it away. Ugh...

Luckily, I have never had a bad experience with any Atari dealer, ever. I buy stuff from Brad & Bruce all the time. They're both always nice and communicate promptly with me. What about Ben at Bravo Sierra? I've never bought anything from him, but I talked to him on the phone once, years ago. We were working a trade and I got busy and never got back to him. Pity, he seemed like a nice guy, too.

An ATX board that took original Atari chips would be pretty cool, but until that happens, I grabbed a couple of 800XL motherboards, a new keyboard and a new/rebuildable PSU from Best, hoping that I'll be set for another 30 years (or as close as I can get to it).

I let the whole E.T. thing slide for a couple of reasons. First off, I never owned a copy of the game. I only borrowed it. Secondly, Warshaw is also responsible for Yars' Revenge. I'd say that makes him even.

I seem to think that the 2600 was switchable between channels 2 & 3, wasn't it?

That reminds me of a joke that was going around here in the states a few years ago... Why is Twilight like soccer? Because they run around for two hours, nobody scores and a billion fans worldwide tell you "You just don't get it..." Not trying to start a flame war, I just thought it was funny as a Twilight joke! LOL At least what we yanks know as "soccer" makes more sense to be called "football" than American football does; why call a game "FOOTball" when it's played mostly with your hands?! Hee hee...

You can try contacting Bruce at B&C Computervisions. He has them listed on his site as: ICA806 XL CPU 8.00 The address is http://www.myatari.com/

Hmm... well, my 600XL's motherboard is damaged, and I am starting over with a brand new one, but it sounds like the precision socket is the way to go. I'm going to have the monitor port installed and the RAM upgraded to 64K before I put it in, so I may as well have the precision socket installed as well.

Adventure? Easy-peasy... I just killed the yellow and green duck-billed dragons and here comes the red one... dang it, the bat jacked my sword! Time to run as fast as my blockiness will take me!

Hmm... that's great to know, guys! Thanks! I plan on putting the board in and leaving it there, until the machine goes ka-boom! Then I'll move it into one of my 800XL's and keep going. Thanks again!

Hey, all... I just ordered a Simple Stereo board for my 600XL, which is fully socketed (I think). The board comes with a Precision Socket. How is this any better than the stock socket, and would it really make a difference for stereo POKEY stuff? Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks!

Thanks! I'll check it out.

Yes, I have rebuilt several CX-40's using the gold PCB and improved handle from Best Electronics. People who have hated the CX-40 for decades are impressed by the solid, clicky feel vs. the mushy feel of an original CX-40. If I am reading the website correctly, Brad may be out of the improved joystick handles and may now use the OEM ones (not sure, I should ask him), but in your case, I'd replace the boot retaining ring to keep the stick together, then, if you feel the need to rebuild, look into the other options. If you decide to rebuild it with the gold PCB, I'd replace the fire button spring while you're at it. It'll feel like a completely new controller and better than when it was new from Atari.

Once the electrical work is done on this side of the house, I'm going to play everything! Woohoo!

If you find a Multisync that supports the ST's video, I still have that ST to VGA cable for you (as well as a mouse and possibly an SF314). Keep me posted.

You got a good profile shot of my son playing the Jaguar, directly behind Dan Kramer's right shoulder.

That's pretty much what I figured... I didn't want to start tearing this thing up, because it's still a nice monitor and the only color monitor I've got for now.

Oops! LOL Yes, awesome!

Vesalia.de sells a case for those, I believe. With room for the accelerator hanging off the back and everything! I totally need one of those...

That's cool! Next time you build one, are you going to see about having the fire button turn on the power? That'd be neat, too!