Turbo-Torch

Look at what they sold for....$11 and $30. It's probably some stupid place holder thing that high volume sellers use.

I haven't tried .4 yet...I'll give it a try tomorrow and let you know.

[media]http://youtu.be/QQFu3-NMN1Y[/media] The camera in on a tripod. There are also a few times where the whole screen jumps. The green border seems to stay stable for the most part but the yellow hash marks on the boarder bounce and the entire title screen is very bouncy.

They jiggle badly on all screens. I'll try an post a video later.

Reasonable $500? It's worth about $5.00.

I'm trying to figure out eBay software pricing for the Model III. Dancing Demon: $999.99. http://www.ebay.com/itm/-/351437729777 This one is my favorite. A disk with a generic black and white label in a plain white sleeve for $499.95. http://www.ebay.com/itm/-/201096276422 I know these aren't typos because the sellers have other Model III games/software listed at asinine prices. Is this just a case of full blown derp or maybe a front for something more sinister...order a crusty old floppy disk and it comes with other stuff? Or maybe I'm sitting on a fortune of rare TRS-80 software and don't realize it? At those prices, my collection should be in the $150,000 range!

If anyone can help you, he can. In your first post, you mentioned the power supply issue. Are you still using it after the cap failure? Have you checked the voltages under load? The one that goes off like a firecracker with a big smoke show is the .1 uF X-Capacitor. Mine let go Friday in a big way. http://www.digikey.com/product-search/en?keywords=399-7483-ND $1.77 at Digi-Key and then choose 1st class for shipping which was about $3.80 for me. Ordered it Friday and it was in my mailbox on Monday...impressive considering it was 4th of July weekend too.

Star Ship (Outer Space). Sounds in this game have always been a favorite of mine...and it's one of the first games to be released for the 2600.

The green color and enemies are solid but the gray shaded areas bounce up and down quickly about a 1/4". It happens throughout the entire game and in all rooms. I'm using a Harmony Encore, 21" CRT TV and a 4 switch 2600.

Very fun game. I figured out the green things blocking an exit can be dealt with by leaving and reentering a room but when it happens in the key room, it means inevitable death...any way of keeping them away from an doorway in that part of the game or allowing multiple shots to destroy it? Also, the gray bars have extreme jitter on my real 2600.

Finally got a chance to play the latest version. You've nailed it on the difficulty. I've played it several times and have only made it slightly past 1900 once. Haven't made it to three cars...yet. During one game, it did reset around 1760. Just went back to the Dead Road title screen. The black background is very crisp, but I sorta think the random background colors of the earlier versions made it more exciting. If you kept the black background, how hard would it be to add fog? Maybe go through three levels and then start back at level 1 but add a layer of gray fog to the top portion of the road so the player has less time to react?

For that style of game, Phasor Patrol for the Super Charger is by far my favorite.

I remember when our annual Church carnival featured a game room tent and everyone was excited. Every game in there was a freaky abortion like that and all were in popular cabinets; although, most were spray painted black right over the original artwork which you could still easily see. Go up to a cab thinking you're going to play Ms. Pac and it contains some unplayable hack of the original. There wasn't a single licensed game in there and needless to say, it was a flop. This was also in 1982 when those original games should have been raking in big money! I'm guessing they were all stolen from location and had the original boards removed and sold and then hacks put in to squeeze a few more dollars out of them.

99% of all problems I've had with my Model III (especially scrambled characters on boot) have been the mylar flex cables. Try disconnecting the flex cables going to the RS232 board and the disk controller board and then turn on the computer. My III also has two additional flex cables that jump across the motherboard but I don't believe the IV has them. I reseated them so many times back in the 80s, some of the fingers on the MB side fell out. I ended up soldering a ribbon cable from the rear of the MB to the disk controller and the same for one of the flex cables on the MB. Also when you reseat any ICs, clean the legs and sockets with Deoxit. Any electronics supply store near you should have it. If you still have a Radio Shack clinging to life in your area, they sell it too.

Night Driver is a good driving paddle game. For an object going left/right like Dead Road, Breakout or Astrosmash would be similar. I'm thinking it would be very difficult to not accidentally hit the walls in Dead Road while using the paddle controllers. Personally I think the joystick left/right speed is spot on and excellent, but the option to use paddle controllers too would bring it to a whole new level. Astrosmash for the 2600 can use either joystick or paddle...not sure if that's something simple or very involved requiring a lot of memory?

2.2 is definitely much more challenging and fun. The level where 3 cars appear is brutal! I've not counted how many levels in (7 or 8?) but it's around the 2,000 point mark. Also, the first time I made it there, a line of 3 zombies appeared. One was off the road on the right. I ran over the one zombie and then three cars came towards me (one also off the road) and that's when I panicked and died. Next time I made it to that level, 3 cars came down the center but I ended up hitting the right wall when trying to squeeze between them.

I'll give the new version a try sometime tomorrow. Looking forward to it. Please keep the various background colors. That's one thing I loved about certain old games like Missile Command, especially when certain colors corresponded with certain levels. When you'd see that bright blue screen from across the arcade, you knew that guy was hardcore. The location of the score seems ok to me. If you look at the score while playing, you won't survive long. Added points for near miss would be cool.

On the positive side, CRT TVs are easily found for free. Here's an example in my area. http://chicago.craigslist.org/sox/zip/5083562003.html I have a feeling things won't stay that way and in 5 to 10 years you'll pay dearly for that Wega.

Glad to help!

This was and still is. It's about 34 years old now.

Changed to a wider pic above. You should be able to crop out what you don't want. FYI, the bottom of the keyboard palm rest area is not original. It has a cap cover on it in the original color...supposedly for ergonomics. It was an original Radio Shack accessory that I remember buying at the local RS Computer Center with a bunch of other stuff on clearance.

A Level 1 Model III was $699.99. Rare as it didn't make much sense. A standard 16K Model III was only $300 more. That pic you have must be from a Model IV as it's 64K. This is a pic of my Model III reset area. If you need something wider or closer, let me know.

Ok, new high score of 7496. Would it be possible to increase top speed in higher levels or maybe add more double cars?

This game is great! Simple, addictive and it even gets you into the trance like zone which so few games do. 1338 is my high so far.

You flat out don't get it. In another thread, Nuclear Pac made a comment on collections (not to you) and you felt the need to jump in and tell him he's BABBLING...in other words, what he had to say was IRRELEVANT. Retrogamer made a general comment in this thread to no one in particular, yet you needed to tell him his view is a MOOT POINT...in other words, what he had to say is IRRELEVANT. I thought maybe a few analogies of other hobbies or how people experienced the real deal and want the original real deal may clear things up, but it was just more BABBLING to you. Maybe terms like babbling means something different in your country, if so let me know. As far as RF vs. Composite...I don't care! People can do what ever they want with equipment they own. If someone wants to change the output, more power to them. If Retrogamer decides he wants an original RF cord in the same shade of black and the same length as the original, I'm ok with that too (and personally my first choice). However, you don't seem to be ok with what other people do when it goes against your beliefs. It actually IRKS you and drives you berzerk. Useless huh? Nice.