Major_Tom_coming_home
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Posts posted by Major_Tom_coming_home
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Thanks for the advice everyone. It seems like I'm late in the game to get into the C64 at a good price, and that for all the rich history there are potentially frustrating drawbacks with the hardware as well. Maybe I'll just bide my time and keep my eyes open for a good C64 deal and just be content with my yard sale find Amiga 1200. Methinks for now I'll scratch my early 80's computer itch with a TI/99, they seem cheap and reliable even though the games and software are slim pickings. Thanks again folks!
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I'm planning to get a C64 from Ebay in the next few months, and was wondering if anyone had buying advice as to which model to get / what I need to be careful about / Are there any critical parts such as video cables or power supplies that are difficult to buy separately etc. In particular, I'm worried about machines that have been 'tested for power' since something that turns on can still be a brick due to something a bad bios chip.
Thanks in advance
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Yes, If the crash hadn't happened, the NES wouldn't just be in completion with the 7800, but also Colecovision or a newer Colecovision 2, and an INTV 3, 4 or whatever by then. It would have been an uphill battle. Nintendo knew this, and that's why they approached Atari to market the NES for them originally.
I have a serious love / hate relationship when it comes to the NES. Nintendo took the risk to enter the post-crash American market and for that they deserved the huge profits, but the monopolistic practices they used to lock out any competition was disgusting, shameful, and should have been ended by the courts of the era. The NES hands down had the best games of the era, Ms. Pac Man and Asteroids on the 7800 are fun games but aren't in the same league as Metroid, Super Mario, or Zelda. Sadly though, your console wouldn't work properly after 6 months due to design flaws but according to Nintendo it was because you were spilling soda into the control deck.
I think Nintendo earned the success they had with the NES, but at the same time they earned the initial butt kicking from Sega and the later butt kicking they got from Sony. Twice the pride, twice the fall.
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AtariBlast! is excellent. What a thrill! Not only is this game a good reason to own a 5200, its a great reason to own an Atarimax Ultimate SD cart.
I was just thinking the same thing. I have a good sized 5200 collection so I couldn't justify the Atarimax, but this game and other homebrew is making me reconsider.
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Just curious, did you have the cap problems after they had been replaced, or only before? I was thinking of getting a recapped GG and an Everdrive to go with it, but I have a low tolerance when it comes to unreliable or frustrating hardware. Stuff is going to occasionally break on these old handhelds and that is understandable, but I would rather pass if the system needs to be recapped every 1-2 years.
I recently got a Lynx and having them side by side to play would be interesting.
Almost 7 years after I first posted in this thread... I no longer have the Lynx and Lynx II but still have several Game Gears with accessories, EverDrive, and over 150 game carts. I still like the Lynx, but I found myself playing it less and less over time and passed it along to someone who would appreciate it more.
Clearly the Game Gear suffers from cap problems. All of my Game Gears have had their caps replaced. A couple of them also have a LED mod, extending the battery life by many hours.
I enjoy playing a real Game Gear occasionally, but these days the old low contrast LCD screens are harder for me to look at for extended gaming sessions. I would love to upgrade one to a McWill screen one day, but for now I am very happy playing GG and Lynx emulated on a PSP or computer. Even though the PSP in no longer new or cutting edge, it emulates Game Gear very well and the games look great on the PSP screen.
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Please add me to the list - thanks
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I have an Atari 5200 as an adult, but I was around 6-8 years old when the 5200 was released and I never even heard of it until much later. I'm curious about the experiences of folks who either had one or knew about it when it was current generation in 1982-1984. Was the main reason the console flopped really because of the Joysticks and a lack of backwards compatibility, or is that more of a myth? I suspect the joysticks may have hurt it somewhat, but was it really a fatal flaw or just an annoyance? My theory is that if they at least lasted 6 months to a year I don't think that alone killed of the system, and worse case scenario Atari should have been able to redesign and improve them. I also can't imagine that lack of backwards compatibility was a deal breaker either, it would have been nice but I suspect most buyers understood it was a different and more powerful piece of hardware and most of them probably already had a 2600 anyway.
My guess is that the problem was:
1) Lack of a killer app and innovation. Many 5200 games were just updates of 2600 games. If you had a 2600 already, the 5200 wasn't going to be much different gameplay wise.
2) The video game market was reaching saturation. Lots of competition for too few buyers. Gaming had become somewhat of a fad as well as a get rich quick bandwagon scheme.
3) I'm thinking Atari was very out of touch. Management saw their product as a kids toy and didn't care about their consumers. They thought you could sell a box of dog shit if it had the Atari logo on it. Same with the controllers designed by accountants to be as cheap as possible to produce quality be damned. The kiddies would not know the difference so screw them.
4) My guess is the marketing of the 5200 was terrible and people didn't understand that the 5200 was different from and more powerful than the 2600.
5) Hardware wise the 5200 competed well against the intellivision, but was curb stomped by Coleco. Not to mention, the pack in of the 5200 was breakout which looked like just another 2600 game. Coleco packed-in Donkey Kong, which was hugely popular at the time and it looked nearly as good as the arcade version.
I'm curious to know what other folks have to say. Should be interesting and enlighting.
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Just wanted to say:
I never heard of the Astrocade until recently but it seems quite awesome. VERY powerful for it's time, great controllers, and in my opinion it's the best looking game console out there. If it wasn't so difficult and expensive to get a working console and games to go with it, I would get one in a heartbeat. That said, emulation is the only way I'll be able to play the system and resources such as ballyalley are much appreciated. Even though I'll probably never own quite a few obscure old video game consoles, it's nice to have a way to get a taste of what they are all about.
Yup, Adam: that's me. I started the Bally Alley website in 2000. I am also a co-host of the Bally Alley Astrocast (along with Paul and Michael). In fact, we'll be recording part of an episode tonight when we review the Blast Droids cartridge and a BASIC game called Haunted House. Paul and I will also be reviewing two Arcadian newsletters as well as several letters that we sent to the Arcadian (but those will probably be recorded at a separate time).
Many people presume that the Astrocade is my favorite game machine, but it's not (the Atari 8-bit computer takes that spot). However, the Astrocade is quite unusual (i.e. is it a computer or console?) and hardly anyone seems to remember it. In the late 90s, I received lots of material that I could archive. I figured that I could concentrate my archiving energies on all the much-better-known systems (i.e. Atari, Coleco, or Intellivision), places where I couldn't make a dent. Or, I could archive for the Astrocade, and perhaps help dig it out of its forgotten place in the 70s. I really don't think that more people now know about the Astrocade since I started BallyAlley.com, but surely if someone does hear about the system, then at least now they can find all the information that they want about it on my website.
Getting back to Astrocade emulation. This thread has, once again, made me ponder writing an article on how to get Astrocade emulation setup running under MAME for Windows. It's not complicated, but some people don't like the bother of MAME, which (I presume) is why "Prosystemsearch" would prefer an Astrocade stand-alone emulator.
Adam
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Apologies for posting this in the Apple II forum but I figure there are lots of knowledgeable folks here familiar with all things Apple Macintosh.
I picked up an iMac slot loading 500 mhz at a yard sale over the weekend. Works great and I think it has about 390 megs of ram. It's running 9.2.2 and I was wondering if upgrading to 10.4 would be worthwhile? Mostly I'll probably use it to play old games, but it would be nice if surfing the web could be a secondary use. It can technically get on the internet now, but there apparently aren't any modern browsers that will run on 9.2.2. Would 10.4 make classic OS games incompatible or make my IMac too frustratingly slow? Thanks much.
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The Color Computer 2 was the computer I had as a kid and I'm getting back into it now (mainly for the games of course). I was wondering if there is any advantage in having the 64K model instead of the 16K model if I'm mainly just playing the cartridge based games? I had the 16K as a kid and I don't remember ever not being able to run any coco2 games or software on it due to it not being the 64k model. The COCO2 I have now is also a 16k model. It seems like the only upgrade worth considering would be to get a COCO3 at some point. Thanks in advance for any advice.
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I was wondering if it is possible to replace the shell of a 4 Switch woody with the shell of a 4 switch Vader without modding or drilling? I have something like four 4-switch woodys lying around, but I don't own a Vader. I do however know where I can get a non-functional Vader pretty cheaply.
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Thanks for the information. I actually just ordered from Amigakit a Kickstart 3.1 1200 chipset to upgrade my Amiga from 3.0, and a CF HDD pre-installed with AmigaOS 3.1 as well as the necessary adapters and cables. I'm sure I could have gotten the HDD installed and working for less money, but the extra expense is worth it to me to avoid any hassles. I was going to buy a 3.1 floppy disk set anyway but I figured having it on the CF is more convenient.
Kickstart is the ROM, except on Amiga 1000 where you load it from disk. You need a matching Kickstart ROM with the OS (primarily Workbench) you load from disk. Thus if you want OS3.1, you would need the computer to be equipped with 3.1 ROM as well.
However, the AmigaKit CF HDD solution is said to work with Kickstart 2.05 (Amiga 600) or newer, so for that purpose it shouldn't be a matter. Bear in mind though that the CF-IDE adapter can be had from China for a fraction of the price, in case you would already own a suitable CF card and don't mind to learn the hard way. The included software seems to be freeware, so it isn't particular value added, but of course if you like to support those maintaining business in vintage hardware, it is smooth to order a kit. I don't mind supporting those, but generally when it comes to hardware or software they developed or commissioned, not just reselling what can be had elsewhere for far less.
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Update: I had a chance to put the old girl through her paces with super hang on and I was impressed. Great color out of the original Amiga monitor, Probably 40-50 FPS, Control with the mouse was great, and booting up an Amiga game was a lot easier than getting a PC DOS game of the era started. There's still a bunch more games as well as business and animation software yet.
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I indeed have a few hundred budgeted for upgrades.
My A1200 was on the recieving end of an Indivision AGA, which allows you to work with modern VGA displays, an internal hard drive and a trapdoor 68020 accelerator with 8Mb RAM. I also have the network adapter mentioned above and have been on the internet :-)
If you feel like blowing some cash on upgrades, Amigakit has all you need for the above, plus full disk sets for HDD installs of workbench
If you were feeling a little Amiga happy, you could go for a tower conversion too!
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Err...is kickstart the boot disk for the system?
This confirms my suspicion. If you cannot find OS3.1 disks in your stash, AmigaKit has the set available with some modern updates. Oh, I just remembered, too, that you need to make sure you have the 3.1 Kickstart installed before you start mucking about with OS3.1 or later.
OS3.9 CDs come with OS3.1 installations, but does anyone know for certain if the license covers the full installation like that and not upgrading already-owned 3.1?
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I believe I have the workbench set. That said, when I make my first order at amigakit I'll get an extra set from them just to be safe. As old as the system is, even if the workbench set I have is fully functional they could be on their last legs. It's been a while since I've used a floppy but I clearly remember that they aren't always reliable.
Every Amiga came with Workbench disks, and if you have v3.1 ROM then you should have a set. If you don't have it, just find it on the Web and make it yourself.
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Oh, and would this be appropriate as a hard drive for my 1200?
http://amigakit.leamancomputing.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=24_78&products_id=883
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Very cool. Is there any online store where I can get accelerator cards, video cards, etc or I am stuck with Ebay only? The only thing Amigakit had in stock were CF hard drives.
Oh, yeah. I have RDesktop so I can work with some of my servers via RDP. There is an SSH2 client, as well. Though, no IPsec VPN capability, so I have a site-to-site IPsec set up for my network management.
You, my friend, have turned up a piece of gold
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Holy crap, I had assumed that my Amiga would have upgrade options but other than the CPU these specs would almost make it capable of being a useful modern desktop computer.
My 1200 has a Blizzard 1260, 192MB RAM, an 8GB DoM, the 1230 SCSI on which I use a CD-RW and a Zip drive. I need to get an Indivision as the SD/FF I have is getting bitchy (not to mention how hot the bloody thing has always gotten,) and I would like to move it to a DVI monitor. I would like to get USB, as well, as for right now what big stuff I am not sharing across the network (Samba is decidedly not Windows 7 friendly, and it barely works with my NAS,) I am using Zip disks. I also installed an HD floppy drive so I have been able to use 1.76MB FFS disks as necessary.
I used to use a wireless card on it but since I have gone all 5GHz in my house I have had to switch back to regular old Ethernet.
And I tell you what, if you need to print nothing beats lpr.device and a good network printer.
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Very cool, thank you very much. Once I get better oriented maybe I'll look into an upgrade card (mine doesn't have one). The Amiga seems like a fun and not too expensive machine to upgrade - there's only so much you can do with something older like an Apple II or Atari 800 but the Amiga is modern enough to make it interesting to me having VGA and multimedia possibilities. I'll probably skip getting it onto the internet unless it was a cheap upgrade and doing so would make it super easy to download Amiga software. An old school BBS would be kinda cool though, it's been a while since I've been on one.
A1200 and A600 are the easiest of all Amiga to write to floppy disks.
Get yourself Sandisk CF-PCMCIA converter and a CF card. Once you have the drivers configured to read CF card then you are set.
The OS 3.1 can read 720KB disks once you enable it, and then you can transfer the CF drivers to A1200. Plenty of guides on the Web how to do it.
When all is done, you can copy ADF files to CF card and write them on your A1200, super easy.
Another way, when you have Hard Drive up and running then you can use WHDLoad software, which runs most games from hard drive, no need for floppies any more.
If you want it to go on Internet, I made a video how to configure AmiTCP.
There are so many things you can to to upgrade the A1200, not enough time to write it.
BTW, check under the trap door and see if you have an upgrade card installed, you may be lucky and have one, if you don't, you need to invest in one for sure to get the ultimate experience.
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Thanks much for the info. AmigaKit has a 4gb internal hard drive I'll definitely pick up.
On the floppies, yes and no. If you use a filesystem on the Amiga like CrossDOS* (I think it is actually included in later releases of the OS, but I have had it so long I cannot say for certain) you can read PC-formatted floppies. If your 1200 has an HD (high density) drive in it, you will be able to transfer 1.44MB per floppy. Chances are, however, you only have a DD so 720k will be your max.
The PC floppy controller is incapable of reading the Amiga-formatted floppies as they lack sector gaps (primarily.)
There are tons of "modern" enhancements for the 1200, like the ACA1221 which will give you a real 68020 (rather than the on-board 68EC020,) and much more RAM. Check out AmigaKit. You can even get a video adapter to connect to modern video displays (DVI or SVGA,) the Indivision 1200 AGA.
*I believe fat95 can do this, too, but I mainly use it for USB sticks and Zip disks. EDIT: I forgot, I also have a fat95 partition on my disk-on-module (essentially an industrial IDE SSD) for DOS emulation.
Nice find, and welcome to Amiga! Unfortunately, eBay prices on "classic" Amiga stuff can be astronomical, but not impossible to get at good prices if you watch closely. You can also check out AmiBay.
While I want to grow this forum at AtariAge, some other resources are Amiga.org and the English Amiga Board, to start.
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The Yard Sale gods smiled upon me today, and I picked up a working Amiga 1200 with monitor, external floppy, power supply, mouse, and a shit ton of programs, games, magazines, and documentation for $100. I've booted it to workbench so far but that is about it. I don't think the owner really wanted to sell it but it was boxed in his garage and he probably got the vibe it was going to a good home. I've had other classic computers and know my way around a command prompt, but this is my first Amiga / Commodore product. I was wondering if there are any modern enhancements that can be made like expanding the memory, networking it, or getting it to read from flash memory? Also, if I get an external 3.5 for my PC is there any way to write files to a 3.5 floppy that the Amiga can read (plenty of blanks came with the Amiga)? I've attached pics that will hopefully show up. I've always been curious about Amiga, just not curious enough to pay the eBay price :-) .
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Clones are great. I have the tristar super 8 and the retroport snes adapter. But Castlevania 3 and some others do not work. Except vania 3works on tristar super 8 for some reason. But neither have wavy lines free screen.
Thanks, I'll look into that
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Could always import a Famicom and play using a Famicom flash cart.
Thanks, I didn't think of that. Will do some research.
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New owner on the block (Warning: funny but also long and rambling)
in TI-99/4A Computers
Posted
You have been warned. Throwing in a dash of humor...
Okay, to be honest I was originally going to get a C64 to go with my TRS-80 Color Computer 2, Amiga 1200, and Atari 800xl. Then I priced them on Ebay (expensive) and heard about all kinds of hardware issues, shady sellers, bad chips, bad power supplies, dogs and cats living together, etc. Maybe I was being paranoid, but there is nothing I HATE more than a hassle and I avoid them at all costs. There seemed to be tons of "untested" C64s on Ebay, and I'm sure we all know what "Untested" means. I love the history, success, and variety the C64 brings to the table, but for now my C64 curiosity will be quenched via emulation.
Enter the TI/99. It was a system I was familiar with because a friend of mine had a second hand one from a garage sale when we were kids. I remember being pissed because his TI/99 had more memory than my COCO2.
One thing I have learned is that the best things to collect for your wallet are those that have low demand but high supply. For me, this is fun. I casually collect staplers, typewriters, adding machines, old cameras etc. As far as old computers, this seems to be what the TI/99 has going for it. Inexpensive and 'unpopular', but still has enough going for it to be interesting. A Mattel Aquarius or Emerson Arcadia it is not. I just ordered a fully functional one in nice shape with games and joysticks for $65 shipped. Hell yeah!!! The TI/99 seems to have a great bang for the buck. Plus, unlike anything Commodore ever made the black and silver model simply looks bad assed - the computer Darth Vader would use. From what I have heard it also has reliability to match it's appearance. I purposely avoided the beige TI/99, it reminds me of a shitty Packard Bell 486sx POS from 1993.
Anyway, it's nice to join the club. Once my TI/99 is set up I'm totally getting the SD cartridge I read about. The TI/99 seems like the perfect system for me: Great value, lots of software, awesome 1970s appearance, well built, affordable, cult classic, underdog etc. If anyone has advice to offer, fire away. I'm happy to report my TI/99 will be coming with Joysticks and Parsec.