[Open Source Atari XE keyboard (130XE/800XE style)]

59 minutes ago, gianlucarenzi said:

What is TK-II/AKI?

https://ataribits.weebly.com/tk-ii-manual.html

[SIDE 3 preorder]

7 hours ago, Firedawg said:

Just a reminder for folks stateside that have not preordered a Side 3 that MacRorie with The Brewing Academy has 10 units on preorder.  I've secured one of them;)

 

Mike

I don’t see them on his site

[What's the latest Atari related thing(s) you've bought on ebay?]

42 minutes ago, slx said:

Except for the video crystal which needs to be changed on the mainboard and two solder connections for audio, it's totally plug and play.

This really made me laugh for some reason. 

[Old pictures of our Atari 8-bit setups]

1 hour ago, Max_Chatsworth said:

Old school cool....What exactly is that 3382 "Mad Dogs" hat for?

 

Air Force Tech School, I was in the 3382nd squadron in the "Triangle" at Biloxi Air Force Base for training as an Avionics Inertial and RADAR repair specialist. Our squadron apparently, didn't have the best reputation.

 

I didn't help that reputation much. I was a Student Leader, but probably wasn't the best fit for it.

 

Every morning, there was a uniform of the day. There was a board in the squadron that told us what to wear. One morning, the uniform of the day called for us to carry our all-weather jackets.

 

We got down to the end to (I believe) the 96th squadron. That squadron was known for its discipline. We were waiting for things to clear to march to class and the 96th Sergeant comes up and instructs me to have the flight put on their all-weather jackets. I said, "But sir. the uniform of the day board says to carry it." He said, "And I'm telling you to put them on." So, of course, I respond, "If you can change the uniform of the day like that, wouldn't it be easier if we called you each morning and asked what to wear?"

 

He took my 341 form and a few days later, my Sergeant came up laughing and told me not to do something like that again.

 

So, yeah, that's what that hat was.

[Old pictures of our Atari 8-bit setups]

My original Atari setup from either January 1982 or January 1983

 

Okimate 10 Christmas Tree Pictures from December 1984. Astute readers will see the gumball machine box for the gumball machine in the pictures I posted earlier in this thread.

 

 

BASIC XE from Christmas 1986

[Atari 8-bit Software Preservation Initiative]

1 minute ago, djmat56 said:

Is there anything in particular on my list that you would like me to have a go with just to test?

Perhaps try one of the disks I did not list since those are already preserved and it can be compared to the preserved copy?

[Atari 8-bit Software Preservation Initiative]

Yes. We do not want to send these internationally. 
 

It is my understanding that the preference is to kryoflux them. Perhaps someone in UK with a kryoflux could dump them for you?

 

[Atari 8-bit Software Preservation Initiative]

1 hour ago, djmat56 said:

This is the list of original disks......

 

Kyan Pascal for Atari - Kyan
Microsoft Basic - Atari
Microsoft Basic II - Atari
Antic vol.6 no.4 - Atari Muscle
Antic vol.5 no.8 - Shoppers guide
Antic vol.5 no.10 - Inside Atari
Antic vol.6 no.1 - Anniversary issue
Antic vol.5 no.9 - Talking Typewriter
Compute Disk vol.10 no.4
APX disk 2 - Pascal Compiler
GT Albert E. Spreadsheet - Indus Systems
GT Data Manager - Indus Systems
Dos XL Master disk - Indus Systems
Visicalc - Visicorp
Paperclip - Batteries Included
Adventure Master (disks 1 and 2) - CBS Software
Shamus - Synapse
Ultima II - Sierra Online
Exodus Ultima III - Origin Systems
Ultima IV - Origin Systems
Music Construction Set - Electronic Arts
Realm of Impossibility - Electronic Arts
Spartados Multi I/O - ICD
Family Finances II - Atari
P:R: connection - ICD
ABC Basic compiler - Monarch Data Systems
Lode Runner - Broderbund
Choplifter - Broderbund
A.E. - Broderbund
Blue Max - Synapse
Telengard - Avalon Hill
Zork III - Infocom
Hacker - Activision
Castle Wolfenstein - Muse
Space Games - Keypunch Software
Diskwiz - Allen Macroware
Printwiz - Allen Macroware
Raid Over Moscow - Access Software
Top Gunner Collection - Microprose
Caverns of Mars - Atari
Zaxxon - Datasoft

One request. Please do not try to read any of these in an Atari (or any other kind of) drive. Sometimes, we may only get one chance to read an old disk before it starts to deteriorate.

 

I looked these up in the A8Pres database. Depending on some of the dates and versions, the ones I listed below look like they would be worth attempting to dump. I have a Kryoflux and live in the United States. If you live in the US and want to send these to me to preserve, I will attempt to dump them and then send the originals back to you.

Kyan Pascal for Atari - Kyan

Antic vol.6 no.4 - Atari Muscle

Antic vol.5 no.8 - Shoppers guide

Antic vol.5 no.10 - Inside Atari

Antic vol.6 no.1 - Anniversary issue

Antic vol.5 no.9 - Talking Typewriter

Compute Disk vol.10 no.4

APX disk 2 - Pascal Compiler

GT Albert E. Spreadsheet - Indus Systems

GT Data Manager - Indus Systems

Dos XL Master disk - Indus Systems

Paperclip - Batteries Included

Music Construction Set - Electronic Arts

Realm of Impossibility - Electronic Arts

Spartados Multi I/O - ICD

Family Finances II - Atari

P:R: connection - ICD

ABC Basic compiler - Monarch Data Systems

Telengard - Avalon Hill

Zork III - Infocom

Castle Wolfenstein - Muse

Diskwiz - Allen Macroware

Printwiz - Allen Macroware

 

[Altirra on macOS (Update Thread)]

On 3/29/2020 at 9:00 AM, a_netanel said:

FYI, wine supports 64 bit now.
I was able to install wine running the following:

brew cask install xquartz
brew cask install wine-stable

created a simple app with Automator (set shell to /bin/bash, and Pass input as arguments):

IMAGE="${1//\//\\}"
/usr/local/bin/wine64 /Users/myuser/Atari/Altirra-3.20/Altirra64.exe "$IMAGE"

And now I can double click an xex file and run it with Altirra.

I created an Automater and made it a shell script and when I try to drag a .xex file to it, it won't take it. If I make the xex open with it, it says there was no argument. What type of action did you use for your script?

 

Thanks.

[Micro Mainframe Ahead of its time?]

2 minutes ago, bfollowell said:

It doesn't sound like it uses it as a floppy emulator, but actually uses the Model III floppy drive as an Atari floppy drive.

 

I'm sure that's probably what you meant, but it's an important distinction.

 

 

Well, yeah. I'm comparing it to the SIO2PC devices we have now. The Model III was seen by the Atari as a Disk drive. Sure, it wrote to files on the Model III floppy drive, but that is because that was the storage the Model III had. An SIO2PC could read and write from a floppy drive attached to a modern Windows PC and would be doing the same thing.

 

I'm just impressed they even thought to try it and wondered if they ever actually sold any of them.

[Micro Mainframe Ahead of its time?]

I was looking at PDF's of Antic (As one does) and came across this ad for Micro Mainframe. The device itself isn't too overwhelmingly interesting, but the part at the bottom where you can use a TRS-80 Model III as an Atari Disk Drive emulator? Did that ever actually ship? Has anyone seen one?

 

I mean, I especially like the part where they say you can use your Model III as an Atari Floppy for only $90. (You know, plus the cost of the Model III...)

 

[Old pictures of our Atari 8-bit setups]

I bought a Rana and then an Indus specifically because they were cheaper than the Atari offerings. 

[Old pictures of our Atari 8-bit setups]

10 hours ago, electronizer said:

I noticed one picture with lots of graphics printouts on the wall, including one of Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones. Was that an Atari image file? I would have been thrilled to have that picture on my wall as a kid!

That was me. I had graphic printouts all over my room. (Including color ones from my Okimate 10 color printer, that thing was great back then...)

 

I printed everything I could find and even made some myself (although they were more text-based and not "artistic").

 

-Todd

 

[AVGCART]

Along similar lines, now that Side 3 is in preorder, can someone speak to what Side 3 can do that AVG cannot and what AVG can do that Side 3 cannot?

 

Thank you. 

[AVGCART]

2 hours ago, ebiguy said:

No offense but I have a very ambivalent feeling about this. I don't want to start a polemic but just to put it into perspective. Of course, paying 13.80 for an object worth 5.67 is comparatively very expensive. But if you take a step back, buying an object thousands of miles away and receiving it a few days later has a cost. Not to mention the carbon cost and maybe the underpaid labor for handling. What would a much lower cost mean?

Thank you for not being polemic.

[How to remove yellowing from an old Atari case]

4 minutes ago, Mclaneinc said:

Who is the second one (seriously, no clue)

 

Good old Oompa lumpahs...

 

Edit: looked at the pic name for the lady..Still no clue..

 

Edit 2: Ah, thank you google....A so called A lister...

 

Edit 3: I did think about using an Oompa but I actually thought people might get the hump...And after that I just could not think of any other soul..

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snooki

 

She was on a short-lived (although IMO too long-lived) "documentary"  about the Jersey Shore.

[How to remove yellowing from an old Atari case]

[For the programmers...]

My first exposure to programming was BASIC programming on the Atari 2600. Through an unusual set of circumstances, I ended up with keyboard controllers for my 2600. So, I went looking for something to use them with and found BASIC.

 

As simple as the experience was, I was hooked.

 

I got an Atari 800 in January, 1982 and I wrote a slot machine and a game called Money Hungry (which I reproduced from scratch a few years ago after having lost all my original disks due to downsizing offer the years). I also wrote a program to create paper inserts for Audio Cassettes that listed the cassette name on the spine and the contents on the side.

 

That fall, our school got a PC lab with Apple ][e's. They offered computer classes. I talked to the teacher and told him what I had been doing on the Atari and he suggested I skip the first class and go into the advanced class.

 

In school, we wrote a program in Pascal to play Kalah. The game had to be one-player against the computer. You could make the computer as simple as just randomly picking moves or as smart as you wanted. The game let you choose whether the person or the computer went first and we had a tournament playing 2 computers next to each other with a competing program running on each one. Best of three coin toss to see who goes first.

 

My program came in second, likely because I lost the coin toss.

 

When I got my ST, I didn't program too much on it, but did do some things in BASIC.

 

I spent a lot of time programming Hypercard Stacks on Macintosh, including a DM and Player stack for AD&D. (When the DM would attack, it would say ouch for every point of damage it did to the player.)

 

I programmed in a language called CASL (Cannot believe the site is still (somewhat) active) for Palm Pilots and released several games for it including Comp IV and Merlin clones. I also wrote an app called Apprentice for D&D and Decker for Shadowrun.

 

I have a few score card apps (Miniature Golf, Mexican Train Dominoes, a card game called 13) in the iOS App Store that I wrote in Corona.

 

In my professional life, I started out of college programming IBM 370 Mainframe Assembler for a bank that I still work at today. I don't do as much coding now as most of our software is purchased, but I get to do a little here and there.

[Today (2019) what drive emulator would you recommend for 800XL?]

The picture above, Lotharek has pin headers in the screw connectors. You can just barely see wires attached to the other end of the pin headers. Then those wires go to the SIO connector that is shown in the previous picture I posted. And that SIO connector plugs into your Atari.

[Today (2019) what drive emulator would you recommend for 800XL?]

This picture you can see the header. Click it to enlarge it.

[Today (2019) what drive emulator would you recommend for 800XL?]

1 minute ago, Goochman said:

I saw that - Im just not sure if that header is included or not????

I'm sure the header is on the board. The cable is not included. So you will need to buy one, make one yourself, or cut up an existing cable.

[Today (2019) what drive emulator would you recommend for 800XL?]

9 minutes ago, Goochman said:

 

The clear case one doesnt appear to have a SIO port - its not clear to me on how one would wire up and connect to your 8bit?  Does it come with the external sio connector that you have to run the 5 wires to or what????

looks like it uses this. (Attach the wires to a header with screws to lock them in place.)

https://lotharek.pl/productdetail.php?id=128

[*New* pictures of our Atari 8-bit setups]

On 7/2/2020 at 2:29 PM, gilsaluki said:

i got the joke.  No politics!

That's politics?

 

[What's the latest Atari related thing(s) you've bought on ebay?]

18 minutes ago, slx said:

Anyone here snagged the 65XE and XF551 for 150$ BIN from Holland, Texas, that was gone a few minutes after I got the mail alert? Looked like a good bargain!

I was REALLY tempted. I'm not surprised it went as fast as it did. The shipping was pretty high and that is what caused me to not pull the trigger.

 

But I was especially interested in what this cartridge is. I did some Google searches but could not find anything. Anyone know what this is?

[Beyond Castle Wolfenstein]

I was scanning a Beyond Castle Wolfenstein manual that @Gearhead Lu sent me to preserve. I noticed in the manual, that they had this statement:

Would be fun to send them $10 to see what happens.

 

Although, because of technology that people could not have possibly predicted in 1985 when this title was released, I can tell where that letter would go today:

 

 

If someone has a blog, podcast or youtube channel that they were looking for a topic for, contacting these guys to see if they ever get any mail for Muse Software, might be fun...