What else makes sense to go for?

[JohnBuell]

I know I'd like to eventually have a 1200XL and 130XE to round off the major models. A working 410 tape drive would be nice too, since I do have two 1010s (both kinds) and an XC12. And an XF551 to finish off the XE range (I'm up to 2 810s now and at least 3 1050s). But what else makes sense? How often do the "escaped" 1400 models show up on ebay, or the XLFs? For printers I've got an 820 with a cracked case (but which otherwise more or less works), an 825 and 850 boxed away somewhere, a couple 1020s that don't work and a 1027 that I seem to remember was giving me trouble... Do I bother with the XE printers? Should I find my parents old Star printer in a box where ever it might be and call it a day? What about modems? I kept an XM301 in its box after shipping one off to become my SIO2SD case, but should I get a 1030 or SX212? Should I focus on things I can display, or things people could actually use in a show, like figuring out how to assemble a multijoy? And how much do people look to get the 3rd party peripherals, like the parallel port connectors or Indus disk drives?

 

I mean, it'd be nice to eventually have one of everything, but with some things being so darn rare (65 XEP for example), I just don't think it's ever going to be financially feasible, so where do I cut it off?

 

Thoughts?

[atariksi]

I know I'd like to eventually have a 1200XL and 130XE to round off the major models. A working 410 tape drive would be nice too, since I do have two 1010s (both kinds) and an XC12. And an XF551 to finish off the XE range (I'm up to 2 810s now and at least 3 1050s). But what else makes sense? How often do the "escaped" 1400 models show up on ebay, or the XLFs? For printers I've got an 820 with a cracked case (but which otherwise more or less works), an 825 and 850 boxed away somewhere, a couple 1020s that don't work and a 1027 that I seem to remember was giving me trouble... Do I bother with the XE printers? Should I find my parents old Star printer in a box where ever it might be and call it a day? What about modems? I kept an XM301 in its box after shipping one off to become my SIO2SD case, but should I get a 1030 or SX212? Should I focus on things I can display, or things people could actually use in a show, like figuring out how to assemble a multijoy? And how much do people look to get the 3rd party peripherals, like the parallel port connectors or Indus disk drives?

 

I mean, it'd be nice to eventually have one of everything, but with some things being so darn rare (65 XEP for example), I just don't think it's ever going to be financially feasible, so where do I cut it off?

 

Thoughts?

 

Well, I'm not into collecting nor understand what people get out of just collecting but if you need Atari 410 tape drive, I have an extra that came with system I bought-- just pay shipping. I also have some MPX and imagewriter printers that are about to go into trash-- maybe too expensive to ship to be worth it.

[qix_maniac]

I know I'd like to eventually have a 1200XL and 130XE to round off the major models. A working 410 tape drive would be nice too, since I do have two 1010s (both kinds) and an XC12. And an XF551 to finish off the XE range (I'm up to 2 810s now and at least 3 1050s). But what else makes sense? How often do the "escaped" 1400 models show up on ebay, or the XLFs? For printers I've got an 820 with a cracked case (but which otherwise more or less works), an 825 and 850 boxed away somewhere, a couple 1020s that don't work and a 1027 that I seem to remember was giving me trouble... Do I bother with the XE printers? Should I find my parents old Star printer in a box where ever it might be and call it a day? What about modems? I kept an XM301 in its box after shipping one off to become my SIO2SD case, but should I get a 1030 or SX212? Should I focus on things I can display, or things people could actually use in a show, like figuring out how to assemble a multijoy? And how much do people look to get the 3rd party peripherals, like the parallel port connectors or Indus disk drives?

 

I mean, it'd be nice to eventually have one of everything, but with some things being so darn rare (65 XEP for example), I just don't think it's ever going to be financially feasible, so where do I cut it off?

 

Thoughts?

 

You need to get indus gt drive for sure!

 

I have 2 indus GT drives and they are the best drives. Much much better then 1050s by far.

[JohnBuell]

I know I'd like to eventually have a 1200XL and 130XE to round off the major models. A working 410 tape drive would be nice too, since I do have two 1010s (both kinds) and an XC12. And an XF551 to finish off the XE range (I'm up to 2 810s now and at least 3 1050s). But what else makes sense? How often do the "escaped" 1400 models show up on ebay, or the XLFs? For printers I've got an 820 with a cracked case (but which otherwise more or less works), an 825 and 850 boxed away somewhere, a couple 1020s that don't work and a 1027 that I seem to remember was giving me trouble... Do I bother with the XE printers? Should I find my parents old Star printer in a box where ever it might be and call it a day? What about modems? I kept an XM301 in its box after shipping one off to become my SIO2SD case, but should I get a 1030 or SX212? Should I focus on things I can display, or things people could actually use in a show, like figuring out how to assemble a multijoy? And how much do people look to get the 3rd party peripherals, like the parallel port connectors or Indus disk drives?

 

I mean, it'd be nice to eventually have one of everything, but with some things being so darn rare (65 XEP for example), I just don't think it's ever going to be financially feasible, so where do I cut it off?

 

Thoughts?

 

You need to get indus gt drive for sure!

 

I have 2 indus GT drives and they are the best drives. Much much better then 1050s by far.

 

Were these the solid black drives with the flip up front smoke panel? If so my dad had one, but I have no idea where it is right now.

[+MrFish]

Do I bother with the XE printers?

 

I don't know what kind or how much printing you plan on doing, but I always loved the XDM121 I had years ago. They look great with the XEs and print quality & speed is very good. I'm not sure how they've held out over the years, but mine was great for the 5 years that I and my (large) family owned and used it.

 

There are a couple of NIBs on eBay for $75 right now:

 

XDM121 (NIB): eBay Auction -- Item Number: 140448200728

[JohnBuell]

I know I'd like to eventually have a 1200XL and 130XE to round off the major models. A working 410 tape drive would be nice too, since I do have two 1010s (both kinds) and an XC12. And an XF551 to finish off the XE range (I'm up to 2 810s now and at least 3 1050s). But what else makes sense? How often do the "escaped" 1400 models show up on ebay, or the XLFs? For printers I've got an 820 with a cracked case (but which otherwise more or less works), an 825 and 850 boxed away somewhere, a couple 1020s that don't work and a 1027 that I seem to remember was giving me trouble... Do I bother with the XE printers? Should I find my parents old Star printer in a box where ever it might be and call it a day? What about modems? I kept an XM301 in its box after shipping one off to become my SIO2SD case, but should I get a 1030 or SX212? Should I focus on things I can display, or things people could actually use in a show, like figuring out how to assemble a multijoy? And how much do people look to get the 3rd party peripherals, like the parallel port connectors or Indus disk drives?

 

I mean, it'd be nice to eventually have one of everything, but with some things being so darn rare (65 XEP for example), I just don't think it's ever going to be financially feasible, so where do I cut it off?

 

Thoughts?

 

Well, I'm not into collecting nor understand what people get out of just collecting but if you need Atari 410 tape drive, I have an extra that came with system I bought-- just pay shipping. I also have some MPX and imagewriter printers that are about to go into trash-- maybe too expensive to ship to be worth it.

 

Well it made sense, I thought, at the show where I displayed recently to have a 410, even if it was broken, along side an 810 and 820 for display. I'd love to have a working one for just that purpose, but until and unless the stuff I have on eBay sells, I'm dead broke at the moment.

[JohnBuell]

Do I bother with the XE printers?

 

I don't know what kind or how much printing you plan on doing, but I always loved the XDM121 I had years ago. They look great with the XEs and print quality & speed is very good. I'm not sure how they've held out over the years, but mine was great for the 5 years that I and my (large) family owned and used it.

 

There are a couple of NIBs on eBay for $75 right now:

 

XDM121 (NIB): eBay Auction -- Item Number: 140448200728

 

At some point, if I can't get disks to copy to flash, I'd like everything I once wrote to be retrievable in some way shape or form, so yeah even daisy wheel - which is ideal for OCR.

[sloopy]

i actively buy things that i want for sentimental reasons, either cause i owned them at one point, or wanted them back in the day... so now the only things i have left to get are a SDX cart, and a 256k MIO... but i still get other things, i.e. i just picked up a bunch of carts recently, i seem to like them. probly cause i only owned 1 for a couple years, and then when i got my SDX cart, and those two were all i owned for many years, and now i have ~80...

 

 

sloopy.

[+orpheuswaking]

I dont stress the super rare stuff, I know I'll never afford an MIO or Black Box... I just buy stuff that catches my eye or stuff I am missing from my childhood (I lost spy hunter on cart as well as some red rat disk software when I moved here to the states - that's probably all I am actively looking for)

 

oh, and I don't see a 1025 printer in your lineup... Ihave a spare if you need one.

[spookt]

I tend to concentrate on stuff I'll use. I don't have a 400 or XEGS. That said I'd pick one of either up for the right price. The one thing missing from my setup right now is a printer. I have a couple of 1029s and a 1020 and 1027 but finding ribons for the 1029 is a pain and I know the 1027 isn't even worth getting out. I have a MetalGuy MIO on the way and just aquired a ICD Printer Interface too so I'll probably end up using an Epson compatible at some point.

 

I have a few pieces of rare software and a 1200XL (very rare over here since they were never sold in Europe) but I know I'll never get hold of a 1400 or anything like that and I'm not sure I see the point anyway. I don't have the space to display stuff and I like to actually use my Ataris.

 

I also buy machines for spares and broken machines to repair since I hate seeing a dead Atari

[flashjazzcat]

I think I'm just about where I want to be with the A8 collection. The 400/800 don't interest me too much, and I have at least one example of all the later machines (except that elusive 1200XL). I have a KMK/IDEa on the way, SIO2SD x 2, SIO2PC, SIO2IDE, MyIDE... so my storage needs are pretty much catered for. I kind of hanker after a printer, too, but I don't know where I'd put one.

 

The odd thing is that now I (finally) have things set up the way I want them, I feel like I have too much stuff. I aim to concentrate primarily on software again from now on: it's been a frantic hardware oriented year, 2010, and I'm really feeling the benefit of all the hard work now.

Edited September 24, 2010 by flashjazzcat

[Bryan]

I'd like to find some Astra drives. They never seem to turn up.

[OldAtarian]

I know I'd like to eventually have a 1200XL and 130XE to round off the major models. A working 410 tape drive would be nice too, since I do have two 1010s (both kinds) and an XC12. And an XF551 to finish off the XE range (I'm up to 2 810s now and at least 3 1050s). But what else makes sense? How often do the "escaped" 1400 models show up on ebay, or the XLFs? For printers I've got an 820 with a cracked case (but which otherwise more or less works), an 825 and 850 boxed away somewhere, a couple 1020s that don't work and a 1027 that I seem to remember was giving me trouble... Do I bother with the XE printers? Should I find my parents old Star printer in a box where ever it might be and call it a day? What about modems? I kept an XM301 in its box after shipping one off to become my SIO2SD case, but should I get a 1030 or SX212? Should I focus on things I can display, or things people could actually use in a show, like figuring out how to assemble a multijoy? And how much do people look to get the 3rd party peripherals, like the parallel port connectors or Indus disk drives?

 

I mean, it'd be nice to eventually have one of everything, but with some things being so darn rare (65 XEP for example), I just don't think it's ever going to be financially feasible, so where do I cut it off?

 

Thoughts?

 

The 1400's don't show up nearly as often as they used to. Neither does the 1090 expansion box. The people who have them seem to be keeping them. I just managed to snag a ATR8000 which has been an object of lust since they were first released and I hadn't seen one of those in years. Speaking of third party stuff, an APE face would be good to have and the MPP modems that plug into the joystick ports still surface on occasion as do Indus, Percom, and Rana drives. There was a Trak ATD2 I remember from not too long ago but those aren't nearly as common.

 

The SX212 modem still seems to be pretty available. I'd go for one of those before they start disappearing. The XE printers might also be a good thing to get because they seem to come up a lot more often than the 8xx and 10xx series printers.

Edited September 24, 2010 by OldAtarian

[JohnBuell]

I dont stress the super rare stuff, I know I'll never afford an MIO or Black Box... I just buy stuff that catches my eye or stuff I am missing from my childhood (I lost spy hunter on cart as well as some red rat disk software when I moved here to the states - that's probably all I am actively looking for)

 

oh, and I don't see a 1025 printer in your lineup... Ihave a spare if you need one.

 

I might take you up on that if I had any money at all right now.

[charliecron]

Early model 410 is really nice, it has a freaking retractable handle.

 

800XE?

 

I really like the brown cloth backed vinyl dust covers with the Atari Logo. I guess Atari did not make these but I think they licensed the Logo at least. Cheap, practical, look great on the machines, good protection for you machines.

[svenski]

I must have half a dozen 1200XLs and would love a 1400 but I can't justify the cost of one if and when it came up.

 

I have the Indus GT (I used to drool over the magazine adverts for the Indus years ago, a Rana drive and an Astra 2001 which is a double double density drive. Pretty cool although Astra weren't highly rated at the time.