johnwohl Posted January 18, 2014 Share Posted January 18, 2014 Hey all. I recently rescued an Atari 520 ST from a local thrift store as it was to be thrown away due to not working properly! This is my first atari computer. I have also owned pong, super pong, a 2600, a 7800, and a jaguar. I scored the console itself, disk drives a and b, a monochrome monitor, the associated power supplies and cables, and a loose copy of maniac mansion. All that was needed was a refurbishing of the main power switch, a patch repair to a broken power supply cable, and one disk drive only needed a cleaning, but I haven't managed to get drive b working yet. I don't know if it is traditional to post pics of your hardware but I would do so if anyone is interested. Anyhow, I would like to begin enjoying some of the great games for this system, and while there are some for monochrome, I was wondering if anyone might be able to part with a color monitor for my cause. I would of course pay for shipping, and I am flexible beyond that but of course cheaper is better. It need not be in good cosmetic condition at all, but should work properly. tl,dr : I need a color monitor for them vidya games. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnwohl Posted January 20, 2014 Author Share Posted January 20, 2014 Hrm, no replies? Perhaps due to a lack of pictures of the beast. Here she be, along with my soldering area, but that isn't important. The soldering area is getting moved. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlie_ Posted January 20, 2014 Share Posted January 20, 2014 Nice computer! Keep an eye on ebay for a SC1224.. If that 520 has RF out you can make a composite video cable to use it on a TV for the color games. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muzz73 Posted January 21, 2014 Share Posted January 21, 2014 Beautiful! I've only ever seen one ST in a thrift store and it was almost 20 years ago. Yes, I bought it and used the heck out of it! It was a 1040STfm, SC1224 RGB, mouse and SF314. I used to see 8-bits in the thrift stores and I'd buy them and put them away until somebody needed one. The last one I saw was a 1200XL that looked like it had been rolled down a hill and hit by a bus. It saddened me to see it like that, so I didn't pick that one up. I should have... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
English Invader Posted January 21, 2014 Share Posted January 21, 2014 Could you not use an RGB cable to connect the ST to an ordinary CRT television? I know the original ST doesn't have RF output, but the monitor port on the STfm/STe works just fine with an RGB scart lead. Is the monitor port on the original ST any different? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlie_ Posted January 21, 2014 Share Posted January 21, 2014 Could you not use an RGB cable to connect the ST to an ordinary CRT television? I know the original ST doesn't have RF output, but the monitor port on the STfm/STe works just fine with an RGB scart lead. Is the monitor port on the original ST any different? Our TVs don't have SCART. Even a YUV converter probably needs composite for sync too. So you'd need an M model for that... And then lots of software is PAL and our TVs don't like that.. I've see 1/2 the screen get shifted down with a PAL signal on my LCD panels... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnwohl Posted January 23, 2014 Author Share Posted January 23, 2014 Beautiful! I've only ever seen one ST in a thrift store and it was almost 20 years ago. Yes, I bought it and used the heck out of it! It was a 1040STfm, SC1224 RGB, mouse and SF314. I used to see 8-bits in the thrift stores and I'd buy them and put them away until somebody needed one. The last one I saw was a 1200XL that looked like it had been rolled down a hill and hit by a bus. It saddened me to see it like that, so I didn't pick that one up. I should have... I have also rescued a 1st gen Apple Powerbook, a Commodore 64, and an ancient compaq (iirc) notebook computer that had a trackball on the side of the screen. I thought that was neat. I'm pretty sure this stuff gets thrown away if it isn't sold relatively quickly. Can't have that! Nice computer! Keep an eye on ebay for a SC1224.. If that 520 has RF out you can make a composite video cable to use it on a TV for the color games. I scored this http://www.ebay.com/itm/191037952651 for what I thought was an ok price. I should be able to repair it pretty easily. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlie_ Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 I scored this http://www.ebay.com/itm/191037952651 for what I thought was an ok price. I should be able to repair it pretty easily. Very Nice. I hope it works out for you. Let us know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnwohl Posted February 11, 2014 Author Share Posted February 11, 2014 Update! I received the monitor in good condition. Opening it up I immediately saw a broken ground so I went ahead and soldered that back together. I then powered it up and it still had the horizontal bands but after about 5 minutes it gave a really high pitched whine, I heard something kind of sizzle, there was a little smoke and an acrid smell... And no more problem. Huh. Well I can't seem to find what went proof but I'm not going to look a gift horse in the craw either. Current pic of attestation.. I got the little computer desk at another thrift store for 5 bucks. Now she has her own space in my hifi room 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muzz73 Posted February 11, 2014 Share Posted February 11, 2014 Nice! Congratulations! You will not be disappointed in the ST! I used to rescue any computer I saw from the Goodwilll Bargain Barn in Santa Cruz, California (as long as it wasn't a PC). I used to pay $5 for C=64's (the last one I got was only $3) and I NEVER got one that didn't work! Those were the days (20+ years ago)... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eightbit Posted February 11, 2014 Share Posted February 11, 2014 Melted that poor little beetle who had made his home inside of the display for such a long time Good luck with the setup! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlie_ Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 Update! I received the monitor in good condition. Opening it up I immediately saw a broken ground so I went ahead and soldered that back together. I then powered it up and it still had the horizontal bands but after about 5 minutes it gave a really high pitched whine, I heard something kind of sizzle, there was a little smoke and an acrid smell... And no more problem. Huh. Well I can't seem to find what went proof but I'm not going to look a gift horse in the craw either. Current pic of attestation.. I got the little computer desk at another thrift store for 5 bucks. Now she has her own space in my hifi room That is a great setup. I hope you enjoy it! Hopefully the burning was some dust or a spider. LOL. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muzz73 Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 I hope it's a spider. All spiders should die. All spiders should die because they are spiders. Spiders suck. Spiders are evil. Death to all spiders. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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