barnieg Posted June 12, 2015 Share Posted June 12, 2015 There seems to be an influx of Aquarius related items on ebay uk at the moment so I've just bought an Aquarius +16k ram Pack for what I believe is a reasonable £40 inc of postage. The intention is to restart development of various little projects which have been on the back burner. Would the best method of testing code be to load created tape samples from the casette port or will this potential be too slow? Another minor issue for now will be the lack of Mini Expander - will be keeping an eye out for a reasonably priced one - the other option I've considered is hacking up an expansion with Sound Card and Atari joystick ports, though that might be beyond my capabilities at the moment Barnie 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simbalion Posted June 12, 2015 Share Posted June 12, 2015 I have an Aquarius complet in box along with one game. Might have to pull it out and see if it still works! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+JasonlikesINTV Posted June 12, 2015 Share Posted June 12, 2015 I picked up a CIB console recently. I have around 8 boxed games, the mini expander, and the Aquaricart. I'm gradually picking up additional games, but don't see many. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Intymike Posted June 12, 2015 Share Posted June 12, 2015 I picked up a CIB console recently. I have around 8 boxed games, the mini expander, and the Aquaricart. I'm gradually picking up additional games, but don't see many. With 8 games you are almost done. At least with cartridge based games. Now you must look for games on cassette. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaybird3rd Posted June 12, 2015 Share Posted June 12, 2015 Congratulations on your purchase! Would the best method of testing code be to load created tape samples from the casette port or will this potential be too slow? Aside for burning cartridge EPROMs, that's the best available option for testing on real hardware, at least for now. I'm actually working right now on a USB cable and RAM cartridge solution which should allow for much more rapid prototyping. I should have some more information (including pictures!) to share very soon. Another minor issue for now will be the lack of Mini Expander - will be keeping an eye out for a reasonably priced one - the other option I've considered is hacking up an expansion with Sound Card and Atari joystick ports, though that might be beyond my capabilities at the moment That's another one of my present projects! I plan someday to put together a Mini Expander upgrade which will include more features, but as an interim fix (and as an alternative for those who are looking for something cheaper), I'm presently designing an internal upgrade which will combine a Mini Expander-compatible 8910 and hand controller ports, 32K of RAM, and Aquarius II Extended BASIC into one board. It will require socketing the OS ROM chip, but the installation shouldn't be too bad, and the hand controller ports will also be reconfigurable for Atari joysticks. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barnieg Posted June 15, 2015 Author Share Posted June 15, 2015 Congratulations on your purchase! Aside for burning cartridge EPROMs, that's the best available option for testing on real hardware, at least for now. I'm actually working right now on a USB cable and RAM cartridge solution which should allow for much more rapid prototyping. I should have some more information (including pictures!) to share very soon. That's another one of my present projects! I plan someday to put together a Mini Expander upgrade which will include more features, but as an interim fix (and as an alternative for those who are looking for something cheaper), I'm presently designing an internal upgrade which will combine a Mini Expander-compatible 8910 and hand controller ports, 32K of RAM, and Aquarius II Extended BASIC into one board. It will require socketing the OS ROM chip, but the installation shouldn't be too bad, and the hand controller ports will also be reconfigurable for Atari joysticks. Great that you are still working on these projects , I would be wary of socketing the ROM chip myself what would the chances be of making a cartridge version with a passthrough? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soporj Posted June 15, 2015 Share Posted June 15, 2015 I have an Aquarius. It's fun to see how awful and outdated it was at the time of its release. (I'm being serious.) It's mind boggling how it ever made it to market. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hyperboy Posted June 15, 2015 Share Posted June 15, 2015 It's mind boggling how it ever made it to market. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barnieg Posted June 15, 2015 Author Share Posted June 15, 2015 I have an Aquarius. It's fun to see how awful and outdated it was at the time of its release. (I'm being serious.) It's mind boggling how it ever made it to market. With the mini-expander and some extra memory it gets closer to what it probably should have been. As a cheap and cheerful entry level computer it was ok. With some minor changes to the graphics it would have had similar capabilities to the ZX Spectrum in the UK. It would be interesting to know if the mini-expander was designed/developed by Mattel or Radofin as it essentially provides the sound and controller capabilities of the Intellivision, maybe they should have provided enhanced graphics in the Mini-expander? There were enough off the shelf chips/designs around at the time to have made that viable imho. Barnie 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
schuwalker Posted June 15, 2015 Share Posted June 15, 2015 (edited) With 8 games you are almost done. At least with cartridge based games. Now you must look for games on cassette. Do you have Melody Chase? I'm trying as well to get a complete collection for the Aquarius (boxed games that is). The issue... the rest of the games I need are beyond rare (Chess, Space Speller, Melody...) Edited June 15, 2015 by schuwalker Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaybird3rd Posted June 15, 2015 Share Posted June 15, 2015 I would be wary of socketing the ROM chip myself what would the chances be of making a cartridge version with a passthrough? That's basically what a full Mini Expander is (a passthrough module for the cartridge port), so for those who need a Plug-and-Play solution, I'll eventually put together a complete "Mini Expander II" board. As for the Mini Expander and enhanced graphics: I suppose the main reason they didn't go that route was because it would have pushed them past the price point they were aiming for at the time. It would technically be possible to put a graphics chip in the Mini Expander (the Aquarius cartridge port provides a CSYNC signal), but it would have to have its own video output, separate from the internal character graphics. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaybird3rd Posted June 15, 2015 Share Posted June 15, 2015 I'm trying as well to get a complete collection for the Aquarius (boxed games that is). The issue... the rest of the games I need are beyond rare (Chess, Space Speller, Melody...) A full Aquarius collection is definitely an ambitious goal. I've seen Melody Chase on eBay two or three times in the last few years, and I think I've seen Extended BASIC once, but I don't recall ever seeing most of the other super-rare titles (Chess, Space Speller, and Zero In). As the saying goes, they're as elusive as Robert Denby, which is one of the reasons I put the Aquaricart together; most people would never get to see them on real hardware otherwise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GroovyBee Posted June 15, 2015 Share Posted June 15, 2015 There seems to be an influx of Aquarius related items on ebay uk at the moment so I've just bought an Aquarius +16k ram Pack for what I believe is a reasonable £40 inc of postage. The intention is to restart development of various little projects which have been on the back burner. I'm looking forward to hearing about your progress. Aquarius really have dropped in price on ebay.co.uk. Kinda tempting.... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
schuwalker Posted June 16, 2015 Share Posted June 16, 2015 A full Aquarius collection is definitely an ambitious goal. I've seen Melody Chase on eBay two or three times in the last few years, and I think I've seen Extended BASIC once, but I don't recall ever seeing most of the other super-rare titles (Chess, Space Speller, and Zero In). As the saying goes, they're as elusive as Robert Denby, which is one of the reasons I put the Aquaricart together; most people would never get to see them on real hardware otherwise. I have seen all of them at one time or another on Ebay with the exception of Chess. Dare I say, Melody Chase is the more common of that bunch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaybird3rd Posted June 16, 2015 Share Posted June 16, 2015 I have seen all of them at one time or another on Ebay with the exception of Chess. Dare I say, Melody Chase is the more common of that bunch. Well, it's good to know they still turn up (I must have missed them). Yes, Melody Chase shows up more often than Space Speller or Zero In, both of which are rated R10 in my Aquaricart rarity guide. Chess, Extended BASIC, and Melody Chase are all rated R9, but Chess is probably closer to an R9.5. BurgerTime is a notch below Melody Chase at R8—which is a pity, since it's one of the best first-party Aquarius games. Speaking of Chess ... I don't think I've posted these before, so just for fun, here are some pics of the only Aquarius Chess cartridge I've seen in person: This was loaned to me by a collector, along with an original manual, for inclusion in the Aquaricart collection. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+JasonlikesINTV Posted June 16, 2015 Share Posted June 16, 2015 With 8 games you are almost done. At least with cartridge based games. Now you must look for games on cassette. I checked my collection. Here's what I have so far: AD&D Treasure of Tarmin (CIB) Astrosmash (CIB) Biorhythms (CIB) Night Stalker (CIB) Tron Deadly Discs (CIB) Utopia (CIB) Snafu (I have everything except the cartridge) File Form (sealed) Fin Form (sealed) I also have a demo Cassette that came with the boxed console. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+cmart604 Posted June 16, 2015 Share Posted June 16, 2015 I have seen all of them at one time or another on Ebay with the exception of Chess. Dare I say, Melody Chase is the more common of that bunch. Well that would explain why I'm still missing Chess. ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Intymike Posted June 16, 2015 Share Posted June 16, 2015 (edited) and I think I've seen Extended BASIC once, but I don't recall ever seeing most of the other super-rare titles (Chess, Space Speller, and Zero In). As the saying goes, they're as elusive as Robert Denby, which is one of the reasons I put the Aquaricart together; most people would never get to see them on real hardware otherwise. I've seen Space Speller and Zero In one or two times on Ebay over the last years. I own a complete Microsoft Extended myself. This seems to be the most rare cart for the Aquarius. Edited June 16, 2015 by Intymike 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Punishermark Posted June 16, 2015 Share Posted June 16, 2015 I picked up a CIB console recently. I have around 8 boxed games, the mini expander, and the Aquaricart. I'm gradually picking up additional games, but don't see many. Were you the one that won that shopgoodwill auction? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aquaman Posted June 16, 2015 Share Posted June 16, 2015 (edited) In the last 5 years I never saw Chess, Space Speller or Zero In appearing for sale. As for Melody chase, I recall seeing them once or twice and only from Australia. Extended Basic appeared about 2 times last year (one from the Netherlands and one from Australia), so I wouldn't say this the most rare cart like Intymike thinks. Edited June 16, 2015 by Aquaman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+JasonlikesINTV Posted June 16, 2015 Share Posted June 16, 2015 Were you the one that won that shopgoodwill auction? Wasn't me. I've slowly acquired these. Was it a good auction? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barnieg Posted June 16, 2015 Author Share Posted June 16, 2015 I'm looking forward to hearing about your progress. Aquarius really have dropped in price on ebay.co.uk. Kinda tempting.... It seems that some sanity to retro pricing is happening on ebay. Although I'm surprised to still find over inflated prices on new old stock for a few systems. Prices seemed completely detached from reality :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
schuwalker Posted June 17, 2015 Share Posted June 17, 2015 In the last 5 years I never saw Chess, Space Speller or Zero In appearing for sale. As for Melody chase, I recall seeing them once or twice and only from Australia. Extended Basic appeared about 2 times last year (one from the Netherlands and one from Australia), so I wouldn't say this the most rare cart like Intymike thinks. Chess to me is hands down the rarest. Space Speller and Zero were on Ebay (last year???). I was blown out of the water on the bidding for both. That Extended Basic cart I've seen a few times. Most recently in a lot with the Aquarius computer itself. I recall the box not the greatest so I passed. Wish I would've followed through:/ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Lathe26 Posted June 17, 2015 Share Posted June 17, 2015 Would the $400 Aquarius keyring on eBay be rarer than any of these games. I've only seen the one show up on eBay... the same over and over again :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aquaman Posted June 17, 2015 Share Posted June 17, 2015 Would the $400 Aquarius keyring on eBay be rarer than any of these games. I've only seen the one show up on eBay... the same over and over again :-) It is probably very rare, but in my opinion still not worth the asking price! And I have a feeling that most collectors feel that way, so it will appear some more over and over again Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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