Can I get a head count?

[eddhell]

How many Atari 8-bit series collectors are out there that are ACTIVELY still looking for stuff?  Serious hardcore collectors...I know there's at least 50 roaming around eBay, but how many are active members on this site??  Would be nice to know what people are on the lookout for, who has extra copies of stuff for trade, pics of collections, etc...and in general, make friends!

 

If you would, just leave a short reply!

[krslam]

Depends on what you mean by "actively."  I refuse to use ebay for buying or selling because of their anti-seller policies and ever-escalating fees, but I'm always looking for stuff at thrifts/flea markets/garage sales/craigslist and similar.  It's rare to find anything thru those routes, anymore, and what you do find is usually overpriced, so I've bought very little in the last decade.  Always looking, though.

 

[Justin Payne]

I still look actively but I'm not hard core since prices have sometimes been a bit out of my range. If I see something that is in my price range, I'll try to get it and I will definitely try to save something from the trash if it's not working.

[+videofx]

I am just like Justin Payne. If  look actively but if the price is out of my range I pass and wait for the next time 

[Atari8guy]

I also actively look but don’t get caught up in bidding wars and such. I occasionally make offers on buy it nows on eBay but they are usually rejected. (Not always though). Most of my Atari spending these days is through AtariAge users or Lotharek.


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[_The Doctor__]

I've noticed even HARDCORE 'I must have it persons' have become turned off based on the prices they see on e pay and jungle thief... in fact they are somewhat losing that loving feeling because of the craziness around one of their favorite all time activities. It used to be what do you have for me of what do you think of this? Now it's mostly I probably already have that or there's no way I'm gonna pay what those people want. It's gotten to the point it's no longer exciting for them. Hard to collect for fun when even the well off are priced out of the market and you really can't INVEST if it's already at an all time high to accumulate items from those two main online sources.

 

The only bright ray of sunshine anyone has mentioned to me were direct sale finds, or retirees dusting off their equipment and getting back into things, having mini group meetings, fixing stuff up, and swapping/trading with each other. This has been the main happiness for some collectors who actually want to use some of the stuff or learn/know something about all they own. That's the really exciting change for some of them... and honestly for the people who are dusting things off and retelling stories as well as sharing what they know. I haven't had much success getting them to join here however, as miss-remembering or even stating something they might know brings swift responses in no time flat from individuals that just can't help being on alert to pounce on newbies to these forums... even though they might have been Atari users/coders since 197x.  If  given some time, the grey matter wakes up and soon their stories and knowledge might flow. They become more accurate as time progresses. Some in person meetings lead to a spark of interesting and fun subject matter. At this moment in history, there is a slight hiccup in all that though... they can't meet up. We can't wait till this starts up again as things may return to normal soon. They are perfectly happy to help each other getting it all going again, and fix up each others stuff, replaying and reliving those days. Being introduced to new offering of today and loving some of the more interesting solutions.

 

I may be a hardcore Atarian. But you'll have to decide what that means

[SS]

I am currently an active PASSIVE looker.  When I bought my last A8 computer (a 400) this past autumn, I said "enough is enough" and cut my self off from buying any more systems.  I still search through eBay listings a couple times a week though.  I dunno.  It's fun to look and keep abreast of where prices are hovering.  I have a number of things in my watch list that I honestly have no intention of actually purchasing.  I don't quite know what I'll do if I see a really good BIN deal pass buy though, I've had a close call or two but have stuck to my guns thus far.  Maybe one day I'll actually get another new-to-me piece of reteo hardware but not now.  The only things that are on my actual radar right now are newly created internal upgrades like the Pokeymax to fit into the machines that I already own.  

[TGB1718]

Actively looking, yes, actively buying, no, like others have said, prices are getting really stupid and just not

worth the asking prices in most cases, I've not been lucky with 2nd hand shops and flea markets, again like others,

the main things I buy these days are nice upgrades (Lotherek) which make these marvelous machines awesome. 

[_The Doctor__]

Two words, YARD SALES. That is where I have been seeing stuff over the years... go late in the day and get the best price... go after is over and you may find it for free at the curb... that's a fact... curb alerts are your friend. I've asked why they didn't sell online after some of these scores... the reply was fees-taxes-too much rigmarole. Meeting at odd places with strangers is not a plus. Nope rather be at the safety of their home, get to know and meet people. Make a deal, or toss it out. Plain simple fun, cash in hand, you see it up close and personal, done deal.

 

I can't go such places these days but that is the way to go... sometimes they even get back into the hobby, or you get a call later on to clear the stuff out for them..

 

real auctions and estate sales by local auctioneers, not the online variety also a good thing

Edited April 11, 2020 by _The Doctor__

[gilsaluki]

I haven't found anything in "wild" for eons, 10 or more years.  Seriously, I used to see tons of 2600 machines, carts at Goodwills, thrifts.  I once found a perfect 400 for $2.49.  I, regrettably sold it a garage sale for about that much.  One I regret to this day.  I used to find carts and disks.  Haven't found anything is such a long time.  Can't even find disks storage boxes.  I could use a few.  I do find 3.5 in ones, but hardly ever 5.25 floppy holders.  I watch LGR (youtuber) and he always finds crap, good crap.  Then again, his last few episodes have even left him almost dry.  

[Nightengale]

Count me in.  I fall into the retired category.  Missed out on Atari 8 bits, went the ZX81 then TI-99 path in '81 and jumped to Apple II. So now I am istening and learning about an Atari 800 I picked up on Ebay a couple months ago.  1st up was to finally play star raiders without a bunch of other kids trying to push their way to play at the stores - Glorious, glorius, glorious game.  Did i say Glorious? Installed an incognito from Adam; the capabilities are boggling my mind.  The community here is very nice and knowledgable.  One last item to mention I suppose, to my sensibilties, the 1200xl is very stylish, but the 800 is my favorite if only because of the older aesthetics.

[Gunstar]

If you are talking about collecting for collecting's sake, I stopped that with the 8-bit back in the 90's after losing 99% of my original software collection in a move from Wisconsin to California. Outside of the 8-bit I stopped when I sold off the vast majority of my collection(s) around 2005, right after I moved to Texas. I'm kicking myself now when I see how much it's all worth now. But I do continue to buy retro Atari and other 8-bit stuff, but it's only what I know I will use regularly. I collect it, here and there, more when the finances are flowing more, but much of it is new home-brew release hardware and software too, right from or learned about on these forums. So I'm often looking, but won't over pay, so that limits my purchases, and when I do purchase, software must be in good condition and complete, but hardware I'll even buy "as-is" because I can repair and restore it myself, and sometimes re-sell for several times as much, or give it away to friends as often as I keep it.

[spacecadet]

I look off and on. I buy stuff periodically. I don't know if I "collect" for the A8 in the way you mean, though. I buy hardware more than software. And I probably sell as much as I buy. I like to try things out, but most stuff isn't really worth keeping beyond my "core" A8 items, which are my 800XL and my SIO2SD.

[+gnusto]

I scan on the regular, but i buy very rarely from ebay these days. 1-2 times a year. So I guess I'm not active?

 

I'm fortunate enough that the costs aren't really the issue here, it's the unfairness to me. If I see one more ebay description of "ULTRA-RARE COLLECTABLE <bog standard Atari thing>" I think I'll puke. Your Star Raiders cartridge is not special, random_ebay_seller. I think Ebay just feeds off itself, these people have no idea what anything is worth, they just look at past auctions and mimic, not paying attention to many of those not selling.

[Sugarland]

Not actively looking, no. There are a few devices I'd like to get, though. I suspect a lot of the ebay buyers are interested or bored but were not using the A8's back then.

[venom4728a]

I still actively look, but most of what I find is either way over priced or I already have several of that item.   I live a bit north of Flint Michigan

[kiwilove]

Not actively looking - but would be keen on a Atari 400 or/both 800 sometime.  No hurry - within the next 3 or 5 years?  Wouldn't go for disk drives/cassette etc as flashcarts would be the way to go...

 

Harvey

[Ray Gillman]

I'm only active during down times and active searching for me is more downloading internet files for archiving in my old library of emulator stuff which already includes probably a dozen duplicates of each most common file but I save sorting them all out for "later" which means probably realistically never.  The disk spaces today make storage space such a trivial constraint it is not worth the time checking each file since when the time comes and you want to play one if it fails just try another.  More efficient use of time.

Anyone have an idea for how someone with no old working atari hardware can read through a box of old 5.25 Atari era floppies in varying enhanced or double densities?  Would an old working xf551 with USB2SIO type cable allow a PC to read them?  Do old old working xf551's exist anymore or even a 1050 might be findable still.  Maybe someone trustworthy on here has a perfect setup to scan these for us and post them for all to share?

[gilsaluki]

2 minutes ago, Ray Gillman said:

xf551's exist anymore or even a 1050 might be findable stil

Well, 1050s are readily available.  Most work. XF's are hard to find. NOT as reliable as the 1050s, the workhorse.  Been using mine for 30+ years.  Never had to align it.  Never cleaned it, actually.

[_The Doctor__]

to find a nearby person to image your disks requires a general idea where you are...

[+slx]

Initially I only kept my old stuff ‚to show the kids what computers were like in my youth, then added some stuff when EBay came along but I have no goal of getting all hardware or even a complete collection of a series or a software company. I lack a man cave to set up more than one system at a time. Some stuff is just too hard to get here in Europe and EBay global shipping prices and US to Europe shipping in general has become very expensive. I  do occasionally scan EBay and have an automatic search on a local CraigsList type service but there are more ‚ultrarare 2600jr‘ systems than nice stuff. Local EBay stuff is mostly out of my price range with one guy trying to sell common Atari books like Poole for 50€+. I only buy games I like to play and with nice packaging as everything is available through modern storage devices anyway. I probably spend more on modern upgrades and new software releases than on old stuff, too. 

[leech]

I need to stop collecting, as I tend to buy two of each computer if I can, one to keep original and one to mod...

[+slx]

3 hours ago, leech said:

I need to stop collecting, as I tend to buy two of each computer if I can, one to keep original and one to mod...

Don't forget spares for both.....? 

[+CharlieChaplin]

Hmmmm,

 

I do own 5 Atari 800XL computers (four of them upgraded to 576k RAM, alas two of them seem to be defective and need repairs), 4 Atari 1050 drives with Speedy upgrade (two of them need repairs as well) and 4 Atari XF551 drives with Hyper-XF-OS (2x 5,25" and 2x 3,5"). Think I have enough Atari computers and floppy drives now. Most important: Need to repair (let someone repair) the defective stuff...

 

Thinking about buying PokeyMax (small version with mono/stereo/covox -or- large version with 4xPokey and more stuff), but have not decided yet, since I rarely use my two stereo enhancements by Lotharek...

 

Things I may sell (or trade?) in the near future:

1x XC-11 (record+play both work fine, rewind+fast forward do not work or better they work slower than play...)

2x IDE+/IDE-2 Rev. E (with CF-slot, since I never use it)

 

[Ray Gillman]

On 4/11/2020 at 9:15 PM, _The Doctor__ said:

to find a nearby person to image your disks requires a general idea where you are...

I am in Whitewright (West Fannin County) (Northeast Texas) - but I could ship just now is a terrible time for an Atari party.  It's low priority for now I suppose.  I'll come back to this idea later this year.
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