cheezball Posted July 26, 2003 Share Posted July 26, 2003 I have been collecting Atari stuff for just over a year now. It is time to get serious about keeping track of what games I have and don't have. But, each time I sit down with a print-out of the rarity guide, a pen and paper, I get un-motivated -- I'm just not a hardcopy kind of guy. Anyone have or know of any "utilities" (that may not be the best word) that can help a collector keep track of their collection? It doesn't have to be fancy, just something electronic, preferably with a list of games and the different label variations, where I would just check off what I have. I have seen a few of the online trackers, and that is not really something I am interested in. I was thinking more of something that I would keep on my PC. Am I making any sense? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smada Bez Posted July 26, 2003 Share Posted July 26, 2003 Have you tried Cart Commander? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
christianscott Posted July 26, 2003 Share Posted July 26, 2003 i use a simple system, i go online and find text lists that i can cut and paste to my palm pilots memo. then i have the no frills, no info just A-Z names list of all 7800 carts. i take this list up to my collection and cross off the titles i already have, leaving me with a short but accurate list of the games i need to complete my collection. i have a list like this for nearly every system, it really helps when i'm out game hunting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phosphor Dot Fossils Posted July 26, 2003 Share Posted July 26, 2003 I do something similar to what christianscott does, only I have an NEC MobilePro 780 handheld, mini-laptop-style (with a cover that says "Don't Panic" in large, friendly letters, no less!), on which I keep Pocket Word files - downconverted from the master files on my desktop machine - with lists for every console or computer I collect for, including columns for "have?" "box?" "docs?". I have a "catalog number" column as well which goes unused most of the time, and I've thought of turning it into "value," but I'm not too sure about venturing into that territory. The lists are based on a little bit of everything - AA, DP, Andy Krieg and Ward Shrake lists from the 90s, you name it. I've had the lists on my desktop machine for ages now, but having them with me at all times is very cool. Anyone going to CGE will surely see me walking around with this little marvel, and I may have it at OKGE as well. It's also my portable writing platform, and writing is part of what I do for a living, so where I go, it goes. It gets excellent battery life too, and has a built-in 56K modem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheezball Posted July 26, 2003 Author Share Posted July 26, 2003 Thanks for the ideas. I've checked out Cart Commander (big thanks!!), and that has a lot of promise -- I think that is exactly what I was looking for. I also now have an excuse to get a palm pilot or notebook. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KaineMaxwell Posted July 26, 2003 Share Posted July 26, 2003 I just use an Excel spreadsheet to keep track of the game, system, developer, rarity value, complete or not and other notes I may want to add. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Intrepid Posted July 26, 2003 Share Posted July 26, 2003 I use IGN: http://users.ign.com/collection/dodint Sucks for label variations, and I have about 3 games they don't have in their database. It works for the time being though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jasoco Posted July 27, 2003 Share Posted July 27, 2003 I should really use a database, but for now I just use HTML and code it all. I just have a thing against using other people's work in my website which is why I code it myself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brad2600 Posted July 28, 2003 Share Posted July 28, 2003 I don't keep track of what I don't have. I just keep an eye on the Marketplace and EBay and then bid/buy what I don't have. Makes it more fun that way. I'm not a completist so I don't need a list of stuff to get. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jasoco Posted July 28, 2003 Share Posted July 28, 2003 If I wrote down everything I didn't have, my fingers would fall off. I'll stick to what I do have. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mindfield Posted July 28, 2003 Share Posted July 28, 2003 I do the Palm route like so many others. In fact I'm in the process of re-entering everything into QuickSheet on my Clie' SJ33. I spent some time trying to figure out a good way of organizing it and, having given up for want of some Tylenols, game up with this: 1. Create separate spreadsheets for each manufacturer (Sega, Atari, Nintendo, etc.) 2. For each spreadsheet file, create two separate sheets in each for each model (Atari 2600, 5200, 7800, Lynx, etc.) -- one for hardware, one for software. (Just makes it easier if you don't have to scroll through the hardware to get to the cart list) 3. Tailor each column for the console. For example, for my Atari carts, I have fields for Title, Developer, Year, Cat. No., Label Type, separate fields for completeness (NIB, CIB, C, B, M -- New in Box, Complete in Box, Case/sleeve, Box, Manuals, respectively) and a final column for comments/descriptions. On the other hand I could find no catalog numbers for many of my Genesis carts, so I just omitted the catalog number. There are also no label variations that I'm aware of for Genesis, so I omitted that field, too. 4. For some final funkiness, I coloured each column. No reason other than eye candy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jasoco Posted July 28, 2003 Share Posted July 28, 2003 I was gonna see if I could experiment with Excel and make some spreadsheets and see if it can export HTML in the way I like. If it doesn't look just right, screw it. Either that or I'll use AppleScript or something to generate it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zanic Posted July 31, 2003 Share Posted July 31, 2003 I have a MySQL database setup on my Linux webserver to keep track of my collection. I use php to display the info. Only problem is that I haven't bothered to put in complete lists of games. So I only know what I have, and rely on pen and paper lists to find what I don't have. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jasoco Posted July 31, 2003 Share Posted July 31, 2003 I have a MySQL database setup on my Linux webserver to keep track of my collection. I use php to display the info. Only problem is that I haven't bothered to put in complete lists of games. So I only know what I have, and rely on pen and paper lists to find what I don't have. Actually, I am gonna do this, but I just haven't gotten around to installing MySQL on my iMac yet. For now I'll just add the games via HTML until then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joshk Posted July 31, 2003 Share Posted July 31, 2003 I have all my carts in an Excel spreadshhet and I use the program Documents2Go to transfer and view on my Palm IIIc. Has saved me from buying dupes several times. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bcostin Posted August 1, 2003 Share Posted August 1, 2003 I have a simple database (HanDBase on my Axim now, JFile on my Palm previously) for all my console and 8-bit games. I usually just enter the information directly on the handheld. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Defiance131 Posted August 1, 2003 Share Posted August 1, 2003 I use IGN:http://users.ign.com/collection/dodint Sucks for label variations, and I have about 3 games they don't have in their database. It works for the time being though. Thanks for pointing this out! It's the one thing that has redeemed IGN in the bigferret household! I haven't put in bigferret's Atari stuff yet. I'm sure that'll take the better part of forever to do, but it'll be neat to see how many games we have. I'll probably dump all of it into a database when I'm done and try to make it look all purtee and stuff. That is unless any of the talented Mac addicts around here (hint hint) come up with something similar to Cart Commander, or make their own cool game cataloging database. Then I'd just use that... if they were willing to share. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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