82-T/A Posted September 19, 2023 Share Posted September 19, 2023 Just got the e-mail that they've got new stock for purchase. "The Atari VCS PC USB is a simple “plug-and-play” way to operate your Atari VCS as a PC. The premium 64GB Kingston USB 3.2 drive is preloaded with a custom Debian operating system, provides additional storage, and includes the Office 365-compatible LibreOffice suite." I realize I can make my own, but it wouldn't stay Atari on it! Haha. Plus, I'm interested to see what Atari did with the Debian OS, if there's any cool backgrounds and some such... so for $29 bucks, I ordered it. I also went ahead and ordered the new Berzerk for the 2600+ that's coming in the mail. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tinman Posted September 19, 2023 Share Posted September 19, 2023 I ordered one, too. Mostly because I want to unlock Stella and didn't want to build my own stick to do it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
82-T/A Posted September 19, 2023 Author Share Posted September 19, 2023 (edited) 14 minutes ago, Tinman said: I ordered one, too. Mostly because I want to unlock Stella and didn't want to build my own stick to do it. Nice... that makes sense. I assume that these will work on any semi-modern PC, and doesn't require a VCS to work? Unless it's pre-loaded with drivers that are for the VCS specifically? Just curious... EDIT: I'm also in Tampa too! Edited September 19, 2023 by 82-T/A Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zzip Posted September 19, 2023 Share Posted September 19, 2023 1 minute ago, 82-T/A said: Nice... that makes sense. I assume that these will work on any semi-modern PC, and doesn't require a VCS to work? Unless it's pre-loaded with drivers that are for the VCS specifically? Just curious... EDIT: I'm also in Tampa too! Typically a Linux live usb would come with drivers for most modern hardware, so unless they went in and removed stuff, it should work on any PC. The only caveat is if you have an nVidia GPU in the other PC, the "good" nVidia driver is proprietary and needs to be installed later. It will have an open source nvidia driver though, so at least you'd get graphics. The VCS is based on AMD graphics and you don't have to worry about its driver. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tinman Posted September 19, 2023 Share Posted September 19, 2023 10 minutes ago, 82-T/A said: Nice... that makes sense. I assume that these will work on any semi-modern PC, and doesn't require a VCS to work? Unless it's pre-loaded with drivers that are for the VCS specifically? Just curious... EDIT: I'm also in Tampa too! Nice to meet another Tampa Atari fan! When I get mine I’ll try it on my Surface Go tablet and see how/if it works. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flyindrew Posted September 21, 2023 Share Posted September 21, 2023 And also a heads up to the people who ordered the USB during this go around, they have begun to ship. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atari_JaguarVCS Posted September 21, 2023 Share Posted September 21, 2023 Didn't take them long to sell out again! I got a relative in the states to grab me one since shipping to the UK is still a no go. I really only wanted it for collection purposes as i made my own PC mode USB with Debian for my Atari VCS. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zzip Posted September 21, 2023 Share Posted September 21, 2023 I'm starting to think Atari-logo branded USB drives could be a winning product for Atari, no matter what software is put on them 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RollOut Posted September 21, 2023 Share Posted September 21, 2023 6 hours ago, zzip said: I'm starting to think Atari-logo branded USB drives could be a winning product for Atari, no matter what software is put on them Who knew? They should start selling everything as a USB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joeatari1 Posted September 21, 2023 Share Posted September 21, 2023 7 hours ago, zzip said: I'm starting to think Atari-logo branded USB drives could be a winning product for Atari, no matter what software is put on them You don't even need software on them! Just slap a Fuji on there and Whammo! A USB with a Fuji in an Atari branded box. Winner! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T.A.P. Posted September 22, 2023 Share Posted September 22, 2023 I missed out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bee Posted September 22, 2023 Share Posted September 22, 2023 me too - i missed out Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wildstar Posted September 22, 2023 Share Posted September 22, 2023 If I could, I might even run AROS on top of an underlying Linux (such as AtariOS ). Kitty meets Fuji. That'll be interesting. I can even run Linux software in the IcarosDesktop district using Hostbridge. Amiga was almost Atari's. There's a technological connection between Atari and Amiga because of Jay Miner. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Helper Posted September 22, 2023 Share Posted September 22, 2023 I think the same kind of demand would be there for Atari branded keyboards and mice. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zzip Posted September 22, 2023 Share Posted September 22, 2023 9 hours ago, T.A.P. said: missed out. I'm sure they'll do another batch with how fast they keep selling 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mockduck Posted September 22, 2023 Share Posted September 22, 2023 5 hours ago, zzip said: I'm sure they'll do another batch with how fast they keep selling Yes, but it'll be 32 gig. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leech Posted September 22, 2023 Share Posted September 22, 2023 On 9/19/2023 at 12:13 PM, zzip said: Typically a Linux live usb would come with drivers for most modern hardware, so unless they went in and removed stuff, it should work on any PC. The only caveat is if you have an nVidia GPU in the other PC, the "good" nVidia driver is proprietary and needs to be installed later. It will have an open source nvidia driver though, so at least you'd get graphics. The VCS is based on AMD graphics and you don't have to worry about its driver. It's just a Debian 11 distro on the actual stick, with some Atari wallpapers (at least from the page description). I got mine yesterday, was gonna give a try with it. But if it's just a standard Debian 11 stick, it could potentially have nvidia drivers... or not, depending on how they set it up. Guess I could try it on my living room PC (3080 RTX) instead of the desktop (7800XT?) I apparently ordered two of the sticks, but for some reason one was refunded, but then I got a shipping notification for it... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joeatari1 Posted September 22, 2023 Share Posted September 22, 2023 1 hour ago, leech said: I apparently ordered two of the sticks, but for some reason one was refunded, but then I got a shipping notification for it... Me too. I ordered two and only one is on the way. It would have been nice if they stated a limit of one on the website. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leech Posted September 23, 2023 Share Posted September 23, 2023 I attempted to boot this up on my AMD based system and... got a black screen. It locked up at some point. I'm guessing they did actually tweak the kernel to only support the VCS hardware. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrTrust Posted October 5, 2023 Share Posted October 5, 2023 Is it just me, or is this thing intolerably slow? Everything hangs up. I can't even check email without Chrome becoming unresponsive. Is this just an effect of it being on a pen drive rather than a solid state or something, or did I get a bad one, or is my system just messed up? Is this working well for everyone else? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joeatari1 Posted October 5, 2023 Share Posted October 5, 2023 40 minutes ago, MrTrust said: Is it just me, or is this thing intolerably slow? Everything hangs up. I can't even check email without Chrome becoming unresponsive. Is this just an effect of it being on a pen drive rather than a solid state or something, or did I get a bad one, or is my system just messed up? Is this working well for everyone else? I have the original from about a year ago and it's not slow. The drive is a USB 3.2 so it's the latest, greatest protocol. I don't know anything about your setup but I might try unplugging it and plugging it back in again. Which USB port are you putting it into? I would probably put it into one of the rear ports. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrTrust Posted October 5, 2023 Share Posted October 5, 2023 16 minutes ago, joeatari1 said: I have the original from about a year ago and it's not slow. The drive is a USB 3.2 so it's the latest, greatest protocol. I don't know anything about your setup but I might try unplugging it and plugging it back in again. Which USB port are you putting it into? I would probably put it into one of the rear ports. Yes, of course I tried both rear ports. It's weird, because I installed some games on it and booted from the Atari OS, and they seem to run without any appreciable lag, even End's Reach. When I boot Debian from the drive, though, everything is slower than death. Once you actually get an application open, it seems to run okay, but other than that, nope. I tried uninstalling and reinstalling Chrome, but no joy. Firefox seems to work somewhat better, but it's not too great either. Machine is totally stock. Connected to WiFi at 5g. A little far away from the router, but I have not had any issues with other devices at the same distance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bee Posted October 5, 2023 Share Posted October 5, 2023 Try a wired network connection. Thank you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zzip Posted October 5, 2023 Share Posted October 5, 2023 11 hours ago, MrTrust said: Yes, of course I tried both rear ports. It's weird, because I installed some games on it and booted from the Atari OS, and they seem to run without any appreciable lag, even End's Reach. When I boot Debian from the drive, though, everything is slower than death. Once you actually get an application open, it seems to run okay, but other than that, nope. I tried uninstalling and reinstalling Chrome, but no joy. Firefox seems to work somewhat better, but it's not too great either. Machine is totally stock. Connected to WiFi at 5g. A little far away from the router, but I have not had any issues with other devices at the same distance. If it is wifi related, there was an issue where some Linux kernels keep trying to put the WIFI adapter into sleep mode and that affects performance. The solution was to edit this file: /etc/NetworkManager/conf.d/default-wifi-powersave-on.conf and change this line: wifi.powersave = 3 to wifi.powersave = 2 Not sure if that requires a reboot Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bee Posted November 23, 2023 Share Posted November 23, 2023 More PC Mode USB sticks in the Atari store again - Finally! Woot Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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