What's the latest Atari related thing(s) you've bought on ebay?

[leech]

2 hours ago, deffroe said:

A friend had a speccy and bought Sam Fox strip poker with it's digitised images.  When sat a joystick cable length away from the screen the only you could make out was the hand of cards drawn from the deck.  Every time the image changed we had to run to other side of the room just have an idea of what we were looking at.🤣

Haha, whatever happened to her?  She was a one hit wonder, posed for playboy, and had a strip poker game, then sirt of disappeared.

Edited October 14, 2023 by leech

[bfollowell]

29 minutes ago, leech said:

Haha, whatever happened to her?  She was a one hit wonder, posed for playboy, and had a strip poker game, then sirt of disappeared.

 

Ask and you shall receive.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samantha_Fox

 

[bfollowell]

On 10/11/2023 at 4:42 PM, bfollowell said:

I just did an impulse buy on two 800s a retro-seller picked up from an estate sale. Supposedly they're untested with no power supplies. The no power supplies thing seems a little odd since the seller has 400/800/1050 PSUs for sale elsewhere. Still, the one in the pictures looks to be in relatively decent shape, if a little dirty. There were no pictures of the second unit but it was described as being in similar condition. Compared to what I've seen 800s going for recently, it didn't seem like a bad gamble. Hopefully, they'll be running just fine. If not, hopefully they'll be relatively easy to fix. The 800 was my first computer that I stupidly threw away in the mid-80s because of a broken keyboard. This was a decade away from the start of the Internet as we know it and I lived in a small area with almost no other Atari users. I wish I'd known then what I know now. Anyway, hopefully, I can get at least one of these going and add an 800 back to my collection. If I can get the other cleaned up and running, I may sell it off in a few months.

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/325842892444

 

 

 

Well, UPS just delivered the two 800s to my front door. I'm working today, but my wife said they were in one big, heavy box. There were no PSUs to flop around in there and cause damage, but these are still two big, heavy machines. Say a prayer that they're packed well! I guess I'll find out when I get home from work this afternoon.

 

[Beeblebrox]

10 minutes ago, bfollowell said:

 

Well, UPS just delivered the two 800s to my front door. I'm working today, but my wife said they were in one big, heavy box. There were no PSUs to flop around in there and cause damage, but these are still two big, heavy machines. Say a prayer that they're packed well! I guess I'll find out when I get home from work this afternoon.

 

Fingers crossed. 😬

[bfollowell]

Well, the two 800s arrived just fine. They were packed very well. There was probably $25 in bubble wrap alone and there were at least 3 fragile stickers each side of the box. The box was very sturdy as well.

 

As I'd expected, they are very, dirty and, from my memory, discolored. Whether from dirt, age, smoking, plastic discoloration, or some combination of these, I'm not sure. They are very smelly and stink of smoke. They will definitely be getting a very good cleaning and spend some time airing out. They both have 48K and unexpectedly, they both had a cartridge installed when I opened them. One had BASIC and one had Star Raiders. I'm assuming the seller didn't even know. One is exactly like the one that I had as a teen. It has the cased OS card and RAM cards. The other has the newer caseless cards. I haven't had a chance to check them out yet, but plan to later this evening. The one machine with the caseless OS & RAM cards, the dirtier of the two, definitely has some visible keyboard issues, as two or three of the keys are sitting considerably lower than the rest of the keys, probably half the height of a key cap.

 

So, assuming they both power on, I have my winter projects lined out. They both need a lot of TLC and one may need an eventual rehoming.

 

I'll be posting pictures over in the Calling All 800s thread later.

 

[deffroe]

13 hours ago, bfollowell said:

Say a prayer that they're packed well! I guess I'll find out when I get home from work this afternoon.

 

7 hours ago, bfollowell said:

Well, the two 800s arrived just fine. They were packed very well. There was probably $25 in bubble wrap alone and there were at least 3 fragile stickers each

Glad to hear the seller did a good considerate job with packaging👍

[TGB1718]

1 hour ago, deffroe said:

Glad to hear the seller did a good considerate job with packaging👍

It's nice when a seller does a good job, I bought an 800XL with the big "house brick" power

supply and was praying it got packed well, can imagine the damage that brick would do.

I was also lucky the seller did a great job

 

[deffroe]

5 hours ago, TGB1718 said:

It's nice when a seller does a good job, I bought an 800XL with the big "house brick" power

supply and was praying it got packed well, can imagine the damage that brick would do.

I was also lucky the seller did a great job

 

I've not had any major issues but did buy a 2600 bundle purely for a joystick that was included, when it arrived the packaging was ok but not great and only the joystick was a casualty.

[Beeblebrox]

I've had some awfully packed a8 machines arrive trashed over the last few years due to either nieve or just bad packing on the seller's part. Generally I've learnt to ask the seller to pack it in a way I know will mitigate against the usual types of damage incurred. Most will oblige but some really shocked me. 600xls and 800xls posted in jiffy bags!! Or an 800 posted with one thin layer of bubblewrap with the brick psu jammed next to it in an oversized box. May as well put in a washine machine!! 

 

The only way to ensure an A8 arrives with as much chance is staying in tact is to make sure anything like brick power supplies, (hereafter known as wrecking balls), are kept well away from the A8 at all times inside the parcel. The computer needs a good few layers of bubblewrap wrapped around the whole computer, (never packing chips /peanuts alone), and completely demobilised inside the shipping box.  If packing chips/peanuts only are used, the computer can still move about and damage itself under it's own weight/momentum. 

 

Also, ship the computer, (especially an 800), on it's bottom and never on it's edge or side. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Mathy]

Hello Beeblebox

 

I work at a postal company and I see on an almost daily basis how people think they can ship stuff.  And sometimes you just want to slap some sense into them and ask yourself how stupid people can get when it comes to wrapping stuff.  There was a time when we delivered packages from the UK.  I'm sorry to say that those often seemed to be packaged even worse.

 

A couple of tips for those reading this:

 

- Make sure the box can't come apart!

- Every box has a bottom side!

- Make sure you put the tape on the seams, not (mostly) next to it!

- If the box moves when you lift it up, but the contents doesn't seem to be moving for the first centimeter or so, the box isn't strong enough!

- Everything that isn't completely flat has six sides.  Put some kind of isolation on all six sides!  Yes, on the bottom too!

- If you move the box and the contents moves inside the box, reread the line exactly above this one!

- Make sure you put a return address on the box!  If for some reason the postal service can not deliver the package/envelope/whatever, you want it to be sent back to you.  And the postal company('s employees) really hate(s) it when they have to return something but can't find a return address!

- Make sure the address (yours and theirs) is correct and complete!

- Post Office Boxes have a different postal code than regular addresses!

- Make sure you know the rules!  Sending stuff to certain countries may require extra information that you have to provide to the postal company, like for instance a description of the contents of the package and some alternative contact information of the RECIPIENT.

- Packages can often be sent as "registered"' or "insured".  Most of the times, the only difference is the amount your package is insured for.

- Expect the postal company NOT to handle you package like it's an explosive that can go off if a mosquito dropping falls on it.  Your package will be stuffed under lots of other packages, dropped from one conveyor belts onto the next and delivered by a person who does not have enough time to deliver way to many packages.  And of course this means that your package might not always travel "bottom down".

 

Sincerely

 

Mathy

 

 

 

[leech]

The most heartbreaking purchase I've done where it was packed well enough, but whatever forces hit that box.... but it was a newly refurbished Atari SC1435 from the UK... and the PCB was split about half-way down... I still haven't had the nerve to try and set it so that it's level, and start the bodge wiring required to fix it...

[Beeblebrox]

Bought way to much hardware of late - too much to list -  (just about to unpackage an XC11 cassette deck among other things).

 

But I did treat myself to another modern Atari book. Unofficial Atari visual history hardback - by Darren Doyle.

His res pics as it's really good quality/colourful:

 

 

[leech]

Well, that was fun....

[leech]

14 hours ago, Beeblebrox said:

Bought way to much hardware of late - too much to list -  (just about to unpackage an XC11 cassette deck among other things).

 

But I did treat myself to another modern Atari book. Unofficial Atari visual history hardback - by Darren Doyle.

His res pics as it's really good quality/colourful:

 

 

I think I need this too!

[CommodoreDecker]

On 10/13/2023 at 5:12 PM, Tillek said:

That GTS-100 really is a nice drive.  Got a few of those.  One of them I replaced the mech with a Gotek... though.... Can't say I've ever used it. (I'm a bigger fan of real disks).

 

 

Just got a second one from ebay. Didn't expect any others to show up there. Took a risk as they could not verify operability, but it works like a dream.   

 

I don't blame you re: Gotek; the real floppy is the original and intended experience. Plus, once the magnetic media or mechanics become inoperable, only modern solutions like GoTek will remain viable.  That said, the convenience with Gotek drives can't be beaten...  

 

On 10/14/2023 at 12:12 AM, Tillek said:

Indus (later Future Systems) made two Indus GT variants for the Atari ST (technically three from what I understand).

 

The Indus GTS-100 was a 3.5" drive (720k) for the ST

 

 

There was also an Indus GTS-1000 which was a 5.25" drive identical in looks to the A8 version of the Indus GT, except for the ST connector on the back..... Can't find a picture online.  I actually own one, but it's 1am so I'm not going to try to pull it out just so that you can see that it looks just like the A8 version

 

Now I say "three" because my understanding is that the GTS-1000 5.25" came in two variants with 40 and 80 tracks. (360k DSDD and 720k which would be DSQD if I recall right).  Whereas some 5.25" drives for the ST actually could handle both 40 and 80 tracks with a switch, or were only capable of 360k DSDD (which I believe was the case with the PCF-551).

 

 

 

The GTS-1000? Dang, nice. Makes sense as there would be some market for 5.25" compatibility back at the time...  now those things must be incredibly rare...

 

 

[Dinadan67]

Another 10" Panasonic CRT, this time new in Box. Interestingly the shrink wrapped batteries for the remote control still worked.

 

 

Edited November 9, 2023 by Dinadan67

[lbaeza]

Regards,

Luis

Edited November 9, 2023 by lbaeza

[Dinadan67]

An A8PicoCart from Zaxon via SellMyRetro. Nice 3d-printed case!

 

 

Edited November 10, 2023 by Dinadan67

[+slx]

A BASIC XL cart. Although I have both @santosp OSS multicarts I just can't resist those orange OSS carts that scream "serious programming tool". I also thought I had a matching manual already but that turned out to be for BASIC XE. 

[Beeblebrox]

 

 

USB Adapter For DB9 Joysticks 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/393405931237

 

Means when I do occasionally use Altirra emulation I can play using my many Atari joysticks.

Edited November 13, 2023 by Beeblebrox

[+slx]

A 1064. Picked it up personally and was invited to have a look at a very impressive collection including substantial to complete coverage of many software publishers. I've never seen more 8-bit software boxes in one place. 

[+orpheuswaking]

12 minutes ago, slx said:

A 1064. Picked it up personally and was invited to have a look at a very impressive collection including substantial to complete coverage of many software publishers. I've never seen more 8-bit software boxes in one place. 

ugh, one day I'll have a 1064 without selling an arm or leg

[Beeblebrox]

I am curious. I've probably had 4 or 5 x working 1064 modules over the last 2 years recieved as part of 600xl bundles I've acquired. I sell them on for a reasonable amount because :

 

1) upgrading the 600xl internally with 2 x ram chips and some wires costs absolute peanuts and takes 30mins to do. 

2) the 1064 is very chunky and rather defeats the object of the slimline footprint of the 600xl. 

3) it hangs off the back and any pcb plugins via the passthrough is considerably further back as a result. 

4) once plugged in it's very hard to remove owing to the stubborn plastic retention clips. 

 

I can't really see the point of it for these reasons. 

[+orpheuswaking]

29 minutes ago, Beeblebrox said:

I am curious. I've probably had 4 or 5 x working 1064 modules over the last 2 years recieved as part of 600xl bundles I've acquired. I sell them on for a reasonable amount because :

 

1) upgrading the 600xl internally with 2 x ram chips and some wires costs absolute peanuts and takes 30mins to do. 

2) the 1064 is very chunky and rather defeats the object of the slimline footprint of the 600xl. 

3) it hangs off the back and any pcb plugins via the passthrough is considerably further back as a result. 

4) once plugged in it's very hard to remove owing to the stubborn plastic retention clips. 

 

I can't really see the point of it for these reasons. 

Collection purposes, The same reason I don't need a dot matrix printer but I have a 1025 LOL. That said I would likely have it connected to a machine and working. 

 

[Beeblebrox]

8 minutes ago, orpheuswaking said:

Collection purposes, The same reason I don't need a dot matrix printer but I have a 1025 LOL. That said I would likely have it connected to a machine and working. 

 

Fair enough. I do collect some Atari periphals for same reasons. I suppose I see the 1064 more as a functional upgrade than a rare collectable, and for the reasons mentioned I find there are better options.