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desiv

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  1. Love my 400, but it does have it's concerns as a retro machine. The first question I'd ask is, how are you with basic soldering? The reason I ask is that virtually all 400's came with 16k RAM. Some of the really early ones I understand came with 8k, and some might have been modified to have 48k, but I think 16k is the most likely you'll find. You can pretty easily get it to 48k buy buying an expansion card and doing a bit of soldering on the underside of the main board. I think it was just two wires? (It's been a while since I did mine...) And that will get your 400 to where it can run "most" games... That said, there are some later games/programs that require more than that. Not a huge number, but they are there, so its something to be aware of... The next (and probably) largest concern is the audio/video output. As mentioned the 400 by default only supports RF output. I personally have a nice older CRT TV, so I am still using that. But if you want Composite/S-Video, you will need to mod it, either just with some soldering of wires as above, or you'll need to add something like the Super Color CPU card, although I think that also requires some minimal soldering. But if you are wanting HDMI, you'll still need an adapter to go from composite or s-video to HDMI. And then of course, there is the discussion about the keyboard, which isn't great. That said, I also have a ZX81 (TS1000) and an Aquarius that might look up to it. (Yeah, I know the Aquarius is a chicklet compared to the 400's membrane, but I think I prefer the Atari 400 membrane personally.. If you are just looking for a machine that can do most everything, you might want to look at a newer model with more RAM. (Tho you'll still have to work out audio/video out.) That said, I love the look/feel of the Atari 400...
  2. Facebook/Insta are down!  How do I post about the important things I normally post about?
    OK, for breakfast, I had an Egg McMuffin, but with bacon instead of Canadian Bacon.
    Just imagine the picture here...
    (Sorry...  Couldn't help it.)
     

  3. According to his pic and results, at least two of his carts (Bughunt and Necromancer) have XE on the label and did work on his 400. So it's probably better to say that if it says XE on the label, then it's not guaranteed (likely?) to work on the 400/800. On a related note, I wonder if those non-working carts would still not work if the 400/800 has more memory? (i.e. will any of those work on a 48k 400/800? )
  4. Just feeling lazy and thought I'd post my "I'm really lazy" feature request that totally isn't needed, but I'd use. I wouldn't mind if, on the screen when you are selecting the file, if there was a quick way to select it, assign it to drive 1 and boot, all with one keypress. Something like, instead of Enter to select it, hit Q and it automatically assigns it to drive 1 (read-only?) and boots the Atari... (quickly, hence the Q! ) I know, totally silly and just shows how super lazy I am... But just a thought...
  5. I'm not sure why people have to get condescending to try to prove their point. I'm not sure why both can't just be good machines for different audiences...
  6. Just a follow up to this one a bit. At the time of the thread, I had JUST gotten my Atari 400 and hadn't used it (or it's keyboard) that much. Recently with The 400 Mini discussions/videos, I've seen a lot of people slamming the original 400 keyboard... And I don't get that... Yes, it's not as nice as the 800 Keyboard was (I'm sure, haven't used it), but that's kind of obvious as the 400 was much less expensive. But the more I've used the 400 keyboard, the more I don't mind it at all... I have a TS1000 with it's membrane keyboard. I have an Aquarius with it's chicklet keyboard. I have an Odyssey II with it's membrane keyboard (and I had an O2 back in the day). I'd rate the 400 keyboard above all of those. For smaller BASIC programs and limited typing, I think it's fine. And to keep the price down, I think it was absolutely the right choice. I see the Atari vs CBM emotions haven't died either. Tho to be fair, this is AtariAge, so I'm not surprised... Personally, I had a Vic-20 back in the day as my first computer. And I loved it and it got me on my start in IT (and I am about a year away from retirement now). I think people sometimes forget the price differences. ( I know they know them, but they don't always factor that in as much as I think they should) When we got the Vic-20, it was after a price drop. It was much less expensive than the 400. The Vic wasn't a real competitor for the 400 spec wise, but remember... The 400 was a scaled down Atari 800 (which was, in my mind, the best home computer on the market at the time). The Vic was NOT a scaled down C64. (There was no C64 yet.) The Vic was built as a low (as low as possible) cost computer. The 400 was a low cost version of the Atari 800. As a result, the 400 was a better machine. No question. But also as a result, it costs more than the Vic. Sometimes (depending on price cuts) about twice as much. I wanted an Atari 800, but there was no way my family could afford one. Even the 400 was out of the realm of acquisition for us at the time. I did ask for a US ZX81 kit, but as I didn't even have a soldering iron at the time, my parents wisely refused. But when the Vic price dropped, they were able to do that. As for the BASIC discussion, I did a fair amount of BASIC on my Vic, and it was fine. A huge advantage was the manual that came with the Vic. That was a great manual and made getting into programming really fun and easy (And also BASIC came with the Vic-20. It was an additional cost for the 400. For some of us, that was important.). And even with it's limitations, it was a great first machine for me. But, if timing had been different and they got me a 400 after it's price drop, I would have had one of them and been totally happy there too. Both great machines for their markets. And now that I have a 400 and have used it, I can say that the membrane keyboard it has is totally fine. I really like it. I'm sure many people got the 400 because they couldn't afford the 800. That's why it had a membrane keyboard. And I think that's a great reason. (I do wonder if Atari had been more aggressive with trying to keep the prices down, if the Ataris would have kept Commodore at bay... But that's one of those what if discussions.)
  7. Finally got a bit of time to try it... Played a few hands against the bots. That is really impressive... I think my WiFi downstairs isn't that great tho. I had I think three times where it lost connection and I had to restart my 400. Although it logged back in and picked right up where I left off after each time... That was really nice...
  8. I haven't been able to yet (work has been super crazy), but this project is incredible and I'm hoping to check it out as soon as I can... Not sure I can guarantee I will be able to make a move in less than 30 seconds to keep people happy tho? (That sounds possibly tight, but I don't actually play cards much. )
  9. Thanx! I didn't know that and have just had my Fujinet plugged into my 400 and powered separately. Which is generally fine, but I think a bit nicer knowing I don't need to do that! (I remember trying in vain to hold down some of those buttons to see if it would work when I got my Fujinet, but didn't try the combination!) And yep, it was Start and Option... Then I waited a little bit (not sure I needed to, but figured a bit couldn't hurt) and hit System Reset and up came Fujinet! Note: I had to double check, because I was pretty sure I checked the Fujinet online FAQ and didn't see that, and yep. In the User FAQ, it just says "Why does the Fujinet on the 400/800 need power" and describes that it does because it boots too fast. Might be nice to update that FAQ to suggest trying this, for those of us that didn't do enough research, but at least checked the FAQ. (Sub Note: I wanted, but didn't have an Atari growing up, so still learning it....)
  10. Remember, when replacing a water heater, always take the new one out of the box and check for dents/issues BEFORE you remove the old one...  Even if the box looks fine.

  11. I'm sure this isn't it, but just thinking out loud... Is everyone using the the same power adapter to power the unit? I just know that with some of my Raspberry Pis, if my PSU isn't quite up to the task, it can slow down the CPU to cope...
  12. Tricky part with that is it is totally possible they haven't set up the system to support USB joysticks. Your best bet might be to try USB serial to see if that works, but if they haven't enabled USB serial in the kernel, you'd be in the same boat. Honestly, I think Plaion are probably the only ones who can test whether/what USB thru a splitter cable is supported on boot. But I also agree that would be an awkward option for a lot of people. I am thinking non-technical non-Windows users... They are the ones who won't have Windows and will also be more likely to not want to hassle with a splitter to do a firmware update... So I'm not sure how much effort this would be worth on Plaions side...
  13. I keep remembering while I am at work there is something retro I need to download.
    And then get home and totally forget what it was...
    Yes, I should take notes of what it is when I remember it at work, but...  "shut up!!  stop attacking me!!"  ;-) 

    1. r_chase

      r_chase

      Postal 1?

    2. GoldLeader

      GoldLeader

      Yeah,  If you think about it...Maybe jot it down on a little scrap of paper or Post-it,  and jam it into a shirt, pants, or jacket pocket.  Always worked for me!  Plus it's quite fun and liberating to remember you have a life outside of work.

  14. Another agree here... Although I didn't have an Atari back in the day, I wanted one. For cost reasons, we went Vic-20 (which I enjoyed like crazy) and I mostly stuck with the CBM line... But when getting into retro, I wanted an Atari 8-bit, and while I was familiar with the XL/XE series computers... I set out to get a 400 or 800... (And got my Atari 400 which now has a RAM expansion and Fujinet). I just love the iconic look of the OG Atari 8-bits.. Yes, the XL/XE series are nice. Nicer from a design perspective for sure... But for a retro feel for me, it was that "slight bit of the 70s in your 80s computer" design look that I wanted.
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