baz67

In the interests of defusing an already "strained" situation - which is currently being actively resolved - I have removed my original post which was here. Wishing you all only fair and happy, buying and selling trading experiences. Best wishes. Baz

I've run into the same problem with my 800, rapoza609... Have you had any joy since? I'm going to reseat all my RAM/the ROM tomorrow and see where we go - I noticed on my power socket some corrosion so have tried some electrical contact spray in that area but so far... no go. Prior to stripping down the 800, btw, it was working intermittently - I'd get the blue memo pad screen but because of that dodgy power connection - the screen would suddenly go haywire and random graphics/loss of picture display would soon follow after being powered up for anything more than say 20secs. I'm thinking there's also a dodgy capacitor/ANTIC problem here too...possibly.... Any other thoughts, fellas?

Good luck, fella!

Yep, if you're hooked to all that lot then I'm afraid there's not a lot of hope for you. Seriously, I think we need to strike more of a BALANCE between the modern world and what is actually good for us in terms of our physical, mental and psychological well-being. Everything in moderation, my friend...

I've been feeling out of sorts too, this summer, and it's been more than just the usual 'hayfever' and summer cold symptoms/allergies that I normally get. I've also felt vague, forgetful, spaced-out and at times, wandering about aimlessly wondering what the hell I've set out to do/why am I here in the garage etc, searching for something... WTF etc etc. I think we need to take a break from the madness, stress and full-on lifestyles we tend to have when we're hard-pressed with work, family-issues/responsibilities and lack of sleep/proper rest from the hurly burly of the modern world. It can be literally insane out there in our cities, down the shopping mall, battling with the traffic, dealing with ever-increased workloads and ever-diminishing staffing levels - it's a ruddy rat trap (cue Boomtown Rats song). We need more exercise, for sure, and peace, calm - long walks in the woods, by the seashore etc etc, spent in the company of other kindred spirits/our friends and our nearest and dearests etc, focusing more on what really matters to us and just jettisoning the baggage - let it go. I think we all want you to feel mended again real soon, buddy, as I think we've all, at times, sailed close to the edge. All the best - thinking of you and keep in touch, pal. You've a bunch of kindred spirits backing you for sure in the Atari/retro world. BAZ

Sounds to me like the tape's possibly suffering drop out towards the end of the recording, fella. As the lads suggest, have you any other tapes to try and/or try cleaning the 1010s play head with a bit of isopropyl alcohol and a cotton bud? Have another go after the clean - you never know... else test some other tapes, bud. Good luck - there's something about the old tapes that really adds to the nostalgia and sentiment we all feel for these great old classic machines.

Brilliant, guys. I was telling our lass that it's taken TWENTY YEARS for your work to be at long last appreciated, Steve! Mind, some people spend a lifetime and never find any modicum of fame...until they're 6ft under, in some cases, so at least you've avoided that accolade! Yeah, I'm loving the comments and ways forward which will hopefully inspire a few other guys on here& on Atari Sector to come forward and say - hey, I can help there with that module - or design/scan in the club badges etc etc. It's been absolutely years since I last did any coding - and I never completed my one and only attempt at a game in Turbo Basic (Brenski has a WIP copy of my 2 player Dogfight creation but it's barely 'off the ground', excuse the pun!) However, I will assist in any small way possible as I believe that a project like this can definitely help to inject fresh life back in to our hobbies and make them REAL and CURRENT experiences once more. Cheers, Steve - have a good day, fellas. Catch you all later - BTW, I was SACKED this morning as manager of MAN UNITED after suffering the pain of FIVE STRAIGHT DEFEATS - I like the way the program also reminds you of your losing streaks!! Nice. Review to follow - United we stand...LOL! 8BB

Evening/Morning, Steve. It's incredulous you never got any feedback 'back in the day' as this is a really impressive feat now - let alone back then, when it should have blown the socks off ANY serious footie Atari fan playing it - it's streets ahead of ANY other sim I can think of, eg. Addictive's slow/predictable Football Manager and Atlantis' meagre League Challenge (nice try with the 3D graphics 'match action' attempt but the rest is poorly implemented). Am I right thinking this was your FIRST serious effort at Turbo Basic programming? Really, if there was any justice in the software world, your program should have been a commercial release and successfully sold by the bucketload - it is that good. I appreciate your detailed reply - lots of points there and I'm looking forward, as I say, to making a really comprehensive review of the game for our forum members - it's certainly going to be highly recommended. I now know why the disk access is so 'comprehensive' as game saving occurs after all the match results are in, yes? Fair enough! Here are my 5 areas where I really rate and enjoy the game so far: 1) The humour is spot on - I like the bribery option in the ground improvements dept and also the comments made by the computer when bidding for other teams' stars! 2) I really like the way the program logs player ratings and goals scored - I've now got Ryan Giggs on 10 goals and Utd are about 6th in the table presently after played 9, won 4 lost 5...lol. 3) I enjoy the match 'ticker/timer' and GOAL scored messages which do the job and are not over-excessive and are at times thrilling when a come back is on (we beat Leeds 3-2 after being 2-0 down!) 4) I really like the team line-ups and formations - graphically shown - which I've never seen in ANY 8bit implementation of any soccer manager program. 5) I was also impressed at the speed that the league table is generated and displayed - this is a major 'ball-ache' on 1-2 of your rival offerings (I think you can make a pot of tea while Football Manager goes about putting the table together!?) Aiming to be constructively critical, Steve, here are the 4 areas where I personally think tweaks/edits would really further enhance the playability experience: 1) The player buying procedure crashes if you input a non-numeric value - Error 6 I think at line 250, if memory serves me right. I just typed GOTO 250 and it continues fine and THEN prompts you to input a negative value if you want to come out of the bidding process - I was going nowhere trying to 'steal' Chelsea's best player for £1m - again, I love the humour/responses from the program! 2) Presently, as you know, there's no option to review your formation/team/tactics at half-time - Blackbollocks/Blackburn were thrashing me 4-0 at the break and I would have loved to have gone to 4-2-4 to try and get a fightback on! 3) Again, no option for a sub - Lee Sharpe was playing like he was on 'wacky backy'... and probably was! 4) The random value generated for the attendances seems a little on the low side, Steve - the RND function seems to pluck values inbetween 5 and 8K - I would've thought 30-50K for Prem games might be a bit more accurate but perhaps you're trying to reflect the 'early days' factor in an individual manager's regime, yes, ie. these increase as your success/fame hopefully goes in the same direction?! Steve, once more, hats off to you - it's a great achievement and really does 'feel like it belongs on a higher spec machine' - no greater tribute can really be given as you've shown that through imaginative and quality coding, amazing results can be obtained from the Atari 8bit classic - all power to your elbow, fella - I wish you all the best with all your future endeavours (that cartridge data idea sounds fabulous - good luck!). Cheers and speak soon, ANDY BAZ (8BB)

Steve, Hi there - 8Bit Baz - one of Brenski's pals over at atari.boards.net We're currently reviewing your 'incredible' footie management simulation (indeed, it might well be the best of its kind in the Atari 8 bit world - it's more akin to titles released on the Amiga/ST/PC equivalents that came out around that time - ie. Championship Manager - and would literally take days in realtime to play a season, weeks to get promotion and months to get your team into Europe etc etc - your program has that 'large database' feel). One obvious point is the amount of disk access - it can take anything between 30-60 secs sometimes after making menu selections - and that can happen 3-4 times before playing a match - have you been able to do anything at all to reduce this/use banked memory in the case of the 130XE? Another feature I'm looking for (just 5 games in - it's begining to hook me: Pld 5, L3 W2 as Man Utd... where's the save game option, fella?! PLEASE don't tell me it only appears at the end of a season as it's taken me over an hour to get this far and I assume there'll be 38 fixtures to play....??! Steve - it's a great Turbo Basic simulation game and I love the nostalgia buzz generated by the player database from just a couple of decades ago... when the Premiership was still a newly born league. A full review of the game will appear soon - please do come over and join us at our forum as you'll be made extremely welcome. Cheers, fella. 8BB

Evening, folks on AtariAge! Just a quick plug for a new forum over in the U.K. called: atari.boards.net We'd love it if you called in, had a look around and maybe joined our ever-growing membership (totally free) - it takes just a minute - and perhaps leave us some feedback so that we can continue to improve what we aim to offer. Cheers and all the best from the newest Atari user group in England. 8BitBaz. http://atari.boards.net/thread/119/challenge-rank-chronologically-list-micros It's the poll you've all been waiting for, fellas

Mods, please close, SOLD elsewhere. All the best. ANDY

No worries. Thanks for your interest.

Thanks for the enquiry, Ataribuff... £17 postage to Austria for a 3kg box 50x40x10cms. Let me know as I've several other enquiries. Cheers. ANDY

FINAL REDUCTION.... Advertised on auction sites elsewhere now... 1st £30 secures (plus p&p). Thank you.

******* UK POST NOW JUST £5 ************* AS THERE;S NO FAMILY P.S.U. BRICK INCLUDED HENCE A SUBSTANTIAL REDUCTION IN WEIGHT! Grab a bargain now, guys.