Velcro_SP

This project looks great. Its connection to Atari is not tenuous at all, it's deep. That's okay that there is just the Windows version now. I hope like the website says, you are able to release Linux and Mac versions at some point. I just purchased an Android-based netbook, so maybe the Linux version will make its way to Android. I also applaud your philosophy to make your incremental improvements available to the public, even though you're not as far along by this time as you planned.

Valid points, Gunstar. I played AR City on my Atari 800, and then a few years later played AR Dungeon on my Atari 65XE. City had magic, by that I guess I mean that "wow" quality of a computer game that successfully takes you into its world. In Dungeon I was able to do more. I'd say Dungeon retained about 75% of City's magic. Dungeon was less frustrating, no doubt. Technically it was refined and the difficulty level was lower. I am one of those who has focused on Phillip Price's City, but I have to give Dungeon and its Datasoft programmers who continued Price's work their due. The later programmers did not screw things up, and they deserve much credit for that, because oh yes lesser programmers would have screwed things up.

You could possibly seek permission of the copyright holder. Perhaps that is still Atari but I don't know. They might go along with it, or ask you to limit the run to a certain quantity, or... I met some of the Atari personnel in about 2006 at a retrogaming convention. They seemed very cool and friendly.

I wanted to chime in to say that this project is amazing and unprecedented. I support the zooming of the gfx if that was needed to get the best result. And I hope you put a version on cartridge that will play in a 48k or 64k (like mine) Atari 400 or 800. Unbelievable what is being done lately. Keep going!

Wow, just checked out the picture of it at atarimuseum.com, very cool and looks like a fat 810 disk drive. And sounds like a washing machine, says the article. I have an 825 printer. It's the model that sounds like a machine gun, I suppose. I don't think I can do the WD-40 trick with its ribbon (yet...?) Anyone know if I can get a non-dried-out ribbon for it somewhere? Played Seven Cities of Gold for a bit last night.

Those are both very cool, but I must say the first one looks magnificent and amazing. All that could possibly be done to improve it is to somehow overwrite the "XM 301" with "SIO2PC" but because that's molded plastic, I dunno how it could possibly be done. Those blue LCDs/LEDs look so great but aren't they going to burden the power system? They are awfully bright. But man that is something else and a great use of the XM301 which is one of the few peripherals that isn't of much use for the retro scene.

Great to see that page. Rooting for all you brilliant coders to come up with something that makes it easy to put my 800 on the Internet!

I watched these videos, and thought they were very cool. It is obvious how much effort must have gone into creating those. I am really grateful Big Mo that you tidied them up and reworked them so we could all appreciate them in video format.

Unparalleled manufacture and materials are the 800. IMHO the XLs and XEs did not rival it in those criteria, though they had more memory and the later chipsets. Nor was the 400 as good, even when you changed out the membrane keyboard. Your 800 may well be operational 20 years from now.

At digitpress.com, I read an interview of Jim Huether, who authored the Atari 2600 titles Steeplechase, Flag Capture, Sky Diver, and also did 5200 and 8bit work. He said that he completed for the 8bit, way early on, an animation-creating program and a cartoon-creating program. I did a cursory check at atarimania.com and did not find them. Anyone have any idea whether they might still exist? Here's the relevant part of the interview:

I have an Atari 800 w. 64k (do not know the configuration of that last 16k of memory). Is there a Last Word version that will support any non-XL/XE 8-bits at all?

Yah, the cable I am using actually has four RCA plugs as well. The colors didn't match the color coding on the back of the 1702, but it was light work to plug them in and check to see what functioned where. Perhaps the extra plug is straight video. That would allow the cable to function on various Commodore Amiga monitors, as well as a vast range of TV sets, however I think w. less fidelity than split chroma and luma. You definitely a floppy drive IMO, although cartridge-based games can keep you entertained in the meantime. The 1050 is a late model Atari floppy drive that does higher capacity floppies, but there are a range of good floppy drive choices out there, at eBay or eCrater, or at one of the remaining dealers (check out the FAQ).

Well! Congratulations on winning a great computer. The Atari 800 has an RF cable coming out the back, and that is okay for running to a old-TV-game-type switchbox on an old TV. However since you have the 1702 (and I suppose the 1701 is similar) you can get better image quality. The cable that you need connects to the round port that is forward on the right side of the Atari 800 (which by the way is different from the 800XL, I guess you know this). This cable has 5 bins in a crescent formation that goes towards the bottom. It extends on the other side to three (well, mine has four, dunno what's up there) RCA-type connectors. Those are chroma, luma, and audio. On the back of your 1702 you will find RCA plugs to attach them to. Here is a picture of such a cable I found on the Internet: I may have an extra here somewhere that I will sell you inexpensively if you can't find one somewhere.

that guy can really play

I just set up my Atari 800 system after having boxed it for a move and some months after that. I don't plan on moving again real soon and now that I have it set up I should be able to work on my BASIC software some, and try to get Fuji Chat going, and... and... Anyhow it occurred to me as I looked at the great picture on this C= 1702 that I found at a Goodwill store that the 1702 must be the best monitor ever for the Atari 8bit. And this is a bit ironic because Commodore was of course the great nemesis of the Atari 8bit. Is this the accepted view, that the 1702 is the best? If not, what is the best?