Atariman

I second what was said about walking. I went down two notches on my belt when I was there for two weeks. Totally wonderful experience and I have never felt so safe in an unfamiliar place.

I had some of that experience, too. I think without knowing the language, there are going to be times that this is unavoidable. Restaurants usually weren't too bad (and I was a big fan of the ones where you ordered at a kiosk and brought the ticket to the counter) but there were times where unless I had been totally fluent, it was not possible to effectively communicate. I learned to actively avoid anything that required any amount of instruction.

My general advice is to find places that are slightly off the beaten path. If I remember right, there is a Book Off around Shin Yokohama that was huge... It was a couple km walk away from the train station, but there was so... much... stuff. But you won't go wrong looking around for stores that are a part of that chain. Look for the "junk" sections in any stores you find as well. Any places around Akihabara are going to be pricey and picked over, but it wasn't bad for stuff that is common over there like the Famicom Disk System (which was refurbished).

I recently installed the C128 LumaFix and had substantial improvement, but I must confess that I only just found my C64 after years of it being buried in storage and therefore haven't had a chance to do a full comparison. Figured I would at least share my success! That being said... I was worried about the lack of heat sinking I was winding up with after that upgrade and others and it was a pain to cobble together a reasonable scheme of heat sinks and appropriate thermally conductive material. (but the bonus is that now I have a really good non-permanent thermally conductive tape to use on other stuff in the future)

I can say with near certainty that it isn't from an Atari pinball machine. I have never seen that board in any of mine and I have at least one of each!

Replaced the broken gear in my TG16 CD system! I was heartbroken when I got it out of storage and it wouldn't read discs... Pretty easy and now it works like a charm.

CIB copy of Earthbound and strategy guide about 20 years ago... $50... Still kicking myself for that one. Also, I should have kept bidding on the LaserActive at MWGC that was being auctioned off 10+ years ago. I don't know what it went for, but it was relatively cheap and I had the extra money back then!

Rest in peace, Curt. Years ago, when the internet was new to me and I had no idea what had happened to Atari, I came across his site. Not only did I pore over every page, but even contacted him to ask questions. He was kind enough to respond to my noob self and I followed his work ever since. Heck, when I found some random back-up tapes that just had the word 'Atari' scrawled across them, he was the first person I thought of. I am totally shocked and saddened by his death and hope his family and friends can take comfort in all of the stories of people who appreciate his work.

Rest in peace, Curt. You will be missed.

I would purchase two of these as well!

Submitted my info

Nice! Middle Earth was my first pinball machine as well. I like the Atari machines, too - I think a lot of my attraction to them is that not many people knew that Atari was ever in the pinball machine business, so they tend to grab some attention! I got my machine about 7 years ago and have been pleased with it, although it can be BRUTAL. I had a LOT of low-scoring games early on, but it was interesting enough to keep me coming back. At this point, I have all of the released Atari pinball machines (including Hercules x 2) and have been building up a small stash of spare parts since some of them are pretty uncommon. I seem to come across Middle Earth parts the most frequently, so it's not a bad choice at all. Any plans for hunting down any more of them?

*Jaw drops* I have one I bought that came with its box and manual. I'm sure that I didn't pay more than a few dollars for mine, either!

Nope, that is all you need. The Genesis 2/Sega CD 2 have the audio on the connector versus needing to patch it in through the headphone jack on the Genesis 1.

Although it looks to be different, I quickly found something somewhat similar to it: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/255931191298440754/ Looks like it was probably used when the 400 and 800 computers were being sold? No idea on value. Wish I had one!

They don't. If the TV does some signal processing that results in lag, the only fix is to turn on Game Mode (if it has it). My TV does the same when in 'normal' mode regardless of the input.

I think it should be called Rezolve. Misspelled with a 'z' for obvious reasons and a couple potential layers of meaning wrapped in it.

The real question is whether or not the voltage droops down to around 9ish volts when it is loaded. I think that the regulator in there is a 7805 - those things are pretty rugged so long as they can get rid of the excess heat. I would plug it back in and read the voltage from there. From that point, I would proceed to see if there is 5v coming from the regulator - just do it quickly in the event that it is a solid 20v...

Fair enough. I wouldn't want to do business with a cocky douche, either. My main point was that I can understand why the guy would at least want to add some credibility to help sell his services (but I suppose without proof it is worth about the same as Master Rocket Scientist), although being an electrician really doesn't equate to modding ability when it comes down to it...

To be fair, a master electrician is a level of certification and proclaiming to be a hobby enthusiast isn't particularly over-the-top. Not saying the guy wasn't rude (although your claim is rather vague), but as someone who finds himself on the receiving end of technical questions at work, I understand why guys who provide services like this may tire of inquiries that feel excessive. I'm glad I don't do work like that!

Okay, now that is awesome. It is the kind of thing I could easily see happening in one of my dreams at night!

Let me know if you give up on it. I could potentially be interested if you wanted to part with it.

When it is a junk IC, I usually just cut each leg and clean the pads individually. As long as the cut is done carefully, the traces are preserved and soldering the new part is a much less painful process.

I was at the right place at the right time and wound up buying two at the same place rather than the one I had expected. I just relatively recently completed my Atari pinball collection when I picked up a Time 2000 machine. Most of the machines get bashed, but I like them.

I am looking forward to being there this year! My pesky sister had the audacity of getting married during MWGC last year, so I had to miss it for the first time since 2008. This year I will be dragging along a number of buddies, including three first-time attendees! I am going to have to start a shuttle service from my house at this rate! I am always jealous of you guys who bring your systems out every year - it really makes me wish I had a way to contribute! Maybe one of these years I can bring along one of my Hercules pinball machines...