awhite2600

You could try contacting AtariAge member Sydric at the Personal Computer Museum in Brantford, Ontario. www.pcmuseum.ca They have a huge collection of C64 material including some rare and one of a kind items. Sydric is also a walking encyclopedia of gaming and may know something about this title.

The 1581 disk drive does not require any special software. You just plug it in and use it like a regular disk drive. Commodore 8-bit computers had their DOS "built in" to the computers and disk drives. You load and save programs using the drive's unit number. There are cartridges available that speed up some disk drives and make loading and saving easier. Not all cartridges are compatible with the 1581. I believe that the 1581 had dip switches on the back that allowed you to change it's unit number. The default for most Commodore drives was unit 8. The switches allowed you to change the number to 8, 9, 10 or 11. The 1750 is a RAM expansion unit. The extra RAM could not be accessed by normal Commodore BASIC. Certain programs as well as the GEOS operating system allowed you to take advantage of the extra RAM.

Yes, that's the Canadian version: http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-2600-vcs-smurfs-save-the-day_26734.html Nice find. Would love to have some nice pictures of the box front and back for our database. The Voice Module 1 that sydric found looks identical to the picture on Rom's site. Everything is in like new condition. I was with sydric when he picked it up at a local retailer. Let's just say that the price he paid was AMAZING. I would have grabbed it in a second if he didn't.

These are known as Aperture Cards. The film would contain a drawing or some other image stored using a process similar to microfilm or microfiche. The "punch card" portion would contain information such as a drawing number or other identifier. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punched_card#Aperture_cards

I do a bit of computer work for a local company that makes hardwood flooring. They purchase the "raw" wood, machine it to size and dry it in kilns. The kilns are basically large metal buildings about 20 feet high, 30 feet wide and 8 feet deep. I was shocked to learn that the kiln is controlled by a Commodore PET. The PET is a 2001 series model - no built in tape, not the "fat 40" either. The system was purchased from a German company in about 1980 or 1981. There is a custom interface board inside the PET that connects to the temperature monitors and heater controls. The software to run the kiln is loaded from a tape cassette each day. The system was still in use when I was there about a year ago. I have heard from an employee that a replacement system may have been installed. (Need to go visit them to see for myself.) Still, not a bad investment if the system ran for over 30 years.

Syd Bolton has a complete list of all known longbox games on his site at http://sydbolton.com/videogametools.asp

I agree that situations like this are really sad. I also agree that current recycling methods are inefficient and corrupt. A city run recycling depot where I live has a big "no scavenging" sign by the entrance. I suspect that they have to do things like this for a number of reasons. Could you imagine what would happen if all kinds of people just hung around all day waiting for "good stuff"? There would be too many people, the bins would get dumped and littered everywhere. I suspect that there are also the usual legal and insurance reasons. Yes it sucks. I personally don't like policies like this. At the same time I can't blame the cities for these policies. In my area I encourage people to take unwanted to electronics to a local computer museum. They accept anything with wires. Donated items are added to the museum collection. In the case of computers they are refurbished and given to needy families. If the item is completely unusable then it is responsibly recycled. http://www.pcmuseum.ca/donations.asp

Weird, I had a spider maze and two copies of vulture attack until I sold them. Well you didn't sell them to me. I picked up the first Vulture Attack at a flea market almost 20 years ago. The other two were obtained on separate occasions - in thrift stores I think. Everything I own has been purchased new (back in the day), purchased at a thrift store/flea market or through a local ad or trade.

You could try this: http://www.pcmuseum.ca/loveseat.asp

I'd be interested to know the specs of the AC adapter when you get the console. I still have one of these that my parents bought back in the 70's. Unfortunately the adapter was lost. I recall that the adapter was 7.5 volts - but I could be wrong. I've been wanting to hook up the console again but was afraid that I would fry it with the wrong voltage/polarity. The thought of using 6 "C" batteries makes it not worth the effort.

I have Spider Maze and two copies of Vulture Attack, both R9. Next would be Robin Hood/Sir Lancelot and Mr. Do's Castle, both R8. All were found in the wild. Sadly, none are boxed.

Like many of the others I too got 9/10 and missed number 6.

Hi Sue I am sorry to hear about the passing of your brother. If you are looking to sell all of the games locally I have heard that 1Up Games in Hamilton is a great classic game store. I have never been to this store, but have heard good reports from collectors in the local area. I'm told that the owner pays very fair prices. Hamilton is only about 30 minutes from Niagara. I agree with some of the others that you will make a better profit if yo sell the games here or on eBay. However, if you are looking to sell everything quickly and get a good price then you might want to contact 1Up Games.

I justed wanted to chime in here. I've been a member at AtariAge for quite a while - I read the forums quite a bit but I don't post much. I caught the beginning of this thread when it started and just got up to date. Some quick background on me. I live in Canada and have been collecting classic games for a long time. As a kid in the 80's my family had an Intellivision. I still have it along with a number of boxed games. I began collecting Atari and Colecovision in the late 1980's when I started working full time and could afford to buy games. I was still finding new games for sale into the early 90's. I've never purchased from places like eBay. My modest collection of about 500 classics (for various systems) have all been acquired locally at flea markets, thrift stores and through things like newspaper ads. I too was a doubter when I saw the first few posts. The pictures convinced me that that Mother-In-Law does have a great collection in her possession. I had a good friend in the early to mid 1980's and his father traveled quite a bit. The father loved to collect games and movies. During the crash he would buy games for $5 or less. I still have fond memories of visiting my friend and playing the hundreds of Atari games that his father owned. Much like Mother-In-Law's father my friend's father didn't keep the boxes either. I don't even think he kept the manuals. I moved to another town after I finished school and fell out of touch with my old friend. I ran into him again in the late 1990's when I was home visiting my parents. I asked about his father's game collection hoping to score a quick, cheap addition to my collection. I was told that the father still had all of his 2600 games and had no interest in parting with them. He was keeping the games because he knew that they would be worth something some day. So the original poster's story does not seem so crazy to me. There is a similar collection out there somewhere. Maybe it will show up here on AtariAge.

I still have both a PC-1 and a PC-6. The PC-1 was the first computer that I ever owned. I had to save my paper route money for months to afford it. Got it in about 1981 or 82 when it was the cheapest "computer" available. I picked up the printer for it a few years later on clearance for $25. I used the PC-1 to "help" me through several high school exams. Back then teachers were easily convinced that it was just a calculator. I picked up the PC-6 years later when I started working. I even expanded it to a whole 16K of RAM. I mainly bought the PC-6 because it was advertised as having access to an assembler. I had visions of pushing the thing to it's limits by avoiding BASIC. Turned out that the assembler is just a simulator and is severely limited in what could be done.

You could name all of the teams "The Roughriders" and nobody would notice the difference.

Our family got an Intellivision in the early 80's. The Intellivision game boxes were all labeled with the text, "For Color TV Viewing Only". I'm sure that this was due to the fact that the games were optimized for use on a color TV as well as the Intellivision's lack of a B&W mode like the 2600 had. Most of the time we used the color TV that was in the living room. Sometimes my brother and I would hook the Intellivision up to a 13" B&W set that I had in my bedroom. After about a month the Intellivision died. (This was a common problem with the Intellivision. Bad cooling for some of the chips.) My parents blamed the breakdown on the occasional use of the Black & White TV. They were convinced that ignoring the "color TV only" message was the cause. The store replaced the unit under warranty, but my brother and I were never allowed to use the B&W TV again.

While I am somewhat sad that Scott doesn't want to release the game, I do respect his decision. I do have one request that may seem reasonable to the developer. Would you consider posting a YouTube video of the gameplay captured through an emulator? This will give fans the ability to see the graphics more clearly, hear the audio without distortion and to the truly appreciate the amazing effort that has been put into this game. Just a thought...

It's now listed at $100.

You are thinking of The Logical Song by Supertramp. I have always loved that part of the song.

Is the K-Tel Vulture Attack more rare than either of the Condor Attack variations? Both Condor Attack and Vulture Attack are rarity 9 in the guide. I ask mainly because I own two copies of the K-Tel release....and a copy of Spider Maze too.

As stated above, missing lines of graphics is a common problem with the original GameBoy. I bought one the first week that they were available in 1989. (I was in my early 20s, so the GB was never abused) After about six months the screen suddenly started to develop missing lines. I called Nintendo and they promptly replaced the unit. I was a bit upset at the time as the original unit had a very low serial number. Well, the years went by and two kids arrived. Once they got their hands on the GB the missing lines reappeared. I think the poor abused GameBoy now sits in drawer in my daughter's room. I suspect that it doesn't work well anymore. ...but the GB emulator on my DS works great.

I don't think that they are extremely rare. I believe that the INTV III was released after the crash, so I suspect that they are not as common as the INTV I and II. I have a model III myself. I had a model I that was purchased around 1982 but it died. I picked up the model III as a replacement - can't remember where. Sadly, the box is long gone.

I have one of those. My parents bought it "back in the day". I'm still upset they returned a genuine Atari Pong and bought the APF TV Fun because it played 4 games - Pong, Hockey, Squash and Practice. I don't think that the TV Fun is worth much. The $10 mentioned above seems like a good estimate.

My son and I have two cats - Kayla (aka LaLa) is solid black and almost 3 years old. Jay is white with tabby spots and about 10 months. We also have two Betta fish that the cats would love to play with. I had dogs almost all my life. My last dog, Charlie, lived to be 12 before multiple health problems claimed him. I'd like another dog, but being a busy single parent doesn't give me the free time that a dog deserves. I also have a Commodore PET, if that counts too.