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almightytodd

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Posts posted by almightytodd

  1. Posted

    Adjusted?

    The first Mac (128k, 1 floppy, built-in monitor) was released at $2495 in 1985.

    That's over $5000 adjusted for inflation.

    The Apple II in 1977 was $1298 for the 4K model with no drives or monitor. That's almost $5000 adjusted...

    Now, the first //e was $1395, which is just over $3000 adjusted. So, that model, with a floppy and monitor you might be able to get for around $5000.

    So, other than the initial release (which was even higher), it seems like Apple was shooting for an (adjusted) $5000 price point for the setup.

     

    desiv

    p.s. My adjustments come from http://www.westegg.com/inflation/

     

    Thank you. Your corrected data improves on my original premise that the historically high prices of Apple computing products has left a huge portion of the global population out of havng the opportunity to experience these break-through technologies during their heyday. So how about it, Apple? You're the wealthiest, most successful corporation in the history of the planet now, so you could afford to take a chance that it won't be a big seller or make a big profit for you.

     

    Develop an under $200 Macintosh Classic Flashback. You could bring back some memories for all of the people who were kids in Jr High and High School and were lucky enough to get to use Macintoshes in the school computer lab back in the day. You could remind all of today's desktop Windows users that your company had figured out so many of the desktop metaphor UI elements way before Microsoft finally got their act together with Windows 95.

     

    Hell, Apple engineers wouldn't even have to design it. They could turn it over to Chinese engineers at Foxconn and simply give it their blessing with copyrights and trademarks and have final say before the production units went out the door.

    • Like 1

  2. Posted

    One time my friend and I were talking about how we used Mac Classics in tech class in Jr High and his GF (who is several years younger than us) asked if we were talking about the first iMac. Then we had to explain that the Mac Classics had monochrome displays lol

    I've often wondered... ...If Apple were to create a Mac "Flashback" with a monochrome LCD screen, and similar form/function as the original Mac...

     

    1. How inexpensive could they produce such a device and still sell it for a profit?

    2. Would there be enough interest in such a device as to make it worth it?

    3. Assuming it would be done by emulation (hardware or software), what Apple copyrighted software could they/would they include with it?

    4. To make it a viable product, would it have to be integrated/dual-boot with iOS, the Internet and iTunes/iStore, or could it stand alone as a pure reproduction?

     

    See, the thing is, I've never had a spare $2,500 to spend on a computer... ...any computer. And it seems that with Apple, starting with the Mac (...well, really, an entire Apple II system with floppy drive and monitor, with prices adjusted for 2013 dollars, would cost about that much as well), the cost of entry has always been around at least $2,000 for whatever new system was introduced.

     

    I remember walking through computer stores in the mid-90's and seeing Macs priced at $3,000; $4,000; $6,000... ...and thinking, "Who's buying these"? In those days you couldn't get into a new PC for less than $1,500 and there were plenty of "state of the art" systems in the $3,000 - $4,000 range as well. But there was also a healthy used market, and some of the Atari ST line and Amiga gear still around. My first three PCs were left-over machines from work that were either given to me, or sold to me for like, a hundred bucks.

     

    But I am curious about all of the fervor over the original Macintosh line, back in the day. I mean, that's when the "Cult of Apple" really got going. Sure, I could hit eBay and find a beat-up old Mac Classic for a few hundred bucks, and then try to assemble some software for it. But if I could get a shiny brand-new bona fide Apple Macintosh Flashback product with carefully selected fun and interesting software, running from a 16Gb solid-state hard drive, for under $200, that's something that might interest me.

     

    Anybody else see it this way?

    • Like 1

  4. Posted

    Thanks, I enjoyed watching the video. it's good to see the black and whites getting some attention I really like them and they have been the focus of my collection for quite some time. I think I'm up to 26 or so now. Here's a few of mine, hope you don't mind me posting them in your thread

     

     

    That's an awesome collection! Pretty amazing that you've managed to keep them in working order after all these years.

  5. Posted

    Is anyone happy with their C64 Forever purchase? I've played with the shareware demo version, which has some features disabled (full screen being the most significant). I do like the "click and play" convenience of it, and it isn't a lot of money for the full version. I'm just curious if anyone has bought it and been really glad they did.

  7. Posted

    You might get better results in your search if you try different terminology. As others have suggested, you're looking for an analog NTSC TV tuner. The trouble is that unlike audio, the idea of separate television components never took off. And to make matters worse, with the change to digital NTSC broadcasting over the past few years, the focus has been on tuners that can convert a digital RF signal into a composite analog one.

  8. Posted

    Are you looking for screen capture to video software, or video editing software? I've tried CamStudio from this list: http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/win-screen-recording-softwares/ , but I find that at any screen resolution higher than 320 x 240 it misses frames and adds screen artifacts. I haven't tried any of the others so maybe they work better. My PC is an i3 Core with 4Gb memory running Win 7. Lately, I've been getting better results by just putting my Canon Power Shot SD1200 on a tripod and pointing it at the monitor screen, but then the audio picks up a lot of keyboard noise. I can record the system audio through Audacity at the same time and then try to synchronize them later. I use Windows Movie Maker Live to do my editing.

  11. Posted

    * Update * Update * Update *

     

    We now have a smashing new game element, one everbody has been waiting for!

     

    It's still work in progress, but a playable DK version with this new feature will be shown for the first time at this year's PRGE!

     

    The binary will be posted here shortly after the end of the show.

    This is great news Joe! Thank you so much for sharing the development of this game with us. This is one of the things that makes Atari Age my favorite Internet site.

  12. Posted

    I'm able to run Stella on Linux by installing the binaries or even building it from sources, but for 7800 games I don't have that option. Has anyone been successful in running the ProSystem emulator using WINE? Is it difficult to set up the Windows environment in Linux to run Windows programs under WINE? Would it be easier to build MESS from the source files? Thanks in advance for any suggestions you might have to offer.

  17. Posted

    Please clear your browser cache and erase your AtariAge cookies. Chrome should work fine.

     

    ..Al

    Oh, that's right. I remember you hid that hint in giant bold type on the front page... ...I'm so dumb...

  21. Posted

     

    IIRC The Flashback 1-3 all ran on real Hardware (the Atari equivalent of Nintendo on a Chip. A simple mod allows to add a real cartridge slot) So the game's aren't being emulated. This is NOT the case with the 4, it doesn't use real hardware and is emulated, games are "optimized" etc.

     

    No, only the Flashback 2 can be modded to add a cartridge slot. All others are emulators or ported games...

    • Like 1

  23. Posted

    Can we talk about emulation at all? Has anyone purchased the license for C64 Forever? I've tried the demo version, but without the ability to scale or full screen, it's hard to gauge the experience. Others have pointed out that one difficulty with games for the C64, is that there seems to be a lack of consistency in the controls. I don't know that having real hardware versus emulation is that great of an advantage with regard to this issue.

  24. Posted

    It occurs to me that the batch files I posted in this thread may be useful as a way of connecting these games together in Stella. You can set the amount of time for one game before it switches to the next. You'll have to keep track of the score yourself, but I think that is a problem in any case, because each mini-game is a separate ROM.

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