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Mr.Amiga500

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Posts posted by Mr.Amiga500

  1. Honestly, after how long this thread has been here, I'm surprised the Heathkit H89 has not been posted yet. It's design was an inspiration for a few other machines IIRC.

     

    Nice, but I prefer the VT100. The brown colour scheme always reminded me of the Atari XL line. Here's mine with my DEC GIGI.

     

    gallery_12824_521_283910.jpg

     

    The GIGI even looks like a 1200XL.

    • Like 1
  2. Certainly their PC clone aren't memorable to the history of personal computers, aside from styling if you like that. The TRS-80 Color Computer 1-3 has a unique spot in personal computer history though, even if it was the less obvious flavor, like the third alternative to Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Cola (which is Royal Crown in the U.S.), though really number 4 in the U.S. to Apple, Commodore and Atari, always off to the side and in the shadows, but if you pull back the vale, you see a whole different world, like an alternate universe or something...that's how they always seemed to me anyway, since they could pretty much ONLY be bought at Radio Shack stores in the U.S. and every other computer dealer or department store carried Apple, Atari or Commodore. I completely dismissed them even though I was an avid Radio Shack shopper, until I saw the Coco 3 in '87 and it blew me a way, but I already had my Atari 130XE by then, and it still wouldn't have stopped me getting an ST if I were to get another computer at the time. Of course today I think I'd enjoy owning a Coco 3 just to explore "the other side," but I'd also choose an Amiga over an ST these days too. The TRS-80 community always seemed underground, you never met anyone in the wild with a TRS-80, not that they would admit anyway, it was always, Apple, Commodore, Atari or sometimes Texas Instruments. But there was always that one reclusive family on the block, with the reclusive kids, that no body really talked to or hung out with, but you heard rumors they had a Coco-computer...once upon a time in America, there was a Radio Shack store on nearly every corner, so the Coco's existance was well known...as being a computer you saw in a Radio Shack store...

     

    I snickered a bit when you said the CoCo 3 blew you away. I can't imagine someone with an Atari being "blown away" by the CoCo 3. I did buy the CoCo 3 in 1987 (or was it late '86?) but only because it was an upgrade to my CoCo 2 and it was on "blow out sale" for $99 (CAD!). It was certainly better than the CoCo 2, but it still lacked a dedicated sound chip, had no sprites, no full-screen editing. The higher text modes were completely unreadable on a TV (RGB monitor was too expensive at $549). The palette system was the best feature and there were some better graphics modes, but that's about it. It still didn't catch up to the Atari 800 from 1979.

     

     

    Id have to say not until 1995, I remember seeing ads for PCs in magazines and they were damn expensive, 2000-5000k for a basic system whilst you could get an Amiga 500 or ST for under $900. Pentiums were out of reach in terms of price for most consumers when those first came on to the market. And the folks that I knew who owned PCs stuck with their 486sx/dxs models for quite some time until prices became more affordable. I still used an Amiga exclusively until 1996 when I got a good deal on Pentium motherboard and yet it still took several weeks before I could finish my build as I got parts for it. The Amiga become too expensive to maintain and upgrade by this point.

     

    In Canada, the IBM PC was waaayyy too expensive, so I never ever saw one - anywhere. Same with all Apple products. I never knew anyone with an Apple computer and never saw one until 1987 at a store closing (an Apple IIc) - and even massively discounted, the price was so shocking that I thought it was a misprint. It was all Radio Shack, Commodore and Texas Instruments, with Atari coming fourth - at least that's what I noticed in stores and numbers of computers that friends had. In my experience, there was a "dead zone" of computing from around 1986-1989 where nothing new appeared - until the Amiga. The Amiga was briefly popular until around 1991, when all the stores stopped carrying Amiga stuff. I never saw an Amiga 3000, and never saw any AGA Amiga. I think I only once saw an Atari ST for sale and nobody I knew had one. It was the PC clones that started getting popular in 1990/91 that basically pushed everything else out of the market.

  3. I bought one of these - just so I can have the thrill of opening a new Atari thing for Christmas and feel like I'm back in 1984.

     

    With shipping to Canada and exchange, it ends up more than double the price - and I'll probably get screwed by customs, but what the hell - it's Christmas. (at least that's the earliest I'll receive it, thanks to insanely slow shipping and possible postal strike delays)

  4. When it comes to history and what really happened where, it is my opinion that only basic events and times can be trusted and reason why or how cannot, because you never know if the recorded history is unbiased or biased, and people have been trying to erase or change recorded and evidential history since civilization began until this day. Even physical evidence like an account on an old stone tablet from 3000 years ago may be biased, and always from the perspective of the writer or whomever might be controlling them.

     

    Yes, exactly. Most of the "history" we know is probably a combination of 10% real history and 90% propaganda. I've always wished we could find a way to send "video recording probes" back in time to record actual historical events, from every perspective. I'm sure we'd find out that most of what we think we know is a total lie. One thing I know for sure - never believe a Hollywood movie's version of historical events.

     

     

    As authoritative as that sounds, that pre-supposes facts not in evidence; namely, that there was "wilderness" rather than "civilization" in the target lands.

     

    One only has to look at the irrefutable proof of Montezuma's Revenge. Look how advanced they were - they had rolling skulls and everything! :D

    • Like 5
  5. Just so we all know, Thanksgiving was started my a bunch of migrants from a foreign country...

     

    Happy Thanksgiving to all!

    DavidMil

     

     

    They were settlers, not migrants. There's a major difference. Settlers create civilization from wilderness. Migrants move to existing civilization to enjoy economic benefits.

    • Like 8
  6. The Amiga blew me away, the same way the Atari 800XL blew me away years earlier - and the same way the Atari 2600 blew me away before that. I didn't know anything about Jay Miner or the history of the computer companies. I just knew that those were the ones that most impressed me.

     

    Unfortunately, I couldn't afford the Atari 2600, but a friend had one and I always managed to get myself invited over to play. I didn't see an Atari computer until 1984 - a year after I got the cheapest computer I could find at the time, a 16K TRS-80 Colour Computer II. A friend had an 800XL and I repeatedly got myself invited over to his house to play. I didn't get to play with the C64 until a year after that and although it was far better than my CoCo II, it didn't really impress me as much as the 800XL had done. All my favourite games looked and played better on the Atari. (this was 1985/86, before the more impressive later C64 games, which I never saw - because by that time I had an Amiga)

     

    I first saw the Amiga when... once again, a friend got one. I went with him to pick out a game and I grabbed the box for Shadow of the Beast. I couldn't believe the screenshots. I thought they were faked or weren't part of the actual game play. I basically forced him to get the game. When we went back to play it, I was stunned. I just had to get an Amiga!

     

    I walked 3km each way in the middle of winter to work at a job I hated just so I could save up. (I vividly remember while walking to that miserable job, a dump truck swerved into a giant puddle of dirty slush deliberately to drench me. Fun times.)

    • Like 4
  7. Since there are a lot of well known Atari download sites, I figured you could easily find it for yourself and it was easier to show a video than scour my game images. The point here was to show the graphics are nearly identical to the C64 version and not show game-play or worry about making sure I got a video showing lots of action on screen. My attitude problem is that you could have EASILY looked into it all on your own instead of making ridiculous statements from a failing memory of the game years past and by actually checking it out on your own after my initial post pointing out the C64 version looks the same. I looked into it myself after you first claimed the C64 version was so much better, you could have too!

     

    This is exactly the response I expected from you. I predicted it, even as I posted. Now, why do you think I asked you for a link to the version of the game you were playing? Obviously, you can't figure it out for yourself, so I'll tell you. Have you ever heard that games have different versions?? There are pre-release leaks, hacks, cracks, different formats etc.. I asked to see the version YOU had, not because I didn't know how to fucking Google it or find a download source, but because I was sincerely interested in seeing that version!

     

    I didn't make "ridiculous statements from a failing memory of the game years past" - I made perfectly reasonable statements based on the fucking videos you posted!

     

    You act like you're still fighting the Commodore vs. Atari wars and you think, because of my username, that I'm on the Commodore side. I don't give a shit about the C64. I want the Atari version of every game I care about to be equal or better than the C64 one. That's why I posted in the first place.

    • Like 1
  8. You are not seeing a whole lot of gameplay in that video, believe me, you get just as many vehicles on-screen as the C64 version. Why don't you just download the game and try it for real in person instead of making all kinds of assumptions and conclusions from what you remember years ago and one shitty video of it I posted! GEEZE! it's better than the C64 version in playability, that's for sure!

     

    What the hell is your attitude problem? If you look at my post, you'll notice I asked for a download link for the version of the game you were playing, not "one shitty video". You're the one who misunderstood and posted the video, so I commented on it.

  9. Atari 8-bit Spy Hunter

     

     

    Commodore 64 Spy Hunter

     

    Ah, so then it's not so much the graphics (aside from the wrong colours - purple trucks?), but the almost complete lack of other cars on the road that make the Atari version feel like an unfinished game.

  10. I always thought the Atari version of Spy Hunter was pretty good, but I'm always up for better!

     

    I just watched a video of the C64 version of Spy Hunter and it's nearly identical to the Atari version, so I'm not sure what you see about the C64 version you like better Mr.Amiga500...I noticed a couple very small details, like ramps coming out the back of the truck on the C64 version that don't on the Atari, the smoke screen is different, but I prefer Atari's. I'm totally up for a graphical upgrade to what we have, but I'm not seeing anything better than what we already have on the Atari in the C64 version! Care to enlighten me one what I'm not noticing that's better? besides those two minor details? I guess the C64 helicopter is better looking too...but really, not much difference at all between the two versions to make one stand out over the other, IMHO.

     

    Can you give me a download link to the version you're playing? Maybe the one I played years ago was a crap version or something. I just remember it absolutely sucked compared to the C64 version (felt unfinished, low res, bad colours, etc.) and I was very disappointed. I should try it again.

  11. I'm surprised people actually liked Double Dragon. I got a copy with my Amiga back in 1989 and I thought it was embarrassing rubbish. I didn't have many games though, so I played it - at least long enough to erase all the existing high scores.

     

    I thought maybe it was rubbish because it was a bad conversion, but after seeing videos of the arcade version, it looks about the same.

     

    Did you know there was game that combined Double Dragon and Ruff'N'Tumble? Actually.. there wasn't - but I imagined the possibilities with this screenshot. Behold.... "DoubleRuffDrag'N'Tumble!"

     

     

    • Like 2
  12.  

    wow a8 Phoenix looks awesome. It was literally ny first game I played at arcade (second was Time Pilot).

     

     

    It's strange that you listed those two together. They weren't the first arcade games I played (first were Asteroids, Centipede and Berzerk in 1981), but I vividly recall in early 1984 going on a long trip and visiting an arcade - and at that arcade I played Phoenix, then Time Pilot. They were the only two I played at that arcade and I've always had them linked together in my mind.

     

     

    Cant wait!

     

    I think we'll still be waiting. I recall saying "I can't wait" when checking that website years ago. Nothing seems to have changed.

    • Like 1
  13. Time ago there was demo for Montezuma Hack providing new levels.

     

    Now there is a final version: https://montemaker.blogspot.com/

     

    More details, screenshots and file in the link.

     

     

    This is totally frigging awesome! This is exactly the kind of thing I've wanted for years. I didn't want a "remake" with newer graphics, or a side-scrolling version or "Montezuma Junior" or crap like that - I just wanted the same Montezuma, same graphics, same timing - just more levels. It's one of my all-time favourite games and one of the few Atari games I still feel like playing. (along with Blue Max... anybody want to make new missions? ;) )

     

    One minor point: there are a few rooms in this "Montezuma 2" that are just too hard and frustrating. I'm an expert at Montezuma's Revenge, able to do multiple levels without dying once (I've even looped the points counter!), and yet there's a room here where I died 30 times in a row and just can't pass it. The levels should be challenging, of course, but there's a point where it stops being challenging and starts becoming infuriating. Otherwise, nice work!

    • Like 3
  14. I think I'll disassemble one of my backup Type 4 800XLs and get some photos of this switch. I don't think I've seen it documented anywhere.

     

    From what I've heard, Stackpole is a fairly disreputable company that stole a switch design from Hi-Tek, then went around selling keyboards with this switch to Hi-Tek's customers. Hi-Tek sued them, but (inexplicably) lost.

  15. This thread needs updating...

     

    Type 1: Alps made, using Alps SKFL switches

     

    Type 2: AWC made, using Cherry M8 open top switches

    Type 3: AWC made, using Cherry M8 closed top switches

     

    Type 4: Unknown - using "Hi-Tek/Stackpole-like" switches (incomplete! needs more detail!)

     

    Type 5: Mitsumi made, using "Mitsumi hybrid switches" ("rubber dome on stick")

     

     

    600XL (only?)

    Type 2a: AWC made, using Futaba low profile switches, Type 2 keycaps

     

     

    Many thanks to Daniel Beardsmore for the Deskthority Wiki information!

    • Like 1
  16.  

    Helping out here Stargames / Dave, I think he can ship to Canada if you send him an e-mail directly.

    He is doing the same to Singapore. Contact Dave at: info@stargames.be

     

    I have been communicating with him and he is fast (and e-mail is in English :-))

     

    Thanks. I'll check it out.

     

     

    I could order it for you here to Germany, and then ship it to Canada. just a question of shipping-cost.

     

    Thanks very much for the offer. :) I'll contact Dave first and see what happens.

     

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