Mr.Amiga500

I took pictures of the "Type 1" and "Type 4" switches and I thought it would be a good idea to add them to this thread. Here is the switch in the 800XL "Type 1" keyboard: As you can see, it is the exact same ALPS switch used in the TRS-80 Model 100 portable: The switch has a nice, light, linear feel. Even thought this is an early version of the ALPS key-switch, keycaps are interchangeable with later ALPS keyboards, like the Apple Extended:

Now it's all cheap rubber dome crap with pad-printed keycaps. Keys are now thin, cheap, flat chiclets. I prefer the days of mechanical key switches and thick doubleshot keycaps. It is impossible for a doubleshot keycap character to wear off. (...unless you drilled a big hole through the centre of the key)

Yeah, nobody seems to appreciate brown electronics these days, but the brown/beige XL colour scheme sure works with wood. Thanks. (wait... does that wink smiley indicate sarcasm? ) I used a cheapo $50 camera. That's where I sit and do my typing with The Last Word. (..though not when the picture was taken. I was watching Sherlock Holmes.) Here are some lovely early 80's keyboards in my "Command Centre": (last two are in my AtariAge "gallery", but nobody looks at those so I thought I'd post here)

I've got a "command centre" filled with vintage computers and keyboards, but only one computer is allowed in my living room - the Atari 800XL - and it fits the scheme nicely, as you can see: Also pictured is the ultimate 80's VCR - the JVC HR-S8000U - in all its wood-panelled glory: (... a VCR in 2011?? Yes! At least it doesn't skip, jerk and disintegrate into pixelated garbage - like those damn DVDs!)

What do you mean? These are originals. Yeah, Halo runs fine on the 2600, but in online multiplayer sometimes there's a lag. That's why I prefer the 8-bit version.

cool... you have atr's of these to share? :') sloopy. Unfortunately, no... cartridge only.

Yes, that's it. (damn.. I thought I was the only one) The weird thing is that I've landed on the floor and conveyor belt many times without touching the slider and I didn't die. This was the first time I died. No, I didn't spend months trying to kill myself. I only played a couple times since our Montezuma competition. I've mostly been killing myself (and being killed) in Halo and Warblade lately.

I enjoy attempting to do insane things in games... and for years I've been trying to kill myself after the jewel jump / level change in Montezuma's Revenge. I've missed the sliders many times and landed on the conveyor belt, disappearing floor and even the floor below that... but today I... (it chokes me up to say it) gloriously landed on my head, dead on the conveyor belt. It was a beautiful sight. (...still brings tears to my eyes...) But after the death, something funny happened: my new guy was dropped from the exact centre of the screen and landed on his head. This repeated until all 6 of my guys were dead. Has anybody else ever done this? If not, I DARE you to do it. ("double dog" dare... assuming two dogs will somehow make a difference)

No, that's not the problem. The game starts and I hear helicopter noises, but the helicopter is invisible and there is corruption in the corner. It doesn't really matter. I can probably just delete it myself. (and "Blue Thunder" seems to be the same game - and it works) I only mentioned it because you were talking about only including usable games.

I'm fine with games now, but I really wish somebody could create an ATR filled with all the good demos that work in NTSC. 80% of the demos I've tried are PAL only. I've found a few games in your ATRs that didn't work at all. Airwolf is one. (can't remember the others at the moment)

This is awesome. Thanks! I set those three harddrive images as my default SDrive D1-D3.

What the hell? You're screwing the resale value of my existing SDrive NUXX! I was planning on waiting until some desperate freak pays me $1000 for mine. Now they can just buy a new one from you. In art, if the artist is dead, the paintings go up. You're like the artist who comes back to life and says, "Psyche! I wasn't dead, really - just pretending." No, seriously, make lots more. Everybody should get the chance to buy this awesome SDrive.

Thanks again, ThumpNugget. Viewing these on my matte LCD brings back memories of the early 80's when I used to read BYTE, OMNI and Scientific American on microfiche at the library. It's almost identical - only in colour. Now if somebody could just scan those early OMNI magazines...

Ach! Ug... GUCK!! That's the sound of me choking on my own bile. (...surprisingly similar to Klingon) Hey, wait a minute - you didn't beat me. Ah... now I can relax and act smug and superior. (while I wallow in my own crapulence)

He's farming Mr.Amiga's goats You're obviously no goat expert. You don't "farm" goats. You just put them in a fenced field and hope they don't break out and eat your children. Actually, I don't have goats yet. I'm planning on getting a couple black ones and calling them "The Lads", Zeus and Apollo, like on Magnum P.I. I'll say, "Zeus, Apollo - patrol!" (...but in this case, "patrol" will mean "wander around randomly and eat vegetation")

It's funny that you mention replacement eyes. I created a "franken-photo" of myself a couple years ago - complete with replacement eyes. (eyes are still mine, but pasted from another photo)

The Kjmann one has a fancier font for the scores. (presumably so that when you look at your pathetic score, the fanciness of the font eases the pain) I hate that "feature" - or is it a bug? Who knows? (...what am I talking about? This is Centipede - there are bugs all over the place.)

Ooh... this one's even better: 40,707 I quickly looked at my score and said, "Hey! I'm over 40,000!" and that's when a spider zoomed out and killed me. The moral of the story: Never look at the score.

On real, unmodified 800XL: 30312

By the way, here is the link to the thread about the Kjmann Trak-ball fixed version. (and notice my pleading at the end) Edit: I didn't notice therealbountybob also linked to this. My browser is set not to underline links and, strangely, this forum doesn't put links in a different colour from regular text.

Here's my first attempt: 20261 I'm using the Trak-ball fixed version by Kjmann. (I still wish the damn Trak-ball mode was default and on port 2)

Oh crap! Thanks for reminding me. Shooo, squirrel, shoo! No... on second thought, I'll let him hang around. He can peek over my shoulder and alert me to any... CHEATERS!

Hey, why was the Round 6 poll thread closed? It says the closing date is April 10. I just checked my calendar and it's not April 10 yet - not even in your time zone. (I've got the "Goats 2011" calendar - one fancy goat per month.)

Hey! What...when...how...who...... when the hell did you get 13380? I see no evidence to support your insane assumption that you got such a score. I think there's some controversy here. Edit: OK, I found your screenshot. It was posted on April 1, so I assumed it was bogus. (...though I still think there's some controversy... (said with narrowed eyes, suspiciously looking back and forth))

Classic film, didn't they use some Atari sound effects in Airplane I seem to remember a thread about this somwhere Yeah, that was my thread here. I also made a comment about Airplane in the Blue Max competition when I said: "We're going to have to come in pretty low to land this thing." "Is that difficult, Ted?" "Sure, it's difficult. Coming in low is part of every textbook approach. It's just something you have to do... when you land."