RodLightning

Post #4 pretty much sums up my experiences as well. I agree with everyone who recommends patience. Time and a watchful eye will yield results...eventually. It also helps to have friends and family helping you keep look out for stuff you need/want. The more the better. The times I have spent more money on a retro project, is when I got impatient on finding the pieces and parts needed for completion. Difficult? Oh yeah. Like games, too easy quickly becomes boring and uninteresting.

Ok, here's the additional requested measurements for Battlezone. As pictured: B1 = 74.5 inches B2 = 74 1/4 inches B3 = 74 inches even A1 at the control panel measured closer to 21 5/16 inches but probably started out 21 1/4. It's hard to say because MDF can swell due to moisture and humidity. Such a tiny difference probably doesn't matter, but you can decide which to use. Lastly, the rear vent measured as follows: Top edge of vent opening starts at 2 1/4 inches down from top edge of the panel. It is 14 inches wide and 1.5 inches tall, with 5 inches of mdf on either side. The vent is centered. The MDF side panels are 1 inch thick, adding to the total width of the cabinet. I hope this helps in making a realistic 3d model. My machine does not have the step, so no measurements possible.

Sorry to hear that the new heads will be destroyed, as I only bought a single rubber+ink roller. I have not installed it yet. I am wondering if the new material might eventually harden a bit over time with light use. I remember the original being fairly rigid to touch. In any event, it is a good thing to have the STL file for future experiments. Thanks again to Irgendwer for development and making the info freely available. Perhaps we have not seen the end of 1027 printers after all. There is always room for improvement based on what has already been done.

At this point, thanks to ebay, the average non-atari enthusiast would have to have more money than brains to start from scratch. This alone limits the number of potential players out there. Several years ago the moron factor (discussed in another thread) was still in action, with atari hardware being tossed in the garbage if it didn't work for any reason. I wonder how many ended up in a landfill that only needed a cartridge slot cleaning? The surviving consoles are now "super rare" money making opportunities to the average disinterested seller. This leaves a few hundred players with a genuine love for the console. I count myself as part of that group with my CIB Jaguar system, purchased new from Kay-Bee Toys back when the world was still a sane place. I voted 100-500, although it could be more. I hope it is, though I doubt that number would approach 1000.

I just received these two very low priced boards labeled FT232RL FTDI USB 3.3V 5.5V to TTL Serial Adapter Modul for Arduino Mini Port and can confirm that they work fine with Atari. I think they were linked in a thread somewhere which I can't find. I ordered on impulse 17 days ago as they were only 74 cents USD each from China with free shipping to USA. I used the CTS line to atari command pin 7 and RespeQt for handshake with no issues. As pictured, the pin connectors on this board style are handy for use with the female to female dupont wires I had left over from a raspberry pi project. Likely counterfeit at this price, I was still pleasantly surprised with performance and the shipping time. ebay link: http://tinyurl.com/yxvu667y Discussion on these devices has become quite fragmented across many threads. Here are a few I found tonight for anyone wanting a refresher on making a SIO to PC over USB connection for use with APE, AspeQT or RespeQT. http://atariage.com/forums/topic/242526-cheap-but-effective/ http://atariage.com/forums/topic/182392-sio2usb-with-a-ftdi-basic-breakout-board/ http://atariage.com/forums/topic/270145-diy-sio2usb/ http://atariage.com/forums/topic/242955-possible-cheap-alternative-to-sio2pc-usb/

Another thing you might try is to press and hold the start key before turning on the power switch. You should hear a buzz/beep sound from the internal speaker. This indicates it is waiting for a tape to load, so good sign.

Whilst questing in the land of ebay, my party prefers to ride under the 'Buy It Now' banner. Entering into battle with others can yield greater rewards, but wiser to reserve those battles for the rarest of treasures. I have found that trading in smaller villages like atariage can lead to better bargains with nicer townsfolk; who are more interested in seeing atari gems into a good home. Adventurer, I wish you good luck in your continuing quests! May the next box you find on a curbside be packed with 1200XLs !!

I have to agree with those who say patience comes into play more today than back then. As a kid, I rarely kept score and would lose interest quickly and want to try another game. Today, I can sit and play 2600 Asteroids (Game1) until the score turns over and be perfectly content. I don't know that my reflexes are much worse today but attention span and dedication to the joy of playing has definitely improved.

I recommend the model 3B+ at present, for maximum compatibility. Going with one of the other similar single board computers can introduce a bit of a learning curve getting things to work. If your goal is to run Raspbian linux or other software written specifically for a raspberry pi, start out with a genuine device. You can add a fan+heatsinks to the 3B+ to overclock when necessary. I agree that the Retroflag cases are great. I have the NESPi version. There are some other brands of layered and clear plexi enclosures, also nice.

Found a Wii today at a local thrift for $6usd. It has had a hard life, but seems to work fine. I have a complete boxed system in storage that can stay there while I investigate the latest methods of putting homebrew channel and emulators on this old thing.

Wow, my 90s pc hardware experience was a lot different, more of a shred fest from around 94 to 2000. Parts pulled out, inherited by next machine, motherboard replacement, pieces sold or traded away and cases picked up at trade shows. I would love to have my original 486 DX66 with Cardinal DSP sound card and S3 Virge video, but it was all replaced piece-by-piece in what seems like an endless carousel of parts. I would have to put one together again from scratch. Other than bad caps and those famous exploding Varta batteries, I don't recall too many hardware failures from even 20 years ago, unless the machine belonged to a mad overclocker. Gamers have been turning cpus to slag since the earliest days of Pentium 2.

I just noticed the forum post I linked to RespeQt 4.3 is just the executable binary. The complete set of windows files (docs, dll, etc) necessary to run can be downloaded with the previous release 4.2.1, courtesy of ebiguy, here: http://atariage.com/forums/topic/284707-respeqt-42-beta/?p=4150092 RespeQt.exe 4.3 binary can be copied over previous version. RespeQT is click and run under Windows with no package installer required.

Check here for general info: http://atariage.com/forums/forum/184-respeqt-sio2pc-software/ I think the latest beta is 4.3: Go to this thread for Windows and Mac binaries posted by JoSch: http://atariage.com/forums/topic/285890-respeqt-43-beta/?p=4219350

I have used an old Asus eeePC 904ha netbook; 2gb ram, running 32 bit XP Home Edition and respeqt. It runs with no issues. You won't need a lot of horsepower to run it and a netbook fits just fine on top of a 1050 floppy drive.

I'm giving Discord a try. My experience so far has been good, although I have spent most of it on the MiSTer channel. Several developers are indeed there and elsewhere so it's interesting when they are active. Voice chat is there, but as I understand has been rarely used at this particular server. A very IRC like experience but less BS and more mature behavior from what I have seen. I'm sure experiences will vary depending upon the server/group/channel you visit. I encourage those interested to follow the invite link from this thread. It leads directly to the right spot. The client runs in a browser, with optional downloadable versions for various platforms. New account setup wasn't so bad, email verification etc. Hey, there's a phone app. I hope it catches on and becomes the next thing.

Family Guy, Big Man on Hippocampus S08E10. Richard Dawson knocks him out. Sort of back on topic. I'm wishing I had bought a few of those 1200XL keyboards when they were being sold by Radio Shack. I saw several collecting dust at my local shack for over a year, but decades ago. They would be worth something today I think.

Disk Wizard II was/is my favorite. It has a hex editor and allows you to look at a disk, sector by sector....maybe a little more than you need, but one of the best disk tools available. The C.A.P. Software version is here: http://atariage.com/forums/topic/174204-disk-wizard-iidiskwizii/

I have been manually messing around with midilink 2.0 and 2.3 for MiSTer lately, trying to see what is presently possible. Success getting the 486 core playing midi songs. Not a lot of joy so far with midi on fxcast atari st core, except with tcp/ telnet out to bbs which is working great. Keeping in the spirit of this particular thread though, I think the excellent MiSTer arcade machine cores are worth it alone in buying the de10 nano hardware. And yeah, I do want to get that updater script installed and get everything onto one sd card. I currently have two cards, one with the computer cores and another for game consoles and arcade systems. At the rate the project is expanding, I think a 128gb sd card will be needed soon, if you account for software, hdd images and media used by the various systems.

My two cents, MiSTer is still in the early stages of Atari ST support. End users who aren't developers will have to wait for that to evolve. MiSTer/DE10 nano has a mini usb and whatever ports your i/o board (if you buy and add one) has on it. Fully populated boards can offer analog vga style port, 3.5mm stereo jack, optical audio and usb type jack that is actually not usb, but serial; and midi in/out can eventually be built on that port for expansion. There is a sdram board required for some cores that is also optional, but nice to have. The nicer i/o board has sdram built in. Adding at least a 4 port OTG type hub is also pretty much required for mouse, keyboard, game controllers etc. There are some GPIO ports similar to raspberry pi, usable by developers if they so choose. On the other hand, a true MiST box offers STe core, real midi ports and analog video out for use with CRT. It's ready to go out of the box. MiSTer has more potential, but currently requires more effort to get up and running. I have a MiSTer box built at present and like it very much. I have never owned a MiST. MiSTer will keep you reading through forums and cruising github if you want to have the absolutely latest cores and utilities running, but it's a lot of fun.

I found a Arcade Classics 04, Q*bert at Walmart yesterday for $5. It had been reduced to $9 at some point and scanned $5 at the register. It was the earliest Bridge Direct game I remember seeing on the shelf so I guess it got the price cut first. Joust was there a few weeks ago and I'm wondering if it had a deep price cut also and quickly sold out. Galaga, Centipede, MsPacman, DigDug and LCD version of Pacman were still marked at full price.

Agreed. The simple fact is, one or more individuals (you know who you are) entered the thread intending to troll, with zero appreciation for the subject matter. The result is that we no longer have an off-topic spot to post attractive celeb pics we have seen (or would like to see) from tv and movies or wherever. Well, mission accomplished. A thread enjoyed for years by many members had to be shut down. It's a shame everyone couldn't just shut up and look at the pretty pictures. Nobody forced you to click that link after all. The trolls win again, and will likely become bored and move on to greener fields as the months pass, their accounts becoming inactive. The definition of pathetic and sad.

It's true in my case. I was writing simple BASIC programs and saving them to cassette for over a year before figuring out how to put more memory in my 600XL. Having 64kb opened up the bulk of Atari's game library and I spent most of my time thereafter on that. Buying a floppy drive opened the door to even more games!

A 410 program recorder to go with my new 600XL. For some reason, the matching 1010 recorder was not available anywhere. My first upgrade involving opening a computer was to install 64kb RAM in the 600XL, a scary exercise for a 15 year old with no soldering experience. I had a cassette game, The Crypts of Plumbous, that wouldn't run on 16kb. I quickly realized that a 16k Atari had a severely limited library.

You might try putting a ISA network card in it if it doesn't have one already and running Windows 95. File sharing is possible and you get DOS 95 for games. Setup (drivers) could be a headache, one thing I don't miss about that generation of pc.

Agree with Grig on space issues. With the Atari stuff, consoles and modern pc hardware around the room here, I'm outta space too. Your Eduquest looks perfect for a crowded room. Just noticed the monitor is built-in.