Thorsten Günther

No production dates, the cart shells each bear a small inmold "Sirius" label additional to the silver one. As these seem to be vintage pirates like the majority of Taiwan carts, I put'em up on eBay.

While I can't agree to the notion the Speccy being indecently specced for the time (considering there were games such as Starglider and R-Type on it), I always felt the pre-+2/+3 models felt "incomplete" lacking Joystick ports, RGB out, a good keyboard and/or a sound chip (although I have an original Clive Sinclair era 128K myself, plus a RamTurbo Joystick/cartridge(!) interface to cope with the lacking joystick ports of the machine). I have to agree with CrazyAce that an Atari 400/600 style low-cost computer (perhaps a 600 with a Bit 90 style rubber keyboard) would have helped Atari accessing the entry-level market. The approach of computerized VCSes has been tried by Bit Corporation with the Bit 60 and that machine was not exactly a success (BTW the Bit 90 was a Colecovision compatible home computer that also failed in the market) - presumably due to the lack of RAM in the standard configuration (both only had 2K, though the German advertisement I saw for these claimed the Bit 90 having 18K, but as we all know, the TI graphics chip found in these "MSX 0.5" and MSX 1 machines needs 16K VRAM which can not be used for program code).

The STs do not have a built-in speaker, but the ST monitors (and most other colour monitors suitable for the ST) have one each. The RCA out is only needed for monaural ST models such as the original ST, STF(M) and Mega ST, the STE has stereo jacks right beneath its power switch. The cable you are mentioning seems to lack the 4x switch, this one is needed to "tell" the ST whether there's an SM124 or SC1224 connected. I recommend finding someone with soldering skills who can reproduce this schematic: http://www.forum64.de/wbb3/index.php?page=Attachment&attachmentID=88353

The two monitors you mentioned will most likely not work in colour modes (several models have been tried, but so far, only the 1970VX/NX model firmware seems to be able to cope with 15kHz horizontal frequency - the same is true for most TV sets with a VGA connector: they will display "out of range" for a 15 kHz input via VGA, while the same horizontal frequency is perfectly fine for them when using the composite, s-video or SCART input). "Three mode" cables look similar to the ones you mentioned, but feature a 4x(AFAIK) switch usually placed in a small box, these are the two (left: TS Datensysteme, right: Lindy) I own: http://www.forum64.de/wbb3/index.php?page=Attachment&attachmentID=86545

It may not the chip that is at fault (Jookie also suspected the issue of the DMA chip writing all zeros sometimes is caused by the surrounding electronics rather than the chip itself - after all, this sounds logical because the same chip - in earlier ST models - did not scramble hdds), but nonetheless early STes (with this chip) will scramble hdd contents, BTDT, and Atari blamed "third party hdds" as the source of the problem. Apparently your fix mends this issue, making the Ultrasatan usable on all STes.

Early STes may have the dreaded DMA bug, meaning they can read data from hdd, but will inevitably scramble hdd contents while writing. You may want exxosuk to check for that before you purchase an Ultrasatan. Possible workarounds are an IDE interface (these attach directly to the CPU, but require TOS 2.06 for auto-booting capabiility), a CATA (cartridge port attached IDE/CF - if these ever become available to the public, Pera Putnik designed them but sadly still noone seems to produce them) and of course a HxC (fdd replacement which features hdd emulation (though of course this is slower than a real hdd).

Some months ago I won a lot of Atari cart games including these two Taiwan made cartridges of "River Raid" and "007". I have seen loose cartridges of the same type on eBay before, but none boxed so far. the boxes do not contain instruction, but the River Raid insert is reinforced with a black plastic mold. Does anyone know whether these were legit or pirate releases and what titles were published?

Hm, ich habe die alten Horizont-Lederbände (braun mit Goldprägung) Nr. 1-7 (und Band 7 geht schon mit "Der große Graben" los und enthält dann noch "Die Odyssee" und "Der Sohn des Asterix" ) und nie den Drang verspürt, weiterzukaufen. Allenfalls eine Werksedition in ähnlich edler Aufmachung könnte mich überzeugen, das alles noch mal neu zu kaufen, aber auch dann wohl nur Nr. 1-6.

You should absolutely find a way to connect the ST via RGB instead of composite - the picture quality will be much better. Other than that, a HxC or other FDD replacement will suffice for gaming, an Ultrasatan is the modern version of an external HDD, but will only work correctly if your STE does not have the dreaded DMA chip bug and requires driver software. Upgrading RAM beyond 1 meg will not be necessary for most games (an exception being Wolfenstein 3D), but some games will load their levels from RAM instead of FDD/HDD if you have 2 or 4 megs. A CPU upgrade will increase the frame rate of some games (mostly 3D stuff), but currently they seem to be hard to find (most are intended for the DIL CPU found in older ST models and will require an DIl to PLCC adapter and/or may not even fit under the STe keyboard/shielding). Must-have STe exclusive games are: Obsession Pinball, Stardust, Sleepwalker, Dynabusters+, Zero 5, Alien Blast Must-have STe anhanced games are: Wings of Death, ChuChu Rocket, The Chaos Engine, Esprit, Oxyd, Oxyd 2, Zool, Venus the Flytrap, Wolfenstein 3D (requires 2 megs of RAM), Leavin' Teramis, Zool, Alpha Waves, Magic Boy And of course the STe will run the vast library of ST games which includes hundreds of great titles (Dungeon Master, Xenon, Staglider, etc.)

Just caught up to this thread, and IMHO a "game maker" for a machine as capable as the A8 should combine tools for creating/scrolling/animating character and pixel background graphics, composing music/FX and creating/moving/animating/multiplexing PMGs with a high-level language (with a syntax akin to BASIC/ACTION!/QUICK - or perhaps one of the latter could be used directly?) for the game logic. I don't know whether this is even realistic.

According to my experience, the Dutch have the best English language skill among central Europeans (my guess is that this is due to the fact that no "adult" movies are dubbed to Dutch, whereas all movies and TV series are dubbed into German for their release here). Among Germans, it varies wildly depending on overall education on one hand and personal interests on the other (I, for one, aside from having eight years of English lessons in school, started looking up song lyrics and learning exactly one English poem by heart ("Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" by Robert Frost) and at some time bought the first English language books (the "Harry potter" novels, other fantasy and space opera stuff such as the "Skaith" novels by Leigh Brackett and "Skraelings" by Carl Sherrell (because I liked "Raum" very much and "Skraelings" was never published in German). I also watch movies in English, though I often switch on English subtitles when I encounter problems with the actors' pronunciation, thus I strongly support adding subtitles to eJagFest (admittedly, I also sometimes want subtitles for Germans with a thick dialect such as some Saxons, Hessians and Bavarians and for those speaking lower German or Frisian . Among my colleagues in the Hornbach home improvement store, my level of English skills is among the best, many even claim to have none at all (despite English having been mandatory in school from fifth grade up in the former FRG for several decades and in the former GDR right after reunification).

Erm, not "ST specific", all RGB capable monitors will work, including the NEC MultiSync 1970VX and NX as has been found out accidentally, but also all those Commodore monitors aimed at the Amiga and professional/broadcast video monitors such as Sony's PVM/BVM models, albeit these will not display the high resolution usually. CRT monitors that display all three ST resolutions include the original NEC MultiSync, the GS (grayscale), II and 3D models, Commodore 1940, 1942, 1960, 1962, M1764, etc., and some monitors by Mitsubishi (EUM-1491A and EUM-2951A, e.g.). One will need an adapter cable though, preferrably with a switch to change between ST high (being detected as VGA by all monitors I tried) and colour resolutions (which have a 15.x kHz horizontal frequency and a 60 or even 50 Hz (PAL games) vertical frequency just like a TV signal). On this side of the pond we're much better off due to the French invented SCART connector that can still be found on almost any TV and incorporates RGB, composite and stereo pins in one - rather bulky - plug. These can be bought on eBay UK, e.g. - I'd aim for a small TV set with external PSU intended for caravan use like this one (but not at that ridiculous price), as external PSUs can easily be replaced if they are not 110V capable already.

Wow, we hat entirely different BBS setups on this side of the pond. A very widespread one was the Madness BBS and one aimed at networking BBSes and thus also introducing mail and "newsgroups" (that actually were available in Usenet through working(!) gateways) to hobbyists was the MausNet (MAUS being originally the acronym for Münsteraner Apple User Service, but they switched from Apple II (actually, the first MAus ran on a Basis 108 Apple clone) to Atari pretty fast when the ST became available). The software to set up an Atari St as a MausNet BBS is called QUARK. BTW, "Maus" is German for "mouse" and "Quark" is German for curd cheese.

AMC did also publish a game very akin to Lady Bug: Bilbo. A great version of this game, IMHO. I'd like to see arcade conversions theat were never done, like Galaga (with graphics, not PETSCII - sorry Norbert), Phoenix, Mappy, Rally-X, Bosconian, Time Pilot, Amidar, Elevator Action, etc..

Erm, this is in the vicinity of Düsseldorf, not Köln (Cologne). They drink Alt (a dark lager) in Düsseldorf, occasionally mixed with Coca-Cola (referred to as "Krefelder"), and due to the historical rivalry between both cities it is generally not considered a good idea to order Alt in Cologne or Kölsch in Düsseldorf (although many take this rivalry with a grain of salt or even tongue-in-cheek nowadays).

I have put a lot of stuff up on eBay, no reserve, low (free within Germany) shipping - mostly games, but also three pixel painters: http://www.ebay.de/sch/thorsten_guenther2/m.html I will try booting all the disks during the next days to ensure they at least can be started.

That is easily explained: the magazine is stamped as a letter (postage EUR 1.45), the book's envelope only bears a EUR 1.00 stamp and is labelled as "Büchersendung" (lit. "books' sending"). This is a second class service and thus may be delayed if the local postman is already fully engaged with the more important stuff he has to deliver.

Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Dutch, German, English, etc. are all Germanic languages, yet English has much earlier and thus deeper Romance (i.e. Norman) influence (e.g. words such as vessel, pork or beef) than any of the other Germanic languages (sometimes it is thus referred to as a "bastard" tongue/language). German has inherited some French words mostly from the Napoleonic period, but not to the same extent - and several of them have become old-fashioned (Chaiselongue - instead of Sofa - or Fisimatenten, e.g.).

The tough part is to sort them correctly... 1) Iron Soldier 2 2) Iron Soldier 3) Doom 4) Rayman 5) Tempest 2000 6) Power Drive Rally 7) Attack of the Mutant Penguins Protector SE 9) Zero 5 10) Raiden

Bought it off eBay for 40 dollars plus shipping.

That's a puzzling fact: even for systems without any regional lockout or incompatibilities such as the A8, Vectrex, Colecovision, Lynx or Jaguar, prices vary a lot even on eBay. For systems that have some primitive regional lockout such as the PS1, this is even more obvious: a boxed PAL Castlevania SotN will cost about 70 to 100 Euros, while an NTSC JP Akumajo Dracula X (which is the same game) can be had for 20 to 30 dollars. Similarly, sequestrated (such as Wolfenstein 3D or MK3) or "youth endangering" (such as Die Hard Trilogy, Area 51 or Aliens versus Predator (i.e. the PC title, also by Rebellion)) games that can easily be bought in the UK or the Netherlands still are considered of high value to German collectors.