beamer320i

Purely from a gaming point of view, the ST had more promise and capability but the software always failed to deliver IMO...Always returned to my 8-bits for some reason... Quite liked the ST Star Raiders though...

I remember seeing Hyponitc Land on ebay a couple of years ago fetching over £250!!! As regards gaming carts, the following don't seem to crop too often (or ever!) on ebay, etc., are they out here in your collection? Blue XEGS: Choplifter (Enhanced) Karateka or Fort Apocalypse by Synapse I recently picked up a mint Bounty Bob Strikes Back! (sans box but with poster), not ultra rare but a great playable cart

Just took delivery of a 130XE with a Happy drive with controller (nice!) with two boxes of disks, added bonus was the 130XE has a switch at the back for Omniview XE (just got to work out how to use it !)

Just ordered mine, can't wait! looks like another GR8 release!

Hi all, Just stumbled on Gold Mine by Spectra Video on www.atarimania.com, is this the rarest Atari 8-bit cart? Have been collecting carts for a few years now and still use Andrew Kriegs list for gauging 8-bit cart rarity values, it hasn't been updated for a while but take it is still relevant? Just wondered what you guys would class as the top five rarest 8-bit carts? (Commercial releases)

Welcome to the world of Atari! The simplest and most inexpensive way IMO is to start off by getting an Atari 800XL, 65XE (both have 64K RAM) or an Atari 130 XE (128k RAM) There is a lot of cartridge based software (programming or games) for these machines available via ebay, etc. Cheapest method of data retrieval is cassette based with recorders such as the 410, 1010 and the later XC12 machines, a faster and more reliable method of data retrieval(loading and saving) is the disk drives such as the 810 and 1050 drives, these offer more a more accessable way of using your Atari. Software, both serious and gaming is still plentiful for these machines in their original format. I have various set-ups and use them daily for playing games and light programming duties...However, this is only the tip of the iceberg and much more is available in add-ons, PC emulators, etc as this site shows, the forum is excellent with many people who can advise with whatever your Atari needs, enjoy!

My copy just arrived here in the U.K. ! Cannot praise the quality of this package enough, I remember in the 80's paying three times the money for poorly produced and packaged software, this blew me away when I opened it up, top marks to everyone involved in this project!

I was lucky enough to have an Atari 400+410 tape drive for my 11th birthday in June '83 which came with the Centipede cartridge (big box) My first purchased game was Tutti Frutti by Adventure International on cassette, a mazeless Pac-man inspired game, still have it now (and it still loads!)

Didn't see that one, just goes to show the market for sealed classic 8-bit software, an inital saving of £195 (depending on best offer)

Hi, there is a listing on the U.K. ebay site for this lot no:190335696905, bit pricey though!!

I always enjoyed the APX titles, my favourites were Dog Daze by Gray Chang (great fun with two players!) and Galahad, although my repeat player nowadays is the excellent Gauntlet-based Dandy by John H.Palevich. Was Hollywood Medieval an APX release?

Another cart to try is Star Raiders as it also looks like a diagnostic cart to the OS. Don't think the OS ROM is your problem. You can try replacing those two ICs but if you're getting the game to come up like that, I doubt they're the culprits. Trying plugging in one memory module at a time and power on. While not impossible, it's highly unlikely all three 16K modules are bad (I assume you have 48K). You could also have a bad PIA. I've got a couple of Star Raider carts, will try them later! Yes, she is 48K, will try a combo of the RAMS to see if that alters anything..fingers crossed P.S. Excuse my ignorance, what is the PIA?

Well the 400 obviously doesn't have an OS board. If you look to the lower left of the cart slot on the 400 motherboard you'll see three IC's with the same part numbers as A401-A403 on the 800 OS board. These are the ROMs. Two are 4K and the floating point is 2K. Just exchange the ones with the same part numbers (COXXXXX). Have just tried swopping the A401,402 and 403 chips with no success, have tried various combinations (one, two or three at once, etc), the only minor difference was that the player detection on Basketball differed slightly on the A403/A103 chip! I noticed there are Z101/Z401 chips, is it worth trying to change them as well?

Right then, finally got round to stripping the 400... As far as I can make out the 800 has a 10K ROM situated at the front with three banks of RAM behind it, all PCB's having 22 connectors. The 400 motherboard has what looks to be a RAM board (22 connectors) with wires going to the motherboard soldered underneath and wires going via a plug-in chip to the topside of the motherboard. The board behind it (ROM?) has 28 connectors and will not fit into the 800 ROM space. The pictue shows the 400 motherboard from the rear with the 800 ROM on the right and the removed 400 board on the left, any ideas please?

Thanks Warerat, I will strip my 400 down tomorrow and see how I do! I'm no hardware expert but have a litlle understanding so will report on my findings later, cheers!

Philsan, I fear this is going off topic and would have have been happier to discuss this matter in private but I have nothing to hide or be ashamed of so I will reply to you in public and bring this matter to an end. If my memory serves me right (five years ago?!?) you bought an item off me via ebay which you paid for promptly and I dispatched via your chosen shipping method (international standard with no tracking number) Unfortunately I am not as methodical as you and do not have the proof posting from 2004. I do know that I sent it, five years ago I had proof but nothing now. In the past I have had people from abroad say they haven't received anything within the Royal Mail expected delivery time but in all the cases thery received them eventually (but not five years later . I now do not ship abroad without tracking numbers so as to stop scammers and people trying their luck. One of my conditions of sale is that I am not responsible for items damaged in transit or lost during shipping, however if the occasion arose I would supply tracking/shipping details to help an investigation. If you had complained to ebay that you hadn't received an item, the FIRST thing they would ask me for is proof of shipping which I had. You didn't therefore I couldn't provide to ebay. You must forgive if I am a LITLLE fuzzy about the intricate details of this paricular transaction, it was five years ago and I had sold hundreds of items since then (all delivered safely, check my feedback) Please feel free to contact me personally via email if you still feel you have a grievance, I am new to these forums and wish to use them for the purpose they are designed for. You bought the drive, I sent the drive to your address. PERIOD. This is my last word on the subject using these boards and any further public replies by yourself should be dismissed. Phew! P.S. If anyone has forgotten I've got an Atari 800 that doesn't work, symptoms were posted earlier :-) Will check out my old 400 later to see if the 10K ROM is the same

Hi Gary, thanks for your reply! I will try the 10K ROM OS out of an old 400 I've got here, fingerrs crossed! Philsan - Yes my id is also my ebay id (makes life simple), you don't spring to mind as a previous customer (i'll check my feedback) and I don't have a disk drive that I shouldn't have extra! (If i sell something I post it) I keep proofs of posting anyway for six months. Thanks for your post!

Hi all, I'm new to these forums so be gentle with me :-) I've been into Atari 8-bits since '82 and have recently bought an 800 in superb cosmetic condition (been after one of these again for a while!) but upon switching on I just get a black screen (no lines, ect) so would appear to be non-working, took her apart and cleaned all boards, chips, connections, etc to no avail...however after trying a few carts I can get Atari Basketball to work but the joystick detection registers a permanently 'move down' input i.e. your player moves straightaway to the bottom, you can still move left, right, fire etc... select, option and start all work correctly (can't try keyboard input), any ideas to as what could be wrong, is she repairable?? I have XE/XL machines with 1050 Happy drive and a US Doubler Drive but would still like to have a working 800 for nostalgia!