kenjennings

A few I didn't see mentioned that are near the top of my list: Shamus Star Trek: Strategic Operations Simulator Mountain King

Is a clearer picture possible? If it is an Atari it seems to be modified at least cosmetically. Are those lights on the QWERTY line, shift keys, and function keys -- or reflective stickers?

Subby: There may be something broken then. I've had five 800s and out of the box they all had spectacular video out. A stock 800 is sharper than my 800XL and 1200XL with video mods applied. The 800 has only the slightest hint of vertical lines on the left side of the screen. Even the RF from the 800/400 is far better than the other Ataris (and other computers.)

I picked up Atari Logo and all the manuals for $10. My 7yr old was taking an after school programming and robotics class. (Logo on a PC/Mindstorms NXT). She seemed to be doing pretty well at it, so I got a Logo she can play with at home.

Well, Apple 1 are pretty rare for collectors. If I wanted an Apple 1 I'd get the Replica modern recreation of the apple. Look at the description It's not iPHONE. It's iPONE. 21 million dollars. Totally lame.

The LMS-per-line is the simple way starting from De Re Atari and everything after. This way the entire screen is always in memory. All the published tutorials from back in the 80s that I recall only expected to scroll around a limited map a couple screens in each direction. I don't remember any scrolling tutorial that presented the scroll-forever problem. (Though, I can think of a couple games from the 80s that did this effect, but never dissected the code to figure out how it was being accomplished.) The one-LMS solution is a non-obvious, head-slap moment. It seems like anarchy to think about it, but in the end it works almost like magic.

Haha, so true! Incidentally, that is the theme song from the movie The Great Escape. It's not that bad. It's just played with lousy excuses for instrument waveforms, and repeats incessantly, and repeats incessantly, and re..... (The song works well in the movie.) I'm watching that video. Is it possible to get shot at all? I'm sure I saw bullets go through the player a couple times. Ack. I've left it playing to long. I can't get the music out of my head. Help. Mercy.....

Grampa Sloopy, which list am I on?

What!? No VBXE?! No C816 included!? Just kidding. If the money collection starts in the next month or two then I'd get one Incognito. If the time frame is more like Sept, then I'd get two.

ahhh, so the 5200 was a glorified power supply and TV cable.

Atari died when it was only about 12 -- just a kid. A zombie resembling Atari lingered for a few more years. Everything else is just a licensed logo and name. I prefer to remember it as the original fun version.

What joysticks does the 5200 adapter use? Do 2600 joysticks plug into the adapter, or is the adapter going through the 5200 to use the 5200's normal controllers?

Doesn't the 5200 have a plug-in converter thing-a-ma-bob to play 2600 games? I wonder if it could be hacked? Since a 2600 is now a single chip computer in the Flashback 2 maybe it would not be unreasonably expensive to make a 2600-in-a-cartridge for the 8-bits. Then again, since the Flashback 2 can be had on ebay for less than $20, just get a Flashback and enjoy it as is.

Ditto what bob1200xl said. Never had a real Atari model printer. I used a P:R: interface and a panasonic something or other model printer. I had a little BASIC program that printed text files and LISTed basic programs to the printer as graphics using the ROM font as the character set. Why-o-why did I give that printer away? I do have an HP Laserjet 3 in storage... hmmmmm.

I want your busted Atari 8-bit XM301 modem. I don't want to pay $15 to get a working one. I just want to help relieve you of your trash, so I can use the case for a project. The guts need not function. Thank you.

I think the original manufacturer made waaaaay more carts than needed. On the MoreThanGames site there is a page listing the cart by itself for sale for a couple bucks (and in bulk). The page says the carts are an EPROM, so they could be reusable for other purposes. The sketch device looks interesting. I emailed MTG to find out if the devices are still for sale.

I'd love to have an SIO2floppy controller board that lets me hook up a generic floppy drive. Actually, if someone would build the controller/power board I'd buy two or three of them. I already have some generic floppy drives laying around. What I don't have is a completly working xf551. Of my last two one is definitely fried, and the other refuses to do double density on the top head.

They must be the most common carts available. I don't have a huge pile of carts, but it turns out I have all of these. Bummer.

Not so much. It's been a lot lower than 1.2. Highest it's ever been was (nearly) 1.6. http://www.oanda.com/currency/historical-rates/ (Pick Euro as "Currency I have" and change start date to the inception of Euro, 1 Jan 1999.)

Minor stuff. Star Trek Strategic Operations Simulator for $7 - really enjoyed that game, can't remember why I don't have the cart anymore. I fact, I'm missing a lot of stuff I don't remember getting rid of... getting old and senile before 50 is really upsetting. A fairly cheap lot that has a Joust cart in it -- another perennial favorite. Rev C Basic Cart and the 1200XL BASIC book.

Most NTSC programs should run fine (adequately) in PAL... if a program does not purposely check for pal and refuse to run, it should work. Any custom display list set up by an NTSC program would have fewer scan lines than the PAL limit, so there should be no problems there. PAL has more time during the vertical blank, so any NTSC VBI code should run. An NTSC program that runs a timer based on 60 frames/sec would just run the timer slower for PAL's 50 fps. The only thing I can think remotely possible is an edge case where DLIs may not change registers at the expected screen positions...maybe.

Nice list, although the last one's baffling: why would we call it "Robert"? Ok, instead call it "Bruce" to keep it clear. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJkO-EKRVd0&feature=fvst

Does anyone know what is in the silver BASIC book in this auction?: eBay Auction -- Item Number: 140758659837 It is supposed to be the BASIC book that was never packaged with the 1200XL. Is the content the same as the older Atari Basic Reference Manual that has the same cover art shown on the box in that photo?

Ahhh, this brings back memories of being a teenager growing up in Milwaukee in a house without air conditioning. The Atari 800 worked great all winter, even through the school year. But, once summer vacation started I was hacking on it in the middle of the day and control character graphics started appearing on the screen, and a minute later it froze. Reboot, and it would only last a few minutes. Tried that several times. The computer that cost me a year worth of paper routes was dead. Arggg!! I left it alone the rest of the day and then turned it on later at night and it worked fine, and kept on working all night! The next day it was working great for a while, and then crashed again. Same thing again -- it would run only a few minutes and die. We took it to a computer store and it happily ran memory tests for them non-stop all weekend (hint: the store was air conditioned.) Back at home same thing. It would die after running a while. Eventually, i was able to put 2 and 2 together and figure out it was crashing at about the same time of day every day, because the day was getting hot. Once it cooled off in the evening I could code. Running with the top off and the covers removed from the modules would buy about half an hour in the morning. That summer the Atari 800 taught me two things -- the value of designing and planning on paper before coding on the computer, and that during summer vacation kids are supposed to be outside goofing off instead of inside in front of a computer.

The name should contain or be based on one or more of the following: "flash", "jazz", "cat".