Britishcar

Can we pull over? I need to go Wii.

Alcohol and a q-tip? No?

Stay with the original disks. Notice how people rarely change out a d-pad for a joystick on the NES, SNES, etc.? It's because they became used to that manner of control. The Intel disks are odd at first, but then they become very cool. If they are working correctly, they will be dead on and very responsive to you no matter how many articles by people who used them for 3 minutes and gave up write about them. I'm right handed. I cradle an Intel controller in my left hand, and use my left middle and left ring finger to fire the upper and lower buttons respectively since they are already curled around the controller from the bottom. I use my right thumb on the disk and either thumb, depending on the game, on the keypad buttons. The joystick add-on's are trash and will set you back, really set you back, from enjoying the games long term.

I'm interested as well. Please PM price and/or other details.

I'm happy to share what I've done with a lot of old computer components for years with zero problems with the proviso that your mileage may vary. I don't run anything through a dishwasher but instead just use gloves and very hot water running out of the sink. Depending on the situation, I've also used a touch of Dawn-type dishwashing soap. Then I'll give the piece a good shake to clear out large amounts of water, perhaps run a hair dryer over certain parts for a few minutes and then let the parts sit out unassembled for a minimum of 3 days before any reassembly or re-powering. So, before anyone scoffs or disagrees with any of the above, I've done this with everything from Apple Lisa's to TI-99/4A's to Apple II's to Atari's to Intellivisions (no Commodore stuff yet). I've also done this with lots and lots of keyboards. Pop off the keys, soak them in hot soapy water, and wash/rinse the board mechanics and electronics itself, let dry. I've never seen any rust or had a component go from working to non-working after doing this. I just end up with clean, new looking equipment. I think the hand-washing is the key as you're not using true water pressure to drive dirt or other material into pots or sockets, etc. Think of it more as a strong rinse...also, I don't think you need the potentially damaging heat of a dishwasher for any reason. Also, bear in mind that I'm doing this for cleanliness and cosmetics. I'm not trying to "clean" a piece of equipment into going from non-working to working.

Terrific! I actually hadn't stumbled across your great tutorial post before stumbling around in the dark a bit. I'll see if I can duplicate your outcome. Thank you! And thank you, Candle!

I received my very cool Incognito and have begun the installation into a fully working 48K stock 800. As I am going along, I'm encountering a series of questions that I going through with trial/error but thought someone may know these answers quite easily. If you've already installed an Incognito or have other advice, please share it! Here's what I've done so far and some of the questions I have so far: 1) I'm following Sebastian's instructions at: http://spiflash.org/index.php/block/30.html 2) I started with the REF to unused personality board pin jump on the back of the motherboard. QUESTION/SOLUTION: What wattage of solder iron to buy? I went with a 25W that uses a ceramic core and gets very hot -- about 1003 degrees F. Overkill? QUESTION/SOLUTION: What AWG gauge wire to use? I went with 24AWG twisted. QUESTION/SOLUTION: What solder to use? I went with a very thin rosin-core 60/40 tin and lead solder. QUESTION/SOLUTION: How much solder to use? My hot iron was really globbing the solder around on the junk PCB I was using as practice. So I decided to simply "tin" the two ends of the 24AWG in a ball of hot solder, apply the hot iron to the connectors on the back of the motherboard until the 30-year-old solder began to melt and then tacked the wire end-point onto it. In other words, no "new" solder added except for the tinning on the twisted wires. I checked the connection with a multi-meter and the two points were connected with .001 resistance. So, great! I laid the wire down among the pins so that it won't have any chance of shorting against the motherboard backplane, which is paper-shielded anyway. 3) Then I moved onto the RNMI/Reset jump on the top of the motherboard. SOLUTION: I used the same iron, wire, solder, tinning, tacking stuff as above. Multimeter shows .001 resistance between the two points but here is my QUESTION 1 : With the joystick ports facing into you, this jump seems to go from the left side of resistor R184 (the bottom of the jump) to the left side of R154 (the top resistor on the jump). Is my top resistor, R154, the correct one? I've seen pictures elsewhere that fool me into thinking it's R152 -- the one just below R154. I'm 95% sure I'm right with R154 but wanted to ask. 4) So, I'm moving onto the next 6 connections. And here are my questions: QUESTION 2: Has anyone completed this install WITHOUT replacing resistors RD4 and RD5 (blue, pin 3, RD5 and black, pin 4, RD4) and still had cartridges work? Is it ok to leave the original resistors and see if my carts work and only replace the resistors if my carts don't work? The specs mention possible replacements with 1.5 (or?) 2.2 KOhms. Has anyone used either 1.5's or 2.2's? Did one work and/or not the other? Is it not so critical that I can just flip a coin and choose one? QUESTION 3: Why do all of the photos I find show the jumps for ANTIC HALT (yellow wire, Pin 1) and ANTIC RDY (green wire, pin 6) lying unattached? Even the YOUTUBE video shows an OS board with no yellow or green wires attached. Are these optional jumps? What do I lose by not having them? Ok, only 3 questions for now. Thank you for any advice you have!

Hmmm... Many good reasons above...some repeats below... 1) Physical presence 2) Socketed FASTCHIP math routine replacement 3) OS module with piggyback OMNIMON 4) Most vivid and cleanest Chroma/Luminance video out of the entire line 5) Simply the best and most robust keyboard 6) Four joystick ports 7) 80-column cards Monkey Wrench II with Atari BASIC is a blast 9) ACTUAL built-in speaker with keyclicking coming from the console...fun with weird software that uses both the 4-channel sound and the keyboard speaker at the same time...if you haven't heard some of these demos, they're extremely amusing 10) Shielded RESET key 11) Kids can't yank out a cart while the machine is running (or insert one while it is running) 12) Cart lid actually functions as a storage bin...leave Atariwriter, say, unplugged but sitting under the lid with it closed...can't tell it's there...ready to use Atariwriter? Pop lid, snap in cart, snap lid closed, Atariwriter! Machine turned itself off and on for you while you did that. 13) Don't have to hold down friggin' OPTION every time you DON'T want BASIC 14) Incognito allows you to run anything ever written for the A8

Mine came today...is there a "best" or "official" visual guide for dummies on installation? I've seen a lot of "here's how I did it" posts, but is one set of idiot-proof set of photos/explanations the most recommended?

Choplifter...

I'm so looking forward to this hand-built masterpiece!

Please add me as +1 to the orders!

For me, Star Strike and Mission X suffered just a bit from the "pseudo-3D" effect that also seems to infect games such as Zaxxon, Desert Falcon and the like. With a video subsystem and CPU designed originally for great 2D experiences, the "almost" 3D effect of these types of games always felt like I was dying a cheap death when I couldn't quite make out what the forced 3D algorithm was trying to do. I normally prefer true 2D games like Donkey Kong, Pac-Man, Frogger, Demon Attack, etc. In these games, when I make a wrong sudden move and lose, I know it was my fault and not just a human interface problem or a limitation in graphics visualization. Now some pseudo-3D games from that era really got it right. For example, I love playing Space Battle on the "SUPER ADVANCED" speed (start with the Blue Return to Base button on certain carts) just to see if I can beat the damn thing. This game is 3D in that you are looking out into space (Copr @ 1979!) but you KNOW when your lasers connect with one of those ships and/or when their laser smacks into your gunsight. There's no question...it's a pixel-precise live or die situation. Sub Hunt is similar in that it's "3D" but you really know whether that torpedo is going to connect or not as you "look out" at the ships. Also, the 3D concept of "diving" is there but is really just in your mind and not visual...brilliant concept. I've "beaten" both of these games at their highest levels but Space Battle and Sub Hunt feel much more satisfying to win than Star Strike which is just a sort of dodge and fire, dodge and bomb feel. The Dreadnaught Factor demonstrated how you keep the game 2D but add a dodge, duck, and bomb "below" you strategy with astonishing variety in your strategic approaches that Star Strike simply lacks. Now, having said all that, I think that Night Stalker is an amazing classic game from this era. I LOVE the slow, deliberative, thump, thump, thump of this game. The casual speed forces you to come up with actual strategies. If you just run and shoot and duck randomly, and assume that this is a berzerk-type of game, you aren't going to last long. The fascinating part is that with each new robot, you need to adjust or completely overthrow your previous strategy and be ready to adopt a new one. Even then, with the randomness of the grey robots and the relocating gun, you are constantly pulled out of any "comfort zone" that you manage to establish. Truly brilliant game balance. If anyone can suggest a good bunker-destroyed, invisible-robot strategy, please advise.

Sabbath Prayer - "Fiddler on the Roof" Soundtrack

I agree with cmart604. The best way to delineate "original" games released for a console would be to count those titles released while I could still go out and purchase a console NEW from a retail store. That is, if I could go to a store, buy an Intellivision II along with Frog Bog, Happy Trails and Night Stalker, then those games should be considered part of the "original" collection of games for the system. Games that came along later such as D2K Arcade could be categorized differently...as a game released after the system's discontinuation. So...it then doesn't matter if the game is "homebrew" for profit, not-for-profit, microbrew, nanobrew, licensed, not-licensed, etc. It's simply either an "original" game or a "post-discontinuation" way of looking at it. This could include variations such that any game modified and then re-released could either be original or post-discontinuation dependent on when it was released.

True. There could easily be several totals. What you paid for each piece and what they are worth now...I was thinking of a more empirical total though, which would simply be the original retail price of each thing as sold in a store when it was new...beautiful collection!

It's looks just like your photo but has the 06 81 date reference. I can't answer you about the box -- it's long, long gone. It was the pack in PS on the 48K 800 and I no longer have the original box for my 800. It went back to its constituent atoms a while back as presumably did the transformer box. Here is the text: CLASS 2 TRANSFORMER PART NUMBER C016804 INPUT 120V 60Hz LISTED UL ® 622T 06 81 OUTPUT 9V AC 31 VA CAUTION INDOOR USE ONLY MADE IN TAIWAN

It would be interesting to add up the original retail price of everything in that room and see what it comes to. I'll be it would be breathtaking.

Didn't see Chess or Dracula?

7198 with gravity balls, 7 men

You might wish to implement a version of The Dreadnaught Factor. DF is a game with a beautiful balance of objectives that must be considered to be successful: nukes, engines, vents, command structures, deck guns, etc. Each one is important to take out to kill each Dreadnaught but in a critical decision path sort of way. Not too many sprites needed: only the gun shots and launched attack ships. Good luck with any game you may end up creating!

I didn't know these were rare but now that I think about it, I've not seen another one anywhere. I *do* have one and it's been in use for the last 30 years. It's the original pack-in transformer for my 800 (not 810). I purchased the 800 in Austin, TX in Feb. 1984. It was, by that point, one of the "Now with 48K RAM" computers and was literally the last one to be sold at that store (The Game Peddler) as the XL's had been replacing them for some time. I've thought about using another transformer, but this one has been flawless and I don't see any reason to replace it. It's bound to fail at some point...everything does...but it's been hyper-reliable.

No order: Playing Space Invaders and Star Raiders on a relative's 400 and being completely mesmerized by the entire experience. Running my own BBS in Austin, TX from an 800, a thermal printer, a 1050 and a Percom with squeaky head rails and having users buzz you for a chat with a CTRL-G. Selling 400/800's in a game/computer store in Austin and popping up the Robot/Rocketship demo which never failed to make jaws drop -- especially new Apple //c owners. Buying the very, very last new 800 at the store I worked at AFTER the 1200XL's came out. Actually getting the 6502 to add 2 and 2 and finding a 4 sitting quietly in the Accumulator. Installing a Newell Fastchip, plugging in BASIC XL and watching the 800 FLY through BASIC programs. Debatable: meeting obsessive 80's pirates who had EVERY conceivable broken piece of Atari software carefully cataloged, A-Z, on hundreds of double density disks with fast load menus at swap parties featuring beer, Doritos, and dip and lots and lots of game playing. I can still hear the super rapid flutter of Happy-enhanced 810's as disk after disk was "traded." Finally defeating the damn Shadow in Shamus: Case II. Finally figuring out how display lists actually F*&$#ing worked. Realizing that ColourSpace was decades ahead of iTunes' visualizer for music. Many more my aging brain has slowly forgotten.

Please put me down for 1 board. Thank you!

I'm curious as to whether anyone has an opinion (or direct knowledge) regarding whether putting a 32K RAM card in an 800 and pulling the two 16K's or one 48K board and pulling the three 16K's will lessen the machine's power requirements. In other words, will the 800 run cooler with less stress on the power sections of the motherboard, etc. So the basic question is: in general, does one 32K board pull less power than two 16K boards or are they about the same?