deathtrappomegranate

It's a newsletter that Atari used to mail out in the early days of the A8.

Check! We don't want any Atari software to disappear forever. Although even very rare cassettes seem to have little commercial value at present, they're still worth preserving.

Very well - scans are up.

Yep! And if anyone is desperate to pay $500 for a boxed Pastfinder, I could definitely help with that.

The cart was originally intended for an Atari 400, and mine was supplied inserted into a 1200XL - I suspect that it may not have been quite such an easy fit for a 1200XL's cartridge slot. Whether it was trimmed deliberately, or became worn there from repeated use I don't know. There are several carts that aren't entirely happy at being forced into a 1200XL. The Microcalc cart does not belong to me, and I can't post a scan of it without the permission of the owner.

The scan is up. The cart style is similar to that used by IDSI on Speedway Blast, Pool 400 and Survival of the Fittest, although it lacks the two front notches that those carts typically have. The label is a wraparound silver one with black printing, just like those on other IDSI carts. Since it was originally sold as part of a package with an Atari 400 and other hardware, it's not known what the original packaging looked like, although it would be great to be able to find out.

A scan of the Computrac cart will be up shortly.

If you don't live in the US, then high shipping for Atari items is a fact of life. In fact, since USPS did away with the slower, cheaper forms of shipping overseas, it's often cheaper for folk to the east of the Atlantic to buy stuff from Venezuela than from the US.

K-Razy Shoot Out was the first 3rd party cart for the A8; Kritters was released shortly before CBS took K-Byte over, so there were many fewer K-Byte branded carts made of that title. They do come up from time to time on ebay, but it's a rare cart. As with many of the rare ones, trading with fellow collectors is often the best way to get hold of one.

Yes, the Venezuelans seem to have inherited a lot of old stock. I don't have a box of Pastfinder carts, but I probably have a spare one or two.

Really? I guess that I should sell some spares...

Cool, I'd never seen the K-Byte "Patrol" before at all.

FWIW I think that price isn't too bad for a fairly large chunk of the A8 cart library. A few years ago, when I didn't have all of those carts, I'd gladly have paid that.

The cartridge was sold as a package that included a proprietary interface and a robotic device for aiming a satellite dish, as well as an Atari 400 computer. It was meant to help point a satellite dish in the right direction to receive TV signals. It's of very little practical use without the associated hardware, but, I think, pretty cool for a piece of software from 1983.

The seller was telling the truth. 1200XL and cart arrived well-packaged and intact. The cart works, too, although it needs the associated interface and robotic arm to do anything useful. A dump will be added to Atarimania soon.

http://www.atariage.com/forums/topic/195326-is-anyone-in-the-birmingham-al-area/

I did contact the seller, as I mentioned in the other thread. He said that he had two of the carts. I hope that's true. His speedy shipping will take a while to reach me though, since the Atlantic is rather inconveniently in the way.

Long story: http://www.atariage....er-seen-before/ I'd actually bought the original item before I saw that thread. Hopefully it will arrive as described.

The seller had one (or possibly two) very unusual carts for sale at the same time as this lot.

FWIW, there were a number of similar units available in the UK. Atari's use of proprietary cassette decks probably hurt their UK sales somewhat (that, and the vastly inflated prices of all of their hardware and software).

Did you get any carts from the same seller?

Here is a dump of Des Chiffres et des Lettres. It matches one already known, and should confirm this dump. Des Chiffres et des Lettres.zip

Astro Chase - Exidy Max-a-Flex (XL/XE only) version: I've dumped two of these today, and both are identical to the version at Atarimania (that was probably dumped from one of my carts, but both dumps today produce the same checksum: 18752991). AC_Exidy 1.zip

Thanks - I didn't test it that far.