Atari-Collector

Just looked at those, they may have changed the title for Pitfall, but still show it's for the computer platform.. Clearly somebody that just grabbed them at a flea-market or something, since anybody the collects Atari can tell the difference at a glance. I did see a list a couple days ago for a floppy drive that was in "good shape" but only had pics of the box, so I sent the seller a message suggesting pics of the actual drive and he quickly added the pics. The drive should be here in about a week

Ok, this might be a fringe topic for this forum, but here goes nothing... I was doing some searches on the evil auction site and spotted a TRS-80 "Line Filter" power bar. For those that don't remember those, they were fairly nice looking power bar that was TRS-80 branded and was only a line noise filter, no surge protection.. (insert cringe here) I never had one back in the day, was a bit pricey for me, so I ended up talked in to one of the little plastic box 2 prong line filters Radio Shack sold for TVs, and used that on my TRS-80 and later my Atari system. I recall the power extension we had back then was just a wall-box/plug with a lamp cord, with the "wide blade" side marked on the plug with a red Sharpie. (I can hear the gasping from here...) So thought it's be interesting to hear what other's used for ummm power protection.. way back when the world made more sense.. btw, today I use only TrippLite IsoBar Ultra surge protection. Not cheap, but rated by Consumer Reports as the best surge protection made,

I emailed them both yesterday for a shipping quote for a 1050, 850 and 3 SIO cables, never heard back from myatari.com and just tried calling them (with in their listed business hours) and no answer.. So I'm guessing they are away.. Or are they hard to get in touch with? Best Electronics's prices are a bit higher, but answered my email, and since I need the 850 so I can hook out aprinter and modem, I guess I'll give them a call... I did buy a 1050 on ebay today, don't think it had a SIO cable with it though..

After some serious and careful cleaning, the 1010 tape deck just got test. and it was grungy in the corners/ribs.. kind of gross actually.. but a quit and pointless 4 line Basic program both saved and loaded on it ok using quiet old Maxell tape. So long since I last typed CSAVE and CLOAD.. I never thought I'd be so excited to see a program load from tape:) I did try to load Eastern Front that was left over from my original Atari but it was a no go... maybe I did something wrong.. could somebody refresh my memory on how to load a commercial program right? Got to see if I can find another old tape I guess..

I get my solder from China now.. It's the only way to easily still get tin/LEAD solder...

Maybe latest is a 1010 tape unit I haven't tested yet, and an 800 that's on it's way, I'm hoping it will be here before my birthday next week

Interesting topic. I've never used a adjustable soldering iron. I started in to electronics as a hobby when I was 7, and 40 years later still use a basic iron, a 25 watt Weller that I've had probably 20 years now. While I would like to recommend it, Weller products of today are of inferior quality from everything I've seen and read about them. And even the tips sold for the old irons don't hold up as well. I also have a 30+ year old 8200D from back when they were made right. But now the tips sold fail in short order and I've heard all sorts of bad stuff about the current version of the 8200. So I'm looking at some of the recommendations here and thinking about maybe getting a adjustable solder station also. I just bought a butane soldering iron last week, seems nice enough, but I won't want to use it around delicate stuff. I got it more for outdoor or if I have to fix something in a blackout.. Ok, random thought over:)

The recycling try places here won't let people touch the old electronics, they'd rather destroy a working machine then let it be preserved.. really stupid.. I've seen those shows too,, the pickers and storage locker buyers that amazingly every week find some wonderful item that have to have an expert come on tell the world what a great thing they found. then they complain that the internet has lowered the value of the stuff..It'll be nice when the fad a picker, pawn and so on shows die off. We need a geek reality show. not something that mocks us, but show what real geeks are. (The BBS show IT Crowd wasn't bad though..) But thats just me rambling I do know guy that's a "scrapper".. and he also buys up stuff at auctions and estate sales, but he deals mainly in books, music , watches etc. a couple month ago have gave me a few 2600 carts he got in a bundle and a good size pile of 2600 cart manuals. He does deal in that stuff so he just gave them too me. :)In return I help him test electronics when he needs stuff checked (I'm a licensed ham radio operator)

I'm not writing off ebay, in fact I just got a 1010 tape drive I bought off ebay in the mail today and have an 800 (tank case) coming. In fact I'm a power seller on ebay (but I don't sell Atari stuff... well I did sell a few RF connectors a year back, I sell LEDs for model train for those bored enough to wonder) I just wanted other options. I know there's are web dealers for 2600 games but wasn't up on the computer stuff. I've had lot's of good buys on ebay and some bad ones too.. From what I've seen, it's far easier to get Atari stuff if you are in the USA vs Canada. I guess it's a size/population type thing. To make it harder there's a couple used games stores around here that seem to jump on any local ad and resell in their store at full blow retail prices that are close new prices on hardware at least. I figure I just have to bite the bullet on shipping til I at least get the system I want (ie a replacement for what I had in my teens) and just go casual hunter and grab what I can when it presents itself. The main thing is getting printing ability and a floppy at this point. and modem going so I can call Atari BBS's on true 8bit style

ummm what is that?

THanks for all the replies. I always like to so a general thanks so nobody feel unappreciated (i have too much experience in that,, but that's a other babbling....) I'll go over the sites list tonite and to morrow, it's amazing to see there still some old stock in new boxes. I still think if windows never happened Atari would rule the world:) It's great to see a lot of people still care about these old machines. Next time I'm in the book store I'm going to look if there are any magazines that serve to us old geeks:)

I don't often loko at Craigs list, but I do have auto searches on kajiji or however you spell it.. but most is it junk or sellers that think that should get full MSRP from it and I seems stuff listed as good condition that looks like road kill.. But I know it's out there.. it's a matter of time and watching.

THanks. I know the shipping cost across the border are insane. But I'm looking at it as this is stuff I buy once and will probably out last me. And it seems like most of the listings on ebay say "untested" which to me says it probably doesn't work. I bought 4 carts a while back that were untested, 2 worked...

Other then prowling the evil auction side constantly.. Is that any place that sell Atari computer hardware? With in Canada would be nice, but not necessary. I'm hunting to a floppy drive and a 850 or other printer and maybe serial interfaces. And ebay just causes seller to have to inflate their prices because of the ever increasing fees they rip us off for..

Ok, this is simple big yippe post:) I've been watching for an Atari 800 (tank case) for a while now and was watching a listing on feebay. It was $200 plus about $100 for shipping and customs/duty to Canada. I went back on tonight and was planing on biting the bullet and buying it, and found the price was dropped 70$.. and it should be here just about in time for my birthday. Has 9 game carts have and a bunch of joysticks with it too. OK, so I'm just in a good mood I had one of these in my teens and always regretted selling it. I have a 600XL already, but I so wanted an 800 again:) Next is a printer interface and maybe another floppy drive...

No chopsticks, but I have popsicle sticks that mite do ok. Or I can use the brite-boy (carefully)I use on my model train tracks.

I did an av mod on My 2600 Jr (simple transistor style since I had all the parts on hand) I'll look for one of those monitors, there a ham radio flea market in month and a half, and I've seen old computer stuff at it in the past.

Yes, it's rolling.. So I guess I'm out of luck on that one... Maybe if I used my TV tuner card in my computer and set it to PAL mode it mite work? Wild guessing here... Or maybe just ebay it some time and ship to overseas only on it..

Well I picked up 3 games carts at the used game store last week... One works fine from what I can tell, Space Shuttle, but got to find a manual for it, I'm sure that won't be too hard. The other two aren't so hot.. Sky Jinx International Edition, needs to be pulled out slightly to work... Is the International Edition something special?? And Star Wars Jedi Area just scrolls fast when I turn it on. I've cleaned all the carts. rubbing alcohol first, then the two that are having trouble with contact cleaner on a cotton swab. In fact Sky Jinx didn't start at all until I had at it with contact cleaner.. But that isn't helping Jedi Arena.. I'll give them both another shot of contact cleaner and cotton swab later, but was wondering if anybody had any thoughts on the scroll issue? thanks

You mentions the voltage regulator, it's a common 7805, basically looks like a TO220 size transistor, I keep a handful of them around all the time just in case I need one. Don't waste your money on a "re-cap" kit. You'll probably get the right parts, but pay a lot more for them. Go to digikey.com and look them up on there, just be sure to match the values up right.

Absolutely YES. As long as the uF value is the same, using a higher voltage cap is fine, but never use a lower voltage cap.

Thanks for the replies. I'll take a look at them later. maybe order more then just a cable to offset the ship a bit.. Shipping it always the big pain in getting stuff like this..

I need to get another SIO cable for my floppy drive as I had to cannibalize the one I had for my homemade SIO2PC adapter.. There's some on feebay.. But I don't see that as the but option to buy one since seller get hit by so many fees and that gets passed to the buyer.. So I was wondering where to get one that will ship to Canada for a reasonable price (or better yet a Canadian seller) THanks

I'm posting this quick as warning to anybody thinking about cleaning a Slik Stik joystick. I bought one a while back and put it aside being a bit grungy until i could clean it (two months and counting and still suffering for the hurt right arm..) I took it apart and gave it a good wash in the kitchen sink in dish soap.. Then went to dry it and decided to use contact cleaner (KLEENS-IT) to get the moisture out of the electrical parts. BAD BAD VERY BAD IDEA! It ATTACKED the plastic big time! I could see it melting, the orange fire button was gooing to the black.. I ran with it to the sink again and flushed it with more hot soaking water and things settled down. I've done this to other sticks with no problem, but the Slik Stik must use some soft plastic. So Just wanted to post it fast. The stick is drying now, and hopefully no harm done it will be helping me save the galaxy soon.

The problem has been fixed. Mite be a couple bugs left, but that'll come in time.