bfollowell

Good idea. That never occurred to me. I'd have offered, but since you already have, there's no need. It seems like a good solution. If he'd rather buy NOS, B&C has "new" Atari 800 power boards going for $48. https://www.ebay.com/itm/130888127552

And like someone else mentioned, depending on where you're located, there's a good chance you may have someone close enough to lend a hand with the repair. Heck, California was definitely Atari-land back in the day, and to some degree it still is. We have a lot of users out there. If I were close, I'd offer to fix it for free as long as you bought the SIO port, but 800s are pretty fragile these days and with shipping costs up, it would be a big expense to ship all the way to southern Indiana. I'm sure someone relatively close to you will offer up their services though, assuming there is someone relatively close.

It's certainly not out of the realm of possibility that your disks are bad, but I seriously doubt all of them are bad. I've not taken any really special care of mine over the past 35-40 years. Mine have been sealed up in boxes and stored in one basement or garage or other over the years and when I started pulling mine out a couple of years ago, I was surprised at how many still worked without any issues whatsoever. I'd guesstimate that I run about a 95% success rate with my old disks. Good luck.

Thirded. I have no idea what ICT, 3D ICT, or STNICCC 2000 are. Of course, I have zero interest in the demo scene, so if they're demos, that would explain why I have no idea what you're talking about. It looks like I'm not alone though. Can you provide any better explanation or more info?

Yeah, there's certainly no reason for us ordinary citizens to have ours listed, but I know I like to get an idea where everyone is from, so I figured there are others that feel the same and I've had mine listed for a while. Everyone has there own tastes and opinions on safety, security, and privacy too, so to each their own. I figure Evansville is a big enough town and I'm not known well enough or far enough that anyone that were so inclined would have a hard time finding me based on that and nothing more. I'm probably kidding myself though. With all the public records out there, a name and five minutes of Googling would probably turn up any and everything about me for the past two decades!

You and me both. I just assumed something must have been commented on, then edited or deleted before I ever even read through the thread. At least I'm not alone or completely crazy. Looking at it again, I think it's likely that @Stefan Both is from Germany and just meant that it didn't make since for him to recommend anyone since those are who he's used to dealing with and he saw that the OP was from CT. My first read through that went completely over my head.

Oh, definitely, but they sell quality stuff, not no name crap like you get if you but an electronics grab bag straight from Shenzhen. I just meant, if you're U.S. based, and we have quality companies selling top quality goods, it would be really silly to go outside the country for something unless you just absolutely had to. I'm sure there are definitely items that require that though. It's just that this memory isn't one of them.

Yeah, but for things like this and other small electronics parts, I buy from Digi-Key in the U.S., not Bubba down the street, and it makes zero sense to search or order from anywhere else. You're certainly not going to get any better quality. from anywhere else. I'm a little confused as to the original comment though. No one recommended a German dealer that I can see. Did something get edited out?

Nope, I never denounced anyone's story, so no guilt here at all. My conscience is perfectly clear. If that's not the way you meant it, then I'm perfectly fine with that explanation.

Yeah, I could see that's where it was going, and either no one noticed what the thread was really intended for, or just didn't care, so I had a moderator just change the name. Now all stories are welcome, even the most benign or the most sordid.

I already did once. I even quoted you. It's about three posts down from the top of the seventh page. You weren't the only one though, so even if you didn't mean it the way I took it, others did. It's all good. Any day that goes by and I'm only called an ass or accused of being one is a good day.

And what an awesome story it is!

Thanks Stephen! It's nice to have a little support instead of another post accusing me of being an ass.

Hey, as we've already started now, anything and everything counts. The only important thing is that no one feels left out or feels their story is being frowned upon in any way. Feel free to add your story to the thread, as long as it's about an Atari. All bets are off if you start talking about another brand!

It really won't matter what the title is. We've already seen that! 🤣

Any and all. We were going to get them regardless, so it might as well be official.

No problem, and thanks for clarifying. There have been several others on here that seem to be trying to play amateur psychiatrist and apply motives to my thread or comments that really aren't there.

Thank you for changing the title Albert. Just to be clear, I have absolutely no animosity towards anyone that was gifted one either. Those just weren't the stories I was looking for when I started the thread. That's it. Nothing else. No ulterior motives or deep-rooted animosity towards those that were gifted their first Ataris. It just seems there are no end to the heart-warming tales of opening up an Atari on Christmas morning and I was looking for others likes myself, whose love for all things Atari started a little differently. That's all. And now that Albert has so kindly changed the title of this thread, everyone, please bring on the Christmas and birthday stories. Let us all know how you came by your first Atari, regardless of how it happened. I look forward to reading any and all stories. Just for the record, I'm sort of hoping to read about someone starting a grade school escort service or holding up an Atari shipment on the docks; even better if they used light guns.

Well, this one specifically, but maybe that's just the way I took it.

From the way they're made, I can believe it!

I'm not sure who that was meant for, but I'm not quite 60. I'm 56 and I was just a kid when I worked and bought mine in '82.

I will definitely own my part of that! There's no sense in denying it. I think I've finally had my first "Hey you kids! Get out of my rutabagas!" moment.

And yes, you're right. I should have never said anything and just let everyone post whatever the heck they wanted and intention and thread title be damned. I really couldn't care less anymore. Everyone post whatever the heck you want here. I'm just happy to hear however you acquired your first Atari. Tell all of your stories. They're all good because they all got us to the same point. If someone reading this has the ability, please change the title to "How did you get your first Atari computer?" It will just make things so much easier.

YES! Someone that can actually read! Someone that actually gets it.

No one at all. I'm merely pointing out that those stories aren't what the thread was intended for. We've all heard those stories time and time again and I was looking for something different, hence the title. No reason to apologize. Your story is just fine, I'm sure. You play the overly dramatic victim role extremely well BTW. Oscar-worthy performance. Actually, I didn't denounce anyone's story and you, my friend, are the one on here throwing around names and being an ass. And no, many haven't answered the question at all, because the question was how did YOU BUY your Atari. Not how did you get it, or how did you acquire it, or when was it given to you, but when did you buy it. If YOU didn't BUY it, then your story really wasn't what this thread was created for. I've never said that there is anything wrong with those stories; only that this thread wasn't intended for them. If someone started a thread asking what someone's favorite text adventure was, and everyone kept saying that it was Star Raiders or Bruce Lee, would the OP be an ass for pointing out that Star Raiders and Bruce Lee weren't the type of game that the thread was about? No, to be fair it definitely doesn't. You seem to be completely missing the point that I made above. The name in no way suggests all stories. What it does suggest is stories of how someone bought their own Atari computer. If they didn't buy their first Atari, and received it through some other means, then technically their stories don't fit with the intention of the thread. Push comes to shove, several people have either outright called me an ass, or tried their best to make me feel like one, because they're offended and pissy that I've pointed out what I intended with this thread, and that's all I've done. I've not quoted or pointed out any particular story and told someone that it wasn't acceptable. I've only pointed out in generalized terms what the thread was intended for and what it wasn't. As the OP, no one else other than myself has the knowledge or the right to say what this thread was intended for and the thread was named in such a specific way as to make sure we didn't see the more generalized how did you acquire your Atari stories. In the end, I couldn't care less anymore where or how anyone got their Atari. If there's a moderator around, feel free to change the title to "How did you get your first Atari computer?" as very few seem to be capable of understanding the difference.