bfollowell

I never cared for it because I didn't care for the graphics, plus I had my heart set on a dedicated stand-up arcade cabinet. When I finally figured out that wasn't going to happen, a control panel controlling emulation from my gaming desktop seemed to be the next best solution. When I really looked at the X-Arcade Tankstick, graphics aside, I couldn't find anything to knock it. I haven't found a bad review anywhere, and I've tried. Add in the fact that I can get a custom vinyl graphic for $50 or so and it seems like the perfect solution. Add in the side "pinball" flipper buttons, and I can get into virtual pinball too. It really is an awesome controller. I saw "Santa" delivering it the other day, so I already know I'm getting it on the 25th. I didn't have the heart to tell my wife I saw it being delivered on the doorbell camera. It was hard to miss with X-Arcade plastered all over the box. I'll get to practice my acting on Christmas Day when I try to act all surprised. I plan to hook it up to my Steam Box and stream from my gaming PC in our bonus room to the 50" Samsung, also in the bonus room. I'm sure my step-daughter will be over a lot playing old Mario titles once I get it up and going, which will mean more time with my grandson, so it's a win-win! Extra Grandpa time, and when they're gone, Grandpa gaming time! Anyway, I look forward to getting it setup to work with all sorts of Atari and other 8- & 16-bit classic games and arcade titles and, now, pinball tables too. It's going to be a fun year!

Anytime I checked at Microcenter they were never shipping these, so I'm getting this instead X-ARCADE TANKSTICK WITH TRACKBALL I'm going to design a custom vinyl graphics to put on mine. Maybe I'll do some old school Atari graphics. Also, X-Arcade is running a heck of a deal on these right now. Only $149.99 plus shipping, regularly $199.99.

Unless you purchased your SIO2PC from AtariMax, I think you're pretty much limited to RespeQt. APE is written and sold by AtariMax for use on their interfaces. I've heard of others getting APE to run with other SIO2PC devices and homemade SIO2PC cables, but I've never had any luck getting my APE to work with anything other than my AtariMax SIO2PC-USB Dual Port interface. That being said, APE is also commercial software, and you'd need to purchase a license to get full use out of it. RespeQt is free. I've used APE and ProSystem for a number of years and have always been thoroughly impressed with it. I've used RespeQt as well. While I prefer APE, I think it's mainly because I've used it for longer and it's what I'm used to. The times that I've used RespeQt, I've found it to be very capable and easy to use. I know you can use APE to emulate a number of Atari peripherals, including a modem and a printer. I believe RespeQt may offer similar emulation or may be working on it, but I'm not certain. One area of difference is that APE is pretty much a mature application, and I'm not certain Steven is still doing much development on it, so I'm not sure how much more we can expect to see in the future. RespeQt is still being actively developed and improved upon and, last but not least, it's free. I think AtariAge is the main repository for RespeQt. Always look for an update thread here. I think this is the most recent one. RespeQt 5.2 and new Repository

Really? I've never heard of such a thing. I had no idea there was a hardware 8-bit emulator for the ST. There was Darek Michoka's STXformer, but that was software only unless you built the Xformer cable that let you plug a disk drive into your ST's printer port to access your software.

I can't recall every single thing that was in the box, but I know for certain there was this Atari 800 manual, this Atari Basic manual, and this Atari BASIC Reference Manual. Mine also came with a ton of technical documentation. I received Atari 400/800 Technical Reference Notes, Atari 400/800 Hardware Manual, and Atari 400/800 Operating System Source Listing.

If you cut DIN and the attached wire off at the end closest to the power brick, you should have about 2' of cable. Then, with the PSU I suggested, you just the very tip off and splice the wires together on the two ends; the one you salvaged from your ingot and the one from the new PSU. It should give you a nice long cable with a 2.5A PSU. Definitely more than you need, but nice, stable, and efficient. Just make certain you get the polarity correct. I have a full work station in the garage, so I was able to solder the wires together, put heat-shrink tubing over the individual connections and the cable as a whole and make a professional looking cable. It may be a little harder without a soldering iron, heat gun, and heat-shrink, but they're still relatively easy to make.

Congratulations! That was an awesome find. It's hard to believe, in this day and age, with retro everything making such a big comeback, that someone would just put something like this out in the trash. I guess some people just aren't knowledgeable about such things or can't be bothered. The main thing is, it now has a good home now, and I don't think $100 was too much since it came in the original box and it looks to be in such excellent condition. If it works and needs no TLC on top of that, well that's just icing on the cake! I agree with @TGB1718. That does look like an ingot PSU and, if so, you shouldn't even plug it in just to quickly check out the computer. They're definitely Atari killers. Either cut the cable/DIN off of the PSU and make yourself a nice new, efficient PSU or, if you don't have the skills, purchase a new one. I've made several new PSUs using the excellent CanaKit 5V 2.5A Raspberry Pi 3 B+ PSU. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00MARDJZ4/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Ah, I see. That looks a little better, but it's probably my old eyes more than it is the camera. I'm sure the colors are much better in person. Some colors just don't reproduce well across various imaging sensors and monitors.

The only things I see that say "400" are the four orange buttons. The green and orange clash screams at my sensitive sensibilities. But, while I don't care for it, all that matters is that you like it. It's a nice looking case, regardless of the color clash and you did a really great job re-casing it.

I should’ve mentioned. It’s an NTSC model. I see what @manterola means though. On the schematic it looks like the channel selector switch just shorts a pin on the modulator to ground for one channel and I guess it stays high for the other one. So I guess the modulator signal would still be there for one channel or the other, even after I remove the channel select switch to install the monitor port. If that’s the case, I guess I’ll wind up leaving it in there after all.

Well, like I said, assuming I can get this one running, I'll be using RF initially anyway, so I'll definitely check it out. If I remove the channel switch, how would I be able to still use RF? How would I go about selecting which channel to output the video to?

Not bad for RF, but definititely not up to UAV/composite quality. If I can get this one running, I definitely plan to install a UAV and a monitor port, as well a remove the modulator.

I wonder if this is a job that would work better, or worse, using a hot air rework station? If worse, I may need to pickup a couple of larger chisel tips for my Weller.

Oh, I plan to. It was listed as "for parts". I know for certain that it won't work when I try to power it up because, at the very least, it's missing the Antic chip. I'm hopeful, but not very, that maybe that will be all that's wrong with it. I don't want to spend any more on it until I know I can get it running, so I'll be using the RF myself, at least until I see proof of life. After that, I'll probably look into the UAV and monitor port. Oh, and it was missing its case screws too, so I'll need to see if I can find a decent replacement screw. Here's the auction photos of it in its current condition.

I'm pretty sure the answer is a resounding no, but I thought I'd ask anyway. I have a filthy, non-working 600XL that I bought as a winter project. I'm going to clean and restore it and, hopefully, get it running again. Assuming I do, I plan to upgrade it to 64K and install a UAV and a monitor port. I'll probably re-home it after that. My question concerns the RF modulator. Is there any reason at all to keep it? I mean, I figure almost no one in their right mind would want to use RF if there were any other options at all. I'll be removing the channel select switch to install the monitor port, so I figure RF wouldn't work anyway. That being said, is there any reason at all to leave the modulator in place? My reasoning is that, it takes up a fair amount of real estate on an already small motherboard. I figured it would make more sense to remove it altogether so that any future owner could maybe use that space for some other upgrade. Opinions?

I'm wondering about this too. I thought, when Atari did away with controller ports 3 & 4, that was it. Atari 8-bit computers were limited to only 2 controller ports. So, would I be able to use a multi-joy to play four player with M.U.L.E.? Or with any other game that allowed more than two players? Do games have to be specially written to work with the multi-joy? I see you mentioned Sails of Doom, which was obviously written to use this. Are there really that many titles that allow you to play with up to 8 players, or more than 2 for that matter? I'm definitely intrigued. Thanks.

I see what you mean. My dual port board also has these white SIO connectors. It looks like, rather than going down through the pin slots in the base of the connector, like it looks like they should, the pins bend down and go "behind" the connector, pushing it forward just a slight bit, just like you said. It's strange that the connector's base plate has slots for these pins to go through, but Steven didn't use them. You can clearly see how the connector hangs off either end of the board by about 1 to 1.5mm. The board even has a silk-screened spot showing where the plate should be, but it's off by the same amount because the pin slots weren't used.

I was never a big fan of Nissans, but I'd always make an exception for a Z. That is one sweet ride!

Excellent! After seeing your initial post, I'd thought about getting back to work on the model I was working on for mine. Alas, the holidays, work, and chores always get in the way of fun, and now you've done it again. I'll anxiously await the results, then give it a try. Thanks again @Mr Robot!

No, again, you're getting them mixed up. The 1040STe had the regular 9-pin joystick ports as well as the 15-pin ports on the left-hand side of the machine. You could use either, assuming you had a controller that worked with them and software that took advantage of them. The Mega STe did not have these extra ports. It only had the standard 9-pin ports that all STs had.

$53.42 here. It must have some sort of built-in calculator that shows actual shipping charges to your default location.

It definitely sounds fishy.

Well, at the current going rates for 8-bit Ataris, and the cost of the mods, plus your time, you wouldn't be making much money, unless you have a bunch of 8-bits stored away that you got for cheap years ago. This one really only went for maybe about $100 over what you could buy a decent 8-bit for, then purchase all the mods and accessories that it came with, and you really wouldn't be able to expect them all to sell for as much as this one went for.

I knew when I saw the 800XL lot that it would go for over the Buy It Now price. I thought the $500 was a decent price. Whoever winds up winning it would definitely have been better going for the Buy It Now option.

Yes, there was an earlier Mega ST, before the Mega STe. It had a much different case.