Grimakis

Hm. Looks like the Ti is taking a slight lead. How easy is it to get the Ti to output Composite or Y/C. I don't plan on using RF.

So.... I'll let AtariAge decide. Which computer should I get next? Ti-99/4A or Tandy CoCo 3? Please give your precise reasons why, keeping in consideration. Cost Availability of accessories/peripherals Modern enhancements Game Library Community Support other stuff Thank you!

The Apple Color monitor had a similar feature. You could press a switch to get White Monochrome for 80-col text, but it was a little harsher on the eyes than Green. The Commodore 1084-S I believe can accomplish a similar effect, by switching from Composite to Y/C the monitor will take the composite video signal and use it as just the Luma signal, you can get an "ok" 80-col using that.

The Apple II is much the same. You could have decent color graphics on a color monitor, or sharp text on a monochrome monitor. You can't have both.

Yeah exactly. As a seller you're better off selling on eBay as untested / no returns to discourage people from trying the old MoBo switcheroo.

In my case, I have to boot off of it. It turns out my internal drive doesn't work I may disassemble it. It looks like it needs cleaning and lubrication.

You have to turn it off to change images, is that right?

And here is ms. pac man

Mark posted a video review of Parsec as well. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=CEpV8MeuZCc

Im not too familiar, but make sure you have the right baud rate set.

Get a PLAnkton. Even if it's not the PLA, I would pull it and replace it because its not a matter of if it fails, but rather when it fails.

I think the question though asks were they mainly gaming machine. Sure, they are computers and you can do a lot with a computer. Very versatile. However, they did not perform especially well for business and science uses. There were other computers out at the time that were more useful for that, namely CP/M machines. However they did do a fantastic job with games, and the Atari 8-bits when they came out were incredibly advanced with their POKEY and ANTIC chips.

Yes, I missed that. CTRL + APPLE + RESET reboot the entire system. It will start spinning the boot drive, etc. You can do that until you are blue in the face and it won't drop into BASIC. CTRL + RESET from the Apple //e screen is what will give you BASIC. Not sure, but it sounds like your RAM still had not cleared yet. You aren't suppose to flip the power on an Apple II off and on again. It warns against it in the user guides. I think it takes like 30 seconds for RAM to fully clear, maybe more..

I'm not sure I understand. A cold booted Apple II without disks has no idea what ProDOS is. Do you have battery backed RAMFactor in Slot 7 or something?

Well on the original Apple II series(save for the //c), you needed a card for everything. Floppy Drive, need a controller card. Printer, get a parallel or serial card. Modem, get another serial card. Mouse, get the mouse card. So luckily for you, the GS has two serial ports. There are some other cards that can be useful though. SCSI card allows you to connect a SCSI drive, like a Hard Disk, or a Zip Disk. If you get a CFFA3000 this may be kind of redundant though, since it emulates a ProDos formatted HDD anyway. Z80 Card - Allows you to run CP/M. Today that's more of a curiosity than anything else. Memory Expansion Card - Allows you to add up to maybe 8MB of RAM to the system. On the earlier Apple //e, it's used by programs via bankswitching. Not sure how the GS uses extra memory. Mockingboard - Enhanced sound for some original Apple II software. Unfortunately for you, the GS has a lot of hardware already built in

And I'll say it again, it's 100% nostalgia. People want the VIC-20 because it was popular, or they had it or something.

Honestly, this sounds so custom. I'm willing to bet that you have the exact IIe that was used in that research experiment.

The disk images also come with the OS already on it. You won't necessarily be choosing an OS. If you put a DOS 3.3 disk in, it will load DOS 3.3 into memory. Same for ProDOS. Of course you can have a formatted disk without the OS on it, but that would be like if you wanted to store data to it, commercial software wouldn't come that way as far as I know.

http://psasir.upm.edu.my/3540/1/Microcomputer-Based_Data_Acquisition.pdf Evidently it was designed to attach to a running tractor to observe fuel consumption, rotation speed, and other data.

I mostly dial in to BorderlineBBS either via the Modem or via Telnet. There are a few others I like, Live Wire BBS, some of the mainframes at Vintage Computer Museum, CottonwoodBBS. I connect to my Raspberry Pi via Telnet, and use that to hit SDF.ORG over SSH(could do it via Telnet, but I like the security of SSH) I have been known to use my acoustic couplers and Tandy 102 to log in to Borderline from time to time.

Yes, I agree, testing the cartridge in another setup will help troubleshoot. If it works on another VIC-20, then troubleshoot your own setup more. If it does not, then assume the cart is bad and acquire a replacement.

Yes a very nice setup indeed. I would like to have a dedicated space for my Apple IIe like that, but it shares a desk with my gaming PC currently. I've got a Hayes 9600 Baud Modem, Two Floppy Drives, an original Apple Monitor II(Green Phosphor), and a Lantronix. Right now I'd like to pick up a DB-25 selector switch so that I can switch between Hayes Modem and Lantronix on the fly. Here's a pic of my setup and my new joystick.

Maybe. I will not be getting rid of anything else. I doubt the TI could replace my beloved Apple IIe Platinum. My Commodores however are relegated to a cardboard box in the closet. I fear the TI would suffer the same fate. Perhaps it's only saving grace being it's incredibly sleek stainless steel finish.

Being much younger than the majority of you here, my experiences are more recent. Around 2007, 7th grade, I made a website in HTML. At the same time I was working on a computer game, designed in Game Maker(before it became big and commercial). The software allowed you to create objects in a two dimensional space, supported sprite collisions. You could specify what happened to each object on a certain keypress, or just give them routines. Have them react to other objects. It was actually a very good system for beginning creators. For example I would have a player object that you control, reacting to various keypresses. However there were also enemy objects. Then in the Enemy you could assign logic such that, if one object came within a certain distance of another it would trigger an event. In my case, if the player came close to the enemy it would start shooting. Ultimately I was able to able to make an okay platformer, but I lost the source code when my HDD crashed(no backups), and that was that. An executable binary of the game still exists though.

On the SEGA CD Genesis add-on, there were a number. The most infamous was "Night Trap", which involved protecting some teenage girls at a slumber party. However you protected them by spying on them with hidden cameras, and activating hidden traps to subdue their assailants as they are about to be killed. In fact it was so controversial, it was the center of a congressional hearing, and along w/ Mortal Kombat, was one of the reasons for the formation of the ESRB.