Keatah

Give this man a dollah! Altirra is good enough to be an official virtual machine.

Hopefully. Not likely because people will buy at whatever price is listed. Eventually. And ebayers know that.

FOMO doesn't affect my purchasing habits. Thankfully I grew up in the 70's & 80's, and that means I'm pretty immune to this FOMO nonsense. We learned the value of a dollah and patience and all that. Everything was sold equally everywhere as much as practical. I'm sure there were some mail-order only specials here and there, but the promotion periods were long enough that I didn't have to hustle my gluttonous fat-ass to get them. Today. Just no. No no no. No FOMO purchases for me. Since I am a Doom aficionado I checked LRG's offerings today while reading this thread. What could I get from there today? Nada! Nothing. Everything was either pre-ordered to the point of being sold out or was no longer available. Ok. Close the tab. But on ebay, there was plenty of Doom stuff available. Plenty of stuff that captures the essence of playing it for the first time in the 1990's. So ok! I still didn't buy anything, but I bookmarked/watched a strategy guide for Doom II and Descent. I'll purchase sometime in the coming month. No rush. No worries. No stress. No pre-order countdown clock watching. No fear of missing out. And then I have to ask, what does having a "limited release" version actually do for me? Does it elevate my status at the country club? Does it make me a more elite community member? Do my neighbors bow down to me more often? Do they whisper in hushed tones and meekly point as I stroll by, trembling in awe that I've got a special edition? Pretty sure none of that happens.

Nope.. Don't give a rat's ass..

Something like that, nope. Not gonna do. I don't mind the DLC model if the content is good, worthwhile, does genuine expansion, or makes the old game seem like a new expanded one. DLC can extend the life of an original work. All one has to do it look at add-on levels for Doom and similar.

So very true. True also. In my case it was a way to build the AIO console I had dreamed about since 1980 - for real! One box that plays it all. And bonus points because it fits inside blanket forts and reading nooks with ease. The money savings are real. No chasing down console hardware, mods, controllers, and maintenance on it all.

Very nicely done. These are really the way home computing is going nowadays. Little modules of compute power, put them where you need them. No need for those big-oxen BeigeBoxes and derivatives (except for gamers and special use situations). They're so easy to move around the house. And of course they run the much-vaunted Windows OS'es - which everyone on the planet is familiar with.

You can set up different configurations by using different .ini files, and by specifying them on the command line. "C:\Program Files\1_classic_system_emulation\a800\Altirra.exe" /portablealt: "C:\Program Files\1_classic_system_emulation\a800\AltirraAuthenticNTSCColors.ini" The command, the /portablealt: switch, and the location of the config file itself. Each ini file, of which you can have hundreds, has all the options stored in it. It's all explained in the documentation. Upon exit, the file is updated. So you can lock it via windows explorer if you want a little more permanency.

Sounds like a lot of work? Anyways, putting the one from Atari Mania through it's paces. So far ok.

Well that is good to know. I'll mark (in my personal library) as a working correctly till proven otherwise. In the Apple II world I've had certain cracks reveal hardware issues - while other cracks of the same game work just fine. I assume the memory mapping is different among them and some just hit the bad bit. Tell me (or post) which version of the planetarium you're using and exactly what I have to do to get it to lock up. I'll test on Altirra and my friend's real hardware.

All this back'n'forth has got me a little confused as to what's the definitive and complete working copy of this. I would assume the one at AtariMania is the gold standard?

Atari OS is all the 8bit rigs ever needed.

It’s nearly 50 years out since the original troubleshooting guide was made by Atari. 50 year old units are going to have failure modes not envisioned by the engineers of the time. Nor is any preventative maintenance covered. And they of course don’t cover modern mods or accessories or display devices. None of it is written for the player or end-user. And it certainly doesn’t include use of modern tools. None of it chronicles real-world wear and tear over such a long period of time. So it’s high time a modern comprehensive supplement be published. I can easily see a 14-chapter in-depth tome. With both beginner and expert sections, including the original svc man for completeness.

It's working. Got the thread in an uproar!

There have got to be hundreds of reasons. And one is that they are being prodded and pulled in too many directions at the same time. Every company, every institution vying for that almighty dollah - and making vague promises to get it. At the sacrifice of anyone and every one's well-being. Summertime is rolling around here. I bet I won't watch more than 30-40 hours of television from now till late August. And that means I'm not going to be streaming anything (not that I do anyways), sometimes at a friend's house. So long as it isn't my money. So no need to have subscriptions and their ensuing bills. Manderloin and ST Newworlds are just gonna hafta wait till my fat-ass is good and ready to "consume". Millennials also spend a lot of time keep up with the Joneses. Average cost of new car means you get payments of $700-$800 now. So looking at the neighbors with two, three, of them, I'm like tch'yeah.. You can buy perfectly good, solid, brand-new transportation, for under $20,000. With warranty and services. You pay half, finance the rest at low interest. And millennials are constantly being micromanaged by the economy. Especially a high-octane faster-than-instant economy fueled by e-commerce and everything being done by electronics. Not only are they in whirlwind financial maze, they are pulled and prodded by so many other forces it's just insane. I remember that dysfunctional household down the road (where they rinse garbage bins at 3am in the morning and attract all kinds of vermin by feeding the ohh-so-cute animals in the yard).. Well there was a blow-up when Mr. Musk bought out Twitter. The fear was the kid would no longer be able to receive updates from some obscure go-nowhere hiphopper "star". The week's moods and activities revolved around that. Eventually it all subsided. But the stress! OMG! Whatta rabbit hole to get trapped in!

Maybe. I remember liking the few times the service man came over to swap tubes. I got to see inside the TV set. I got to look in his toolbox and sack of spare parts. Golden gems in there! And he'd give me the old tube to play with on top of it all. I even took one to elementary school first-grade for a show-n-tell. I remember saying something like, "these are tubes and they take electrizity from the air and draw pictures on the screen - like cartoons and movies and news." I've been rather successful not falling into the upgrade trap. Especially these past 7-10 years. I also fail to keep up with the Jonses. Eventually I'll get a large 4K screen - but not because retiring and older one. But out of desire to equip another room with AV or something like that. Without question they cause more harm then good, when kids are left unsupervised and play with social media incessantly. Been following the folks in our neighborhood now for some 14 years now, about how long the iphone has been in full swing. And without question, without doubt, the kids that have had them since they were babies, are now mal-adjusted, don't have values, don't have empathy, are full of tics, are single-minded, spoiled, and lazy ass brats that make mom'n'dad do their homework and chores. It's what happens when the devices and their algorithms raise kids. One of them can't even get to bed by 1am because screaming and OCD and having to play this weird equality game - she gets one I have to get one and so on. And they're just not independent either. Dog can be locked up in the cage and barking for hours to be let out to go take a shit and the kid just sits there, too effen lazy to open the cage and let it out - gotta wait till mom and dad get home from work. Even to point where it sprays diarrhea all over. But tik'n'tokker commands their attention for hours on end. Never a post missed. Ever ever ever. There was a certain warmth and hearth about the old console sets of yore. Totally missing from today's 5mm wall posters. I guess. I never worry about the drive to miniaturize. The force of commerce and capitalism will likely always be here to push all that forward. Think back to the Pentium 4 era, the Northwood EE core, it ran at 3.4GHz. Just the CPU cost like $650 on intro. Well 20 years later today you can get an N95 4-core chip that runs at the same speed. Amazing ain't it? What's more is you also get an 256GB SSD, 8GB RAM, "motherboard" and complete 11pro OS, and WiFi+BT, for $200. Fabulous! And by the time I post this now I bet the specs will be revised upward even more. I think traveling the world is a bragging point. It's also something people are doing more and more this past decade. Going after experiences rather than rooms full of garbagejunk and cheap thrills of shopping the dollah store. Absolutely. What do they call it now.. Clickbait Fashion? Where you get something from Shein (or any other internet company) that's designed to be very stylish and progressive and all that. But it comes with a wear life of 5x or something. Usable for 5 events/outings, then it looks like trash. Very cheap. Designed to be disposable. Some outfits are not even made to be worn beyond a photo session even. It's made that way so they can sell you stuff over and over again. Keep up with the latest trends. Keep the consume-dispose cycle going. Anything to keep it churning. Motion is Life! To their credit they make no promises or illusions of long-term durability. It's this --->>||<<--- far away from a subscription/streaming wardrobe. I *AM* like Hoarders. Still got piles of shit to throw away. But.. I.. Just.. Can't.. I don't think modern society is pushing us away from anything. "That" is just e-commerce and advertising at work, both of which should be very small elements of a well-balanced community man. Small to the point of having them there just to be aware of their negative effects upon the psyche. They *DO* build them that way. Just cruise past an Audi/Mercedes stealership and look at the mid-range offerings. You're in the $80,000 category now. Same with most deluxe EVs, $60,000 and up. Way up. Not sure any of that is affordable for the masses. Yes. Modern tech and capitalism generate the illusion of having higher living standards today. But it is just an illusion. And those modern conveniences are full of subscription enticements. Streaming, gig economy services using your phone as a portal, the expensive coffee, all that. You think you're getting that phone and its conveniences for free? Think again. You're even paying for the privilege of doing more work (as companies push basic administrative tasks off on you like data entry) as you make use of their portal. If you fill out all the forms yourself, that's less for them to do. All companies want hands-off customers. Ticketbastard is already there. Ebay and HOA/rental portals are close. If those that control capitalism and commerce can fool (you) into thinking you have a higher living standard than you actually do (and you're not upset about it) then good for them. At least it demonstrates rising to the top of the boiling cesspool is possible.

There's likely environmental factors at play, too. Tube TVs were much much more tolerating in that way. I'm fairly sure that those Ionic Thunderstorm Breeze electrostatic air cleaners will hasten the demise of the seal around the glass pannels. Some seals turn to a jelly if used in the same room with them. The cleaners also tend to make your manuals and paperwork age much faster. After all, they put out a stream of reactive O3 molecules. They're injurious and deadly to air plants, too, by the way.

We had like 3 TV repair shops within 5 miles of the old house back in the 70's. I remember making the rounds asking for old tubes and parts to play with. It was like a "free RadioShack store". I'd always get a little something. I even remember going to one to have the guy teach me what an RF modulator was. Because the night I bought my Apple II home I didn't have one and couldn't get it working till I bought one the next day. Jurys' out on the reliability, I had a few go bad, mostly they'd develop a single dead line or a dead line and crap below it. Something in the demux driver chips I'd hazard a guess.. Then there's recapping, I have a few older Samsung displays due for recap soon. They work and all, but now take time to "warm-up" like the old tube sets. But I'm with you on the resolution. I'm all 1080p currently and may eventually upgrade to a new resolution in time. But it isn't a priority. There's only so much time I'm going to spend looking at the details in a scene anyway. At least I was right on saying (in 2015) that resolution would be the one property they continue to advance in the years ahead - along with refresh rate and color vividness. Besides.. new PCs don't decode 4K UHD Blu-Ray anymore, they removed the SGX instruction set (from the CPU) that processes the security. Hollywood demanded that as 4K and 8K are getting close to source material resolution. I'm not looking to spend time on a work-around.. Hence little interest.. Ohh companies are full of shit when they preach pro-environmental to the consumer. I just throw my e-waste shit out whenever and wherever. Costs me too much time to do it right. And what's in it for me? Companies try not to do things not in their interest/profit. So I do the same. This is true "playing Atari" when I was a kid was a special event. Still special despite playing 4-5 times a week. Our neighbor spoiled brat kid is the laziest selfish sloth around. Commands the whole living room with blaring hip-hop ******-*****, with like a laptop, ipad pro, iphone constant alerting on what hollywood "starz" are doing, teeny-bopper screaming nonsense at concerts, and no one can do anything in that crazymaking household where debonding is the theme of the day. Hear the shit 24/7 no matter what time you pass by! Totally opposite of scheduled and controlled "Bob Ross pace" plastic model making sessions we did as kids!

No.

That the 2600 would still be relevant today. On DLC. First encounters with it would be Mission Packs for Comanche on the PC, and SubLogic Scenery Disks for Flight Simulator II and Jet on the Apple II. Perhaps PrintShop add-on graphics if you stretch it.