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Keatah

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Everything posted by Keatah

  1. Same here with the exception of Apple II hardware. It's my childhood computer.. it and all the stuff that surrounds it such as peripherals and accessories and such. It's all very nostalgic. And it's what I learned the bulk of computer concepts & operations on. Programming. Storage. Memory. I/O. And all the aspects that make up "software". Plus all the good times with gaming. I could not see myself getting into other platforms with the same gusto. Not today. For it would be tedious and time consuming. Emulation can and does get me 90% the way there with 2% the hassle.
  2. Yes. Printers and modems are completely neglected. And seem to remain that way well into the future.
  3. I think this is a growing problem across many platforms, not just the 5200.
  4. Well Classic 99 is part of the AIO I occasionally talk about here. The AIO being an All-in-One machine I tried to build as a kid. At first it was to look like a TRS-80 Model III, and then a revised version was to look like the proverbial James Bond secret agent gadget suitcase. Neither got very far, one caught fire. Today it's as simple as setting up a pack of emulators on the appropriate hardware like a NUC or laptop or SFF PC. Classic 99 is an important part of it, being a respectable stand-alone emulator.
  5. Watching Percy's EDL and TRN yesterday afternoon was far far more interesting and entertaining than any mega-sports event could ever be!

  6. VCS didn't need marketing. We saw it we wanted it. Stuff was so new back then that even a blip on Saturday morning cartoons or a mere mention in any publication did the job. But I'm sure Atari produced "press-kits" and materials on how to display stuff throughout the years because I've seen all kinds of scattershot scans and stuff now and then. Some here, some elsewhere. Maybe internet archive has something. A guess..
  7. Perseverance coming in HOT! 20,000 kph. Target Jezebel Crater.

    1. DrVenkman

      DrVenkman

      *Jezero Crater.

    2. DrVenkman

      DrVenkman

      Touchdown confirmed and first images received. That was nerve-wracking to watch “live.”

    3. Keatah

      Keatah

      It all happened so fast. But this is the 5th rover they landed. So they know what they're doing.

    4. Show next comments  42 more
  8. Not to start a war or anything. I always preferred the C64 version. Likely because it was the first home version of Gyruss I ever played. I do see the technicals being better on the Atari 8-bit. But I don't like the monochrome'ish look.
  9. Grading games = paying money to make games more expensive. And it spirals up from there till the updrafters get bored. And the common man gets all this hot air blown up his ass. Woot!
  10. Gathering Apple II games for the weekend. So far it's Hadron, Epoch, StarDance, and StarMaze.

    1. Unbeliever

      Unbeliever

      I loved my Apple II back in my late teen's. So much fun.

    2. DoctorSpuds

      DoctorSpuds

      I don't have an Apple II sadly but for some reason I do have Paperboy for it. Thought it was for DOS until I got home and read the specs. A big box is a big box and boy is that one nice box.

  11. Anything capacitive/touch. Especially ones with a delay. It's so post-90's! And that rubber stuff. It all sUcKzoRz! Most satisfying ones are rocker switches with a positive snap. Or anything with a positive click. Also like the rotary+volume wheel on old pocket radios and walkie talkies..Got that smooth resistance that builds, then SNAP! The radio turns on. Very reliable.
  12. Why weren't there more motherboard modifications for the II series? I'm talking about things like the shift mod. Or the Videx switcher. Was it because there were 8-slots and all chips socketed? Was it because the board was perfectly designed and didn't need mods? Did the industry at the time shy away from cutting and soldering things on the mainboard? Would there have been minimal gains from any potential mod? Or maybe there were indeed more mods, like SeniorProm or NSC, that existed and I just didn't know about them? Same goes with the IBM-PC. Don't really recall anything being done to the motherboard. Everything was on add-in cards.
  13. The Atari 400 is a computer I would not want to upgrade. Doesn't feel quite right. If pressed on the issue, maybe, just maybe, an upgrade to 48K for practicality. But anything else is a no-no. It's fine the way it is. Same with the Atari 800, no mods. But the 600/800XL, 1200XL/1400XL/1450XLD, 65/130XE, bring it on! The more you stuff in the case, the better. These consoles feel like they were made for mods. Why? Well the 400/800 have a lot of physical layout limitations or barriers that need working around. The other 8-bit systems feel stamped together bottom-to-top, and that makes it easy to do mods. Lots of space to work with.
  14. Be'fraid. Be very afraid.
  15. Whoever thought these beigeboxes would become nostalgic? And in some cases even sentimental..
  16. Finally sub-zero all weekend. And the blanketfort was a hit so we did it again.

    1. Master Phruby

      Master Phruby

      Sub-Zero Wins. Babality.

    2. x=usr(1536)

      x=usr(1536)

      Currently at +6°F, but the wind chill is taking it down to -24°F.  1.5" of snow currently; up to 15" expected.

       

      Our Storm of the Century is so exciting that I'm about to go to Wal-Mart :grin:

    3. frankodragon

      frankodragon

      I need to get my eyes checked.  It thought it read, blanketfart,"

    4. Show next comments  42 more
  17. I also had gotten a SMS around Christmas back in the day. It was the 1st system I got in attempt to re-build a collection. It was a moody and downtempo system. I liked it. But the rebuilding never went anyplace. Fuck'n finances ya'know.. A few short years later I was a billionaire and headlong into the emulation scene!!
  18. That’s the beauty of it. Guilt-free gutting. Some paint and filler. But it’s just a thought. It’s not worth the cost not after thinking about it for a while.
  19. I was looking at this TRS-80 Model II for a project box. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Radio-Shack-TRS-80-Model-II-Microcomputer-Disk-And-Keyboard-Untested/154325625350 Strip it down and gut it empty. Too much time would have to be spent in the repair & cleaning phases as opposed to creating/modding. All the rust-pitting, weight, intermittent solder joints and connections. Just too much. And for what? A limited-use vertical machine with ZERO software support. So.. Put in a mini-itx, R-Pi, and MiSTer. With plenty of room to spare. It looks nice with the flatscreen glare protector as-is. So "conversion" to a proper LCD would be ok. The drive area would be a physical control panel. And the 3-disk monstrosity would be a perfect side-companion to hold joysticks, manuals, and other paraphernalia, like boot disks and tools and stuff. Could cut off the floppy faceplate and put it on a hinge, or even motorize it somehow, thus keeping the stock TRS-80 look. Alternatively I could do the same with a Model III, always wanted one of those. Especially an AIO.
  20. Minus speed issues, the PIII rig I described above does MS-DOS beautifully. With all the incumbent legacy support for ports. It's how that e-waste earns its keep. I've not tried asking anything more than 32MB ram out of it, but I'm sure it will work with 64mb or maybe more. By turning off caches I can get down to Pentium and fast 486 levels.
  21. As soon as the Pentium II came out I build a system on the AL440LX Intel mobo. It was a decent system, and I gradually evolved/upgraded it to one built around the Abit BX-6 R2. This is the system as it stands right now. Sometime in the future I would like to put in a regular BX6, no overclocking tricks and one extra ISA slot, 1 less PCI slot. I plan on dumping the SB-live card as I rarely ever used its features. I also plan on redoing the drive arrangements and use a RIO multi-drive switcher. I also want a 5.25" floppy drive in there, too. And perhaps a new case to make it easier to work on. Last time I changed anything it was 2007-2008. It is one of two legacy computers. The other one, 486, I'll detail later.
  22. This wasn't the case at all with me. I had always planned on keeping my Apple II material, and everything else was gone or going. So it was a fresh start. Everything was all new all over again - with a sense of how things should be. Which leads into the testing and sporadic feature suggestions to help get them polished up. In some small way. I always thought that ROM board for the PC, from Emulators Inc. was the epitome of emulation. Gemulator was it? Let you use real rom chips for GEM or the first MAC OS if I remember right..?
  23. Just had a Big-Mac blowout. The lettuce, the sauce, the fake meat. All of it was moving like a slip-n-slide!

    1. cedropoole

      cedropoole

      I call it the Big Muck

    2. Atarian7

      Atarian7

      I've never had a big mac.  When I was in my growth spurt as a teenager I would have two double cheeseburgers , two large fries, and a drink.

      I never tried a big mac though.

       

       

    3. GoldLeader

      GoldLeader

      Back when I ate meat, I considered Big Macs as only good if ya added McDonald's Hot Mustard sauce to them.  And I liked them but they were a gut bomb, and somehow, to me, a choking hazard.  No joke, I always felt like they were too easy to eat without chewing enough.  Had to force myself to chew and keep water at the ready.

    4. Show next comments  42 more
  24. Yes I know how that goes. When I first got into videogames in the 70's I played Video Pinball on the VCS. I clearly remember the vibrant pure blue of the playfield. It's how my Zenith Chromacolor was set. And it rendered the baseball field of a real baseball game just perfectly. But fast-forward to the 1990's and the introduction of emulator Stella. Color was finally on its way to becoming stable and consistent. If not accurate. Yet. I found that on one of my cheap-ass 6-bit vintage LCDs I have to adjust Stella's HUE slider down by 2 to 4 points (scale of 100) to get the deep vibrant blue. Just a couple of points, otherwise it renders as purple. A very visible and unappealing change - fixed by the tiniest tweak. On my high end stuff I don't have to adjust anything.
  25. Not only does the console drift, so will the CRT's circuitry. And both are over 20 years old. Neither was built to any discerning standard. The best you can do it look at screenshots and adjust to what looks right for you. And what feels right. And what you (or others) may remember. And then keep on top of it throughout the forthcoming years.
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