Keatah

Yes I get all that. I tend to want to replicate the look as I remember it BITD. Or going one better in the direction of perfect geometry and consistent colors from day to day and year to year. As kids in the late 70's we imagined "super" displays. The tech level we thought of as sci-fi level came to be real with the advent of 1600x1200x32 monitors. That was in the 90's. I keep meaning to get into MiSTer more than the occasional messing around. I'm just happy that it IS gaining some popularity. And it certainly helps that a team effort is involved - this stuff takes significant man hours. Imagine how less developed MAME would be if it were a one-man gig? Not only that, but having many contributors helps insure continuity throughout the ages. These projects are bigger than any one individual.. And in this hobby there are so many ways to go about doing something. There's really no right or wrong. It's very easy to get carried away promoting one's own gaming style as the ONLY way to play.

Small desktops are rapidly gaining popularity. Thrice because of low power consumption, semi-portability, and aesthetics. They fit anywhere. If you put Software Emulation and FPGA side-by-side you’ll likely find that SE is developed at a much faster pace, more thoroughly, and that there are more choices. And each SE has all kinds of customization options. I dislike the harsh hi-res lines of unfiltered emulation, unless I’m studying something in a game. Otherwise it’s full-on effects. But gently 10-20% across the board. Like very good RF or Composite. Barely visible scanlines. I do like a deep and saturated color palette however. Even back in the 80’s halcyon days. And always go overboard on that!

This is a growing problem that no one seems inclined to address. Or even recognize exists. Are they that stupid where they can't merge concepts into a whole to achieve a desired outcome? Are they just lazy and balk at the thought of having to think for one iota? Instead just drifting away on single-click social media activities which induce even more incompetence. I guess that's why Windows 10 got rid of local detailed help. I guess that's why we have pictorial quickstart guides instead of a real manual with text that has to be, OMG!, read and understood. I guess that's why manuals (if you can get one) don't have Theory of Operation or even Product Introduction sections anymore.

The basic specifications are about right. I've built many a rig similarly spec'd and everyone was happy with the performance. If anyone is into tiny PCs I found the current Topaz and Panther Canyon Intel NUCs to be respectable. You can use an eGPU if necessary. Or go straight to Ghost Canyon for RTX class gaming the size of a bookshelf speaker. Another one of those is likely to be my next purchase.

There was a time when I used to have high affinity for vintage physical media and had a sprawling display that got thoroughly out of control. Cartridges, disks, tapes, printouts. You name it. But not anymore. Having a collection in playable format means wear and tear on the media, the original labels.. And then there's time keeping it organized and clean and presentable. Too much busywork. Wasted wayyyy too much time on that. I don't really display any sort of media. Not in the traditional sense. I keep backups in one of those plastic Husky toolboxes from Home Depot now. Cheap, effective, hard to lose. And still impressive when you open it up to update it. Or just to look at it. There's many ways you can "glorify" your favorites. Something to add physicality and presence. Like making a 3-ring binder to hold laminated reference cards, keyboard guide-cards (think SpaceShuttle overlays), and logsheets of backups. You can make themed labels for hot-swap 3.5" SSD, or CF or SD. There's unlimited pre-made folders & holders for SD Flash media and HDDs. Even store your modern media in a tabernacle shrine with a sanctuary lamp. If that's your gig. Me? I prefer the Husky toolbox under the sectional!

How would you go about doing that? Would you plan on using a SFF Win10 PC? It's what I'm doing, and I dialed in the right amount of NTSC "fuzzies" and color saturation for a great CRT look.

It's certainly worked well for me over the years. Decades even - because contemporary emulation as we know it got stated in earnest in the mid-1990's. It's easy to take the convenience and reliability and consistency for granted. And its fun setting everything up.

By men of strong convictions.

LPT1 FTW!

There's reasons for this. Its a long topic so maybe I'll get into it later if feel like it. And it's not a big deal about the Vartabombs. There's museum curators that do the very same thing.

Seems Atari did a lot of repackaging of tech they developed in the late 70's. And it didn't really matter if the 5200 was the same (or not) as the home computers. The software looked the same. And it was "common knowledge" that it was a stripped down 400. And that's all us kids needed to know.

Goddammned BEAUTIFUL! Sold for over 1500! They used to sell for under 100 bucks, complete but minus box. But this one WITH a rotted box pulled $$$.

Not my auction, but it's interesting to watch these things. BITD they were going the cost of scrap material. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Apple-II-Graphics-Tablet-A2M2007-Brand-New-In-Box-With-all-Accessories/274727895566?_trkparms=aid%3D777008%26algo%3DPERSONAL.TOPIC%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D231341%26meid%3D4c2bcc88e5a74a7388c5293113628c98%26pid%3D101286%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D1%26mehot%3Dnone%26itm%3D274727895566%26pmt%3D0%26noa%3D1%26pg%3D2380057%26algv%3DWatchlistVariant%26brand%3DApple&_trksid=p2380057.c101286.m47999&_trkparms=pageci%3Adf71f0cd-91b0-11eb-86ed-5ad343e0c2bb|parentrq%3A857fb0b51780a645359c82e8ffc9c696|iid%3A1

Documentation is terribly underrepresented these days. So any quality effort on this front, for any system, is important and welcome! Cannot emphasize that enough without resorting to cheap measures like color bolded italicized text in weird fonts.

Love little shitbox projects like this. They're artful adaptation of new tech to old tech. Also like the color Atari logo at startup - much better than the modern monochrome metro crap so prevalent today.

Maybe the scale would work out just right and a microSD card could fit in it? Just a thought about making it functional. Didn't watch the video yet. Don't know if Pi Zero interfaces to SD.

From a consumer's perspective the console wasn't necessary anymore. Its time had come and gone. PCs were gathering momentum. Other consoles were imminent. Indeed. Even us potsmoking teens back then could see their products were "old man" stuff. I thought the future of the Amiga "idea" would have been brighter and even more influential (for the common end-user) had it gone that way. The Amiga found a niche for video production, but not without expensive add ons - incomprehensible genlocks and time base correctors. Not to mention the stratospherically priced toaster. All of which didn't really work on the "home computer" version. The 500.

Yes. I try to remember to be cognizant of that. And still continue to fail. Some day..

I don't do mods. I don't like mods. I don't condone mods. But to each their own. If I'm gaming on a modern LCD style display I demand that my console & hardware create signals that match my display. I'm the most ardent believer that the circuitry which generates the image and signals should be matched to the output display. And for the early cartridge systems that means RF. It's what they were engineered for. Not a fan of sticking in a $10 mod that will only partially and incorrectly match the characteristics of a vintage console to what a modern-day display expects. Especially, as just mentioned, when the games don't conform to any strict standard. Scanlines, timings, that sort of thing. When that situation arises I'm all for taking a completely different route by using a powerful i7 or i9 with an accurate emulator. For those that don't like emulation, ya'll can save a buck or two and get a MiSTer for FPGA simulation. Either way you're now working entirely in the digital domain, with matching display inputs. A good emulator will handle scanline and timing issues with minimal or no adjustment from you. It will also let you explore "vintage" RF characteristics. Often to good effect if you don't max it out.

Speaking from a seasoned vantage point I clearly vote for matching display technologies. This means RF and CRTs for the early consoles. Completely agree with the unwanted artifacts & changes which usually accompany modding. I say this not from a purist standpoint, but from practical experience flavored with a little bit of "how it was meant to be". It is at that time I wholeheartedly switch to (and recommend) software emulation. Here with SE we're synthesizing an image from the ground up. An image designed to work over DP & HDMI connections and look great on the newest technologies. Straight away. Bonus time! Everything remains in the digital domain up to the instant the display paints a pixel. This allows for a bevy of unique adjustment options, up front so you don't need to play with the display's controls. You get to explore "vintage flavorings" like NTSC artifacting, bleeding, blurring, scanlines, fringing, phosphor types, and more! IMHO it's the best way to experience VCS, or Intellivision, or Colecovision games on that new 110" QuantumDot display.

Well hell! I might as well say I was right there besides Rudolf Heinrich Baer himself! I got into this stuff early and had plenty of Pong, Sports, Shooting, and Tank "fixed-function" systems. I was only behind in that I didn't get an early Channel-F. First cartridge-based system I owned was the introductory Heavy Sixer VCS from Atari. It was so new that the smell of California dust was fresh upon opening! Starting there and through the 80's I was up-to-date on getting all the popular consoles and home computers. If it was "home" something or other I had it. Eventually it became untenable. Cost. Space. Time. Many factors. Not the least was supporting bad teenage habits. And of course paralleling all that were the actual arcades themselves. Loads of fun. In many ways. What made it 2x fun was that Pin Pan Alley was right next to Data Domain. Go play at the arcade and wrap up the afternoon with a saunter through the computer store. Data Domain was cool. Hobbyshop-like atmosphere. Counters in the center. Periphery walls adorned with racks of bagged software. What we didn't know at the time was how the computer shops of the day created contrast against the arcades. Here were these stores selling $2,000 and up computers that couldn't come close to any arcade game in terms of technical fidelity. And we longed for the day when we could play a real arcade at home. It would happen but not till the 1990's. MAME and emulation came on the scene. And being at that forefront was just as exciting and thrilling as playing what we had in the 70's. Different, however, because this time it was about nostalgia and seeing stuff we thought we'd never see again. The late 90's was exciting with MAME because it was like collecting cartridges. Every couple weeks a new release came out, supporting more and more games. And focus was naturally on the early simpler games. Think 1988 and prior. And a mad scramble ensued to collect the necessary files to make it all come together.