Keatah

Getting rid of PCs is such an annoyance. Easiest way, still, is just chuck'em in the trash.

Well lotsa ways to clean the slot. I cut down a credit card to size and use it to support a bit of paper wrapped/looped around the edge in a "U" shape. And I always prefer contact cleaner as it is also a lubricant that prolongs contact life. Alcohol/water can cut through some grime, too. It can be used as a pre-cleaner. But it doesn't have any protective/lube capability. So you want to finish up with real contact cleaner. Like Deoxit.

It’s kinda weird how he follows some folks around calling them names.

It's a time-travel movie where things keep going back and forth.

Smoked plexi might cut down on the panel glow giving better contrast - provided you up the brightness.

I'm looking at it from a modder's point of view. Can other systems/roms be loaded, PS1 material? Can it handle some of the more demanding titles in mame?

It tells us about future expansion capacity. How much headroom is left..

The video fails because it says it would reveal the brainpower. But there is no mention of what cpu/fpga is present. So, yeh, fail.

I think some stores have a return policy that long. So just take it back there. Or alternatively maybe get a 3rd party warranty from like square-trade or something.

It’s the endless delays and updates about updates.

Thanks for not bullshitting like atari and polymega.

Sure it's easier. But then you have nothing "permanent". Everything is online, fleeting, and at the mercy of your online connection. And nice practical comfortable controllers aren't really an option here. Back in the day we had much to do when stuck inside because of bad weather. It was Atari, Intellivision, Commodore 64, Apple II, board games, stamp collecting, watching superhero cartoons, experimenting with electronics and chemistry sets, reading, playing with slot cars or whatever games were advertised during Saturday Morning Cartoons. Not to mention drawing, Spirographs, Lite-Brite, action figures and their associated playsets. Especially electronic handheld games and chess and so much more! And it was all physical, and that's the way we remember it! I don't feel that this "online stuff" mixes with the old stuff too well. And because of that incongruity it doesn't have the nostalgic pull. People bitch and complain emulation isn't real, isn't physical, isn't collectable.. Online stuff is even further removed. If one goes the stand-alone route none of that really matters. It's a one-time deal where you get the hardware (about $100 for an R-Pi setup or off-lease i3/i5) and either learn to DIY or have a tech buddy help you out. And it becomes rewarding too! You now have something physical, a small box that can play hundreds and thousands of games. It's not unlike the toys of yesteryear now. You can take it out of a small storage container or box, plug it in like a console, and play. Just like a console of yesterday. It becomes a permanent (as much as things go) fixture in your toybox. Being "online" encourages a feeling of everything being temporary. That's not what physical hardware, real genuine vintage hardware or modern host/emulation stuff, is about. Not the way we remember it. Creating and curating and presenting that content will take a lot of effort. I'm not sure present day atari or any other company wants to go that route. Besides, AtariAge has got the one-up on that. Even some of the original programmers pop in here from time to time. Not to mention the new breed of homebrewers! Everywhere? That's an exaggeration. Millions upon millions of people had no idea they were doing that. Only vocal minorities of the enthusiast crowds did. No. I use my cars for what they are best at, hauling my ass from A to B. As a kid I rigged up my VCS to the cigarette lighter socket in old Chevy and dragged the incredibly heavy battery powered 9" B/W television set into the back seat. I was playing Combat and Flag Capture in the car! Utterly and totally amazing! Nothing else like it in town! Today? Meh.. I don't believe present-day atari is the right group to work with. They're only interested in trying to raise their own visibility, perhaps hoping for a buyout. Or only interested in doing the minimum to get by. Whatever the situation is, they are NOT the dynamic and artistic Atari of the 70's and 80's.

Yes all that. One could easily say AtariAge is its own brand and developing/publishing house. A complete business built around the VCS. If not a business then at least a hobby. It is notable they are also rather trouble-free. You plug it in and you play. No DRM or this-n-that online crap. In fact, you don't even need a VCS to play VCS games. Emulation for the console is rather complete. And ONLY Pong and Tank. IIRC the VCS was originally going to have only 6 cartridges available. Pong, Tank, and variants of those like Shooting and Hockey or something. They also initially planned for a 2-3 year max lifespan and that was it!

Next it will bring back programmers from the dead!

1992-1993 was like ages ago and I don't remember all the details. But I might recall the stability issues the salesman said were driver and software related rather than getting the whole of the mainboard running at 50MHz. Or maybe drivers for EISA cards weren't as well tested and updated as frequently as plain'ol ISA cards. It was nice that the DX2-50 was cheap enough for me to afford. IIRC but vaguely it was nearly 200 cheaper than the DX2-66 and some 400 cheaper than a DX50. With price differences like that it was a no-brainer to get what I got.

I was, for a moment, considering a DX-50 EISA board. But the guy at Gateway told me there were stability issues and it was overpriced. And overspec'd in the wrong area for gamers and home users. I still have an assortment of hard drives from back in the day. From time to time they serve as tertiary and quaternary backup devices. Or as conversation pieces. I even took the cover off one and put a clear one in its place. It still works! If it weren't for emulators I would not be enjoying the likes of gaming on the Atari 400/800, C64, Vic-20, and all the early 8-bit consoles AND even arcades of course. At one time I had tens or hundreds of consoles and thousands of disks tapes and cartridges, not to mention the entourage of wires and cables. So much that I had to eventually rent off-site storage. Having all that stuff was cool as a kid, but, less so later on. It became mentally crowding.

Ohh dear, that whole board is contaminated. Look at all the blue vias, they should be green!

I don't believe present-day atari is interested in that. Companies are ONLY interested in things retro and vintage if it makes good money. I'm fairly certain the vaporware vcs they've been carrying on about for the past 2 years is one such thing. There's a 900+ page thread here about how it's a go nowhere product that exists as renders only. And nobody I know of likes present-day atari anyways..

I think H.E.S. Ware's Tax-Man, was given to Atari to cover a lawsuit. The game was/is a good clone. And Atari then put their name on it. As for farming out ports to other systems; I'm fairly certain it was a popular practice to have a 3rd party handle it. Br0derbund was big on this.

I don't know.. I'm not a big fan of online gaming. And that would include games in browsers, emulated or not. Payment is always a hassle because it's usually saddled with points and needlessly confusing terms and conditions and exceptions. Minimum purchases too. All that would have to be dealt away with somehow. At this age I would want history and notes and interviews and insights on what my childhood favs so cool to begin with. Perhaps that ranks above playing the game itself. It's very true that the VCS audience is shrinking despite their being 50 ways to access the games. Some proud parents may claim their kid absolutely loves any one single classic console. But, will that kid maintain interest for the next 25 years? Not likely. Not with all the stuff out there already. Not to mention it's an overcrowded market. Retro fatigue is setting in.

No big deal. Having the game enjoyable is a big factor of course. I found the "night driver" games more fun than the "pole position" like games because of the framerate. Some of the pp-like games crawl at 5 or 10 fps.

The high-reliability low chip count Platinum //e seems to be the best balance of cost, features, ease of use and repair, nostalgia, and functionality. The best of any of the II series. Forget the GS, it internal architecture is loaded patches and hacks and isn't truly of the II series lineage. It has been said in classic computing circles that the Enhanced //e ROM is the finest firmware of any vintage rig. But, when I had my II+ I was quite thrilled with it and didn't mind the limitations. Some can be overcome with addons for like 80-columns, lowercase and shift-key mod, and memory expansion beyond 64K. 300 sounds about right for a II+, though it is approaching the higher end of the scale for a bare console.

Right. And it's simply not needed.

I think many tips and tricks transcend time. Stuff I learned on the Apple II in 1979 still applies to modern rigs. Not verbatim, but conceptually. Once you understand a concept, it is but a mere step taking it to practice.