Swami

I believe the top statement here was the central thesis of his argument.

One snazy pimped out unit there.

Just for posterity if someone else has this problem. I got a $6 CX22 off eBay that was dirty as can be inside and out. I cleaned it up and sanded the spinner shafts and oiled the bearings and cleaned the button contacts. Button stems were both broke off so I had to carefully super glue them back together. Soaked the ball in 10% bleach for 20 min and scrubbed with toothbrush (still yellow). Then many many hours trying to figure out why the cue ball kept skating. If I had spare bearings I might have replaced them but, didn't. So, I was trying everything else and honestly didn't know if the ones opposite the encoder were supposed to be stationary or not. It seemed to me that it would be really surprising if the bearings were worn out. Finally I figured out that the inner wheel of the bearing opposite one of the encoder wheels was not turning on one of the shafts and was turning on all of the others. It was stuck ... HARD ...to the shaft by some invisible petrified glue. I had to wrench it off with two pairs of pliers, which took a couple minutes of wrenching. Once it was off and I had wiped out the inside of the bearing center hole and outside of where it was on the shaft, it now works like new!!!! In addition it went on and came off of the shaft very easily. I'd noticed there was the slightest grinding/catching at that particular bearing about once every ten minutes when it was free to spin. Otherwise, it seemed as "friction-free" as the rest and appeared to spin freely. Only when the ball was on it rolling rapidly in varying directions would it catch. I'd have to check, but I believe the bearing opposite the encoder wheel were not freely sliding off the end of the shaft in the other trackballs I restored, but did not have this skating problem. Also, I wonder if the bearings they make for the 2.5" arcade trackball on eBay would work? http://www.ebay.com/itm/O-E-M-2-1-4-HAPP-TRACKBALL-REBUILD-KIT-WITH-BALL/382142848984?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649 P.S., this is only the third trackball I've restored and the other two were pretty simple. One had a button stuck from petrified goo (probably coca-cola) and the other just needed some basic cleaning.

Brand spanking NIB (not mine), just always a little awe inspiring, but out of my discretionary spending... http://www.ebay.com/itm/Atari-2600-CX-A-Model-Video-Computer-System-Factory-Sealed-Home-Console-/142500763336?hash=item212db516c8:g:lqQAAOSwiDFYMivR Not as rare as a NIB heavy-sixer, but still cool. Then there's this six-switch...never out? No other secription, kinda weird. http://www.ebay.com/itm/ATARI-CX2600-wood-Stationary-System-SERIAL-81101229-NEVER-OUT/132201867365?_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIM.MBE%26ao%3D2%26asc%3D41376%26meid%3Ddecaa8f9a6044909bc75952d2f9cf82d%26pid%3D100623%26rk%3D3%26rkt%3D6%26sd%3D142500763336&_trksid=p2047675.c100623.m-1

I am really hoping I can do joystick emulation in general and trackball emulation for supported games with my Kensington Expert USB trackball mouse. Probably the best commercial trackball out there, although the buttons are a little more fragile than most.

Do you live in/near a town big enough for craigslist to work?

Bought one of these thingies for my XEGS, highly experimental. http://www.ebay.com/itm/TOM2-FULL-SET-Mouse-Adapter-for-COMMODORE-64-AMIGA-ATARI-ST-TT-NEW/172122464015?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649

1. Are any of the all-in-one atari's battery operated? 2. The look of those paddles in this picture and the way they are holding them is disturbing to me.

Okay. Based on martinez's translation of larek's video, I bought this one since it came with a mouse I am hoping is guaranteed to work, before I test it with others, and should get here about five times as fast. Hopefully it is not some knock-off as it is a UK reseller who does not appear to be making much profit unless it is in a shipping markup or got a bulk deal. I'll write a review when I get it and test it. http://www.ebay.com/itm/172122464015

Is this ebay seller confused? I have read on here about using an ST mouse on an 8-bit, but some say it must be supported, others say it works like a joystick. I can't figure out if this TOM2 adapter can be supported or work like a joystick with a USB mouse on an XEGS or 800xl. Thanks. Your previous message Do these TOM2 adapters work with the Atari XE systems, specifically XEGS for playing games with a mouse? Thanks. Answer: Hi. No, it works only with ATARI ST family computers. Regards Your friend from eBay This ad from UK does not mention XE and XL: http://www.ebay.com/itm/TOM2-Adapter-USB-Mouse-Joystick-for-AMIGA-ATARI-ST-TT-Commodore-64-128-/172007029169?hash=item280c6af9b1:g:xD0AAOSwA3dYi2uP This one from Poland (original makers?) does: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Great-Amiga-Atari-XE-XL-ST-C64-C128-Mouse-Gamepad-Joystick-USB-adapter-TOM-Rev2-/231881879211?epid=726385678&hash=item35fd3caeab:g:rXAAAOSwr7ZW6~aI

PM sent.

A guy on the board with a lot of experience with this sort of thing told me Vader's are innately problematic when it comes to video mod and doesn't recommend using them for this. This was said in a PM, so didn't mention name in case it is controversial to some folks. Maybe it is best to stick to non-Vader consoles, although if the UAV somehow bypasses the problem it would be interesting to see the results.

Maybe just start one. I just started playing today, made it through to third set after second challenge round. Got sucker shot once with Galactopus's first shot of my third life. Not so good, but it is the score to beat. Challenge rounds are impossible.

Maybe spell it backwards and add a couple exclamation points: "Emag Ecaps!!" Or do it like one of those computer passwords you think you will remember, but can't: "[email protected]$3 [email protected]" Or just call it "Space Game", so when people try to AA search or Google it, they will get 100's of unrelated posts ahead of it. I votes for "sure, why not"

How do they fare for homebrew compatibility?

Some of my favorites. Famicom Hypershot 1989, PS1 GunCon 1994, PS2 GunCon2 2000, a Takara P&P 2004 and Wii Big Buck Hunter Pro Shotgun 2010.

Isn't retrobit generally known for making garbage? I bought an atari 2600 joystick clone from them and it broke in under 30 seconds of use.

Its also possible, blaming these issues instead of the real ones will get them in less trouble and they are just hoping to get the next Christmas bonus, not change the world of entertainment.

How would I go about creating a good test signal tape. The pre-recorded ones are going for about $50 on ebay.

Is this the correct code to enter to start the cassette player moving with an audio cassette to perform head alignment for an atari 1010 program recorder: POKE 54018,52 Using the response to this post for instructions: http://atariage.com/forums/topic/195137-head-alignment-adjustment-in-atari-1010/

Replaced just the drive belt and seems mechanically okay. Tried to load pre-recorded "Space Invaders" and after turning on with Start pressed down, pressing play and return the monitor beeps a few time after a few seconds and I get BOOT ERROR, several times in a row. It boots and plays fine on my brand new XC12 using same procedure. I suppose need to try cleaning heads and then realign heads.

Replaced just the drive belt and seems mechanically okay. Tried to load pre-recorded "Space Invaders" and after turning on with Start pressed down, pressing play and return the monitor beeps a few time after a few seconds and I get BOOT ERROR, several times in a row. It boots and plays fine on my brand new XC12 using same procedure. I suppose need to try cleaning heads and then realign heads.

Thank you. Instruction manuals are always helpful! The shield that needs to be removed was apparently already removed by the previous owner, perhaps. I was trying to also replace the counter belt, which seemed even more loose, since the belts came as a pair. But I replaced just the drive belt and the FF/play/rewind and counter all seem to work properly, so I guess I'll just leave it be and hope the counter belt continues to hold up. This is what it looked like when I opened it:

On my 1010 program recorder, the FF/play caster only spins about a quarter turn and stops, so I figure it is the belts. I open it up and the belt that is the problem goes under the structures inside, so I start unscrewing the screws. Three of the five come out easy and the last two will not budge, no matter what. I sprayed some detoxit on them and left them sit for 30 min. Still won't budge. They put some red glue on screw heads during manufacture, so I don't know if that is causing it or they were just tightened to much. They are only screwed into plastic, so this is surprising. How do I get these gosh darn screws out to change the FF/play belt? Thanks.

Kind of lost track of this thread, but fixed the handle on another one so I could take pictures. I thought it looked like an awesome controller on the internet and bought a couple, but the knob is truly awkward to deal with. I have some pictures putting the atari boot on. Bradd1978 actual did the 7800 mod and I had bought it from him in marketplace since it looked like a good deal, but I may mod this one as well. I have a Seagull 78 and SMS rapidfire that you can use together to use the SMS controller on a 7800, so I've never really *had* to do it myself, but I know it is explained on here and on the "instructables" website. I'll post some pictures. Sawing the knob off is pretty easy because as you can see.from the pictures, the inside of the knob is mostly space and the metal cylinder in the center of the stick is not fastened to the knob. If you saw part way through you can just snap it off. The part that takes some patience is filing down the top part of the stick so that where you snapped off the knob is smaller than the lower part of the stick. Then you can either sacrifice the white plastic boot support for a CX-40 (cut off the top 1-1/8th inch) or do like I did and just cut a papermate pen tube to the right length. Wrap lots of tape around the open end of the pen tube segment so it fits really snugly into the boot. Stick the closed end of the pen segment into the CX40 rubber boot. Finally, push the boot onto the SMS master control joystick stem, forcing the pen segment up to the top of the boot, and push it down just a bit past so there is no space between the rubber boot and the master control base. It takes some twisting and a lot of pushing down around the edges of the boot to get everything snug and tight. You do want to leave some space under the rubber base of the boot, though, or the stick with be hard to move. The rubber boots as well as the plastic boot supports are still sold on eBay. There might be other things that work better to make the top of the stick rigid, if you have something around that will work, like the cap of something with a pointed exit, like a glue bottle, maybe.