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DarkLord

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Posts posted by DarkLord

  1. Posted

    You can do a "bare assembly", sort of layout on your work desk. That's what I did (and usually do) when

    working on my STacy (or any Atari, for that matter).

     

    Keep in mind, you'll be plugging some things together that you will probably have to take back apart

    for a full re-assembly, but it's worth it IMHO, to test everything before closing the STacy back up....

     

    PS Just watch and place everything carefully - you don't want anything touching that's not supposed to.

     

  4. Posted

    On 8/6/2020 at 6:31 PM, leech said:

    Yikes!  Yeah, especially floppy drives, and the room to set them up, etc.  My thing is with the MiSTer, it is cool if you just want to load up a quick game here or there to kill some time... but for some reason I really crave for the real thing to do more serious stuff on.  Also, MiSTer can't do TT or Falcon.  (At least yet).

     

    Amen to the real thing.  :)

     

  6. Posted

    On 7/25/2020 at 1:16 PM, leech said:

    Ha, I always forget about the STacy.  Crying shame Atari didn't stay around and make more laptops then.  These modern ones that keep getting thinner and have shitty keyboards piss me off.  The only ones I can use and not want to scream to the keyboard gods are the Thinkpads.

     

    Edit: I used to always hit the 'i' key instead of the 'o' key on my phone's keyboard, I went and tried to adjust the size a bit, and now I hit 'k' instead of 'o'.... First World Problems!

     

    What!? Forget about the STacy? Blasphemy!  :) :) 

     

    I totally agree about modern laptops' keyboards. Can't stand most of them.

     

    Got an HP that I run Kubuntu linux on. Keys are so darned flat that they don't hardly

    rise above the surrounding area. Don't like them at all. 

     

    I don't use a smart phone. I know, I'm an old fogy. I still use a Sonim Enduro but at

    least I can drop it in front of a car and it will survive being run over. Makes me think

    of most of my ST's... Not that I would drop them in front of a car, or anywhere else. :)

     

  7. Posted

    8 hours ago, ParanoidLittleMan said:

    Yes, there is space for drive, but don't know what adapter (ACSI-SCSI) was used for SCSI drives, did Atari sell it with built in drive at all ? As we know first ones with factory adapter were Mega STE and Stacy.

     

    I think it was 3rd party "kits" that were available:

     

    https://www.atarimagazines.com/startv3n5/harddrivecompare.html

     

    Scroll down a bit and you'll find it.


    Some other info:

     

    "Supra Corporation has released their MegaDrive ST, a 40-megabyte hard disk drive that mounts inside the Atari Mega computer case. The drive connects to the internal DMA port  (on the Mega's motherboard) and leaves the external DMA port available for the Atari laser printer or other peripherals. There is no external power supply, power comes directly from the Mega. Supra also furnishes formatting software that lets you partition the MegaDrive ST into as many as 12 drives. MegaDrive ST, $995. Supra Corporation, 1133 Commercial Way, Albany, OR 97321, (503) 967-9075." (I believe there were 20-40-60 megabyte sizes)

     

    And all for...wait for it...$995.00 dollars!  :)

     

  8. Posted

    12 hours ago, leech said:

    I did finally get a Mega ST keyboard, they are the best in the ST line.

     

    Respectfully disagree.  :)

     

    I think the STacy's keyboard is just a notch above the rest. (you know

    how this works though, keyboard "feel" is a matter of individual's

    perceptions so I might be the only one to think this)

     

    I absolutely think that the Mega ST's keyboard is next though.

     

  9. Posted

    3 hours ago, zzip said:

    But didn't the regular Mega ST (non-STE) have space to mount a hard drive internally as well?   I remember my friend taking the cover off his, and there was a place to mount one.   This was years ago so my memory is fuzzy.   

     

    Yes, as I mentioned in my first post.

    post-5822-0-49498400-1398165971.jpg

    • Thanks 1

  13. Posted

    There were several upgrades released for the expansion port,

    including an internal hard drive and graphics cards.

     

    The keyboard is soooooo much better than a 1040's it's not

    even funny.

     

    I've owned a couple of Mega's over the years and none of them

    ever had a "noisy" fan.

     

    One big thing for me was getting away from the mouse/joystick

    ports being underneath, like the 1040. Very awkward, IMHO.

     

    I also just plain like the looks of a Mega over any of the "all in

    one designs". Personal preference, but there it is.  :)

     

    But if you're really asking (as in the OP's first line) why I would

    have picked a Mega ST over a 1040 in 1987/88, it would have

    been for the "wow" factor, despite the increased price. 

     

    For others, the increased memory out of the box would have

    been needed for productivity, like DTP... Running a Mega ST4,

    with a Mega Drive, Atari laser printer, and one of those gosh

    awfully big monochrome monitors had to be heaven for those

    in the industry.

     

    • Thanks 1

  15. Posted

    Hey gang - meant to get things squared away for this month/next month

    but wound up (for lack of time) going on vacation first. Hotel's 'net service

    is okay, but for some reason telnet sucks. Timed out after 30 seconds on

    my first try, literally would enter text and things would set there a while

    before sending.

     

    Anyway, will be home this weekend and will get everything taken care of.

     

    Thanks for being patient!  :)

     

  18. Posted

    We get a lot of "my wife is going to kill me" around here.  :)

     

    There are still several things you can do, but they are part of the

    "major involvement" list. If you can find a Tweety board (stereo

    enhancement), or one of Exxos's HD 1.44 meg floppy drive

    upgrades, or...if you're really lucky, find an accelerator board

    that's in really good shape, ect.  Oh, you could install a TOS

    switcher as well. Note that, these upgrades involve soldering,

    tinkering, re-arranging the STacy's internals, and more.

     

    None of the above are essential, or really necessary, mind you, 

    more like deluxe options.

     

    IMHO, maxing out your RAM and getting the US installed will

    cover a lot of things.

     

    PS Oh! Since you're ordering from Best Electronics anyway, grab

    one of their TrueMouse replacements. A bit expensive but so much

    better than the original mouse....

     

    http://www.best-electronics-ca.com/accesori.htm

     

  19. Posted

    4 hours ago, mdivancic said:

    I thought about the memory upgrade, not sure I’ll need it however I only want to open this once. From what I can tell this one has never been opened. 
     

    I’m working on a 3D printed tray and faceplate for the US that will allow it to slide out for easy battery replacement. 

     

    I'd highly recommend that every ST owner upgrade to 4 megs. If you do much with the machine at all,

    you'll need it, sooner or later. For example, some hard drive adapted games require more than 1 meg.

    And...since you're going to have a US, you know you'll want to have some HD adapted games.  :)

     

    A tray accessible US - that sounds really cool!

     

  21. Posted

    Oops - missed the part about it being a STacy 1.

     

    I did the same. I had a STacy 2, got a 4 meg

    board from Best Electronics, all fixed.  :)

     

    Oh, don't know if they are still doing it or not but

    in my case they wanted my old board as a trade

    in. Reckon, they are getting in short supply and

    they are re-doing the old boards, upgrading them,

    'n stuff.

     

  24. Posted

    With everything you mentioned in good shape, then just go for one of Lotharek's internal

    US kits. Grab the US itself plus the internal adapter and you'll be good to go.

     

    https://lotharek.pl/productdetail.php?id=47

     

    https://lotharek.pl/productdetail.php?id=49

     

    Also, check out this thread - lots of pictures showing that internal US and cable in a

    Mega STe. The hard drive setup for the Mega STe and the STacy are identical, AFAIK.

     

    https://atariage.com/forums/topic/300934-mega-stett-led-replacements/

     

    You can see several ways that some of us installed these units with lots of helpful

    information there...

     

    As far as the RTC goes, I left everything stock in my STacy and just used Jookie's software

    which accesses the US RTC and it's always worked fine.

     

    Keep us updated - we love STacy stories and pictures!  :)

     

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