OldAtarian
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Posts posted by OldAtarian
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How about a Guncon? Has anyone tried modding one of those for Atari use?
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What drive mechs are known to have been used in 810 drives? Did they ever use the Tandon TM100?
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Here's one I found recently - someone selling a PS3000 ST monitor. He started the bidding at $9.99 with a reserve and a week later the market had spoken and his highest bid was ~$90. Since his reserve was not met, it seems to me that the logical thing to do is either give up on selling it or lower the reserve...
Apparently he chose the third option...
No way is that worth what he is asking. I have always questioned the wisdom of placing a floppy drive inside a CRT case. There would have to be some heavy RF shielding in there separating the drive from the CRT to ensure reliable floppy operation. I wouldn't trust my files on any disc that's been in that drive. Apparently not a lot of other Atari users trusted the PS3000 any more than I did since so few seem to have been sold. That doesn't necessarily make them valuable, though. A bad idea from 25 years ago is still a bad idea today.
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Has anyone opened these up and found out what makes them tick? Can they be interchanged if you have the right plug ends?
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i owned an aquarius many a moon ago, and it makes the original mac look 'open' and expandable... even the poke command was limited to the screen memory portion of ram... probly like the 400, there was a decent machine inside screaming to be rid of its shackles and let out, but unlike the 400, it didnt have a higher end model to show the potential within...
i wouldnt own one for any price, but for someone who knows (or is willing to learn) its secrets, it would probly make a usable computer...
sloopy.
I understand
. I still have fun with my VIC 20,C64,Atari 800XL,TI99/4A etc... from a collectors view point I have the room and the Aquarius would be a nice addition but from a practical standpoint I can't see the exorbitant price for what i'm getting cause we ain't talking Faberge Eggs here 
yeah seems mattel was trying to cash in on the computer revolution of the early 80's but didnt bring a good hand to the table... it probly could have gotten a decent following if they did things a little different, but like most of that era, they didnt... and to complete a collection of an 80's era computers, finding one would be a good addition, but its not uncommon to find them at garage sales, second hand stores etc, so high prices arnt warrented, especially considering the limited appeal of them, and low number of collectors for the platform...
sloopy.
If they'd repackaged the Intellivision with more memory and the ability to use peripherals it would have been a much better machine than the Aquarius and would have had a huge software library available from day 1. Most of the heavy work had already been done. They had the Intellivision and the keyboard attachment that they could have combined into a single unit then all they'd need is a way to interface with peripherals. Even Coleco managed to turn the Colecovision into a computer. Mattel could have easily done the same.
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Is it true stereo, though, or just two POKEYs playing the same voice through two speakers? It's not the same thing as stereo. The POKEYs would have to be capable of independent operation for that.
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My Powermac 7500 from 1995 runs OS X Leopard. It has a 1ghz G4, 1GB RAM and a Radeon 9200 video card.
That must be fun, considering the 7500 motherboard runs at 50 MHz. Putting a 1GHz G4 into a 7500 seems a little like shoehorning a 500 horsepower engine into a Yugo. Can't imagine that G4 upgrade was cheap, either.
How did you get 1GB of RAM into it? I've never heard of anyone getting over 512MB before.
With these
1gb in a 7500 is nothing, though, you can get up to 1.5gb in a 9500/9600.
And you obviously never saw the issue of Hot Rod magazine where they put a 500ci Cadillac engine into a Chevette.
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I agree things are out of hand on ebay.
Up until a few months ago I never even knew the Mattel Aquarius existed I had never heard of it until a member here on the forums started talking about it so I thought cool maybe i'll check it out.
I found a complete set up on shopgoodwill recently with the computer the expander and some games and such for about $25 + $15 shipping. fair enough so I bid on it and at end of auction someone got it for $48 which was fine but I was not going to pay that kind of money for it.
Then I checked ebay and saw this:
eBay Auction -- Item Number: 180559066612
and this:
eBay Auction -- Item Number: 400086033778
What?? Good lord people it's perspective here, c'mon it's an ancient outdated piece of technology that very few people even remember and fewer will want to even try to use by the looks of the keyboard and that book?? maybe if it came with a complete system with all the accessories and the complete library of software but $150?? for just the book?
I am still interested in an Aquarius but I can't justify that kind of cash for what is essentially a paperweight with blue buttons.
I have a rare,original,vintage,hard to find 1984 Ford LTD
it's 26 years old and everything so I should be able to get at least what? maybe $20,000 for it?i owned an aquarius many a moon ago, and it makes the original mac look 'open' and expandable... even the poke command was limited to the screen memory portion of ram... probly like the 400, there was a decent machine inside screaming to be rid of its shackles and let out, but unlike the 400, it didnt have a higher end model to show the potential within...
i wouldnt own one for any price, but for someone who knows (or is willing to learn) its secrets, it would probly make a usable computer...
sloopy.
From what I read the Aquarius was supposed to built by the same company that developed Intellivision technology but you wouldn't know it from how utterly useless it is even compared to an Intellivision with keyboard attachment. At least with an Intellivision you had an abundance of game carts you could play. The Aquarius even used a different style cart and not much was ultimately released for it. It's abilities as both a computer and a gaming platform were laughable. A 2600 with a Compumate was probably a better computer.
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Do they exhibit the same problem? If so, have you checked that your power supply is only outputting 5V?
Both seem to be completely dead. The power LEDs come on but nothing else happens and I've used multiple power supplies that I know are functional with other machines I have.
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almost forgot, here are photos & video Sloopy did during the repair/upgrade
He messaged me about it but his location is a little farther away than I would normally consider traveling. I might still give him a try, though, if nobody else steps forward.
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You all have to be kidding. $50 a good price for a 600XL?!? Please. You can't even run DOS in 16k can you? You might as well get a XEGS if all you're going to do is play cartridge games with it. The memory expansions for the 600XL are too few and far between to make it worth it to even buy a 600XL as anything but a novelty.
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Can ATY upgrade an 8mhz ST to 16mhz?
Alex can put in the socket needed to do that if you've got something
like an AdSpeed or T-series accelerator to do it with. He's socketed
a couple of ST's for me.
Oh so they can't put in a 16mhz 68000 and change the clocks to 16mhz?
If you are simply asking if that *can* be done, then the answer is yes. Ralcool over
at AtariForums has a thread on it. You should check it out there.
Now, can Alex at ATY do this mod? I'm not sure - best to go right to the source and
ask him directly.
Do you have a link? I went to three different places that call themselves Atariforums and none of them has a ralcool as a registered user.
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Is there one? If not we should start one.
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You can do what you want, but in the end, for the best picture and that
true "retro" feel, do yourself a favor and get a good used SC1224.
I'm going to have to agree with the above, wholeheartedly. The composite/RF thing sounds good in theory, but in practice it sucks an egg. There is **NOTHING** like the crispness of an Atari SC1224 monitor.
If the ST could be coaxed into S-video or component video, then there might be a chance. As I am one of the less-technical people here (I don't know jack-shit), I wonder as to the feasibility of such a connection. Technical-types, please chime in. Until then, get an SC1224.
While the Atari monitors are still somewhat readily available, it's not really a good option unless you have money to waste. Shipping is probably going to be in the $50+ range and that puts almost any price way over what they are actually worth. Those guys selling them for $200 on ebay are on crack. You'd need to be able to find one locally.
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I thought the NES got test marketed in the US in 85, not 86. At leas that's what I seem to remember.
Tempest
It had a limited test market in the New York area in Christmas '85, which did not go well. The reports on the test marketing from January '86 CES stated retailers in NY considered it a failure. Likewise, that's not a mass marketing, that did not occur until the national launch in the second half of '86 as stated. As you stated, which I certainly agree with, "a limited test run doesn't count as being released in my book".
Think you might have misread his question...
Madaracs - Good catch.
Matt - yes, the NES was test marketed in '86 as well. After the '85 New York one there was an Feb '86 Los Angeles testing, and then a slow transition to testing in a few other major cities (Chicago, etc.) leading up to the national launch.
According to Gamespy, the national launch was in Feb 86 so when was this LA test launch of yours?
"After test-marketing in the New York City area in late fall, the system was released nationwide in February, 1986."
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As for the incompatibilities, the Mac went through those too, especially on the OS front. Seemed like every 6 months to a year there was a new machine, with a new OS, with a new goofy connection for a printer, etc. Even now you see that if you look at MacOSX 10.2 - 10.6. Literally machines that could accept an OS in one minor version weren't supported in the next one, especially when they went to intel processors. I'm not saying Commodore wouldn't have done this as well, I just think they weren't the only ones.
You might not like their numbering convention, but Mac OS X 10.2 (circa 2002) is a VERY different beast than Mac OS X 10.6 (current). You will find that there are roughly 18 months or so between 0.1 increments of Mac OS X, and all them are significant. The "minor versions" are the 0.0.x versions (e.g. 10.6.3), and those minor versions are supported for the hardware on which they originally delivered the major version (10.6, in this example).
I'm not asking you to like Mac OS X, but I think it is worthwhile to keep the facts straight.
Ok, even with what you said, you are saying that every 18 months the hardware is essentially being bricked, maybe 3 years at most. That is a serious problem considering how much you paying as a premium to have Mac products. Also, there are the constant hardware changes that literally send your investment to zero (or very close) as the coolness factor wears off. I am not saying PCs aren't like this either, but the rate is much slower and the replacement costs are far less, even for higher end machines.
My Powermac 7500 from 1995 runs OS X Leopard. It has a 1ghz G4, 1GB RAM and a Radeon 9200 video card. What's your 1995 DOS/Windows box doing now?
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Ah crap. I should have known. It always happens when I link an image. It always gets blocked. Have to find another one now.
Let's see how long this one lasts
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Wow, I never realized how good the 400 looks in black! Personally I'd have the 400 label in brushed aluminum so that it resembles the 5200 more.
The 5200 was actually a repackaged 400! You can easily get 5200 games to run on a 400/800 just by changing a few memory references as some of the locations were changed or used for different things in the 5200.
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I have a 400 with 32k and another with 64k and a 800 style keyboard replacement.
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Functionally, probably not. It's not like modern devices where you need drivers for them. It wouldn't surprise me at all if they were both made by the same company just with different packaging to distinguish them from each other. I'm pretty sure I have both of them here someplace but haven't used them in a long time. I'd have to find them and check. I'm also pretty sure all touch tablet software recognizes both of them.
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So does anyone still do repairs? I have a 600XL and an 800XL neither of which have worked since I got them but both are complete and clean and I'd like to find someone who can fix them.
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Some of the stuff I wouldn't mind shipping but the MoniTerms are big, heavy and I'm not sure that they can be used on an ST. I'd hate to ship this somewhere and have them not work... I know we did an article in our newsletter about them, so I know that something works, somehow.
Most of the other stuff (1040STs and such) aren't such a gamble.
Bob
I strongly urge the OP to let people pay the shipping for
these items.
It would be a shame to see them trashed...
They work if you have the adapter boards that came with them. You may have the boards loose or installed in some machines that you have. It's hard to imagine you having so many of them and not getting the boards or machines with the boards installed in them. If I had a truck and the time to drive to make a coast to coast trip I'd drive out and pick them up myself but such is not the case, unfortunately.
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Enter this auction number into the main Ebay search box:
250650775033
Hmmm...I'm going to try an experiment. Will report back with results as soon as the parts get here.
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You know, it is a ST forum, but I think all important US computer companies from the 80s would have had more success had they stayed with their original 8-bit platforms (Apple II, Atari 800, C64). I mean, not stayed in the 8-bit realm but expanded from there (Apple actually did that, but the IIGS was clearly never a priority).Well, even if they had all gone over to the 65816, where do you go from there? There was never a successor to the 65816, so it would have just been another dead end. I think maybe a better option would have been for each company to include a "halfway" computer, that used a 68000, but also had a 6502 for compatibility with the previous generation. Apple actually did this via an add-on card. (Also, you might want to check out the C-65... it was never released, but there are some protos out there, and MESS can emulate it. It's a very advanced C-64 with some features that bring it awfully close to the Amiga line!)
I think the bigger problem for all three companies was trying to advance their 16-bit machines. Apple was the only one with a clear upgrade path. The Amiga kept throwing up roadblocks with incompatible expansion ports, and different graphics architectures that forced you to buy a whole new machine. The Atari ST seemed to hit a wall trying to grow beyond the 68000, and even when it did, the TT and Falcon seemed to only attract the hardcore fans of the platform. The fact that so much software was written directly for aging hardware made it much harder for the platforms to grow, while PC stuff was standardized enough that you could often just swap out a single part without affecting your older software, and without having to junk the whole machine and start over.
--Zero
There was never a successor to the 65816 because there were no customers for the 65816. The Super Nintendo and Apple IIGS were the two most prominent machines to use it. Had there been a larger market for the 65816 then there would have been a 32 bit successor, and in fact, there was a 65832 developed but never produced. Someone on 6502.org claims to have documentation of the chip.
http://forum.6502.org/viewtopic.php?t=1366
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I have a lot more respect for the ST now...
in Atari ST/TT/Falcon Computers
Posted
I almost bought a 76 Coupe DeVille once but it had a blown rear main seal and poured oil everywhere. It wouldn't have been worth the cost to pull the motor just to replace a $5 seal.
My dad had a 77 Olds Vista Cruiser that he bought from a friend of mine who put a 425 Cadillac engine in it.