Mad-Mike

Precisely. This is supposed to be a topic about us using old hardware for everyday tasks still - not a argument about internet security one of the posters machines. I feel a tad targeted.

Now think about that last argument you are making. So you are just assuming that anyone who uses an older system for some base level tasks and leisure is creating a security risk. Just like anything else, it's all in HOW you use the resources in question. I don't see how this became any sort of argument about internet security just based on a casual forum posting. Honestly, it's this kind of crap that has me thinking more and more about giving up being a part of any sort of "community" online, because people feel the need to get into an arguement about something that could be totally benign with a stranger. You must be the same kind of person whom complains about emissions when Mr. Jones drives his vintage Model T. around the block some sunny Sunday in July. I don't feel a need to justlfy myself or what I'm doing to you or anyone else on here. I'm also not going to argue about my setup on here any further than I already have - because that IS A security risk - it's like telling people everything about your kingdom's security force so they CAN find a loophole or a backdoor you did not think of to get in. I keep a pretty close watch on my network and I can catch most of what is going on and do have a good sense of when something is awry. I have only ever been compromised ONCE in fifteen years, and I solved that issue and closed that problem in less than a few minutes - and which machine did it come from? Not the 486, not the 286, not the 8088 - but from an old e-mail account I no longer have as a result (I closed it down, it was hotmail). I've been working with these old machines for a long time and keep current on current tech, and I've heard every falsehood and complaint and worry in the book, I'm not buying it.

Wannacry....on a 486....on Windows 95?!?! Don't make me laugh. Wannacry was made for Windows NT based O/S and it's ransomware. What it does is holds your files hostage utilizing parts of the more robust Windows NT networking subsystem and closes any backdoors or ways to get around it. And resolving the issue is very easy - just reformat and reinstall. I know, I have removed wannacry from other machines (not my own). Every version of Windows on the mainstream market since Windows 2000 Professional has been NT based - prior to that, Windows NT was a BUSINESS/ENTERPRISE Operating system (Windows NT 4.0, 3.51, and 3.1) - once XP came out, NT became the main base for everything and pretty much has resembled Windows 2000/XP ever since for the most part. Windows Me, 9x, 3.1x, and DOS - all the stuff I run on those old boxes, are based off of DOS - which is a 16-bit, non multi-tasking, single-user, operating system, which from 95 back, is limited to 64MB of RAM - I'm using almost 100% of it surfing modern websites in Firefox 2 using HTTPS on such a system. Script hangs and issues with site rendering are pretty common on such a platform these days - so I can't imagine a virus or a bug would have an easy time. Most virus makers don't focus on legacy 16 and 32-bit DOS based Windows anymore, and if they did, what's the benefit? The people running such O/S as their main would not have anything of value anyway, including money to scam out of them. The people running such O/S such as myself have the skillset to run it behind a NATed firewall or even sometimes use proxies and other security measures anyway. This is just a scare tactic used by the media to make you go out and buy more computers - playing into the hands of Microsoft and the Computer Manfuacterers - just like how car makers yank an engine from a 1950's car with no safety controls, do a crash test, and try to convince you your 20 year old vehicle is a death trap. And don't get started on Spectre or Meltdown - I'm running a 486 for all this stuff - 486's are unable to be hit by either because they are a sequential processing CPU without all the pipelining and special features the Pentium instruction set introduced. Plus what is someone going to do on such a system? Steal my Monkey Island? Pilfer my Freddy Pharkas? Acquire my Atari 2600 ROMS? Steal my Savegame ID's? LOL. The only way you are at risk on such old hardware and software is if you carry-out financial transactions on it, which I don't as a rule for all of the obvious reasons stated above. I would never use such hardware for that and that's not why it's on my network in the first place, they are on there so they can pull files/data/whatever is needed or have it pushed to them, over the LAN/Internet - and none of it is something I'd be worried about someone malicious getting their hands on. Unless someone is really convinced there is something of value on a 25 year old computer running a 25 year old O/S that's 16-bit and uses a mostly different API, even if it is "open" - I'd say I'm pretty safe. And lest we forget, the BIGGEST part of internet security is not visiting or downloading things that WOULD have a virus in the first place. I don't surf porn, I don't download warez, I don't go to shady websites that I've never been to before too often (when I need to what I use is all dependant on the possible risks that site may contain), so I'm safe. I also don't do e-mail on thos old boxes either (too much of a hassle). FreeDOS won't work with modern HTTPS websites, and Linux is on my todo list - but not a major concern due to life events ATM putting the kabosh on any major efforts on my hobbyist retro PC thing ATM.

I use my old 486 for quite a bit of stuff using old software. Cakewalk 5 works great for DAW work still on a 486 DX4-100 (making simple demo tracks, not really for a full production, though it is possible), I use some old home designer program for arrangement work, and I still do pixel art using Graf-X II for DOS and Adventure Game STudio 2.3.1 to make games for DOS (though I never complete them for some reason), and I love to do a lot of writing in WP51 and DOS Edit for programming stuff. I also do NES ROM Hacking on that machine. Going in the opposite direction, I use Nathan Lineback's modified version of Seamonkey for modern internet access on Windows 95 on the same machine, aside from things like social media and Youtube, it works pretty well, if a bit slow, even on broadband on a DX4-100.

Actually, needs to be a picture of the BMX race from California Games with the guy crashing and the little pixels (birdies) floating around his head.

I'll throw mine up here....I'll try my damnedest to keep it brief. Also reading the 2-year old watching Atari thread reminded me of some really old memories....... I was born in 83'. The crash had already happened, but during those early "poor" years, we did have one piece of digital entertainment - a series of various 2600's including one Gemini (which to this day my mom swears up and down was a Colecovision - I'll reveal why I argue that later), and we usually got them for $20-50 in some box with a pile of cartridges, allowing us to amass around 46 carts total by the time I actually got into playing. Saturday mornings with pancakes and watching my older sister's play Atari games. Space invaders, Adventure, Pitfall, and Super Breakout were favorites. I can very vaguely recall enjoy watching them and trying to play Pitfall myself sometime around age 3. After about 4-5 of these units we decided they just could not take all the hard use the family dished out, so we just stopped getting them. We moved down south, but by about age 8 after all the kids at school pestering me about getting a Nintendo and being told they are too expensive. Somehow I was smart enough at 8 to comprehend that if the Nintendo was the "NEW" thing, then Atari was the "OLD" thing and therefore would be cheaper on my parents. So I asked for an Atari 2600 for christmas in 89' after finding the games and manuals in a Smith Corona typewriter box in our bedroom closet. Well, mom somehow sourced one through the hospital she worked at and lo and behold - I now had my first console, a circa 1980-1981 4-switch woodgrain with about 12 or so more games. For the next year we would go to Peachtree mall and to the Auburn Mall and grab new games all the time for $1-$5 new in box - this was around 1990-1991. Sea Hawk became a new favorite, as did Keystone Kapers and California Games (which I enjoyed because our cats would try to catch the little BMX guy, upping the hilarity). But by mid 1991, the 2600 would no longer work, so it and the games were scrapped. I moved onto a NES the following Christmas. Skip ahead to 1996 - that's where I started game collecting, thanks to the ealry internet. My sisters, being about 7-10 years my senior, were going ot Auburn University, and one of them got an upgrade to a Pentium 100 PC running Windows 95, and of course, a 14.4K internal modem and Netscape Navigator. So the first day I'm getting to use this interesting new technology, I'm introduced to Yahoo! - and what's the first thing I look up.....Atari 2600. For the next six or so months, I would visit the 2600 connection page (with cute girls (big grin)), Sidartha's 2600 page, I downloaded Indentur and Stella......I fell for Atari again, and then bought my 2nd Atari, a short stripe Jr. with a bent up panel, and Combat and E.T. from some guy named Joseph online - my first ever online purchase. By 8th grade I was walking the town myself, combing thrift shops for Atari systems and games, amassing quite a large collection by the time I turned 18. I also had friends in school who sold me old carts they found at their house and whatnot - a lot of which I still own to this day. It was not unusual for me to come home from school with a backpack full of Atari stuff. During that time I also used to sneak into the AU library and print out huge printouts of rarity lists and things on programming the 2600 and even the Stella Programmers guide on those old Okidata dot matrix printers. Many an afternoon was spent scanning over hard-copies of internet-begotten Atari literature at the bar of Cheeburger Cheeburger. At my greatest, I had a Heavy Sixer, I think the empty case is still in my childhood bedroom closet after a copy of Ms. Pac-Man fried it. Game-wise, I amassed about 480 cartridges total by age 32, when I sold a large chunk of them at Half-Price books for almost a grand to help pay medical expenses, not a big loss since all of what went were games that never got played anyway. I'm sure they have a good home where they get played now. It was by that point I decided to pare down and just focus on the games I'd like to play rather than collecting everything. I already have all my "Holy Grails" and a nice light sixer Telegames to play them on, plus a nice variety of controllers. Probably my most prized title though was the copy of PItfall II I found for $10 at a thrift shop while finding cool stuff for decor at the wedding with my wife. That's kind of when I feel my aquisition syndrome for Atari ended.

Here's my thoughts on it..... I'm not going to write it off completley. I'm not going to say it'll be a failure. We still don't know, I'd like to see this thing prove us all wrong and be a successful product......but...... For starters, we have yet to see a WORKING prototype of any sort, AMD custom CPU and Linux set-top box or not. So basically, we have a Intel Quark or Rasperry Pi jammed into a neo-2600 body for $245...nu uh. Nintendo Switch, XBOX, PS/blahblahblah all have ORIGINAL hardware designed to work with their ORIGINAL games. For this to be worth it to me, ATARI would need to put in the R&D to create something NEW. IE, sure, have a AMD custom CPU, but maybe they could use a modern custom TIA and Stella chip? Honestly, I always thought the best idea for Atari would be to stick to their nostalgia thing and follow the reissue guitar method for consoles.... ie.77' Atari 2600 Heavy Sixer Reissue, 78' Light Sixer Reissue, 80' $-switch Woody Reissue, 83' Vader Reissue, and a 85' Jr. Reissue for a reduced cost. $50-80 per console. So you have the tru unique experience. Maybe even a Atari 2600 American Standard version or something - like a modern version with a clear front panel that lights up when it's on or something. Then reissue the cartridges with new unique art and glob tops so as NOT to confuse the vintage game community, for a dollar or so each. If they want to support Indie Gamers? Maybe act as a distribution service. Put things like SCSIside and Halo 2600 on official distribution per mentioned. Maybe encourage Indie developers to send in their BATARI BASIC creations and maybe a small group of brainiacs to make new titles under their own label. Just a revamped version of the shaver and razors model that Nolan started with - and you get to pick your console to match what aesthetic you want. Heck, they could just make a new modern SMD based version of the 2600 VCS that's actually 100% compatible, sell it for $50, put some games on ROM, and include a cartridge slot and that'd be a good idea too. Of course, all I mentioned here would be niche market things like collecting Records or LaserDisc and not be competing with a new console. If they really want to compete with XBOX/PS/Switch - they would need to R&D a whole new console. Sure, they could offer "Flashback" as a service or a software install, and the new console would need to show a MODERN spirit of Atari, not a rehash to a bygone era or a hobbyist niche era, but something to get the KIDS excited, to make them ask for it for christmas. That means they would need a good game with a good mascot as a exclusive pack-in, and sorry, a bunch of STEAM titles that run on my PC just fine ala Five Nights at Freddy's is not enough to justify $250.00 for a console when I can spent $5 for the same experience.

My family had 2600's off and on after the crash for dirt cheap (we were poor-ish) from flea markets, garage sales, and thrift shops. Pac-Man was a family staple in 2 player mode and everyone LOVED that version of the game. Granted, we were not big into the video arcades, so rather than looking for arcade accuracy we were just looking for cheap but relevantish entertainment at the time. My mom and oldest sister would have high score wars all the time. I still play the orignal today, while I see it's limitations, I still find it fun because of the "flavor" like others have mentioned. Actually, the odd part for me is the 2600 Pac-Man feels more authentic to me than the arcade version because I grew up playing only the 2600 version.

I was thinking about trying it using silver leaf or that stuff you can buy to create chrome plating on plastic model kits that you can find at a hobby shop - I might do that to my Sears Sixer and see how it comes out.

I don't think of it as "sacralidge" to create new controllers and upgraded capability cartridges for the 2600 - that's exactly what Atari would have done had they continued to make/sell it methinks.

For me, it's been an off-on thing since I was a kid. The fact we were poor for awhile in the 1980's post-crash and we could get our hands on Atari 2600 stuff super duper cheap back then at flea markets and thrift shops. Problem was, the actual consoles did not last that long, I vaguely recall having everything from a heavy sixer, a light sixer, then a Coleco Gemini, then a 4-switch of some kind - all died because we used them HARD - I was a baby so these are faint memories. We also accumulated a lot of games and controllers that sadly were lost to the sands of time. I vaguely recall mom buying a Weller soldering iron to repair one of the Sixers or the Coleco - I eventually used that same iron in high school to learn to rewire electric guitars and actually fix Atari 2600 and other systems myself. ​Anyway, I was about 8 years old and was at that "curious stage" where I'd snoop around the house getting into everything that seemd like I would not get in trouble doing so. One of those things was a huge Smith Corona typewriter box in our closet that was filled with - you guessed it - Atari 2600 cartridges, manuals, and controllers, but no 2600 itself. So I wanted one for Christmas and mom managed to locate a co-worker who had a woody 4-switch and a bunch of games and I got that as my first game console for X-mas 1989. After that we started snagging up everything we could get cheap at Kay Bee Toys that they were trying to close out/liquidate for the Atari 2600 as I could get new games for $1.00-5.00 a pop at that point. I played that 4-switch till it too died the next year, and it was replaced with a brand new NES and lost all the 2600 stuff. ​I returned to the 2600 in the mid 1990's when my second older sister got internet in college and what was my first Yahoo search? "Atari 2600" - I spent quite a bit of time in Netscape Navigator 2.02 going to Sidartha's 2600 page, the 2600 Connection (cute girls and Atari, haha, nice), and eventually saved my lawn mowing money to buy a 2600 Jr., Combat, and E.T. from some guy named Joseph in 97' - that's when I started over again and began collecting vintage games and eventually computer hardware and well - here I am now over 20 years later with a lot of the same stuff and caregiver to a Sears Telegames Light Sixer I've had over 15 years and got via glitched E-bay auction.

Most of the time these day's it's a 1980 Sears Light Sixer I bought through glitched E-bay auction in 2001 through a Sony WEGA TV via COAX, I only use Stella when I can't get to the Atari or can't find a certain title and want to play it.

These are my primary Joysticks of choice......Suncom TAC-2 Totally Accurate Controller, these have grown on me, I bought 2 in boxes. I used to have a "BOSS" Joystick with the pistol grip years ago that was my favorite for a long time (I had to fabricate a bottom out of wood for it and drill holes in the top to make a working joystick out of it) - this has replaced that tenfold. I have a "Sears" branded set of Paddle controllers I use as my primary set of paddles. I also have the original paddles from an old Heavy Sixer I had a long long time ago, but there is a problem with the super-rubbery DIN-9 cable end on it, and I aolso have a pair of cranky regular ol 4-switcher era paddles that I use for parts as the knob was missing on one and they have some wiring problems. ​I have thought about building my own big-arse Arcade Controller with the Paddle, Touchpads, Joystick, and Driving controllers built in - just to make life easier. But that's an undertaking for another day.

I don't need them. It seems ever since Analog TV ended, the signals to the TV would be a lot cleaner than they used to be and I now have the pick of the channels. Prior to the changeover, I always set the 2600 to Channel 2/A, now I run it on Channel 3 with the Intellivision or anything else using an old-school RF modulator. I think various other variables make a difference as well. It seems the older the TV, and older tuning technology employed (or cheaper), the worse the interference. For example, in the past few years - I have owned 3 different TVs..... A 768p Samsung Flat-Panel HD TV from circa 2006 or so (my wife's actually) A 1984 Mitsubishi CS1984R Stereo Console TV with digital tuner A Daytron DT-505 Portable B&W TV with Rotary Tuners A 2000s Sony Trinitron WEGA The best picture came from the Samsung and the Sony, the Mitsubishi could be good if I used quality cable, made sure to do what was needed to prevent interference from the UHF and VHF antenna connections (reisitors, Chokes....etc), typically the Mitsu did best if I set the Atari to Antenna B on Channel 2, with the connectors cleaned, and on Channel 2 - best gaming time was toward the night time when most electronic activity settles down. The Daytron I can get a good picture on as well, but it involves some carful tweaking of the reception cuff around the VHF knob on either channel. Some of that is because that knob is slightlhy broken though as well. I don't use the Daytron much.

I don't miss the weight, and the heat they generate in the summertime. In the winter, my Sony WEGA keeps the man cave nice and warm, but in the summer....I sometimes bring my old stuff into the livingroom because the room does not become 100 degrees just because of some giant multi-filament light bulb blasting light at 10,000 volts and low amperage. I also don't miss having to much about with convergance, rotation, pincushion, and geometry all the time as well.