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hookem

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Posts posted by hookem

  1. Posted

    I'm going. Was surprised not to see a thread posted about this earlier, frankly. Too bad it's been a couple of years since AtariAge has had a presence there, and it's gotten expensive.. plus less and less of the earlier systems/games, but that's happening with all of these conventions.

     

    I'm also going to the Let's Play Expo in Irving on Sunday... not pleased that they scheduled them on the same weekend!

    • Like 1

  2. Posted · Edited by hookem

    Not counting the non-working ones in disrepair, I currently have:

     

    1 - Atari Heavy Sixer

    1 - Sears Heavy Sixer

    1 - Atari 4 switch (chrome capped) Promo 2600

    1 - Coleco 2600 Adapter (w/Colecovision)

    1 - Sears Video Arcade II

    2 - Atari 7800s

     

    So 7 total. Funny that 6-10 seems to be my sweet spot with collecting things (well, not carts). But guitars, turntables, vintage receivers, vintage computers -- I've got about the same amount of each of those. Slightly too many.

     

    Also have the Flashback 2 with all the parts to add cartridge slot, but I never did it...

  4. Posted

    It's an awesome book, I would imagine anyone on this forum who hasn't already read it would enjoy it. Same with his second novel, Armada. I got both signed at the classic game fest in Austin also!

     

    It will be interesting to see what happens when the big-budget movie version comes out next year (trailer is already available online). Could spur some interest in retro gaming (and perhaps other 80s stuff).

  5. Posted

    Wow, less than 2 weeks away and not a single reply to this thread? Is anyone else going?

     

    While I'm not thrilled with the ticket prices this year, it's a once-a-year thing for me so the increase doesn't matter that much. Judging by the website and social media, I'm sure it will be well attended, but thin on the older consoles/computers. Still, the vendors always have something of interest from every era, it seems. I'm still kicking myself over passing on some of one of those cheap Atari 800s and XLs there last year. Holding out hope that whomever that vendor was will be back with another stack of old Commodore and Atari 8 bit "untested" machines for cheap.

  7. Posted

     

    I doubt the RetroBit Generations is going to sell out this holiday season. People are going to be too in love with the NES Mini and will assume the RetroBit console is a knock off with an inferior list of games they don't recognize. Their press coverage has been abysmal, they really need to work on that because what they're doing now isn't nearly enough and sales figures will prove it. I sincerely hope they're not thinking Mike Kennedy is their ace-in-the-hole.

     

    Seems like Nintendo entering this market may make it much bigger -- the RetroBit Generations and even the AtGames stuff could actually benefit from it. At least initially. The $40-60 mini retro console market is an established, but small, market that Nintendo could explode, making retailers more receptive to the other options in the category (and if they are smart, competitors will lure them with bigger margins).

  8. Posted

    Do you think they asked them not to set up so that people would spend more at the venue or did they move where they set up?

     

    The Short Bus Subs food trailers went out of business at the end of last year, unfortunately. I don't know about the other trucks on that spot, but they opened up a new food trailer lot a few blocks away on the same road (Barton Springs), so that might be why they are gone. I don't think the organizers would have been able to get them to close, as it's a very busy road with lots of traffic (foot and cars) not related to the event center across the street.

     

     

     

    concessions in these types of venues are always a bit on the expensive side. In prior years we'd go across the street to the food truck lot, but it was gone :(

     

     

    Ah, I should have thought about that. Terry Black's BBQ is right across the street and it's probably my favorite BBQ place in Austin right now. Which is saying something.

    • Like 1

  9. Posted

    Scored a couple of 800xl's for super cheap (under $5 non-working) at Classic game fest today.

     

    Cleaned them up when I got home and one of them fired right up 100% functional! nice. ;-)

    The other one gets no power, so I'll have to work on that one a bit more.

     

    Passed by that booth, saw all the "defective" 800XLs and Commodores for $4.99, and figured I'd come back and pick one or two up but didn't... now I'm kicking myself. Some of those looked so clean, I'm not surprised one fired up right away for you. That's fantastic that you got one that worked right away.

     

    They scaled up the show pretty seamlessly; it was well run and looked to be great attendance. Definitely looking a little more like a modern "gaming" convention vs. the more clubby "retro gaming" conventions -- lower lighting, flashier, slicker.

     

    A little steep on the entrance fees and concessions, but there were deals to be had and you could definitely get your money's worth with all the free stuff to play. 70K sq ft next year is going to be AMAZING... especially with the AtariAge booth there!

    • Like 1

  10. Posted

    Bummer that Atariage won't have a booth... who will show all those attendees that classic gaming pre-NES is still alive and well?

     

    I did see that they sold out all exhibitor booths by the first week in June, so that's pretty amazing considering they bumped the size to 45K sq feet.

     

    I'll check out Reboot's booth when I'm there, and hopefully Atariage will have a huge booth next year!

    • Like 1

  12. Posted

    I'm still baffled why Kennedy would charge $10 shipping when there are faster, less expensive options. It seems like such a boneheaded thing to do. First, I took it as evidence that he's a bonehead, but now I wonder. He could just be trying to look stupid on purpose so we'll believe he was dumb enough to fall for Mr. Lee. Could this be a dumb as a fox move to salvage something of a reputation? Is it better to be thought of as a fool or a crook? Should I get more sleep? Yes, that's probably it.

     

    There are discounts to retail USPS pricing if you buy it online through PayPal, eBay, etc... Even if he had gone with the cheaper option (such as a flat rate priority mail), there is a discount. But the discount would be less net money on a lower cost option like the $6 priority mail flat rate. So I'm guessing he wanted to capture the biggest "spread" using the discount, hence picking the higher retail option, in order to pocket $2-3 per transaction on the actual shipping vs. retail amount.

     

    That said, I generally don't consider doing something like that a horrible thing. eBay sellers do it all the time. After all, there ARE real "handling" costs that consumers are very averse to seeing itemized, and you can recover a little of that by pocketing the discount. Of course in this context, and considering the product, I totally understand the complaints...

    • Like 1

  13. Posted

     

     

    Okay, I really need to ask because I like to think I have a good grip on what consumers are generally attracted to, but can someone please explain what the appeal of the ZX Spectrum is??

     

    I'm serious, I've tried to work out the possible explanations in my head so please tell me if I'm any closer to figuring this out:

    • It's just a purely British thing, like Marmite or Dr. Who, so I shouldn't worry about not getting it

     

    I'm convinced it's this. It was a British thing, cool name, quirky and underpowered, but an awesome looking piece of kit for the time. Like a British sports car of the era plus or minus a decade or two.

     

    It's a miracle it could put anything on the screen, but that was just a bonus, really.

    • Like 1

  14. Posted · Edited by hookem

     

    I think hookem is right, this fake 'prototype' is a Linx 7" Windows Tablet PC. The PCB in this disassembly video is numbered EM_18270_V3.0 so the are minor differences aren't surprising as it's not the same revision (e.g. the size of gold patches on the edge of the PCB), but it's a 99% match. The battery here is a Shenzhen Shirui SR299198P, the number can be read in the 'prototype' and Linx photos.

     

    Yes, I was thinking 99% match. Could be a different board revision, but I thought their original looked a bit photo-shoppy in the area where the differences were. In particular the inconsistent edge of the longer gold patch, the lack of color variation in the green area where the circuit board writing would be, and the blurry tops of chips:

     

    linx7

    ^^ click to view large version to see what I'm talking about
    • Like 1

  15. Posted

    Nothing wrong with using off the shelf products to make a new product including PCB, as long as it does it advertised purpose, and it's used fraudulently.

     

    Assuming you meant "not fraudulently", I agree. And maybe that's what they are doing... certainly it isn't in the same category as the CC at this point.

     

    But the image with the multi-tester and the soldering iron, that could be a bit misleading...

    • Like 2

  16. Posted · Edited by hookem

    Well, they did have the "early prototype" but I'm pretty sure it's just a windows tablet without its case.

     

    Can any of our best sleuths identify and confirm? It seems to have a forward facing camera in portrait mode with a micro SD card reader on the left and micro usb on the right along with maybe a headphone jack and power/home button (?) I can't tell what the numbers and letters are though. The first pic below is one side pointing towards the camera and the other pic is the board flipped over and pointing away from the camera.

     

     

     

     

     

    I think you are right, this isn't exactly the same board, but looks very close (Linx 7 tablet - http://projectpie46.blogspot.com/2015/07/linx-7-disassembly-partial.html

     

    Photo%2B21-07-2015%2B19%2B04%2B19.jpg

     

    EDIT - Actually, now that I look even closer, I wonder if this is the same board -- but with some photoshopping done to take out the identification on the board below the square camera cutout. The larger white connector recessed from the edge (not visible above, but in the PGS photo) would be for the L-shaped camera ribbon cable.

    • Like 1

  18. Posted

    The packaging of those carts tells a story. No sure what it is exactly.

     

    The Goodwills/Half Price Books around here would never individually bag a common 2600 cart. They must have seen them and thought, "old video game stuff is worth a bunch!" Then they would have looked them up on eBay, saw the values, and priced them like they did. Still $1.99 too high. They would have been better off turning the carts in to Albert for cash or AA merch worth auctioning.

  19. Posted

    GameXchange has so many balance boards it isn't even funny. I could see someone building a fort out of them. Thing about balance boards, they came with Wii Fit, which the casuals bought in droves. Real gamers and collectors want nothing to do with fitness stuff usually, so it languishes on store shelves.

    Goodwill has tons of them too. Whenever I see something like so prominent in thrift stores and so unused by anyone (like George Foreman grills), I think.... what GENIUS MARKETING!!!

     

    Full disclosure - I bought a balance board, new. Never made it out of the box. About a year into ownership, I figured, why take it out? I'll have a pristine video game collectable that I bought new complete unopened in the box (which for some reason, with ALL the thousands and thousands I've spent on new videogame stuff, has NEVER happened before). That delusion went south quickly.

    • Like 2

  21. Posted

    I went to a Goodwill this morning and found this album right in the bin. There was also an Intellivision game, Black Jack, cart only, I think in a glass case. I didn't check the price although they probably wanted $5.99 or higher for it.

    I was surprised to find I just happened to be listening to this good album while reading this thread today.

     

    JHD: I also did, in fact, donate a box of stuff today and bought some more CDs, which I'm ripping now...

    Speaking of which, check out who is the #3 wealthiest musician according to this site:

    http://www.therichest.com/top-lists/top-100-richest-musicians/

  22. Posted · Edited by hookem

    Things I've been noticing at the Goodwills are Bill Cosby books/records and Hanna Montana merchandise. And for some reason, each one has a playing card shuffler machine like it's the law.

     

    Other things every thrift store seems to have, like it's the law -

     

    Bread machines

    George Foreman grills

    Fondue sets

    Exercise equipment

    Juice machines

    Rotisseries

     

    Usually very slightly used. Don't know why anyone would buy those things new, so many people get them and use them once or twice and then decide the space is more valuable.

     

    I still do hit up the thrift shops regularly, since I'm into vinyl and vintage stereo equipment. That stuff you can still find, and with the price of vinyl these days, it's a steal (if you can find a decent rock record among the herb alpert, lawrence welk, and religious albums that make up 95% of a typical thrift shop stack). Here in Austin, it's definitely Goodwill territory; it's the only place where the inventory turns over frequently, and pricing is still reasonable. You don't have the stores packed with families picking up cheap clothes, either. It's probably at least 50% hipsters and pickers/resellers looking for cool vintage stuff.

     

    Goodwill used to have a computer museum here, and last year they closed it and sold everything. There was some amazing stuff, Apple, A8, Adam, Commodore, TI-99/4a, etc -- all in perfect condition and many with original boxes... but the asking prices were way too high. Still cool to see all that vintage stuff on the shelves for awhile.

     

    I still occasionally find a classic gaming gem, but it's exceedingly rare now. There was a good window a couple of years ago where you could pick up N64 stuff cheap all over the place, but that's dried up.

    • Like 1

  23. Posted

    Those kids will probably look back on their memory of eating at Whole Foods and playing games on their idevices as one of the best memories of their lives... a special occasion to them. They'll even remember how cool the line cook was. They'll grow up and things will be different, and they'll long for how it was when they were kids. Like how some of us have fond memories of playing and exploring (basically unsupervised) at Chuck E Cheese, while our parents had pitchers of beer and just rounded us up when we had to leave. It's weird how that works.

     

    As long as they felt safe, had the contact they need from their parents and with their siblings at other times (like at home), it's probably just fine!

    • Like 2

  24. Posted

    Since others have brought this up: do you ever open up and clean your systems? I know a lot of us who collect the older systems just do this out of habit, but to a collector of more recent stuff this might not be obvious. A high percentage of times, with an older system, non-working video or even a completely dead acting system can be something as simple as dirty contacts on one of the switches or a bad RF cable (those types of components don't go bad on newer systems, something else will go first). That's why every system I obtain will get at least a compressed-air and deoxit cleaning of the switches and cart port, pressing down on the socketed chips, and if the motherboard is gunky maybe a deoxit/contact cleaner qtip cleaning.

     

    If you are not technically inclined, how are you sure that you are having modulator, capacitor or TIA failures? Are you just making that judgement from the output or lack of it? Or are you swapping TIAs or using a multimeter to test things?

     

    Not saying you might not be on to something with the high-use issue, though. I honestly don't know, because I don't put nearly the hours on my systems that you do. I wouldn't expect it to be a problem, since they probably all had that kind of play time at some point in their existence, but I couldn't rule it out either.

     

    Getting back to your original question, yes you should give it another try! Hang in there. These systems are so common you can pick a good one up for less than a single homebrew game. And keep the ones that fail, with a little help you should be able to cobble together at least 2 working systems from the part of any 5 failed ones, even with very little technical ability.

  25. Posted

    It sure could be just horrible luck, but I'm also wondering if I just put my systems through a lot more use than most Atari 2600 owners. During the times that I have had a working system I put 10 to 20 hours a week of play time on it every week, and I'm wondering if the components old systems just aren't built to hold up to that kind of constant use now that they're 30+ years old.

     

    If anyone could answer this question, it would be Albert. His video-modded systems are running all day long at classic gaming shows, probably putting in 20+ play hours including tournaments during a weekend. And they are running the latest homebrews, probably pushing the hardware to the limit. He'd probably know better than anyone whether high use consistently results in higher failure rates.

    • Like 1
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