hookem

Yeah, their website is rather poor... and they are still all mail-order and phone order. They kind of remind me of an old-school electronics catalog operation. But they are extremely fast (ordered something this Monday after 5pm my time, and it was on my doorstep Weds morning), and their prices sometimes are under what people get for the same stuff on ebay...

No, they are not out of business. I phoned an order in yesterday, told them that their web site was not responding... and they said they knew about it. Thought it might be related to the LA blackout at the time, but since it's still not resolving, it's probably a hosting provider transfer issue or something...

A few of mine ending soon: Qberts Qubes http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...item=8216925611 Sears pic labels http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...item=8216926439 1987Cart3 Pac-Man http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...item=8216932277

11, 2112, 321123, 43211234

Why not end it Sunday? I always thought that was the best time; it runs over the weekend, everyone is home for the final bid war, and they can usually expect it to arrive during the next week if they pay fast. http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abu/y204/m02/abu0113/s04 BAD times to end the auction - * Holidays (people are out of town) * Friday or Saturday evenings (people are out) * Working hours during the week If you don't have much of an Auction history, you might want to invite people to "contact seller" with any questions... and set a reserve if you are worried about the items going for cheap because you have no history. Finally, post a link to your auction here... I'd be curious about the vectrex stuff. What do you have?

87 Pac Man (mine)

You could get one for half that (maybe) : http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...item=8216925611

I only play classic. I've owned various post-crash systems, but sold/donated them all... and I don't play anything on the computers. I just find that newer games (in general) take too long to get into. I like something I can play for a few minutes, have fun, and put it away.

Let me be sure I have this straight: you have a console with the "FOR PROMOTIONAL USE ONLY NOT FOR RESALE" hot stamp, and made in Taiwan on the sticker??? That's odd, I'm fairly sure I read here somewhere that promo consoles were only made in Sunnyvale. Maybe yours is frankensteined, or maybe there's an Atari Guru on here who can set us all straight! 923637[/snapback] I've got one too: http://www.atariage.com/forums/index.php?s...t+another+promo I've seen another one just like it on ebay... stamped, chrome switches, yellow piping, made in Taiwan. Orange serial # sticker. I'm pretty sure it's not Frankensteined (well, not by anyone other than Atari, anyway)...

My recent grabs... feels like I did OK, anyway. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...item=8213573176 http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...item=8215700398

Well, in case anyone is interested, swapping the TIA did the trick. Works like a charm now. Thanks everyone. Captian - I didn't mean to disparage your idea, it was a clever one, and I might very well have gone down that road if swapping chips didn't work. Thanks for the suggestion.

Well, strictly speaking, they are rare and hard to find now. I guess the auction is guilty of omission of information... namely, that nearly 1 million of these will be in stores everywhere in a few weeks, at less than half the BIN price...

Well, I'd rather keep it as original as possible -- I would prefer to fix it, even if that requires swapping in another TIA or 6502, or something like that. Plus the board on the promo unit is a different rev from the other 2600As I have.

Tried with different RF connector, different power supply, no luck. The connector appears to be clean, no obstructions or anything... The problem remains: Black video signal when you turn it on, same condition whether there is a cart inserted or not. Should I start swapping chips? Or are there other typical issues which would cause this problem? I have some other 2600As that work... is it worth making a donor machine out of a regular 2600A to get this chrome-switched beauty working Any help would be appreciated...

Now that is way cool. Love the proper-case on the binary message. How long does something like that take to make, or is it a trade secret? I'm sure it will fetch a pretty penny at auction.

Thanks, I need to eliminate the RF as the problem first... the power adapter is one I used successfully on another system, so I think that is OK.

The converted controllers from John Dondzila: http://www.classicgamecreations.com/ You might also pick up some of his games, and maybe ask him if there is a multicart laying around that you could buy... There is also this PSX to Vectrex controller adapter, but it's probably more than you paid for the Vectrex itself: http://www.multigame.com/psx2vect.html And those homing mines on Minestorm... practice with the #2 button! Get em all close and hyperspace outta there, turn around and blast em! Also, don't turn to fast from the ones you are shooting at -- stay aimed at them so you can repeat-fire to kill the mine and the missle. If you can pick off as many of the dumb mines as you can before the magnetic ones start after you, you'll have a better chance of clean escape with hyperspace. By levels 5 and 6 you'll be hyperspacing and thrusting out of jams regularly...

Hmm... nothing, eh? The chrome switches look nice. I noticed that there is another difference with the ebay promo unit I have linked above... the switch titles are also yellow (like the piping). Would like to get this thing fixed. Incidentally, what do you think all those "Not For Resale" 4-switch consoles were made for? Looking at the serial numbers, it appears at least 65000 of these were made, possibly a few 100K. Too many for media & retail, I would think. Did they give them away at car dealerships or something?

So these first 80K units are completely different from the next 780K (I read 860K of ROMs run on another thread?)... and of the 80K, there are 2 variations (diff versions of Millipede)... hmm. Now I feel special to have one

I think so, anyway. This one doesn't have a Sunnyvale manufactured sticker, says manufactured in Taiwan. I saw a similar one on ebay here. Anyway, got this in with a lot of a bunch of other 2600s, 5200s, and 7800s. I didn't notice the difference until I took it apart (it wasn't working). Seems to be some variation on these promo units, so I thought I'd post some pics. Sorry about the quality of the close-ups. Hopefully I can get it working again (turns on to basically black video, no matter what the cart is. The connector looks like it might not be making good contact, will start there)...

Mindmaster was probably the second most played game I ever owned. It was (Carl's voice) FREAKIN AWESOME. I too thought the mini games were the coolest thing ever. Still have my original Arcadia Supercharger, and Mindmaster, Phaser Patrol, and Frogger tapes. Need a Stella CD tho... FYI, the game it came in second to was Kaboom.... and that is just because me and my brothers would play head-to-head for hours on that game. The paddles were just much more comfortable to play with, I couldn't do the marathon-game sessions with CX40s..

My favorite 5200 games are Joust, Gyruss, Star Wars The Arcade Game, and Montezuma's Revenge. Pac-man would be up there except for the fact it is too difficult with the non-centering controllers... but as far as the graphics being similar to the 2600, just look at some of those games. Don't use the Activision games as an example of the 5200 graphics capabilities -- many of those were not really improved for the 5200 version, just rehashed 2600 games. I also love the trackball controller (feels big and solid, almost like arcade), but the only game I have that uses it is Centipede.. need to pick up one of those multicarts. I've also got a Colecovision, and I have to say it really doesn't compare favorably for the games I like. Many will disagree, but I like the 5200's larger usable color pallette, better scrolling, and closer relationship to the actual arcade hardware.

Thanks for the translation. I figured he was just high. Didn't see the restocking cart bit, I suppose. I still wonder if a bunch of these will magically appear on Walmart shelves tomorrow... or if they will be sold out before the release date.

Cause all the cool kids are doing it.

Wow, that's the first report of Wal-mart sniping of an FB2 I have heard! Must be be generating a bit of a buzz... you don't usually see cart-sniping until the popular toys start dissappearing from the shelves before christmas. What I'm wondering is, with this August 23rd release date, are they getting some big new shipment? Seems like everyone is reporting just a few FB2s on the shelves, and they are getting sold out early... so on the actual walmart release date, no one will find any! But they'll probably be at target or something...