AussieAtari

Flomojo, a big thanks for the link to the Low End Mac gaming article. I picked up 5 old Macs (Colour Classic, 2 SEs, 2 Classics) for less than $1 each a couple of months ago, all working and have been wanting to try gaming on them and you have come along and kick-started my latest little "diversion". Thanks mate.

It is looking very,very nice - still dying with jealousy!

Cool - nice work Good luck with a multicart. I really wish someone would make one, but the poor old TI is the red headed stepchild of classic computing. - very good analogy!

I passed on a pair of NIB Quickshot NES joysticks yesterday as I thought $12 each was a bit too much - was I wrong (as I can go back and get them today if popular opinion dictates I should, gee I bow easily to peer pressure )? They looked more like flight sim sticks but were brand new, never used, there was also a NES and SNES next to them, both in boxes with inserts etc, all in excellent condition but at $40 each I thought a bit too much.

Great list (although a bit risky perhaps?)! Now all I have to do is find a multi-cart for the TI and I'll be a very happy camper.

Ouzo and Coke. I tend not to eat while gaming as I end up with crumbs everywhere but do smoke a pipe during the cooler months.

I guess the thing is that QC goes completely out of the window when any product is a huge success, and production needs to be scaled up to cope. Commodore weren't really an exception in that regard, and got their act together again fairly well. The issues coincided with the change in place of manufacture, either to or away from Ireland (I cannot remember which way). It did only seem to affect a single production run and then there were no problems at all, it was just a really BIG shame that the faulty units hit the shelves just before Christmas and when the C64 was new and the Vic-20 was still selling well. Apart from that bad batch of Commodores, I really cannot recall many faulty computers at all in my 5 years of selling Apple, TI, Commodore, Sinclair, Atari, Sega and BBC. Unless there were problems straight out of the box, all of the 8-bit machines seemed to be very well made and robust. - How do you get the partial quote thing to happen? -

The same applies to the Spectrum, especially as pretty much all of it's software was on tape (who owned a Micro-Drive anyway?). I've still got a few boxes of cassettes with hand-written labels for the Speccy and my C64. The DOA issue I was referring to was not caused by the sound chip failing but faulty power supplies and blown on-board fuses. I’ve read that the SID chip failure is common now but I had not heard of that “back in the day”.

I really liked Bomberman for the GBC and still get it out occasionally. It got me hooked on Bomberman on any format.

I should clarify - the C64 is almost bulletproof, as evidenced by the many units (including mine) that are still going strong today after years of constant use and abuse. What I was referring to was at the time I bought my TI, Commodore in Australia was going through a terrible DOA time. My job at the time was selling computers and the day after Boxing Day we had over 70% of C64s and Vic-20s returned DOA. The experience of really cheesed off mums and dads yelling at me as we could not give them a new unit (we had sold out of all stock) soured the C64 for me then.

You'll find them sitting in the comfy chair.

All I can say is - Wooohoooo. I bought a new NTSC-capable TV and power transformer just so I could play the FB2 I have on order from the States and will further justify the purchase with the addition of the FB3 when it comes out. Crikey, that's great news, thanks Curt. RIP Steve Irwin.

The Monty Python definition of an argument would perhaps best fit the spirit of this thread.

It is weird that they would seem to prefer to keep the IP and not make any commercial benefit from it, and not consider the potential benefit from the goodwill that releasing the code into the Public Domain could bring them. Then again, what consumer products do TI offer, other than calculators, would get a sales benefit from goodwill in regards to gamers/collectors?

I really can't understand choosing a computer that only has a few dozen decent titles (and most of those are quite derivative) as the best 8-bit gaming computer. I am much more nostaglic (and even technically appreciative) about the TI than the Apple II or Speccy, but if I was only able to game on one 8-bit computer, I'd choose either of them over the TI in a flash, just because of the wide variety of games available for them. I like just about every genre of game there is, maybe that's the difference? With my limited funds and limited gaming ability (I really sucked at games back then, come to think of it I'm not all that much better 20 years on!) the TI gave me Parsec (Defender), Munch Man (Pac Man), TI Invaders (Space Invaders), Scott Adams adventures, Hunt The Wumpus, Chess and a few others that covered enough of the genres to keep me happy. I was also introduced into the world of Assembly coding with the TI and actually enjoyed having a fairly "unusual" machine back then. Plus, when I bought it, it was far more reliable than the machines Commodore were producing. Oh, and I could make it swear at my sister with the speech synthesizer module - I thought that was really good! I had a Spectrum and an Apple as well at the time when they were all new but Parsec kept me going back to the TI.

Chris says that he is close to having a PAL version of the CyberTech 2600 composite Video mod available and only needs two things to make it happen: - get the new version NTSC mod on sale through AA and start shipping units; in order to fund the manufacture of PAL boards which have a level of demand shown by: - registering your expression of interest in this petition. So if you're a PAL 2600 owner and want to enjoy crystal clear video gaming goodness, hit "Fast Reply" and let Chris know that we want it and we want it now

I read somewhere that TI released all of their Roms into the Public Domain - is that true?

The corrected (longer) list only made things harder - another for the venerable TI99/4A.

A month late for information about games that are at least fifteen years old? What's the rush? Try 3 months to get to Oz But as rolenta says - what is the rush? I'm happy to pay for a premium magazine that is full of great content, rather than a cheaper magazine full of ads that are required to keep the newsstand price down.

Gents, the information is greatly appreciated. I will attempt to try not to blow up my C64s and go with the DIY cable option. There are heaps of cables and fun to be had on the sites so lots of hours to be lost there. My wife will be eternally grateful - not!

That is interesting. I have been looking into hooking up one of my 64's to a file server PC I have so I could really get back into some C64 fun and was going to go the 64HDD route. Are you able to point me in the direction of instructions to build the XE1541 cable for simpletons like me and a good Star Commander download/Instruction page?

I've never heard of a third party Extended Basic for the 99/4A, does anyone have any product info on it?

The occasional compressed air blowout/clean and not keeping the units anywhere near the floor has kept my consoles dust free problem free for years now. keeping them under the TV fills them full of dust and will kill them - eventually. I do like the empty cartridge shell idea though.

Are these available anywhere anymore? I have just become aware of them and would love one so I can continue on my quest to modify all of my consoles to run composite A/V out.

That looks way too good to refuse, Richard an email is on the way. I introduced my wife to the Vectrex yesterday and she was kicking my butt in Mine Storm in no time at all, in fact she was still playing away an hour later when I gave up in disgust and went to drown my sorrows in beer.