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A month ago I posted on this forum that I was selling some Atari 800 mechanical keyboards. I now have a few more available: The keyboard is a drop-in replacement, already includes all of the required 3D printed parts all you need is a screwdriver (and your Atari 800 keycaps). I'm asking $65 (USD) + shipping (from Cleveland). I put together some installation instructions (although installation is fairly straight forward) and there's some photos in that PDF if you want to check it out. After my previous posting 3 people PM'd me about this and two have purchased, one said he wanted one but so far has not yet responded from my email. So I have 2 available for sure and possibly another 3rd if that person doesn't respond in a few days.

I managed to snag an Atari XEGS from Ebay! While it does have its own games, I know it is backwards compatible with the Atari 8-bit library. So what games do you recommend? What accessories would also be good for the Atari XE? Already on my list are the Atari 8-bit port of Donkey Kong as I understand it has all four levels from the arcade game! The Atari 2600 only has 2 while the NES, Colecovision and Atari 7800 ports (I own the 7800 version) have only 3 of the levels.

Hi! I'm a game collector with a focus on stuff by Sierra / On-Line Systems. I'm mostly looking for their early (pre-King's Quest) titles now, and thought I'd put out some feelers here for the ones I'm missing. I'm looking to buy, and I also have a lot of interesting stuff to offer in trade - if you have anything let me know and hopefully we can help each other out! Check out the photo for the releases I'm after, and below is a full list: Folder/baggie games - Apple II: -Hi-res Cribbage -Thrilogy of Games -Trapshoot -Skeetshoot -Gobbler (loose disk only) -Softporn Adventure (white folder release) -Cranston Manor (white folder release) Boxed games - Any Platform: -Dragon's Keep (orange box) -Troll's Tale (orange box) -Bop-a-Bet (blue box) -Flip-n-Match (VIC-20) -Sammy Lightfoot -Aquatron -Apple Cider Spider -Creepy Corridors -Pest Patrol -Sabotage (boxed version) -Ulysses and the Golden Fleece (boxed version) -Dark Crystal (boxed version) -Mission Asteroid (boxed version) -Ultima II (small black box version) -Ultima - Escape from Mount Drash (VIC-20) Newsletters: -The On-Line Letter #1 -Sierra Newsletter Vol 1 No. 1 (black and white) -Sierra Newsletter Vol 1 No. 2 (black and white) -Sierra Newsletter Vol 1 No. 3 (black and white)

Here's another copy of Eastern Front (1941). I'm using the same photo I used for the first one -- once you've seen one copy of Eastern Front (1941)... This too is shrink-wrapped, but I'll break the shrink-wrap and autograph it is you wish. I'm asking $85 for this one. That includes domestic shipping.

I have a bunch of old games to sell. I have no idea what they're worth, so I'm going to base my price on the hassle of getting them to you. I have sorted them into three groups by size to make the shipping easier. I'm asking $50 for the games plus $10 for domestic shipping (which will surely be more than $10). International will be more, but we'll work it out. I haven't played these games in nearly 40 years. I have opened all of them, so they're not shrink-wrapped. I'll be posting more stuff in the next few hours.

Running Atari 2600 programs on my NTSC C64! This is a Cross Compiler for the C64 that runs Atari 2600 programs written in Assembly and BASIC (SuperCharger BASIC and Flashback BASIC) with no changes to the BASIC or Assembly code. This is accomplished by abstracting the Atari 2600 virtual machine RUNTIME including a soft ANTIC blitter like Atari home computers bringing display list technology to the Commodore 64! Double the fun of racing the beam with the classic Television Threading Model on the Commodore 64 allows game loops that repeat 30 or 60 times per second with full screen animation each frame creating faster action scenes than are usually seen with the C64 design. The rich BASIC provides graphics and sound support and a camera object for panning around the virtual world, or with abstract Assembly programming (ASDK api). The next version will add color and audio support, check out some of the Atari 2600 BASIC and Assembly games that will be supported online here: http://relationalframework.com/Atari2600gamesonline.htm The Commodore 64 and the Atari 2600 Video Computer System are the two most popular retro computer consoles, write programs that run on both! Details: The soft blitter, camera object and display lists are running and functional, I dropped the compiled Atari 2600 BASIC Assembly code and the bitmap right into the 64 Framework and it ran the same in the abstracted VM on my Commodore 64. I can cross compile some of the BASIC at this point and am adding the RUNTIME subsystems that are missing. Adding sprites, sound and color next... the Tracker/Sequencer for the TIA chiptunes is going to be tremendous fun on the 6581! C64 Extra tile detail: The VM abstracts each 1 bit textured phat tile the TIA draws into 4 characters on the VIC-II text screen allowing both tiled patterns and background patterns to be drawn, I chose the same graphic for the 4 background tile quadrants in the demo. There's inspiring concept innovation with prior art if a prototype was ever produced!

I have a small number of A8 carts for sale, plus an Atari XG-1 light gun. All items have been cleaned, are fully tested and work great! Here's what I've got available: Karateka (Atari XEGS; label is slightly punctured at center screw hole) SOLD Final Legacy (XE-style "smooth" cart; label variant) SOLD Qix (A8) SOLD Missile Command (A8) SOLD Thunderfox/Donkey Kong/Mario Bros./Crime Buster SOLD Atari XG-1 Light Gun (missing both stickers) SOLD Please see the provided pictures and contact me for any additional pictures and to discuss pricing. The purchase of multiple items will lower the price. Thanks!

Hi; I have been a die-hard Atari 8-bit user since buying the snazzy new 130XE when it was first released and gradually acquired a motley collection of hardware. The past 30-40 years have taken me into various new responsibilities and interests and I look at this pile of stuff (along with a bunch of other piles of stuff) and say to myself "I'm not likely to use many of these things anymore, time to get them to someone who needs and wants them". Unfortunately I have forgotten how to use a whole bunch of these things and will have to re-learn a bit in order to test them/get them ready to auction. So, over the next few weeks I will be putting some or all of the following out on Ebay (Ebay name: "Kibbywibbles" (the kitten we had when we started selling stuff there, who passed away about 5 years ago at the age of about 15)) (Already sold) 65XE with horrid case and keyboard with many dead keys (Sorry: This one is already sold). *Currently listed as of 1/10/2022* 130XE with a ROM board/switch that can switch/boot between 3 different chips (This is currently listed/available, however it does not boot past the dreaded green screen) I may sell all of the following: but will do so strategically so I can test everything before listing it/actually selling it to anyone. Not yet listed: 130XE with 320 RAM upgrade/CSS Multiplexer OS (in good working order)/Will probably include some extra ePROMS of unknown pedigree as they can easily be swapped into the ROM socket. CSS Black Box with Floppy Board (Bob Puff was my main go-to guy back in the day!) SpartaDOS X Cartridge R-time-8 cartridge (I managed to put a new battery in it and it still works!) 800XL standard/good working order 1050 disk drive XF551 disk drives (2) Hard drive with various Sparta/MyDOS boot partitions and utilities. Various game cartridges and 8-bit software mostly on 5.25 disks. Some old Atari books that I never had time to read/do anything with. If you are looking for any old programs public domain or otherwise, message me and I will see if I have them.

Here we have a Quickshot IX "Deluxe Joyball Controller" by Spectravideo (SVI). You don't see too many of them around and it's a very interesting concept. Works best for maze-type games in my opinion. It's not a trackball, and rather you push the ball in the direction you want to go and it will click (think microswitches). It is meant to be played horizontally, not vertically (note the left hand/right hand toggle switch). It also has an autofire switch. All four suction cups on bottom are present. This controller is in good shape cosmetically and has been fully tested and functions as it should. Please see the attached pictures for more details. $25 including shipping to anywhere in the US takes it. Willing to ship to Canada but will need a little extra for shipping across the border (and all bets are off on transit time). Shoot me a PM with questions or to finalize a deal. Thanks!

This is (again :)) Dracon from TAQUART Group. I have the honor to present another interview with a person known (this time) for his excellent games on Atari XL/XE. At the time of the interview he is currently 30 years old and... it's English programmer Ivan Mackintosh, to whom we owe such hits as CRUMBLE`s CRISIS or REBOUND (giving only a few of the collection). Despite the passage of time, however, I decided to publish it, with the consent of the Ivan himself... This interview was based on a series of our emails from 1999 year and was firstly published at Polish website Atari.Area. D = Dracon I = Ivan Mackintosh D - Hello, at first I must say that you were a really great Atari 8-bit programmer. I remember you from such great games as BLACK LAMP or CAVERNIA (was it your latter game on Atari ?). I - Hi. I am glad that you like my games. CAVERNIA was not my last game, because I wrote one more for Atari, which has never been released - "TUBE BADDIES". It's a two-player game where you have to shoot down the monsters and stick holes in the pipes so that no new monsters appear. It was another game made with Richard Munns - so, as usual, there is great music and graphics. My first game written in assembler 6502 was REBOUND. Previous games (Crumble`s Crisis and continuation - Space Lobsters which is only good for graphics - no playability) were written in compiled Basic. This is probably the reason why they are so slow. D - The English magazine NEW ATARI USER once published a review of your game TAGALON. I also read there that there was a big break between writing and publishing this game... Is it true ? I - I think so, as I've never seen it in the sold version or even the cover ! D - So it seems that you didn't make much money writing games for Atari... Am I right ? I - I had a promised fee of 1500 English pounds (9500 PLN ?) for Black Lamp and 2000 English pounds (13000 PLN ?) for Tube Baddies game. Since they were never properly spent, we didn't get that fee. These two games were also the biggest earner. So in fact, when all the money was divided between Richard and me, we didn't have that much for 5-6 years of Atari XL programming. Certainly not enough to do it as a full-time job. D - Where did you get the inspiration your games from ? I - TAGALON was similar to SABRE WULF (from ZX SPECTRUM) for 2 players. TUBE BADDIES was inspired by another spectrum game - COOKIE. We were asked by Atari company to create BLACK LAMP. REBOUND was an attempt to write a sports game. And the other games just "happened" (without direct inspiration). D - Have you programmed games on a "clean" Atari or with the help of e.g. Atari ST (I'm asking in the sense of creating games on an 8-bit computer)? I - The first two games (CRUMBLES CRISIS and SPACE LOBSTERS) were written in Atari Basic and then compiled. It took two 1050 stations to speed up the compilation to about half an hour. I used a software assembler (Synapse Synassembler) to do the REBOUND. The rest of the games were programmed using my cartridge with MAC-65 assembler. All games were encoded on my faithful 800XL. D - And how did it look like to create e.g. music ? I - Richard used a synthesizer to work out the melody. Once he composed it, he manually translated the notes into values in the Basic's DATA command. When it was done, I converted his music player into an assembler and run it on VBI interrupts. D - Can you tell what is happening now with other famous people from Atari XL, like programmer Ian Copeland or musician Adam Gilmore ? I - Unfortunately I can't help it - I never talked to these people. D - Do you know that there are still people in Poland who write amazing programs, especially demos ? I - About three years ago (1996) I was in contact with one of the guys who made JOYRIDEcurrently doing demo. It was the last time my Atari 1050 drive was still working ! D - Well, what is your opinion about the so-called demo programs ? Is there any sense to write such programs instead of good games ? I - I think that some demos coming from Poland are excellent. It's just a shame that all this didn't happen 10 years before the Atari scene died. Anyway, as I see it, in the UK the 8-bit Atari scene is now extinct. D - Can you tell us what Richard Munns and HARLEQUIN (who has released the PLASTRON game, for example) are currently doing? I - Richard is messing up with PC computers, although he is not doing it professionally. I don't know what is happening with HARLEQUIN. Richard had contacts there when he was making music for it. As far as I can remember, he was cheated by HARLEQUIN because they did not pay him for his work. Richard didn't hear about HARLEQUIN later - maybe the company went bankrupt. D - Where do you work now ? I - I am a professional programmer (more precisely: "senior software engineer"), writing C++/COM applications for Reuters. D - Do you know if NEW ATARI USER magazine still exists ? I heard that it is (was?) available only for subscription... I - About 2 years ago (i.e. in 1997) I saw a copy of it on a computer show. It was A5 format. Really not much bigger than some leaflet. I don't think it's in print anymore. D - Do you sometimes turn on your 800XL (or emulate on PC) nowadays? I - None of that. My hobby nowadays is rather arcade machines. However, I still have 3 Atari computers (400, 800XL, 130XE) at home. D - So say something more about it. I - Currently I am more interested in games and arcade emulators. I have one slot machine and a NeoGeo console with 5 cartridges. I've never been to Poland, so I don't know anything about your resorts, but those in England usually have a lot of entertainment gaming machines, full of big "cabinets", containing a monitor, joystick, special table, etc. This is the kind of machine I have in my private room. D - You mentioned that SPACE LOBSTERS is only good for graphics. Yes, that's right, but why is it so difficult ? Why didn't you put any codes in your games (like Frank Cohen or Chris Murray) ? I - You mean, you haven't found any cheats yet ! There are none in CRUMBLES CRISIS nor in LOBSTERS SPACE. However, in CRUMBLES CRISIS you can rename the files so that you can play faster in the later stages of the game. In BLACK LAMP, as far as I remember, you can type "forest" and you will get infinite life. In CAVERNIA, type "tamsin" (my wife's name) to go to level 16 and "stevie nicks" (she's Richard's favorite pop artist) to move forward 1 level. It seems to me that this last code also works in TUBE BADDIES! D - Besides, I'm curious what happens when a player completes SPACE LOBSTERS or CRUMBLE CRISIS - is there any "final sequence" ? I - I don't remember what it is like in CRUMBLES... but there is nothing in SPACE LOBSTERS - we thought that the game is so bad that we don't have to do something like that, as nobody will get that far. So the game starts again, but it's more difficult. I think you have to collect more codes or something like that. Richard used to play it to get this far! D - In general - do you remember coding on Atari and you still have this ability ? I - I have Atari so I still remember those times. I think I could still code on it. It would be quite slow as I only remember what it can do, not how to do it. So I would have to take a good look at the book "Mapping the Atari". I would even like to program the Atari again, but I just don't have time. D - What's your favorite Atari game ? Mine is BLACK LAMP and DRACONUS. Both have a unique fantasy atmosphere and I am still impressed by the craftmaship in them. Appropriate, refined graphics, music and the rest - I think that these games take the maximum out of XL ! I - You've probably noticed from several of our games (Rebound, Tagalon, Tube Baddies) that we really like games for 2 players. One of our favorite games of all time was M.U.L.E. We also played a lot in International Karate, Drop Zone (we liked Archer McLean's games) and the games from Lucasfilm were also outstanding (Ballblazer, Rescue on Fractulas, etc.). D - And which games were favorites on other 8-bit computers? I - Our (my and Richard's) favourite games are arcade adventures. We grew up on ZX Spectrum games such as ATIC ATAC, SABRE WULF, ALIEN 8, etc. D - What is your opinion on your various "rewritten" (patched) games? I mean your games with trainers, intros, etc. ? I - After seeing it, I am generally flattered by the fact that people considered these games worth modifying ! D - In that case, what about such a case - a "transfer" of the CAVERNIA's hero in another game named DEIMOS? Is that OK? I - I really enjoyed playing DEIMOS. It reminded me very much of the kind of game that Richard and I would write together. As for the observations, it was a shame that the whole scenery was in gray tones and the colors of the hero were strange. I was tempted to make a modified version with other colors, but I noticed that the image with the game is compressed. I would need to have it unpacked on disk for modification. Although to tell you the truth, I don't have any free time for this. D - What made you stop writing games on XL/XE ? Haven't you thought about releasing e.g. TUBE BADDIES in Poland (here was a big market for this computer in mid 90's), Germany or somewhere else ? I - I went to the University and because of that I didn't have much free time, besides, companies in the UK were offering less and less money for games. I didn't realize there was a market outside my country and I didn't speak other languages either. D - Have you seen some games in which Richard Munns was involved (Plastron, Zero War)? How did you like them ? I - I saw Plastron during the creation, as Andy Dickinson was a friend of mine who lived in the neighboring city. However, I did not like his games very much. He also created the game COUNTDOWN. Nevertheless, the graphics and music in Plastron were good. D - Why was there no music or any ending in CAVERNIA ? Not enough memory (anyway, the hero's animation was great!) ? I - We didn't get a lot of money for the game - there was no incentive to make the game more beautiful. D - Going back to the emulation. Have you seen any Atari emulator on PC ? I - To be honest, I haven't touched any Atari stuff in a few years. I used an XL-it emulator by Markus Geitzen but about 3 or 4 years ago. This emulator was really good except for some problems with player/battle graphics (PMG) and the inability to overlay 2 players to get a third color on the bits I applied. This unfortunately meant that Richard's sprites didn't look so great. Now, however, there is a significant change - thank you very much for sending the Atari800Win emulator! It is excellent, so much better than the XL-it I had. It is more or less perfect ! I was so impressed that now I can even get rid of my real Atari. I was playing my games really well. D - Why did you choose Atari instead of C-64 (for creating games) ? I - We (me and Richard) did not choose, it just happened. We both had Atari for a few years before I started programming. It's a real shame that the C-64 came on the market (at least in the UK) more than Atari, as Atari was great for programming. I suppose if we were creating for the C-64, we could make more money. D - How long did it take you to create Black Lamp game ? The result was amazing and the game is just wonderful ! I also played Black Lamp on Amiga, but it was much worse version. I - Atari told us that they want the same Black Lamp as the Atari ST version. But when we started asking for game maps and other details, they couldn't provide that and then they let us encode what we wanted, if that was similar. I don't remember exactly, but I think it took 9 months to write (remember that it was all done on weekends and free evenings). Atari wanted to see how far we were every 2 months, so they could change things if they weren't satisfied with something. D - It's a shame there aren't any more games as well done as yours and Ian Copeland's. Maybe the 8-bit period was just one stage in creating games, a kind of training... Nowadays it is easier to use the advantages of the machine (good graphics cards) and make nice games (almost unoptimized algorithms and games require more and more CPU power). What do you think about it? I - Nobody cares anymore. There aren't many games that pull everything out of a machine now. TURISMO GAME on PSX was the last game I was really impressed with. It seems that many developers think that just nice graphics will make the game a hit. I completely disagree with that. I believe that gameplay is the most important thing. I can support it with the fact that I bought an arcade slot machine with a 1982 Mr.Do! game. It's a great game. D - You are right that certainly playability (inherent in the idea) is the most important thing in any game. So what do you say about the super hits from the 8-bit games (Blinky`s Scary School, World Soccer, Black Lamp, etc.), which were also released in 16-bit versions? They were certainly not appreciated as popular and good games, even though the idea was the same and the graphics were much better so what about this sad fact ? I - It seems to me that when people get new machines, they want newgames that use the power of the machine rather than some old games that just improved the graphics. Well, in the world of emulation it doesn't matter much now. Can you get Gameboy Color in Poland (small console) ? As I noticed, the DROPZONE game is soon to be released on it ! D - It's supposed to be available, but I don't know if in large quantities. Thanks for the interview ! I - No problem. At the end of this interview I'd add, that Ivan Mackintosh after stopping creating games on Atari also released some small PC utilities, which were related to XL emulation. These were quite a few programmers that helped to handle Atari floppy disk images: IMAGEMAN and ATARI DISK IMAGE MANAGER. Besides, one more interesting thing - at this address you can find a couple of small Ivan's games for NEOGEO Pocket! Polish version available here.

INTERVIEW WITH... F#Ready ! I am extremely pleased to present another interview with a well-known personality of the Atari community. At the "Silly Venture" 2018 computer party I came across one of the famous (The meritoriously :)) Atari-sceners of the of the 80s/90s era. And it turned out that I didn't need to persuade him so much for a few words about his history, which I proudly published for you here. So it's an interview with the living legend of western 8-bit Atari scene, the man known as F#READY and once Frankenstein from the High Tech Team. Interview time: December 2018. D : Dracon/TAQUART F: F#Ready F: Hi, my name is Freddy, $30 years old. I live in Hilversum with my girlfriend and our 10-years old daughter. I’m currently work as Software Engineer / Scrum Master at an hosting company in Amsterdam. Got my Atari 800XL in 1985, that’s when my passion for programming started. The Atari and retro computing in general is still one of my favourite hobbies. Next to that I’m crazy about bicycles. I have two recumbent bicycles and a rowing bike ( my recumbent Nazca Pioneer). D : So.... why did you choose ATARI computer (but not C64 or Amstrad?) and was it your first 8-bitter? How did you start your computer adventure then? F: Well, I was introduced to the home computer by my uncle. He had a ZX spectrum and that was like a magic box to me. At one time I could borrow it for a few weeks when my uncle went on holiday. I was hooked and remember typing all basic programs I could find. There was no tape recorder or anything to store the programs, so I kept the computer running through the night or typed a new one the next day. Anyhow, of course my uncle got his computer back and I saved money to buy my own computer. I had to do my research into which computer I should buy… In October 1985 I bought my own Atari 800XL with 1010 data-recorder. The other home computers were simply too expensive and I had seen the Atari computers before in a local shop. Again I typed in a lot of program listings from books and magazines. Each new Atari magazine was like a big birthday present and I read those several times. Soon I started programming my own (simple) games in Atari Basic. Even made some cassette inlays (still have those). So that's how it all started. D : And what's next ? You made huge progress through the years.... F: Next to Spectrum and Atari I had some experience with BBC computers during an internship at a school. I had to convert BBC Basic to Gw-Basic on the PC. They also had books about 6502, so that was a really nice working environment In the meantime I became member of a local Atari club in my region; Atari GebruikersGroep Friesland (AGGF). My long time friend André (The Exterminator) bought an 130XE, so we went together to play games, copy new stuff and have fun. There we meet the other HTT guys; Yeb (SolarSystems) and Eric (The DDT-Crew). In the beginning I was still programming machine language in hex codes using BASIC data statements or directly in Supermon. The other guys had access to assemblers, so I soon switched to Atmas II for all my assembler programming. I have to add that I really learned a lot from using Supermon and hacking existing programs (mostly games). I’m still not much into playing games, more discovering how things are done. That was the real excitement, looking inside a game to find new kinds of tricks with display lists or how DLI and VBI were used. Armed with ‘Mapping the Atari’ this was a nice way to learn more about the Atari hardware. As a group we had a lot of fun. We visited each other on a regular basis next to the local club meetings of course. And we exchanged letters and disks through the mail (yes, it was the time without internet!). There was no musician, so I ripped music from games to use in our intros. Personally I was inspired by the demos I saw on the Atari ST. We were not aware of a ‘demoscene’, even the word was never used at that time! High-Tech Team in 1989 year. From left to right: The Exterminator, The DDT-Crew, SolarSystems, Frankenstein D : Were there (in the Netherlands) proper computer literature and magazines that simplify Atari programming? F: There were quite a few in the beginning. Of course I got the Dutch magazines first; Atari magazine and Atari info. Our local Atari club AGGF did a few magazines called 'Reset' for which I wrote a few small articles. Next to that there were too many; Atari User, Page 6, Atari Magazin (German), Happy Computer (German), Analog and Antic. I could only afford to buy some and mostly bought Atari user and the German Atari Magazin. The Happy Computer special edition was the best one. A thick magazine packed full of listings with quality software (e.g. Turbo BASIC). So yes, I think I learned a lot from the magazines. There was not much more than that. D : So you were really lucky! Because in Poland at the time (1985-1990?) there were literally no serious, extensive books/articles on programming Atari 8-bit. Well, at least there were few books and texts only by one authors (Wojciech Zientara). That's why quite many Polish programmers had been trying to explore Atari system on their own (e.g. Henryk Cygert, known better for his amazing games like “Miecze Valdgira”). Can you imagine he has been analysing the whole Atari memory and system routines and wrote down (by hand) a big paper notebook on it?! F: Ah cool, I didn’t know that. I heard that ‘mapping the Atari’ was also made by reverse engineering instead of reading official Atari documents. I can imagine it was fun too. By the way, I have a few of these Polish Atari ‘school’ books and I think Poland was ahead of the rest because of teaching these things at school! A different perspective I guess. D : Didn't you have any difficulties to master Atari hardware ? What was the biggest challenge in it? F: Difficulties with the Atari? Not really. I gradually discovered more things. Whenever I learned something new I experimented until I understood how it worked. E.g. display lists. There were examples and it was easy to modify and later try it in the assembler. The book mapping the Atari helped greatly. It was my Atari bible. D : You said before about HTT-team. But how it what was born and how it evolved? F: The HTT started with four guys who made a few intros and the Big demo. After that a few joined us, but soon it all collapsed because of different reasons (e.g. read the articles in Mega Magazine #1). It was also one of the reasons I started Mega Magazine. So, in my humble opinion there was not much ‘evolving’ going on. It just ended around the time of the first Mega Magazine release. D : During MegaZine’s time one could say it already was there (the so-called small Atari European demoscene). The time was early nineties and there were people from The Netherlands, Germany, Poland, Sweden, Czech & Slovakia, Canary Island (!), Sweden, Hungary and even Turkey (!).... Many of them had created, let me say, MegaZine “family” of editors & readers, I guess. F: Yes, exactly that! It was one big (happy?) family. And just like making demos is was all for fun. For Mega Magazine I was much inspired by the first issues of Maggie on the ST (by TLB), some other disk magazines and Dr.Dobbs Journal. D : OK, you just mentioned about your inspiration from ST machine. Where did you had contact with it ? And weren’t you ”envious” about Commodore 64 computer (due to plenty of nice(r) games, etc.) and its big demoscene? Didn’t you plan to move into other computer during your Atari days’ period? F: Some people from the local Atari club had Atari ST’s and loads of software. A good friend also got an ST next to his 130XE, so I visited him often to watch demos and play games on the ST. I once bought an Atari STE in the early 90s but had more fun the the 8-bit. I sold the 1040STE after one year. And really, I’m not kidding you, I did not know anyone with a C64. I did saw some screenshots in magazines and knew more games were released for the C64, but that was about it. But on to this “controversial” photo with me (shot in early 90s): The one I'm holding was from Pirx/Our 5oft. They used it to rip gfx (for own games, etc.). Of course I seen it before, but I had no friends with C64. I did my research though, so I was aware of the Amiga and that it was designed by Jay Miner. D : So does it mean Atari (8/16-bit) was quite popular in the Netherlands in nineties ? In my country for example, there were full of small (8-bit) Ataris so there was quite a big market for making games in 1990-1995 year. F: I don’t think there was a big market here. Most people switched to ST, Amiga or PC. There still was a reasonably Atari community, but I think it was nothing compared to C64 and Amiga. D : So what about these: Stichting Pokey, Atari Club Eindhoven and other? In any case, not bad for a small country. Well, I'm afraid that in Poland in the eighties and nineties there were no active foundations or formal clubs (like ABBUC) as above…. There were few newspapers, a couple of publishers and certain amount of Atari demoscene people... F: Yes, and before Stichting Pokey there was Stichting Atari Gebruikers (SAG) with their Atari Magazine and regional meetings. Next to that there was an Atari division from the Hobby Computer Club (HCC). The HCC Commodore division survived and let other retro computer die-hards join them. This meeting is still happening every second month in Maarssen (near Utrecht). As you may know, in february the Atari 8-bit fans bring a lot of their Atari stuff to have a real Atari Invasion at the Commodore club See here: http://www.atari-invasion.nl/ and http://atariage.com/forums/topic/273530-atari-invasion-2k18/ and http://atariage.com/forums/topic/286339-atari-invasion-2k19/ D : Back to Mega Magazine… So what’s like to be main editor of such big magazine? Was it easy for you to manage all the contents, writers, etc. ? ;o F: Big? It really was just a hobby and the articles I got came from friends. I also liked to write a few articles myself. Sometimes there was a delay for an article, but than it could be used for the following issue. The hard part was to fit all the text on one disk side. D : From one moment (but not from the start?) MegaZine started to be distributed commercially... Why does it happen? And was it successful? I know ANG (A NEW GENERATION SOFTWARE - worth to show what it was) was responsible for this in the Netherlands and Mirage in Poland, but I’m afraid the magazine hadn’t been spreaded (by official way) as much as it could, isn’t it? F: IMHO it was spread enough through the usual channels, mainly Atari friends. Spreading it through ANG was an easy step (we were friends) and convenient for me because they did all the copying, labeling and they created nice looking covers D : The Mega Magazine (aka MegaZine) was a real gem for me. No other Atari magazine (formal or informal) had so much nice dose of humour, knowledge and overall good impression! It’s a pity it is not continued in this or another form. Why? Or maybe you are going to do so in future? F: Thank you for your kind words. All credits to the contributors, they made it possible. As you can see, MegaZine #8 was the last one mainly done by Jiří Bernášek and myself. The whole story can be found on the magazine itself TL;DR : in the age of internet there are enough other methods to get and spread the information. The last issue was done to release the remaining good articles, done by Jiří in 1995. I wanted to finish the whole series nicely with number #8. D : I remember that at later stage HTT was quite a big band, wasn’t it? And I always wondered about two facts: - What does “High Tech Team” name mean itself? Is it: the guys from High Technical school (aka Polytechnic ) ? - Why some HTT-members took their nicks in “plural” style? ;o F: How did we came up the name ‘HTT’? That’s a good question! No, it had absolutely nothing to do with a technical school. I’m sure it was simply a popular term at that time. High technology, meaning ‘cutting edge’. And the three letter abbreviation was probably inspired by groups on the Atari ST (TEX, TCB, TLB etc.). LOL, I really don’t know why some members decided to be not one, but more than one Solarsystems (there must be a great ego at work there) or why one guy calls himself a crew. It sure confused me at the time D : What is the origin of your nick in HTT ? Is it a homage to favourite fictional character in movie or book by Mary Shelley ? Or was it randomly taken ? F: I think it was inspired by (fragments of) the movie. “It’s alive!”, the feeling when you finally got that assembly program working OK, now is clear. But from a couple of last years you came back with another nickname… Why? ;o Maybe to indicate a fresh start, I don’t know. I felt it was time for a new name. People change and maybe the nick should change too. In detail: From the Atari BASIC screen. After boot, arrow up, insert 2x, press F. That's my name Since we don't have the inverse-space anymore, this was replaced by the modern day hash-tag. D : You forgot (?) to add you were releasing some cracktros (unprotected games with your custom, colorful intros) as HTT. So, that’s what some of demoscene members had started with. What about that? Who was doing what, if that’s not any secret nowadays? Is there any place one can see or download your releases (for brilliant games like BLACK LAMP, PLASTRON, BLINKY’S SCARY SCHOOL, anything else) ? F: Ah, yes, but I don’t have a complete overview of what we did on cracktros (yet!). D : What do you mean by this? I saw only three games with HTT’s intro… F: There should be more. I have a large collection of files which I did not check with the ones on the internet. Would love to preserve those cracks (not only HTT, also others). And as a side note, we didn’t even know we were doing cracktros, never even mentioned the word at that time. Call me naive, but we really didn’t know much about any ‘demoscene’ or even ‘demo parties’. D : So what made you write such intros? Any idea usually comes from somewhere… C64 was around the corner? F: Not from other systems, we didn’t know much about those at that time. We all had Atari. It must have been the intros from others before us, like Steve Zipp (who did this Black Lamp cracktro), CSS and CCA. ? Let me guess… CCA = Copy Crew Amsterdam? And CSS = Copy Service Stuttgart OR Chip Special Software? F: Yes, Amsterdam and Copy Service Stuttgart ? Probably also saw the ABBUC hobbytronic demos before we did our things. I remember visiting an event where ABBUC showed one of their demos and they made a nice digitized photo for us which we used in the Little demo and Little Color demo. D : These „copy services” sounds little suspicious. Were them huge factory to copy stuff for free? ;))) F: LOL, you really should interview Steve Zipp or one of the CSS guys. It would be nice to hear those stories, since I really don’t know much what was going on there. D : Steve Zipp is (in a way) a legend. But I don’t know if he is so talkative as you! F: One thing I heard. Steve Zipp got his software from a guy reviewing new software for a magazine. So, it was first send to Steve and later send back to the reviewer. D : Wow, didn’t know it! In Poland in 80/90s were so-called „computer studios” which sold a lot of A8 programs, including even demos. So quite many times I saw „Big Atari 8bit” as one of the hits there. These were real „copy-services” in my country. I bet in Netherlands situation was more normal and demos were for available for free, right? F: Yes, I never heard of selling demos and we were really surprised that Page 6 offered us money because they told us the Big demo would be included in their public domain first. We even got a little assignment (and money!) to make a small intro ‘creator’ for the Page 6 magazine. Still have to find where they used it D : Not bad for non-professionals. What I heard about ABBUC, they ask various ppl to prepare intro to its magazine but without benefits (except fame) Correct. That was a big (!) difference with the UK. I got a thank you letter and they put the Big demo in their public domain, which was ok, we liked it. Still like their concept of intro for the magazine. It gives the disk something special. Ok, back to the intros (that’s what we called it). I remember making a cheat version for ‘tank commander’ and a little tool to generate accounts for ‘ghostbusters’ (I think it was on a Mega Magazine, called ‘account buster’). We all did a few game intros, but not much real game cracking. We got most already cracked file versions directly from Steve Zipp who had access to original software and was known for his cracking skills. D : Since you were not into demoscene (crackscene) when releasing any intro+game, what were you hoping for ? Was it for just pure fun or hope to make new friends in Atari-world or just for…. fame? F: Fun and being creative. That’s all. The goal was not to get new friends, but it obviously resulted in getting to know new people, some of those became good friends. No, don’t care about fame. I have much respect for all who are just creative, no matter what they do. It can be a real struggle to start coding on a new platform, so anything creative gives you a good feeling, it doesn’t even have to be something special for the rest of the world. D : Cool. So you did some demos, cracktros and very fine disk-magazine, but were not plans for any game or bigger utility? I only heard about announced stereo music-editor from one of the HTT members…. I mean here the time of HTT, not ANG afterwards. F: There was a plan to make a game with the code from the Platinum main menu, but since we all know what happened to that demo... Yeb (SolarSystems) worked on a music editor called ‘Atmus’. I still have the source code, but he did not even remember he ever made such a thing. D : Interesting! Is the source code almost ready to go? Would it have been better than other music editors at that time? I heard about Platinum demo in the past and know it as one of "impossible" productions which had too much expectations for.... But as of today, have you got some parts from it to use in future maybe? F: Don’t know the state of Atmus and it’s impossible to compare an unfinished product with other finished ones I do remember it was supposed to work with joystick and mouse. I still have all the source code from the unreleased Platinum, but some parts were already released as ABBUC intros years ago. To be honest, the unreleased stuff was quickly outdated and is not interesting compared to all the great demos that has been released over the years. For example, I used a little code from ‘Megadeth Scroller’ to create ‘The Lost Bytes’ 16K for Silly Venture 2k14. Also code from the ‘Plazma’ part was used by FRS and myself for the ‘Lets Rol’ 16K intro (Silly Venture 2k16). D : Oh, there was just one collaborative demo in which should HTT took part… Could you reveal more about this project? F: The Expo ‘91 demo was made for an Atari Benelux Expo in 1991. John from Pokey’s Magazine (The Missing Link, ANG Software) asked us to take part. I used a chiptune from Benjy ripped from the Hobbytronic demo and digi musix which I got from Detail (TACF) We did the final part for this demo and the small intro. The graphics was done by Prizm. Since Pokey’s Magazine was a Dutch magazine they wanted me to write the text in Dutch. I think I translated the English text back to Dutch including the group names in the greetinx. The result is funny if you can read Dutch language. The end part is difficult to reach since you had to read a large part of the scroller until you could press start. Digi music with screen on was not very common in 1991. D : Still speaking of demos, I must admit “Big Atari 8-bit Demo” was quite impressive at its time. I remember trying to read all texts from “the biggest scroller” there (but rather failed, as far as I remember ). Did "BIGA8Demo" made HTT somehow more popular in Atari world? Did you receive postcards, phone-calls or congratulation-letters from many other Atari freaks? F: Yes, we were all very surprised by the amount of letters we got in our P.O.Box. We decided to fairly distribute the new contacts we got. We got even more mail after the advertisement in Page 6, which was of course a great honour for us. While it might be considered to be a very simple demo nowadays, I’m still very proud of it. D : Well, especially digi-sound and music was surprising in "A8BD". But I bet you there are some fun facts about this production, hidden somewhere… F: Maybe a few, did you know... - the intro text was not decoded, but if you alter it with a sector editor the program will punish you (beware, it will destroy your disk if protection in disabled!) - the big scroller was decoded into 6-bit per character, an easy compression (25%) but fast enough to decompress - musix from the music menu was carefully chosen based on where we ripped it from memory. So, all musix from a menu don't overlap each other in memory - although the music menu is easy if you know about pm gfx,, I got questions on how we managed to get a screen with only 16 characters wide. for some this was already black art - the initial plan was to have a picture show instead of digi samples, but it turned out the guy who promised to do the pictures was not very good at it and gave up. - there were 17 master disks each with a unique serial number. the number is related to the person who got it directly from us. E.g. ABBUC, Page 6, etc. - the DOS menu is of course fake. when pressing return 3 times it shows a message and does a fake format. It all shows how much fun we had in making this demo D : Fine. What do you think about phenomenon of ripping on Atari 8-bit scene in mid 80/90s ? There were plenty of demos with ripped music from commercial games (is this due to lack of good musicians or music editors available at that time?). There were also demos with converted/ripped graphics from Commodore 64 (e.g. WFMH or HARD group) or even with some code/fx (HARD group). Do you condemn it? F: I’m not against it. Sometimes it is the only option. We had no musician in the early days and I liked to rip music from games. We had great respect for their work. On the other hand I would always prefer original music or graphics in a demo. It has a better chance of being a good demo when everything fits together nicely. D : Being longtime Atarian (with some years of break, right?) what keeps you still using Atari and visit different computer parties from time to time ? ;o F: There was a long break indeed. Did a few small things during that break, but really got back to the Atari when I decided to go to Silly Venture 2k14 to meet ‘old’ friends. Actually Grey talked me into coding something small and I rediscovered my hobby. Also, the great IDE (WUDSN) from JAC!, the MADS assembler and Altirra emulator helped a lot. Hereby a big thank you to the creators of these tools! At the moment the Atari as a hobby gives me great pleasure. I’m lucky to have a few good friends with the same hobby, so that helps too. It is always nice to go to parties to meet old and new friends who have the same interest. It’s also a very friendly and creative community. D : By the way, how do you like visiting Poland now (2018 year) and in the past (1991 year) ?Are there significant differences ? F: I’m not an expert, but I think the economy in Poland improved a lot. Prices went up, so I don’t feel like a rich dude anymore when visiting Poland. Transport and hotels are still much cheaper than in the Netherlands. I’m sure people in Poland are more wealthy now, maybe even rich compared to 1991. You should be able to answer this But from a personal point of view, people are still friendly and very hospitable. D : You said to me on last SV2k18 that you handed over “Atari Preservation Project” to somebody else. What is its status nowadays? F: Not exactly that. I try to do a few things and gave advice about best practices for software preservation since 2003 when the APP started. I see the current A8 preservation project is going very well. Farb and others from the AtariAge community are doing a wonderful job! It’s nice to see that the project is on the right track with good people and lots of knowledge about the A8. D : And now something quite different... Please tell me what is your favourite: - Demo (Atari / other) - Game (Atari / other) - Music (do you still listen to extreme metal bands?) F: Ah no! Demo, too difficult. Sorry, not possible to answer that. Game: Rescue on Fractalus and Boulderdash Construction Kit. Music, depends on my mood. Like to listen to industrial / martial music like Frontline Assembly, Laibach and Triarii. And of course chiptunes from different systems Don’t listen much to metal bands at the moment. Still like the old bands like Napalm Death. D : Does this kind of extreme/experimental music make you more quiet or vice versa??? ;o F: Yes it helps me to relax D : Well, we unfortunately have to finish this huuuuge (!) interview. What would you like to say at the end? F: There are probably important things I forgot to mention and things I remembered differently or are simply wrong. Feel free to correct me and restore my memory Thank you for taking the time to interview me. I can go on forever, since I really like to talk about the good old days, happy memories, it shaped my mind. I hope to see you and other Atari friends again sometimes, maybe next Silly Venture? D : We'll see! So, thanx a lot for taking your time as well and let us long live Atari (in our hearts) ! F: My pleasure P.S. Polish version can be found here.

Hello all! I did a lot of Atari 8-bit coding as a teenager on my Atari 400 and wrote about a few games including about SIX in Atari BASIC, and ONE in 100% assembly language. Some of you may recall that I posted about the assembly language game about 12 years ago. It is a Shoot 'em up called 'Sector Wars" and at the time I was trying to raise money for a charity and when the target was reached I was going to release the game. Unfortunately the target wasn't reached but some very kind people (some of which I believe frequent this forum) did donate at the time and the money went straight to the charity via JustGiving. I always wanted to finish the game but with one thing and another I never got around to it. Original Thread for anyone interested : O Anyway to cut a long story short I am just finishing it off now, and I will release it here next week :). In the meantime for the next few days, I will upload some of my games written in BASIC. A couple were published in the UK Home Computing Weekly magazine in the 1980s, and the rest I never got around to sending off to anyone. Some are okay but others a not so good but I will upload them for completeness. Something for lockdown anyway ;). For Friday (17th April 2020) I will upload the two BASIC games published by Home Computing Weekly magazine. The Chaotic Crossing (chaotic.bas) - Published in the UK Home Computing Weekly magazine Magazine Link: https://archive.org/details/home-computing-weekly-066/page/n27/mode/2up HCWMan (Pacman Clone): This isn't great - and ran quite slow. Magazine Link: https://archive.org/details/home-computing-weekly-054/page/n47/mode/2up Over the next few days I will release some more BASIC games including one which is a Yars Revenge clone. Cheers Vic chaotic.bas hcwman.bas

On Tuesday I plan to mail @Allan the following unarchived (or needs-better-archiving-quality) Atari items. The shipping can get quite expensive and the funds come directly from the pockets of Allan and myself. I have a hope that some people can donate funds to me via PayPal to contribute to this on-going Atari archiving project. As of right now, I'm not sure how much shipping will cost. I'll give a sum total after the items have been shipped. I have been exchanging many, many pictures with Allan over the last year or so. He goes through the pictures and chooses what needs to be archived, or what needs to be archived in a better format. Occasionally, I send him large batches of items and he scans them and uploads them to archive.org. This can get quite expensive, as he and I send the items back and forth. If you feel like making a donation to me, then send me a personal message and I will send you my PayPal account. I will have @Allan chime in on this thread so that you know this is legitimate. Here are pictures of everything that I'll be sending to Allan this coming week. Thanks for considering making a donation-- the Atari community rocks! Adam

Looking for a replacement top and bottom shell for my 1979 style Atari 800. If anyone has one, or a parts unit I could pull the shell off of, let me know. I'm open to negotiating on price. Thanks!

Adventure Ponies - Atari XL/XE (64K Required) Dragon Trouble Applejack Smack Oh No! A Hydra Rainbow Dash-ed Uh Oh! It's Discord You Win! * Current Version * ----------------- 0.83 ----------------- - Modified the Pony Select Screen to show Locked as well as Unlocked characters. advponies.0.83.xex advponies.0.83.atr I posted a new thread as the images were broken on the previous thread. Here is a link to the previous thread.

Who needs some 8-bit classics, especially some of the harder to find XE titles? All tested and working perfectly; cart-only unless otherwise noted. PM for pics and we can chat about a price that works for both of us. Thanks! Cartridge-based: Crime Buster XE Donkey Kong XE AtariArtist (silver label) AtariWriter Pilot Tape-based: Caverns of Khafka cassette tape + box UNTESTED but I received it brand new - only opened it because I needed the manual for my collection Let me know if you have any q's! Need a manual? Check out my "manual man" post for a semi-complete list (still worth inquiring about others that I may have)!

Looks like a little over 18 hours are left on this eBay auction listed by seller "nintendolover." Looks like a part of that huge video game collection that the same guy was looking to sell complete but didn't have any takers at his astronomical price, so he appears to be splitting it up by system. It's currently at $510 and counting. Any ideas on what the winning bid will wind up being? Too rich for my blood and I have the system and a complete collection already, so I thought I'd point it out in case anyone was interested. Not mine, as my eBay ID is the same as my username here. Cheers. https://ebay.to/2WfWHG2

Adventure Ponies - Atari XL/XE (64K Required) Dragon Trouble Applejack Smack Oh No! A Hydra Rainbow Dash-ed Uh Oh! It's Discord You Win! Requires 64K This is a WIP and still being tested and optimized. * Current Version * ----------------- 0.90 ----------------- - Adjusted the volume of sound effects/level music so the music doesn't drown out the sound effects. advponies.0.90.xex advponies.0.90.atr * Manual * After it boots into the NEON program, choose (R) for read, and the press enter when it asked for the filespec. Use the joystick to navigate links. Manual.atr * Older Versions * ----------------- 0.89 ----------------- - Replaced the old sound fx with new sound fx created by @Synthpopalooza. - Added the new tune to the Pony Select screen (Cutie Mark Crusaders Go Crusading). - Other changes to sound code so NTSC/PAL versions play at the same speed. - Changes to scoring. If you can beat the game with a Pony without losing any lives, get a bonus 9000 points for "PERFECT GAME". advponies.0.89.xex advponies.0.89.atr ----------------- 0.88 ----------------- - Replaced the old music with new music created by the talented @Synthpopalooza . There is another tune, that I couldn't fit but I will try to fit it in another update. advponies.0.88.xex advponies.0.88.atr ----------------- 0.87 ----------------- - Disable BASIC automatically, so the player doesn't have to hold down the [OPTION] key when booting. advponies.0.87.xex advponies.0.87.atr ----------------- 0.86 ----------------- - Added splash screen by Kaz at atarionline.pl, adjusted music volume advponies.0.86.xex advponies.0.86.atr ----------------- 0.85 ----------------- - Added the ability to turn the music on/off. On the "Select Pony" screen, press the [OPTION] key to toggle music on or off. advponies.0.85.xex advponies.0.85.atr ----------------- 0.84 ----------------- - Added background music to the game. (Stage tune and Enemy tune) advponies.0.84.xex advponies.0.84.atr ----------------- 0.83 ----------------- - Modified the Pony Select Screen to show Locked as well as Unlocked characters. advponies.0.83.xex advponies.0.83.atr ----------------- 0.82 ----------------- - Rewrite of all the animation code from C to assembly. This has improved game performance quite a bit. advponies.0.82.xex advponies.0.82.atr ----------------- 0.81 ----------------- - Optimization and refactoring of code. The game has improved performance especially on the Hydra level. advponies.0.81.xex advponies.0.81.atr ----------------- 0.80 ----------------- Original release advponies.0.80.xex advponies.080.atr

Adventure Ponies - Atari XL/XE (64K Required) Dragon Trouble Applejack Smack Oh No! A Hydra Rainbow Dash-ed Uh Oh! It's Discord You Win! * Current Version * ----------------- 0.90 ----------------- - Adjusted the volume of sound effects/level music so the music doesn't drown out the sound effects. advponies.0.90.xex advponies.0.90.atr * Manual * After it boots into the NEON program, choose (R) for read, and the press enter when it asked for the filespec. Use the joystick to navigate links. Manual.atr * Older Versions * ----------------- 0.89 ----------------- - Replaced the old sound fx with new sound fx created by @Synthpopalooza . Updated some existing music. - Added the new tune to the Pony Select screen (Cutie Mark Crusaders Go Crusading). - Other changes to sound code so NTSC/PAL versions play at the same speed. - Changes to scoring. If you can beat the game with a Pony without losing any lives, get a bonus 9000 points for "PERFECT GAME". advponies.0.89.xex advponies.0.89.atr ----------------- 0.88 ----------------- - Replaced the old music with new music created by the talented @Synthpopalooza . There is another tune, that I couldn't fit but I will try to fit it in another update. advponies.0.88.xex advponies.0.88.atr ----------------- 0.87 ----------------- - Disable BASIC automatically, so the player doesn't have to hold down the [OPTION] key when booting. advponies.0.87.xex advponies.0.87.atr ----------------- 0.86 ----------------- - Added splash screen by Kaz, adjusted music volume. advponies.0.86.xex advponies.0.86.atr ----------------- 0.85 ----------------- - Added the ability to turn the music on/off. On the "Select Pony" screen, press the [OPTION] key to toggle music on or off. advponies.0.85.xex advponies.0.85.atr ----------------- 0.84 ----------------- - Added background music to the game. There are two tunes, one for the element levels and one for the enemy levels. advponies.0.84.xex advponies.0.84.atr ----------------- 0.83 ----------------- - Modified the Pony Select Screen to show Locked as well as Unlocked characters. advponies.0.83.xex advponies.0.83.atr ----------------- 0.82 ----------------- - Rewrite of all the animation code from C to assembly. This has improved game performance quite a bit. advponies.0.82.xex advponies.0.82.atr ----------------- 0.81 ----------------- - Optimization and refactoring of code. The game has improved performance especially on the Hydra level. advponies.0.81.xex advponies.0.81.atr ----------------- 0.80 ----------------- Original release advponies.0.80.xex advponies.0.80.atr

I recently was given a large collection of Atari items. There were many catalogs in it, including a 6-page DataQue Software "Product Information Release #91.06.03." There is some pretty neat (and hard to believe) information about some two Atari-compatible computers it it. Here is a picture of the first page of the "catalog:" I've also scanned and uploaded the full 6-page catalog to archive.org, here: https://archive.org/details/DataQueSoftwareProductsForAtari8BitComputers1991 I've dictated, using Dragon, the descriptions of these two Atari computers: 130XEC: An Atari 130XE computer on a PC card! This will allow you to have all the fun and utility of an 8-bit system hidden in your PC. Using a special MSDOS interface, you're 8-bit applications can use the PC video and other peripherals, in addition to normal 8-bit devices. It may even be possible to run an 8-bit process as a task using Windows 3.0! The 'XEC' will be designed with a high degree of compatibility with the original XL/XE line. Connections will be provided for two joystick ports, cartridge port, audio/video monitor output, SIO connector, and of course normal 80x88 PC card edge. 1600XLE: The Ultimate 8-bit machine... with a blazing 'no wait state" 8MHz 65C816 processor on a 'baby AT' size motherboard, nothing will come close to the performance of this machine. A custom interface chip will allow PC interface cards to be used on the Atari 8-slot backplane. This motherboard will fit into most PC style cases, and will run Atari 8-bit applications which make no illegal entry points into the OS, or use direct screen access. This monster would be for the power users only, not the casual game player! Using normal PC peripherals would keep costs down, and allow maximum expandability. Has anyone ever heard of this company before? A search of the Internet associates someone named Chuck Steinman with some DataQue products. What's the story of these, very-probably, unreleased hardware items? Were prototypes of these computers ever made, or was this just an idea that never even reached prototype stage? What about the other products in this catalog; were they released? Adam

Here I've got the Atari Corp. variation (1987 Copyright) of Defender for Atari 8-bit computers. It was sold to me as "new" but the top of the seal had a cut in it so I took out the contents to show you all. Don't think there are too many of the Atari Corp. small box version laying around. $30 OBO with free shipping. Please see the provided pics for exact condition and shoot me a PM if interested in discussing further. Thanks!

I'm working on getting Atari 8-Bit set up in RetroPie using the Atari800 emulator and most everything seems to be working just fine except for this: My WASD keys don't deliver any input at all. I've tried multiple keyboards, checked to make sure they aren't currently bound to joystick controls in the emulator and I assume there is somewhere in the emulator which is binding them to "movement" but I can't seem to find it. So right now, any game that requires pressing "S" to start, like the Scott Adams adventure games, I can't do anything with because my "S" key doesn't work. I've scoured Google looking for solution but it seems there aren't many people who have set up Atari800 on the RetroPie because it most certainly isn't the most user friendly of emulators. Anyone else run into this same issue and found a solution? Thank you in advance for your help!

I offer 30% discount on all remaining Atari 8-bit and C64 software. Just check the latest lists with the regular prices and deduct the 30% discount. ITEMS As some of you may know I've closed my online shop*. Now I'm selling off my stock. I start with the Atari 8-bit software (200+ items, a mix of US and Euro releases, just check the lists) and C64 items (250+ items, a mix of US and Euro releases, just check the lists). The pdf files contain detailed deskription and a picture of each item. The prices stated in the lists were the old shop retail price and of course, I am absolutly open for offers NEWS I've already received quite a few offers for selected games, but I would really like to sell the items in bulks with huge discounts, so please be patience if you've sent an offer for single or few games. SHIPPING I am located in Germany. Shipping USA/Canada: 5kg - 37.99 EUR; 10kg - 54.99 EUR; 20kg - 76.99 EUR Shipping EU: 5kg - 17,99 EURO; 10kg - 22,99; 20kg - 33,99; 31,5kg - 44,99 EUR If you have any questions just drop me a line. Thanls for reading, Marc. * The box business isn't effected by the closing of the shop. Shop_Atari_8bit_Software.pdf Shop_C64t_Software.pdf

M.U.L.E. disk dump working in emulation. Cover has seen much better days. Includes folio, disk, & quick reference card. I cannot smell anything, but may have been stored in parents home for a time, and they were heavy smokers. So, please expect smoke smell (though hopefully there isn't any.) Also, I have a cat, so cat dander is to be expected. Asking $25 + shipping & PayPal fees.SOLD

Family Fun Party Quiz game by Suncom for Atari 8-bit & Commodore 64. Appears to be complete, though box has definitely seen much better days. Much of my vintage items were stored for years in my parents home & they were very heavy smokers. I cannot smell anything, but be warned that there may be a smoke smell. Also, I have a cat so dander is also to be expected. Asking $25 + shipping & PayPal fees.