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Q: How many of you are left in the cold still waiting for your High Score Cartridge?

 

:?: ...or your Awecade?

 

:?: ...or your CX40 USB Joystick or Flashback or whatever else?

 

:?: ...or for Curt's friendly personal assistance on any of the Legacy products above?

 

A: My guess: NONE.

 

So why would the XM be any different from what has come before? Take a chill pill and have a little faith in the guy..

 

Even if you received your XM today, the games arent ready to go until GroovyBee and the star trek boys are finished with their projects and happy with how they came out. They are hobbiests working on personal projects no different than a man building a ship in a bottle. It's done when it's done. A homebrew artist's labor is not your right. They don't owe answers to anybody but themselves. So hurry up and bug Curt for that XM just to slap it in your 7800 to sit there and look pretty until the games are ready to roll. Who to whine and complain to THEN?

 

 

 

SOME THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND

 


  1.  
  2. The man dived into hot goopy dumpsters and went jumping around in garbage to salvage our history, hauled it home to the other end of the continent and spent years puting the puzzle pieces back together to give us the picture of Ataris history that we have today. How many of you have shown that level of commitment?
  3. He created the AHS website and has maintained it as the respectable source of history for many years.
  4. He kindly and selflessly offers his time and assistance to others starting new Atari websites and projects.
  5. He has lots of prototypes and pre-release things but he doesnt horde them like others out there. He always shares great finds with the community.
  6. He puts more of his own resources into this stuff than you could imagine. (I'd bet money probably more than some of you make in a year.) It's a labor of love.
  7. He has written books and other things.
  8. His initials are CV yet he remains committed to Atari.
  9. He's been stiffed by Nolan Bushnell himself (a large but interesting club to be a member of) he knows how it feels to be stiffed and certainly doesnt like it.
  10. He has maintained a good reputation within the community for 15-20 years now. It's unlikely he will throw that out the window and jetset off to Cancoon to stiff you on your $90.
  11. ENGINEERING PROJECTS TAKE TIME. PERIOD.
  12. If he doesnt respond to your email every day maybe it's because he's busy working on completing this project, or, quite possibly, with some other aspect of life, work, husbandry, etc. Do you people realize how much time is drained out of the day responding to all those emails? That's a babysitters job. Emailing every day reminding that you paid for a pre-order and asking if it's ready yet is akin to a bratty child in the wayback jumpseat of the station wagon incessently whining "ARE WE THERE YET?" Be an adult about it, or don't pre-order a homebrew item in the middle of development if you can't handle what that means.
  13. And Curt has continued to do all of these things through raising a family, falling ill and having multiple open heart surgeries. He's lucky to be alive.

 

 

Now it's hard enough being the captain, I certainly wouldn't want CURT'S job. Look at this ungrateful mob with their pitchforks and mob mentality. I am shocked and saddened to see how some of you people in our own community have treated such a dedicated man. What a bunch of uncouth ingrates. It's okay to disagree and have your own opinion on things but don't be a baby about it. Be a gentleman. Deal with your problems privately. Have some general respect and try to be a friendly person.

 

And most of all, remember that we're all here to have fun! :D

 

CURT + AHS + AA FTW :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

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Well, folks, if you're disappointed that we won't be getting anymore direct-to-hobbyist projects from Curt ... now you know who to thank.

 

So now your trying to blame me of all people for something I have nothing to do with? Just exactly who do you think you are? :roll:

I made one observation sumorizing what I took away from reading this thread and your gonna start acusing me of shit like controling

other peoples actions? Ya ok fella, whatever gets your rocks off. :rolling: You say stupid shit like that to total strangers in real life too?

Why don't you go give it a try and let us all know how that works out for ya k?? :ponder: :lol:

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Joe, I totally agree and can't think of anything else that needs to be said.

 

Well done. A big +1 :thumbsup:

 

 

Thank you Tubular Gearhead. I agree. I adon't think there's anything else that could be said. It is what it is and reasonable people see that.

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So now your trying to blame me of all people for something I have nothing to do with? Just exactly who do you think you are? :roll: I made one observation sumorizing what I took away from reading this thread and your gonna start acusing me of shit like controling other peoples actions?

I wasn't going to bring this up again, but since you mentioned it, it isn't just my accusation: Curt himself indicated that your remarks and attitude--particularly the absurd "God comment", which he took exception to twice--were among those that contributed to his decision to abandon direct-to-hobbyist projects. I didn't mean to suggest that you did it entirely alone, but you certainly didn't help ("straws" and "camels" and "broken backs" and all that). "Who do I think I am", you ask? I'm somebody who can read and who is aware of Curt's reputation and contributions, which is all anyone needs to be to see that your comments about him were inappropriate.

 

But as Cebus rightly pointed out yesterday, this thread should be about the forthcoming XM, so let's try to keep it that way.

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This was done per my suggestion btw and only 20 mins later it was done. :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

Don't be so modest. We all know that you went back in time and got his parents together. If it wasn't for you, there would be no Curt Vendel.

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This was done per my suggestion btw and only 20 mins later it was done. :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

Don't be so modest. We all know that you went back in time and got his parents together. If it wasn't for you, there would be no Curt Vendel.

 

We don't use our time machines for that stuff everyone knows thats abuse of the space-time continuum. :thumbsdown: :thumbsdown:

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So now your trying to blame me of all people for something I have nothing to do with? Just exactly who do you think you are? :roll: I made one observation sumorizing what I took away from reading this thread and your gonna start acusing me of shit like controling other peoples actions?

I wasn't going to bring this up again, but since you mentioned it, it isn't just my accusation: Curt himself indicated that your remarks and attitude--particularly the absurd "God comment", which he took exception to twice--were among those that contributed to his decision to abandon direct-to-hobbyist projects. I didn't mean to suggest that you did it entirely alone, but you certainly didn't help ("straws" and "camels" and "broken backs" and all that). "Who do I think I am", you ask? I'm somebody who can read and who is aware of Curt's reputation and contributions, which is all anyone needs to be to see that your comments about him were inappropriate.

 

But as Cebus rightly pointed out yesterday, this thread should be about the forthcoming XM, so let's try to keep it that way.

 

I don't want to get in the crossfire, but I think there is a little confusion going on here regarding which "god" comment is being referenced. Wasn't it sermajic's comment that pushed Curt over the edge, not Shawn Sr.'s?

 

http://www.atariage.com/forums/topic/175033-xm-status-page/page__st__500__p__2329029#entry2329029

 

See post 501 & 514.

 

He is gone now anyway... ;)

Edited by Tubular Gearhead
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I don't want to get in the crossfire, but I think there is a little confusion going on here regarding which "god" comment is being referenced. Wasn't it sermajic's comment that pushed Curt over the edge, not Shawn Sr.'s?

I don't think it's necessary to rehash the issue any more (and perhaps it was a mistake for me to even mention it); as you say, one of the main instigators has already been deservedly banned. I quoted what I interpreted to be the offending comments in my earlier post, but whether it was those remarks or someone else picking them up and running with them, what was said was said. Let's leave it at that before this thread goes any further off-track.

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Q: How many of you are left in the cold still waiting for your High Score Cartridge?

Me. And at least one other person here. As long as I get it, I don't mind, the problem being I don't know when that will be...

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I'm hoping to someday be able to program with the OSS written 7800 BASIC. Since they wrote the BASIC language for Atari, I'm curious to see how similar and different it is to Atari Basic for the 8-bits. Obviously there won't be any Player-missile graphics stuff but it will be cool to see what it can do. It will be fun to write some simple magazine-type programs for it.

 

Escape From Epsilon for the 7800! :)

 

Allan

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Q: How many of you are left in the cold still waiting for your High Score Cartridge?

 

:?: ...or your Awecade?

 

:?: ...or your CX40 USB Joystick or Flashback or whatever else?

 

:?: ...or for Curt's friendly personal assistance on any of the Legacy products above?

 

A: My guess: NONE.

 

So why would the XM be any different from what has come before? Take a chill pill and have a little faith in the guy..

 

Even if you received your XM today, the games arent ready to go until GroovyBee and the star trek boys are finished with their projects and happy with how they came out. They are hobbiests working on personal projects no different than a man building a ship in a bottle. It's done when it's done. A homebrew artist's labor is not your right. They don't owe answers to anybody but themselves. So hurry up and bug Curt for that XM just to slap it in your 7800 to sit there and look pretty until the games are ready to roll. Who to whine and complain to THEN?

 

 

 

SOME THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND

 


  1.  
  2. The man dived into hot goopy dumpsters and went jumping around in garbage to salvage our history, hauled it home to the other end of the continent and spent years puting the puzzle pieces back together to give us the picture of Ataris history that we have today. How many of you have shown that level of commitment?
  3. He created the AHS website and has maintained it as the respectable source of history for many years.
  4. He kindly and selflessly offers his time and assistance to others starting new Atari websites and projects.
  5. He has lots of prototypes and pre-release things but he doesnt horde them like others out there. He always shares great finds with the community.
  6. He puts more of his own resources into this stuff than you could imagine. (I'd bet money probably more than some of you make in a year.) It's a labor of love.
  7. He has written books and other things.
  8. His initials are CV yet he remains committed to Atari.
  9. He's been stiffed by Nolan Bushnell himself (a large but interesting club to be a member of) he knows how it feels to be stiffed and certainly doesnt like it.
  10. He has maintained a good reputation within the community for 15-20 years now. It's unlikely he will throw that out the window and jetset off to Cancoon to stiff you on your $90.
  11. ENGINEERING PROJECTS TAKE TIME. PERIOD.
  12. If he doesnt respond to your email every day maybe it's because he's busy working on completing this project, or, quite possibly, with some other aspect of life, work, husbandry, etc. Do you people realize how much time is drained out of the day responding to all those emails? That's a babysitters job. Emailing every day reminding that you paid for a pre-order and asking if it's ready yet is akin to a bratty child in the wayback jumpseat of the station wagon incessently whining "ARE WE THERE YET?" Be an adult about it, or don't pre-order a homebrew item in the middle of development if you can't handle what that means.
  13. And Curt has continued to do all of these things through raising a family, falling ill and having multiple open heart surgeries. He's lucky to be alive.

 

 

Now it's hard enough being the captain, I certainly wouldn't want CURT'S job. Look at this ungrateful mob with their pitchforks and mob mentality. I am shocked and saddened to see how some of you people in our own community have treated such a dedicated man. What a bunch of uncouth ingrates. It's okay to disagree and have your own opinion on things but don't be a baby about it. Be a gentleman. Deal with your problems privately. Have some general respect and try to be a friendly person.

 

And most of all, remember that we're all here to have fun! :D

 

CURT + AHS + AA FTW :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

 

 

Well said Joe +1 Curt has done so much, it really dose make me feel sick to my stomach. :(

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There ought to be a "hobby hardware FAQ" for people who just don't get the basic economics of these projects.

 

I sold Skunkboards for $85, and I had people say things like, 'Well, an iPhone is $99, so $85 is pretty steep for a naked circuit board.' After all, Apple makes billions on iPhones, so an $85 piece of hardware should be worth, I dunno, millions? Can you believe these hobby hardware fat cats don't give Apple levels of customer service?

 

Gentle reader, hobby hardware does not work that way.

 

I went $15,000 in debt for 6 months to produce 200 Skunkboards. Go ahead and compute my gross profit. Net profit is, of course, much less, after defects and damage and loss in the mail.

 

How much money do you save when we work directly with the community? I researched it. Most stores just laughed at me, but a few would do it, for 40%. That $85 product would cost you $149 instead.

 

The other hobby hardware guys all have the same experience: It takes hundreds or thousands of hours of R&D, then hundreds more hours working with the community. By the end, the creator earns less than McDonald's wages. They usually earn less than sweatshop wages. Many lose money.

 

In all cases, these are talented engineers with day jobs who earn large salaries. Why are they giving up time, wages, and family goodwill, to your hobby?

 

It's charity, and love for the community.

 

TL;DR version:

 

  • You complainers are in the soup kitchen spitting in the face of the volunteer giving you a third helping.
  • Nobody is making money on you. You aren't buying a product, you're covering the cost.
  • You're not a "customer", you're receiving a gift you did not pay for:
    The time, love, and sweat of a fellow community member.

Almost everybody gets this, and they show appreciation for the gift. The remainder need a dose of reality.

 

- KS

Edited by kskunk
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I just can't wait to put the XM'ed 7800 next to the 32X'ed Genesis/Sega CD. I have a feeling the XM will win the beauty contest for sure next to the outlet hog. If only Atari lasted long enough to give us a 7800 CDX or a 7800 Express! Curt, this is still the coolest thing I've seen for any legacy system. I just wish I could be a fly on the wall watching all this stuff come together.

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...

 

SOME THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND

 


  1.  
  2. The man dived into hot goopy dumpsters and went jumping around in garbage to salvage our history, hauled it home to the other end of the continent and spent years puting the puzzle pieces back together to give us the picture of Ataris history that we have today. How many of you have shown that level of commitment?
  3. He created the AHS website and has maintained it as the respectable source of history for many years.
  4. He kindly and selflessly offers his time and assistance to others starting new Atari websites and projects.
  5. He has lots of prototypes and pre-release things but he doesnt horde them like others out there. He always shares great finds with the community.
  6. He puts more of his own resources into this stuff than you could imagine. (I'd bet money probably more than some of you make in a year.) It's a labor of love.
  7. He has written books and other things.
  8. His initials are CV yet he remains committed to Atari.
  9. He's been stiffed by Nolan Bushnell himself (a large but interesting club to be a member of) he knows how it feels to be stiffed and certainly doesnt like it.
  10. He has maintained a good reputation within the community for 15-20 years now. It's unlikely he will throw that out the window and jetset off to Cancoon to stiff you on your $90.
  11. ENGINEERING PROJECTS TAKE TIME. PERIOD.
  12. If he doesnt respond to your email every day maybe it's because he's busy working on completing this project, or, quite possibly, with some other aspect of life, work, husbandry, etc. Do you people realize how much time is drained out of the day responding to all those emails? That's a babysitters job. Emailing every day reminding that you paid for a pre-order and asking if it's ready yet is akin to a bratty child in the wayback jumpseat of the station wagon incessently whining "ARE WE THERE YET?" Be an adult about it, or don't pre-order a homebrew item in the middle of development if you can't handle what that means.
  13. And Curt has continued to do all of these things through raising a family, falling ill and having multiple open heart surgeries. He's lucky to be alive.

 

#7- of course- being by far the most impressive. lol :D

 

Joking aside, I just wanted to say that I totally agree with Joe and the rest of the ya. I realize that I'm not exactly a regular here at AA, but I am a hardcore classic/vintage gaming enthusiast who greatly appreciates everything Curt and others like him have done for the hobby. I hate to see you go Curt, but I do understand.

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There ought to be a "hobby hardware FAQ" for people who just don't get the basic economics of these projects.

 

I sold Skunkboards for $85, and I had people say things like, 'Well, an iPhone is $99, so $85 is pretty steep for a naked circuit board.' After all, Apple makes billions on iPhones, so an $85 piece of hardware should be worth, I dunno, millions? Can you believe these hobby hardware fat cats don't give Apple levels of customer service?

 

Gentle reader, hobby hardware does not work that way.

 

I went $15,000 in debt for 6 months to produce 200 Skunkboards. Go ahead and compute my gross profit. Net profit is, of course, much less, after defects and damage and loss in the mail.

 

How much money do you save when we work directly with the community? I researched it. Most stores just laughed at me, but a few would do it, for 40%. That $85 product would cost you $149 instead.

 

The other hobby hardware guys all have the same experience: It takes hundreds or thousands of hours of R&D, then hundreds more hours working with the community. By the end, the creator earns less than McDonald's wages. They usually earn less than sweatshop wages. Many lose money.

 

In all cases, these are talented engineers with day jobs who earn large salaries. Why are they giving up time, wages, and family goodwill, to your hobby?

 

It's charity, and love for the community.

 

TL;DR version:

 

  • You complainers are in the soup kitchen spitting in the face of the volunteer giving you a third helping.
  • Nobody is making money on you. You aren't buying a product, you're covering the cost.
  • You're not a "customer", you're receiving a gift you did not pay for:
    The time, love, and sweat of a fellow community member.

Almost everybody gets this, and they show appreciation for the gift. The remainder need a dose of reality.

 

- KS

 

See, this is a funny, timely sentiment and all - but this kind of passive aggressive, elitist attitude of lording over people who may or may not be interested in your crazy homebrew ideas isn't really helping much either. There seems to be an awful lot of this kind of kidding, (but not really kidding), smug looking down upon the community at large here on AA. And As Shawn so eloquently (LOL) pointed out, there are those who patiently wait, those who disagree with this approach/product, and those who will sycophantically defend said passive aggressive bullying as if it's needed and justified. It takes all kinds, I guess.

 

And YES, I realize this post was delivered with a heaping helping of sarcasm, and is not to be taken as an entirely serious attempt at addressing the community. But it is readily apparent that not everyone who posts and reads here has the ability to properly detect and process sarcastic humor and put it into the proper perspective.

 

But seriously, if you're going to throw yourself out there and jump into one of these endeavors, though the community at large may benefit from your actions, the decision is yours alone. Not everyone is going to agree with your choices, and really - no one should be expected to really "care" about your losses if things don't work out as planned. This was the project leader's choice. No one forced them into it. And with that, being gracious with the people who payed ahead of time will bring far more willing supporters than bragging or complaining about how much money and effort and time it may have taken.

 

I've never seen Bob, or Curt be anything BUT gracious throughout all of this, and the same goes for Chad Schell and Ken Siders before them in their projects. and Albert here has been tirelessly diligent in taking care of his customer's whims as well. I'm sure they will be immeasurably relieved once this thing ships and the accolades start rolling in.

Edited by Underball
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...see, this is a funny, timely sentiment and all - but this kind of passive aggressive, elitist attitude of lording over people who may or may not be interested in your crazy homebrew ideas isn't really helping much either. There seems to be an awful lot of this kind of kidding, (but not really kidding), smug looking down upon the community at large here on AA... blah blah blah

 

You don't half talk some shit, Underball. You pollute this forum like a cancer.

 

sycopahtically

 

lol

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...see, this is a funny, timely sentiment and all - but this kind of passive aggressive, elitist attitude of lording over people who may or may not be interested in your crazy homebrew ideas isn't really helping much either. There seems to be an awful lot of this kind of kidding, (but not really kidding), smug looking down upon the community at large here on AA... blah blah blah

 

You don't half talk some shit, Underball. You pollute this forum like a cancer.

 

sycopahtically

 

lol

That's nice. I have no idea who you are.

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There seems to be an awful lot of this kind of kidding, (but not really kidding), smug looking down upon the community at large here on AA.

You're right, I was trying to be playful, but I'm also serious. I was hoping a lighter tone would make it easier to swallow.

 

But I'm sincere about this point: Volunteering is a lot of work. Benefiting from unpaid work is a lot less so, even when it doesn't go how you hoped. Is it too smug to ask for some understanding?

 

Some users want a 'finished product from a faceless corporation'. If the designers shared that mindset, it would all be a lot more professional, but there would be no more new products past 1988 or so.

 

The products you get now don't work under a professional philosophy, because profiting is impossible. Since then, we've been under the volunteer/donation philosophy.

 

But seriously, if you're going to throw yourself out there and jump into one of these endeavors, though the community at large may benefit from your actions, the decision is yours alone.

That's true, but I'm holding out an olive branch to the community here and asking for some more empathy.

 

I understand people get frustrated when they don't have their new toy. I just want you to imagine how much more difficult that can be on the designer's side, especially when it starts compounding. Two against one is unfair. Five against one, and you look for the exit.

 

Not everyone is going to agree with your choices, and really - no one should be expected to really "care" about your losses if things don't work out as planned.

Someone has to keep this volunteer program going. And if it's not the people who benefit from it, it won't be the ones who put in the hours and max out their credit cards.

 

You have to be incredibly gracious to get all the way to the end of a project here, because a few bad apples always slow you down. Some designers are so unbelievably cool you might mistake them for professionals. They're still volunteers.

 

The more gracious designers are reading this thread too, but they're too smart to butt in. (Unlike me!) You think this kind of bickering only affects Curt?

 

Maybe extending an olive branch to the beehive wasn't the best plan. Back to lurking.

 

- KS

Edited by kskunk
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