Letting Go...

[Omega-TI]

 

Um, what?! ...

 

Burned out? Not really, it’s more like a little bored, sort of. I use the old girl on a daily basis, but basically for scheduling, some quick notes, and every few days to call the BBS, but that’s usually the ‘same old same old’, nothing really new or exciting, at least from a hobby aspect.

 

Your right, I have generated quite a few threads, probably more than my fair share, I should probably dial back on that activity a little and give others a chance, especially the newbies. I did that mainly to generate interest and excitement to keep things active and get ideas floating around, because sometimes good things come out of casual discussion. Lately we’ve had a lot of new people come in to carry that baton.

 

As time allows I have done a few ‘small’ projects on my own to fill the void, but nothing great or exciting like the TI-Gods & Gurus, so a while back I bought a cartridge and had a book printed up to learn a new language, but found afterwards that I don’t have the time to devote to it, so it just unfortunately sits there doing nothing. I’m also having some memory issues as well which have been complicating matters. Getting old sucks, so I really like your comment about ‘young man’… it really made my day!

 

This is probably just phase and once ‘the spice flows’ (that one piece of hardware I’m waiting for is released), I’m sure I’ll have renewed interest. The nice thing is that things are coming together behind the scenes that will be able to exploit it more effectively than what is currently available.

 

I'll not speak of this again, even if it could get me a free trip to the Faire!

[Opry99er]

Ill send you the unfinished code for TI Air Sea Battle and you can complete it. Only need a few user input lines and a SCO=SCO+1 in there amd BOOM!!! You've written a fun and entertaining game to be enjoyed by the millions of TI enthusiasts out there.

[BydoEmpire]

I've sold chunks of my collection as well, including my Amigas and STs. I don't feel bad about it, though, I don't have the time to use and maintain the systems, and I used the money for a specific purpose. I keep the stuff I actually use, or might realistically use in the future. Just not a priority in my life right now, and I'm okay with that. It's actually been nice to have fewer computers and consoles - less clutter and more focus. I still have systems I don't have room to keep actively hooked up, so I'm probably doing okay. That doesn't stop me from watching things on ebay or craigslist every so often...

[Tempest]

I honestly haven't missed anything I've sold off. I guess that means I made the right call.

[Emehr]

I honestly haven't missed anything I've sold off. I guess that means I made the right call.

 

I spent this last weekend sorting, inventorying (is that a word), researching, and pricing all of the stuff I intend to sell. When I got towards the end, I felt a rush of "what else can I get rid of?". I wanted to keep going. It felt good. I can't wait to get it out of my house before I change my mind or something. 400+ games and several consoles. This may take a while...

[BigO]

I'm close to the point of getting rid of some stuff, too. I'll never play the SMS. Haven't touched the Genesis in years. Probably won't ever play the RCA Studio II again. Duplicate games for O2. Dozens of functional/non-functional controllers. Ugh. So much junk in that closet.

[Omega-TI]

I never use my O2 anymore, it just sits there with only three games. I've never sold anything on Ebay. I doubt I would get enough for it to justify taking the time to box it up to sell.

 

[R.Cade]

Definitely some things aren't worth enough to warrant the trouble. O2 is one of them... Mine was a gift from my wife's family- she owned it as a child anyway.

 

Personally I don't bother with things worth less than $50. That number can go up depending on how large and more cumbersome they are to ship.

[+OLD CS1]

I never use my O2 anymore, it just sits there with only three games. I've never sold anything on Ebay. I doubt I would get enough for it to justify taking the time to box it up to sell.

 

Man, I have not pulled my O2 out of the box in a while. I am looking forward to getting my new room together. Maybe it will finally see some light!

[BigO]

I never use my O2 anymore, it just sits there with only three games. I've never sold anything on Ebay. I doubt I would get enough for it to justify taking the time to box it up to sell.

Clearly, the solution would be for me to sell you my duplicate O2 games.

Edited September 11, 2015 by BigO

[Tempest]

The biggest hurdle to me getting rid of stuff is having to document and take pictures of it all for selling purposes, so a lot of it is still sitting around. My Atari 8-bit stuff is up next (keeping the system, selling the games), and that's going to take a whole weekend to sort through. Sort of like when I did the hardware last year.

[JacobZu7zu7]

I tend to hold onto things *just in case* I want to play it again, but I been selling a few spare 2600's and a few rare games. Sigh, I'm still growing up. NES games like Contra, Kirbys Adventure I parted with... I play tested before selling, buyers seem thrilled.

 

I almost regret Kirby... just for the game and memory nostalgia of buying it when it was pretty new at Wal-mart. I had a blast solving it back then, and I sold it this year for $20 and bought it new for $10... that ONE makes me feel bittersweet, but its sorta nice to let go. I just remember being blissful playing it at age 15.

 

I'm entering my mid-30's, I been more into PC and internet again, like watching shows and learning things about Windows and software etc.

 

To play NES again, kinda feels like a teenager console compared to Atari... but I will try it again someday, hope soon. I have little to no interest in playing "level" games, which I used to get a real kick out of, of course I was 12-16.

 

The last 2 or 2 1/2 years have been difficult for different reasons, which can sometimes make me less into my gaming hobby and collecting. Collecting things seems to be holding onto something permanently... while life always changes and never stays exact. It can make me feel strange to have too much.

 

I normally don't like to slack on my favorite past times, but I get older or lesser... have to fight back lol.

Edited September 11, 2015 by JacobZu7zu7

[Nutsy Doodleheimer]

I never use my O2 anymore, it just sits there with only three games. I've never sold anything on Ebay. I doubt I would get enough for it to justify taking the time to box it up to sell.

 

PM sent.

[Seob]

Guess at our age we start to get through the dreaded midlife crisis.

Some will sell off everything, others will buy more.

I have been downsizing, resizing my collection for years. First selling off old computers, then the older consoles, only to rebuy them later.

That said i need to sell of some stuff, keeping spare systems can be usefull, but they take up a lot of space. So i need to check what still works, after that i will be selling of some a2600, videopac, c64, amiga, nes, snes and cd-i hardware.

Recently i started getting back into retro pc gaming, but i need to downsize that as well, guess i collected around 10 pc's within a couple of months.

There is stuff i didn't regret selling, since the money that i got for those systems was spent onto my 2 sons, and a ps3 that i play a lot.

Rare stuff like my videopac game prototypes, a philips :yes, a commodore pet, philips p2000, laser 2001, comx35. It was kinda sad to let them go, but once i got the money i was over it.

Other then selling of my spare systems, i don't think i will downsize my collection. Hope my sons will enjoy those systems, got to play some more games together with them, to generate intrest in them. As for buying games, i made a list of games for most off the systems i have with must have games for the system, that i like to play.

[Andromeda Stardust]

I made a similar decision a couple of months ago. I decided to choose between retrocomputing and retrogaming. retrogaming lost. I released these back into the wild.

 

Holy effing cow, the 5200 is really that big? I've seen them in photos but assumed they weren't much wider than a normal Atari

 

Then too, I have built giant 18x8x4 inch game controllers...

[Omega-TI]

Holy effing cow, the 5200 is really that big?

 

YEP, but still a sleek sexy console. I loved it and the games... but the controllers SUCKED!

The top flipped back to hide & store the controllers.

 

[Andromeda Stardust]

 

YEP, but still a sleek sexy console. I loved it and the games... but the controllers SUCKED!

The top flipped back to hide & store the controllers.

 

Yeah AVGN used it to stash his beer.

 

I may get one some day, but the first thing I do is send the controller to Best for a "gold dot" refurb. One analog "gold dot" analog controller, a homebrew digital joystick of my own creation (see links in my sigs for my prior work), and a trackball controller should cover my bases. Most of the analog control video games support the trackball option anyway.

Edited September 12, 2015 by stardust4ever

[Dmitry]

It's interesting, I don't like having a lot of old computers around, but for some odd reason, when I bought my Atari 800 a few years ago (didn't have my original one from the 80's)....for some reason I kept buying - all Atari 8-bits, got an XE, an two 800XL's and a 1200XL.

 

I have no idea why I did that....lol

 

For a while I had one system set up and was using it and programming for several months, that was fun. With all the rest in a box in the closet. Now, they are all in a box in the closet.

 

I'm feeling some more nostalgia coming on and slightly tempted to take the main system back out and try to find space for it.....

[phaxda]

Hey man, at least you got rid of that JIMMY THE GREEK CALCULATOR | 21

 

(I used it almost every day to play Blackjack at work. Everyone just thought I was really running some serious sales numbers.)

 

I'm close to the point of getting rid of some stuff, too. I'll never play the SMS. Haven't touched the Genesis in years. Probably won't ever play the RCA Studio II again. Duplicate games for O2. Dozens of functional/non-functional controllers. Ugh. So much junk in that closet.

[BigO]

Hey man, at least you got rid of that JIMMY THE GREEK CALCULATOR | 21

 

(I used it almost every day to play Blackjack at work. Everyone just thought I was really running some serious sales numbers.)

 

Heh. I think of you every time I see an oddball calculator. I've been tempted to buy some really unusual ones now and then. Afraid I'd get stuck starting another collection.

[Keatah]

Today I have a managable stash:

1 486 DX2/50 + 3x tubs of support gear
2 homebuilt i7 systems currently in use
2 laptops currently in use
TRS-80 Pocket Computer model 1,2,4 Complete MIB NIB CIB (2x tubs)
TI-59 Complete NIB MIB CIB (2x tubs)

A small assortment of calculators with sentimental value

Various electronic kits and odds and ends
1x 2-car garage full of Apple II paraphernalia

 

Wife:
2x Mac Pro cylinder things
MacBook Air something or other

1 PC laptop
Ipad Ipod Iphone

 

In my space cruiser chillout lounge:

1 emulation computer

Other AV gear and displays

 

We just disposed of my PDP-11 and the wife's Vax stuff. Next I'm going to whittle down the Apple II garage to most all the original stuff I had when I was a kid. All the ebay shit is going out the door. OUT OUT OUT!! OUDT OUT! I want all my 'tronic stuff to fit in one SUV or pickup when I'm done. The wife wants hers to fit in the trunk.

 

The Apple /// stuff is a gonner too. It really has nothing to do with Apple II.

 

Previously I had every console ever made up till about the 1990's. Dupes, trips, quads even. I had hired out help to help me complete the collections. And 2000 cartridges and controllers to go with them. Wires, books, manuals, expansion stuff, boards, drives, and everything else under the sun. I had so much material and stuff the piles were 3 meters high, and my pets liked hiding in all the crevices and cubbyholes that resulted. I would strap my video camera to a pole and "fly" it over the "landmass" to see what was on the other side. And I couldn't enjoy one fucking thing. Not one.

 

Once I found something I wanted to retrieve I'd literally swim to get to it. I would take something in front of me and put it behind me, thus moving forward to fill that space. Again and again. And eventually I could get to any part of the room. That's serious hoarding.

 

I was ready to connect the 3 garages together into one monster-sized storage shed. I envisioned an overhead x-y ceiling crane that I could use to "fly" myself over to the area in question and lower myself down to pick at the stuff. Kind of like those stuffed-animal grabber games. Or it'd be like those factory cranes where they build airplanes. I had it all planned out.

 

Soon enough I realized Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak weren't ever going to come over and personally endorse my Apple II collection. And I started getting worried something was wrong. And that this hoard became a hoard. I eventually got tired of babysitting these things. But thankfully in a weird way the local cult of crazies and mother nature took care of the dirty work. I wasn't too upset. And literally days, just days, before the shit went down I had temporarily relocated all the important stuff off-property in preparation for some remodeling work. A room extension and complete garage replacement. And thus all of my original stuff from childhood (listed at the top) escaped unscathed. Fucking remarkable! I would be devastated if something happened to my MicroModem!

 

Seriously guys - I'm reading too many posts about depression and videogame collections. Here and elsewhere.
This needs to be fixed and here's how you do it.

 

You set up a neat spiffy & shiny work area with a few classic pieces of hardware. 1 or 2 nicely configured systems. Preferably the original ones from childhood. We're talking high class. Clean. Organized. The other 100 systems you do through emulation. You'll now have the time to explore the finer points of some games and hardware. You can be at peace with not having to expend extraordinary quantities of energy and time and money toiling and dealing with asshole ebay sellers & dumpster diving. You don't worry about plastics degrading, or paper yellowing. You don't worry about glue eating through labels. You don't ride the videogame grading bandwagon. And cleaning things is easy. Don't be burdened with the bulky boxiness of a big-ass monitor anymore. Don't be burdened with stagnant sprawling messes consuming space.

 

(crossposted)

I invite you to experiment around with emulation.

 

Set yourself up a mini-ITX small set-top-box. There's hundreds of not-PC-looking cases to pick from, or make your own. Yeh, you'll need 4Play or BlissBox, but that's not a big deal. I got BlissBox and IPAC going, shoved them in a cubbyhole corner in the case.

Configure it with SSD and disable all essential services and updates and all that - it won't be going online. XP or 7 is all you need. It'll boot fast. Do a custom desktop and startup screen, and do a nice array of icons representing each system. Pick 1 or 2 emulators for each system you want.

 

You'll get a comprehensive set of supplementary features in a premium emulation rig such as:
1- Manual updates of emulator binaries, system software, and disk/tape images
2- SaveStates / LoadStates
3- Screenshots and Audio/Video capture
4- Overclock / underclock / variable frame rates
5- Unlimited configuration capability, game-by-game & global options
6- Readily available replacement and upgrade parts
7- Colossal internal and external storage capability with SD card support
8- Do-it-yourself modular & easy assembly
9- Rich pause and resume functionality
10- Works with modern DVI-HDI-VGA display devices
11- Simulated and adjustable CRT effects
12- Instant access to games and systems
13- Real genuine quantifiable space savings
14- Consistent and stable display settings
15- Debugger access
16- Cheats, mods, level packs, game patches (all optional)
17- Documentation, manual, box scan, and image repository
18- Extraordinary reliability
19- Easy and full backup capability
20- Custom console configurations, memory, cpu, disk drives, peripherals
21- Plays cartridge - tape - disk images
22- Easy transportation
23- Very cost effective
24- Repeatable experience with no degradation
25- Wide range of sound and display hardware choices
26- Ability to organize a software collection by drag'n'drop in a simple tree structure
27- Amenities of a familiar full-function operating system for maintenance and upgrades
28- Provision for benchmarks and performance metrics
29- Ongoing development of all hardware and software components
30- Aesthetically pleasing for integration into any environment
31- Eliminates storage tubs and bookcases full of wires, equipment, and media
32- No finicky TV switchbox or intermittent legacy electrical connections
33- Play anytime anywhere
34- Everything is self-contained and virtualized into one box
35- Essentially indestructible, repair & replace box, then restore from backup

 

There you have it. 35 compelling advantages to using a real dedicated emulation computer. It’s refined and elegant. Sophisticated. Svelte. Emulation is perfect. Emulation is timeless. Absolutely Fantastic.. Believe it! Live it! Love it!

 

 

 

[Gamemoose]

This has been a very thought provoking post. I had been collecting game consoles and some computer stuff for years. Probably since high school when I had a bunch of Pong systems. It was fun and I played them....and sold some off. Later in retrospect I found I collected out of spite of my ex-wife who, at the beginning of our relationship encouraged me to collect as my previous girlfriend hated it. Found out years later that mentality wasn't true and it slipped out in Freudian fashion. While I still enjoyed the hunt....it became the hunt. I also wanted my daughter to get to play the things I did when I was young. To have a similar experience.

 

During my divorce I kept the systems that were closest to me and either got duplicates or had dupes of systems and games I left behind. I found my daughter doesn't care how she games-she just wants to game. She was happy playing Super Mario 64 on either the real deal or on the Wii Virtual Console. I'm discovering that my fiancee's children also don't care about the "how". They are more interested in the history behind it more so but ultimately it's the content that's king.

 

So now as time gets closer to the wedding day and I move in with my fiancee and her many fabulous children (she's got a lot and they are all wonderful-only good things she got out of her ex) I have to trim my stuff. A part of me still wants to collect as that's what I've known and done, using the idea of the kids getting the same experience I wanted my daughter to have. In the end I'm finding that it's the content...no matter how you wrap it either in plastic or in code, that is important. And wireless controllers for when the wee one wants to play tug-of-war with the console. I have my magazines for that trip back in time.

 

So yeah...time for my CoCo to go to a new home, amongst other items.

[retrorandy]

About 5 years ago I gave my Atari ST and two Amiga 2000s to a friend. I couldn't afford them as a teenager so it was cool to own them as an adult. I had them side by side on two separate desks. They did take up a mountain of space and the Atari SH204 20 meg hard drive sounded like a prop plane when it started up.

 

Years ago I also had collected and let go of a TI 99 system with a gazillion cartridges. I realized I LOVED their TI Invaders, Munchman, and Parsec games. The rest were mainly a bunch of educational games I picked up so off they went. I also collected and got rid of a Channel F system. I loved the look of the system, but the Channel F games not so much.

 

My other systems have been taking up space in storage bins in my way too tiny closets. About 2 weeks ago I brought them out again: An Intellivision, A Non Working Vectrex, Sega Master System, an Atari 800XL, Atari 2600, and an Atari 7800. I'm going to try to figure out how to better utilize or store them outside of the closet. The 800XL will always have a special place in my heart because my first computer was an Atari 600XL (pretty much the same computer with less ram). I kind of wish the multi-cart solution was a little easier (similar to a Harmony Cart) for the Atari 800XL.

 

Ok, in looking I realize I also still have 2 pong systems, an Apple Clamshell, and ya I bought an old G4 Titanium and a Dual Core G4 desktop system so I must be crazy. I seem to get rid of stuff and buy at the same time. lol.

 

But ya the thread definitely resonated with me.

Edited January 2, 2016 by retrorandy

[MarkO]

 

<< SNIP >>

 

But ya the thread definitely resonated with me.

 

First Post!!! Welcome to Atari Age... A home "of sorts" to Retro Collectors...

 

I never had any Atari "stuff".. Sinclair, Apple ][, Commodore and in the last couple years, Tandy Color Computers, ( CoCos )..

 

MarkO

[retrorandy]

 

First Post!!! Welcome to Atari Age... A home "of sorts" to Retro Collectors...

 

I never had any Atari "stuff".. Sinclair, Apple ][, Commodore and in the last couple years, Tandy Color Computers, ( CoCos )..

 

MarkO

 

Thanks for the warm welcome Mark. I've kind of lurked on this website/its forum over the years. I stumbled over here again when I was trying to figure out how to configure retroPIE's Atari 800 emulator. I kind of got it working. Cool to see it emulated, but dang that particular emulator is so not user friendly.

 

I LOVED my C=64C for a very long time. I even wrote all of my term papers in college on Speedscript (typed in from COMPUTE! magazine) and printed them on my trusty old Okidata dot matrix printer. My uncle/cousin always had TRS 80 computers (Cocos and Sinclairs are cool too) early on and another cousin had a very cool Apple IIe. I saw on your website that you had some support for OS2. I never used the OS, but that might also be a fun one to emulate on the retroPIE. I've been goofing around with a Windows 3.11 install on it and it's been taking me back to one of my first jobs out of college.

 

But ya... I'll kick my shoes off and hopefully stay awhile. I've always enjoyed finding gaming/computers/electronic stuff at the Thrift Store. After I posted I started getting wires together to hook up my Atari 7800 to an LCD TV. Dang power supply was humming so loud I thought it was going to electrocute me. Emulation is much less of a hassle.

Edited January 2, 2016 by retrorandy