CARTRIDGES -- Are you a collector or _________?

[Omega-TI]

Lately, our little 99'er community at AtariAge has been growing at a very respectable pace. As new people come in, their preferences and priorities may be different, so I sometimes make polls to take a 'snapshot' of 'where the majority is leaning' or what the communities 'current preference' seems to be.

 

This poll is about CARTRIDGES, please take a moment to record your opinion to help make the poll as accurate as possible.

 

--- Thanks! Ω

[digdugnate]

This is a cool poll!

 

I've gotten a lot of the more 'standard' carts- now I've been focusing on the slightly harder to find ones (Romox, Funware, Atarisoft).

 

I keep an eye on eBay since the area I live in is pretty sparse for this sort of thing, but man are folks proud of those carts.

[+Lee Stewart]

I would think an unqualified 'NO' would be a useful alternative.

 

...lee

[krslam]

I'm a collector/hoarder, with ~230 different TI carts in my collection. For daily use, however, I almost exclusively use multicarts for both convenience and to save wear on the originals and my TI. Might invest in a Flash unit in the future but haven't pulled the trigger yet.

[Omega-TI]

I would think an unqualified 'NO' would be a useful alternative.

 

...lee

 

By your command...

[Asmusr]

A follow-up question: once the FinalGrom99 is released, how many of you would still want to buy a physical cartridge with homebrew software?

[+Lee Stewart]

I like having single-use cartridges, but the multi-cart format has the obvious advantage of reducing wear and tear. Thus, I have no favorite format.

 

...lee

[sparkdrummer]

Back in the 90's I collected, but I pretty much don't anymore. Even at that my collection is well over 200+.

[digdugnate]

i'm looking at the multicarts now- that's pretty darn neat! I didn't think about the obvious 'wear and tear' aspect on the cartridge slot, and considering that i tend to play games on the TI in 20 minute bursts, that would make more sense to me too.

 

nonetheless, i imagine ill continue to keep an eye out for carts i don't have yet.

[barry.peterson]

I have a lot of cartridges but they just accumulate, most were given or included with systems or...

 

 

(BUT, I have purchased a gazillion)

 

[Omega-TI]

A follow-up question: once the FinalGrom99 is released, how many of you would still want to buy a physical cartridge for homebrew software?

 

THAT is a very good question. For me it would have to have something a regular cartridge or an FG99 can not do. The only cartridge capable of this is the UberGROM like in the WiFi configuration by Acadiel.

[BassGuitari]

I have a decent collection of TI game carts (45-ish?), but I don't think there are too many left that I'm missing that would actually be worth hunting down, gameplaywise. I'm more interested in cassettes and disks at this point.

I don't collect education, productivity, or utility cartridges outside of a few essentials like Disk Manager and Extended BASIC. I have wound up with quite a few over the years, though.

And I don't give a shit about FlashROM or FinalGROM since I prefer the physical media and I'm not that serious a TI owner anyway.

Edited May 22, 2017 by BassGuitari

[jedimatt42]

BITD I had a Mechatronics Gram Karte. So using modern multi-carts doesn't feel odd. But for some reason there are a few favorites, that I just like to plug in, and see in the console while I'm playing.

 

Seeing the original carts for some old favorites pulls on my nostalgic side.

 

I really like collecting the new homebrew offerings in individual or small-multi format. That is just cool. And that old adage, "out of site, out of mind" seems to plague me when it all moves to massive-multi cart, or disk based. So having new and old favorites on individual cartridges reminds me to enjoy the old machine for what it is.

 

Someday, I'll collect loose cartridges, have them all mounted on the wall to keep them in mind, and all on a few multi-carts to actually play. Someday...

 

[email protected]

[PeBo]

I am definitely a collector. I currently have all but two of TI-released english language library (TI-Calc and Electrical Engineering - Circuit Analysis 1). I am also missing Individual Accounting (Buchungshournal), which I believe was only ever released in French and German). Of course in getting a complete collection, I've also ended up with several duplicates of common cartridges.

 

My prized ones are Terminal Emulator 1, Demonstration, and Diagnostics - each of which I have with manual, overlays (TE1) and the original flip-front boxes. (and each of which serve no useful purpose besides being an collector-ego item)

 

Wherever possible, I have the boxes and manuals (although with TI-releases I'd say the manual is far more important than the box, since the boxes were generic. The exception would be the much harder to find flip-front 99/4 boxes with the cartridge label display window on the side...only have 4 of those - so far.

 

I have all the Atarisoft carts CIB (including the modern compilation cart) and Parker Bros (including the modern Tutankham release), and am working on the DataBioTics collection (a baker's dozen so far - all with original manuals (cha-ching)). I'm missing the same two Funware carts as most folks (St Nick and Video Vegas). Romox only had a couple good games (my opionion only) so I was never in a rush to collect any of them - especially since they are always way over-priced. (Hard to justify a high $ value when I think the games kinda suck) . I also have most of the original-era one-offs like Strike-Three and Computer Wars.

 

Have a hard time answering "What is your favourite cartridge Format?"...because really that's like asking if you like oranges or grapes. I love my Rasmus 3-in-1 because it contains three great games on a single cartridge, and I bought the Atarisoft collection (even though I already had all the originals) so that I could get Superstorm and Robotron 2084. I'd buy it again if Joust turns up someday. I also have a FR99 and will be among the first in line to get an FRG99, because those carts are insanely convenient, and save wear and tear of the TI cartridge port (which is known to become less reliable with time).

 

I also have Break Free, and a copy of any cart that Mark Hull has released (and will buy anything he might release in the future because his games are among the best you can play on your TI.), but in most cases, I'm fine with a DSK version if one is available, (like Jet Set Willy, JetPack, Bouncy, Squary or Snake Plissken...although I have been tempted to get a stand-alone cart of SabreWulf. Nowadays I buy a cartridge more often to show my support for the author more than needing yet another cartridge.

 

Generally speaking original era carts have a very different personal value (and let's face it , for a few rare ones, a very different real-world value as well) making them far more valued possessions than something that I can buy on arcadeshopper.com or direct from the creators anytime... That doesn't mean I favour one over the other, but something that is hard to find is always going to be more of a treasure. Modern cartridges - be they huge multi-program on UberGROM boards, or single games are a less important part of my collection, precisely because they are still in production.

 

BUT, that being said, if anyone got an extra Pitfall when they were still available with the cool and groovy label, I would very much like to get my hands on one of those! Still kicking myself over not getting one when they were available!

[PeBo]

A follow-up question: once the FinalGrom99 is released, how many of you would still want to buy a physical cartridge for homebrew software?

 

Depends on the software. As I said above I would still like to get Sabre Wulf on a cartridge, and if Marc continues to code for the 4A, I'd happily buy his next offering. Filing an FGR99 and filing a cartridge bookcase are two completely different endeavours...one does not cancel the other - or at least it shouldn't when vintage hardware is the hobby, where dust collectors are not dust collectors at all!

[digdugnate]

A follow-up question: once the FinalGrom99 is released, how many of you would still want to buy a physical cartridge for homebrew software?

Absolutely!

[+InsaneMultitasker]

Extended BASIC has always been my go to cartridge. You can run and do nearly anything if you have that cartridge, 32K, and a disk system. This year I've been using the ubergrom cartridge almost exclusively, since it offers XB, some utilities, and a UART.

 

I don't have a desire to keep more than a few cartridges and my collecting days are long since past. In fact, I hope to be floppy-free soon, with all files backed up to disk images/EZ135 platters/and the cloud. I really like the FR99 and FG99 concepts but since I don't play many games and I prefer my Geneve for development work, I have minimal use for cartridges at this time.

[+fimbulvetr]

Heh. Not getting Pitfall is one of my regrets as well. I collect cartridges, both old and new but only games. I have no interest in the educational stuff or utility carts (unless they are actually useful like extended basic or assembler).

[PeBo]

I like collecting the educational and application software mainly for their value as a reminder of the era. Game provide a "tactile" nostalgia - we played them then, so playing them now returns both emotional and muscle memory responses.

 

But TI educational software really shows the difference between the world today and the one we once lived in. Can't remember which cart it is, but in one of the grammar programs, the user is tasked with naming a school football team. Once the name is selected, the user is asked if the name is "keen" or "wicked". It struck me that any child doing the exercise in 2017 would get the answer wrong, since today's meaning of "wicked" actually means awesome and "keen" would likely have no meaning whatsoever to a 10 year old today. Finding stuff like that really brings home the world of 1980's more effectively than any game!

 

In the applications, they are living records that the Y2K bug really did exist, and while it never wreaked the havoc some expected on 1999 operating systems, it did render many 1980's software useless since the 19_ _ is hardcoded in, making any dates past 1999 impossible to enter without using an equivalent 20th century year (1978 and 1989 uses the same calendar as 2017 for example). It's also fun to look at Multiplan and realize that it is an early incarnation of Excel.

 

So while games tickle that part of your brain that allows you to derive visceral joy from reliving a moment in time from 30 years ago, the enjoyment of non-game cartridges is different, and makes the nostalgic connection between the world we live in now, and the one that now seems so very far away. To me, that's a lot of what collecting is about.

[Sinphaltimus]

I guess I'll chime in.

 

Currently, I rely on fr99 for most of my cart needs.

 

Those not supported I use real carts like;

Extended Basic, Editor Assembler and when ready to give assembly a straight up go, mini-memory module.

 

I want a fg99 desperately so I can move my fr99 to a different console.

 

I really can't afford to start another cart collection. I'm considering selling all 96 of my Atari 2600 vcs carts to buy a harmony cartridge.

 

As for the homebrew collection, I don't have any. I would certainly like several. Perhaps someday I'll collect those. Right now my expenditures are allocated towards hardware. Once I square up several hardware projects in '17, I'll be looking at the homebrews.