What's the latest Atari related thing(s) you've bought on ebay?

[cwilbar]

@Nezgar,  I'll give that a try.  I'm pretty sure its in the intermediate load prior to the copy protection verification, but worth a test with unhappy to make sure.

 

Thanks.

 

[Gunstar]

I can verify what @Nezgar says about original copy-protected disks only loading in unhappy mode. I've had a Happy 1050 (though mine is an Atarimax clone) for about 3-4 years and that's the only way I get my original copy protected software to load. when ever I play original disk games on my 1200XL with the Happy 1050, I just automatically load up the Happy 7.1 disk and turn on unhappy mode. Any ATR's I've downloaded are formatted for Happy when I write them to a real floppy and Ultraspeed works with them. But originals copied with Happy, some games, depending on unique copy protection, still only allow unhappy mode, Alternate Reality is one example, But EA games are very touchy too, and require special files loaded from the backside of the Happy disk to make happy copies work. I don't know if EA copies made with Happy can load at ultraspeed, as I've never tried copying an EA title yet. I have cracked ATR versions of them all except for my Movie Maker program. Well, I have cracks of them all, but I use real original floppies if I own them, with the real floppy drives. Most cracked ATR's I use with SD/CF card devices or load straight off the PC with APE and SIO2PC.

Edited August 21, 2020 by Gunstar

[Mrarkus]

I have been diving a bit more into the original family lately, so just scored a nice Atari 800, and will be upgrading it with the Incognito. 

[manterola]

New ESP32 board, this time Wrover version with micro SD slot included. I'll check if it works good for a DIY FujiNet. 

It came from China with speedpak. 

I'll report back for the people interested. 

Mauricio

[+slx]

A modded 1050 with a single digit display nicely set into the bezel and a switch below (innards not yet inspected) plus PSU, an XL/XE PSU, a Star and a Seikosha printer (which turned out to have Commodore connectors, never mind I have a C128 but now need cables), around 60 floppies (most probably with pirated software) plus a composite/S-Video/SCART/TTL monitor, all untested for 50€. Making progress on clearing my desk for testing.... The gentleman who sold it had given up on his private computer museum and had sold off everything except one box that he had overlooked, hence the strange mix.

 

Thumbing through the Atari projects book I hit the "downsize your collection" project...

[Fierodoug5]

On 8/25/2020 at 1:26 PM, manterola said:

New ESP32 board, this time Wrover version with micro SD slot included. I'll check if it works good for a DIY FujiNet. 

It came from China with speedpak. 

I'll report back for the people interested. 

Mauricio

 

Interested to see how that works out

Doug

[Gunstar]

Another rare purchase and find by me of recent on Ebay.

 

Synapse's Syncalc, Synfile and Syntrend in one collection and great shape for only $24.95 + $6 shipping. They usually sell for that much each. I do use these programs, the first two anyway, and do want originals for my collection. It would be nice to collect the entire Syn-series if I can, but I have to find more deals like this, especially since I don't know if I'll ever use any of them but calc and file.

 

 

 

 

Edited September 2, 2020 by Gunstar

[Gunstar]

I just double checked, it appears Synstat comes with Syntrend, so I have half the series, and need Syncron, Syncomm and Synstock still. unless I count SynAssembler, but I'm not sure if that's really considered part of the "Syn" application series or not. Anything I'm missing in this series? I went to Atarimania and it's all they had listed.

Edited September 3, 2020 by Gunstar

[gilsaluki]

17 hours ago, Gunstar said:

Another rare purchase and find by me of recent on Ebay.

 

Synapse's Syncalc, Synfile and Syntrend in one collection and great shape for only $24.95 + $6 shipping. They usually sell for that much each. I do use these programs, the first two anyway, and do want originals for my collection. It would be nice to collect the entire Syn-series if I can, but I have to find more deals like this, especially since I don't know if I'll ever use any of them but calc and file.

 

 

 

 

Great find Matt!  For historical purposes, anyway.  Thelma Sunvision (AAAUA) sent me SynCalc and SynFile.  I have never utilized either of them.  Still thankful.  God Rest Her Soul...

[adamchevy]

[bfollowell]

I've noticed that almost every single Atari or Wico trackball, or any other brand I may have seen over the years, is really aged and discolored. Has anyone ever tried cleaning or RetroBrighting them? Those balls are thick and heavy enough that I doubt much short of a direct nuclear strike would hurt them.

 

[Gunstar]

I think I tried cleaning the ball on mine without luck. But I do believe that the balls, at least on this model of Atari track-ball, is a genuine billiards cue-ball, so replacing it shouldn't be too hard. But I've never bought billiards balls, so I don't know their cost or if you can purchase a cue-ball separately or if you have to buy an entire set.

Edited September 4, 2020 by Gunstar

[adamchevy]

I think I tried cleaning the ball on mine without luck. But I do believe that the balls, at least on this model of Atari track-ball, is a genuine billiards cue-ball, so replacing it shouldn't be too hard. But I've never bought billiards balls, so I don't know their cost or if you can purchase a cue-ball separately or if you have to buy an entire set.

 

I’ve replaced CX80 Trak balls in the past with new billiards balls. You can find them for sale on eBay separately for sale most of the time. I think I paid 9 or 10$ for the last one I purchased, but that was a few years ago. The feel and weight was exactly the same but smoother because it was new.

 

Thanks to your conversation I decided to pick one up for my CX22. It was $15 shipped.

 

[adamchevy]

[Gearhead Lu]

I have a couple Wico Atari ST trackballs (two buttons) that have yellowed balls also. Did not realize the yellowing until I saw the box pictures. Have not tried to whiten them. I thought maybe try putting the ball in the sunlight, but could turn out uneven whitening. Forecast tomorrow said it could get up to 110F here. I wonder if that is too hot to try whitening plastic??

 

After cleaning track balls and the guides, I use Pledge furniture polish spray on the ball and makes it spin super smooth. It contains silicone that makes it slipery. Spray on, wipe off.

I do this often on a trackball that I use on my current PC. Pledge also works good as a cheap auto or bike detailer.

 

[Gunstar]

1 hour ago, Gearhead Lu said:

I have a couple Wico Atari ST trackballs (two buttons) that have yellowed balls also. Did not realize the yellowing until I saw the box pictures. Have not tried to whiten them. I thought maybe try putting the ball in the sunlight, but could turn out uneven whitening. Forecast tomorrow said it could get up to 110F here. I wonder if that is too hot to try whitening plastic??

 

After cleaning track balls and the guides, I use Pledge furniture polish spray on the ball and makes it spin super smooth. It contains silicone that makes it slipery. Spray on, wipe off.

I do this often on a trackball that I use on my current PC. Pledge also works good as a cheap auto or bike detailer.

 

DISCLAIMER: Sorry I meant to quote @bfollowell (post 4761) not you, Gearhead Lu.

 

I submerged the ball in peroxide and water in a tub (along with other items) for 2-3 days and any effect on the yellowing was insignificant. It just doesn't retro-brite like plastics. Maybe if you left it out in direct sunlight for a month, rotating it, it might eventually bleach out again, but my track-ball works fine which is the important part, and I figure eventually I'll get around to buying a new cue-ball for it.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

One thing I should mention about looking for a cue-ball for it, make sure it's a standard regulation size cue-ball; at least in American bars and some pool houses, with coin-operated pool tables, the cue-ball is a different size (smaller) so that it goes down the right tube to the scratch-shot retrieval, while the other balls go into lock-up in the side of the table until more quarters are inserted. I don't know if these cue-balls are widely available, If one of these smaller cue-balls is used it may leave too much room between in an the opening so that the ball has room to skip, and doesn't roll as smooth.

 

This also occurs if the metal spindles have grooves develop from years of use, like mine are, enough to completely remove the nickle plating, down to the brass, about a centimeter wide . I found some trackball spindles on-line for replacements, but before I ordered I discovered it was enough to just put a layer of medical tape (it sticks and stays put better than electrical tape) underneath the spindles' bearing cups where they rest. this raised the ball up the same amount as the groove was deep on the spindles. It works great again now. But this is not a permanent solution, as the grooves made on the spindles by the ball could get deep enough that it restricts diagonal movement too much and makes the ball "skip" or "jump." But, in the case of the metal spindles, it could be another decade of use before the grooves get too bad, if used regularly.

Edited September 5, 2020 by Gunstar

[Tillek]

On 5/18/2020 at 12:53 PM, jamm said:

Never would've guessed that Peachtree was released for the A8!

Peachtree wrote accounting software for the Atari????  Wow... never knew that.  I had a few clients using Peachtree back when I had my IT business.  If I had known, I could have "upgraded" them.   Probably would have fewer problems.

 

[Gunstar]

I just got some Atari/Fuji metallic badge/labels in the mail I forgot I'd ordered from eBay. They are to add an Atari badge to custom cases I have made for devices without cases. Multiple pictures are an attempt to capture the chrome in the light...with limited success. I originally wanted to order genuine Atari badges like are on the 400/800/810, but MyAtari wants $10 each plus shipping these days which I found ludicrous, so I found these as an alternative, and 4 cost me the price of one badge from MyAtari.

 

 

Edited September 25, 2020 by Gunstar

[gilsaluki]

I got some of those a few years ago.  They are good.

[Preppie]

I got outbid on a couple of 800s recently   I think I need to accept that UK prices are insane compared to US and just throw some money at the problem before they increase in price any more.

[+slx]

50 minutes ago, Preppie said:

I got outbid on a couple of 800s recently   I think I need to accept that UK prices are insane compared to US and just throw some money at the problem before they increase in price any more.

The availability of Incognito has certainly made them more interesting. (I got my spare unit for 135 GBP with two cassette drives in 2017, but that was with a dead Mitsumi keyboard for which I hope to finally get replacement mylars in the near future.)

 

You can always consider buying a US machine and PAL-ifying it with tfhh's SCCC which will give you UAV video as a bonus. Except for the video crystal which needs to be changed on the mainboard and two solder connections for audio, it's totally plug and play.

[toddtmw]

42 minutes ago, slx said:

Except for the video crystal which needs to be changed on the mainboard and two solder connections for audio, it's totally plug and play.

This really made me laugh for some reason. 

[+slx]

8 minutes ago, toddtmw said:

This really made me laugh for some reason. 

Well, if you compare it with a "homemade" NTSC-PAL conversion, four solder points are not much.

[cwilbar]

On 9/5/2020 at 12:02 AM, Gunstar said:

DISCLAIMER: Sorry I meant to quote @bfollowell (post 4761) not you, Gearhead Lu.

 

I submerged the ball in peroxide and water in a tub (along with other items) for 2-3 days and any effect on the yellowing was insignificant. It just doesn't retro-brite like plastics. Maybe if you left it out in direct sunlight for a month, rotating it, it might eventually bleach out again, but my track-ball works fine which is the important part, and I figure eventually I'll get around to buying a new cue-ball for it.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

One thing I should mention about looking for a cue-ball for it, make sure it's a standard regulation size cue-ball; at least in American bars and some pool houses, with coin-operated pool tables, the cue-ball is a different size (smaller) so that it goes down the right tube to the scratch-shot retrieval, while the other balls go into lock-up in the side of the table until more quarters are inserted. I don't know if these cue-balls are widely available, If one of these smaller cue-balls is used it may leave too much room between in an the opening so that the ball has room to skip, and doesn't roll as smooth.

 

This also occurs if the metal spindles have grooves develop from years of use, like mine are, enough to completely remove the nickle plating, down to the brass, about a centimeter wide . I found some trackball spindles on-line for replacements, but before I ordered I discovered it was enough to just put a layer of medical tape (it sticks and stays put better than electrical tape) underneath the spindles' bearing cups where they rest. this raised the ball up the same amount as the groove was deep on the spindles. It works great again now. But this is not a permanent solution, as the grooves made on the spindles by the ball could get deep enough that it restricts diagonal movement too much and makes the ball "skip" or "jump." But, in the case of the metal spindles, it could be another decade of use before the grooves get too bad, if used regularly.

I'd have to compare my Wico and my Atari trackballs to arcade trackballs.  It would not surprise me if the parts (at least on the Atari units) were from the arcade vision (i.e. Centipede trackballs).

Not sure about Wico. 

 

An interesting option would be to have a machinist make new shafts out of something a bit harder.  Though that is going to get expensive for just a pair.

 

[+Allan]

Today I got five more issues of Current Notes magazine to scan and put up on archive.org.

 

June, September of 1993 and Dec'93/Jan'94, April, May, Jine/July of 1994.

 

I had to buy 15 issues I already had to get them but that is alright.