What's new Pussycat too?

Nice alternative discovery there, Alan...

My daughter was telling me this morning that the kids use lemon juice on the lateral flow test swabs, so they get time off to isolate Little gits..

And as they will be doing the in school tests in a booth by themselves, I dare say the practice won't stop.

I wonder who found out that little fraudulent practice..

As for those goons in Westminster, all they care about is shagging, apparently there's a list kept by those in charge of who the top shaggers are, seems Gove and Hancock were the top two..

Poor Boris, can't even win that one..

Good luck England, not talking the footy (but good luck to them), I'm talking England, Scotland and Wales after the 19th, I give it two months max before we are in deep do do...

 

Nice find with the controllers!

As to your other half, if you want to scare her with a practical joke, tell her that you and I have decided to make a trade and that you'll have a suitcase full of vintage electronics to swap with a suitcase full I have and ask for her to carry it along and "swing by" and exchange with me...her

 

Ha ha, evil...But right up my mindset

 

She's a bit of a nerd herself so would probably be up for that and want to know what was in the cases

 

She can never know what is in the cases

It's for 'local' people....(See if Matt watched The League of Gentlemen)

 

I've seen "The League" but it's been many years and atm I don't recall the reference. I guess I better watch it again...but wait...maybe I'm not thinking of the same thing...I'm thinking of 'The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.' So I guess I better go look into the regular League of Gentlemen...

 

Its a UK TV comedy series and not the Sean Connery film

 

My latest Atari acquisition arrived today. My Euro-7800 I bought from @nysavant Now I'll be able to acquire and play some of those late 7800 releases that never made it state-side and try them out on the real thing instead of an emulator! Even a few of the "lost" shooter titles I've been yearning for about a decade or more since I discovered they existed (and repro editions sold on eBay). Of course I think there is an all-in-one flashcart available for the 7800 now, so I can just find the roms and download them.

While everything did arrive in what I assume is the same condition they were sent (a couple light abrasions on the case that I think I can clean/buff out) which is excellent condition. My brother and I got a big laugh (mine was a bit nervous) when the box arrived with "fragile" clearly labeled all over, yet the box looks like it was used for the ball in a football match! We think someone in one of the shipping companies that had it was having a bad day and targeted it just because it was labeled "fragile."...

 

Ouch! Glad it arrived Matt. But yes, looks like it may have been kicked across the Atlantic by the courier. I promise the box was 100% intact when I posted it!

So, any games in particular you are going to try on it? It's a small library but there are some real classics amongst them. Enjoy

 

Well, I used to own one up until about 15 years ago when I sold it during a time of unemployment, and just after I had done an S-video mod to it too! My favorites were Ikari Warriors, Commando, Ballblazer, Xenophobe, Motor Psycho, Pole Position II and Deluxe Asteroids of course. I've got 3 or the first 4 on the A8 now, of course, versions every bit as good, IMHO, with a slight drop in color. And the Asteroids emulator we have on the A8 can't be beat now, it's the Arcade version after all. But Motor Psycho and Pole Position II have no equal on the 8-bit. Fatal Run is another good one that never came out on the A8.

I will of course indulge in a few of the new Atari Age 7800 releases, though most so far don't interest me, there are a few gems. And luckily, since I've got Pokeymax's in both my "everyday" A8's now, I have 4 extra Pokey chips to use in some of those AA games that use, but don't come with one included.

 

Wow, just shows the shit-heads in the courier industry, clearly targetted because it said fragile...

Just glad it survived almost without blemish..

 

Like the lads say, Matt, so glad it made it through intact, buddy.

You can't beat the real deal and this 7800 (ex-Al's) looks a lovely example - enjoy, fella.

Get blasting!

 

I finally bought a SIDE3 cartridge as an early birthday present to myself. @Retro Lemon was excellent and it was shipped next day and arrived the following day. Really happy with it, now I need to spend some time working on different partitions and APT/FAT16 and FAT32 layouts. I bought a 16GB SD card which should be big enough ( I hope ). Once I updated the SDX on the SIDE3 the RTC worked, reading on Atari Age there was a problem earlier but it’s been sorted with the latest release.
For my Commodore fix I have ordered a SIDFX board so I can have a dual SID setup. After I bought the ARMSID I have two 6581’s so I plan to fit it into my C128. If anyone is interested I will create a little blog post showing it being fitted.
I have also ordered some PCB’s to build a C64 WiFi modem so it will be interesting to see how it all pans out. Just did it for a laugh really as the parts were not too expensive.

 

BRILLIANT, Rich.

Please do show us how you get on as all the projects on here that you guys get busy with are always interesting.

Shows us all just how you went about it and great to see the improved kit afterwards.

Enjoy, mate - I'm out for another solar roasting and clean the car inside and out as Bev says she's travelled in cleaner refuse trucks.

Have a great weekend, fellas.

 

Definitely interested in vyper68's commodore projects, dual Sid and wifi modem. It would be great to see pictures and a little "how to" blog post teaching morons like me how to take on hardware mods for our beloved 8bit machines.

 

My copy of 'The Last Squadron' official release cartridge (8 levels instead of 4 and plenty of new enemies, power-ups and tweaked graphics) arrived today. I actually ordered two of the "budget" edition which is a complete game package minus a hat, back-pack, and comics in polish for the regular and collector's editions. I don't have enough space for my memorabilia as-is and if I squeeze more in, it needs to be true old school and nostalgic. This is all just new.

Anyway, a nicely done package and it even had an outer mailing box (for each copy) closed with security tape that says "the last Squadron" on it-ruined once opened) both inside an outer box the size of a shoe box. The other copy is just going into hiding for a while, NIB. The original intent was to be an item I send with the 800XL for my friend Danny, if I ever get around to finishing it and Paul's 1200XL and get them sent off. But, I may just keep it for some other special future event or circumstance that I don't know of yet (to give to someone at that time, that is).

I don't know how soon I'll be able to try it out, my 800 is currently in pieces in the middle of the Dual-PIA upgrade and re-install of a replacement Sophia 2, and Pokeymax. I've been too busy with work or equipment for work I haven't touched anything for weeks now.

I also got another Skunkboard for my Jaguar. It's a device that lets you flash a couple of cartridge roms too, commercial or proto, and play on a real Jaguar.

 

Nice Matt. It's a really good shooter, still pretty amazing what our little Atari's can do after all these years.

 

Brilliant, Matt.

I don't know about you guys, but this fine shoot em up has got a strong sense of Xevious to me - which I absolutely adore.

Nice work, mate.

Would like to get my paws on this too some day.

Thanks for the post and update for us all.

 

You have been playing the original, FREE, ABBUC 2020 edition, right?

I may never even get beyond the 4 levels of the ABBUC version, let alone all 8 in this final release version! But I will try! I've yet to even make it half-way through level 2 of the ABBUC version! Not that I've had time for gaming the last few months, nor could I have since my computers are disassembled for upgrades and repairs for the last few months too!

 

Nope, haven't played any version yet, Matt, just watched the clip on You Tube, buddy with the aerial and ground targets/opponents.

Looks well programmed, slick n smooth.

Wonderful that guys are still making quality releases for our old Atari classics so thanks for flagging this up.

 

If you want to see something really cool, check out Flob! Some great game mechanics.

 

And its sister game, sputum....





OK, I lied...

The shooter is just great, waiting for a possible digital download after all the carts sell...

Flob is great fun as well, I presume the Polish dev had no idea about the name

 

I pre-ordered Flob and it's in the post to me now! I'm also expecting the Infocom-like Text adventure (I think I posted an image of it up this page or on the last one or two before) 'Hybernated: Director's Cut' which I pre-ordered and it was charged to my account on the 1st, so I assume it's in the post.

As for what I have new in hand, I've got a few new toys for my Atari Jaguar:

A skunkboard V5 developer board w/Jaguar embossed thumb drive to use with it ($130), which I need for a "skunkworks" Jaguar group I'm involved with now as a beta tester and I may contribute pixel art.

The Jaguar Game Drive ($180), which is an SD cart w/menu system that can store and play all the Jaguar cartridge roms and home-brews. Firmware for playing Jaguar CD ISO images off of it are still in the works. But I have a Jaguar CD with all the CD games so I'm not concerned. What I didn't have was all the game cartridges, which I now have access to all those games with the GD. I now share my 8GB mini-SD card with the Jaguar GD and my Ender 3 Pro 3D printer as the Jaguar's library may take up a couple of gigs, leaving plenty for printer files still.

And a new re-manufactured pro-controller (~$75) for my Jaguar system. I have an original (They're selling for $500, or at least were before the knock-offs) but it needs a new IC, which also arrived recently, but I haven't repaired it since I have the knock-off now. I'll repair the original, test it and then put it on indefinite display in my glass case.

And lots of post-card and flyer ads and stickers from the dealers.

 

Of course all these new toys I've gotten over the last 6 months or so. I won't get to really use or play with most of them until late fall and winter. I just have the money to spend this time of year, with business being busy again this year, and time to use what I buy in a few months.

Honestly, about half of the stuff I've gotten was due to over-zealousness at the announcement of pre-ordering on a bunch of different stuff and forgetting about it until the old invoice comes in...on a lot more stuff than I remembered!

Though the rainy season finally ended a few weeks ago and as per usual August is hot and dry and the grass is going brown. So for about a month I may have extra time on my hands just because business is slow to lack of rain. I have my first full weekend off this week for the first time since April. Of course I have long-overdue improvements to make around the house.

 

Some cracking kit there @M.D.Baker loving the Jag kit on show…^10