What's new Pussycat too?

Did you figure out the 4 pin PSU @Andy Barr ? I wonder if it’s for a 1541-II disk drive as there were 4 pin DIN sockets on some.
I’ve got my 64’s and VIC-20’s already so I’ll pass on this one. I just picked up a nice Electron with original PSU this week which works nicely on my CTM-644 monitor, but I’m on the lookout for a Plus4 or C16 if anyone has one or knows someone who would part with one.

 

Hi, Rich.
I was chatting to some guy on a C64 forum and he told me it was a PSU for a standard 64 just like the other - he said they were produced in different flavours and that both of my bricks would fail at some point and bring that 64C down with em so I was not to use em!
Never mind, and I'm glad you've got a nice new Electron with an official PSU mate, that works smart with your dedicated monitor.
Now then, my mate Shaun definitely has one or maybe both of those models you mention.
Are you on FaceAche, buddy, as he is on one of the Hull retro forums and MAY be interested in a sale but I'd best not put words in his mouth as he might not want to sell at all.
I haven't seen him in ages but he sent me a wee happy boffday msg the other day and invited me over to chew the fat so if I do see him, after we get back from our hols, I'll ask away on your behalf, my mate.
Cheers, Rich.

 

Thanks mate, I don’t use Facebook these days or any other social network sites for that matter. So I’m not really able to use these to track down bargains.

 

I'm your Marketplace bargain-hunting eyes and ears then, bud - no sweat. Will report back with findings...

 

Hi Rich.

couple of options here for you to look over:





Let me know if either catch yer eye, Richie,

 

Hi bud,
The C16 is the one as it matches my C64 and Vic-20's styling. Does it say if it's been tested? If it has a black screen on boot then the TED chip is banjaxed and it's expensive to replace.

 

Here are some pictures of my new Acorn Electron as promised.

 

Lovely internal and external views of your new Elk, Richie - it looks absolutely pristine.
Mog could do with giving his a little clean
I will enquire now with the C16 man...

 

T
I've msgd the £90 C16 to see if it has been tested... in the meanwhile, this one, from Matthew Clint, is going for £80, fella:








this is the key bit, but I think you'll agree, for £80 the lot above is very tempting...

Commodore 16 starter pack boxed with all original manuals and tapes I've plugged it in and got a game to load up and worked not sure if the aerial is faulty as screen went black so I turn it all off tried it again later and it was working fine again, I'm not very knowledgeable on these sorry. Little bit of yellowing on keys but other than that it's in really good condition considering it's age. Retro classic £80 no offers please Collection only.

Darn! I could twist his arm and offer him more, if you're really interested, Rich, but of course that mention of a black screen... does that sound like what you flagged up cos this one doesn't appear to occur on boot?

Let me know, mate, if you want me to conduct any enquiries with said gent.

 

It sounds like there could be a problem with the TED either overheating or on its way out so I would rather steer clear of that one bud.

 

My one fear of selling stuff to this day is that although I know it's all working as it should before I sell it, I just worry that this 40yr old + stuff will decide to conk out when it hits the buyer. Hence, none of my stuff has gone up as yet, as it stands, everyone who has brought off me has been dead chuffed with their purchase, but I still worry.

A seller with a conscience on Ebay, who would have thought it

I just never want to be thought of as the person who others decide that I knew it was faulty when it was sold.

 

You have an admirable, caring attitude and a conscience whereas a lot out there couldn't give a monkeys and will sell their grandma's soul for a buck. Paul. I know what you mean but I'm also sure that your reputation goes before you and anyone who is in any doubt or just enjoys stirring up the old cack, need not bother bidding. Anyone who knows anything about the retro computer world knows that your word is your guarantee that the kit is sold 100% accurately as described etc. Bid accordingly.

 

I take a more pragmatic view when I buy old kit these days. If it packs in while I own it then I will try to repair it out of my own pocket as this stuff is 40 years old now and was never designed for that. What I won't put up with is a seller deliberately misleading me. This more of a problem on feeBay, I've never had that problem buying kit off mates and I would be quite happy to buy kit off you mate. I know you would make sure it was working fine before you let it go.

 

Thanks people, I'm like you guys, old school which means, decent and honest. As Richie says, these old machine were never designed to be in use these days but a testament to the Atari series is that they are normally very reliable, unlike the old C64 which Commodore notoriously built as cheap as possible. The old rams used in many models were just awful and the SID runs as hot as the sun and again likes to fail along with the PIA's.

The hassle of old tech..

 

Yeah compared the C64 or any other Commodore 8-Bit computer the Atari is built like a tank which in my case would be a Sherman Firefly….
What would your tank of choice be to describe Atari 8-Bits … discuss

 

K2 Black Panther, used by South Korea...



Can't wait for the light bending armoured tanks, apparently some break through's have been made. A tank you can barely see...Excellent..

Although it might seem that I am a military nut, it's just the war field tech I like, like the grenade launchers that fire an ammunition that explodes as it goes through an opening, ie where most soldiers hide.

 

Pure evil, guys... I like the way your brains work ;-)

My tank of choice would be Challenger II



Some nice specs:

 

FOURTEEN TAPES (If I counted right) for £15 incl post - I'll take that any day, Atari classic 8bit collectors.

Here we go, guys.

A few tapes came rattling through me doorbox today; still, alas, no sign of the Elk yet, Rich - hang on - yes there is:


So that should be back tomorrow.

Anyhow, on with the thread - some lovely (ok, some loose or without inlays but not the end of the world) Atari classic tapes arrived and they were gained at bargain prices - approx 14 tapes for me 15 smackeroos... see what you make of these - a couple of tasty / rare bird numbers:









What Atarimania has to say about Crossfire (I didn't know this game before at all)



OK, the graphics look a little dated/simplistic but gameplay is the king without doubt so I will fire this one up in a short while and do a wee review, lads.

Overall, any specific memories of any game in this horde, fellas? What's your fave in there and why?

 

Obviously Star Raiders, you simply can't not like Star Raiders. Crossfire was ok, sadly us PAL'ers didn't get the most of it as it was arftifacting. It's one that me and others altered the display list to graphics 14 so it had colour. As for the rest, apart from Elecktraglide which I was lucky enough to see it progress in dev thanks to the programmer popping in, I can't say I was a Mercenary fan, the tech was good, but I found it boring, as I do fighter pilot and that sort of stuff.

But excellent value the Andy, nice grab..

Only one word as a downer, tapes....

 

Hey, I lurve me tapes, Paul, though I know where yer coming from... 15-25min (non-reliable) loading times sometimes!

Ne'er mind.

I'm gonna track down some original inlay scans from some place and colour laser print em just so they look a bit better in their cassette boxes and throw out the old dirty ones and replace with cleaner empty boxes lying around in my tape collection, like say this Amstrad version of Star Wars:


If anyone has a link to an Atari tape inlay website then please let me know - maybe Atarimania will be OK as I know they have the accompanying images to go with all the software too?

Now, I did like Tomahawk by Digital Integration - who did Fighter Pilot too - and I really got into it, all those years back.

Like you say, anyone can enjoy a blast on Star Raiders PLUS there's Star Wars in there (Domark?) and I also lurve me SSI titles, as you know, so I'll be having a gan on that Battalion Commander at some point.

I think I miscounted and there's 13 in there after all, lads, but hey. it hasn't been unlucky for me one bit - quite the opposite.

Cheers for the feedback, Paul and I never knew about the artefacting/additional colour mod you and the Atari coders were able to do with Crossfire - great work.

 

Its not a stunningly difficult mod, you find the display list, there's a long list of 0F's, and you change them to 0E, and viola, you have colour, with tools like Omnimon, it's really easy (on the fly), or Diskey (by Sparkys Starks) if you want to mod an ATR.

 

Well, I finally have photos of my Atari VCS set up on the stand underneath my projection screen. It's temporary until I rearrange my 'XL Command Center.'


As to first impressions, it definitely wasn't plug-and-play, even on the Atari OS side (I haven't done anything with the PC sandbox mode yet). Since the system had been sitting on a shelf in the warehouse for a year or two, it was in need of an OS update, but since the OS version in it was so outdated. this is a common problem, like I had, for more recent purchasers where the Atari VCS has to take such a leap forward skipping multiple OS updates that it can't even update itself out of the box! It keeps saying "update failed-please try again later" which of course there is no later where it works. So one has to download the latest Atari OS from a site, along with a flasher program, and then take a USB thumb drive and flash the OS update to it, then plug that in the Atari VCS and it will automatically update from it.

But after that slight hassle, everything works great once the system is updated in this fashion. And I have been enjoying a few cheap games I purchased as well as the game streaming services and video streaming services. I'll be buying a couple of headliner VCS games later this week, like Jeff Minter's Tempest 4000 and a 3rd person 3D platform action adventure that looks really good called End's Reach.

 

Looking pretty damn impressive, Matt... the graphics are a thing of beauty. Keep us updated... on all your updates ;-)

 

On Page 51 - https://atari-owner.com/club/threads/whats-new-pussycat-too.212/page-51 - you will see the start of a thread featuring a poorly Elk belonging to me mate Mog who sent it to me... who sent it to Rich... and he's now cleaned out and restored the ULA chip seating so that it no longer "bombs out" after a short while of operation. He's given it all a thorough clean within and also added some very nice new black feet to the little brute and tonight... it returned.

Here's a couple of shots to celebrate its return and proof in the pudding that she works again - thanks to Rich - cheers, mate - Mog's already delighted with these pics I emailed him just now:


Above - he reminded me there was a programmable joystick interface with it


Above - loading Beeb version of Mr Do - Mr Wiz - too damn whizzy if you ask me



Next up... Commando by Elite!



Thanks again, Rich - heaps of fun to be had before Mog comes to pick it up at weekend!

 

GET IN THERE! Haven't played Commando in nigh on... 38 years!!!



Cheers once more, Rich.

Must find me Dare Devil Denis...!