ATARI 7800 EMULATOR AND GAMES

Lol Al, you have fun there, I don't know what the appeal is (never been) but you sure love that place.

 

It just makes me feel happy and content Paul ☺️

Even better though, one of the trips I'll be seeing Rick Astley live at the Open Air Theatre

 

And get yourself to Scarborough sometime mate. We could have a forum meetup with Andy.

 

I don't travel much these days because of the spine, it'sa lovely idea tho...One day maybe..

 

Good for you, Al.

Priorities this end - I'm cutting my own throat getting further into debt as the monthly VISA fees are now around £50 and I'm already maxed out with 0% transfer cards and the repayments on them.

 

Joking aside, you have to nail that Visa down asap. I can't have credit cards after the house went, but the truth is that I don't want them, I like to know exactly what I have, and a flexible friend easily turns in to a stiff enemy. Oh, guys, be warned of a scam doing the rounds. There a debt company called Lowell who keep sending out threat letters re debts with 3 Mobile. I got one on Saturday, told me I owed 206.86 for my contract with 3 Mobile not being paid. Now that's weird for 2 reasons, one, none of us have ever used 3 Mobile and secondly, because of my credit history the only phones I can get is pay as you go.

Now I researched it straight away and there's a LOT of people being threatened by them, even BBC Watchdog did an episode on them (shows how long it's been going on). SO I rang 3 Mobile, game them the details from the letter and they said "we can't find you on our database" and when asked about the apparent account number for the contract they responded that it's not a contract they recognise.

So come the morning, there will be a very stern phone call...The daft thing, even if you had a debt, they have no powers to ask for a bailiff or the like (something the letter threatens), all they can do is bombard you with letters. You can combat it by asking them for proof of the debt, and they have 30 days to provide that, if they don't then they are breaking the law.

So guys, be careful out there, there are so many scams going on, and they rely on scared or old people to pay up because of the threat of bailiffs and court....Pretty shitty scumbags

 

Cheers, Paul, for the heads up.
Like a lot of folks, I tend to over reach on the spending and I've gotta hammer the repayments 1st before any more treats.
Hope you sort the scammers and I'll nail a GSP when the finances are looking brighter.
As for (p)rick Ghastly... wtf, Al? I cannot abide the guy/his tracks but each to their own, eh, wouldn't do for us all to be the same!
Scarborough will be a blast and yes it would be great if we could get a meet up there in a few months time.
ALL THE BEST, FOLKS - maybe put some Bros or Kylie or toneet rather than ol Rick!?!

 

All joking aside Andy, best be sensible with debt. I speak from the experience of spending years in a Trust Deed after letting debts mount after a business venture went wrong. So yes, stuff is nice but you can't put a price on peace of mind and paying off the card(s) will help give you that.

In the meantime we have emulation and this cool little corner of the internet to hang around in and natter with each other so all good.

By the way fellas, would any of you like an introduction to my cousin, he is a Nigerian prince looking for someone to help with an investment....

 

Always had a soft spot for Big Rick, his was the first compact disc I ever bought and think I've seen him live three or four times now! Andy, I'll text you (get a phone that can handle Whatsapp man!) with the dates and see if we can maybe arrange a summit in Bridlington to put the world to rights and share some poptastic 80's tunes over a fish supper

 

Don't count me in to this meet up, my spine means I rarely drive far and not could I afford the petrol at this moment. Me and coaches do not work, only done it twice and got stuck with a nutter both times. The old patience does not need to be tested these days

As for Rick, not got a problem with him, followed the whole Sun newspaper says it's not his voice back in the day. Got all the big hits as flac's on my drive.

 

It would be nice to think a few of us could meet up at some point right enough. It was good to meet Andy the last time and he is just as friendly as he comes across online

Are you down South somewhere Paul? If I ever venture far enough down that way I'll be sure to let you know!

As for music, I like a bit of cheesy 80's pop now and again even if Country is my main thing these days. In fact the last CD I bought a couple of weeks ago was Erasure Greatest Hits and before that, Paul Heaton's cracker of an album Last King of Pop.

 

I'm just on the outskirts of West London Al, a little place called Northolt. So basically the other end of the country to you and Andy. As for me, I'm what you saw on the video chats, friendly and get on with folk. The old pain gets me down sometime but I'm usually laughing with the wife and daughter.

Musicwise, I'm an old school Jazz Funk person BUT I listen to lots of various types of stuff from the 70's and 80's, can't say I'm very Country but when you had an alcoholic dad who played Johnny Cash records all day and night it tends to put you off (a bit). Not brought music in ages, my spare crumbs go on Blu rays off ebay (MusicMagpie, excellent). I do love a film.

Oh, saw it was the 2600+ that was screwed up, glad I made a mistake as you were so enjoying the GPS (?) 7800 thing.

 

If you are coming down the A1 you should call in and say hello and have a cuppa )

 

Where are you Richie? Can't remember if it was you I picked up a Beeb from years ago.

 

Atari's new 2600+ is 7800 compatible with built-in HDMI out. I'd get one myself if I didn't already have the original of both. You get on 2600 joystick with the system and there were only 2600 controllers for sale at Atari separately, but I noticed just now that They just released a CX78 two button controller for it to buy separately. Just an option for something new you know is working and it may be less than a used 7800. It's $30 more than the GSP, but you can use real cartridges, including Atari Age's new Game Drive SDcard cart for the 7800. GSP is a cheaper alternative and it has a micro SD card slot, but it doesn't say much about adding game roms not included. Just another option to think about.

Both are available direct from Atari at their site (And of course the VCS 800 too). GSP $99.99, 2600+ $129.99, VCS 800 $239.99 (All in bundle with classic and modern controllers), VCS 800 base unit $159.99 (All USB controllers & peripherals are compatible as well as 360/Xbox One controllers), VCS base unit w/plug-n-play PC mode USB thumb drive $191.99.

https://atari.com/

 

Unfortunate thing is that here in the UK it's pretty hard to get a hold NTSC cartridges and the 2600+ is having hassle with lots of 7800 carts as well as the 50/60Hz screen refresh. I'm beta-testing the latest firmware still and finding lots of weirdness happening in different games at different stages. It doesn't work with the GameDrive either, just Dragonfly with a single image installed for the time being.

I saw some pre-production photos of the CX78 but don't think it has been released yet. My 2600+ will be going back to Amazon at the end of this week, hopefully around the same time as my EBay purchase of a 7800 gets delivered.

For now, the GSP is doing a sterling job. It's really easy to add new Roms to the SD Card and I have the full Trebor collection just now. The speed different between PAL and NTSC carts can be pretty big, the latter making it difficult to go back to the inferior PAL versions.

The VCS 800 is very tempting, I'd love one if they were easily available in the UK and I had the spare cash. Got an electric bike for sale just now and if that goes then I might treat myself to an import

 

Just thought I'd throw this little vid into the mix - someone's compared the 7800 to the NES and unfortunately the comparison isn't favourable to Atari's little boy:

 

It's an unfair comparison, the 7800 was marketed as a console when it's main guts were that of a computer but with mild upgrades. The NES on the other hand was sold as a console and that is exactly what it was, a gaming console. The problem here is Atari trying to reinvent items as something else.

They paid the price for all this..

 

i think the problem was the 7800 was sat in limbo while Atari was bought out.If it had come out earlier it might have had a better reception from the VCS owners. They just missed the window and when it came out it was outdated compared to the NES and Master System.To be honest a lot of the 7800 games weren't fantastic aside from Ballblazer.

That said I use mine as my default VCS machine once I had calibrated the TIA properly, I only have Ballblazer for the 7800 and I don't plan to get anymore for the forseeable.

 

Was the TIA really that bad Richie, I've heard they can be off, was it audio or colour that was the issue..

 

Richie, would you be able to do a composite mod on my 7800 when I get it and give the system a once over?

 

Yeah my 7800’s VCS colours were way off, for example where the background should have been brown it was a shade of green. The variable resistor was still factory set so it must have been off from the get go. The colour from the Maria chip was fine though.

 

Yeah I can do a composite mod on a 7800 quite easily. Just need to tell me where you want the RCA jacks. Did you get a PSU with it? I can’t remember. You can replace the power socket with a standard barrel jack fairly easily as well.

 

Probably set for what an NTSC display would look like, from playing with Altirra and it's settings I seem to remember green swaps to brown when you change region colours. When I used the forums more, I came across a thread on AA about the quality of the sound on the TIA, never owned one myself but some were saying the sound was flaky and others that it was ok..

 

Thanks Richie. The 7800 won't arrive with me until Monday but it comes with a power supply, although I don't konw if it will be the original one or a replacement. I'm going to be heading down North Yorkshire at the end of April so will maybe be able to drop it off to you then if you let me know whereabouts you are on the A1 route