Most liked posts in thread: What's new Pussycat too?

Couple of new aquisitions today....

After a 50 mile round trip to a branch of CEX I got Gripshift for the PSP (£2). It's been on my wishlist for ages so when I saw it appear in a 'local' branch I just had to make the trip. Thankfully the manual was in the case or it would have been a wasted journey. Picked up Rockstar Table Tennis for the Xbox 360 (£1) at the same time.

I really like the wishlist on CEX and check it at least once a week to see if anything I'm looking for is nearby. Now down to just two games on it and hopefully I'll be able to pick one of them up next week. I know CEX has its detractors but I find them really good in general and have found them pretty decent for trade-in prices too.

Final addition to the Al Cave is the return of an old friend. A Sega Saturn MkI console! I regretted selling my last one and have been keeping an eye out since for a replacement after managing to blow up my Japanese console (oops!). Picked up a slightly tatty looking but working fine MkI PAL console and after trying it out with my Action Replay cartridge it runs CD-R backups and imports without any hassle. Happy days

 

I want to get another Saturn myself, and wish I hadn't sold off my quite large collection in favor of a new Dreamcast and a couple games back in '99.

My new toy is a TRS-80 Deluxe joystick. Normally selling for about $50, I found one for $25 shipped. It matches my Coco 2's color scheme. This of course means that the two original TRS-80 standard joysticks are open game for some crazy ideas I have using them with my Atari 8-bits!



I may have to do a bit of retro-brite on it so it matches my mint Coco 2 a bit better though...

 

Funny you should mention that advert, as right after I took that picture I moved that ad on metallic plate to it's new home in my office trailer...



That red and black joystick is the last item that will be painted to match the rest of the 800CX system there.

 

Just arrived this week the essential C64 programmer's literature, amended, fixed and printed with a rigid cover.
C64 User's Guide and Programmer's Reference Guide printed by Lulu.com following the releases as they came from this site: https://pickledlight.blogspot.com/p/commodore-64-guides.html

This amazing project completely revised the two books, and it is continuously updated. My copies were printed using the version of January 23rd. The result is amazing, top quality. Recommended.

 

They certainly look the part but 60UK is too stiff for me but a huge thank you for the PDF. I rarely coded on the C64 but it was nice to have the details. My most thumbed book, Mapping The Atari, I have both versions (real), bitd on most days you would find me on Omnimon with Mapping the Atari open

 

I made the mistake recently of not reading a listing close enough, thinking I was buying a TRS-80 Coco 2 bound original user manual and what I received was a PDF on a CDR. With a nice label. I already have the PDF I downloaded for free and could save it on a CDR or print it out any time I want! But at least it was only $10 with shipping.

My latest addition to my original Atari software collection is another Infocom game, which brings my total Infocom collection up to 4 titles including Zork I, The Lurking Horror, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and now...


Leather Goddesses Of Phobos. CIB in good condition.



Including my recently arrived Hibernated 1 Director's Cut, that's 5 original, complete, and boxed (one brand new) text adventure games now in my physical collection.

 

Ah, that game brings back memories Matt. Think I played it but can't remember if it was on the A8 or maybe even the ST.

I did pick up some stuff from my pal's store including the two Atari Lynx collections for the Evercade console. But the biggest thing has been me finally giving in and opening the sealed Hotwheels Atari models I got as a Christmas present....

 

Ha, I didn't spot they were Atari related as well.... Very funky indeed... I think I like my Captain Scarlet SPV a bit more though

And something I twigged on for the first time last week, the guy doing the intro for the Captain Scarlet original show was none other than UFO's Ed Straker himself, or rather Ed Bishop as he was (RIP). Gerry Anderson had a little set of folk he reused in various shows he did.

Bishop and Shane Rimmer were known as his "go to Yanks" for anything where he needed an American.

 

I think they came out around 2012. I already had Pong and then my other half got me the complete collection this past Christmas. I did think about keeping them sealed in the packaging but where is the fun in that

 

A couple more Atari related items arrived today. I think the last of the stuff I had purchased/ordered and probably no more new goodies until my business starts rolling again in about a month to 6 weeks.

One is the paperback edition of the book Stationfall, the sequel to Planetfall, both of which I had no idea were books as well as games. Between them and Hitchhiker's I'm beginning to wonder how many Infocom games were first books or became books later...

The other is a new cue ball to replace the badly yellowed (nothing can be done, I tried) cue ball in my Atari Trak-ball, which will finally be completely restored once I install it.

 

I just scored a major haul last night. Popped onto the local Amiga facebook page and someone had just posted saying they needed someone to come collect an A1200 and various bits as they were moving office. Half an hour and an agreed charity donation later I had the A1200 and two boxes of various peripherals and software!

Not had a chance to try any of it out yet but looks like I'll be having a bit of fun over the weekend

 

Fantastic! I'm so happy for you! My Amiga 2000 (with 030 card with MMU)and 32megs extended memory came to me from a second-hand, mom & pop computer/console hardware/software store, along with C64's, Atari XL's and a bunch of other stuff, back in the early 2000's for a mere $100. They had this upper shelving all along the top of the store, including over doorways, that had all this stuff up there. The owner said it had all been on the floor in the back store room when it got flooded with an inch or two of water. So there was a lot of clean up inside and out, but I brought it all back cosmetically and working well. I eventually sold most of it off, when I moved from Wisconsin to Texas in 2004, some lost in storage in Texas that was robbed. Anyway, I know how it feels! I had just stepped into the store to browse and asked about one item on that top shelf when he said I could have all of it, pointing around the shop perimeter, for $100. I didn't give him a chance to change his mind. I made a few grand off of it all, it would have been worth 10 times as much now though...

 

Great result, Al - a helluva bargain there by the sounds of it just like when Matt struck "gold" in a chance encounter 20 or so years back. It just shows you, retronauts, there are still a few occasions when all your perseverance and a good bit of luck pays off and you happen to be in that classic location:
The Right Place... at the Right Time.

 

Just plugged the A1200 and even the floppy drive worked first time
Big bonus is that it also has an internal hard drive fitted. So far I've also unearthed 2 external floppy drives, a dual ST/Amiga mouse, 2 joypads, a Competition Pro joystick (not 100% working), a sound sampler, a Genlock, a mouse/joystick auto switcher and a 9pin to USB mouse adapter!

Starting to work my way through the floppy disks now, must be 100 or so here. A fun Saturday morning for sure

 

I have a tenner with your name on it Al

 

Joking aside, sounds like a great haul there Al, the old genlock would sell well as would the sampler do it's a good grab you have. IF you ever want to get rid of the 1200 in the distant future then keep me in mind please.

You have fun there.......The Amiga is such a fun machine......

 

I think the Amiga will be a long time keeper Paul. But if I do let it go at any time then it is yours for the same price I paid (i.e. free!).

At the moment I can't afford to get it recapped so won't use it too much until then. Thankfully we have a very active user group here in Glasgow with a couple of very talented enthusiasts who can sort that out for me. I'll need to start looking into WHDLoad games with it having the hard drive though. Nice 'problem' indeed!

I sorted out the other bits and have re-posted on the local Amiga facebook page. I know the Genlock and sound sampler will both go to good homes. A fixer-up power supply and 200 floppy disks have already been claimed in the last hour. Good to know that everything is going to enthusiasts like us who will get enjoyment out of it.

Right now the A1200 is sitting just above my A500 and settling into its new home

 

I'll have to look into it more, it may have been only on the A2000 I used it, but it seems like that name is extremely familiar from the ST side of my memory, as I did a lot more file/image transfers with it than the Amiga as I owned an ST much longer (having 4-5 different models to start with and only one Amiga). Though looking back I did prefer the Amiga, I know I've said before, and if I ever get another 16-bit computer, it will be an Amiga and not an ST, TT or even a Falcon as I had one of them, and loved it, but far too little software for it.

And because of the fact that the last 20+ years, knowing all the facts of the industry inside and out, that I'm a fan of Jay Miner and others that worked with him like Joe Decur (I'm sure that is spelled wrong) and not the companies that all "traded" around their employees over the years anyway like they were major league sports teams. So I follow the blood line with my fandom now, not the legal names, so to speak.

Which also wasn't a biased choice made after learning who the engineers were behind the machines of the day, but I found I preferred the Amiga to the ST line first, then later found out that Jay Miner was behind it and my favorite Atari 8-bit line, which probably only answered why I preferred the Amiga over the ST line. And don't get me wrong, the ST line I really liked too, and it's really the descendant of the C64 since Jack brought those engineers with him from Commodore, which is why Commodore had to buy the Amiga or get stuck holding the bag! And the fact that back in those crazy days, things could have still gone the way originally intended and the Amiga would have ended up as an Atari machine.

Now that the companies are long gone, it certainly doesn't matter, and while I'll always have my favorites because nostalgia will put the cherry on top, I'm liking more than just Jay Miner's work these days and appreciate some other engineers for their own uniqueness.

Sorry, I just love talking about all this behind the scenes business and politics that was so "inbred" in the industry back then...it just makes me chuckle thinking about hard-core Atari and Commodore fans who stand by either the C64/Amiga or A8/ST machines and there's essentially no meaning behind that bias, they should be drawing the lines between C64/ST and A8/Amiga in my opinion, if they have too. That's my reasoning behind my favorites, but no discrimination toward the others, only nostalgia separates them from my favorites.

The Coco 2 is just not as impressive of a machine compared to the C64 and Atari 800 line with their custom chips. Regardless of arguments that the 6809 is a better processor or not than a 6502. And the "custom" chips set was all designed by Motorolla, not Tandy/RadioShack, and just didn't have the imagination behind it's design that the Commodore and Atari machines do, like the Apple II in many ways. But was expanable via it's buss like the Apple II, but modular like Atari SIO peripherals. Like if all Atari peripherals where run through the PBI/cart buss on the Atari, but with the Brains in a big-ass cartridge in-between the computer and the peripheral, instead of built into the peripheral like Atari and Commodore designs.

But I'm really learning to like and appreciate it for what it is and it has tons of modern upgrades, which I have the SuperSprite FM+ board which basically upgrades it to the full power of the last generation of MSX machines (not compatible).

But the C64 comes before any thoughts of another Amiga.

 

I was just sitting here, at my XL Command Center (no, still not quite yet ready for me to take new pics of it all, it's stalled with my mother for now) but I was looking at my little expansion I have going on the outside of my still-not-working (haven't had time, other things first) 1200XL and just thought I'd show you my expanded OS system that I will have once it is working again. Starting with the 32-in-1 Warp OS+ inside (which will be reprogrammed with different and newer OS's) and of course my Syscheck on the PBI has OS spots too, but then I have my Super SpartaDOS X cart (will be reprogrammed upto the latest 4.9) with RTC, and now, my new Diamond GOS 3 on rom once again, like I had in the early 90's, this time with my own custom cart, and finally my MyIDE II with MyBIOS and the OSS carts on board ready to go, etc.

It's quite the expansion though...only differing from old TI-99/4A computers expanding out the side by smaller size ad opposite side. The Coco's use 2-4 slot expanders so you don't have the train out the side. I'd get one of Dropcheck's multi-cart expanders, but these all work in conjunction with their pass-thru ports, so that doesn't work for me as you have to choose a slot on her design and it would just start a skyscraper like if using the other XL machines, just off to the side. So I think my extenders and legs at the end on the MyIDE II is the best solution. I'm not happy at all with the label I made for Diamond so that will be redone. But I'm going to have to do my own design, there never was any good label or logo/name made with a good image to download and print.

Also a picture of my finished CX22 Trak-Ball. I'm glad I take these close up shots, it let's me see what I normally wouldn't, like how dirty my 1200XL has gotten around it's ventilation grooves! Time for a deep clean when I take it apart for repairs!

By the way @Paul "Mclaneinc" Irvine , did you get the 32-in-1 I sent yet? I think I might failed to include the BASIC REV C Eprom, I found one among other chips here. So I can either send it to you or you can get a real or eprom one from someone over there if it wasn't included

 

I'd love a bike again, but I think it would trash what's left of my knees. Used to go through the forests near Marlow, loved it all, was fit as a fiddle then.

I also used to ride to work from East London to West London, took on the dreaded Hyde Park Roundabout before they had traffic lights on it, I must have been utterly insane, even with traffic lights it's so dangerous. One of my fave things was to ride from Walthamstow where I was living up to Broxbourne to meet a mate, the whole journey was on the tow paths by the river, on a nice day it was a wonderful day out.

Have fun Al, I envy you..

 

Nice find Klyde, although I've never been keen on a 2600 (or 5200 or 7800) but I must admit I like the look of that rather than the false wood look on the normal one. As said, never had one, so the games for the most part are a mystery to me, but we have a few people on AA doing 2600 conversions, so I'm seeing some games now.

You have a great time with your find..

Paul..

 

My latest additions are related to the Dragon and the 6809 CPU and my attempt to learn machine code.
I’ve ordered a CoCoSDC from the USA so hopefully it will arrive soon and I’m on the wait list for the CoCoVGA.

 

I need to pick up a book or two myself for the 6809(actually upgraded to the compatible 6309 found in the Coco 3).
But even though the Dragon and Coco are nearly compatible, hell, I've got the SuperSprite FM+ graphic & audio upgrade card and the Oojamaflip (multi-card adapter) both originally designed for the Dragon that work with my Coco 2! Though with the Oojamaflip did require my own modifications since it was physically designed originally to be an internal upgrade for the Dragon. But I do think I'll be better off with 6809 books written specifically with the TRS-80 Coco line in mind.

Though I continue to be busy with my business, I have found time on occasion to continue my projects here and there so I have finished building the Oojamaflip and modifying a 3D printed case for Coco MPI boards to work with the SS FM+ board (it's not quite finished as I have to add and extension to the back enclosing the SCART connector).

I still have to design my own case from scratch for the Oojamflip, which I've brought out with a ribbon cable and flipped the flipped connector for the Dragon back again for use outside with the Coco 2. I may be the only Coco owner who will have his own custom "Multi-Pak" where the cards will protrude horizontally instead of vertically like the original Multi-Pak designs as well as the new home-brew ones they sold more recently.

I've also custom painted the cassette recorder I have for the Coco 2 (and the card case I spoke of above) with the best color match I could fine to the Coco 2's and the original mouse and deluxe joystick colors. IIRC, the color is Khaki, though I don't have the paint can near to verify.

I still have no CRT VGA monitor for my Coco 2.

 

@M.D.Baker I think the 6809 book by Levanthal will apply to any 6809/63c09 CPU based computer whereas "Inside the Dragon" is specific to the Dragon 32/64/Tano or 200E. I also have an Oojimaflip board but don't actually use it just now. I also bought a 200E Daughterboard for my D32 which allows you to have proper lowercase text gives you about 10 different character sets to choose from. I have also sussed out how to have a user defined character set in RAM and not use the set hard coded in the VDG. I finally got a 3d printed case for my disk interface so it's not a bare PCB sticking out the cartridge port. I also bought a replacement power board for my Dragon from John Howarth so it uses a standard 12V 3A PSU now and there is enough power in the board to power a SuperSprite board without the external PSU where the standard power board is borderline. It has some headers for 5v,12v,Gnd so I run my Gotek drive off one of these so I only have one PSU for the whole system.

Sadly John is not producing anything right now due to ill health so there is no more products being produced right now. So my plan for getting a SuperSprite board or a DragonPlus board are on hold indefinitely. Still, I am tracking my CoCoSDC and so far it's gone from Chicago to Copenhagen. So hopefully not long now.

 

@M.D.Baker I really want to get a NTSC CoCo2 at some point. It just seems like eBay is very expensive. What I really need is a contact in the US to find me one.
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