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

I've never measured, or strived; the looks of approval from woman were all I needed for my ego...

 

12 inches, I wish, but like Natt, never had a complaint, mind you, the cat can't speak.....

 

Wishing you all a Happy and Peaceful New Year.

Matt, hopefully you'll find a replacement for that precious LP.

 

I agree, Paul, TDK SA90's are my preference too, but only because Metal tapes and decks that supported them were far too expensive back then, and obviously astronomical in price these days since they are so rare; the tapes that is, Metal compatible tape decks aren't so much these days since most people don't realize what they've got when selling tape decks that most people aren't even interested in anymore, metal compatible or not. I'd love to copy my vinyl to Metal tapes, since they are nearly on a par with CD if recorded to properly, but still analog. But since a blank Metal tape can cost as much as an LP vinyl these days, it's better just to buy a back-up of the LP or a version on CD too, which is exactly what I did with my scratched LP, though before the tragedy as I wanted to listen to it, and several other I own both for, in my work truck's CD player. But TDK SA90's will be my go-to for any tape recordings I do make.

I do wish Betamax had not failed over here as it is a higher quality than VHS, until the failed S-VHS tapes came along, which I do have a player and blank tapes for. It's also a Sony like my Blu-ray player. But I'd thought that in England (and Europe) Betamax was more popular than VHS, especially since the old PAL CRT's had better definition than NTSC TV's just like Betamax vs. VHS. I thought I'd heard that many moons ago...you surprised me when you mentioned that.

And yeah, it's too bad SACD didn't catch on too, especially now that I have the Sony Blu-ray that is compatible with them. I'd be buying SACD for for my doubles of LP albums instead of CD's at this point forward. But I've seen no Rush albums on SACD either, while looking, so I'm stuck with CD's as the alternative backup since Metal tapes are so ridiculously priced.

I actually did have a few blank Metal tapes, I'd planned on using, that I picked up somewhere along the way in life, but never got around to using, but now that I've finally gone through all my media that was in storage, they didn't turn up, so I suspect they somehow got separated and were left in my Texas storage unit that was robbed. I will be keeping an eye out for cheap ones at flea markets, thrift stores and boot-sales as the average person selling tapes has no idea what they are worth these days, only audiophiles like myself.

Yeah, I too am still only using 5.1 surround myself, even with my newer Pyle amplifier I got as a replacement for my JVC quadrophonic, which I will fix eventually as it's much more powerful, and is compatible with surround sound as that's just the early name for surround sound, but just 4.0 surround. But with my 12" 3-way loudspeakers I don't really need the subwoofer, and I can live with the "virtual" center channel that naturally occurs with stereo and Quadraphonic/4.0 surround. Subwoofers and center channel speakers are just to make up for todays smaller surround sound speakers with a lack of bass and don't have as good of a virtual center channel also since they are so small. So I'll probably never get around to getting yet another amplifier just for the extra side speakers. Besides, if you just hook up 4 speakers to the front left & right and have them two at the front and two at the side, it sounds almost as good as true 7.1, assuming your amplifier has the power to run 4 front speakers...out of the left and right channels.

 

I did have a machine that supported meta tapes and I had a few, but the price difference (as you said) meant they were just too much for a collection. I did like the TDK ones as the mech holding the tape spools was all metal as well, heavy buggers

No idea if the amp can do that, it's a dedicated 5.1 all in one system, there's deffo no spare speaker connections.

Yeah, VHS was the go to here in the UK, some early adopters like us went Betamax, but the media were pushing VHS as being the next big thing. Shame, I really liked our Sony top loader, quality (for our eyes back then ) was great..

As for surround, I'm one of those people who thinks about what others can hear, and we have this stupid situation with the dick-heads upstairs (which resulted in me, last night, telling them to shove their kid up their arse (made Serena laugh). They had been good for a few days and then daddy who drives a cab came home at 11:50pm and up got all the kids battering the floor waking all of us from sleep. And as I spend all waking moments in pain I do like to get whatever sleep I can.)

Anyway, I'm awkward about going too loud as if I start I think it would prompt others to blare music at all times, which I could do without. As said on here before, I do play music but at a normal level but I don't use the 5.1 for it, just my large desktop PC speakers.

In an ideal world, I'd be in a detached house with a big room set aside as home cinema / audio room, I'd probably sound proof it so not to drive Cindy or Serena mad if I'm watching a mega action film. Sadly the world is far from ideal with talks of 4 day work weeks and the NHS in meltdown, let alone half the work force deciding to strike (although I agree with the nurses), some simply because they like to every year. (rail workers, I'm looking at you, as well as posties).

Ah, at least we had Silent Witness to watch last night, and a bloody good story so far...When they get it right, Silent Witness and Line of Duty are stunning TV that anyone from any country could enjoy (as long as they speak English, I hate badly dubbed stuff)

 

Lol, sound bars, bloody awful things, not only is the sound, weak, but they are often not in sync with the audio, some of them are very noticeably out of sync. IE you see a shot or something that has made a noise, but you hear it marginally later, quite off-putting.

This is what I have, too lazy to take a picture..

https://tinyurl.com/ytj32jw9

It's not perfect, if you put an XBOX360 through it the video tends to cut out, so I use it purely as a surround on that.

 

Yup, I'm aware of the impedance side of things, my flat is small so I don't need to fill the area with sound too much, sure, a couple more speakers would help, but I rarely use my amp these days.

 

Don't forget to give Spirit of 77 a good ol run out on your hifi, Al - but don't wake the neighbours up else they'll want a copy too!

 

Thanks, Andy. We're trying to keep this little creature alive thanks to many RC/RG passionate people around the world. It's always free and ad-free and we're always open to contributions if someone wants to tell us his story or his experience with software, hardware, peripherals, games, etc.

 

It's great that passionate folks like you keep adding new contributions to our hobby and scene, Daz.

Your enthusiasm, energy and strong contact with equally ardent article writers make your mag very much alive with much to keep the console, gamer, coder, arcade and retro micro fan interested.

My fave pieces in this issue are definitely the Bally Arcade article (plenty of historical detail that I'm sure will be of interest to Matt & others), but also the reviews of Impossible Mission on the CBM Plus 4 and also the darts program review of 180 for the C64. This Mastertronic release also came out on the Atari 800XL/130XE and, incredibly, Impossible Mission was also "homebrewed" for the Oric! I also enjoyed reading about Burger Time's arcade history (best game of 1984 - didn't know that) and how it's conversions faired on the console and micro market (the Colecovision's version seems to be the one to get). I was looking to see if "spin off" games such as Mr Wimpy were mentioned but these were probably just loosely based titlles rather than clones. Finally, the RPG reviews were also interesting but I've never quite got into this genre but who knows what 2023 will bring... am I right in thinking the Secret of Monkey Island (on the Amiga as well as other platforms) is one of the most popular titles of this type of game or am I mixing up icon driven adventure games? Someone will put me right. I'm at a funny age, you know!

I will look to contribute an article or two in 2023, mate.
Whether or not they'll be good enough for inclusion remains to be seen!! ;-)

Thanks again, Daz - it's a great little mag (format size - not contents wise - it's well-packed) and I'm sure that after reading this issue, back copies - especially those that cover the Atari 8bit - will be sought after on here by most members of Atari Owner.

 

Thank you very much, Baz, especially for taking your time to browse through the whole magazine and express your equal opinion, much appreciated.

Your contribution in 2023 will be more than welcome. And I've read many of your pieces and stories in AOC and elsewhere and I'm pretty sure that your articles will be exciting, interesting and full of sane British humour. Can't wait to read them. Atari stuff (both consoles and A8/ST) is particularly sought by our editorial team. But Oric articles and many other retrocomputers and gaming consoles stories are always welcome.

 

There's a typo, I'm sure, in your reply:

You obviously meant to type insane, but you typed sane by accident.

 

Thank you for the download Daz, looks like some very good articles in this issue. I'm looking forward especially to the Bally and BurgerTime ones (a favourite arcade title of mine) and lots of other varied stuff to read. Thanks again, all the effort you guys make is very much appreciated.

 

Thank you for downloading and taking a look! It's good to count you among our readers.

 

Hey Matt, you're always welcome! We are always open to contributions, no problem! And we do this only for passion and fun. Everything is free and ad-free. Since when we started, mostly because of geographical reasons, some 8- and 16-bit platforms did not receive the coverage they deserved (for example Atari 8-bit and ST, Oric, even MSX, etc.) - the most popular platforms of the 80s and 90s (especially in Europe) always receive a lot of articles concerning hw, sw, games, programming, etc. So we often invited members of Atari forums and FB groups to send in their experiences, knowledge, and stories about their favorite platform. We did the same with Jupiter Ace, ZX81, Archimedes and Acorn fans, but the feedback has always been poor or occasional.

So Matt, I can assure you that if you decide to send an article or two, we'll be glad to publish them. Your valuable experience in the retro-scene is clear so we can only expect nice and interesting stuff from you.

 

Yeah, there are a number of guys like that on the U.S. side of politico, on YT, podcasts and radio. And one or more to choose from in every media from Dems and Repubs all the way down to libertarian's and green parties that never stand a chance beyond the state level and that's as rare as hen's teeth at the state level.

But I wasn't pulling your legs when I guessed it might be another PM I had missed, as I don't keep up with politics much at all, even over here (but I do my homework before elections and vote, in person, valid I.D. in hand). I only heard/learned about the revolving door PM issues you guys have been having in recent months, which I actually might have learned of first from blokes in the chat box here. And then looked into it after.

I think of it like the movie 'The Big Lebowski' in that passed-out drug dream and music sequence, after Mickey gave The Dude a mickey; "I'm just checking in to see what condition the world's condition is in."

 

I am hoping to get a 7800GD as well @nysavant. I picked up a 1050 off feeBay last week, the stepper motor isn’t working properly. The drive mechanism works in my other 1050 so the stepper motor works. I’ve replaced the 6507 and RIOT chips which makes no difference. So I was going to try a new FDC, but what I’ve done is order a couple of TMS2793NL FDC’s these are apparently drop in replacements for WD2793-02 so this will be interesting.

 

Thanks Andy. It was a chance local find on Facebook Marketplace for £45. Who needs to eat until payday anyway

 

I miss my old Raleigh Grifter

 

Never had a chopper (oh, oh...) nor Grifter, just a run-of-the-mill 3 speed bike. It got me all the way down to Southend and back from the East End of London (I looked like a lobster afterwards as it was high summer, and I was stupid). Do like a bike, but I doubt the knee's would stand it nowadays. Still, good memories of my bike bar riding down a VERY steep hill in Marlow and hitting a cow-pat (going way too fast to swerve) causing the bike to skid and throw me over the handle bars at top speed. No breaks, but left a trail of my skin and oodles of blood on the road...Ouch..Not to mentions ripping my clothes to shreds, which made my mum fume as they were brand new....Still I cleared the cow-pat thankfully, as I did my take on Superman flying (like a retard).

But like kids of that time, I bounced back and was riding a few days later and being just as reckless.

 

The Grifter was a right heavy beast. And the Chopper was just dangerous! I once went over the handlebars while getting a 'backy' from my friend - Went flying over the top of him and then he landed half on me as well. That was painful at the time.

Hopefully I'll get to take Elsie out for a little cycle this weekend at some point, weather permitting!

 

Ah, we lurved our Choppers, Al (and no, I'm not being saucy - this time - Paul ;-)

There was a gang of us down our alley and the majority of em had the uber cool purple ones (think they might have been newer Mk IIs) whereas I had a bit of a scratched second hand orange mk.I IIRC), but whatever, we felt like a mob out of Scooby Doo, or Double Deckers or Why Don't You who were so great the Beeb might as well have made a children's tv series about us (no, not fecking Byker Grove!).

Those were the days - we rode all day and all night, in the summers of 76-77, and if we could have tekken em to bed with us, we would've!



Theirs....


and mine...



It felt and looked like the older model but I was so proud of the bugger and the "backy" that Al talks about we called "croggies" and it was the ultimate in looking out for yer mate - who was usually a big bugger who had left his bike outside the shops and someone had nicked it leaving you to take up the void in his/her life...

THOSE WERE THE DAYS, my micro friends, we thought they'd never end.

 

100% agree with your post there Paul. Basically we are an online versoin of Last of the Summer Wine

The girls in work all laugh at me (probably for many reasons actually) because I always like to have my weekend planned ahead so I don't end up sitting in the house wondering what I could do. Today for instance, was out early to drop off my Vita for modding, then a walk (3.5 mile!) round a nearby loch and a trip to CEX for a PS4 game. Headed to the library on the way home after getting a nice bit of lunch and now I'm just about to try and find a stream to watch the Celtic game in an hour. Also on standby as my daughter is down in Leeds and I might need to drive down to Lancaster to pick her up due to weather disruption on the trains...
Tomorrow I'm out early for a cycle ride up to the canal and along to see a new junction bridge that has just been opened then back home via a pizza truck I heard about. The afternoon I'm visiting a local museum in my nearby country park and in the evening going to see the Antman film. Exactly like you said Paul, have to do things while you can.

Of course, there will also be a small slice of retro gaming at some point

 

Gawd, I've got boxsets of Last of the Summer Wine as part of Bob's lot...

Not one I'd watch.. Nothing wrong with it, just not my sort of TV..

But you do get around a bit, sadly I'm not a pre-planner at heart, unless it's something I must do then I have no itinerary, the only thing I know I'm going to be ahead of time is go to the shop each night. It's my way of escaping from here for an hour and being that Serena and I have stomach issues, we both sort of think of what we want on the day.

 

Might be something to do with the fact that I used to be a travel agent before I was an administrator. Love an itinerary