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

Incredible. Never seen the Al mancave from that view before - it looks amazingly well-organised, pristine and presented, Al. So so sorry to hear that Paul's so low when it comes to health and positive vibes for the Atari 8bits, mate. Wish to hell we could do something to make you feel better about the situation, fella.
Shame we're not all closer and we can't get us together etc.
Sincerely, hoping something comes along to get you your mojo back as Al, mentions...

 

Keep smiling through, Paul. I'm certain there's life in the old dog yet, mate.

 

Speaker repair tip:

Have a speaker or two that the center bubble has gotten pressed in? Use a vacuum with it's hose attached to suck them back out. You may need to rig a temporary nozzle to the end of the vacuum hose if the bubble is small. Or try using a straw and sucking on the bubble with it if small enough.

 

Looks powerful... the dog's bollys from where I'm standing, Matt.

Very well repaired and revamped.

Would lurve to hear these bad boys really open up and give it some Def Leppard on full bore, maybe a bit of Animal?!

 

here is a shot of my front speakers set up properly.

 

The real reason for the controller is that I remember seeing it in a games shop in Glasgow when it first came out and thought it was amazing that you could get 'arcade' controls at home It's been on my wishlist ever since!

Kicking myself for buying Sensi even though I know it should re-sell okay, but hey-ho. Going to make a list of ST floppy games that I want to hunt out and make sure I don't end up with more dupes.

All in all it was a good retro day. Hopefully pick up another couple of bits when I'm down North Yorkshire at the end of this month

 

Excellent results, Al.

I can feel your sense of satisfaction from here, mate!

Just a shame they didn't say, hey when you buy a track and field controller, Sensi Soccer, plus a mug and poster... you get a FREE ATMOS thrown in!

If only, mate... if only.

I do get em from time to time but the price they're going for now, Al, I'd be lucky to get you one for less than £150 fully functioning but you never know... we'll keep looking and who knows when yer down our way next, fella?

We'll keep our radars active for the Track n Field cart too, budster.

WELL DONE, Al - you can deffo chalk that expo expedition down as a total success, pal.

 

Very nice Andy. The Newsroom was always a favourite of mine.

Been busy with work since getting back so not had time for pictures yet but will post my little haul soon. Think your bundle is more impressive though!

 

Cheers, Al.

Not bad at all that little lot, eh, for the money?

Real nice guy clearly just wanting shut of em so I did very nicely indeed... will have to test em out and post a new thread soon.

Hey, Richie's been in touch, guys - maybe he's posted elsewhere here, so just a heads-up that he's perfectly OK and just been busy with his consoles/life/the summer days with his missus etc... and why not?

Looking forward to seeing what you got when you do get chance, Al, then I'll show the sad start to the beginning of the end for my retro room where it's all cheek by jowl anyhow with the exercise bike in there...BUT, the new look going on in the arcade cave where a new beast has landed... (Al, don't give the game away... not yet anyhow!!)

 

Sorry no picutes yet lads, been very busy in work since I got back so hopefully get a chance to sit down and have some retro fun this weekend sometime.

On that note Andy, book arrived safe and sound mate. Thank you very kindly!

 

Superb Andy!!

Pinball machine looks great. And the title is very fitting considering your past profession lol. How does it feel to sleep on now that Bev has probably kicked you out of the master bedroom

Loving those big box Amiga games as well. So many memories playing games like Swiv and Ikari Warriors. I remember getting up at the crack of dawn (she was a lovely gal) to jump a bus over to the other side of Glasgow to pick up Player Manager on the day of release. Them were the days indeed.

The snippets of the Baz Cave look great. Are we going to see a quick video walkround soon so that it can be appreciated it in all its retro glory?

 

P.s. why bother with a dartboard when you have a Man Utd line up to aim for instead?

 

LOL! Knowing my darts skills (?!), Al, I'd throw and miss and hit a Scouser instead. No bad thing...
Any road, yes, I will do vids of the games you mention and a walkaround the Baz Cave. It's currently once more getting a clear out as all sorts gets slung in there as it still has to double up as a garage for our bikes, outside furniture and parasols etc so sometimes you gan in there, trip up and very nearly break yer neck as you encounter something that has been slung in before the rain comes down!
The pinball is lovely and yes, a nod to my former "profession".
However, overnight 4-5 of the little lights have either failed or dimmed so I'm in the process of tracking down which type of mini bulbs they take and then order some off Feebay and get them replaced as you can't play pinball properly without flashing lights, bumpers and ejectors ganning off left right and centre...
Yes, I've now been dismissed to me cave and the back bedroom is free of Baz Amiga and ZX81 presence.
Bev suggests I use those Amiga big box titles as pillows... very thoughtful of her indeed.
Oh, don't mention Player Manager... the hours I spent on that one!
Cheers, mate.
Any more Amiga game suggestions that I play test from any more groovers on here?

 

Well, I'm a sucker for a game of Arcade Pool. Or for a quick platform hit Zool is always good. And Speedball 2. Or the Lotus racing trilogy. Great Giana Sisters if you can find it. Cannon Fodder of course, maybe Sensible Golf....

That little lot is just off the top of my head. Who needs modern systems when we have all this golden greatness?

 

Many thanks once more, Paul.

You are such a great guy spreading the retro lurve and I know we wish things were better for you health and neighbour wise and you didn't have these shitty things to contend with.

Just hope that the digital treats and being with your nearest and dearest helps put a smile back on your face as do our retro shenanigans, hustling, bustling about, trading and bartering and every now and again us guys manage to unearth the odd shiny gem for our collections.

Keep smiling through, mate.

 

Thanks Andy... Had a hair cut in a barber shop (as opposed to a butchers, Asda or any other shop), gave Serena a day off from using the clippers.

Now almost look human and not some cave beast with straggly, unkempt hair. I almost look like how I did when I wore a suit and tie and carried a briefcase (it actually did have work in it and not just sarnies)

 

Thanks for the kind words gents, I'm a bit like Cuprinol (wood staining gear from old TV advert), I'm exactly what's on the tin. I'm the same in real life as I am on the net. And you guys are the same, I also could sit down and have a cuppa with anyone on here and feel right at home.

Don't worry Al, it's been a bit miserable down here for the last two days, swapping between blue and clouds to WET WET WET..(No, not those Scots lot )

My goodness, PD disks, the number of those I had to dump from Bob's, I thought about bringing them home and then thought that I had so much from Bob's that Cindy would be a little miffed with that lot. Easily 20 plus disk boxes and so many PC cover CD's. His missus was a manager of a shop / post office and the sold mags in there, but if Bob was actually buying these then he spent a blooming fortune on mags..

I can't really make fun of it as like all of us I collected so many disks that just sat in boxes for years. I think I may have looked at some of them, maybe once, but most were unseen.

Went into Asda last night, I thought the nice ladies who worked there might comment on me looking smart for once, sadly no, unlike Sean Connery, my sex appeal seems to have waned over the years In fact he's got more sex appeal being dead than I have

Sort of related, I'm not windy by nature, it's a result of the 15 plus tablets I have to take in a day, the omeprazole is a killer, fills me with wind, tried other stuff but that made me throw up and other nasty side effects. And although I joke about it, it's actually quite painful, good for a laugh but at a painful cost.

Any of us on meds know the not so clever side effects..

 

In truth, dumping the disks may have been the best choice, I can't imagine anyone actually wanting them and the cost of sending them would put folk off. If you want to see it done properly then read this https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/newsbeat-66136597 , the guy has done amazing work.

I joke a bit re the sex appeal, I normally get on with the ladies out there, I'm always polite, but I'm 44yrs married and I know where my loyalties lie. So I have a laugh and a joke with the nice ladies but never more than that. I already have 2 full time lovelies to look after.

Yeah, the meds area pain, some are to counteract the effects of others but most are pain relief, but the omeprazole is a real buggers, within an hour or less of taking I'm like a human whoopie cushion, but I have to be careful as it also upsets the stomach and I get diarrhoea so have to be sure before I parp!!

Sort of related to Bob, poor Cindy is going through it with her mum, the mem loss and confusion is really building, plus the mum's sudden loss of hearing is making her very ratty towards Cindy. It's a situation I've been in twice but there's nothing much I can do to help Cindy bar warn her of the problems to expect and assure her that it isn't her fault, but the actual effect on Cindy is draining.

Still, chin up and all that..

 

I had an old man moment when waiting for my haircut. I slowly started to feel the need to pee (I drink lots of water) and it was taking ages to get to the chair. Thought that I'm gonna need to find an alley way on the way home..Thankfully, just made it..

 

I was talking to him in September last year about a UAV for my 65XE but he was having family health problems and the chat sporadic. Last spoke to him in March.

 

Hey, nice to see you on Andy, welcome back...

Can't help re Graham, not sure I'f I've spoken to him ever?

Hope all is well...

 

I remember back in the day deciding to get some music software for my Atari. My options were (available off the shelf in my area)The Music Construction Set from EA you now own Andy, and Activision's The Music Studio.

I decided to choose The Music Studio because judging by the back-of-box description, it seemed to have more features and be user friendly with the music painter option similar to Atari's Music Painter that Music Construction didn't have. And important feature for me since I couldn't read music, though if I enjoyed it enough I would learn too, was the reasoning. And the color graphics looked better to me than the high-res mono of Music Construction, at least on the small box images. Both were pointer and icon driven which I preferred back in the day as it made the Atari 8-bit look as modern as the 16-bit machines, less a desktop, just in-app.

In hind sight (with enlightenment coming just a few years ago) I wish I had gotten The Music Construction Set instead as I was very disappointed to discover the Atari version of TMS was a dirty port of the C64 version and therefore only utilized 3 of the Pokey's 4 voices since the original software was restricted to the C64's 3 voices or channels! Then I come to find out that not only does The Music Construction Set take advantage of all 4 voices with their 3.5 octave range, on the Atari version, but also allows you to set it for 3 voices which allows one voice to be the combined 16-bit 7 octave range! The Music Studio didn't do that, it just dropped a Pokey voice to copy the C64 version, unfortunately also with only 3.5 octaves per voice compared to the C64's 8 octave SID voices. At least with TMCS you can come close to the C64's octaves on one the 3 voices, but also the advantage of it being in much cleaner and more detailed 16-bit resolution!

Good grab Andy!

http://www.atarimania.com/utility-atari-400-800-xl-xe-music-studio-_14318.html

http://www.atarimania.com/utility-atari-400-800-xl-xe-music-construction-set_14317.html

 

The Cubs were always with the BBC range...

 

Well done, Paul - spot on - and...



IT WORKS!

Just need to lift the lid on the Beeb and work out why its solid state MMC disk drive isn't booting up properly.

It always does this (after leaving it unbooted for 12+ months).

It's ruddy sulking

 

PS. If any of you guys are interested in the solid state disk that gives Beeb owners all this software, then there's a guy fitting such a chip and plug in interface here:



PPS. Another Acorn coming soon to the Baz stables but the little brother aint well... it might well be one for Rich to cast his lurving mitts over... I know he has a spot spot for Elks