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

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

 

Sorry to hear, Paul, yer out of love with the old micros.

I love em just as much as before and have begun a flirtatious relationship with a little Beeb or Acorn Elk which Richie knows a little about but is keeping it quiet from my missus.... just in case fur/keys fly

The Beeb was probably the most powerful 8bit machine and when it was put to the test, it did indeed shine through with some excellent results - it was just so stereotyped as being education and scientific only which was really only part of the story - I must post up some of the great arcade conversions as some are 99.9% matches for the real deal.

 

I'm a big fan of the BBC range. Even went as far as having an Archimedes back in the day!

The MMC is a nice solution and gives you access to some really good titles. The Beeb had some pretty good arcade conversions to its name. A lovely versatile and expandable machine indeed and built like a tank

As for that CUB monitor Andy, brilliant find! I'll give you £10.50 and a packet of polo mints for it if you ever decide to sell...

 

Taste?

You don't have to take drugs at a gig...

Re drugs, it always made me laugh when you booted a USA game in Mame and were greeted with "Winners don't use drugs" for the US government re it's sports stars etc, only to find out that most of them DID...

 

THE ATARI CONNECTION...

Hey, fellas, just acquired this rather lovely old Atari 8bit classic mag in very neat condition for a fiver, from the winter of 82/83.

Just scanned in a few pages to give you a mere "taster".

Might make a new thread from this buy at some point as there are some great articles within which cover a lot of user APX software and I for one didn't sample more than 2-3 progs over the years (Eastern Front, GTIA Demo and Lone Raider? Not sure about the last one), and there's clearly....1000s.

Any road, enough rambling and more posting, Baz:







Bootiful, just bootiful, lads.

What you played on your Atari today?

Mags like this just make you want to BREAKOUT yer whole collection and get blasting!

 

Brilliant find Andy, I love an old magazine. Especially the adverts.
Need to sort mine out at some point but that's a project for another day!

Also spotted your Atari 800XL mouse mat, very cool. I'm hoping to visit the shop that makes them when I'm down in Wales and buy a few bits.

 

Cheers, Al, me too - just love trawling through and seeing what gems are within these old reads... and the latest thing to come crashing through the doors here?

RETURN OF THE ELK!

A poorly one, me mate Mog says, not had chance to look at her, so she could well be heading Rich's way, once I get a mo:

 

It's a coo little machine. Sort of reminds me of the 600XL.

 

Ah, here we go.... definitely much smaller the Elk here versus the Model B:



The Elk's about half the size of it's elder brother.

The 600XL vs the 800XL a nearer match for the two siblings?

 

Ah well, worth a try... the system locks up after about 5-8mins being switched on







and anything on screen freezes and on resetting you get this...



My gut feeling is a component overheating..?

If you leave the machine for another 10-15 mins then it boots up fine again and you can use it once more... for another 5-8mins until it freezes...again.

Over to you, Richie, mate.

Elk and PSU parcel in the post next week.

Cheers, buddy.

 

A small squirt of vinegar to neutralise the corrosion won't hurt, then a good wipe with 99% isopropanol alcohol to clean off the residue. It's probably bad ram, when it's on have a feel for extremely warm chips, ie burning hot. The fact that it can boot and work, if somewhat briefly, says that the actual CPU and surrounding logic seems fine.

Internal corrosion is never good, it can eat traces or VIA's as I believe they are called these days(?).

Richie is your man here, good luck..

Just had a zoomed look, nice that it's standard 4164's, ie still available and quite common even now. So if it is one or more of them, then it's a 15 min fix. The worst work is the desoldering of the old ones. Odd though, Texas one's are not known for failure, but it's a 40+ year old machine, anything is game now.

 

Cheers, Paul.

As you say, let's hope it's an easier fix in the range of things that can go wrong and not something tough to find like the Elk ULA faulty or some dry/cracked solder joint somewhere obscure...

It's just gone out the door to Richie... at the same time an Oric-1 arrived back from the great man... like a bleedin turnstyle here some days.

Celtic winning 4-1 so someone will be happy on here! Have a good weekend, guys.

 

Doubt it's the array, but let's hope Richie finds the gremlin..

 

Ended up 4-2 for Celtic, but it was a funny one with Brendan Rodgers being back. I miss big Ange

Still, Rangers got beat 1-0 so a good first day all in. Plus Norwich won as well and Pompey managed not to lose lol