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

Hey, the C64C has some replacement keys...

So, BEFORE:



and AFTER:





I KNOW they aint quite what I actually wanted/needed, but hey, at the end of the day, she's looking a damn sight better than she did when she emerged out of a local attic "black bright" and the keyboard like a mouth full of holes and fillings.

I'll give her some more TLC, have a wee play and then offer her out for grabs so if we have any takers here for £50 (incl old PSU and some software) plus P&P, she can go to a new home, so let me know retro dudes.

 

Nice. Are you not tempted to keep it Andy?

 

I've got a mini64 and a breadbin already, mate, else I might... just too much going on in the retro backburner dept reet now, bud and I need to shift a few models and then really clear that back room as it's earmarked for decoration (if the rear roof suffers no more leaks), next year so better start getting gear out of there and stashed away until it's time for it all to come and play again.

As ever, it's space, Al, and my kelt has outgrown my final front ear

 

The old C64C looks nice now, shame I'm not so retro now or I would have been tempted. Just waiting for Barclays to pay in Cindy's lump sum now that the bank accounts are open etc. shame as it does look great..

 

Did you figure out the 4 pin PSU @Andy Barr ? I wonder if it’s for a 1541-II disk drive as there were 4 pin DIN sockets on some.
I’ve got my 64’s and VIC-20’s already so I’ll pass on this one. I just picked up a nice Electron with original PSU this week which works nicely on my CTM-644 monitor, but I’m on the lookout for a Plus4 or C16 if anyone has one or knows someone who would part with one.

 

Hi, Rich.
I was chatting to some guy on a C64 forum and he told me it was a PSU for a standard 64 just like the other - he said they were produced in different flavours and that both of my bricks would fail at some point and bring that 64C down with em so I was not to use em!
Never mind, and I'm glad you've got a nice new Electron with an official PSU mate, that works smart with your dedicated monitor.
Now then, my mate Shaun definitely has one or maybe both of those models you mention.
Are you on FaceAche, buddy, as he is on one of the Hull retro forums and MAY be interested in a sale but I'd best not put words in his mouth as he might not want to sell at all.
I haven't seen him in ages but he sent me a wee happy boffday msg the other day and invited me over to chew the fat so if I do see him, after we get back from our hols, I'll ask away on your behalf, my mate.
Cheers, Rich.

 

Thanks mate, I don’t use Facebook these days or any other social network sites for that matter. So I’m not really able to use these to track down bargains.

 

It sounds like there could be a problem with the TED either overheating or on its way out so I would rather steer clear of that one bud.

 

My one fear of selling stuff to this day is that although I know it's all working as it should before I sell it, I just worry that this 40yr old + stuff will decide to conk out when it hits the buyer. Hence, none of my stuff has gone up as yet, as it stands, everyone who has brought off me has been dead chuffed with their purchase, but I still worry.

A seller with a conscience on Ebay, who would have thought it

I just never want to be thought of as the person who others decide that I knew it was faulty when it was sold.

 

You have an admirable, caring attitude and a conscience whereas a lot out there couldn't give a monkeys and will sell their grandma's soul for a buck. Paul. I know what you mean but I'm also sure that your reputation goes before you and anyone who is in any doubt or just enjoys stirring up the old cack, need not bother bidding. Anyone who knows anything about the retro computer world knows that your word is your guarantee that the kit is sold 100% accurately as described etc. Bid accordingly.

 

I take a more pragmatic view when I buy old kit these days. If it packs in while I own it then I will try to repair it out of my own pocket as this stuff is 40 years old now and was never designed for that. What I won't put up with is a seller deliberately misleading me. This more of a problem on feeBay, I've never had that problem buying kit off mates and I would be quite happy to buy kit off you mate. I know you would make sure it was working fine before you let it go.

 

Yeah compared the C64 or any other Commodore 8-Bit computer the Atari is built like a tank which in my case would be a Sherman Firefly….
What would your tank of choice be to describe Atari 8-Bits … discuss

 

Obviously Star Raiders, you simply can't not like Star Raiders. Crossfire was ok, sadly us PAL'ers didn't get the most of it as it was arftifacting. It's one that me and others altered the display list to graphics 14 so it had colour. As for the rest, apart from Elecktraglide which I was lucky enough to see it progress in dev thanks to the programmer popping in, I can't say I was a Mercenary fan, the tech was good, but I found it boring, as I do fighter pilot and that sort of stuff.

But excellent value the Andy, nice grab..

Only one word as a downer, tapes....

 

Hey, I lurve me tapes, Paul, though I know where yer coming from... 15-25min (non-reliable) loading times sometimes!

Ne'er mind.

I'm gonna track down some original inlay scans from some place and colour laser print em just so they look a bit better in their cassette boxes and throw out the old dirty ones and replace with cleaner empty boxes lying around in my tape collection, like say this Amstrad version of Star Wars:


If anyone has a link to an Atari tape inlay website then please let me know - maybe Atarimania will be OK as I know they have the accompanying images to go with all the software too?

Now, I did like Tomahawk by Digital Integration - who did Fighter Pilot too - and I really got into it, all those years back.

Like you say, anyone can enjoy a blast on Star Raiders PLUS there's Star Wars in there (Domark?) and I also lurve me SSI titles, as you know, so I'll be having a gan on that Battalion Commander at some point.

I think I miscounted and there's 13 in there after all, lads, but hey. it hasn't been unlucky for me one bit - quite the opposite.

Cheers for the feedback, Paul and I never knew about the artefacting/additional colour mod you and the Atari coders were able to do with Crossfire - great work.

 

Its not a stunningly difficult mod, you find the display list, there's a long list of 0F's, and you change them to 0E, and viola, you have colour, with tools like Omnimon, it's really easy (on the fly), or Diskey (by Sparkys Starks) if you want to mod an ATR.

 

GET IN THERE! Haven't played Commando in nigh on... 38 years!!!



Cheers once more, Rich.

Must find me Dare Devil Denis...!

 

T

That's a fine looking version of Commando, Andy. How does it play?

 

Yeah that’s the only thing with the Electron the speed compared to its big brother. Because of the way the memory is configured it only reads a Nybble at a time so it takes two cycles to read a complete Byte which combined with RAM contention with the Display means it is around 4 times slower than a standard Beeb. That said compared to other 8-Bits it has a very fast BASIC and is not too bad compared to other U.K. 8-Bits.

 

This is my childhood version of Commando and I always thought it plays pretty well.

 

Lovely jubbly, Rich.

I have one too - doesn't get much playtime but must give it an airing this autumn and report back on my artistic masterpieces after visiting Paris and Monet's inspirational lily ponds at Giverny - thanks for the heads-up, Manu!

 

Like it, Rich.
Did we ever get a half decent conversion on the Atari classic... or Oric, of Commando or a clone of it?
For some reason I've got LA Swat on a budget label going around my head but I could be miles off with that particular game title.
Help me out, lads... senior moment.
Again ;-)

Becoming worryingly more frequent...

 

Cheers, Rich.

Never seen that game before - seems to play OK - graphics are a bit browned off but there again, khaki brown is the general army uniform and desert kinda colours so I shouldn't complain!

Remember Tynesoft alright but never that particular game and it sounds like I was on the right lines with LA Swat as Al seems to be backing me up on that one. Was that like a street backdrop and cop / shoot the guys on the rooftops as you made your way down the street / overhead view caper?

 

Spot on Andy!

 

Nice one Matt. Think I'll need to have a little play with the various versions over the weekend at some point.

 

@M.D.Baker Matt, how are you getting on with the VCS 800? I'm getting more and more tempted by it as a potential purchase sometime in the future so keen to hear any of your views good or bad.