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

The 7800 has been collected and I've had a quick play with a couple of games. Everything seems to be working well apart from the joypads which are a little bit dodgy in some directions. I'm probably going to try and pick up a third party controller anyway so not a big deal. Nice to be playing Asteroids on the old CRT display again though.

 

Or a large gimp outfit?

 

Well, I decided to go ahead and install my new shelving before I get my paneling on the wall, they will be easy enough to take down temporarily to do the paneling, that most likely I won't be doing until next fall or winter anyway. I do want to get one more of these shelves to hold my original Xbox, 360 and a Sega Saturn I intend to get again. And maybe a Sega Mega Drive/CD/32X too, which will go where I currently am displaying my controllers. Though I'll probably change positions with the consoles so the brands are grouped together.

 

Fine selection there and natty covers too..

 

I was just about to buy a 7800 Ballblazer cart off of ebay for the incredible price (these days) of $35 to get the Pokey inside to use as the second Pokey in my 7800's Dragonfly unit as I'm doing an old-school dual-Pokey mod to it since specially programmed (for 7800) Pokeymax's are not currently available for it! No special programming is required for a DIY dual-Pokey as it's real hardware. I just have to run one extra wire along with the power cord from my Dragonfly to the 7800 console connecting it to pin 13 of the 6502 CPU. I had put it on my list to go back a buy once I transferred some money between accounts, but was too late! Great additions there Richie!

On a non-Atari related note, I just received a couple of albums (one used in excellent condition and one brand new) as I slowly (due to high costs of $25-$75 per album! New and used!) rebuild my vinyl album collection that was damaged (some salvageable some not) while in storage for 7 years too long! As cheaply as possible looking for deals.

From my favorite band, Rush. 2112 is a used original, the vinyl in perfect condition. ~$30. Moving Pictures is a new 40th anniversary edition (from 2021) with a red vinyl record that I thought was cooler than the original (not to mention modern remastering of the recording). ~$40. The 2112 record is also a special (original) edition that shows a hologram of the star-in-circle from the cover on the vinyl as it spins!

Early birthday presents to myself as I turn 54 next month.

 

I only got to hear a bit of one song, we have a few problems here at the moment..

Sounded like Supertramp to me, well of that feel...

Somehow I got it in my head that it was heavy metal, won't be my last mistake..

Will try and get some less manic time to have a proper listen, just wanted you to know I had seen the post..

Paul..

 

Don't worry Matt, I don't genuinely hate vinyl, just the fact it was so easy to blemish it, bust as you say, had it been cd's they would probably been trashed as easily. When the records got crunched I remember later feeling like the John Candy character in Planes, Trains and Automobiles when the car goes between the lorries and Neale looks around to see Candy as the Devil. I felt that way too re the horror I'd caused.

I'd like to test a couple of the new vinyl, but they seem costly, so it's something for the back burner. Most immediate things are the car (tax and insurance) and keeping warm, the gas card is just guzzling cash and it's annoying because we are very careful to limit gas use, ie we are not like many who sit in what feels like a sauna all day, it's on to give the flat a warm and then off.

As for the vinyl, I used to love the picture disks or the coloured 12" records, I remember a Donna Summer 12", think it was Hot Stuff that was racy red. Nice old times. After vinyl, I started to use tapes to record all my mates big disc collection, my weapon of choice was always a TDK SA90. When CD then became a norm I jumped ship to it as I had very few records left and a big set of tapes, my initial thoughts on CD were not great, the first CD's seemed quite flat in audio range and needed a g EQ'ing to get some thump out of them, later on they got better, and I got a player with SACD ability, sadly they were not as supported as I'd hoped.

Video wise, we went for a Sony Betamax as the quality seemed better, sadly everyone else went VHS, so when we went to the video club our choice was somewhat limited BUT we did get to see Assault on Precinct 13 which started my love of John Carpenter films (only Vampires of Mars was a let down, even the loveliness of Natasha Henstridge could not save it, also the vision of a young Jason Statham with what looked bum fluff on his head (severely thinning by then)) didn't help. We were slow to jump to DVD, but when I saw my mates Maplin brand played (I'd left by then) and I saw Armageddon on it I wanted one . Thankfully my brother saw it with me and needed me to drive the lorry to move him up North, the deal was that I got a DVD and a film and he did the same. I bloody earned it though, the boxes and boxes of architecture books he had (he was a surveyor) almost broke my back.

Now I am blu-rayed and have a good collection on it, and a modest 5.1 surround that barely gets used, I'd like an Atmos 7.1 setup and a HUGGGGGGEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE TV, but beggars can't be choosy....

 

Hi guys this is new. So Happy New Year to everyone with the new English issue of RetroMagazine World. Download & Enjoy! https://www.retromagazine.net/getrm.php?id=17_eng

I hope you appreciate it.

 

I had a half day off work this afternoon and decided to go for a walk down the Ayrshire coast. Thought I'd pick up the latest copy of Pixel Addict on the way back, so I nipped into WH Smith in Ayr.


Mission completed I then headed back towards the car and decided I'd have quick look in the local Cash Generator as I went past. You can probably guess what happens next....

PURCHASE 1: SONY BRAVIA 4:3 LCD TV


PURCHASE 2: SONY CD & CASSETTE RADIO


PURCHASE 3: NEW GAMING KEYBOARD


I think I might have a teeny retro habit

For a while now I've been keeping an eye open for a 4:3 monitor and I know this is LCD not CRT but it has all the inputs I could ever want and a great pair of speakers on it too. Tried a few games on PS2, PSP and Megadrive through it and was really pleased with the results. At some point in the future it might end up being used on a soley retro gaming/emulation pc. A billy bargain for £9.99 including the Sony remote control.

The radio was an impulse purchase, I don't have many tapes but it's nice to have something to play them in and it's now taken up residence in the corner of Al's retrocave so I can sing-a-long to my country music cd's while tapping away on the pc.

Lastly, the keyboard was in honour of Andy, King of the Or(i)c's. How could I possibly resist that glorious black and red colour combo. And those RGB lights. What a lovely ATMOSphere they create indeed.

Keep smiling guys

 

This one isn't computer related but it is retro (circa 1979)....

3 speed hub gears, nice steel frame and some lovely patina (i.e. rust!). Been on the lookout for something that I could use locally rather than my 'good' bike or my heavy electric bike. Lads, say hello to "Elsie"

 

Love the old stories, almost all the same bar their localised terminology, they make for warm friendly reading. Times that we miss and enjoyed hugely, and yet compared to some of the achievements we make as adults, these things we did as kids seem more fun and maybe even more important despite not actually being.

I think of some of the stuff I did as a kid and some stuff scares the hell out of me now, like climbing over the balcony rail of our 17th floor flat and dangling backwards by one hand and then just doing the same but hanging with my feet out, Good god that sends shivers up my spine as I type, now I'm scared of heights (wonder why!), but for the most I just relish all the silly stuff I and me mates did. Playing hide and seek with the lads and being told to get down off the roof of jewellers in Dalston by the local copper, for me, it was just a great hiding spot, sadly Mr Plod felt otherwise and gave me a good telling off (and you know what, I was frightened silly by it, none of this give the copper lip like now).

But mostly it was just fun normal stuff that made the best memories, riding my bike for miles, climbing tree's, going huge long walks through the countryside, and of course, playing footy with mates. Totally harmless little fun things that I so miss, but I'm brassy enough to be able to accept it's all memory now. Basically I'm saying, do it all while you can, but prepare your head for when it's not do-able. I'd love to walk along the tow-path by the Thames in Marlow on a summer's evening with Cindy, these days by the time I've driven there and got out the car I'm desperate for a pee, 2 mins into the walk my knees are going mad, and it's back to the car

 

My mate Tony who I just mentioned in the shoutbox is an administrator in a mental health unit, he has every detail setup for the day, so organised but it comes across as a bit OCD as he gets the hump if anything is changed.

 

"Well, you sang to us
Instead of explain to us
So I guess what's in the pic
Is the new gear and it's sic

Though the stickers have to go
And a little elbow grease for show
And a fine machine it will be
And you can let us all see

Off the top of my head it flowed
So now I drop the mic and go...
FREEBIRD!!!"

 

Listening to you guys talking about vinyl nearly had me making a purchase last night. Even got as far as putting a Denon turntable in my Amazon basket before changing my mind at the last minute lol

 

My mate Tony has 4 of these bad boys in his front room, all on a big ass old amp and eq driven.. Truly makers of thunder...

 

Those speakers I posted go for around 2500.00 a pair (UK money) second hand, way beyond what I'd pay for a pair of any speakers.

I have speakers that make enough noise for me in those rare times I turn them on. As I've said many a time, my dream is a detached house and a home cinema room with massive screen and sound system, and a UK Pool table. I'd probably never leave the house and become very deaf...

 

Shiny new to me 520STe upgraded to 4meg ram and in original condition with working floppy

 

Actually I'm ok with it all, I've been carrying all these items around, move after move, but yet all they do is go on display. I've always been one to pass on gear that I no longer use, I just hate seeing it doing nothing. Most of the doom and gloom is down to health, it's so hard to sit and play stuff now, the act of trying is simply putting me off more.

Will all my machines go?

Possibly, while there's emulation out there I'm never without, but if it’s so hard to use them then I don't see much point in having them. Again, the positive for me is to see the machines move on to new homes where someone WILL play them (I hope!)

My health is what it is, I have good and bad days, sadly more bad than good, BUT, I can see, hear and move around and all importantly, drive. I did all the fitness and running as a younger man, I had the six pack and the fitness, now it's time to relax a little bit. So it's not all bad, as I sit looking out of my window it's a big old blue sky with glorious sun and a nice breeze, what's not to like

 

Today was Play Expo in Glasgow so I went along as usual.
Although it doesn't attract the same amount of traders as show's down South it's always worth a look. This year I think there were less arcade machines but more consoles and home computers available to play on. Unfortunatley I couldn't get the high score on the Galaga cabinet (missed out by a lousy 70 points!), but had some fun on Missile Command and a couple of the pinball tables which I normally don't go near.

Over on the home micro front I managed to get a shot on the little beastie below. Really is one of the best looking computers ever made. Also had a play with a Spectrum Next. Despite all the delays in the second production run it's a nice system and the design really does feel like an evolution of the original Spectrum line. Jim Bagley was there as well demo'ing the system to anyone who asked.





Things got even more interesting when I had a second look around the traders section before I left. Happened to notice one of my grail items on the Console Passion stall, an Atari Track & Field controller. Been after one for years at a decent price and after a little bartering picked up this lovely example for just £15. This alone made the show worth going to and I am really chuffed to finally have it, now just need to get the game cartridge and I'll be all set for some button bashing fun.



The other purchases were an Atari Star Wars coin op poster (£4), a Cobra Kai mug (£4) and Sensible Soccer European Edition for the ST (£10). Only things is, when I got home I noticed that I already had that version of Sensi for the ST!

 

For those of you who are Jaguar owners, a new totally redone and enhanced version of the RPG game Towers II is now open for pre-orders for it's September release. There are two versions, the standard for $99 and enhanced for $129 for a few extra souvenirs and a clear cart shell. If you already own the original, like me, it's still worth getting as it's such HUGE improvements to the game and even some of the gameplay quests and storyline has been enhanced or changed a bit. Plus, if you don't have the original, and the reason why is the astronomical prices for it going for $200-300. Now you can get a much better versions that shows off the Jaguar's 64 bit abilities even better than the original game.

Enhanced game footage:


New opening graphics:


Comparing original version to enhanced version, side-by-side.

 

IT'S BEEN AGES SINCE... I last bought any Atari 8bit gear, so when I saw this little software lot last week - and no-one snapped it up and it ended, I enquired with the seller if it was still available and he said, make me an offer of a tenner and it's yours Baz, so I said, thanks very much, mate:



For £10 plus post I got three great old Atari 8bit productivity titles.

I can still remember Brenski sending me the back-up (OK, copied) disks for Typesetter and The Newsroom, in around 1988, and at the time they were very highly rated, new out DTP and page make-up utils which were easily worth £30-50 a piece. I used them quite regularly for creating pages in my A4 tatty poor man's Private Eye style publication which I used to photocopy Sat mornings at work and then flog in the pubs to me mates - The Micro Times. Anyhow, at long last I have the originals AND Ariolasofts Music Construction Set (I used to have the Movie Maker util and that was quality animation and design software), so who knows, maybe I'll be the next Jean Michel Jarre to emerge from Ull... probably not, like...



Anyhow, a bargain in anyone's money and I'm now left wondering, aint you too, what Al bought software wise for his ST of late in sunny Scarborough?

C'mon, Al, spill the beans/disks/manuals etc.

 

OK, here's what's happening in the Bazza biome...

Round 1 - The Exercise Bike Wins



At least three units have now been removed in here so you can get round the bike - a win for the missus.
The retro retreat is in full swing. Already removed: ZX81 hardware and software; Amiga hardware and software; Oric software.

Round 2 - Amiga Redeployment

Here we go, gadgers. Gone but not forgotten... in fact you see anything here that you want me to give a try out, blast out or game of on the ol amoeba then just reply with a retro request and I'll play the bleeder and upload a video clip to show that there's life in the old dog yet, even if it is elsewhere in the biome...


ABOVE: amongst these titles - at least five were kindly donated by Paul - see the Microprose Soccer, Amegas, Ikari Warriors, Terrorpods and E-Motion games in the middle of the pic - cheers, mate. Lovely additions.






ABOVE: The Amiga re-appears and is resurrected in the Baz Bar... playing Pinball Dreams - wonder why this particular title?


ABOVE: Aye aye, Amiga bottom right, Man United team group from the late 70s central together with me darts board (RIP Big Un Gord McQueen), but what's that bottom left... we need a closer skeg, fella.


ABOVE: Whoa! When did this big boy arrive? Aye, it was on a transit van from Scouseland the week before last, lads and landed here at the Baz Cave...the largest retro machine of any kind to ever grace the retro stage here before.
She's a beaut - Teacher's Pet and by god I've been giving it some hammer. PB now 5,275, this pinball table with some 60s/70s music playing whilst I;m playing, is the perfect tonic to any workday blues, fellas.

Massively recommend one, OR, just pop this on yer Amiga:



SORTED!

 

Many thanks, fellas.

As ever, Tiger had the last laugh on us but thankfully all went well, me mam made it through and the weather was immaculate - blue skies, sunshine and the whole day went silky smooth - we'll never forget this generous, funny, charismatic fella:

 

Good to see the Electron up and running guys

As for the VCS Matt, lovely looking system and I like the idea of the VCS and sandbox modes. I've kept my eyes open for one in the UK but they sell for silly money. Bit of looking on Amazon US though and including import duties it works out around £340 delivered for the woodgrain version with the joystick and pad. I'm giving it some thought!

In the meantime though, I did purchase another of my 'grail' items off EBay. Finally found an Atari branded calculator at a reasonable! The question is, do I break it out of it's sealed packaging like I would normally do? Or as I have no intention of using it for any practical purpose do I keep it intact and looking cool on my wall of Atar....

 

Here is my new Atari item, a CX-77 touch tablet. Guy wanted £40 for it but I knocked him down to £30 including shipping so in effect was £25. Doesn't have an AtariArtist cart but I was using my Uno Cart to test it and it works OK. The button on the stylus didn't work right away but after working the button it's okay now.