What's new Pussycat too?

I've had another minor system cull and the Playstation 4 has been sold off. Although I used it occasionally, the bloody loud fan really put me off (I know, getting fussy in my old age). So now it's place in the Al-Cave has been taken up by my XBox 360. Now thinking if I should hold on to my modded PS Vita or let that go to invest in an ST hard drive replacement...

In other news, just ordered some storage units for my magazines. Hopefully they'll arrive by midweek and then I can set them up and take some pictures to show you guys.

 

Hull fans won't be happy with the 96th min Norwich winner, Al

Ooop to Sun'land tomorrow so wish us luck vs Tractor Boys!

 

No luck today either - we wuz robbed!

Tractor Boys weren;t suppose to turn up and lead 2nil when the home team fully expected to take the 3pts with their new notable signings incl a certain Jobe Bellingham (missed an open goal 1st half!)

Never mind, 10 men Mackems did battle back to make it 1-2 and then hit the Ipswich post... in the 103min (we're gonna see a lot of stoopid goal/incident extra timings this season as refs have been told to make up a load of added time in order to give the sensation that the games now have "three halves"). Whatever next, square centre cirles?

Any road, this post isn't to complain about how hard done by the home team were this afternoon, no, it's to thank Richie for some nice goodies he sent me which arr'd Sat PM:



Thank you very much, Richie - as well as a fixed Oric-1 keyboard and me SCART and PSU bits back, Richie very kindly sent me an Elk/Beeb jossie and some PC CD/DVD roms to play with.

Much appreciated, my mate.

Elk has now gone in the opposite direction and some suitable "prize surprises" will be coming your way in the near future.

 

BAZ BAGS ANOTHER LOCAL BARGAIN.... ;-)

Yes, he's been at it AGAIN - Baz spotted a CBM64 (newer model with some keys missing) and TWO PSUs advertised for a tenner - attic find - just 10mins down the road from the biome so tonight he set orf for the aforementioned bargains and hey oooop, here they are after a damn good clean - the 64 was grafted, guys, but not looking too bad now:





I haven't as yet connected the machine up to a monitor but I can confirm that the little green power light comes on when you plug in a PSU so hopes are high for a screen test shortly AND... see if I can find a 3, 4 and 8 key from some 64 forum.

Please let me know, fellas, if you know of any likely candidate sites where I might get such spares.

Finally, keep checking those local private sales, post office windows, Marketplace and such like as you never know when YOU might bag the next retro micro bargain - but act fast - before Baz pounces

 

Bev will pounce if she catches you buying this old tat

 

Too true, mate, too true... she has offered to cut off my (power) supplies, my vital leads and my unmentionables if any more dust assembles here WITHOUT at least twice as much going in the opposite directed and funds transferred to our holiday pot... there you go. Dust can turn into prizes, if yer canny, fellas.

 

Quick screen test of the C64C, fellas:

Thar she blows:



Bit of a further issue with the keyboard in that the INST/DEL key sticks and doesn't rise up...

Problem being NO SPRING underneath!!



Never mind - I'll add that to the order from https://www.retroleum.co.uk/contact

I can't grumble for a tenner, fellas, can I?

Can anyone tell me anything about this "spare" PSU supplied - one of the two Commodore bricks. The standard one powers up the 64 but this one doesn't and when I look on the DIN lead pins, there are far fewer...only 4 pins rather than the 7pins on the standard.



The PSU's model no. is (seemingly) exactly the same as the other one which works, ie. T40/E



Perhaps it's for another model, ie. C16, Plus 4?

Anyone got any better ideas - I'm sure you will have as I know next to nothing about C64/Commodore power units.

Cheers in advance, guys.

 

See there's some mention of these two identical C64C PSUs (apart from the number of pins on the power DINs), here at breadbox64.com, but why the one I've got doesn't work... could lay in the plug's fuse department / the PSU's fuse/components failing... I will have to dig a little deeper, guys...

 

Two new Atari ROMs came to join the Baz Cave today, guys - I got them reasonable, about £30 for the pair. The guy wanted another £20 for the leads and manual and I very nearly got them (the AtariLab Light experiment cart is pretty damn useless without the probe) but I just couldn't stretch to spending £50 on my hobby so I'll just hope a cheaper option appears in the future... FAT CHANCE Just checked AtariGuy online and he does em at about $6 for the probe...plus a whacking $20 postage to the UK for two tiny little leads with probes on the end... the postal companies, as we all know too damn well, are just taking the piss these days.

Anyway, I always wanted Bug Hunt and now I've got it, plus another AtariLab cart to add to the collection, guys:

 

Some very nice pick-ups lately Andy, kudos to you sir!

 

Cheers, Al.

I don't spend anything on my retro micro hobby for months and then suddenly I buy 4-5 nice items, but that's the way it goes, eh, buddy? Anyhow, got me mam's hubby's/my step-dad's funeral tomorrow so think of us guys 11.30am in morning and say a little prayer for one of the bravest guys I think I've ever met - he fought and fought and fought on in Scarboro hospital, even though it was a battle he couldn't turn around, so was his love for me mam, his son & family and his zest for life... RIP Tiger Lyon, you will never be forgotten, fella. No flowers, btw, just placing this rather dear to his heart flag on his coffin:

 

I'll say a prayer and light a wee candle Andy. God bless.

 

Can't offer the same service as I am a heathen (to some), but if there IS a better place then I hope he's gone to it.

Not sure about the C64C power box, I was led to believe they were all the same, fewer pins simply because the others were not used. Then can pop and there's no simple way to get in to them, plus I'm sure they are epoxy internally. Careful not to mix up the spares place with Retro Lemon, I have to say the pricing is quite high on there at the moment.

 

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:

 

Better to compare the Acorn & BBC in size too what was to be the original Atari line up of the 600XL & 1200XL as far as footprints are concerned. But the 600XL didn't come out until the 800XL did after the failure of the 1200XL. Which is probably a good thing for the 600XL, otherwise it might have not had a PBI either and no external expansion for it!

 

OK, I had to reply to the size comparisons of the BBC/Acorn/XL's, but this is my official, "what's up blokes. long time, no see" post.

I've just been busy with work and life, which is a good thing as I'm having a profitable business year this year even if fuel costs are taking a third of the profits. It's been a wet summer here in Oklahoma, which seems to be on average of about 1 for every 4-5 years based on my 8-9 year history in the state now. So the grass is still growing and we are still mowing, even in late August. Plus the severe storms causing major tree damage in the area has given us extra work worth thousands.

Anyway, I've been down to just one desktop PC for half a year now, since my older tower gave up the ghost earlier this year. I purchased a USB hard drive recovery device a few months back and recovered and moved all the PC's files to my other PC, as well as a stack of hard drives I've had for years from old computers.

The point for mentioning all this being that with the extra income (really recovering of savings spent on the business last year) I decided to splurge on a new PC, and since the "new" Atari VCS is also a mini-PC, and is currently on sale at AtariVCS.com for $225 for the full bundle that includes the modern and classic controllers, console and the 100 classic Atari console and arcade games that come in the Atari Arcade software bundle.

Of course the Atari VCS is 2-3 years old now, and was never state-of-the-art at release, but powerful, so now it's comparable to todays low-end mini-PC's in the $200-300 range. But it will still be a HUGE upgrade for me, since my only desktop PC now, itself is over a decade old!

My Atari VCS should arrive in about a week. I bought the Onyx black edition with a red rear panel instead of the walnut wood grain front with a black rear panel. I flipped a coin.

Separately, the base unit costs $200 now, and the controllers are still priced at a full $60 each, so I basically got $120 worth of controllers for $25 with a $200 dollar console/PC. Or I could split it up as $100 dollar console with two controllers at full price if I like or some where in between. The bottom line is it finally lowered to the price point I was waiting for, but I also need it now for a second PC, so it's not even a frivolous expense anymore! I already have a new keyboard and mouse for it that I bought for the dead PC, and the keyboard is a rainbow LED backlit keyboard, so it will go very well with the Atari console. I even have an extra chrome Fuji decal for the keyboard that will match the chrome Fuji's on the console and controllers! (at least I think they are chrome, I have been assuming so, but I suppose they could be white Fuji's-if so they will be replaced with chrome ones to match!)Pics will be posted when I have it all set up in a week or so...



https://atari.com/products/atari-vcs-onyx-all-in?_pos=1&_fid=f040fb3e5&_ss=c

 

Ah, absolutely super to hear from you, Matt.
Glad you've had a really good summer (not weather-wise - bit like us, way too much of the wet stuff but never mind), business wise and you've been able to get hold of a great-sounding newer PC than your last model - a bit like me, I still have a PC running Win XP!
That Atari VCS looks the dog's bolly's too so I for one am looking forward to seeing some more shots of your latest, greatest set-up and all the best for now, fella - the forum's missed you big time, my man.

 

You must give us a review of that when you have time, I've heard mixed reviews but it's good to hear from someone you trust. Anyhow, welcome again, glad you are in the money (a bit), may the summer keep giving you..

 

Loving the look of the VCS Matt, be interested to hear what you think of it once you start using it. Next time I'm onver in the States I think one will be coming back in my hand luggage lol

 

Too bad it's not the temperature probe that you need Andy, I have extras of it, but only the two sending and receiving light "probes." But these AtariLab probes are simple devices and I was planning on making some more myself. As well as expanding beyond the few Atari made available, utilizing different types of sensors, like motion detection and whatever other crazy shit I can think up that I could plug into the AtariLab Interface and program some BASIC code to make use of it. All in the name or research and development towards use on my robot that I still have plans for, if the world is around long enough, in a state were I am still living my current life anyway.

The bottom line for you Andy, is you just might find a Christmas gift package in a few months that includes some homebrew probes/sensors for your AtariLab Interface.

 

Hey, I told the world we were missing you, Matt, and how right was I???!!!

Many, many, many thanks for your generous brilliant offer and you can bet your bottom dollar you'll be getting more than a measly single Yaarkshire tea bag this year, come hell, Putin, Indians on the moon, or high water!

Take care, Matt and may you continue to shine light (oooh, my probe pun getting an airing there!), where it is needed in areas of gloom in this madly fecked up world of ours right now.

Al's got the right idea too - when you next go shopping Stateside, Al, will you get me and Paul some nice Atari goodies too by dropping in on this MyAtari fella, as well as maybe taking a tea with Matt in his RV -



https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_...ndservice&_oac=1&_trksid=p4429486.m3561.l2562

 

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..