I am resurrecting my Atari 800

by **Ice Cream Jonsey** » Wed Aug 29, 2007 4:46 pm

This is all working beautifully. The TV I am currently using has an analog connector, which doesn't provide a very nice picture. I will probably switch with the other spare TV, which allows me to use RCA plugs.

(Then, when the winter starts and Dayna and I take the time to go into the guest room and make it through a couple seasons of 24, I'll flip 'em back.)

I am giving my impressions of games as I play them on Caltrops. Here's the thread: http://www.caltrops.com/pointy.php?acti ... &pid=67597

A lot of times you'll play a game on the Atari 800 that is done better elsewhere. For instance, Gyruss. Much better in the arcade/MAME version. Then there is Asteroids, which is terrible on anything but the arcade version. And lastly, something like Donkey Kong, which I find more entertaining on the 800 than I did on the MAME version, because my games last longer than 90 seconds. I'm trying to give thumbs-up and thumbs-down to the various 800 versions.

That being said, any time you mention you have an Atari, people naturally assume it is a 2600, so I don't mean to keep saying "800" or "8-bit" everywhere. It just makes things clearer.

by **Ice Cream Jonsey** » Sat Aug 18, 2007 5:41 pm

AArdvark wrote:The manuals are on the way. I could not miss a chance for you to clutter up your place just a little more.

They showed up yesterday! You managed to beat the many people sending me stuff by a not-insignificant amount. (The flash cart not being here yet is very disappointing. I'm glad I did not take any days off to use the thing.)

Thank you very much. Always glad to have a backup manual to The Pawn, and there are definitely some games there I am going to check out the Atari versions of!

by **Ice Cream Jonsey** » Wed Aug 15, 2007 9:30 am

To: All JC readers and posters
From: ICJ
Subject: The lack of content

Body: Been furiously busy with stuff, including work. Will make this BBS funny again by the weekend. Allow me to say that www.best-electronics-ca.com/ is the absolute best place in the world to get Atari stuff from. Everything works and the store owner will analyze your Atari's situation and recommend items that work and work well together. I am very pleased! Just wanted to get the URL out there.

Conclusion: Seriously, more fun times this weekend.

by **AArdvark** » Mon Aug 13, 2007 10:46 am

The manuals are on the way. I could not miss a chance for you to clutter up your place just a little more.

Are you going to get a switch box for the Atari and C64 so's you can jump back and forth on the same TV?

THE
GAME-------TV
AARDVARK

by **Ice Cream Jonsey** » Mon Aug 13, 2007 10:38 am

Vitriola wrote:Emulated games play like crap. If you were any good at them at all back in the day, you can't get anywhere near the freedom of movement or responsiveness from them. I'm behind this project 100%.

This is why meeting you is the best thing that's ever happened to me. A lot of people say, "Even when you saw Joe Carter hit a game-winning RBI in Toronto against the Seattle Mariners that one time?" And I say, "yes," because frequently when we were in the Skydome we could only afford seats in the bleachers, and when Joe was in left field you couldn't see him unless you hung over the railing.

With seven cabinets (six working) downstairs, it takes a wonderful woman to come down and say, "You should put more games in."

by **Vitriola** » Mon Aug 13, 2007 10:32 am

A chick, too.

by **Ice Cream Jonsey** » Sun Aug 12, 2007 11:59 pm

Apparently, it's called fucking "Yars' Revenge," not "Yar's Revenger." I had no idea until just now.

This screws up a homonym joke in Fallacy of Dawn. I don't think I will fix it, however. (I have the spelling as "Yar's".)

Blew my mind. The things you learn on the Internet. Meanwhile, I had no idea that a car's battery needs to have water levels maintained until someone just now told me in person.

by **Ice Cream Jonsey** » Sun Aug 12, 2007 7:15 pm

Knuckles the CLown wrote:Thanks you prick. I went down in that shithole for two hours. Now that I know you got all you need.

ITS DUMPSTER TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Whoa! This has backfired. Not so fast, you goddamn clown!

by **Knuckles the CLown** » Sun Aug 12, 2007 5:35 pm

Thanks you prick. I went down in that shithole for two hours. Now that I know you got all you need.

ITS DUMPSTER TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

by **Vitriola** » Sun Aug 12, 2007 4:41 pm

Emulated games play like crap. If you were any good at them at all back in the day, you can't get anywhere near the freedom of movement or responsiveness from them. I'm behind this project 100%.

by **Ice Cream Jonsey** » Sun Aug 12, 2007 4:32 pm

AArdvark wrote:Sorry. After an exhaustive search, which is to say as long as I could take it up there in the heat, I couldn't find the drive anywhere. I did find a box of Commie games manuals which I also had saved for god knows what reason. Funny how good they make the games sound. You could have those if you want. You'd need to find the actual games tho. I mean on floppy, I have most of them able to run on my emulator [...] I can mail them out this week if you are interested.

No no, that's cool - thanks anyway, though. I can tell you that you could probably get $10 + shipping for them from eBay. I have decided that I no longer stand any chance of getting a complete "Wasteland" box and manual set for a reasonable price, so I have been looking over lots of game manuals and such individually. But yeah, I appreciate it, but I am good.

(which is why I don't understand why you want to set up the Atari 800 and C64 hardware again)

Basically, I have the Atari, I have a spare TV and I think playing it on the original hardware is pretty cool. For instance, 4 people can gather round the thing on a TV and do up some Warlords with the original paddle controllers. As far as I know, there is no 2600 paddle - to - USB solution out there, so it really can't be emulated. Additionally, getting some games I've never played like Seven Cities of Gold and Mail Order Monsters and playing them on the real thing is neat because it eliminates distractions. I can't do emulated games on a PC because I'll start browsing the Internet or something. I need to like lock myself in a different room and concentrate on the task at hand.

I don't know, that's probably goofy, but it's proven to be pretty cheap to get the 800 working again, so I am becoming more and more thrilled.

by **Ice Cream Jonsey** » Sun Aug 12, 2007 4:13 pm

Knuckles the CLown wrote:The basement is disgusting you asshole. For some strange reason you can't be bothered to come back here ever again. Guess how fun it is plowing through all your old stuff looking for Atari disks? A contents list

It's... a lot of fun?? Let's see!

1.Boxes and Boxes of college text books of classes you failed.

Ooh, I'll need those. There's little doubt in my mind that I'll be able to get top $$$ for them, as college textbooks rarely depreciate.

2. Every cheesy dork fad toy alive including go-bots

I had only two Go-bots. "Leader 1" and "Scooter." The Go-bot team eventually realized that "Leader 1" was way too small to be the leader of anyone, so they issued a new Go-bot that was seven times larger. I did not get that one. I have the tiny, shitty one.

3. Random disks that are NOT atari

Yeah, I want those, too. Eventually.

4. Key chains, gadgets, pencils, game boxes, failed systems (Jaguar anyone!!!!??!?!?) comic books you self produced and god knows what else.

Ah, the Jaguar! I was actually psyched to hear that it's still around. If I thought there was a chance in hell, if even given a million years, that you'd be able to deduce what cables and controllers went to it, I'd ask you to send that to me. As it stands we have a better chance of you randomly finding a petri dish with the AIDS cure down there.

The best part is they are covered in a nice layer of 10 year old flooding musk and spider eggs. And there is only one functioning fucking light in that hell hole.

Hahahah!

It's like plowing through John Does (from "Seven") notebooks in that cock tucker from Silence of the Lambs' death pit.

Well, you'll be happy to know that I don't need you down there looking for anything. I bought a cable from the Internet that will allow me to take disk "images" of Atari games and put them on a Flash cart. So consider this mission finished, my brother. Consider that mission... finished.

...

... I would like to know where the fuck my Topps Traded Set "Barry Bonds Rookie" card is, though.

by **Knuckles the CLown** » Sun Aug 12, 2007 1:40 pm

The basement is disgusting you asshole. For some strange reason you can't be bothered to come back here ever again. Guess how fun it is plowing through all your old stuff looking for Atari disks? A contents list

1.Boxes and Boxes of college text books of classes you failed.

2. Every cheesy dork fad toy alive including go-bots

3. Random disks that are NOT atari

4. Key chains, gadgets, pencils, game boxes, failed systems (Jaguar anyone!!!!??!?!?) comic books you self produced and god knows what else.

The best part is they are covered in a nice layer of 10 year old flooding musk and spider eggs. And there is only one functioning fucking light in that hell hole.

It's like plowing through John Does (from "Seven") notebooks in that cock tucker from Silence of the Lambs' death pit.

by **AArdvark** » Sun Aug 12, 2007 7:35 am

Sorry. After an exhaustive search, which is to say as long as I could take it up there in the heat, I couldn't find the drive anywhere. I did find a box of Commie games manuals which I also had saved for god knows what reason. Funny how good they make the games sound. You could have those if you want. You'd need to find the actual games tho. I mean on floppy, I have most of them able to run on my emulator (which is why I don't understand why you want to set up the Atari 800 and C64 hardware again)

I can mail them out this week if you are interested.

THE
PAPER GRAPHICS
AARDVARK

by **Ice Cream Jonsey** » Sat Aug 11, 2007 7:26 pm

AArdvark wrote:Is it true that the To-Do list will be actually finished around the same time that the national debt is paid off?

It keeps growing bigger and bigger, so yeah, they are headed to the same end date: never.

I ask merely for information. I THINK I have a nice 1541 II drive for the C64 if you need it. I have to actually go upstairs into the attic of boxes and search for it. I know I threw out my non working C64c but saved the drive for some perverse reason. Mind you, this was long ago in a galaxy blah blah blah, so no promises, but there's always hope.

I'll tell you what: no pressure and no hurry, but if you are up there for something else and see it I would be happy to reimburse you for shipping on it. It would definitely be good to have around the house here in Colorado: I am pretty sure that one day I will get a C64 set up, so it would definitely get use.

But I am far away from doing that now that I have made great strides on the Atari 800, so there is absolutely, positively... a complete lack of any rushing.

by **AArdvark** » Sat Aug 11, 2007 4:54 pm

Is it true that the To-Do list will be actually finished around the same time that the national debt is paid off? I ask merely for information. I THINK I have a nice 1541 II drive for the C64 if you need it. I have to actually go upstairs into the attic of boxes and search for it. I know I threw out my non working C64c but saved the drive for some perverse reason. Mind you, this was long ago in a galaxy blah blah blah, so no promises, but there's always hope.

THE
SEARCH YOUR STORAGE, LUKE
AARDVARK

by **Ice Cream Jonsey** » Thu Aug 09, 2007 2:18 pm

pinbacker wrote:Oh.

It's practically next on the to-do list, though! I need to test the game of a guy none of you know (he is testing my game, we are swapping services), I need to get the 800 working when the parts come in and then, boom baby, Burning Down the House as a 2007 release! Complete with MURDER AND PLANE TICKETS!

by **pinbacker** » Thu Aug 09, 2007 2:02 pm

by **Ice Cream Jonsey** » Thu Aug 09, 2007 1:52 pm

pinbacker wrote:Do it up!

It's now on my.... To-do List!!!

by **pinbacker** » Thu Aug 09, 2007 1:34 pm

Do it up!

I am resurrecting my Atari 800

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