Clint Thompson

No.. but good guess =)

All on the 130XE last night =) Yoomp! Dr. Mario GTIABlast

So I just got this proof image back from a special someone someone working on a special something something! =) Waiting for delivery!

Thanks... I can't wait to actually use it, it'll hopefully prove to be a ton of fun! That Casio is so small! =) You should look up the DT100 digital tablet for the Roland S50 - I plugged my Atari Touch Tablet in and totally expect it to work exactly as those rare Roland branded versions!

I've been in the hardware bug lately and can joyfully claim taking ownership of an amazing new (to me) keyboard: The Roland S-50 It fascinates me, this once $2,695 sampling keyboard released in 1986 (a solid era for the Atari ST computers!), can now be found for as little as $100 in 2016. This thing is an absolute monster and definitely doesn't come without its own set of quirks. Just under 24-hours ago was this beast delivered to my doorstep but I powered it up and checked it's video output to ensure it was functioning as intended - beyond an intermittent display issue which I've yet to resolve - all seems well! [stock Photo] [My personal machine...] [Look at this lovely bootup screen when attached to a TV monitor!] [A look at some of the tech under the hood of this monstrosity!] [Please Insert System Disk!] Compliance! My next step is to create the actual bootup disk required to rock this thing and see how far I can take this incredible for its age, 30 years to be exact, technology. =)

That's right... in an unexpected impulse purchase for a very affordable Atari 7800 system, Sally is soon to be shipped and on her way. She's apparently been through some rough times (frayed wires on controllers and power supply, cracked casing) and had a little fixing up but at $30, she's the perfect candidate for what will eventually become my 3D printed Atari projects! Maybe she can even shed a few pounds or gain some modern edges in the process. ;-)

Checked out your blog before this and it's definitely a good idea! Seeing as how I already have a laptop though and multiple desktops that are a little less mobile, I just decided to upgrade to a USB version. At least this way, I have both! =)

Diving back into the A8 world and while I have an older sio2pc that uses a serial connector (no access to that on my current laptop setup), it can't be used. I was certain that I would have managed to get a nice Indus GT or XF551 by now but so far, null results. I'm still disappointed by the whole fiasco over my last Indus GT purchase, especially since it had such a nice box. Oh well... I've officially ordered the SIO2PC USB version so I can put one or both of these machines to use in upcoming weekends and have some competitive gaming nights with the daughter and girlfriend. I'll finally be able to load up some Yoomp! and GTIA Blast! Would really love to see a Cosmic Ark clone on the A8s using the enhanced GTIA mode... that and many more games in general make use of it. Outside of alienating the core 800 base, was there really any reason as to why more games didn't use said mode? Anyways, order placed and incoming... hopefully come this time next weekend it'll smell like warm 8bit machines in my room! Really enjoy the translucent plastic used....

It's 2016 and unfortunately, the Blade Runner scene will become anything but reality and Atari isn't even close to how we could have imagined it some 20-years ago but maybe that's a good thing. Never the less, the dreams and memories continue to live on. The games, artwork, music, design and passion behind so many products and games will forever remain. The best part of it all is the community behind it all. The wide range of hardware and software hackers that continue to adapt these machines into useful modern day gaming systems, not to be left behind or forgotten, is amazing. It's nice to have new hardware or software for our machines and the majority of the people behind any of these projects mostly are in it because they enjoy it. At some point, I feel any Atari aficionado would have hoped for a better outcome that is Atari and kind of hope to live in a world where futuristic game consoles and computers continue to be developed and released to this day. Atari was always about promising the future, especially in its early years. Sleek, modern designs with never before seen features in consoles and computers, it was always something fascinating to look forward to and in a weird sense, gave many hope and something to look forward to. Today, I accept Atari for what it is: a childhood past time that I can adapt and bring into the future with me to enjoy, picking and choosing which time period I want to experience again. We can just about purchase any Atari console or computer for mostly reasonable prices and have access to flash carts to load these machines up with some of the best software our minds can remember. We live in a day of age where we can instantly relive our childhood memories in abundance at a fraction of the cost. I've owned and sold a lot of my Atari collection over the years, downsizing as needed due to space constraints and constant moving. The good news is, I have space again but no longer really need much more than to house the hardware itself. That's not to say there isn't a possibility it won't get out of control but I'm ready to rebuild a core Atari hardware collection so I can enjoy the massive amount of software created over the last 30+ years. Emulation isn't really for me, I'm a purist when it comes to the hardware side of things. My focus has been the Atari A8 or 800/XE series lately. It's one of the machines that has a ton of great games and is really easy to get into with a proper SIO2PC setup. I've yet to obtain a XF551 or Indus GT drive for my 130XE but am in no rush. Getting good hardware the first time around is important so I'm willing to wait. I've pretty much sourced an Atari Falcon I would like to follow up with next in my collection phase and if any of you spot a really nice STe or have one to sell, please drop me a message. I've got some cool projects going on in the controller department of things and the Jaguar side of things, so this will be the place I post about updates and an inside look when the time comes. Hopefully the next few years will prove to be fascinating with what comes from this hobby we all share! Anything is truly possible. Here's to a New Age of Atari -- it's ours for the taking.

I stumbled across these and found it to be intriguing! I wonder what exactly they used them for and how the phone jack connections work and with what. If I didn't have a million other things going on I would probably pick these up but hard telling how much they'll end up for. Typically I would say the XF551 drives alone would be worth it but seeing as how it was definitely constantly used, I wouldn't put much money on them being functional or at least much longer, if so. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Rare-Atari-Broadcast-system-130XE-customized-XF551-with-disks-/121951625046?hash=item1c64e21f56:g:ScsAAOSw8RJXCm3L

Truth be told, the Jaguar didn't need games texture mapped to death gaming - it just needed the VR headset released with some solid, fast-paced polygon/gouraud shading goodness going on and I still think it would have had something to truly set it apart from the rest of the consoles at the time.

I never even gave much thought to the possibility of an AVP VR game but that would've been intense! @atarilbc - I'm sure the lack of music in Doom helped a bit as well, since you can certainly hear and focus on the demons creeping up behind you! =) So after HS:UL - you can always go for something a little more vomit inducing ;-) Checkered Flag in cockpit seating lol

Yeah I don't get it. I mean you can't be mad at their optimism but it certainly didn't help. It's hard to bad mouth your own project or games from a company you're working for.

Definitely getting this! Can't wait for the Business is War book to be finished as well!

I'm just glad the Jaguar molds are shifting hands to Albert completely so there will be no bastardization of one of my favorite consoles and we'll most likely definitely see a steady stream of replacement cart shells available for homebrews.

Playing on the 130XE - my paltry High Score...

I'm still waiting on my Raspberry Pi Jaguar VR converter box to make an appearance....

Well, if it's just that, it's one hell of a novelty. @atarilbc - it's really too bad you can't play the JagVR version, it makes a world of difference with how fast the screen moves around with your head movement. You can tend to lose track of time rather quickly with the isolation of it and the actual interacting making a huge difference. Hopefully this can me remedied in the future at some point. On the other hand, my friend played Doom for over an hour with this thing mounted on his head and it was just comical seeing the creases on his face remain for 20 minutes after taking it off. I remember him exclaiming a few curse words while playing due to being jolted from being attacked haha... but that was in the late 90s and we were younger then, so...

Keep in mind that the Takara and Philips Scuba used the lower-resolution displays unfortunately so this is true to the red version of the headset and you'll soon see why Atari wasn't happy with this version and wanted Virtuality to create a better version, which turned into the far heavier blue unit. I'm not sure if it was the optics used or if something truly was different or wrong with the Takara headset I had over the Philips version, but it definitely seemed much worse in regards to focus. I was sincerely hoping that the PCBs used inside the units would have went unchanged and retained the same layout minus the hardware to actually connect the IR receivers but of course, this isn't the case. I disassembled a Philips version many years ago only to find out it's not. I've had recent contact with the contractor that Virtuality used but they no longer had anything relating to the project due to switching company hands and most likely purging whatever old data and related materials they had. That only took about 5 years to confirm when I finally got ahold of the ex-owner of the company. Look forward to hearing your impressions. I feel like without the vice-like head adjustment, it's harder to secure these things to your head.

Love the styling - gives you a letter more insight to their designs and really shows the sections and lines: Is this where they lifted the XEGS button color pallette from?

Very revealing and you can see how much of a huge influence they had in a lot of Atari concepts/prototype designs. It's interesting to note that some of Atari's modular designs also resemble that of Bang and Olufsen products. It all definitely comes across as distinctive and high quality. At some point, I had entertained the idea of using NOS of 5200 power switch buttons for a PC Console concept we created that is still under wraps, which would now be called a Steambox I suppose, but it turned out they only had a few pieces left so that plan was ditched. I would be interested to hear about the logo story though and as to why it's just 3 lines. I'm not a fan of the mockup font on the Asteroids box but I love how huge the artwork is!

Are there any interviews of Regan Cheng? I suppose I should do a YouTube search. I had no idea he also designed the Mindlink. Is there any information regarding the small three rectangle logo to the right side of the text on that system? I remember seeing this video before but watching it again made me remember just how much I enjoyed the trakball and just how arcade perfect the games appeared.

The 800 may very well be my favorite or at least my current obsession (I've got the 130XE) but I originally had an 800 as a kid. So many great games to play on this thing!

That's so awesome! Yes!