socrates63
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Everything posted by socrates63
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I'm a fan of Korean cinema. These arrived last Saturday. A seller on ebay in Korea had discounted them by quite a bit.
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We have an electric grinder but don't use it every time. When we feel lazy or are pinched for time, we go with Keurig. Having said that, my current favorite brewing method is using the moka pot.
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I need to let my son know that I like other things besides the Mandalorian 😂 This is the third Mandalorian thing he's gotten me in addition to the Mandalorian t-shirt and coffee mug set. Not only is this the third Mandalorian gift, his past three gifts have all been Mandalorian. I thought I told him that I canceled our Disney+ sub. Not complaining! Just thought it was funny. The coffee and tumbler were Father's Day gifts from his girlfriend.
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I'm still working on my retro setup. Today, I hooked up my 800XL to the 1702 and powered it up--such a beautiful blue screen 🙂 I also hooked up the Fujinet to it, and it's just amazing that this 40 year old hardware is now connected to the Internet. So much new to learn!
I also got my Genesis working. I tried using the RGB cable the other day and got a blank screen. Turns out I didn't properly seat the cable, so with the connection fixed, the Genesis put out a beautiful display--such clear and crispy colorful pixels.
I pulled out a random cartridge out of the drawer to test the Genesis. Wow! The music was amazing and I was tapping my toes and already hooked on the game before play even started. The game was Streets of Rage 2. This game may make me a Sega Genesis fan.
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- Sabertooth and RickR
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The Genesis is awesome. I'll have to fire up Streets of Rage 2.
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64,670 passed the 60k mark! 🦾
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The retro setup in my office is coming along--not quite as far as I had hoped to be but still made a lot of progress the past few days. I'm very happy that my Atari consoles are all hooked up for easy access. Only the Jaguar (inside a drawer), Dreamcast, and Core Grafx are not connected. I think I might be able to stack the Jag on top of the PS2.
I even set up the 1702 I picked up a few months ago from the same TV tech that I got my Sony TV from last month. The 800XL setup is in the same corner location where my consoles used to live. Now I need to set up the FujiNet and SD Max that I bought a while ago. I am so close to being able to start typing in code from Compute! and other magazines like I did as a kid.
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59,660
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Whelp... that SCART switch doesn't work for my setup, and I have no one to blame but me. I failed to read the following text that was only highlighted in yellow 🙄 in the product description page 🤦♂️ Please note that this will not work on a SCART TV, at all. As this doesn't supply the necessary detection voltage needed by a TV to switch to RGB mode. Luckily, another local gamer was looking for something like it and wants to buy mine. At least I will get most of my money back. Whew! By the way, RGB looks ah-mazing. Here's a screen shot of the PS2 config menu. I've never seen my PS2 looking this good. I'm sure the TV being refurbished and tuned by a TV tech played a big factor as well. SNES also looked superb. I couldn't get my Genesis to work (TV showed a blank screen) so will have to figure that out. I just ordered the second option that I had found during my previous research. It's from a seller on Ali Express. It's another passive switch and should be as good as the one I originally ordered from the UK based on the reviews I've read.
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Happy Father’s Day 2023 to my fellow dads and men who are mentoring and bringing up the next generation.
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- socrates63 and Justin
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Ok, last run for the day 🙂 Vanguard is really good on the 2600 43,300
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32,820 I only briefly played Vanguard on the 2600 until today. It helps this time that I read the instructions on the firing control 😂 Loved Vanguard in the arcade. Very catchy and heroic-esque tune that rivals Moon Patrol's music.
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17,350 On the board! Woohoo! I just got done setting up my Atari consoles with a new TV.
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Last year, my wife agreed to move out her piano from my den and into the living room. This freed up an entire wall in the den. I've been planning on setting up my CRT based gaming setup there for a year now (interrupted by health issues for about 8 months). With the arrival of this SCART switch, it is almost done 🎉 I got a taste of RGB last year when I bought an Intellivision from @CrossBow of the Ivory Tower Collections. I had an OSSC lying about unused, and curious to see what all the hoopla about RGB was about, I connected the Intellivision to it and to my 65" 4K TV. Wow! Now I understand. I have seen the light. Last month, I bought a 27" Sony which was modded for SCART RGB input and component input. It was refurbished and modded by a former TV station tech (Josh) in the area. Initially I didn't buy the Sony because of the SCART input. However, when I went to pick it up, Josh told me that many consoles support RGB output natively with the use of a cable. That was extremely exciting revelation, so, I immediately ordered the RGB SCART cables for SNES, Genesis, and PS2. I'm also going to look into a cable for the Jaguar and Dreamcast. With me wanting multiple RGB capable consoles connected to the TV at any time, I needed a switch. The highly regarded GSCARTSW switch is $300 and thankfully out of stock, so I didn't have to struggle with the idea of plunking down 3 Benjamins. I searched some more and found a review that touted this switch as the best budget switch. For 60 pounds British, I took the plunge. I am super excited that this setup is nearly complete. The Sony will serve up: SCART - SNES, Genesis, PS2, NES (in the process of getting RGB output mod). Hopefully, the Jaguar and Dreamcast will join the party. S-Video - Atari 2600, 5200, 7800 Component - a Pioneer region free DVD player that I bought last month to use with this TV A Denon home theater receiver will serve as the hub for the s-video and component inputs. I am going to look into feeding the SCART audio to the receiver for an upgraded sound.
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I guess my memories is failing me. Being a Spectrum Holobyte game, I always thought GATO was considered a classic back in the day. I've never played it myself although I've always wanted to.
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A tale from the suburbs
My wife and I were driving to church yesterday for early morning prayer. We saw a group of crows on road which is not an uncommon scene. As we approached them, all flew away as expected except for one. I'm not sure if it was eating something on the road, but at the last minute after all its buddies had already fled, it raised its head and saw us.
Maybe I've watched too many Looney Tunes, but I swear it's expression was like, "What's going on? Where did everybody go? Oh!" BAM! I heard a loud thunk as we passed over the spot where the crow was. I looked back and saw the crow looking plastered on the road with one wing up twitching. Another crow came back and was like "Are you ok, bruh?"
When we returned to the scene three hours later, there was nothing on the road. The crow must have survived somehow and flew away. It was hit very hard if the sound of the impact was any indicator, so it was shocking to see that it must have survived.
My wife was a bit shaken as she was the driver, and it was the first time that she had run into an animal. Suffice to say, she also survived and is doing well.
I've heard that crows are very intelligent birds. But of course, there's always an exception to any rule.
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Joe makes good stuff. This is the first sign that I bought, and I am very happy with it. I've been asking him to make a cartridge holder for Cosmic Commuter for a long while, and he replied to my Facebook post today that he will work on it pronto. My cartridge needs a nice home, and a boxed copy is a little too rich for me 🙂
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I ordered this sign from an Etsy store. I had my eyes on it for a long time and finally pulled the trigger as show of support for the owner who just retired from his courier job. I've ordered 2600 game cartridge holders from him before. I have a love/hate relationship with the Atari ST lineup. Being an Atari fan, I naturally moved up to the 520ST from the 800/800XL/130XE line. I had a great time using my 520ST. I even got a RAM upgrade for it. I have many memories of gaming and writing my college papers on it (Ami Pro for the win). However, the fact that it was a product developed by Jack Tramiel's Atari is what always bothered me. I mean, just the physical quality of the machine is, well, sorely lacking when compared to the 800 and even the 800XL. Am I being petty? Maybe? What can I do? I am forever a fan of the original Atari. A few years ago, I learned that the engineers behind the Atari 800 designed the Commodore Amiga. Oh, the irony! I have no intentions of acquiring the ST, so this is as close to having an ST as I'm going to get for my collection. The sign looks even better in person than the photos I saw online. I'm very happy with it and glad I can at least give a nod to a part of my computing past in cool fashion.
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Mail Order Monsters -- my latest addition to my EA folio collection. My favorite top games for the Atari 400/800 are filled with Electronic Arts' earlier games -- M.U.L.E., Archon, Seven Cities of Gold, One on One. Because of those sentiments, I started collecting other EA games and products released in the folio style packaging. I have around 18 or 19 (photo below). Other companies were also releasing their product in similar folio packaging, and I've picked up a few of those as well.
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Wow, that Honda is extremely clean, I mean extremely clean 😮. It must have been kept in the garage most of its life. The exterior chrome is in amazing condition. I'm not sure why this is considered the genesis of the mid-size sedan though. My first car, the 1979 Volvo 264 GL, was very similar in size. I can see how the Accord may have popularized the size since Japanese cars shot up in popularity during the 80s for their quality. But the video makes it sound like any car before this were all behemoths. That was mostly true for American cars but certainly European car makers weren't exporting giant cars to the US back then. I miss the buttons on the dash. I am not a fan of dials although many years, a car salesman told me that I was in the minority as far as market research showed. "You must be a computer guy" is what he told me when I said that I preferred buttons to control the cabin air flow. Yup, you've got me pegged. One thing that scares me about this accord is the massive sun roof. My Volvo had a sun roof and it leaked. That experience has since traumatized me when I see sun/moon roofs. Fun trip down memory lane!
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HELP!! - Looking for an "exciting" platform to explore.
socrates63 replied to - Ω -'s topic in Classic Computing
I don't think any of the Atari consoles gets as much love in the way of homebrews and hacks as the 2600. Just going by what I see available on AtariAge, the 5200 receives the least amount of support. The 7800, especially recently, has been getting a steady stream of new releases. The Jaguar gets some love, but man, Jag homebrews are expensive. My favorite Atari console is probably the 5200 for two reasons. One, I love the design. It's the pinnacle of 80s aesthetics and reminds me of K.I.T.T. from Knight Rider. Two, the 5200 being essentially a console version of the Atari 400/800, I love the game graphics and sounds. The Atari 800 is forever my first love. Having said that, I haven't spent much time with it. Hopefully, that will change this summer. I am expecting to have my new gaming setup finished later this month. About the TG-16, I acquired one 2 or 3 years ago specifically to take part in the I/O high score challenge. I ended up getting a PC Engine Core Grafx from a local gamer/reseller. It's much cheaper than the TG16, and I think it even looks better. It's certainly more compact so takes up less physical real estate. I also got the Everdrive for it as I have no desire to collect games for the system because of the high game prices. -
Time just flies by. I can't believe it's already been a week since my birthday. This year, I celebrated it with gifts, family dinner, and lunch with former coworkers. It was a fun one, so I wanted to share.
Family dinner at the restaurant of my choosing. Son 2's girlfriend joined us.
My wife forgot to bring the cake to the dinner, so we had it when we returned home 😂 My family isn't much into cakes, so that's why it's small.
My former co-workers from my Amazon days. Mathias' (guy on the far left) birthday is in a couple of weeks. We had this thing going for a few years where I bought him lunch on his birthday and he bought me lunch on my birthday. This year, we broke tradition. Although he wanted to pay, I beat him to the machine with my card. It's been a few years since we got together, so I wanted to buy. He's going to buy me lunch later this month. These guys were my engineers when I managed the Fire tablet localization.
Gift from my son and his girlfriend. My son was very surprised when I told him that I didn't have the NES. Well, I fixed that a few days later. I bought a NES top loader. It's been sent to get the RGB mod, so I'll show it off when I get it back in a few weeks.
Home-made candles were gifted to me from a church friend. I don't think my photo does it justice--it's very beautiful and very fragrant.
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Hopefully all goes well.
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- RickR and socrates63
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Recharged Squad Challenge 016 - Amoeba Jump
socrates63 replied to Sabertooth's topic in Club VCS's Recharged Squad Challenges
Oh I wasn't submitting a score 🙂 Please don't include my 2600 score for the competition. I intend to submit one from the VCS version. Thank you for the tip. I did read on reddit about possible difficulties with updating the system. Fingers crossed. -
I picked these up earlier today from a local gamer/reseller. He ran a sale in the local FB group last week. The DS library has so many interesting games beyond the obvious/popular ones. In that way, it reminds me of the PS2 library. I had Broken Sword on my wishlist for a long time and found it in the wild a few times but always passed on it. I finally got it because the price was good. I know I have the game for the computer, but I haven't played it yet. Since I've been into handheld gaming lately, I think the DS version may be my first time playing it. The other DS games all received good reviews and they were inexpensive--my favorite kind of game. Tetris 2, on the other hand, is not so well regarded from what I've read. However, it was an opportunity to add an inexpensive CIB Game Boy game to the collection, so I grabbed it although I already had the loose cartridge.
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Recharged Squad Challenge 016 - Amoeba Jump
socrates63 replied to Sabertooth's topic in Club VCS's Recharged Squad Challenges
This is my high score from three years ago, but it's the 2600 version. I need to set up my VCS that I bought during the Memorial Day sale (still in the box).
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Super Mario Bros. 3 is a birthday gift from my son and his girlfriend. They thought I had an NES, but I don't. I told my wife that I now have a reason to get an NES 🙂 The others arrived today from three different sellers. I've so far held back from collecting many Atari computer games but I have a soft spot for Atari releases especially the pre-silver box older games and their box art.
