socrates63

Nice! Vader models look cool. I don’t have a desk but I like playing sitting on the floor with the controller on the floor. That means the TV stand can’t be too tall so that’s the challenge.

From one newcomer to another, welcome, Mark!

Yes, forgot that Starmaster uses the switches. Game compatibility/playability gave me the perfect reason to get a 2600, and I'm very happy to have gotten a six switch 2600.

I played the homebrew DK before never played the original 2600 DK. I put some time in today for the first time, and I'm very impressed. Yes, there are only two levels, but they play very well and the graphics, outside of DK himself, look very good. I tried my hand at DK Jr but maybe I should have read the manual first. I do I jump from vine to vine?? I'll give it some time later after reading the manual.

Thanks kindly. About the streamlining, that was my original intent (to play both 2600 and 7800 games on a 7800) so I started off by acquiring the 7800 first. However, I ran into an issue where Space Rocks was incompatible with my 7800. That prompted me to get a 2600, and I actually prefer using the sixer with its switches over the buttons and switches on the 7800. Until recently when I acquired a CRT TV, the 7800 was hooked up to the 65" 4K TV upstairs. But there's nothing like playing older games on the display that they were designed for. I'm in love with gaming on the CRT. I have a 4 port 5200 that was heavily modded and calibrated by @CrossBow. You can read up on what he did here. Short summary from the link: UAV has been installed to provide great composite and s-video video outputs Because I've had them on hand and wasn't using them, I installed gold plated RCA jacks to the expansion plate along with the s-video output Audio is tapped and filtered properly and connected dual mono to L/R RCA jacks Original power inductor and filter cap removed and replaced with a console5 power conversion kit. Only change is that I use a different wire harness that provides a way to easily disconnect the power so the main board can be removed in the future if needed. New DC barrel jack installed next to the channel select switch so the 4-port switch box is no longer required to power this 5200. I was looking for one with s-video and I feel very lucky to have gotten a 5200 from CrossBow. It should last for a long time 🙂

A little background on my physical gaming setup... gaming has been a retrofit into existing living spaces. I have gaming areas in two places in the house. First, a large room upstairs started out as the toy room for kids and my library. Now, half of the room is used for home theater with a very large old sofa in front of the 65" 4K TV and audio equipment. Modern consoles and some older ones are hooked up to this TV. I'll share photos in the future. Second, in a small corner of the office/den on the main floor, I've set up a 27" CRT TV with 2600, 5200, 7800, and PS2. Most of my Atari 8-bit collection is on a single shelf in my office along with the CRT TV and Atari consoles. My small 5200 CIB games collection is also here (double stacked). Not shown are my 2 800XL and in-the-box 800. Fort Apocalypse by Synapse was the first commercial game that I bought for my childhood 800, and I believe Temple of Apshai may have been the second. EA's early games are also my favorites. I have a small collection of games from those three companies because they represent a lot of A8 nostalgia for me. The CRT TV setup is something I'm actively thinking about. I need to find a way to have access to all 3 Atari consoles. Right now, the 7800 is sitting in the back of the bottom shelf on the stand. I also have a PS2 here but that takes minimal space. I'll probably have to go with a different TV stand. In the room upstairs, I have two shelves where all the 2600 games and homebrews are kept. Everything is double stacked. This room also contains shelves (not shown) of games for all generations of Playstation and Xbox.

I think this is the first time that I've seen a Star Trek tie 👍 I have a couple of Looney Tunes ties that USPS sold many many years ago.

I don't have many photos of me back in the day because I've always have been and still am the one behind the camera 📷 🙂 Regardless, finding silly photos of me is a bit of a challenge. Here's one from early 2017 just before I left Amazon. It's was considered a huge get for the company to add HBO as a channel on Prime Video. The throne was making the rounds and people got in line to take a photo. Here's me trying to strike the King Conan pose.

This one is certainly unique 👍 📷

Ordered!

😮 No I hadn't. I haven't been following the series but this one looks right up my alley.

The design has evolved quite a lot over the years, but here's a toast 🍻 to the OG! I also have a 40th anniversary diecast figure that pretty much looks like that statue.

That's quite the travel log @dauber 👍 I discovered the joy of traveling because of work. I used to work for Amazon as a localization program manager for fulfillment center software. As part of that gig, I had occasion to visit warehouses in parts of Europe and Asia (and US). On one particular trip, I scheduled the trip so that I'd spend the weekend in Paris (coming from Madrid). My previous visit to Paris was during my honeymoon with my wife in 1997 and we followed an itinerary then. This time, I decided not to make an itinerary but chose a general direction from the hotel and simply walked out. It gave me a chance to see how people lived and travel at a slower pace. It changed my perspective and appreciation for what travel can be. By the way, I never knew you could get cramps in your feet but that night I found out that you can. From that time on, I tried to make cultural immersion the focal point of traveling (we still visit tourist spots and destinations). One way to do that easily has been doing Airbnb. Since that business trip, I've taken the family to Europe (Paris, Rome) and Asia (Korean, Japan), and we stayed in Airbnb. The kids were a little unsettled initially that dad didn't book hotels, but we made it a talking point to see other cultures outside of our little suburban cul-de-sac. They embraced it and appreciated the experience. So many places to visit in this world of ours! My wife and I are considering getting an RV once the kids are on their own and travel the US. Before Marriage National parks: Yellowstone, Glacier, Yosemite, Mt. Rushmore, Banff (Canada) Washington DC and surrounding historical sites (middle school trip). The highlight for me was the Smithsonian. Outside North America: Israel, France After Marriage US: Hawaii, California (LA, San Diego, San Francisco), Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Oregon (Crater Lake 👍), Texas (Dallas), Nevada, Arizona (Grand Canyon), New York, Utah, New Mexico, Virginia Canada (BC, Toronto), Mexico (Tiajuana only) Europe: England, Ireland, France, Spain, Italy, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria Asia: China, Korea, Japan One of my personal highlights during family travel 🙂 As a little kid in Korea during most of the 70s, Mazinger Z was my 'bot. I found one in a shop during my family trip to Tokyo two years ago. I think I embarrassed my sons.

I always enjoyed movie theaters for the immersion and spectacle created by the screen size and sound system (The audience is listening 😊). Having said that, I’ve pretty much stopped going the past couple of years due to rising ticket prices. For movies I really like, I end up buying the 4K or Blu-ray to watch on my 65” 4K TV and surround sound at home anyway, so decided not to go to theaters for the most part. However, I am thinking about going later this month to catch some classic films on the literal big screen. I saw AMC’s announcement a couple of days ago listing old movies like Goonies.

I’m not a fanatic but I visited one in Fort Casey (Washington state) during a family outing a few years ago. They certainly represent a time gone by and figured prominently in history and culture.

I had the original GameBoy back in the day. I loved Tetris and Tennis. I played those games to death and still continue to buy Mario Tennis for whatever Nintendo platform I may own. On a similar vein, I wasn’t thrilled with Castlevania On the GB and ignored the series entirely over time on all platforms while wondering about the hullabaloo surrounding the series (I did buy Castlevania games for all Playstation and Xbox consoles since). Back in the 90s, I gave away my original GameBoy, accessories and games to a little kid who was moving to Africa with his family. Later, I bought the GameBoy Color and still have it.

Thanks @Gianna!

I grew up watching re-runs of so many classic TV shows! Here are some of my favorites. I Dream of Jeannie Six Million Dollar Man Andy Griffith Show Dukes of Hazzard Leave It to Beaver Brady Bunch Beverly Hillbillies Gilligan's Island

@RickR while I'm on the software side of things, if your son needs help with job searching or wants to talk to someone in Seattle high tech, feel free to hit me up.

That’s great! Is he leaning towards hardware or software? I can’t imagine he will have too much difficulty securing a job in Seattle 🙂

Cool! I didn't even know that the 7800 had paddles specifically for it. Subbed. Now on to the high score challenges... as soon as I find them...

🤞here's hoping for a more stable 2021. What's he studying? Thanks, Dr. Trek! Yours is a name I've seen frequently (AA, ZPH streams) and I feel we're already acquainted although we're not 🙂

I lived a couple of years in Bellevue, NE (suburb of Omaha) and as I was writing that I don't remember the grocery we went to, the name Hinky Dinky pops in my brain -- I haven't thought of that name for decades. The brain is a mysterious thing. In any case, this was in the late 70s. I lived for six months around Baltimore, MD but don't remember anything. In Seattle, we mostly went to Lucky (or Lucky's). When we moved the suburbs north of Seattle in the mid-80s, we shopped at Haggen's, a local chain, which eventually gave way to Top Foods. And then there's the ubiquitous Safeway.

No actual photos but my first car was a 1979 Volvo 264GL in brown. It looked similar to this. One Saturday afternoon, my dad and uncle went out, and a few hours later, they came back with it and said this is your car. I believe I was a few months shy of 17 so that would have been early part of 1986. My immediate reaction was why brown? I had it for 3 or 4 years and it had lot of mechanical issues... fuel pump fuse going out while I'm driving on the freeway and such. That car did a lot to scare me away from used cars ever since.

Fantastic essay, Justin. I'm impressed by your recollection and the artifacts that you kept. This is where I'm at right now -- the last couple of years, I started diving back into Atari because of nostalgia. I collected more than 100 CIB Atari 2600 games before I even had a way to play the cartridges. The last few months, I started playing the games and have developed a bigger appreciation for the games and their cultural significance. Classic Gamer -- I like the sound to that.