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RickR

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  10. Your experience with "cutting the cord"

    in Off Topic

    Posted

    One more thing - we'll probably stick with cable for internet only.  There aren't any other fast choices where we live.  800Mbps cable is about $70 a month.  One other option for us would be the 5G home internet services from T-Mobile or Verizon, but I don't think I trust that.  I work from home, so quick, reliable internet is a must.  For those of you that also WFH, what do you use for internet and do you like it?

     

  11. Your experience with "cutting the cord"

    in Off Topic

    Posted

    I'm sure I'm very late to this party -- cutting the cable cord.  We've kept cable all this time, mostly to watch our local sports team (every game televised on the regional sports network, available ONLY on cable).  But rates went way up in 2024.  Also, we lost cable for a couple days during the recent winter storm and I hooked up an OTA antenna to our family room TV.  I was impressed with the quality of the 20 or so channels we got that way!  And then the cable company gave us a credit for the outage, which was nice.  However, it was $8 a day....and that's when I realized it is not worth $8 a day.  I want to retire early, and this is one cut that will have immediate benefits in savings.

    Soooo...if you've done the cord cutting, please tell me how it went.  What do you watch when you have a few minutes to spare in the evenings?  Do you use an antenna, streaming, or a combo?  Are you happy with your choice?

    One final note from me is that we already pay for several streaming services (Paramount+, Disney/Hulu, Peacock), so there's plenty to watch there.  And like I said, 20 or so good channels on an antenna.  And finally, our local sports team SUCKS this year...they are in full rebuild mode, so we wouldn't be missing much (this is the thing I'll miss the most I think).  

     

  18. PLAION Announces the 400 Mini

    in Atari 8-Bit Computers

    Posted · Edited by RickR

    22 minutes ago, Atari 5200 Guy said:

    I wonder if those usb ports offer keyboard support?  If so the 400 Mini could possibly be used for programming.  That’s what made me want an 800 in the first place was because I loved programming in BASIC and Atari had its own BASIC language.  

    Yes it does.  As mentioned prior.  USB keyboard support is there, and also a virtual keyboard.  You can load basic and program as you see fit.  However, it is not known if you can save or not.  My guess is yes, but it will be a bit convoluted.  You'd load a DOS image from the USB memory stick and be able to save to that. 

    If I recall correctly, the C64 mini allowed this (the ability to save to a disk image on USB). 

  23. PLAION Announces the 400 Mini

    in Atari 8-Bit Computers

    Posted

    24 minutes ago, Justin said:

    I'm a little underwhelmed that this doesn't have a cartridge port the way the 2600+ does. I've been hoping to see Atari develop an "Atari XE+" with a 4/5 or 3/5 scale Atari XE that incorporates two cartridge ports into the top of the machine - one for Atari 8-Bit Computer cartridges, and the other for Atari 5200 cartridges. I would love that.

    Otherwise this looks like a nice product and I hope Atari does well with it.

    The cart ports would be pretty awesome for sure!  It does have the ability to run images from a USB memory stick though.  Just like the C64 and Amiga versions.

    It is also missing a real keyboard, but that is solved by attaching a USB keyboard.  Not ideal, but it does work.  (And there is also a virtual keyboard). 

    The other real con with this is that you *must* use that controller it includes to get access to all the features (like virtual keyboard).  Although other USB controllers will work, the button mapping is hit and miss. 

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