Hello, new, but...not really...

[zektor800]

I was actually known here as simply "zektor", but I forgot my password (it has been awhile) and the email system does not seem to be working for me...possibly I even had an old email address at that time.

 

Anyway, I re-registered and wanted to say "hi". I am not new in the least to Atari (been a collector of the VCS/5200/Jag for a long time, and actually sold a one of a kind proto to this site's owner), but I AM new to the 8-bits.

 

I did have an XEGS way back (purchased it new at Kay-Bee) but did not have it for long, or any peripherals for it for that matter. I have been thinking about the 400 and 800 series for many years, and finally made the plunge and purchased a whole slew of Atari 8-bit goods. Two 800's one 800XL, one 400, one Happy 1050, two 810's, an Atarimax SIO2PC interface, 400 disks, about two dozen carts....just a whole lot of retro computing.

 

I was extremely intrigued with how SIO2PC works, and cannot wait to give this a go. If any of the 400 disks I have coming are unarchived, I now have the tools to perform this task. Giving eternal life to floppies is something I feel great about doing

 

I have played many titles for the 8-bit through emulation...wow. TONS of excellent titles here. I was a C64 >NUT< in the day, and now I think I may become an Atari 8-bit nut. Everything looks so good.

 

I have spoken with a few nice people from this "scene", and they have been very helpful. So, just saying "hi", and glad to be a part of it all

[accousticguitar]

Welcome

[Gury]

Welcome back

[LYNXGUY]

400 disks !! holy cow thats alot

 

I only have about 20 or so with at least 10 games on each disk.

 

I am sending you a PM

[Paranoid]

Ok... you need to go back to Atarimax and purchase the MyIDE interface. It is like, $50, and it is the best $50 Multicart purchase you'll ever make. I know you've got a lot of the other stuff you need to leverage setting up a slave PC so you can access resources from it... but trust me... you're missing a critical component.

[deathtrappomegranate]

Welcome!

 

If you do find any un-archived disks, and want to donate dumps to Atarimania, you know where to come.

 

[zektor800]

Welcome!

 

If you do find any un-archived disks, and want to donate dumps to Atarimania, you know where to come.

 

 

 

Ohh, if any of it is unarchived, I am donating it all. I am not one of those "hoarders"

 

I will certainly have to look into the MyIDE device. Can you give a scenario in which this would be required? I was under the assumption that it was basically a flash cart to allow the playback of 8-bit rom images...but apparently I am wrong (and new to this). I already purchased the SIO2PC interface, as well as registered APE. Just waiting on the rest of the goods and equipment. Haven't been this excited since the day I brought home the 2600 I can't wait to get started...

Edited September 14, 2006 by zektor800

[deathtrappomegranate]

Ohh, if any of it is unarchived, I am donating it all. I am not one of those "hoarders"

 

I will certainly have to look into the MyIDE device. Can you give a scenario in which this would be required? I was under the assumption that it was basically a flash cart to allow the playback of 8-bit rom images...but apparently I am wrong (and new to this). I already purchased the SIO2PC interface, as well as registered APE. Just waiting on the rest of the goods and equipment. Haven't been this excited since the day I brought home the 2600 I can't wait to get started...

 

Paranoid has posted about it recently - here.

 

If you want to move your disks to PC, then you need the SIO2PC setup. It also works the other way around, which is very cool.

 

The MyIDE+flash is, in effect, a single cart onto which you can put all of your disk images. The same kind of thing can be achieved with SIO2PC, but it means that your Atari computer needs to be connected to a PC.

 

SIO2PC is a great way to begin, but the MyIDE option might well become attractive later. It's great that these options are available nowadays.

 

However, I'm a collector-type, and I want to have the original media. But that's just me...

[zektor800]

I originally got into this to *collect carts*. That is, official classic games cartridges. I need the collection in my life, so these will not be games that I will not multicart or otherwise.

 

I did go the SIO2PC route mainly because I enjoy the games that were floppy exclusive, but do not trust the media. I wanted a solution that would allow me to enjoy floppy titles "forever", and be able to back up current floppy disks I own. This works.

 

While I do now understand exactly how MyIDE is working, and it is cool, it really is not a requirement for me at preset. No sweat keeping the Atari connected to the PC...1.79mhz meets 3.4Ghz!

Edited September 15, 2006 by zektor800

[deathtrappomegranate]

...I enjoy the games that were floppy exclusive, but do not trust the media.

That is a good point, and it's one of the reasons why we're trying to archive as much as we can at Atarimania, before there are no working copies left.

 

Some of the disk and cassette games had fantastic packaging, and that often appeals to collectors almost as much as the software itself. Infocom games are a good example.

[Paranoid]

I considered the SIO2PC route with APE, but honestly, as a gamer, the convienience of MyIDE was too hard to ignore or pass up, especially at the price. I've got a CC2 and a Atarimax 128-in-1 USB card... and, I could buy an army of MyIDE carts for what I paid for those two carts alone.

 

Both are routes to the same end, though and even work well with each other. The advantage in my mind with the MyIDE is, especially if you go with a CF card, you effectively make your disk and executable images into a multicart with "no" load time and all of your titles instantly accessible. With SIO2PC, you've just made a PC into a floppy drive...

 

1.79mhz meets 3.4ghz! Heh. I'm sure the last thing your hyper-threaded P4 thought it would find itself doing was file-serving for an 8 bit Atari.

 

On the artwork and packaging, I was just browsing through Atarimania a few days ago, and I think it is the artwork for StarRaiders... maybe Star Raiders II. There is a ship flying through space, but, there is a gridwork beneath it, and culmunus clouds are poking out of the grid. The late 70s and early 80s were such a great time for Sci Fi and Fantasy art.

 

Yeah... here is the link:

 

http://www.atarimania.com/detail_soft.php?...VERSION_ID=4994

 

The artwork alone definetely makes me nostaligic for that time. And I can certainly see why this kind of thing encourages collectors. I'll even admit that some of the things I'm hanging onto go beyond gaming and enter "collecting" (although I'm doing it for personal reasons and not for speculatative reasons, and would never invest anything more than a couple of bucks in something like this that I wanted to collect).

 

I also agree with the cart perspective. I picked up an A8xl because of the cart based nature of so many of the titles. It makes it a great half-step between an 8 bit PC (say, C-64) and a console (Atari 5200). You've got a lot of flexibility to use it either way. I've discussed a lot of the reasons for migrating to the 8 bit computer... but one of them was also to have a workhorse 5200 alternative for day to day gaming, to kind of take the pressure off my 5200 consoles and hopefully preserve them that much longer... and to introduce one more level of "backup" in that area of my retro-collection. And cart based titles figured prominently in that decision. I can get many of the same titles, stand-alone, on cartridge, for the 8 bit and the 5200. Not a lot of 8 bit PCs that can make that claim... that they have a significant cartridge based library of titles.

[zektor800]

But, with MyIDE, you do not have the ability to back up original floppy disks to images, or re-create these disks from the images? Or am I wrong here? If I am right, this would be a definitive reason to own the SIO2PC interface.

 

I see how the cart can be (is) an effective way to store and boot the media. It really does sound great. I will most likely probe this method some time down the road for sure. For now, everything I am setting up here is right next to the PC and the TV, and I just think it will be quite convenient to simply select images on the PC, power the A800, and run a game. It sure sounds pretty awesome to me.

 

Again, disk images are the only one's I want to play "illegally". I am a collector at heart, and a solid collection of cartridges down the road is just as appealing to me.

 

I think (for now) the SIO2PC method is choice for me. Putz around with disk images (and back up the hundreds coming to me), meanwhile try to expand a cartridge collection for nostalgic purposes.

[doctorclu]

Glad to see you like the 800, that beige machine is the one that I like too.

 

I barely use a floppy these days if ever... actually gave them to Dave here in Dallas. Mainly use hard drives and compact flash or SIO2OSX (SIO2PC) when I need to import something new.

[highendsystems]

400 diskettes! Geeez!

 

I have about 120, and can't recall half the stuff on them.

For the most part they all still read/write just fine.

 

One day I'll take the time to look through them and see

if I have anything not already in the Atari archives.

 

I don't have a MyIDE yet, so I would have to send them

to MetalGuy or someone else....

[Paranoid]

Hmnn... I'm not sure how MyIDE would work for what you describe.

 

It depends on if you can SEE the files on the floppy and copy them over to a drive partition.

 

I don't think it would allow you to "rip" a disk to an ATR image, but I might be wrong. You should check on the AtariMax forum. It just isn't something I have any interest in doing. I don't even have a floppy drive.

[zektor800]

I am still waiting on these disks...ugh. Anyway, hopefully there are unreleased goods on them. I have a bad feeling that they will all include pirated games...all already ripped...but who knows. If there is nothing new on them, I will probably sell off my Happy 1050, two 810's and the disks myself, as I do not see myself hunting down rare/unripped disks either. I am mostly about just playing the games, and the SIO2PC interface and my growing cart collection is MORE than covering that!