80's Atari 8bit Gamer

[Reliant73]

Hi All,

I have been interested in computers ever since I saw my friends ZX81 in about 1982 and starting bugging my parents for one. My parents eventually bought our first home computer in 1985 which was an Atari 130XE. It came with a Atari 1050 Disk Drive, a 1010 Tape Recorder and the old trusty Commodore 1702 Monitor. I have always had fond memories of gaming on the 130XE and with a significant birthday coming up at the end of the year I have been getting a bit nostalgic, so I recently decided to pull the 130XE out and getting it up and running again as a project. The 130XE unit powered on fine but was the plastic was almost dark yellow! The 1050 disk drive unfortunately seemed to be a complete lost (just the power light comes on) and the 1010...well it had had a rough life before put in storage so it was a no go and the Commodore monitor works like a charm.

I was going to try and remove the yellow of the 130XE using the methods that Tezza describes on this site but since the logo was really faded too I opted to get a new casing off ebay and put the system in to that and it looks great Since the disk drive and tape deck were a dead lost I decided to try something different and managed to source a XC12 Tape recorder and XF551 Disk drive to get a set of peripherals that match the XE colouring. The XC12 works perfectly and I even managed to get my old ZAXXON tape to load . THe XF551 appears to work as I have manage to get one of my disks to load but most of them do not work. It could just be that the drive needs a clean or that most of the disks are too far gone . I did read on a forum that the SIO plugs are prone to getting cracking in the solder where they connect with the main board so maybe it's that. Anyway all in all I'm just happy to have it back up and running

I have recently also acquired an 800XL which is in really good condition and I hope to get hold of a 1050 and 1010 for this

Anyway I have rambled on enough

Catch ya later

Rel

[kevman3d]

Sounds great! I have an old Atari 600XL and a 1050 here - but no software on FDD to test it anyway (never had any) - but one of these day's I'm keen to give it a whirl - Maybe when I get around to buying some old FDD's off trademe or ebay. While I'm more a ZX Spectrum person, I'm getting a real joy out of this Atari - something I never thought I would ever say given my affection for the old Sinclair machines.

That said, the Atari is the one that works... Probably half the reason...

Great to see new faces (ahem, I mean names) popping up on the forums here. Welcome...

[tezza]

Good stuff. Welcome to the forums Rel.

[Reliant73]

Thanks Tezza and Kevman3d

Actually I have just acquired an Atari 1040 STfm as well. I have never used one of these so looking forward to playing around with it

My collection is growing! next I'll have an Atari 400!

I have also discovered that my Atari XF551 Disk Drive (I got from the States) requires an EPROM chip replacement to make it work correctly with my PAL Atari 130XE. So I am just trying to get hold of a guy who can do it


Cheers Rel

[kevman3d]

My collection is growing! next I'll have an Atari 400!

Cool stuff! That's always been the classic case that I recall being the signature look for an Atari. The 600XL is nice, but it just doesn't have as much "character" as the 400... Post piccies when you get one...

I have a piccie or two of the 600XL on a blog article (which is kinda more about my 3D modeling project then the Atari itself) here. Last week I managed to get two more cartridges for it - Galaxians and Joust. I can't say I actually felt the Galaxians conversion for the 8-bit was overly authentic at all, but Joust was spot on. That makes 7 cartridges now... You could say that my collection is also growing...

In a way its kinda sad for someone who's 43 spending 2+ hours playing Joust on a sunny Saturday morning. Only reason I stopped was because I was told to do some housework... Wives never understand the psychological benefits of 8-bit gaming and how it can only better their relationship... Well, that's what I try and tell her. Doesn't work...


Kev.

[Reliant73]

Ha ha,Yeah I have to admit I have been playing quite a bit of Joust and Pitfall II. Luckily I packed up most of my Atari Games nicely when we stopped using it so they were all in a box waiting and I have been enjoying rediscovering them .

I'm 39 and luckily my wife has been very understanding of all this retro computer equipment on our dinning room table Though I did get a "That music is driving me insane!" comment when playing Pitfall II the other night

[kevman3d]

I still have a load of stuff under the house (Spectrum gear that is) - in a less then ideal environment (well, for quite a few years) since I really have nowhere to store anything.

I'm not allowed to haul it upstairs - though that's mostly because the rest of the house is already full of boxes of junk from our house move (nothing says "Geesh!? Did we REALLY have that much stuff?" like a house that's a lot smaller). But the Atari's sweet and running. I got an AV cable for it, and the cartridges and old joysticks do their thing. All I want now is a set of classic Atari joysticks (rather then these old banana-shaped plastic no-branded ones) and I think I'll be happy.

[Shayde]

For the love of all that's holy and unholy, get that stuff out from under the house! Dampness is electronic's worst enemy. Even sticking it in the ceiling would be better.

[kevman3d]

For the love of all that's holy and unholy, get that stuff out from under the house! Dampness is electronic's worst enemy. Even sticking it in the ceiling would be better.

Oh trust me, I know all to well by the state of some stuff I didn't have packed away (or in a open-top cardboard box). In fact, I'm going to possibly have to put some of this up on Trademe for some enthusiast who has a good grasp on restoration to take on. I can't say I'm overly enthused or even happy about stuff like that. But hey, where do I keep this since there's seriously absolutely no space for any of it in the house...

Right now I've sealed as much as I can into 60l containers with large Silica gel packs. Its not ideal either, but its better then the cardboard boxes that it all used to be in.

[Reliant73]

Well I have finally finished getting my Atari 8 BIt collection together Some of it I already had but needed to restore (e.g. the 130XE) the rest of it I have got of trademe, Garage sales and e-bay Aussie.

Here is the my Atari 800XL complete with a 1050 Drive and Atari 1010 Tape Recorder



Here is the my Atari 130XE complete with a XF551 Drive, Atari XC12 Tape Recorder and XM301 Modem


Here is my Atari ST 1040STfm


And of course my monitor of choice a Commodore 1701 and I have a 1702 as well


And to top it off my set of Quickshot Joysticks


Luckily I still have a lot of my original software and games for it plus I have picked up a lot more including some nice rare ones If anyone is interested I could post pics of those too.

Cheers

Rel

[kevman3d]

That's great! All looks in fantastically clean condition too - and I like that all the packaging is there. Its always funny how much better old things are when they still have the original boxes and packaging materials hoarded away. Even though technically its the stuff that most would turf after the gear is unpacked... Only reason I don't have the Atari 600XL box is that it got wet... But its been sealed in the original foam packaging quite safely so all good.

I know there's archives of scanned tape labels/inlays, instruction booklets, magazines, etc online. Heck, there's even vector-based arcade machine panels, cabinets and marquees you can download and print. I wonder what's the chance someone may one day create an archive of high-res printable packaging.

[tezza]

Yes, nice. Those units look in great condition!

[Gibsaw]

Well, theoretically, the companies involved, may actually have the original artwork for the packaging.

Sometimes one has but to ask.