Going to change my name to Britney Spears, because Oops, I did it again! - Another FB marketplace impulse purchase
▲ 253 r/atari8bit+1 crossposts

Going to change my name to Britney Spears, because Oops, I did it again! - Another FB marketplace impulse purchase

In a week where if I had been faster I could have had a complete C64 system for a bargain price, and I nearly became a proud owner of a TRS-80 Model 3, it was third time lucky when I spotted this lot (plus a Commodore 1702 monitor) on FB Marketplace yesterday. Contacted the seller right away and met with him this morning to pick it all up.

The left 800xl and monitor work perfectly, the right 800xl needs some work, 1050 drives are untested, the 1010 program recorder is like new in box.

When I have time I'll test and clean everything and see if I can breathe life back into the 2nd 800xl.

My Atari collection is slowly growing!

u/GeordieAl — 5 days ago
▲ 424 r/streak+2 crossposts

And now the grind to 1000 days begins.

So long to the 8003 fellow streak freaks lost along the way since Basement Dweller, and the 61051 lost since 400 days.

u/GeordieAl — 1 month ago

Amazing experience as a buyer restores my faith in humanity

Back in December while getting ready to visit the outlaws for Christmas I spotted a vintage Atari 800 plus peripherals and software for sale near them. I’d been after an Atari for a while and this one was at a very reasonable price. I contacted the seller, agreed a time to meet for the following week when we were in the area for Christmas.

When we met everything was as described/pictured, we had a great chat about how this had been his father’s system and he’d added every peripheral available to create an amazing set up. I handed over my cash and loaded everything into the car. The seller apologized that they couldn’t find the audio cable for the tape deck, but would order me a replacement on Amazon and have it shipped directly to me at home. I said no need as I had loads of cables already that I could repurpose.

Fast forward almost 6 months and I get a message out of the blue, asking if I’m enjoying the Atari and letting me know that he’d just found another box with additional peripherals and disks, and would ship them to me at no charge! As it happens we’re visiting the outlaws again in a few weeks, so I offered to pick the box up to save him having to ship it.

I’ve had a lot of great experiences as a buyer, but this just took it to a whole other level!

reddit.com
u/GeordieAl — 2 months ago

Commodore 1702 Monitors in the Ark II bunker in Ontario

An hour west of where I live, in the town of Horning's Mills, a chap by the name of Bruce Beach constructed an immense underground bunker out of 42 school busses, called The Ark II.

Well Bruce had good taste in monitors, here on his desk in the bunker sits two Commodore 1702 monitors.

Picture is used courtesy of Freaktography, and if you want to see more of the bunker, check out their awesome video by Here

u/GeordieAl — 3 months ago

Saw one of the YRP drones in action for the first time tonight!

Someone tried to get into my neighbours house in the middle of the night. My neighbour called the cops who responded quickly with a couple of SUVs and a truck with spotlights, then moments later the drone appeared and started circling the neighbourhood. Was surprisingly quiet compared to consumer grade drones.

Hats off again to YRP for their swift response!

reddit.com
u/GeordieAl — 3 months ago
▲ 132 r/amiga

So what is everyone else up to this weekend? I think I'm going to be busy!

The last item for my A2000 that I was waiting for arrived this week from Turkey (RGBTOHDMI), so this weekend is upgrade time!

It will be a multicultural machine by the end of the weekend. RGB2HDMI from Turkey, Coin cell adapter from Spain, Kickstart and OS Update from Ireland, Fan from Austria, GOTEK from China, Pi from Ontario, and the glorious purple TF536 from Quebec.

u/GeordieAl — 3 months ago

Can't get Manic Miner to load... this Commodore seems to have other ideas...

I'm still digging through all my old belongings that I shipped from the UK to Canada and this old Commodore calculator was in there. Sadly teenage me decided to attack the calculator with a ballpoint pen, but amazingly even after all these years as soon as it has some light it turns on and is fully working.

it's a Commodore H801W Solar Film Card Calculator, and I'm struggling to remember how I got it.

I got a C64 in 1985 - I don't remember what bundle, but I do remember that just after I got it they launched the "Commodore 64 Compendium Pack" with Music Maker Keyboard, The Designers Pencil, and The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole game plus Growing Pains of Adrian Mole book.

Being a sneaky teenager, I wanted this improved pack and shorted out my C64 with a paperclip to the serial port. Back to the store with a non working C64 and they replaced it, with the same pack! A few weeks later I tried again, and this time it worked, I came home with the Compendium pack!

I'm sure I must have got this calculator with either the original pack or the compendium pack, but I can't find any references to it online.

Anyone else get this calculator with their C64? or know how I may have received it?

u/GeordieAl — 3 months ago
▲ 83 r/amiga

The Chase(UK Game show) today had a question about the Amiga and Andy Warhol

Never expected to see an Amiga question pop up in 2026!

u/GeordieAl — 3 months ago
▲ 34 r/c64+1 crossposts

I decided to gather all my games together and make a video of them all. I think the music fits well! How many titles do you recognize?

28 years ago I packed all my computers, books, mags and software into a storage unit when I went on a 6 month vacation to Canada... 28 years later I'm still here. Last year I finally managed to ship everything to Canada from the UK.

Yes, there are some non-Commodore titles in there... MSX, Sharp, Atari, Speccy, Dragon, TI99, and Beeb. But the vast majority are for the C64, C16, and Amiga..plus one token VIC 20 title!

The C64 games are nearly all ones I bought back in the 80's, The C16 games all came with a C16 I bought from a mate when he was upgrading to a proper computer (a C64!) Some of the Amiga titles are ones I worked on in my early days as an artist.

Sadly I'm missing all my Speccy games except Scrabble ( I was a Spectrum owner before jumping onto the good ship Commodore )

u/GeordieAl — 3 months ago

Some Commodore hardware in the video for Look Mum No Computer's Eurovision entry

Spotted a familiar shape in the office scene while watching the official video for Look Mum No Computer's Eurovision song Eins, Zwei, Drei. Then watching the behind the scenes video I spotted a bit more Commodore hardware... three 1702 monitors in his video/synth wall.

u/GeordieAl — 3 months ago

My Dad in 1975, being interviewed in our Land Rover by a 49 year old David Attenborough about the Chillingham Wild White Cattle. My Dad was the warden for the Cattle Park and was two years older than David. Happy 100th birthday to Sir David Attenborough

When this picture was taken, my dad had been the warden for the Chillingham Wild White Cattle for a bit under 3 years. He had previously been working in a factory, as an Ice Cream Man, on a Fishing Boat, and in the Merchant Navy.

Somehow, at 48 years old he was able to switch from factory life in the urban sprawl of Tyneside to country life in one of the remotest parts of England. My mam, dad, me (not even 1 years old at the time), two brothers and a sister moved from a brick built semi on a busy road, to a small stone cottage surrounded by fields and woodland.

The move gave him and my mam a completely new life, and gave me an amazing childhood.

u/GeordieAl — 3 months ago

So during my journey from 400 days to Basement Dweller, 53,048 others have dropped out, almost 4,000 between 700 days and Basement Dweller

My Unlock # at 400 days : 201898

My Unlock # at 700 days : 152799

My # at Basement Dweller : 148850

u/GeordieAl — 4 months ago
▲ 20 r/Achievements+1 crossposts

And in the journey from 700 days to Basement Dweller, 4,000 others didn't make it.

My Unlock # at 700 days : 152799

My # at Basement Dweller : 148850

u/GeordieAl — 4 months ago
▲ 14 r/VCRs

Picked this up from a local electronics recycler as I was in the market for a multi system or PAL based system. Prior to buying I did a cursory search online but found nothing about it and just figured I needed to dig a bit deeper to find some actual information/manual etc.

They showed me it working and everything looked good - the unit itself is in fantastic condition and has a fully working remote, so I bought it and brought it home. Everything works great - it plays back my 30+year old tapes from back home in the UK no problem and the picture is great even through a cheap capture device into my Mac.

So I started looking again online to see if I could find a manual or any other information about this unit and I'm coming up blank. Lots of info/manuals etc for VC-H982 and H983 which bear no resemblance at all to this unit either visually or spec wise - I ended up finding info on H972, H973, H974, H975, H976, H978, H982, H983, H984, H985, and H986 but they're all pretty much the same 4 head stereo, not multi system, no karaoke, no NICAM.

Anyone had this unit, or have any info or a link to a manual?

u/GeordieAl — 4 months ago