d34dm34t posted:

If you're willing to go the FPGA CPU path, an Amiga 500 plus Vampire V2+ is a pretty simple way to get something that will run everything but the few AGA only games.

Trabant posted:

Here are some words that somehow still make sense in TYOOL 2019:

If you're a complete lunatic () and want a "new" Amiga, you can now preorder the Vampire V4 standalone card. Not an emulated system and, unlike the previous Vampire cards, not an accelerator that needs a base system -- this is an A1200 (originally a 68020 @ 12 MHZ with 2 MB RAM) actually implemented in FPGA with:

code:

Apollo 68080 CPU
Performance is application dependent: up to ~ 1000 MHz 68030 / 500 MHz 68040 / 250 MHz 68060 speed
512 MB DDR3 memory
Dual Flash chips
FastKick
Super-AGA GFX Core: Truecolor DIGITAL VIDEO OUT
FastIDE/CompactFlash controller 13 MB/s
SDcard for data exchange
USB
RJ45 100BaseTX Ethernet
Expansion ports (e.g. Wifi Module)

These forums will be the last site still standing before they turn off the internet, and it will end up being hosted on an Amiga server.

VomitOnLino posted:

where I live, there's no C64 scene and no parts and heck - no one even has heard of the drat thing.

The Voice of Labor posted:

war on meadow's edge is one of the best songs in a video game

Jedit posted:

I had Fury of the Furries. I can't remember anything about it now, mind you.

Pierzak posted:

I lovr FotF! Thanks for reminding me, another playthrough should help take my mind off current shittiness.

FredMSloniker posted:

Someone already mentioned Fury of the Furries, a puzzle platformer that's a ton of fun.

Br3instyrm posted:

I had that Speedlink Competition Pro and it was weirdly stiff to use. I've been using Hori fighting stick mini for emulation myself.

r u ready to WALK posted:

if you want to be a huge nerd you can make your own

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:918504
https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=arcade+joystick+diy

it is surprisingly nice to use

uiruki posted:

edit: I checked and it's only on US Amazon at higher than RRP, but that might it be trying to be clever and only showing ones which ship to the UK. There seems to be stock in Amazon UK so if you're set on it then you should be able to find it for a reasonable price. It's about 30 dollars in the UK.

Dr. Quarex posted:

Thanks for asking this; that joystick is the only one I have ever truly loved using, and remembering there are modern versions of it means there is a chance I will one day actually do some retro gaming with a joystick again! I do not think I have used a joystick or a gamepad on a computer since I put my Gravis Gamepad away in like 1994

Seat Safety Switch posted:

On the Galaksija homebrew computers from Yugoslavia in the 80s, they had everyone make their own cases out of chunks of PCB substrate.

quote:

Oftentimes the very limitations of a technological device are what allow for its expressive capacities to surface. Antonić’s microcomputer contained only 4K bytes of program memory — a veritable drop-in-the-bucket compared to any laptop today. Owing to this restriction, the system could only display three splendidly playful one-word error messages: users received a “WHAT?” if their BASIC code had a syntax error, a “HOW?” if their requested input was unrecognizable, and a “SORRY” if the machine exceeded its memory capacity.

Statutory Ape posted:

that sounds like some sort of dystopian hellscape

screen turns blue


SORRY???

rockinricky posted:

The folks behind the C64 Mini are at it again.

https://retrogames.biz/thea500-mini

Maybe a full-size version in the future? Who knows?

Trabant posted:

^ I don't know if there's "1970s UKwave" out there, but since I'm switching tracks a bit I hope it exists:

One link led to another so I fell down the rabbit hole of vintage calculators and learned about this amazing thing:



(I actually think I may have seen before and, as in my post about computers, there's a strong chance this was posted on these here forums already...)

Some details from here:

quote:

Surely one of Sinclair's most unusual products, the strange-looking Wrist Calculator (right, being worn) was launched in February 1977. It was the first product of Science of Cambridge, the company which came between Sinclair Radionics and Sinclair Research. In some ways it was ahead of its time, anticipating the LCD calculator watches of the 1980s.

The Wrist Calculator was assembled by in-house designer John Pemberton out of redundant calculator chips and displays, mounted on a little printed circuit board with half a dozen of the smallest cells available to power it. The result was described uncharitably (if accurately) as "an eyesore in black plastic".

Amazingly, it actually came in kit form (right) - Sinclair evidently had not learned the lessons of the Black Watch fiasco. Not surprisingly, given the tiny components, it was extraordinarily tricky to assemble. Once completed, there was only a fair to middling chance of it working. John Pemberton recalls that it was designed to "minimal tolerances", which meant that only if one was lucky enough to get a set of parts all of which were at or below the mean size of the prototype's components could one get it to fit within the case. It was not uncommon for the parts to be the wrong size, making the device impossible to assemble.

Even so, more than 10,000 Wrist Calculators were sold to masochistic hobbyists from all parts of the world, for a revenue in excess of £50,000. Another 20,000 were exported to the United States, though sales there were dismal and much of the exported stock was returned unsold to Sinclair.

Ah, British electronics

If that doesn't deter you, the good news is that you can buy some NOS kits, completely unassembled. The bad news is that the cheapest one I saw out there is $652.48 (and most expensive $1,300). But just look at it:

JnnyThndrs posted:

JnnyThndrs posted:

IIRC, it was a sticker from some ‘edgy’ record label or store that they threw in the box when I ordered something about 20 years ago. The faint lettering is “LBC”, which I think is short for ‘Long Beach California’.

I never really noticed a Nazi similarity, being a typical SA leftist, I’d have thrown the loving thing out. Also, this is the weirdest derail I’ve ever been a part of. Somewhere in my computer room is an unused vintage 2002-ish SA grenade sticker, if I can find it, I’ll ditch the skull.

There was a reason I used ME at the time, but I’ll be dammed if I can remember why. To be fair, it seems as stable as 98SE on this hardware.

3D Megadoodoo posted:

lmao

"Normal people do not do actual work with computers, machines that were created specifically for work." - Goon

Pham Nuwen posted:

They look very much like Data General Dasher terminals.