Atari 8-bit

The Atari 800 was far superior to the Commodore 64.  Discuss [/Troll]

Far superior graphics

The Atari did have one extra graphics mode (forget what it was called) that was far superior to the C64. Only used occasionally, and never in a way that proved the Atari was head and shoulders above the Commodore.

What about sound, though?

I believe the sound on the C64 was superior to the Atari.  I've been watching a pile of old "behind the scenes" at commodore and atari lately.  Tramiel was a fascinating guy.  Cheap, but fascinating. 


It's just funny that most of the computer people I knew in high school were atari based, so years later I discover that C64 dwarfed atari almost universally.  I'm hlaf tempted to buy a system and run a disk emulator and go through stuff I missed back in the day.  Entertainment is so lackluster these days I find myself going back and rediscovering things from the golden age of entertainment. 

I've gone back via emulator - there wasn't as much cool stuff as I remembered. Even the games are kinda lackluster compared to my memories of them.

I went Atari 1200XL, Atari 130XE, and finally Atari Mega ST2...then I went Mac and PC (PC for gaming, Mac for writing)

I've gone back via emulator - there wasn't as much cool stuff as I remembered. Even the games are kinda lackluster compared to my memories of them.

I went Atari 1200XL, Atari 130XE, and finally Atari Mega ST2...then I went Mac and PC (PC for gaming, Mac for writing)

I grabbed one of the mega carts that pretty much holds every game ever made, but plays them through the original hardware, and I gotta tell you, there's stuff there that I didn't know existed.  So I will pop it in, grab some sweet liquor and potato chips, and just spend an evening trying out titles.  That said, yes most of them don't have a lot of replay value, but that my mame cab sits covered in dust.  I plan to get all the old infocom games and try and work through them, some of them were pretty good, and grpahics dbe damned. 
   I also want to get a C64 with a silimar setup with a rom cart, so I can see what, if anything, I missed being just an atari pirate, er fan. 

I'm using this:



The RG350 handheld retro emulator. Got MAME, 8-bit computers (Atari & C64), and up to the PS1 in consoles.

It's great having a portable system...but the 3.5" screen is hard on my old eyes for Atari 800 screens and other detailed graphics.

Luckily, it has HDMI out...but they're still working on the drivers, so things can get wonky.

I'm using this:



The RG350 handheld retro emulator. Got MAME, 8-bit computers (Atari & C64), and up to the PS1 in consoles.

It's great having a portable system...but the 3.5" screen is hard on my old eyes for Atari 800 screens and other detailed graphics.

Luckily, it has HDMI out...but they're still working on the drivers, so things can get wonky.

I bought one kind of like that a while back, and it just upped and died on me, just used it for doctor waiting rooms, plane trips etc.  That one looks pretty slick, does it seem like decent quality, or that run-of-the-mill chinese crapola? 

I like the atari on the 50" screen, probably for the same reasons, and I like that I'm playing the games on real hardware (the xe games won't play on the 800, but I don't think there's that many good xe games out there, that was end of the 8 bit lifespan).

I've got the RG350, and it's pretty good quality. They've got a newer version the RG350M, which has a metal shell and 640x480 screen, and is pretty much the best retrogaming handheld at the moment...but there's an RG351 coming, and the RG350P was just released, and...well, you get the idea.

Still, the RG350M is a really solid piece of equipment, and I'd have no problem recommending it for MAME/GB/PS1/SNES...etc.

I've got the RG350, and it's pretty good quality. They've got a newer version the RG350M, which has a metal shell and 640x480 screen, and is pretty much the best retrogaming handheld at the moment...but there's an RG351 coming, and the RG350P was just released, and...well, you get the idea.

Still, the RG350M is a really solid piece of equipment, and I'd have no problem recommending it for MAME/GB/PS1/SNES...etc.

I looked at the metal cased one, but it was quite a difference in $ here, so I ordered the same one you have (I like the orange accents).  I figure it's going to be good enough for on the go gaming... Now it says it won't arrive until late sept, so I assume it's coming direct from bejing.

Cool! I do like my RG350 - let me know when yours arrives.

Cool! I do like my RG350 - let me know when yours arrives.

Will it do old ms dos games?  The one I had only rand with it's onboard software/loader, so you couldn't drop in anything like dosbox, etc.  Just wondering if this new thingy has that hackability. 

It's shipped, but the tracking number issued a week ago still isn't showing as anything, so I assume it has to arrive in some old dirty shipping container before that registers properly. 

Console showed up today, looks promising, although yeah it would feel better with a metal shell, this has a rather insubstantial feel to it, BUT that makes it better for airplanes and trips I suppose.  Now I just need some time to figure out hoe to populate it

Very slick unit.  I mean, it's a bit weird that ftp is the file handling protocol, but it works. 

Haven't gotten a dosbox game running yet, but I'm sure I'll figure it out.  I ordered a spare 64g chip so that I can just make up a disk image and have it set to go in case this bricks at some point (it feels like it might be a bricker).