New Zealand Vintage Computer Forums

As the title suggests those are the machines I'm looking for.

I had the 800xl when I was a kid and to my mind the design of it is pretty timeless.

On the other hand the 400 is obviously of its time, but as a kid I really coveted it because I thought it looked awesome.

Any tips or remarks are more than welcome. I've always loved computers, but I'm not technically minded at all, so pointers to any obvious mistakes I should avoid would be great.

Atari 800XLs come up from time to time so you should be able to get one of those in due course. Atari 400s are much rarer though.

As to tips in buying vintage computers, here is an article I penned a few years ago. It's still relevant and should be useful to those starting out.

Hope it helps.

The possibility of battery damage is something that is not mentioned in my article at the moment. It's something to watch for in some micros so I'll update the article soon to include it. it's not relevant to the 8-bit Ataris however.

The Atari 400 in Trade Me right now looks in worse than average condition, and you should never read "the light comes on" as meaning something works. That said, it might be worth picking up as spare parts if it goes cheap enough.

The problem with membrane keyboards like this is they tend to get brittle and stop working after a few years. The keyboard in this picture appears to have some break damage around the edges, so I'd guess it's quite brittle and probably won't work even if the rest of the computer does.

http://www.trademe.co.nz/computers/othe ... 745649.htm

EDIT: Joust is a good game though. If that's on cartridge I'd consider bidding just for that

lizardb0y wrote:The Atari 400 in Trade Me right now looks in worse than average condition, and you should never read "the light comes on" as meaning something works. That said, it might be worth picking up as spare parts if it goes cheap enough.

The problem with membrane keyboards like this is they tend to get brittle and stop working after a few years. The keyboard in this picture appears to have some break damage around the edges, so I'd guess it's quite brittle and probably won't work even if the rest of the computer does.

http://www.trademe.co.nz/computers/othe ... 745649.htm

A few of the bits and pieces I get in at work and flog off I wish I kept the very complete SC4000 comes to mind also the Atari 400 with a proper keyboard is one of the others.

manuka wrote:A few of the bits and pieces I get in at work and flog off I wish I kept the very complete SC4000 comes to mind also the Atari 400 with a proper keyboard is one of the others.

I remember that Atari 400 - I think we had a thread about it here.

It loks like replacement keyboards for the 400 can be found: http://www.myatari.com/

lizardb0y wrote:
I remember that Atari 400 - I think we had a thread about it here.

That's how I originally found this forum. I did a search for the term 'Molten Media" and one of the hits was for that thread. I'd love to know what happened to that SC4000 though it was in extremely good condition and came with the base station, printer, software, manuals and was in the original boxes. Actually if it was sold to someone on here I still have one of the manuals for it, send me a message and I'll send it off to you.

manuka wrote:

lizardb0y wrote:I remember that Atari 400 - I think we had a thread about it here.

That's how I originally found this forum. I did a search for the term 'Molten Media" and one of the hits was for that thread. I'd love to know what happened to that SC4000 though it was in extremely good condition and came with the base station, printer, software, manuals and was in the original boxes. Actually if it was sold to someone on here I still have one of the manuals for it, send me a message and I'll send it off to you.

I assume you mean the SC-3000H and SC-7000. Quite a pair.

Yip that's the one

Hells just mention an SF7000 on Trademe and you'll get big dollars.

I have an 800XL I could part with but it's a cumbersome package - by the time you get the computer, tape drive, tablet, joystick etc etc all bundled it's a very big box indeed. And we all know how couriers like to charge for that kind of thing.

Carcenomy wrote:Hells just mention an SF7000 on Trademe and you'll get big dollars.

I have an 800XL I could part with but it's a cumbersome package - by the time you get the computer, tape drive, tablet, joystick etc etc all bundled it's a very big box indeed. And we all know how couriers like to charge for that kind of thing.

Well, it all depends on condition, exactly what's up for sale, price including shipping etc etc. pm me details if you like.

lizardb0y wrote:The Atari 400 in Trade Me right now looks in worse than average condition, and you should never read "the light comes on" as meaning something works. That said, it might be worth picking up as spare parts if it goes cheap enough.

The problem with membrane keyboards like this is they tend to get brittle and stop working after a few years. The keyboard in this picture appears to have some break damage around the edges, so I'd guess it's quite brittle and probably won't work even if the rest of the computer does.

http://www.trademe.co.nz/computers/othe ... 745649.htm

EDIT: Joust is a good game though. If that's on cartridge I'd consider bidding just for that

Yeah, I saw that. Even if it was in good nick I don't get down to Dunedin all that often (unfortunately).

milkshakebot wrote:Yeah, I saw that. Even if it was in good nick I don't get down to Dunedin all that often (unfortunately).

hmm, I'll be down there next weekend.. maybe I need to place a cheeky bid.

cjr wrote:

milkshakebot wrote:Yeah, I saw that. Even if it was in good nick I don't get down to Dunedin all that often (unfortunately).

hmm, I'll be down there next weekend.. maybe I need to place a cheeky bid.

You will see that I already have

I did, maybe you'd like me to pick it up for you if you win? (I'll stay out of the bidding.) you know I'm easily bribed.