Vectors OS - was Atari Power supplies

Tek,

The problem is the same in Australia.

I have an Asteroids in almost mint condition that I paid $900US for. Price
is not the issue!!! Getting one is.

In two years of searching I have not been able to find a color vector. There
is a Star Wars in the Blue Mountains on it's last legs as it is running 12
hours per day. God knows what they've done to keep it going but it's looking
pretty sick. The tech has said he has replaced the flyback about 5 times now
- when I asked him with what as the parts a scarce he just said "With a
compatible flyback. It's just a flyback"

Well, it's not compatible - you should see the weird stuff that's happening
on the screen. Particularly the Death Star explosion - looks like the CRT is
about to shatter

And another collector I know has a Star Wars.

There was one for sale in our Trading Post about 18 months ago - he wanted
$1000US for it and as I had done a great job in finding some rare stuff by
hunting in the country I thought "Nah! Too expensive!" and I have kicked
myself ever since.

After 18 months of looking I would pay $2000US for one. Seriously!!!!

Apart from the odd Asteroids - every single piece of vector stuff was junked
in the 80's.

I'm now looking at shipping stuff from the US. But it's hard - every cab has
a dfifferent weight, shape and location, and the time it takes to get a
quote from a shipping company seems to be about 2 weeks and it's gone.

Living in the US would be wonderful for me. Just on a short visit earlier
this year I saw al sorts of classics still on location and earning money -
and I wasn't even looking - I just ran upon them.

When you guys have Thanksgiving next year - REALLY give thanks!!!

Cheers
MacMan

> ----------
> From: Tek
> Reply To: vectorlist@lists.cc.utexas.edu
> Sent: Monday, 27 December 1999 10:13
> To: vectorlist@lists.cc.utexas.edu
> Subject: Re: Atari Power supplies
>
>
>
> Josh McCormick wrote:
>
> > You make me feel like an Ugly American! :)
>
> :) You are... In terms of easy-to-get-this-wonderfull-vector-game! :)
>
> > In a place like Holland, you've got to have old buildings, old tools,
> old
> > artifacts all over the place. And I'm guessing that people are very
> quick
> > to attach value to them and to recognize their place in history.
>
> Where the hell did you get that image from holland? hahaha... You probably
> think
> we're all in wooden shoes watering the tulips... :)
> No really, I've never seen these myselves!
>
> > The United States, however, is such a "new" country that a since of
> value
> > in history just isn't there. A vendor isn't thinking about locking his
> > arcade games up for 50+ years because they're historically valuable.
> He's
> > thinking that this game isn't earning money any more and is only worth
> the
> > parts. Or maybe he gets into a habit of just warehousing the stuff he's
> > not circulating.
>
> The same way overhere. Problem is however, operators trash a game after 1
> or 2
> years of use. Games like Tempest were thrown away back in 86, or even
> before.The
> only things you see are the newest of the newest since everybody's got
> their
> PSX...
>
> > So my theory is that the European vendor is happy to just hold onto his
> > vintage games. Sometimes they'll sell, but they'll keep in mind that
> it'll
> > be worth a lot more one day, and prices it accordingly. The American
> > vendor might be thinking that maybe this guy knows something I don't,
> but
> > this is really just junk to me, and I'm thrilled that someone would PAY
> ME
> > to haul it off.
> >
> > What do you think?
>
> I think that you think we in Europe care more about old thing than
> Americans,
> just because our history goes back much longer (opposed to the 500 years
> of the
> modern US). I think that is not true. I consider the Dutch as on of the
> most
> technically engaged people in Europe. For example, in Holland we have the
> most
> computers per resident, of Europe!
>
> I was once in the city of New York, and I really believe your culture is
> much
> more like ours (the Dutch) than, for example, the French or English. For
> example, all the US movies, sitcoms or other TV shows are spoken
> English,like
> they should, in stead of dubbed as in the rest of Europe.
> That's because almost everybody speaks English quite well. Sometimes I
> think we
> try very hard to be part of America :) (But we can go in a cafe and buy
> alcohol
> without ID or being 21! :P )
>
> > > So if anyone knows where to find an empty cabinet here in Europe, let
> me know!
> >
> > I'm sure you've looked into shipping charges. How much does it cost to
> > ship a cabinet from the state to Holland? From England to Holland?
>
> It would cost about $300 to get it in Holland, and maybe 100 UKP from
> England.
> Way too much for a game the same cost!
>
> > Hmmmmm... I wonder how much of your point of view is shaped by the fact
> > that the games are very hard to get ahold of. Your "reward" is in the
> > effort of putting together a complete game. Here in the US, because
> arcade
> > games are more common, I think the reward is in finding the best price
> (in
> > complete games, or in parts). I know that if I didn't have as much easy
> > access to arcade games, I'd be more willing to adapt some of the PCBs in
> > my closet to JAMMA.
>
> You are peobably right about this. Here, the issue is not 'FIND ONE AS
> CHEAP AS
> POSSIBLE', but 'simple 'FIND ONE!' :) The price is not an issue (WHEN you
> find
> something, the price is quit right), since the higest price is still
> cheaper
> than buying one from the US + shipping.
> Ofcourse I'm talking Vector here, raster games are quite easy to come
> across.
>
> > No, but I was a webmaster from 1995-1997 for an ISP. It helps to see all
> > the bad things our customers created.
>
> That sure helps!
> I did some web designing for my company also, you can see it at
> www.matranortel.nl. It is not my job, however.
>
> > The discussion area is going to have to wait, unfortunately. The feature
> > that I thought would be the most valuable (and will have to wait as
> well)
> > is the "scoring". That is, someone submits a link, and the users can
> > promote it up to a high score (and more prominence) or demote it into
> the
> > trashcan. The "mass moderation" concept not only floats the cream to the
> > surface, but it also increases the scalability of the site by reducing
> the
> > time it takes in administrative overhead.
> >
> > The concept is geared more toward it being a groupware application
> rather
> > than a website. In this sort of groupware application, the users of the
> > system are also the contributors and editors.
>
> Well, I'll be very curious to see the final result!
>
> > Other than giving the timeframe "soon", I'm not going to commit to a
> time.
> > I will say that the first version that goes online is going to be much
> > less complex than the final design I showed you. (No user logins, no
> mass
> > moderation, no messages, no voting or scoring. Mainly the hierarchy
> thing
> > with various boxes under each category ("fact sheet", documents, links,
> > for sale, persistent sales). That, and cross-referencing to other
> > categories (pokey chip, Atari button with LED, etc).
>
> Hmmm... I liked the looks as you send pretty much, but we'll see!
>
> > > C'mon... This is about a vector related site after all.. :) Now tell
> me, WHAT
> > > has the electrical storage capability of a 19VLUP22 to do with
> Vectors... :)
> >
> > DOH!
>
> What? :) Got shocked?
> I think we are really off-topic now, maybe it is better to send repies
> only to
> our own address.
>
>
> Cya !
>
Received on Tue Dec 28 14:53:27 1999