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Moderators: mknott, NickThorpe, lcarlson, Darran@Retro Gamer, MMohammed
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r0jaws
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by r0jaws » Wed Jul 24, 2013 7:24 pm
Sputryk wrote:....
Amiga 4000 (I think that was the big beefy beast, wasn't it?)
Archimedes
...
You maybe thinking of the 2000 which is enormous.
The Archie is a good shout though, a very good system in it's own right and it has some cracking games.
I also like handhelds, you could quite easily do a compare and contrast article on the various offerings. I took a bundle of handhelds with a couple of mates to Norwich one afternoon and we spent the afternoon in the pub drinking beer and playing on my Lynx, Neo Geo pocket colour, GameBoy, Gameboy Advance SP (linked up for some multiplayer Mario Kart), and GameGear.
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ncf1
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by ncf1 » Wed Jul 24, 2013 7:42 pm
Darran@Retro Gamer wrote:Bear in mind I'm talking about hardware coverage, and not games based on that hardware.
ahhh i see.,. sorry Darranz, i shall retract my response of Apple II then
Hardware coverage only.. me personally I'm not sure, I honestly like reading about all of them, its more a curiosity than anything else. I just enjoy reading about it generally.. so for me no specific response.

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rockdjuk
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by rockdjuk » Wed Jul 24, 2013 8:45 pm
Vic 20 - I think there was just one retroinspection aeons ago
Commodore plus 4 - in the c16 retroinspection it said it was worthy of its own inspection.
How about all the different atari st models compared in one piece ?
Commodore cdtv - virtually ignored.
Philips videopac - ditto
Amiga 1200 - surely a more technical article is due on this ?
Sam coupe - barely a word uttered about the "super spectrum"
Despite the retroinspection I know barely anything about the colecovision .
would love to see more on handhelds/tabletops - galaxy invader 1000 etc..
Echoing the guy who said about the commodore 65 , what about a systems that never were feature ?? Konix , Sinclair spectrum loki , Amiga walker etc...
Plus as I've said before I would have no problems with a full appraisal of ps2, xbox and gamecube . Even now Im not really aware of whats under the bonnet of these machines. Would love to know who came up with the idea of a gaming cube too .
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martyg
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by martyg » Wed Jul 24, 2013 11:59 pm
resident paul wrote:The TI 99 4a doesn't get a lot of coverage even thought it is the first 16 bit computer!
No, it's not. MIT Whirlwind, the IBM 1130, HP 2100, Data General Nova, and DEC PDP-11 are all 16-bit computers. I think you mean the first 16-bit desktop computer (as in microprocessor based microcomputer), and even then that's not accurate as there were earlier 16-bit desktop computers such as the HP9825.
As for the original topic, I'd be up for writing something on the RCA Studio II and it's clones. I don't believe that's ever been covered.
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ipmarks
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by ipmarks » Thu Jul 25, 2013 3:19 am
IBM PC - the 1981 CGA Model, not the later AT/XT stuff
Tabletop Games, and watches that play games (I had a Pac Man watch back in the day)
Dragon 32/64
Tandy TRS-80
Sharp MZ-80
Apple II
Apple Mac (original type)
Sega 1000
Coleco Adam
Oric 1/Atmos
Commodore Plus 4/C16/Vic 20
Sinclair QL
Psion Organiser
Palm Pilot - many great games played in boring meetings on these
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resident paul
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by resident paul » Thu Jul 25, 2013 3:52 am
martyg wrote:resident paul wrote:The TI 99 4a doesn't get a lot of coverage even thought it is the first 16 bit computer!
No, it's not. MIT Whirlwind, the IBM 1130, HP 2100, Data General Nova, and DEC PDP-11 are all 16-bit computers. I think you mean the first 16-bit desktop computer (as in microprocessor based microcomputer), and even then that's not accurate as there were earlier 16-bit desktop computers such as the HP9825.
As for the original topic, I'd be up for writing something on the RCA Studio II and it's clones. I don't believe that's ever been covered.
I not gonna argue with that as you know your stuff but just to say the TI 99 4a doesn't get a lot of coverage!
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merman
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by merman » Thu Jul 25, 2013 4:48 am
I'll volunteer to cover the Plus/4...
merman1974 on Steam, Xbox Live, Twitter and YouTube
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Fishsta
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by Fishsta » Thu Jul 25, 2013 4:50 am
resident paul wrote:The TI 99 4a doesn't get a lot of coverage even thought it is the first 16 bit computer!
I'll add my voice to that.


I have hardware available (computer, modulator, joysticks) and several cartridges, haven't been able to get my tape deck to work yet. As you can see, there was a lot of peripherals available.
And the Sam Coupe... yeah, I'd like to know more about that.
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Matt_B
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by Matt_B » Thu Jul 25, 2013 5:36 am
martyg wrote:resident paul wrote:The TI 99 4a doesn't get a lot of coverage even thought it is the first 16 bit computer!
No, it's not. MIT Whirlwind, the IBM 1130, HP 2100, Data General Nova, and DEC PDP-11 are all 16-bit computers. I think you mean the first 16-bit desktop computer (as in microprocessor based microcomputer), and even then that's not accurate as there were earlier 16-bit desktop computers such as the HP9825.
Yep, and there were even 64-bit computers as early as the 1960s, like the IBM 7030 Stretch. I wonder if RG would consider an article on mini/mainframe hardware from the big iron era? There is a gaming angle, as a lot were used to test and demonstrate the machines, with many of the ideas trickling down into the early microcomputer era.
As for the TI99, I think a case can be made that it was been the first
affordable 16-bit home computer. However, even that's a bit of a moot distinction given that the bottlenecks in its architecture lost it any performance advantage that it might have had over contemporary 8-bit machines.
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joefish
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by joefish » Thu Jul 25, 2013 5:40 am
Enterprise/Elan, and the best-looking computer ever, the Oric Atmos. Why does the Oric-1 get all the attention?
You could also have the Sord M5, Jupiter Ace, RM 380-Z and RM 480-Z, but they're hardly renowned as gaming machines. Apart from maybe a few type-in BASIC games for the latter amongst the plethora of 8-bit computer books that appeared in the 80s.
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Darran@Retro Gamer
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by Darran@Retro Gamer » Thu Jul 25, 2013 5:44 am
Here's hoping we find some people who can write about the machines and send in machines so they can be photographed, otherwise it sadly won't happen. It would appear no one cares or has the knowledge to write about them

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resident paul
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by resident paul » Thu Jul 25, 2013 5:48 am
Fishsta wrote:resident paul wrote:The TI 99 4a doesn't get a lot of coverage even thought it is the first 16 bit computer!
I'll add my voice to that.


I have hardware available (computer, modulator, joysticks) and several cartridges, haven't been able to get my tape deck to work yet. As you can see, there was a lot of peripherals available.
And the Sam Coupe... yeah, I'd like to know more about that.
I have 3 TI's, a speech synth, lots of carts plus third party stuff like atarisoft carts, Wico joystick adaptor & the MBX system + carts in I show off in a couple of events 3 years back!
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resident paul
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by resident paul » Thu Jul 25, 2013 5:51 am
Darran@Retro Gamer wrote:Here's hoping we find some people who can write about the machines and send in machines so they can be photographed, otherwise it sadly won't happen. It would appear no one cares or has the knowledge to write about them

I'm not really good in writing as I think have part dyslexic & have trouble to think to write.
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TMR
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by TMR » Thu Jul 25, 2013 6:40 am
Darran@Retro Gamer wrote:Here's hoping we find some people who can write about the machines and send in machines so they can be photographed, otherwise it sadly won't happen. It would appear no one cares or has the knowledge to write about them

i have the technical knowledge to write about a couple of machines such as the VIC 20 or Atari 8-bits and do care about those machines, but i doubt that i could write the kind of article you're looking for...
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hydr0x
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by hydr0x » Thu Jul 25, 2013 9:33 am
Some that have been virtually ignored so far (at least it feels that way) are the Philips Videopac/Odyssey and Videopac+ as well as the Fairchild Channel F. I'd also be interested in a feature about the Interton VC4000 range and some more obscure handhelds (Gamate, MicroVision, GameKing, Game Master, MegaDuck). I think the Game Boy Color in itself has also not been covered in depth.
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