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Yay, it's tax refund season!
So, found out I'll have a *bit* of money to go mad with this year. My first instinct is (of course) to run out and buy a Falcon
but! I think I'm going to take a bit of a different approach this year..
So, found out I'll have a *bit* of money to go mad with this year. My first instinct is (of course) to run out and buy a Falcon
but! I think I'm going to take a bit of a different approach this year..
Rather than impulsively buying a new machine to be looked after and collected for, I'm going to focus on improving the quality of life for the ones I already have. Basically, for ones I'm not using as much, find out if there's something that would help make them more usable.
(Alphabetically)
Amiga 3000: A lot of why I don't use this simply comes down to lack of knowledge about the machine. But, I don't have a good file transfer solution for it, either. If I could get the Hydra ethernet working that might solve it. So, maybe overlook this one for now
Amiga 3000: A lot of why I don't use this simply comes down to lack of knowledge about the machine. But, I don't have a good file transfer solution for it, either. If I could get the Hydra ethernet working that might solve it. So, maybe overlook this one for now
Atari 8bit: I use these a LOT and I've already invested pretty solidly in storage and upgrades for them (Ultimate 1MB, SIO2SD, Fujinet, Ultimate cart, UAVs) so I'm pretty set here. I *would* like to get a PAL machine at some point, but for now, Atari 8 is good here.
C64: Last year I got an NTSC BB so that was great. I'm good on controllers as well. Storage is the thing I'm lacking a bit. I have SD2IEC and Kung Fu Flash (thanks @futurewas8bit) as well as Pi1541. But all have compatibility issues with demos...
I think the "best" solution here is 1541Ultimate II+ from Gideon's Logic. Those are a bit pricey (~$170US I think) and also out of stock, sooo.... 
C64 doesn't really need upgrades either. Not sure if the C64 makes the cut here.
C64 doesn't really need upgrades either. Not sure if the C64 makes the cut here.
CoCo: Was luck to score a CoCo3 early this year (thanks @Cloudscout!) but my CoCos don't get much play. 
I have a CoCoSDC, but the machine uses analog joysticks, which I don't have (I use adapters for Atari-style digi sticks which cause issues for many games).
I have a CoCoSDC, but the machine uses analog joysticks, which I don't have (I use adapters for Atari-style digi sticks which cause issues for many games).
Also a multi-pack and RS232 interface would be great for BBSing. So, at least a couple of Tandy CoCo deluxe joysticks are definitely going on the list. Might be looking at ~$70-$100 for that though. 
(Backing up) I forgot about Atari ST! 
I have a nice 1040ST (thanks @BillLange1968!) and I've got a Gotek in it for floppy stuff, and a good video cable (thanks @duhproject), but a hard drive solution would make it more usable.
I have a nice 1040ST (thanks @BillLange1968!) and I've got a Gotek in it for floppy stuff, and a good video cable (thanks @duhproject), but a hard drive solution would make it more usable.
Best thing here would be the UltraSatan SD-based HDD emulator from @BrewingAcademy, so that's abut $140 there. Not a lot else to upgrade on the ST. (I've already done Rainbow TOS).
Okay.. back to the sequence. Next is... maybe "DOS"? I have a couple decent PC machines: a Compaq DeskPro 386 and a DECpc 486 laptop. The Compaq needs proprietary RAM, which would be nice, but not really needed. It's pretty well equipped otherwise (CF, AWE32, NE2000, etc.)
The laptop... well, it would be a slightly better gaming machine if it had sound. Only real solution there is a parallel-port sound card like OPT2LPT or CVX4 Covox recreation. Both are in the ~$50 range. Till no way to attach joysticks though. :-/
Can't forget the Tandy Model 100 machines here. 
I've got REXes for all my units, except for the REX-CPM machine. Storage is via mComm on an old Android phone. Not sure there's much left to upgrade here. Maybe another TPDD solution will come along someday, but for now I'm okay.
I've got REXes for all my units, except for the REX-CPM machine. Storage is via mComm on an old Android phone. Not sure there's much left to upgrade here. Maybe another TPDD solution will come along someday, but for now I'm okay.
My latest "slabtop", the Cambridge Z88, though could use some TLC. The Rakewell 512K flash/512K ram is probably the best option here. Gets me the latest "OZ" operating system. Probably in the $80 range shipped for that.
