The Award
Not an official award, but wanted to give kudos and special mention to RBGameHunter on eBay for all of his help in getting me up and running.
The Situation
Ten months after my last move, I decided it was time to pull out my Atari 800 and get her up and running again after about, well, spending 24 years in boxes. To my disbelief I could not find it… anywhere. Hmmm!?
The Background
In my growing years, I’d learned to hang on to things in the thought I may need it or it may come in useful some day. Not having a lot of money growing up, you learned to make due with what you had. Over the years, I got better at not doing this (as much), but still held on to a lot of things I grew up with. During my last move, I tried minifying my ‘collection’ a bit by throwing out some boxes containing stuff I hadn’t touched in decades. One of these was a fairly large box with some very dated wires and cables. What I’d forgotten was, under all those old wires and cables, sat my original Atari 800 and its XF551 drive.
The Rescue
I discarded my disbelief and set to buy a replacement — online I went to eBay. After eyeing several Atari 800 systems, I queried, does it “have” to be an 800? I looked at other variations, and the 800XL appeared to be an excellent replacement. Still dubious, as I eyed an 800XL with the Buy It Now option, I submitted a question to the owner in hopes I was on a good track. I was shortly set at ease as the owner of RBGameHunter on eBay answered my initial pre-purchase question thoroughly, after which, came a multitude of followup questions for which each and every one was put to sleep. Reassurance was through the roof. I’ve never had an eBay seller go to such extents to help with a purchase.
In my book, it is very rare to find a seller who actually cares about what they’re selling as much as they care about who they’re selling it to. Customer Service at its finest!
The Finale
Now that I’m getting my Atari legs back under me, it’s time I get to seeing what’s on all these other 5-1/4″ floppies I’ve got in my box. However, this may keep me going through September ’cause I’ve got about 50 of them, all of which are double sided (most by way of notching the disk with a hole punch).
Keep up the great work, Robert! You’ve got a very satisfied and guaranteed repeat customer.
http://www.ebay.com/usr/rbgamehunter
My new Atari 800XL with 1050 drive … Success!
P.S.
Two things up front that I love about the 800XL over my original 800:
- BASIC is built-in (no need for the BASIC cartridge you see in the image).
- It hooks up directly to my 24″ flatscreen monitor. No more need for my bulky 13-channel TV with rabbit ears and the screw-on adapter! (Which was also a victim of my last move.)
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Keith D Commiskey
https://keithdc.com
Keith D Commiskey
https://keithdc.com