Atari??

[jacs]

hi all

Yes I'm new and i confess i basically know nothing about computers.

If i annoy i apologize now.

Was wondering how i find value of an Atari 1040stfm with monitor and games?

any help would be greatly appreciated. i also have an Atari 900 monitor,

was wondering if i should sell these items or donate for parts??

thankyou all

[ahm]

Where are you located?

Also, I'm curious how you came to choose "jacs" as a handle.

[NathanAllan]

Also, I'm curious how you came to choose "jacs" as a handle.

I was kinda curious about that, too.

What I do to find value of something is to look on ebay and see what the going rate is, if there are any listed. I've found that the worth is based on people who want it.

Have you done much with your Atari? I have one, and a few 520's that I tinker with. I like to see what I can make them do as far as connectivity in a newcomputer world. Do you have any games? Play on it?

[ahm]

What I do to find value of something is to look on ebay and see what the going rate is, if there are any listed.

And to find out what it's worth in the real world (ie. not on eBay), simply divide by two.

[carlsson]

Real world = within a closed community of users/collectors?

[CP/M User]

Sorry - thought you wanted me to put a value on Atari itself. Not much, since I don't value Atari at all these days mainly because their not really Atari (just some company pretending to be).

[jacs]

ok the jacs name is just a name its means nothing is combination of 1st letters of names..

i am in australia too.
and yeah i want to sell these items if i can. There is no listings on ebay for the st system, ok games i see are worth diddle squat. like $5.

[ahm]

ok the jacs name is just a name its means nothing is combination of 1st letters of names.

And yet back in the day, JACS -> Jersey Atari Computer Society.
What are the chances of that? :-)

[jacs]

wow!!!! :p

i guess you learn something new everyday. So anyone with any info on these items??

[carlsson]

Let's see..

Australia: 520STFM with two Tac-2:s and one game. It ended at 51 AUD on February 26th, eight bids and four bidders.

Germany: 1040STFM (?) with a monitor, mouse but not much more. It just ended at 20 EUR (33.61 AUD), seven bids and three bidders.

Germany: 1040STFM (?), loose computer, unsure if it even came with cables. Was bought at BuyItNow price: 9.99 EUR (c:a 15 AUD).

France: 1040STF, boxed computer with a joystick but not much more. Ended on March 7th at 25.50 EUR (42.85 AUD), two bids and two bidders.

Germany: 1040STF, loose computer only with power cable. Ended on March 6th at 1 EUR (1.68 AUD), one bid.

Germany: 1040STFM (?), with Mitsubishi monitor, a load of books and two mice. Ended on February 26th at 1.99 EUR (3.34 AUD), one bid.

And so on. I don't know if all those auctions were commenced in rightful ways or if some were ultra short.

You have a 1040STFM with some games and an Atari 900 (?) monitor. Based on the above auctions, Atari ST seems much less common in Australia than it is in Europe (dunno about US, I didn't check as far). If you were located in Germany, you might get anything from 2 to 20 Euro for the whole deal, maybe more if you scored a lucky day. In Aussie land, perhaps you could get 50-60 AUD or more if you found the right buyer, but that is just a wild guess.

I recommend you to monitor auctions and ads nearby to see if someone else is selling Atari STs and what they tend to go for. You may also want to keep it for nostalgia reasons, if you have space and think the potential market value is too little to bother trading it.

[jacs]

thanks for that carlsson , i was coming to that conclusion myself. i dont have the room for it hence my questioning, but thanks all for your help.

[carlsson]

Put it on eBay then, and hope for the best. :-) Or perhaps someone of the other Aussies on this forum want first offer.

[CP/M User]

carlsson wrote:

You have a 1040STFM with some games and an Atari 900 (?) monitor. Based on the above auctions, Atari ST seems much less common in Australia than it is in Europe (dunno about US, I didn't check as far).

Yep, Australia had Atari STs (obviously), though the way I recall it - Amiga's were perhaps more common - people generally moved to Amiga's just to have a serious computer with some Gaming abilities (many 8bit users turned towards an Amiga), though IBM compatables were also on the move - once Win3.x hit the shelves a market had boomed for it - people were using 386s and 486s and games were also making a move.

So in heinsight in terms of popularity you'd have an IBM compat, Amiga then Atari. Why did people buy an Atari ST as opposed to an Amiga? I guess it's like why did I buy an Amstrad instead of a C64. The price was the big attraction with the Amstrad where you'd get a whole working system, we got the cheaper CPC464 (when it was new) with the Green Screen - which is cheaper than the CPC464 with the colour. C64s were generally plugged into your TV screen and you'd play your games. My folks weren't impressed with this (cause they used the TV a bit - like they do now) and the picture quality wasn't as good as having a computer monitor. With Atari's I remember my music teacher bring his in one day and it just blew me away musically - it had quite an impressive sound chip (much better than an Amiga I believe), which is why I believe my teacher picked an Atari over an Amiga. So perhaps musical group is where you should be promoting your Atari?

[carlsson]

Atari ST was remarkably cheaper than the Amiga, at least for the first two-three years. It remained cheaper, giving the idea of more bang for the bucket all through the respective computers' lifetime, with reservation for when Atari moved on to Mega, TT and of course the overly expensive Falcon.

The Atari ST uses a Yamaha sound chip, very much alike the AY sound chip found in e.g. Spectrum +2/3, Amstrad and dozens more systems. The Amiga on the other hand is more "sample based", a sound chip with DMA channels. When it comes to play SoundTracker modules and alike, I believe both are approximately as capable, perhaps the sound quality differs. The main reason for your music teacher to get an Atari ST probably was because it has integrated MIDI interface and initially had more music software available for it than the Amiga. On the other hand, there were plenty of commercial (professional) music software on the Macintosh too, which needs an external MIDI interface if I understand correctly.

[CP/M User]

carlsson wrote:

The Atari ST uses a Yamaha sound chip, very much alike the AY sound chip found in e.g. Spectrum +2/3, Amstrad and dozens more systems. The Amiga on the other hand is more "sample based", a sound chip with DMA channels. When it comes to play SoundTracker modules and alike, I believe both are approximately as capable, perhaps the sound quality differs. The main reason for your music teacher to get an Atari ST probably was because it has integrated MIDI interface and initially had more music software available for it than the Amiga. On the other hand, there were plenty of commercial (professional) music software on the Macintosh too, which needs an external MIDI interface if I understand correctly.

Yeah my music teacher perhaps picked the Atari over a Mac due to the price and the capabilities of the Atari. The price of a Mac is a lot more than an Atari, however given the period he was using it (early 90s) Atari's and Amiga's were virtually the same price. Like you said though an Atari was probably more suitable for his needs. Think the only thing my music teacher had plugged in was a Yamaha keyboard which allowed him to generate all kinds of sounds.

Was quite impressive in any case!

[carlsson]

From what I remember, a Macintosh system cost at least twice, if not more money than a similar Atari ST or Amiga system. Of course it had more commercial support and an air of professional users around it.

[CP/M User]

carlsson wrote:

From what I remember, a Macintosh system cost at least twice, if not more money than a similar Atari ST or Amiga system. Of course it had more commercial support and an air of professional users around it.

Yeah, they always made you pay for having a Mac. Not just for the Computer itself, but the accessories and the software - true with Atari you'd have to do the same, though perhaps not as much.

I guess it's like buying your latest sports car only to discover your fuel bill was high as opposed buying something sporty which is cheaper and won't break the bank at the petrol station.

CP/M User.