New Guy here from USA

In this forum you can write about anything that does not fit in other forums.
This includes generic Oric talkings and things that are totaly unrelated but want to share with people here :)
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OricSociety
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New Guy here from USA

Post by OricSociety »

Hi all, thanks for letting me in.

I am from USA and the Oric has me intrigued. I did not know much about it until I fell head-over-heals for the Sinclair line of computers about a year ago. As I have been exploring Sinclair this Oric kept popping up so I thought I would explore it more.

For those that don't know me.. I am Thomas "TJ" Ferreira on Facebook and also have my own Sinclair Facebook group called Sinclair Society. I started that when I dove in head first into my Sinclair explorations. Therefore if you follow the Sinclair groups, no doubt you may have seen me post in them as I am a Speccy Next backer and have started a nice collection of Sinclair now... all being used as I don't do collecting for the sake of collecting but collect to use and get crazy into something.

Anyway, thanks again for letting me in.

BTW, I don't see a Classifieds section here. Or maybe it is hiding from me. Other than eBay, any other places to buy Oric? I may save my pennies to buy a boxed Oric Atmos at some point. If I enjoy it as much as my Speccy, may get the Oric 1 too. :D

TJ
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ibisum
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Re: New Guy here from USA

Post by ibisum »

Welcome TJ! Have you checked https://www.sellmyretro.com/ yet?

Also, Oric's accasionally pop up here - keep an eye out! And, there are currently some great new-hardware projects being discussed here too, which you might want to inform yourself about, since they are indeed keeping the Oric alive .. :)

(I might have a boxed Atmos for sale, let me check and get back to you in a day or so..)
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OricSociety
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Re: New Guy here from USA

Post by OricSociety »

ibisum wrote: Tue Jan 21, 2020 6:14 pm Welcome TJ! Have you checked https://www.sellmyretro.com/ yet?

Also, Oric's accasionally pop up here - keep an eye out! And, there are currently some great new-hardware projects being discussed here too, which you might want to inform yourself about, since they are indeed keeping the Oric alive .. :)

(I might have a boxed Atmos for sale, let me check and get back to you in a day or so..)
Yes indeed, checked Sell My Retro but did not see any there. See a few on eBay UK but some are just listed as untested which means they don't work, grin. One that shows working but they are asking what I think may be even above premium price. I am not afraid to spend extra on something, as I did on my Speccy Toastrack, but at the same time won't spend huge sums over. haha. I have to see what the going price of a box Atmos is to get my bearings set and then lock one in.. even if a tad over fair price... Just want to make sure it is a good unit and all.

I look forward to exploring Oric here in the group!

Thanks for the welcome!

TJ
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OricSociety
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Re: New Guy here from USA

Post by OricSociety »

btw, if I do get an Oric Atmos, I will for sure make a series of videos, as a newbie step-by-step, about the platform and my experience, just like I do for the Sinclair and other 8bit platforms I use.

https://www.youtube.com/user/MacSociety

TJ
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iss
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Re: New Guy here from USA

Post by iss »

Welcome @OricSociety!

IMO the best source to buy an Oric is eBay.
The common price for "just the computer" (with/without original power supply) is around 50-60 USD, but if you want the original packaging (even in not so good condition) it can jump up to 200+ USD! This is because of the retro-collectors.
If you are interested in using Oric for something more than furniture, here at Defence-Force forum you can find almost everything about our beloved machine and people ready help!
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Dbug
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Re: New Guy here from USA

Post by Dbug »

There are no proper "Classifieds section" here because it's mostly a quite technical forum where most people actually use their machines (or would like to), so pretty much the only things that get sold new products which are produced on limited quantities and on demand (example: Erebus, Cumulus, Cumana Reborn, ...) and tend to have their own specific forum posts/topic both for the development and the organisation of sell.

That being said, as long as things are done properly, with moderation, with respectful prices (ie: Not crazy abusive rip-off collector prices), I'm fine with people having things for sale.

A few months ago I had my own "Oric Game Swap" in the games section.

What I don't want is drama and people being annoyed :)

Just for the record, why type of things are you actually looking for?
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Re: New Guy here from USA

Post by ThomH »

I'm an ex-pat, so it counts for less, but that makes at least two of us in the USA.
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OricSociety
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Re: New Guy here from USA

Post by OricSociety »

Dbug wrote: Tue Jan 21, 2020 8:46 pm
Just for the record, why type of things are you actually looking for?
If I can find a boxed Atmos that is not super high in price but fair... my hope is to program on it in Basic and try to find a 2nd platform to develop on, as a novice programmer that is.

In 2019 I created my 1st game called Invasion of the Cloud People... on the Spectrum, and had a ball doing it. A simple game for a very novice programmer but willing to learn. Went from reading the Sinclair manual to creating my 1st playable game, even if it was small.

So, would not mind branching out and not only updating my game for the Spectrum Next when that arrives, I would like to explore carrying over the game to the Oric platform.

Here is my game at Itch.io
https://sinclairsociety.itch.io/invasio ... oud-people

Regards
TJ
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OricSociety
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Re: New Guy here from USA

Post by OricSociety »

ThomH wrote: Tue Jan 21, 2020 9:34 pm I'm an ex-pat, so it counts for less, but that makes at least two of us in the USA.
I am located in Northern California... and you?
TJ
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Re: New Guy here from USA

Post by ThomH »

OricSociety wrote: Tue Jan 21, 2020 11:42 pm
ThomH wrote: Tue Jan 21, 2020 9:34 pm I'm an ex-pat, so it counts for less, but that makes at least two of us in the USA.
I am located in Northern California... and you?
TJ
I was in the Bay Area when I first moved over, but nowadays I'm in New York. So on the one hand I sort of miss it during winter, but on the other I enjoy actually having a summer...

Oh, and I am also a Spectrum Next backer! So there'll also be at least two of those in the new world.
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OricSociety
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Re: New Guy here from USA

Post by OricSociety »

ThomH wrote: Wed Jan 22, 2020 3:58 am
OricSociety wrote: Tue Jan 21, 2020 11:42 pm
ThomH wrote: Tue Jan 21, 2020 9:34 pm I'm an ex-pat, so it counts for less, but that makes at least two of us in the USA.
I am located in Northern California... and you?
TJ
I was in the Bay Area when I first moved over, but nowadays I'm in New York. So on the one hand I sort of miss it during winter, but on the other I enjoy actually having a summer...

Oh, and I am also a Spectrum Next backer! So there'll also be at least two of those in the new world.
From what I understand, 300 Next are destined for North America.😜

Soon we will have them.

TJ
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Re: New Guy here from USA

Post by Dbug »

OricSociety wrote: Tue Jan 21, 2020 11:42 pm If I can find a boxed Atmos that is not super high in price but fair... my hope is to program on it in Basic and try to find a 2nd platform to develop on, as a novice programmer that is.
Cheap or fair priced Atmos are relatively easy to find.
Boxed ones on the other hand, tend to go for ridiculous collector prices...

I wonder if it would make sense to maintain some reference page with the expect price for things based on known sells on ebay and similar sites :)
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Re: New Guy here from USA

Post by ThomH »

If you can handle either Bulgarian or ROM swapping (is it socketed?), don't rule out the Pravetz 8D. It seems to be much more readily available than the Atmos, and cheaper too. It's a full Oric clone, with no hardware differences documented that I'm aware of.

Right now I see six for a search on ebay.com (i.e. owners willing to ship to the USA), four of them priced between $220 and $250.

I guess the main disadvantage is that the PSU is integrated. So you'd need a step-up converter. With a real Oric you can just substitute anything else that supplies positive-polarity 9v 0.6A DC.
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Re: New Guy here from USA

Post by Symoon »

ThomH wrote: Wed Jan 22, 2020 7:14 pm If you can handle either Bulgarian or ROM swapping (is it socketed?), don't rule out the Pravetz 8D. It seems to be much more readily available than the Atmos, and cheaper too. It's a full Oric clone, with no hardware differences documented that I'm aware of.
Well, I see different models exist so I can only speak for my case, but with the Pravetz I bought years ago, I never managed to load any program on the tape port.
Saving, yes; loading, zero reaction.
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OricSociety
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Re: New Guy here from USA

Post by OricSociety »

Been enjoying watching videos about Oric Atmos.

Hopefully you find a boxed working Atmos in your stash.

Keep me posted and we can do the deed.

I have a nice spot cleaned off on the desk... Actually it gets it own whole desk that will become an Oric only sanctuary. :D

TJ
ibisum wrote: Tue Jan 21, 2020 6:14 pm Welcome TJ! Have you checked https://www.sellmyretro.com/ yet?

Also, Oric's accasionally pop up here - keep an eye out! And, there are currently some great new-hardware projects being discussed here too, which you might want to inform yourself about, since they are indeed keeping the Oric alive .. :)

(I might have a boxed Atmos for sale, let me check and get back to you in a day or so..)
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