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Unboxing a 1984 Atari Peripheral, 25 Years Later

Posted by timothy on from the depreciation-appreciation dept.

Harry writes "When you come across a 1984 Atari Touch Tablet for sale cheap--in the original, unopened box--it would be a crime against computer history not to buy it, open it, install it, and use it, and to document the whole process with photos and commentary."

10 of 154 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Collector's Item by PotatoFarmer · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Or maybe he's attempting to combat the idea that something should have greatly increased value just because nobody ever bothered to use it before.

  2. Diluted content, diluted adspace by dazedNconfuzed · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Not only is the content distributed among 14 pages in bite-size pieces, but those pieces take up roughly 1/72nd of the page space allocated. Along with the much-lamented dilution of content across excessive pages, do advertisers realize that their paid-for links may be up to 10 page-downs below the article?

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  3. Re:Collector's Item by idontgno · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Hey, wait, are we talking about tulips?

    You know, oddly enough, making teh bux isn't the most important thing in life. If I get my hands on a new-in-box peripheral for one of my older computers, screw resale. I'm opening the box, hooking it up, and using it. That's the real value.

    Frankly, the entire "minty-mint" collection mania is pathological. The perceived sale value boils down to "how much can I fleece a clueless schlub for?". And that's illogical.

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    Welcome to the Panopticon. Used to be a prison, now it's your home.
  4. Didn't they have a goofy name? by Gizzmonic · · Score: 2, Interesting

    My computer teacher in the early 80's had a weird name for touch panels-something like Koala pad? Does anyone remember that?

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    1. Re:Didn't they have a goofy name? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

      Yes, it was part of the Koala paint package. My father had it for the Atari 400. The hardware had a touch pad, two large buttons, and a stylus.

      He taught me how to use it; explaining that drawing a line was like stretching a rubber band. Because of his analogy, i was always afraid to make the lines too long for fear they would snap.

  5. easter egg by jsh1972 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I remember finding my first easter egg on this... when you click on the atari logo in the upper left corner of the menu screen, it played the atari theme music. good times...

  6. Re:I loved mine! by Nimey · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Do you remember the KoalaPad? That's what I had on my Apple //c back then.

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    Hail Eris, full of mischief...

    E pluribus sanguinem
  7. Re:Collector's value by Ragzouken · · Score: 2, Interesting

    When do collectors finally open the box?

  8. Re:This is not worth mentioning! by domatic · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Wire up a USB connector and write a driver to support it under Mac OSX, Linux and Windows.

    It can be done. The Touch Tablet shows up as a pair of paddle controllers. The following device will therefore cause it to show up as two joystick axes:

    http://www.atariage.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=267

  9. Re:The real crime is... by SwellJoe · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I've been shopping for old computer crap on eBay lately (for nostalgia rather than collectibility), and I suspect your 1983 NIB Atari 5200 trackball would bring ten, maybe fifteen bucks (but I haven't been shopping for Atari game gear, so I'm really guessing). If ten or fifteen bucks, and reclaiming the space it takes up in your house, is worth more than the trackball to you, you should sell it. Part of the fun of these old machines and things is that they are dramatically cheaper than when we were kids. We couldn't have every cool peripheral and game back then, because it would have been cost prohibitive. Today, with stuff going for tens of dollars, even things that were very expensive back then, we can pick up just about anything we like and satisfy those old lingering curiosities. And, then, when we get bored with it...pass it on to someone else at about the same low price.