Conference 7.286::atarist

    Check out any edition of STart magazine.  There are several mail order 
    businesses advertised there, and most of them are able to undercut
    retail prices by pretty reasonable amounts. (I always found the Bit
    Bucket's prices a bit high, myself.)

    Syntronics is located in Boston near Kenmore Square. It is a small
    store which specializes in Atari products. John Kamoutsas is very
    knowlegable and has been supporting the Atari community for several
    years. While I do not think John may be able to undercut some of the
    mail order houses, he generally discounts everything. John also
    performs his own service. 
    
    With the Bit Bucket essentially dropping Atari, Syntronics is really
    the only Atari dealer in eastern Massachusetts.  Syntronics' phone
    number is: (617)266-5039
    
    I am always very careful when dealing with mail order houses, although
    Toad computers and Joppa products tend to be reasonably reliable.

It may be that only the Sudbury BitBucket is dropping Atari. The West Newton
store has always had lots more software and does authorized Atari repair.

Anyways, here's a list of Eastern Massachusetts area Atari dealers.

Bit Bucket, 1294 Washington St, W. Newton, MA 617-964-3080
Bit Bucket, 621 Boston Post Rd, Sudbury, MA 508-443-9731
Computer Bug, 113 Russell St, Hadley, MA 413-584-7722
Computer Zone, 28 E. Washington St, N. Attleboro, MA 508-699-0430
OnLine Computer, 450 S. Broadway, Salem, NH 603-894-6314
Syntronics, 466 Commonwealth Ave, Boston, MA 617-266-5039

    The Bit Bucket in West Newton is also dropping Atari. They will remain
    an Atari dealer for the time being, but will carry no hardware stock.
    
    Also, I believe that Online is also dropping Atari. 
    
    So really, that leaves essentially Syntronics and the Computer Bug as
    the only two "real" dealers in the area. While the Computer Zone is
    still in business, it is not a "real" store. 
    
    As an aside, last December, when there were rumors that the BB was
    going to make the decision to drop Atari, I called Josh at Tech Plus
    who vehemently denied the rumor.
    
    

Speaking of Tech Plus...

The latest issues of STREPORT and ZNET say that Atari has fired all their
internal Reps and severed relations with most of the external Reps - going to
a distributer-based system. Has Tech Plus been dropped?

    Tech Plus as of today (Thursday, 1/17/91) is still an Atari dealer.
    Also, the Bit Bucket has ordered 2 STs in January, so they are still
    somewhat of a dealer. I may stop in this weekend and talk to someone
    there.
    
    Unfortunately, Bill Crouch, Atari's Sales VP has been fired. However,
    this is an 18 month cycle.

    re: Computer Zone not a "real" store
    
    Could you describe what it is?  I was thinking about trying to find it
    the next time I was in the Attleboro area.  
    
    re: .0  atari standard joysticks can be found at many stores, not just
    atari dealers.  Joysticks come in 3 types that I know of:
    1. atari standard switch joysticks
    2. nintendo standard switch joysticks
    3. analog joysticks (ibm, apple, etc.  different pot value needed)
    
    So just stay away from those ibm and apple dealers :-)
    
    Most of the toy store chains have the atari standard joysticks, since
    the atari 2600 game system uses them.  A number of computers use them
    too.  An Amiga dealer might even have that joystick of your dreams :-)
    The Memory Location in Wellesley, Ma seems to get some interesting 
    joysticks for their demo systems.  It's nice when you can try it before
    buying.  I still prefer the original atari design, can't stand
    joysticks that click.
    
    Dave

Anyone know where I can get an STe compatible joystick for the STe's
15-pin joystick port?

P. S. I can't stand joysticks that DON'T click, and always hated the
standard Atari ones as painful to the hand, and impossible to control.

    I believe I saw something that said it took ibmpc analog joysticks.
    
    Dave