33 replies to this topic

[Fischer500]

I have no clue what I'd do with a box of disks, lol. But I am going to do some BASIC (not the language itself, but simple) programming, and I don't think I'll need a disk drive. They're a bit expensive, and I dunno if I'll *need* it.

[atariksi]

bf2k+, on Tue Nov 3, 2009 8:00 PM, said:

atariksi, on Tue Nov 3, 2009 7:40 PM, said:

Fischer500, on Tue Nov 3, 2009 2:36 PM, said:

What's the difference between the 800 and the 800XL?

They are compatible with each other. XL series added a few enhancements but uses single PCB and looks like just a keyboard whereas Atari 800 looks like a computer. That helps in the XL in bringing the price down as some have told me "I only have the keyboard not the computer."

Occasionally you might encounter programs written for the 800 that will need a translator to run on the XL. And there are some programs that will not run on an 800. I agree with those above in that I'd get an XL or XE for my 1st Atari 8bit computer.

Yeah, I agree he should go for 800XL. To keep things simple, for all practical purposes, the two machines are compatible with each other. Yeah, you can easily put in a 65C02 into an A800 and use 4 joysticks and 8 paddles and on 800XL you can directly hook IRQ/NMI vectors at [65534] and [65530] and use a few more kilobytes; however, in most cases these issues won't come into play.

[Fischer500]

Ok...? Dunno what you mean there... but yeah, I'm going for an 800XL. I'm sure you know that, but for everyone else

[atariksi]

Fischer500, on Wed Nov 4, 2009 4:25 PM, said:

I have no clue what I'd do with a box of disks, lol. But I am going to do some BASIC (not the language itself, but simple) programming, and I don't think I'll need a disk drive. They're a bit expensive, and I dunno if I'll *need* it.

As I said, if you can save to human memory you can get away without a disk drive (physical or virtual). Ataris and many other retro machines boot up to BASIC without secondary storage requirements.

[wood_jl]

Fischer500, on Wed Nov 4, 2009 4:25 PM, said:

I have no clue what I'd do with a box of disks, lol. But I am going to do some BASIC (not the language itself, but simple) programming, and I don't think I'll need a disk drive. They're a bit expensive, and I dunno if I'll *need* it.

I think you'd be better off using an emulator on your PC. They're free. Then you can see how much interest you have in this. Seems that if the price of Atari 8-bit stuff is an issue (moneywise) then you have your answer there. Google "Atari800win" if you have a PC.

I'd guess that many of the people who still use actual Atari 8-bit computer hardware are old-school and grew up with it, so they have a familiarity with and attachment to it. In that context, it's not very expensive; perhaps it is for a casual observer.

[atariksi]

wood_jl, on Wed Nov 4, 2009 10:30 PM, said:

Fischer500, on Wed Nov 4, 2009 4:25 PM, said:

I have no clue what I'd do with a box of disks, lol. But I am going to do some BASIC (not the language itself, but simple) programming, and I don't think I'll need a disk drive. They're a bit expensive, and I dunno if I'll *need* it.

I think you'd be better off using an emulator on your PC. They're free. Then you can see how much interest you have in this. Seems that if the price of Atari 8-bit stuff is an issue (moneywise) then you have your answer there. Google "Atari800win" if you have a PC.

I'd guess that many of the people who still use actual Atari 8-bit computer hardware are old-school and grew up with it, so they have a familiarity with and attachment to it. In that context, it's not very expensive; perhaps it is for a casual observer.

He has some money so he's better off going for the real deal-- you never know he may find it useful for things that the emulator doesn't support like controlling LEDs on a breadboard with POKE 54016,###.

And as far as your guess that people using Atari 8-bit are "old-school and grew up with it"-- that's not true. I actually stopped using Atari 8-bits from 1990..2000 (10 years) and then came back to it (once they killed the real DOS mode in Windows OSes). And I'm sure there are many in my catagory that CAME BACK to Atari (or other retro-machines). I'm not awed by Mhz/Ghz as much as by having complete control of computing.

And I prefer instant boot-up machines for BASIC and game playing-- which is EXACTLY what he's after.

[Fischer500]

I have that emulator, (the exact one mentioned,lol) and I see nothing wrong with it. I can't play games on it though, and the one program that I put in (the one from this topic) and I couldn't find the start button. That, and I prefer to have the actual hardware. Emulators just aren't the same.

[atariksi]

UNIXcoffee928, on Wed Nov 4, 2009 1:53 AM, said:

You guys are giving him waaaaaaaay too much info!

Just get:

  - An Atari computer: (800, 800XL, 65XE, 130XE). The other systems are great, too, but avoid them until you know why you avoided them. Of the systems in that list, the 800 has the best feeling keyboard. If you really care about aesthetics, the 800XL matches the 1050 disk drive perfectly. 

  - An Atari Disk Drive: the famous Atari 1050

  - (1) box of 5.25" DSDD disks

  - The book entitled: "Your Atari Computer". Get it here.

That's all you need. After you learn to use it, THEN follow all of the great suggestions given in the above posts.

I guess people forgot to mention the 410/1030 Tape Recorder interface. Then he won't need to get 5.25" disks; he can use a normal cassette and Atari cassette interfaces are cheaper than disk drives. Faster than typing in programs saved in human memory.

[atariksi]

atariksi, on Fri Nov 6, 2009 11:50 PM, said:

UNIXcoffee928, on Wed Nov 4, 2009 1:53 AM, said:

You guys are giving him waaaaaaaay too much info!

Just get:

  - An Atari computer: (800, 800XL, 65XE, 130XE). The other systems are great, too, but avoid them until you know why you avoided them. Of the systems in that list, the 800 has the best feeling keyboard. If you really care about aesthetics, the 800XL matches the 1050 disk drive perfectly. 

  - An Atari Disk Drive: the famous Atari 1050

  - (1) box of 5.25" DSDD disks

  - The book entitled: "Your Atari Computer". Get it here.

That's all you need. After you learn to use it, THEN follow all of the great suggestions given in the above posts.

I guess people forgot to mention the 410/1030 Tape Recorder interface. Then he won't need to get 5.25" disks; he can use a normal cassette and Atari cassette interfaces are cheaper than disk drives. Faster than typing in programs saved in human memory.

That's 410/1010. Now that I think about it, 1030 modem is also a boot device capable of transferring stuff from other machines to Atari. I don't think it supports running binary stuff though.