old atari users

[jim14425]

Hello:

 

I thought a open ended note from a old atari user in Upstate NY that gets to know his atari more and more each time I turn it on. Sure I am 62 and young at heart, with 130xe that never lets me down. Seems my kids all want it for thier homes, mostly playing the old games and yes WOWing the folks with 48k or 64k of memory, and a disk collection that wont quit. I have recently got the APE interface and love it, and looking at the idea of putting out the knowledge of this great device. Seems it loves a challenge, and if you haven't got one, GET ONE NOW and enjoy keeping the disk collection active. I have been collecting any information on the Atari as I have the 130xe connected to a Bob Puff black box and a large hard drive collection of great games and utilities.

 

Is there any other older users out there ?

JIM

[+CharlieChaplin]

Well,

 

depends on what you (or others) think of "old". Ask a six year old child and he/she will name someone with just 20 years as being "old". Anyways, Atari was founded in 1972 - I was born in 1972... so I guess I always have the perfect age (being always as old as Atari).

 

My very first Atari 800XL got 25 years old, I bought it in 1984 and it "died" in 2009. This made me very sad - so I bought four Atari 800XL computers at ebay as replacements...

 

-Andreas Koch.

[Bryan]

I was born in '70 and got my first computer (an 800) at age 11. I wish there was something in the world that could fascinate me that much today.

[EightBitWitch]

I was born one Year before Woodstock, and my first Contact with Computers was in 1983 with a TI 99/4a.

My first own ATARI was a 600XL in 1985, later then in bought used 800XL with 1050 and a 400er and some other HomeComputer (Sharp MZ-821, C= Plus/4, Tompson To707).

In 1989 i have exchanged all my HomeComputer-Stuff in a Shop for used Computers to my first IBM-Compatible PC (8088/512KB/2*FDD 360KB/Hercules Graphics) to learn Turbo Pascal.

 

I the Year 2002 i come back to the HomeComputers.

Edited July 15, 2010 by EightBitWitch

[+Larry]

I'm one of the older ones -- 65, and have been an Atari enthusiast since 1982. I've spent more money on Atari stuff than I'd probably care to know. But I've had a lot of fun along the way, learned a lot, conversed with a lot of interesting, knowledgeable folks, and seldom a day goes by that I don't have an Atari in use.

-Larry

[rchennau]

I pre-date Atari by a year. My first Atari was in 1982 with the Atari 400. My children consider me old so there you go!

[jacobus]

I'm one of the older ones -- 65, and have been an Atari enthusiast since 1982. I've spent more money on Atari stuff than I'd probably care to know. But I've had a lot of fun along the way, learned a lot, conversed with a lot of interesting, knowledgeable folks, and seldom a day goes by that I don't have an Atari in use.

-Larry

 

I'm quite sure I don't want my wife to know how much I've spent!

 

 

I pre-date Atari by a year. My first Atari was in 1982 with the Atari 400. My children consider me old so there you go!

 

At 44 my kids keep measuring me for a walker! (I bought my first Atari (16K 400) in 1982.)

 

 

Jim, sounds like you have an interesting collection - please feel free to post pictures of it in the "Show us your collection" section of AA

[doctorclu]

Just wanted to say welcome!!

 

Currently 38, first computer was a Atari 400. Called Atari BBS's like hell with that thing. And got a great typing speed for career life doing it.

[sack-c0s]

I must be one of the 'young upstarts' at 29 then. I think I'm from that generation who got into computers at a very early age because they were there - I'm sure some of the older folks would've done exactly the same if they were available at the time.

 

8 and 16 bit machines? Love 'em all - they have their quirks, flaws, faults, annoyances and limitations but that just gives them a personality (even the ZX spectrum ) - something you just don't feel from a PC

Edited July 16, 2010 by sack-c0s

[Mclaneinc]

I'm 49, the Atari was not just fun, it was my living in the days. I joined a brit company as tech sales at the off, sold them, repaired them, coded on them, wrote for mags like Atari User, cracked the odd game and met many of the big names on the Atari, C64 and Amiga over the years. Sigh, wish I could do it all gain, as I have said before, the aura that you got from walking into Silica Shop in Kent, UK for the first time was amazing, the noise of loads of different games all playing at once, seeing arcade games on your own machine, the buzz it gave was simply amazing, it was the dawn of home computing and arcades...Simply wonderful....

[flashjazzcat]

An interesting question, and an interesting responses. I'm 37: I was born in December 1972 and I got my first Atari in 1987 (from Dixons) when I was at school. I hammered it to death learning to program; broke the keyboard and the machine finally gave up the ghost in 1990 or so, to be replaced by 65XE number two. It wasn't till the late nineties, though, that I gained the confidence to start sending programs off to New Atari User (when - incredibly - my A8 was still my primary computer - dissertation was written on it - the lot) and by then it was too late. I really crammed with the programming in the nineties, though: eight hour shifts till three in the morning. Amazingly I hadn't forgotten much when I dusted the machine off ten years later, just married and in need of a diversion.

 

I don't have many regrets about missing out on the Halcyon days of the A8. To me, the golden age might as well be now.

Edited July 16, 2010 by flashjazzcat

[Rybags]

Almost 43 here... first used the Atari computers around 1980/1, finally owned one in 1983.

 

Got an ST in '88, so the 8-bit kinda faded away for a while, especially after getting an Amiga in 1993.

 

I probably renewed my interest mainly thanks to emulation and the availability of the classic and newer software on the 'net, plus discovering all the new hardware tricks that had evolved since the mid 1980s. Had probably 350 games in the day and did miss out on a few of the better ones.

 

These days the situation is about-faced. Atari is the only old machine that shares the desk space with my 2 modern PCs, and even though I've got about 14 retro computers representing 6 platforms, the Atari 8-bit gets about 98% of the attention.

Edited July 16, 2010 by Rybags

[Mclaneinc]

just married and in need of a diversion.

 

I don't have many regrets about missing out on the Halcyon days of the A8. To me, the golden age might as well be now.

 

Just married and needing a diversion already

 

29yrs married this August, as they say, you get less of a sentence for murder

 

As for the Halcyon days, I would not have missed them for the world, seeing the birth of home computing happen and actively having a role in it was just superb. Computers and arcade machines coming to life around you when it was all new just seemed so amazing. Now kids expect ultra realistic graphics but have no clue as to just how difficult it is, most of them still don't understand it's all down to mathematics as to what they see, there's no learning connection.

 

I'm just so happy people who loved their Atari's like yourself have dusted them off and used their experience to go back to the machines and put fresh idea's into programming it..

 

Thank you...

[+wood_jl]

40 here.

 

First Atari was 8K 400/410 in 1980. Really wanted a VCS...oops, I mean 2600 because all my friends had it. There was no way in hell my folks were down with me getting a video game, but they capitulated because of the Atari 400's computer aspect. All I wanted to do was play "Adventure" and I was devastated when I learned the carts were not the same!

 

Eventually, stuff like Star Raiders cued me in to the fact that I had the better deal (over the 2600) and by no small margin. Moved up through the ranks, to 800, then 130XE when it launched, but I didn't keep it long because I was lured by the ST in Winter 1985-1986, and had to sell my entire A8 setup (HUGE, HUGE mistake of my life) to fund it.

 

Eventually, re-acquired 8-bit stuff (800XL), and along the way have owned every model except never had 65XE. About 1990, the Atari dealer had gone belly-up (Anchorage, AK), all my A8 drives were failing - with NO local service, NO internet, NO AtariAge, NO Ebay, and I did NOT know ONE OTHER PERSON with whom to consult with about repairs, etc. The ST was now far from cutting edge, and the A8 drives must have had slipping belts or something....

 

Sold the entire lot (everything Atari) and bought my first PC, a 286 with VGA. Had I had ANY idea of the day we now live in for Atari enthusiasts, I sure as hell would have just kept it all in the attic until AtariAge and Ebay were built, and the SIO2PC (and the like).

 

Sometime in 2006 I learned of Atari800win and was just amazed! Some time earlier the Atari Xformer (or whatever I tried) seemed to be a disappointment. The next year I learned of AtariAge and I've been just delighted with Atari again. I second Flashjazzcat's comment that NOW is the "golden age" because it's never been a more pleasant time to own one!

 

I was a bonehead for not learning more about programming and electronics, when I had the chance. I'll always feel sorry for missing the bus on that.

[Bunsen]

To me, the golden age might as well be now.

 

I agree with you. I am 39 years old (maybe just the average Atari-user age) and the eighties with my 800 XL were wonderful. Playing those fantastic games, typing in the magazine listings, trying to program some stuff in BASIC,...

 

But these days are even better. I know about 50 people who are using (and loving) Atari8 and I meet them regularly at user meetings like Fujiama, ABBUC JHV and RENO meetings (alltogether about 10 meetings per year). And that's much more fun then knowing only 2-3 copy pals in the eighties.

 

And much less all the capabilities you have with the new hardware enhancements like SIO2PC, SIO2USB, STEREO-POKEY, Turbo Freezer, VBXE,...

 

No much reason at all for me to be nostalgic. Wonderful new Atari days I hope this time will last some more years.

[sloopy]

I am almost 40, i got my first atari in summer '84. it was an 800, some guys were about to smash it to bits cause it didnt work, and i offered them $10 for it. well it sat in my room, and that christmas i got a Commodore Plus/4. well by march i couldnt find anything for the Plus/4, and friends of my parents had an 800 also, so they would let me use it, (also a friend of my mothers, had a daughter with a C64, and she had no interest in it, and would let me use that too) well i found out that it was my OS card was bad in my 800, and ordered a new one along with a cart (crossfire) from american techna-vision. i had several friends with atari computers, and every few days one would come over and bring a disk drive and load a game on my 800... and for my bday, i got a monitor, and was supposed to get a disk drive for christmas, but my parents couldnt afford it, and my mother asked if it would be ok if i could wait until mid-late jan for it, i finally got it in june, a trak at-d2... i still have that 800, and have the main board for the trak... and still have the commodore plus/4...

 

it was interesting, when i was in college, a professor showed us how to use a spreadsheet for working out doing glue logic, and altho i used my atari for most things, i pulled out the plus/4 because it has a builtin spread sheet, and used it for that, even brought it into school and showed everyone...

 

if you search archives of usenet, you can find posts from me dating back to 1992...

 

 

sloopy.

[+bf2k+]

Born in 1955 and will turn 55 in a month or two, my first Atari (an 800) in 81 or 82... fuzzy dates for me now. But my BBS went online in 84 (I do remember that much). I've accumulated a collection of a8 stuff, sold it all off and re-accumulated an even bigger collection of stuff... so much that it is impossible to keep it all in one place right now.

[Gunstar]

42 here, or will be soon enough on August 12. My first experience with Atari (at home) was the VCS in the late 70's. I always love electronics since I was a tyke, even back to the old ball shaped "kiddie" calculators that I remember libraryies having in the 70's. But of course my school(s) used Apple II's so Apple was my first computer experience and I wanted an Apple. But they were too expensive for my parents. Then sometime around '83/'84 my family talked og getting our first computer, my Dad was a college professor and needed one for school work and also for books and article he wrote, so he didn't have to stay at his office to do it all. My mom wanted a computer for recipes, and of course they wanted us kids to have one as an educational tool. I wanted one for games, and also I was learning BASIC in school on Apples and wanted a computer at home for that too. We almost got a Commodore 64, until some knuckle head at my Dad's school talked him into some off-brand PC tank that he was selling (for the company-side sales job). I hated that crappy PC. So, finally, in '85, when I was seventeen, I saved up and bought my first Atari 130XE, becuase I wanted something comparable to the new Apple IIc that I couldn't afford.Go it for $150 at a Service Merchandise store (no longer in business). Bougth a tape deck at Toys R US a few weeks later. My love affair with all things Atari, especially the A8's, is now 25 years old. Best computer I ever bought, still use it to this day (not my original 130XE, but A8's in general, currently all XL's in my home), right next to my PC and in front of my ST, the Jaguar and Lynx near at hand.

Edited July 16, 2010 by Gunstar

[doctor_x]

figured i would chime in...

 

i was born in 1971 as some of the others here were. my fascination with computers - especially telecommunications - began while i was still in my single digits.

 

i was given an atari 400 and 410 cassette recorder and a few games in either 1980 or 1981. with it i played mostly games, but also did get "introduction to programming 1 and 2" and learned about programming using the membrane keyboard madness of that machine.

 

moved up to an atari 800xl several years later along with a 1050, and then finally around that same time borrowed a friends mpp1000c and got into BBS's. From there it was history and I quickly immersed myself into the pirate/warez/hacking/phreaking scene where I stayed deeply immersed until around 1990-1991 or so.

 

Now, I mainly enjoy the atari through emulation, but do own a 256k 800xl, 3 1050's, and a gob of disks that I still need to go through.

 

Atari will be in my heart and my mind up until the day I die as it provided me with the basic knowledge I needed to become the profesisonal I am today and also provided me with entertainment beyond anything else that has entertained me in my life. (maybe a sad statement, but a true one).

 

I was reading a post on here in another thread that was discussing how sucky it is that today we have the choice of windows, linux, or OSX and thats pretty much it. Going into a computer store today is about as boring as it can get. I remember the joy of walking into a k-mart or similar and seeing all of the different computers which shared nothing in common other than having a keyboard - and it was SPECTACULAR.

 

rambling off topic now so I will stop... Thanks for starting this thread!

 

doc

[+bob1200xl]

Looking at my driver's license, I'm 64. Started out with the 2600 and switched to a 400 soon after. My daughter went to college with an Atari back when few people had any kind of computer. Now, the grandkids play games on them.

 

Bob

 

 

 

Hello:

 

I thought a open ended note from a old atari user in Upstate NY that gets to know his atari more and more each time I turn it on. Sure I am 62 and young at heart, with 130xe that never lets me down. Seems my kids all want it for thier homes, mostly playing the old games and yes WOWing the folks with 48k or 64k of memory, and a disk collection that wont quit. I have recently got the APE interface and love it, and looking at the idea of putting out the knowledge of this great device. Seems it loves a challenge, and if you haven't got one, GET ONE NOW and enjoy keeping the disk collection active. I have been collecting any information on the Atari as I have the 130xe connected to a Bob Puff black box and a large hard drive collection of great games and utilities.

 

Is there any other older users out there ?

JIM

[WizWor]

Does the 2600 count as an 8-bit computer (vcs=video computer system, I believe)? I got one in 1978. I liked it a lot -- especially star raiders, combat, river raid, and demon attack. Totally underwhelmed by titles like pac man that fell far short of the arcade games.

 

In the summer of 1982, I got a 400. Once I bought all the carts at my local department store, I got a 410 and started playing the cassette games. I also started reading Antic and soon figured out how to copy archive BASIC games. In 1984 I met this kid who had access to a lot of disks that contained many games so I got a disk drive -- actually two 1050s. About the same time, I replaced my 400 with an 800xl which was later replaced by a 130xe. In 1984, I started college and added a 1027 printer to the system. I remember staying up the night before a final playing star league baseball and bruce lee with a class mate. I aced the final, he blames me for a disappointing grade. We still laugh about it.

 

In 1990, I got a 286 computer and the Atari went into storage. A few years later, I found an XEGS at a flea market and dragged everything out again. The XEGS is my favorite A8. My first born loved Bruce Lee and Wizard of Wor. In a few years, we got a PSOne. It wasn't new. The Dreamcast was on shelves and people were speculating about the PS2. The Atari went back in the attic.

 

A few years ago, an ebay search stumbled across a bunch of joysticks that were to be sold with the flashback systems. Again, the Ataris came out of storage. I added an APE interface and got some Atari maxflash carts and we are still playing.

 

For the record, I was born in 1962, flunked computer science in 1978, got my 400 in 1982, got a BS in CS in 1992, and have been making a living working with computers for two decades. Thank you Atari for making me love computers in a way public schools could not.

[atariksi]

... I remember staying up the night before a final playing star league baseball and bruce lee with a class mate. I aced the final, he blames me for a disappointing grade...

 

In 1990, I got a 286 computer and the Atari went into storage. A few years later, I found an XEGS at a flea market and dragged everything out again. The XEGS is my favorite A8. My first born loved Bruce Lee and Wizard of Wor...

public schools could not.

 

You like some of the same games I do-- star league baseball, bruce lee, pac-man... I guess I don't like Wizard of Wor as much. I also had a 286 AT&T machine w/64-shade monochrome Paradise EGA for college back in 1990; well, I was forced to buy it from college. I guess some people realize how the body grows old, but their personality and love for things remains the same.

[hitchcock4]

Wow, we have a lot of users in the 37 to 42 range. Born in 1972, I'm 38 years old.

 

I recall asking my parents for a Commodore 64 when I was probably 11 (1983). Didn't get one. My dad came home one day with the TI 99/4A. So it wasn't what I wanted but that was good for a while. Learned some basic programming, and even had the speech synthesizer that sounded like Stephen Hawking when he speaks.

 

I think it was 1985 or '86 when I got a used Atari 800 in great shape. It came with several Infocom games and an Indus GT floppy drive. This was it! Now I could really program! I wrote a game that divided the screen into 4 areas, left, right, up, down. It was really a reflex tester. It would flash a solid color in a random area (say, on the right) and you had to press right on the joystick within a certain number of seconds. If you pressed the right direction, the next time you had to respond quicker. As soon as you "missed" it would give you a score - the lower score the better.

 

I also got honorable mention in my 8th grade science fair using my Atari 800. I wrote a simple program to identify types of bones by the animal they came from. Really all the program would do would ask simple questions, and follow some flow chart logic to find out what type of bone you were describing. But it got me honorable mention.

 

As a teen, the Atari BBSes were cool. I lived in San Antonio TX and there were some good ones, although I don't remember the names anymore. [Wasn't allowed to call the long-distance ones, and I wasn't going to pay those bills myself.]

 

Ah, memories.

[Gunstar]

42 here, or will be soon enough on August 12. My first experience with Atari (at home) was the VCS in the late 70's. I always love electronics since I was a tyke, even back to the old ball shaped "kiddie" calculators that I remember libraryies having in the 70's. But of course my school(s) used Apple II's so Apple was my first computer experience and I wanted an Apple. But they were too expensive for my parents. Then sometime around '83/'84 my family talked og getting our first computer, my Dad was a college professor and needed one for school work and also for books and article he wrote, so he didn't have to stay at his office to do it all. My mom wanted a computer for recipes, and of course they wanted us kids to have one as an educational tool. I wanted one for games, and also I was learning BASIC in school on Apples and wanted a computer at home for that too. We almost got a Commodore 64, until some knuckle head at my Dad's school talked him into some off-brand PC tank that he was selling (for the company-side sales job). I hated that crappy PC. So, finally, in '85, when I was seventeen, I saved up and bought my first Atari 130XE, becuase I wanted something comparable to the new Apple IIc that I couldn't afford.Go it for $150 at a Service Merchandise store (no longer in business). Bougth a tape deck at Toys R US a few weeks later. My love affair with all things Atari, especially the A8's, is now 25 years old. Best computer I ever bought, still use it to this day (not my original 130XE, but A8's in general, currently all XL's in my home), right next to my PC and in front of my ST, the Jaguar and Lynx near at hand.

 

I forgot to mention that the 130XE wasn't my first computer (not counting my dad's PC I never used), for a year or two previous to owning the XE, I first got a Timex Sinclair 1000. I would have gone with the Sinclair Spectrum probably, instead of the XE, but Timex dropped the Sinclair line in the U.S. before I could save up to buy one, so that money bought the 130XE. Best thing that could have happened to me though, if I had gotten my way initially, or my dad had gone with a C64, I would have missed out on the best 8-bit computer ever.

[JayoK]

I thought I'd throw in my story too.

 

I'm 34 now, starting with an Atari 600XL that was bought for my older brother in 1983. As a "privilege" by my older brother I was allow a certain amount of time on it per day. It completely fascinated me. In 1986 it was sold to buy an Atari ST, but it just didn't have the same appeal to me. In December 1988, the folks bought me my very own 800XL! A wonderful day, alas I'd to wait 4 weeks before I got an XC12 tape-deck. Still have this system and still going strong.

 

I spent many, many, many hours (most of the small) playing and hacking (before this was a bad word) on the system. It was of course expanded with RAM and disk-drives, I even used it as a cross-development platform for a 6800 project that won awards!

 

I have about 5 Atari 8-bits now, ebay allowed (and still does) me to say these from the potential bin.

 

For me, the magic as a child of the whole computer scene in is infancy was wonderful. I have new experiences in life of course, but the 800XL will always bring me back to my childhood.

 

On top of that I've three kids now that I can show them how it all started for me in the computer industry.