The Atari interview discussion thread

[The Atari interview discussion thread]

Thanks, Jon. What an absolute pleasure to hear from you! As a youngster, my first experience of Atari was courtesy of a school friend whose father was a notorious pirate and my friend received all of his "hand me downs". He had disk upon disk filled with Multiboot-driven commercial game compilations. I was young and naive but knew something was fishy! A few months later I got my own 800XL with 1010 cassette recorder on the promise that he'd copy me these disk games to tape thanks to Multiboot. It never came to pass, but I'll always remember the name.

 

Edit: I should add that, bereft of anything hooky, I eventually owned Jet Boot Jack several times over thanks to buying the first few Atari Smash Hits tapes :-)

 

As said earlier, I was convinced that JBJ was American in origin due to its gloss - the loader, the title screen and music, "Let it Rock!", etc. Did you consciously make it in the style of a US game? I know you said you felt isolated at the time, but did you feel you were competing against other UK coders such as Steven Riding/Tim Huntingdon? Did you have to travel to Manchester often to show off updates or was it all done by post/modem?

 

Anyway, thanks for being part of my childhood. I'll end by linking to this rare archive piece of you playing a classical number on the ill-fated Atari EGS (Electronic Guitar System):

 

[The Atari interview discussion thread]

Aw, c'mon :-) This is all ancient history, isn't it? I know that a multitude of illicit things made their way out of a certain Railway Terrace in Slough circa mid-80s, just as it's surely common knowledge that so many who had a vested interest in commercial success were nevertheless involved in nefarious pursuits at the time. I trust we're not at cross-purposes here!

 

I can remember Rob.C getting a mention in Atari User as a potential hardware pirate (Ultimon?) and Les Ellingham banning adverts for certain soft/hardware products in Page 6 (only to backtrack when the revenue started to dry up.)

 

What I didn't realise at the time is for all the Jon.C, Rob.C, Ian.K and Multiboot disks, the aforementioned were merely responsible for the menu system used by the wider community. I always assumed that a Rob.C menu (for example) meant he was responsible for the dodgy gear on show. Not so. Same with Multiboot which I think carried an unfortunate credit for its author. I could easily have circulated a disk full of binaries I'd compiled using any one of these menus credited to the menu author... I don't think these chaps were anywhere near as prolific as history would suggest. At least in the ST era, the Was Not Was menus (Rob.C again?) made it plain who was responsible :-)

 

Sorry for the outpouring; the subject fascinates me. I respect the fact you know way more than you're prepared to divulge - here's a man who can certainly keep a secret - but it's all so, so, so long ago...

[The Atari interview discussion thread]

Its a tough one, the creation I'd love to hear a bit more about and its subsequent spread around local folk but it has a more deep relation in to the Atari World which is best left be, its nothing to do with Jon directly but it does have a history after its creation..

 

As for Adam, lovely guy, terrible memory...Ask him about his Atari 8bit snooker game Even he forgot about it (it never got properly started anyway on the Atari 8bit)

 

Haha Paul, hence my hesitant "adoption" remark.. for every Jon.C, Ian.K and their like, there were ten Multiboots :-)

[The Atari interview discussion thread]

Thank you Jon, appreciate all the time and work, don't forget the retirement as well though, the wife won't be pleased if its all programming

 

I can imagine she's eyeing up another room for doing up as we speak

 

Our regards to the good lady as well...

 

Loved the interview, wish it had hit the multiboot more but its a pretty sensitive subject too so maybe best left unspoken in public..

 

Paul..

 

Jet Boot Jack was one of the first games I played on an Atari and despite the English Software branding I always assumed it was American in origin due to a) its dazzling mastery of the hardware and b) the name "Jon Williams" had US connotations :-)

 

Ironically, I'm pretty sure the copy of Jet Boot Jack I played came straight from a multiboot menu. So here's another request for elaboration on the creation of Multiboot from Jon himself, and his thoughts on how it was ultimately, erm... "adopted" by fellow Atarians.

 

One of the best ANTIC podcasts I've heard (along with Adam Billyard)

[Dixons pack releases (UK)]

I don't have much to offer here, except to confirm that I bought several of the "Dixons Pack" cassettes individually from an independent store (Intoto in Nottingham) for £1.50 each in mid 1985 and at various market stalls (again, circa mid 1985). I had no knowledge that they were from a pack not to be sold separately at the time. I remember the "computer font" printed tape labels and shoddy (and strange smelling) lightweight inlays that made me suspect they were pirated versions! In all, I *think* I had Tutti Frutti, Bug Off, Artist, Electric Starfish and 10 Little Indians, all bought separately. I also had those Microdeal games, but they were the real deal.

 

Edit to add: from memory, as well as smelling of very cheap plastic, those "computer font" labelled cassettes had a very strange whistle sound while they were loading which often caused them to fail!

 

I only became an Atari owner in mid 1985 (bought from a catalogue) and it was the 800XL/1010/Pole Position/Basic Demos pack, for £150. A few weeks later, I remember looking around Dixons and finding this:

 

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/54/98/33/5498339a1d78069e71e3746b8f988e86.jpg

 

Aaargh! It was half what I paid, with Tramiel now dumping old stock bundled with the first of those Atari UK-produced red inlay cassette packs. There were further bundles including the 1050 dumping (with Waxworks/The Payoff etc.) and further red inlay cassette packs when the 130XE was in decline.

 

But anyway. Those amateur "Dixons Pack" editions must pre-date all of this, so I'm guessing some time in 1984. I'm searching old newspaper archives for advertisements. I can't recall when the two high-street electronics giants of their day Dixons and Currys merged, but it's well known that Centresoft/US Gold and Calisto Computers (both based in the West Midlands) cut their teeth by approaching individual retailers directly to supply them with stock. I suspect that the "Dixons Pack" was comprised of titles Geoff Brown was able to license (and manufacture) very cheaply. In the meantime, try searching Google Images for "Dixons advertisement 1984 Atari". You've probably already found 'em all :-)

 

Further edit: This guy would know, if he's still with us:

 

http://www.page6.org/about/bug.htm

[From Bedrooms to Billions: criminal lack of Atari 8-Bit]

Setting all of the "mine's better than yours" squabbles and tedious specs comparisons to one side, it's a fact that the Atari 8-bit machines irrefutably enjoyed two distinct leases of the life in the UK, both significant. It's no surprise really that any contemporary revisionist re-telling of the UK's history of home computing should overlook the Atari, but here's my quick effort to make amends..

 

FIRST UK ATARI ERA

 

In the early months of the 1980s, the Ingersoll imported Atari 400/800s sold by the likes of Maplin and Silica Shop reigned supreme. They were very much the coveted rich man's plaything. As the press swooned, these hugely expensive machines quickly earned the reputation as the "must-have" home computers in the UK and attracted the sort of consumer who wanted and could afford the best car, best suit (etc.) The small community that sprung up to support the machines was the first of its type in the UK, but was severely limited by the elitist price-tag of all things Atari. Later, the homegrown ZX81 and domestically-priced Vic 20 attracted mass mainstream sales, much to the disgust of hardened UK Atarians who viewed these inferior machines as retrograde and unworthy. Nevertheless, the British voted with their pockets and, by 1983, much preferred to spend £6 on a Spectrum or C64 cassette (or copy it for free) compared to £25 for an ageing Atari cart.

 

Why is this short but important period overlooked? Well, it's mostly undocumented so today's teenage Wikipedia surfing "historians" know no different. However, those of us who were of excitable school age in the early 1980s might remember our first encounter with a home computer being a posh friend showing off Star Raiders or Miner 2049'er. Once machines finally appeared that were affordable to most impoverished UK households of the era, we didn't beg for them due to relentless TV advertising (it didn't exist) it was because we hoped for an approximation of something we'd seen on a rich mate's Atari. By 1984 this had all changed, with the rapid rise of and later dominance of the Spectrum and C64, the Atari was suddenly yesterday's machine - an expensive relic.

 

This era was generally hooked on Star Raiders and last played Drop Zone before losing interest.

 

SECOND UK ATARI ERA

 

By 1986 the first wave of UK Atari owners, making their final down payment on their £1000 investment, found themselves rubbing shoulders with a new breed of upstart Atarians. Jack Tramiel's offloading of fire sale priced 600/800XLs into UK retail channels (Dixons and Currys on the high street and catalogues like Great Universal and Kays) resulted in thrifty and naive, but well-meaning parents snapping up bargain close-out Ataris for their "computer obsessed" kids. In a matter of months, hundreds of thousands of discount packages were sold, to an army of youngsters craving the modern games enjoyed by their luckier friends - Uridium on the C64, Underwurlde on the Spectrum. A culture clash soon ensued between the elders with their lofty programmimg and hobbyist ideals and the instant gratification expected by the new recruits, plain for anyone to see in the magazines of the time (Page 6 especially!) This one-time Rolls-Royce running on $50 cart fuel had become a Ford Fiesta, content to survive on £1.99 fodder like Vegas Jackpot and Action Biker.

 

Why is this important renaissance period overlooked? At the time, the UK press was fixated with the unravelling of Sinclair. The fact that throughout 1985 and 1986 hundreds of thousands of 600/800XLs made their way into UK homes, thanks to Tramiel's Dixons dumping, went largely unreported - though it didn't go entirely un-noticed. Database Publications launched Atari User off the back of it. US Gold financed its expansion plans when Atari titles that were gathering dust suddenly started to shift. The original stalwart Atarians used to paying $50 for an import cart (or long since engrossed in the Multiboot/Menu disk piracy scene) were soon outnumbered by the less discerning newcomers, and the likes of Mastertronic, Americana, Players, Zeppelin, Red Rat, English Software, Tynesoft, Microdeal, Code Masters (even Ocean, Elite, Gremlin and Bubble Bus taking a chance) churned out a ready supply - of mostly sub-standard, disappointing fare. But at least it meant the tiny Atari corner in the local software store wasn't entirely empty.

 

This era was generally wowed by International Karate and thought Gauntlet was a load of expensive brown shit.

 

And - as a rough estimate - I'd suggest less than 5% of the former have ever posted here, and maybe 2% of the latter (me included!)

[Anyone interested in Pokey remixes?]

Hi, I just wanted to share my work in progress remix of a classic Atari song, made in the quintessentially cheesy 80s style..

 

 

Perhaps a little over-ambitious of me to attempt covering such a standard on my first go (dodges rotten tomatoes) but at least, when finished, it will be some sort of contribution.

 

I wonder though, is there any interest in hearing such things? Once upon a time, there was a thriving C64 and Amiga remix "scene" as evidenced on YouTube. I've found the odd Atari remix of 8-bit exclusive game soundtracks, but they're few and far between. In fact, what prompted me into the five hour frenzy that resulted in this remix was searching YouTube convinced there'd be a contemporary update of this tune, but to no avail.

 

Anyway, if anyone's feeling creative and fancies having a go, or if you just enjoy listening to remixes (no matter how bad!) let me know :-)

[Music Master III Demo - 1986 Jolly Roger]

A quick (but obscure) question for anyone who's familiar with what I thought was a popular music demo, widely distributed back in the day:

 

http://gury.atari8.info/demos/877.php

 

https://demozoo.org/productions/111645/

 

I can remember being amazed by this at the time, wondering who these geniuses were and how they'd managed to "break-in" to all of the games and steal the music. I don't remember where my copy came from, but I always presumed that if I had it, then the rest of the Atari community must have it too and hold it in similar esteem. Seemingly not. It's not on YouTube and a quick Google has thrown up few references.

 

Anyway, finally to my point. I'd like to upload a play-through of the tunes to YouTube, but the only copies of this demo I can find appear to be hacks, with "YAPMAN SOFTWARE" credited in place of Jolly Roger, Inc. My memory may be playing tricks, but this looks like the work of someone armed with a sector editor - however, it's the only version I can find! I'd like to upload the original (which I think is credited to JOLLY ROGER INC. at the bottom, not sure about the other Yapman text above) so, does anyone have an original copy of Music Master III without the Yapman graffitti that they can share?

 

I said it was obscure :-) Thanks for any help...

 

 

[Grrr...People can be so awkward :)]

* WAFFLE ALERT *

 

Before I share an over-long, boring story documenting my own personal contribution to software preservation, some words of comfort for my friend Mclaneinc (who is clearly, like me, a nostalgic old fool with a "collector" mentality) on why he shouldn't be so irate (pun intended) with this doddery duffer friend-of-a-friend: he's simply not worth it, literally.

 

If I might borrow an out-dated expression from our American friends (hello, American friends!): "c'mon man, take a reality check, dude!" Now, I realise there are still huge numbers of presumed "lost forever" items that this community still, one day, hopes to unearth. I also realise that such things continue to crop up, unexpectedly, on an annual basis. But it's 2016. The vast, vast, vast majority of what was ever there to be found has been, well, found. Incidentally, I speak as someone who created various music disks, demos and intros for well-known Amiga scene names as Silents UK, Pussy and Magnetic Fields, who knows he'll never see some of his juvenilia ever again, as it wasn't spread far and wide enough. I can categorically say it's gone forever. How can I know this? Well, I trawled the world for it, as you'll find out if you read on. But anyway. Even if this miserable old geezer allowed you to search his Multiboot haystack of Preppie!, Pogo Joe, Thorn/EMI Darts, Chop Suey and Drelbs for your elusive needles, what good would it do if you found them? What joy would it bring? "Yes!", you might cry, "I *KNEW* there was a version with a slghtly different title screen!" Would you sleep sounder at night? If I might borrow an out-dated expression from our Australian friends (g'day Australian friends!): "Jeeez! What a drongo!"

 

Also, there's the fact that those who boast of having "old computer stuff" up in the attic, without any working knowledge of just how exhaustive the efforts of the online/emulator scene has been over the past 20+ years, might consider their collection of 200 (count 'em! 200!) disks to be "massive". I don't need to tell you that, in 1986, the awe reserved for anyone who had 200 double-sided Rob.C/Ian.K menu disks stuffed with 300+ games was akin to the respect commanded by a Mafia don. In my experience nowadays, it's depressingly common for those who stored their collections away many years ago to consider their two disk boxes full of mouldy old Maxells and Memorexes to be "massive" and probably valuable by now. How would they know you can download 50,000 Atari disks in under an hour and own the majority of everything ever circulated? Even the genuinely disk-porn listings you occasionally see on eBay: [email protected]@K! - 20 Posso boxes of 5,000 "presumed blank" disks, with tantalising labels... what price the needle you might find within yet another giant haystack of Alleykat, Ballblaster, Jet Boot Jack, Music Master II and Blue Max?

 

At last, my point - that over-long, boring story I promised you...

 

When I started the Lazarus Amiga emulation site back in 1997, the goal was to source, archive and make available the top 500 (or so) most important/historic Amiga software titles of all time - but - crucially, in an emulator-friendly form, specifically aimed at the growing userbase of Amiga emulators. This was nearly twenty years ago. We doubted we'd ever reach our aim, presuming - with the Amiga now a distant memory for most - there'd be very little left, with what remained now held in the hands of a disinterested few. Weeks later, to say we were overwhelmed by the response is as massive an understatement that can ever be made: we'd unwittingly mobilised a global army of ex-Amigans, each of them raiding their many disk boxes; ruining their fragile floppy drives; bankrupting themselves in the name of bandwith... their frenzy for feeding the website with long-forgotten artefacts was matched only by the leecher hysteria their files created. This was long before it was possible to archive original copy-protected disks (so we relied on cracks). And this was still in an era when many viewed Lazarus as a "warez site", despite modelling ourselves on the likes of World of Spectrum (i.e. all software is long-dead and we're actively gaining permissions for the good of all...)

 

Very quickly, we'd amassed tens of thousands of files, all (in the dial-up era) uploaded at the expense of others. We were eternally grateful to the hundreds (later thousands) of users who had worked tirelessly to share the fruits of their labours. The harvest of presumed-extinct Amiga goodies we'd reaped was beyond our wildest dreams. But, as we sifted through the deluge of disk images, preparing to make them public, it quickly became obvious that the contents of everyone's disk boxes were very similar. With duplicates removed, our collection shrank from tens of thousands to hundreds of files - luckily for us, and probably obviously, we were left with the most popular items we set out to seek in the first place. That goal reached, and as our traffic increased due to word of mouth, we requested anything that wasn't already available on the site. Uploads continued apace, but for the next six months or so, we were constantly sifting through the files looking for the 5% (or so) of unique material among the same old things, e.g. sadly turning away well-meaning users who'd imaged and uploaded their copy of Xenon II, in favour of someone *finally* uploading Maupiti Island. Here's a bold statement: I'd estimate that, by the end of 1998, Lazarus had sourced and circulated somewhere in the region of 90% of the files that make up the current Amiga TOSEC collection, some eighteen years on. And my old music disks and demos still aren't in it!

 

If Mclaneinc's still reading, the moral of my story is... if you thought you'd get a fuzzy warm feeling inside from reading some old scrolltext from an obscure forgotten intro you never thought you'd see again, or from confirming that there *WAS* a pre-release version called "Dimension Y" that had different music... forget forking out a couple of hundred quid to spend time with some old miser, I spent thousands and a couple of man-years in order to do it... and yes, you will get a nostalgic hit of adrenaline as your brain scrambles to reconcile what you're seeing if you're successful, but trust me, it's a disappointingly short-lived experience and will leave you ultimately underwhelmed and depressed. A bit like the few hours I spent several years ago, which I'll never get back, searching for the version of Boulderdash cracked by "PAUL I RATE WITH THE MOLE" just to confirm to myself I hadn't mis-remembered or imagined it. "Oh well, that's that then..." If I might borrow an out-dated expression from our Latin friends (salve Latin friends!): "Tempora mutantur, nos et mutamur in illis."

 

Fin.

[RETURN key on 800XL causes reset]

I have nothing useful to add here, but wanted to send kudos to MrMartian for hooking up personally with a fellow Atarian in order to help them out!

 

Whattaguy :-)

 

I've never heard of an 800XL suddenly developing such a fault, but if it's newly-acquired then here's my dumb diagnosis! Maybe the previous owner had the Return key hard-wired to work within a custom application/bit of hardware that's no longer there? Like one of those Atari-driven broadcast character generators that depended on bits of bespoke hardware hanging off the SIO? A hacked OS coupled with some crude soldering could ensure pressing Return jumps to a specific memory address (but now borked as its not being used as intended with BASIC commands in the buffer) or to poll missing hardware..? Probably pure fantasy! In any case, hope you get it sorted :-)

[Yet another thread about the fate of the Atari 8-bit in the UK]

I've spent the last few days (such is the free time I have at the moment) leafing through early issues of Your Computer, an influential multi-format magazine that began in 1981. You can retrace my steps for yourself at Archive.org's computer magazine section:

 

https://archive.org/details/your-computer-magazine

 

I'm up to April 1983 and as the months go by with each issue, regarding the story of the Atari 400/800 in the UK, it's been a heart-breaking journey. Reading what was once "Britain's best-selling computer magazine" exposes all the reasons why the pre-XL Atari 8-bits failed to capture mainstream UK imagination. I don't mean specifically - don't interpret that as there being explicit examples, you'll be disappointed if you do! It's more about what's missing - the almost enitre absence of anything Atari-related, in a magazine read by tens of thousands of prospective purchasers of these new-fangled computer thingies. I realise we've gone over this sort of ground before on here - hey, I don't even know if there are enough UK old-timers left to start an interesting discussion - but I feel compelled to share my findings anyway!

 

Before I making a boring list of my thoughts, having read as far as I have, I just want to reiterate: in early 80s Britain, at the very dawn of computer lteracy among "the general public", there were few outlets to turn to for informed advice about this new technology. In 1981, there were a handful of multi-format newsstand magazines: Personal Computer World, Computer & Video Games and Your Computer. Occasional TV news items would focus on "the silicone age" but often these would be negative, spreading fear about computers taking away jobs. I'd wager that word of mouth was probably the most prevalent catalyst for sparking an interest, with the chap next door, at work, or down the pub, waxing lyrical about his new ZX80 or Acorn Atom or whatever. Popular interest in "home computers" was eventually piqued in early 1982 with a much publicised TV series "The Computer Programme".

 

* Until the airing of that BBC series, complete with its own commissioned micro, the UK home computer userbase was comprised of academic, beardy-weirdy, geeky, inquisitive engineer types who'd built kit computers such as the MK-14, Nascom and ZX80. Such kits were designed by enthusiasts and sold, mail-order, to similar enthusiasts who, otherwise, would be fiddling with HAM radios or other electronics.

* When Issue 1 of Your Computer appeared, the Atari 400/800 and its various peripherals had only just been officially imported into the UK by Ingersoll and were already available (if lucky) through a select few outlets.

* Early issues of Your Computer are awash with crude adverts for obscure hardware formats, all jostling for position. All of them over-priced. All of them moribund. Dominating the editorial is Sinclair's ZX80, later ZX81, and the imminent arrival of Commodore's VIC-20. The Atari 400/800 was never reviewed by Your Computer. Presumably it was already old news, or review machines weren't supplied.

* In the 30 issues of Your Computer up to April 1983, there have been three Atari-related items in the magazine's "news" section and two letters from Atari owners.

* So far, no Atari hardware has featured on any cover of the magazine, and unlike other hardware clearly photographed "in situ" by the magazine for features, only PR shots have been used to illustrate the few Atari features

* Ads from retailers selling Atari hardware start to appear from late 1981 - the likes of Maplin, then Computers For All and Silica Shop, rising from a couple of pages up to five or six by 1983. Atari software ads from domestic houses like Llamasoft emerge in mid 1982, albeit crude monochrome half-pages. There are no adverts from Atari itself (or via Ingersoll) among the many for Commodore and Texas Instruments, etc.

* When the Atari is mentioned, it's in disparaging terms - a luke-warm review of its "expensive" games. It's left out of round-ups of disk-based systems, educational options, etc.

* In the absence of Atari coverage, the magazine favourably reviews each new micro release: Dragon 32, Oric 1, Camputers Lynx, Sord M5, Video Genie, ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, Jupiter Ace, BBC Micro, etc.

 

So why am I bothering to type all of this? (And thank you anyway for reading this far!) Well, it just makes me sad. Not in a "I won't sleep tonight" kinda way, but it's so obvious to me why readers of "Britain's best-selling computer magazine" were oblivious to Atari - just when it mattered most. We all know the hardware was mind-blowingly expensive, as were the carts that slowly trickled onto these shores (£1700 for an 800 in today's money and £75 for Star Raiders!) but those who could afford it and *really* wanted it clearly existed. If only more knew about it... If only there was a way to create awareness... what a PR disaster! What a rudimentary 101 fail from Atari.

 

* Your Computer CLEARLY had no Atari hardware in its office to test out anything they were sent. As stated, neither the machines nor its hard drives, program recorders, carts (etc.) appeared on any of the magazine's covers

* Magazines exist on income from ad revenue - if you don't place advertising, where's the impetus for the mag to review your products (let alone favourably) while your (much-covered) competitors are spending thousands?

* No Atari press releases means no Atari in the "news" section of the magazine - how much effort is involved in *bombarding* Britain's BEST-SELLING computer magazine with exciting PR puff each week?

* Whoever determined UK price policy was living on another planet. Even in 1981/82 foreign market research was straightforward (a few phone calls with partners and retailers) to inform strategy

 

Gagh. I'm wondering whether to click "post" on this as I know it's a massive ramble, but having written it now... what the hey! I just find it so depressing that the Atari 400/800 was all but invisible in the UK for so long, unless you were among the elite few who knew about it and could afford it. When my dream finally came true of owning an Atari, I joined that elite by purchasing an original RRP Warner 800XL. Shortly afterwards, Tramiel came along and emptied his UK reserve stocks of 800XLs via chain stores at rock-bottom bargain-basement prices. The good news: Atari's UK profile was boosted overnight, with masses of new owners all hungry for software. The bad news: Atari had created a new "junk" market for its once-prestige, now sub-£80 machine. It was bought by those whose budget couldn't stretch further. It was fuelled by diabolical software costing less than £2.

 

Take a look for yourself at a few of those early Your Computer magazines, where the Atari should have been centre stage. You'll see for yourself why I feel the way I do :-)

[Leaderboard for Atari 8-bit]

Ahh, the dongle that nearly got me a beating from a schoolfriend's older brother!

 

I'd managed to lose this tiny device while borrowing the US Gold UK cassette version of Leaderboard from a mate. Obviously the game was useless without the dongle, so when the time came to return the loaned tape... well... Perhaps it was naive of the teenaged me to expect a simple, "sorry, I don't know what happened to it" to suffice. Within hours, a surly thug came knocking, asking for me, threatening violence if the tiny bit of plastic wasn't replaced - and fast. It cost me several weeks pocket money/allowance, but after pleading with my parents I was hurriedly taken into town to buy a replacement copy complete with dongle. As far as I remember, the original lost device never turned up.

 

Worst of all, I had no interest in golf and had only played the game once, but starved of Atari software I readily accepted his offer to loan me the tape. Needless to say, my friendship with one of only a thimbleful of local Atari owners was immediately and irretrievably "consciously uncoupled". So thanks for that Bill Carver, or whoever was responsible. Had it been the chunky matchbox-sized type of screw-in dongle that was becoming common with pro applications, no problem, but something the same size and colour of a liquorice allsort? Not kid friendly!

[A8 Elite (Acornsoft):The UK Press Claims-What is the real story here?.]

I can remember reading several well-meaning letters published in Atari User and Page 6 (in the mid-80s) recommending Star Raiders (of 1979 vintage) as an alternative to (or superior to) Elite.

 

A perfect example of why UK Atari owners were so often wryly referred to by UK video game journalists as "loyal". Secretly we all knew that we'd backed the wrong horse, betting the farm (+VAT; +import tax) in the process, now resigned to watching it fall at the first hurdle. But being British - by thunder - we stiffened our lips, secured our blinkers, and resolved to go forth and grumble quietly. As General Melchett said to Lieutenant George in Blackadder, "If nothing else works, a total pig-headed unwillingness to look facts in the face will see us through." Impressive though it was in 1979, suggesting Star Raiders to someone seeking Elite, in 1986, is surely equivalent to offering a game of Snap to someone who wants to play Chess.

 

But anyway.

 

Think back. If Firebird *had* sought to release Elite for the Atari, it would have been farmed out to Mr Micro/Marjacq and done in a massive hurry to meet deadlines/expectations on likely return. It would've been yet another reason for detractors to laugh at our beloved machine. It would've been *shit*. To get someone competent on the case (Braben/Bell themselves?) would've cost too much in both time and finances... It was never planned. It was never worked on. It never existed. But hey - it's worth remembering that in the year that Elite emerged for platforms other than the BBC Micro, Atari owners were already enjoying the delights of "Chop Suey", "Astro Droid" and "Electric Starfish" - so yah booh sucks!

 

A slight return: I can remember letters published in UK magazines aside from Atari User and Page 6, such as C+VG and Computer Gamer, from indignant Atari owners asking when Paperboy, Ghosts 'n' Goblins, Commando, 1942, Bubble Bobble (etc.) were going to be converted for their machine. The answer was inevitably never, and in hindsight, thank goodness they weren't. Think back. Imagine the disappointment you would've felt at being confronted - yet again - by a game where you were in control of a "sprite" that felt massively disconnected from, and weirdly superimposed against the rest of the action.. Your Paperboy, for example, would've eerily floated around the screen while everything else jerkilly juddered by, due to both programmer incompetence and arcane hardware limitations... It doesn't bear thinking about!

 

My old Atari 800XL will forever be my first computer love, but its restrictions are manifold: the unmistakable Pokey FX in *any* shoot-em-up - "piaaawwwwwscchhhhhhhh"; oh it's THAT scrolling colour DLI yet again; aarrgh, the characters are drifting un-naturally around the screen, disjointed from everything else - arrrrrgh; wow - I've been given Gauntlet for Xmas - 25 minute tape load, brown and brown... more brown.. slow brown... slow down.. brown sound; in amongst the racks of the high street store stocking Uridium, Underwurlde, Last Ninja, Out Run, Monty on the Run and Skool Daze is... "Frenesis" by Tony Takoushi, for any Atari 8-bit... Well, setcolor me happy!

 

No Elite? No shameful legacy.

[Anyone got "The Atari Book" by Imagine?]

I am currently selling a spare copy on eBay UK - I won't post a link as this isn't the Marketplace, but if you search "The Atari Book Retro Gamer" I think it's the only copy currently out there (priced to sell at original RRP)!

 

Mixed feelings about The Atari Book, really. On the one hand, it's great that such a thing exists. Certainly a novelty here in the UK to be able to find magazines on the high street in 2015, proudly displaying words like "Atari" and "Amiga" in bold font, standing out among the X-Box/Mac/Android titles. On the other hand, it's well-known that Retro Gamer's Atari 8-bit-centric features are often found wanting, due to the lack of working knowledge of their go-to guy for such articles. So while it's nice that RG have belatedly taken the 8-bit Atari to its busom, sadly (and sometimes infuriatingly) its representation within the pages of RG (upon which The Atari Book is based) can fluctuate between off-kilter, wildly inacurrate, and downright unrecognisable.

 

That said, it's nice and glossy - it will look good on your coffee table - and is worthy of your support and congratulations for existing at all. Did I mention I'm selling my spare copy?

 

Bottom line: seasoned AA'ers should probably observe "caveat emptor". Do you have what it takes to resist a primal urge to tear it to shreds, or set it on fire, when your heart sinks at every missed question in an interview with a key Atari 8-bit person? What about when you read lazy repeated received wisdom that we all know has long since been debunked? How are you with basic inaccuracies? Can you hold your nerve when faced with jarring narratives and clumsy timelines? If any of this is likely to keep you awake at night, my advice is to steer well clear. However, if you're the type more likely to chortle out loud at such clangers and howlers, while enjoying the pretty pictures, a quick reminder that I'm selling my spare copy.

 

Overall: 4/10.

 

BYE.

[Top 5 Atari 8-bit games]

I know that I’ll be shot down in flames for committing heresy here, but I’ve long-since meant to pen that award-winning, glory-grabbing article for Retro Gamer, entertainingly recounting the dismal truth of what it meant to be one of the several hundred thousand UK Atari 8-bit owners of the mid-1980s. Yes: really that many.

 

Recently, RG’s coverage of the presumed-obscure also-ran format I was once (lovingly/furiously) lumbered with has pleasingly increased, but it’s all too celebratory for me. Because – you see – here in the good ol’ U of K, the Atari 8-bit straddled two distinct eras: the first being temporarily good, but if you (like me) were swept up in the machine’s belated second coming? Well, it was a whole different world.

 

Back to the beginning though, and long before the Spectrum, C64 and Amstrad ruled the roost of this green and pleasant land, the first Atari 8-bit era began courtesy of several “firms” who specialised in the practice of importing Atari hardware and software to sell to – for want of a better phrase – rich bastards. And, given the buoyancy and longevity of companies like Maplin and Silica Shop, sell they did.

 

I don’t think it’s any exaggeration to say that, back in 1981, purchasing an Atari 800 with 810 disk drive and Star Raiders cartridge here in the UK would see you parting with roughly the equivalent cost of buying three Scottish castles, two (prize-winning) racing yachts, a Rolls-Royce Corniche, and a very big house in the country. Just ask Archer McLean. But despite the breathtaking outlay, within a few short months, such was the penetration of the Atari in the UK, masses of user groups, magazines and shops sprung up to support the “Ferrari of home computers,” with many of them soldiering on for years.

 

UK Atari owners of this era – let’s call it the golden age of 1981 to 1983 – enjoyed the following games, all of them certified classics, and most of them American. Let’s face it, many UK owners had saved for months and months to finally afford that tantalising import cart or disc that would shame any ZX81 or BBC Atom-owning friend. For completeness, I’ve included a rough estimate, converted into today’s money, of how much those rich bastards paid to secure ownership of said trinket/trophy/ego-boost:

 

1. Preppie! (Disc; Adventure International; 1982) £4,291,449
2. Pole Position (ROM; Atarisoft – Disc; Datasoft; 1983) £3.1m/£1.9m
3. Miner 2049’er (ROM; Big Five; 1982) £7,981,190
4. Oil’s Well (ROM; Ahem; 1983) £3,119,210
5. Jet Boot Jack (Disc; English Software; 1983) £9.95

 

Truly, this was the imperial phase of the Atari 8-bit in the UK. Magazines like C&VG and – erm – probably others, would often compare the 400/800 series favourably to its then-only rivals, the ZX81 and Vic-20. And Apple II. And BBC Micro, Sord M5, and others. At least, here in the UK. The NewBrain hadn’t really taken off by then. Or the Atom. It was Atari that ruled the roost.

 

Yes, the ever-canny British shopper had taken one look at the sub-£300 price tag of all the pretenders to Atari’s throne (£4,419,319 in today’s money) snorting in disdain at the inexpensive, tatty games on compact cassette, guffawing at the very sight of so-called software for such mere mortal machines, increasingly laughably encroaching upon the shelf-space once reserved for The King.

 

But then. 1983.

 

The exactly 459 UK Atari 8-bit owners who plunged, head-first, into early-adoption of these new-fangled computer things, spending (on average; in today’s money) £11,191,519 pursuing their hobby are finding themselves marganalised. As the mass populous finally catches on to this whole computer (game) thing, shops that would once sell you Atari BC’s Quest For Tires (Disc; Sierra/Sydney - £1,199,383) are suddenly flooded with strange titles like Hungry Horace (Cassette; Psion; £4.19) and Wizard of Wor (Cassette; Commodore; £3.59)

 

By the end of the year, coverage of the Atari in the UK’s main (and only) multi-format newsstand magazine is relegated to a solitary quarter-page, navy-on-cobalt feature about “computer turtles,” the rest of the magazine concerned with reviewing games for newer computers that each have one seemingly minor hardware advantage over the Atari, which will ultimately render 99.5% of the breathtakingly successful software for them either a) impossible; b) terrible or c) unrecognisable, should anyone bother to convert it to the “Ferrari of home computers.” For everyone to copy. And copy. And copy.

 

* * *

 

Tune in next time! Remember those hundreds of thousands of UK Atari 8-bit owners I mentioned? I’ll list the (very different) top 5 games “enjoyed” by those unfortunate souls who found one of the innumerably remaindered 800XLs in their 1985 Christmas stocking, in place of a shiny Commodore 64. Was dad swayed by the sales patter and low-low price on offer at the UK’s largest high-street technology retailer? Or did mum buy it, at a premium, on the never-never from one of any number of catalogues?

 

By early 1986, with Atari 8-bit machines changing hands in the UK for less than a ton (often much less), the installed user base dramatically increased – but there was something very, very wrong. While publishers were gambling on new dedicated Atari newsstand magazines, and with software companies keen to leap upon the Atari bandwagon, there was an understandable air of ambivalence among those who hadn’t encountered “the golden age” of Atari and were being teased relentlessly by their Sanxion or Underwurlde-playing mates.

 

Will “Frenesis”, “Crystal Raider” or “Milk Race” feature in the Second Coming Top 5? Find out next time…

[Zynaps from C64]

I agree with Mclaneinc - it's never too late to learn how to realise your dreams, and this is exactly the right place to get definitive advice from defacto A8 veterans. There's nothing to match the satisfaction and excitement that comes when YOU have personally made something happen, whether it's overcoming a complex problem in order to make the IMPOSSIBLE possible, or even being the one who's tried enough to categorically state that something is indeed sadly IMPOSSIBLE. Just as someone like Bill Hogue or Frank Cohen taught themselves 6502 30 years (or so) ago, you too can learn the same way - but with the added benefit of all the instant help that was unavailable to them, together with traditional resources like De Re Atari, etc.

 

Jose, have you ever given it a try? I mean this in the nicest possible way, but I fear it's the only way you'll ever see one of your many "flight of fancy" proposals come to life. Or, most likely, not.

 

I'm sure Jose won't take offence, but as has been pointed out so many, many times before, by coders who've earned the right to have THE definitive LAST WORD when yet another of these "this is easy to make!!" threads is started, it's one thing to grasp the GTIA specs/limitations/workarounds enough to generate a static image as a prospective example of how something might look/work, but ENTIRELY ANOTHER (which is seemingly beyond comprehension) to bring that attractive screenshot to life, by even the most dedicated, respected and admired MAC/65 junkies who are actually still able to focus on a screen/move their hands/not require a constant commode...

 

There's obviously quite a bit of effort put into these constant "proof of concept" threads (and of course I'd love to see A8 versions of titles like Bubble Bobble, Ghosts 'n' Goblins, The Last Ninja, Renegade, Pang, Rainbow Islands, Paperboy, Elite (and so on)) but, for the love of Colleen, I can't be the only who sighs at seeing yet another one. If only all that effort could be channelled into making something useful! It's long been established that coders don't approach a project by creating a mock screenshot and working from there, but these threads are always the same pattern: mock screen posted with eye-catching "C64 GAME!!!" thread title, concept quickly shot down in flames by an expert, war of attrition begins...

 

Sorry if I've overstepped the mark here, but I think it's high time that someone put down their G2F and picked up their Mapping The Atari!

[-The real Atari 8bit Computer Successor]

I can only speak from a UK perspective, but as a proud owner of an Atari 800XL between 1984-1987 almost all of my information/education (in common, I suspect, with virtually everyone else) came from magazines. Printed newsstand magazines. Remember them? Dedicated magazines. Y'know, ones with Atari in their name? Or Atari printed prominently on the cover? Apart from hearing the odd (unreliable) rumour upon (rarely) encountering a fellow cult member (a lesser-spotted Atari owner), everything I knew (again, surely in common with almost everyone else) was gleaned from the pages of a magazine. In most cases, a magazine with a vested interest.

 

Atari User, for example, wasn't about to send its hard-fought audience scuttling off to buy a Commodore machine (and therefore a Commodore magazine) having only recently launched, determined to mop up the underserved Atari 8-bit owner. Page 6 was similarly predisposed to championing Atari uber alles (despite the incessant whinging about the company/its supporters/the readers/the weather). I'm convinced that magazines are to blame for the whole "my computer is better than yours" wars of the early 80s, with titles like Crash (ZX Spectrum) ensuring the loyalty of its readership by rubbishing every other computer. (Until its owners launched a plethora of other machine-specific titles, that is.) I'm guessing the same is true of dedicated US/Euro mags? Did Antic run an article, "Hey! This new Commodore machine is real swell - call Toll Free to cancel your subscription now!"

 

My point? Ah - here it is...

 

I raise my hand as one of those who *did* migrate from my trusty 800XL to an Amiga 500 in 1988 (via a brief dalliance with a ZX Spectrum +2 - don't ask) and immediately felt at home with it. All the Atari magazines I was reading wanted me to buy an ST, but I never took to it. My friend had one throughout 1987. Lime green. Massive pointer. Bee. Bombs. Tinny sound. Fumbling with the joystick. Kettle lead. Wooden mouse. It wasn't an Atari. Saw some early intros/demos on an Amiga in early 1988 and recognised the copper list colour effects as being enhanced display list effects... it showed humour and personality when it crashed (I'd always respected the fact that BYE was a valid Atari Basic command)... but I knew next to nothing about it, other than the Atari magazines that I read constantly mocked it. Funny how so many of their writers eventually ended up working for Amiga/Mac/PC magazines. Along with their advertisers.

 

What a ramble.

 

Anyway. I guess what I'm trying to say (!) is that we forget how little we knew 30+ years ago. Few of us had anything more than magazine adverts/editorial/advertorial/reviews to go on. And we forget how far we've come. As I type this tripe, I'm embarassed at the memory of making petty criticisms of Curt's excellent Atari, Inc. book. What an age we live in when such a definitive account of such esoteric subject matter is available to all... And to the OP: Yes.

[questions and thoughts about the 8bit cassette players]

I've always thought that bundling "An Invitation to Programming" with the 800XL/1010 package (as it was here in the UK for several years) was a very cynical move. I imagine that many computer newbies, whose first experience with an A8 was to sit through "An Invitation", naturally assumed that their Atari was "speaking" to them, and that the video display was being spooled from the cassette somehow. Even though I was already familiar with the Atari (having fiddled around with a friend's 800), when I eventually became an 800XL/1010 owner in 1984, I felt that "An Invitation" created a false impression (and raised expectations) about the machine's capabilities. Especially given that for the majority of users, "An Invitation" would be both their first and last encounter with that style of multi-media production.

 

All of that said, I can still recite large portions of it, thanks to the engaging narrator.

 

I remember wondering how the computer "knew" when to change the display to keep in sync with the soundtrack. Perhaps it was just precision-timed, but I seem to recall an audible tone would signal the computer to display to change. Did the program go into a loop listening for the cue once the new display was drawn? The cue presumably recorded onto the data track (was it possible to "listen" to the audio track within a program?).

 

Two great features (and curses) of the Atari cassette system - stereo soundtrack and the ability to start/stop the motor...

[Atari History Book]

I kept meaning to leave a review of this book somewhere and the thread-bump here has just reminded me!

 

The copy I received here in the UK was fulfilled by Amazon. My order was placed just a couple of days after it showed up as available on the site and it arrived super-quick.

 

It's not Curt's fault that Amazon sent me a battered copy - looked like it had been kicked around a bit - but nevertheless, I was obviously disappointed at its condition given the cost. Oh well, too much hassle to chase postal services/Amazon, and I really wanted to get stuck straight in, so I decided that the contained text was more important and valuable than its superficial appearance.

 

First impressions: it was a lot bigger and thicker than I expected. It's pretty much the shape and size of an old-school telephone directory, which makes for uncomfortable reading over a long-ish period of time. Maybe I have puny arms, but holding it aloft caused arm-ache within minutes - it was necessary to take breaks just to have a rest! Despite its thickness it's also very flimsy. The paper (especially the cover card) seems to be of low-grade stock. With the exception of the cover, all included text and photographs/diagrams/pictures are monochrome. there is no special colour section.

 

It's set-out in the most illogical way, with photos and illustrations of interest not accompanying the supporting text, but appearing at the end of chapters in great swathes. You'll find your mind tripping up over what you've just read chronologically when you hit the photo sections that upset and contradict bits of what you've just taken in. Disappointingly, given the archival importance and hard work that's clearly gone into sourcing many of the fascinating illustrations, many are reproduced poorly. I kept wondering whether they add anything to the "story" given their clumsy juxtaposition against the text. No footnotes. No index.

 

My major criticism is reserved for the text itself. Yes, there are some truly compelling passages in the book, where you find yourself just *having* to read to the end of an engaging anecdote, and the result is enjoyably satisfying. However, there are literally *hundreds* of sloppy, first-draft howlers that pull you out of stories and away from the narrative. I personally found it frustrating to keep hitting these "WTF?" moments as I was forced to re-read paragraphs, start sentences again, turn the page only to have to go back a bit to parse the syntactic meaning before moving on. Tenses confusingly change all the time, the posessive apostrophe suffers major schizophrenia throughout and the tone jerks between scholarly and matey, often mid-paragraph.

 

You might say that's nit-picking, considering that this book represents its authors desire to share reams of extensive and exclusive detail with the reader. I say that this once in a generation opportunity to create a definitive and fact-checked accurate account of "Atari History" is, if not wasted, at least embarassingly marred. I can remember reading posts from willing volunteer sub-editors and proof-readers here on AA prior to the book's (delayed) release, upon seeing worryingly illiterate proofs. It's a terrible shame that the vanity and defensive attitude of the book's authors seemingly prevented them from taking on board the pre-release constructive criticism aimed at the text.

 

That said, if you're willing to put up with the erratic layout and are forgiving towards the constant crimes against grammar, there are countless exciting nuggets of information in this book. Beyond the shadowy picture sections, every few pages of text yields a snippet of new information, a revealing insight or provocative comment from a contributor. Make no mistake, if you're a real connoisseur then this is an essential purchase. It's one of a kind and does genuinely contain fresh, definitive and revealing information that will be new to you. A long-held myth entertainingly debunked there, a persistent rumour finally surprisingly confirmed there...

 

What a shame then that, for whatever reason, the final coat of gloss was not applied. I won't be holding my breath for a revision or indeed the promised next installment.

[Music from Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence - World Karate Championship]

Jury is still out to my mind whether this was the inspiration for the soundtrack to a C64 space-age budget title (while we got "Knight Tyme" music instead.)

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDfmLWPpJVc

[Seek to find a real photo at former Atari Store !]

I can't begin to tell you how much I wanted to visit this UK store back in 1985 but I was 11 and 50 miles from Birmingham :-)

 

Compumart in Leicester was closer and I wondered what the store looked like, but again, never got to go there.

[Atari memories (well, UK, anyway)]

Hello again. I am about to contribute more of the same (!) so I guess you can just skip this post if you found the previous one irritating

 

More memories...

 

The feeling of terror when realising I'd lost the dongle to Leaderboard Golf, lent to me by the aforementioned friend, as I was *sure* I could find a way around the protection (despite having zero means or ability) and copy it somehow. It was my friend's father's favourite game and I knew it would mean parents getting involved once I'd admitted I'd rendered the game useless... though I can't remember what happened next!

 

Finding a blank cassette labelled with marker pen "Atari Music Collection" in amongst a handful of Atari tapes at a shop called Software City on Mansfield Road in Nottingham (I can remember the disdain from the shop guy when I asked for Atari stuff). I picked it up and took it to the counter along with a stray "Life" cart and battered "Hardball!" tape which I think were all 50p each - I was starved of software so considered these quite a find! "Life" bored me senseless, and I don't think I ever got Hardball! to load, but the music tape was amazing... I was expecting an audio casette, but it had copies of Music Master 2 & 3, Passionately (with the, erm, alternative lyrics) and several BASIC listings that played "Ticket to Ride" by The Beatles amongst others. I must have worn that tape out!

 

Wondering who these mysterious people like Rob.C and Ian.K were who seemed to "own" the disks my friend (who's father was a massive Notts Atari pirate) showed me, inspiring me into buying my 800XL. I marvelled at how these people seemed to have put their names on the screen. This friend promised me that when I got my Atari, he'd transfer to tape any games I wanted from hundreds of Multiboot disks. I ended up with a dodgy Boots C-15 cassette with Popeye on one side and Keystone Kapers on the other - and that was that. Oh no, hang on, I remember he copied Pogo Joe for me as well, but the tape ended before the program did, so that was the end of that...

 

Whenever an Atari 8-bit turned up on a TV show! During the 80s in the UK there were a handful of computer hobbyist shows (like the PBS US show Computer Chronicles, but much less informed). Chief among these was "Micro Live" on the BBC which naturally promoted its own branded Acorn machine above all else. However, I remember twice seeing an 800XL on that show - once when a then-famous athlete bought it for his family and there was a short film about the experience, and again when a TV newsreader tried out Atariwriter and absolutely hated it. The best moment though was when Jack Tramiel appeared on ITV rival show "Database" and appeared to walk off at the end of the interview!

 

Listening for ages to the incidental music at the end of a game of Ninja before restarting, and realising it seemed different every time. (Was it randomly generated?!)

 

The penny dropping that my copy of Boulderdash was credited on-screen to "Paul I. Rate with The Mole" and realising it must be a P. I. Rate copy (retail tape and inlay!).

 

Driving on the far right-hand side of the road in Spy Hunter for ages (once the music had decided to stop) waiting to see what would happen... nothing ever did.

 

RIGHT... ONE MORE THEN I'M DONE!

 

Chuckling at what I presumed was Atari humour whilst browsing the BASIC manual and seeing "Device Nak" - I imagined it meant "Device Knackered." Perhaps it does?

 

(EDIT: **ABSOLUTELY LAST ONE** Assuming that Atari User's Andre Willey had written Jet Set Willy and wondering why he'd taken so long to convert it to the Atari if he was such a famous Atari journalist/programmer.)

 

* * *

 

Well, that was cathartic. Sorry I haven't any celebrity stories to share or anything more exciting to offer (** ooh - just remembered discovering the astonishing pause mode in Chimera **) but, as you can tell, I was very passionate about my brief and vaguely disappointing Atari years, so I hope you'll forgive me! (** ooh - I used to be able to quote a line from Invitation To Programming where the female V/O says something along the lines of, "here, don't put parenthesis around the variables" because at the time she may as well have been speaking Klingon **). It was a lonely existance for a pre-teen child, but ultimately opened my mind and fired my creativity and imagination in ways I'm sure wouldn't have happened with an Amstrad CPC464

[Atari memories (well, UK, anyway)]

 

IIRC Intoto (it was down Hockley wasn't it?) was owned by one of my dads mates, so I never tried that for obvious reasons

 

How I miss those swopping sessions at the Nottingham Microcomputer Club...

 

Yep, Intoto was in Hockley. Nottingham Atari owners were lucky, really, to have several local Atari focal points - they were dying out though, just I became a proud Atarian.

 

I seem to remember the Atari guy at Intoto was called Lance. The Atari/C64 stuff was upstairs, so the staff and customers could literally look down on the Spectrum and Amstrad types who would breeze into the ground floor section to pick up all that terrible rubbish like "Elite", "Knight Lore" and so on. Later, Intoto was one of the first places I ever saw a Sega Master System and a retail card display of carts/cards for sale. Of course, there was a roaring black market trade of import console stuff (if you knew where to go) before the legit retail channel was established.

 

Although Intoto was tiny, upstairs you'd always find the latest copies of Page 6, Antic, Atari User, etc. There was also an 130XE and C64 set up with tape and disk for demos. I can remember watching someone playing Great Giana Sisters on the C64 - while I waited for the guy behind the counter to find the tape that went inside my empty "Amaurote" box. Remember when all the tapes were kept behind the counter with rubber bands round them? They also had some ancient disk stuff that was really expensive (seem to remember a couple of APX titles) and, if memory serves, they'd have an old import copy of something like Bruce Lee on the shelf for £25 next to the US Gold release that was £7.95...

 

Other miscellaneous memories that will probably only chime with UK Atarians...

 

When I first encountered XFormer/Rainbow (is that right? really early Atari emulators) I was struck by the fact that something wasn't quite right. It was only a long time later that it occured to me that for much of my Atari ownership, it was used almost exclusively on my black and white (monochrome) portable TV in my bedroom! A kid in the 80s was considered *very* lucky if he had a colour portable TV. Of course, I'd occasionally be allowed to plug it into the big colour TV downstairs.

 

For the last few months of my 800XL's life, there was a problem with the cable leading into the connection of the power cord. This was remedied temporarily by forcing the computer up against a panel at the back of my teak 80s computer desk. The computer would then work for a while before what I called "the sound of thunder" started to build up - quietly at first before becoming deafening - over a period of 5 minutes or so. Eventually, there'd be a "spike" that would cause random behaviour - normally a freeze or reset - but sometimes it would just affect the characters on the screen or mess up the game before crashing a few seconds later. After several minutes of wiggling, the thunder would pass, only to build up again later.

 

I wrote to Atari User to try to catch them out. The letter ended up in the Mailbag of one of the issues. I basically said "when I enter the command SETCOLOUR 2,0,0 (or whatever it is) I get an error". I was hoping they wouldn't notice I'd used the British English spelling and come up with a bizarre answer. They were onto me straightaway. I was only 12.

 

Did anyone else hand-drawn an inlay for an, ahem, "backup" of a game? For a short while, my sole Atari owning friend and I would take it in turns to buy a game, where the person who bought it would keep the original and the other would have a copy. I remember he drew an excellent copy of the "Mr Dig" artwork and I replicated the Zaxxon cover.

 

I could go on all night. Had better not.

[Atari memories (well, UK, anyway)]

I can't believe I posted this *four* years ago - time flies... some of my UK memories

 

http://www.atariage.com/forums/topic/119164-atari-800-xl-screenshots-needed/page__hl__+intoto#entry1439075

[Spotted another tape recorder model]

It's just a Phonemark model isn't it? I had one of these back in 1986 after snapping too many of my 1010's buttons (including replacing Play with Pause/Advance,etc.)

 

Think mine came from Compumart in Leicester.

 

By the way, at the bottom of that eBay description the seller does say he's happy to post outside of Germany.