Mr.Amiga500

I'd just like to say I went through hell posting that - not just because of that bastard Otto. My main computer died and I had to go back to my BeOS P3 machine. Unfortunately, Atariage is no longer compatible with that old BonEcho browser. I had to turn javascript off to type anything, but I could only add attachments with javascript on. To use an Airplane quote, "What a pisser".

I came here with the sole purpose of annoying bountybob. Here, choke on this!:

Is this RastaConverter for Windows/Linux only? I'd really like to make some images, but I'm using a PPC Mac.

These aren't in order of importance or anything, but here are Atari moments that I remembered (even though I didn't actually own an Atari back then): 1. First seeing my friend's 800XL - It was so much more beautiful than my "melted key" CoCo 2. I loved the dark brown & cream colour scheme. 2. The wonders of floppy disks - My friend had the first floppy disk drive I'd ever seen. I had only ever used cartridges and tape. He had a large box of disks, containing nearly a hundred games and interesting demos. Going through those disks gave me such a feeling of mystery and discovery. 3. Seeing Ballblaster (yes Ballblaster, not BallBlazer - my friend somehow had the prototype in 1984) - Real-time 3D (pseudo-3D) was amazing for the time, but split-screen 3D with each player having his own view was mind-blowing. 4. Playing Montezuma's Revenge - At the time, most games had only a few different screens that repeated - and you had to complete each one before moving to the next, usually with an annoying time limit. I loved how Montezuma's Revenge had no time limit at all and it seemed like the number of rooms were infinite. I think this was the first game I ever played that gave a real sense of exploration. 5. Playing Blue Max - The landscape seemed to go on forever, but the most amazing thing was that it was different every time you played it. Most games at the time had repeating patterns (predictable and very limited). I'd never seen randomly generated landscape before. Once again, there was a sense of exploration and discovery. 6. Seeing colour-cycling and gradients - My CoCo 2 had a pathetic selection of colours (to this day, I hate graphics made with flat primary colours because it reminds me of limited palettes of early computers). The Atari colour palette blew my mind. There was a demo showing a bunch of large silver pipes (still can't find it) made of gradients that really amazed me. I still love gradients. I wasn't impressed by any other computer until many years later when I first saw an Amiga - and I got the same sense of wonder that I had when seeing the Atari.

I've been keeping my eyeball glued to this forum (which really hurts!), looking for a game I feel like playing, but it's always some weirdo game like Gorilla Girls or Baby Bat Freaks (...or something like that). How about a normal game like SeaFox, Pole Position or Rescue on Fractalus?

I think we should have a poll asking if we should have another poll about a pre-poll.

In Canada, we had Colour Computers. (...but the label on the actual computer had a spelling error... missing a "u" ) (box from my first computer)

I never heard about this either. Thanks for posting. The first video games I ever saw were in 1980 when I saw three arcade machines: Asteroids, Centipede and Berzerk. I've always been pleased with Atari 8-bit Berzerk and Centipede (5200 version), but Asteroids on the Atari never quite did it for me - until now. It's great to have all three on my 800XL.

That's very interesting. I had no idea there was a Cherry swich version. Thanks for posting. So I guess we should call that a "Type 6"?

Ha! I did that too when I first started programming - and that was on a TRS-80 "Colour Computer". (Canadian boxes for the computer actually had the correct spelling "Colour") I got plenty of syntax errors on that one. I was thrilled when I got AMOS BASIC for the Amiga and I had a choice to spell commands "COLOUR" and "CENTRE".

Yes, I agree with this. Each was the ultimate in its time: the Atari 2600 from '79-'82, the Atari 8-bit from '83-'85, the C64 from '86-'87 and the Amiga from '88-'91. At least that was my experience in those years. (I know these aren't the years the machines were introduced, but that's when they were most popular (pricing, available software) - the C64 didn't get big in Canada until around '85-'86 after Atari 8-bit was "dead") Edit: ...and I'm not being biased - most of those years, I owned a TRS-80 CoCo 2 and it was not the ultimate.

If dragging windows off screen is a big problem, you could do it the Amiga way and prevent any parts of windows from moving off screen. Although people accustomed to modern GUIs might dislike this, I've always thought this was better: you can just quickly slide windows to any side of the screen without having to carefully position them to make sure they're not partly off screen, with gadgets or icons inaccessable.

"Inspire" has been used many times before - often on crappy computing products or programs. I'd like to see a name that is unique and easily searchable. How about something simple: since this is "a new gui for Atari", maybe it could be called "Anewgui" (Atari new gui - pronounced "anoogie") (The name has the added benefit that if somebody asks for it, you can say "Oh, you want a noogie? OK!" - and then you grab them and give them a "noogie" .)

Perfect. Thanks.

There's just one little error that bothers me - in the main theme, just before it loops, there are three notes that are identical. There should be four notes, two the same, then one a step lower, then another the same as the first two. ("da da dum da" instead of "da da da"... I'm too lazy to find out the exact keys, but you get the idea )

Awesome. When I switched to the "enemy music", I got a sudden feeling that some skeleton guys were running after me. I love Faery Tale. I still have a button on my Amiga file manager that plays Faery Tale music when pressed. Now I've got it on my 800XL too. Thanks! I wish I had the night music too.

Hey that's great, Syd! Space Channel has quite a few viewers. I've been to your Personal Computer Museum twice. That's where I first got to play with a Kaypro (and liked it so much I later bought two) and got to test a buckling-spring IBM AT keyboard (now my favourite keyboard and what I'm using to type now). At the museum "spring cleanup", I got a boxed Vic-20, C64 & drive, C128 & drive, SGI Indy and some TI-99 games - all very reasonably priced.

Aw, crap! I missed it. I'll be checking the GPS coordinates of all the buyers to see who is most convenient to steal one from.

Awesome. Thanks for continuing this. Now I wish I could find somebody doing scans of late 70's/early 80's OMNI magazine.

I'm pretty sure I've read "1977 Trinity" in one of my BYTE magazines from 1979 (or was it 1980? I have no BYTE magazines before 1979 so it's not earlier). I think it was in the BYTE Editor notes in the first few pages of the magazine. I definitely remember reading it, but that's as close as my vague memory can take me.

I don't normally make personal attacks, but ThomSW... you're an idiot!

I'm sure kheffington didn't deliberately try to ignore your rights - so why didn't you send him a private message and ask him instead of calling him a pirate?

Yes, exactly. I have an Apple II+ and two Apple IIc computers (with matching monitor). I tried hard to like them, I really did. I love the built in floppy drive and wish there was an Atari like that (but with XL colour scheme). But.... anything the Apple II can do is much better done on other computers. If I want glowing green-screen, command line fun: I'll use my Kaypro. If I want quick, portable text editing: I'll use my TRS-80 Model 100. If I want 8-bit gaming: I'll use my Atari 800XL. If I want to do anything else, I'll use my Amiga 500. I can even run Apple II software on the Amiga. (and still get the same lowres scanlined feel - unlike with PC-based emulators) Back in the day, the Apple II was unbelievably overpriced. I never knew anyone who had one and I never saw one in real life - until 1987, when I saw an Apple IIc on "blowout clearance sale" at a store closing (the death of Robinsons). I looked at the clearance sticker and it said $1100. It just didn't make sense to me. I was sure it was a typo and that it was actually supposed to be $110. That sounded reasonable to me, having bought a new CoCo III the year before for $99 - and this was supposed to be a store closing sale and the IIc was an out of box store demo model! The cashier came back and said, "No, it's not a typo. It's $1100." I stood there, baffled, confused, discombobulated... and anything else you can find in a thesaurus. Then I said, "Holy F****** S***!"

I've got an Indy. It's a nice, solidly built computer with some nice features. I still definitely prefer the Amiga. Yes, I miss that. Compare the skill those people had with today's "hackers". Every time I hear about "geniuses" in the Apple Store, I want to puke.

See, now this post makes much more sense. I can understand this post. I too initially disliked the jump from quick command line to relatively slow GUI. I absolutely hated Microsoft BASIC on the Amiga - and that shit program completely killed my enthusiasm for programming (I had already written programs on 7 different 8-bits before getting the Amiga). I also understand the lack of software problem - although that was nothing new to me, having the same problem with my CoCo II. But... I stuck with the Amiga and kept tinkering and upgrading and customizing and pushing it as far as I could. It still blows my mind how flexible and configurable an 80's computer can get - to a point where I could do all this with my 1987 Amiga 500: Connected to my work's Microsoft Outlook Web Access through browser and sent office emails using A500 (connected browser with 128-bit secure HTTPS, javascript and images) Logged on to eBay with 256-bit HTTPS, bid & won items (with 1-second accuracy - one "snipe" in the final second!) Emulated MacOS 8.1, ran Mac software ClarisWorks, WriteNow3 and games (also emulated 7.5.5 and ran Mathematica, and 3D game Vette! at full speed) Digitized and converted images from DVD/VCR/Video Camera in 24-bit colour Sampled and converted music from DVD/Compact Disc/Cassette Tape Converted & created MP3s Played audio files > 50Mb (16bit 44100Hz AIFF - in 14bit stereo, absolutely no skip or stutter) Created and printed PDF documents (PDFs displayed perfectly in Adobe Acrobat) Sent and received Faxes Sent and received MSN instant messages Processed huge images 8800x6800 in size - in original 24-bit depth! Scanned and printed 24-bit images at 720dpi Uploaded/downloaded files from the internet larger than 100Mb Played DOOM, DOOM II, Plutonia and TNT, custom and patch wads with music and sound Sent and received emails with large multiple attachments >5Mb Sent and received over 2Gb of files through serial at 115200 baud (original A500 serial) Then there's the more ordinary things like creating web pages and relational databases, playing Windows MIDI files, creating 24-bit 3D rendered animations, multimedia presentations and emulating 6 different 8-bit computers. I would have been able to do more if I had more than 8Mb RAM. Take a look at my signature link for some screenshots. (but view in original size - automatic scaling screws them up)