Pengwin

Looks like I have an issue with the usb to serial adapter I was using. It used to be fine (about 10 years ago). Final option is another laptop I have kicking around, this one has a serial port. No OS on it at the moment, so I'll probably go the Linux route with that one.

I'm going to try a Win10 laptop first (it has SSD and really fast startup), if that doesn't work, then I'll probably go the linux route (Should have also said, it has a touch screen, so will be cool to be able to just touch the disk I want to load.)

Thanks for the welcome back guys. It’s good to see some familiar names still frequenting the forums. It’s like I never left 🙂

After an extended hiatus from the A8 community (about 10 years), I have finally pulled my 800XL, 1050 and some disks from the loft. And they still work!! Even the disks are (nearly) all ok. Unfortunately, I used to use my iMac with SIO2PC, but that has been replaced by my MacBook, which for some reason doesn't want to work with the interface (using RespeQT as SIO2MAC is not 64 bit). SO I am in the process of doing a clean install of Windows on my wife's old laptop to use solely for this purpose. I missed my 800XL.

My first computer was a ZX Spectrum (or rather the households first computer). I don't recall writing anything meaningful on it, apart from listings from magazines. The first really useful program I wrote was a simple payroll system, on my 800XL, so that my father knew what to pay me each week. My first commercial application was a DTP app for a local cartoonist, written for Windows 3.1 in 1990 (?). Still programming for a living, but miss the days of when you had to really think about how to fit what you wanted into memory and how to get the best performance out of things. Some of my peers (mostly at least 10 years younger than me) wonder why I spend so much time trying to optimise code and avoiding libraries to keep app sizes down and performance up. I guess it's a hang up of when we had to do everything ourselves.

Just after a quick play, I am very impressed. This has always been one of my favourites, and I like this new version.

Totally agree with you here. I think I put more hours into this than any other game.

I've tried other versions, including the Spectrum and C64, neither are as well polished as the A8 version. Even the modern incarnations (Archon Ultra and Archon Conquest (?) on iOS) seem to lose something, which brings me back to the A8 version every time.

I do remember seeing an ad for DBase II for the A8, but to my knowledge, it was never released.

I still use the A8, and other 8-bits, because I am in awe of some of the development done back in the 80's. It seems to me that programmers today are lazy in comparison. Today, if the hardware can't handle the software, then the recommended hardware is updated. Back then, if the hardware didn't support the software, the the software was refactored and optimised to work on the hardware. Some games (Lords of Midnight, Rescue on Fratcalus, Alternate Reality) absolutely blew me away, because I knew that the machines were being pushed harder than before. I remember when Doom 3 came out for PC, and the recommended hardware to run it optimally didn't actually exist at the time!!! (Full disclosure, I am a professional programmer, and I am just as lazy as everyone else)

Looking back, I would definitely get an A8 for Rescue on Fractalus, Star Raiders and Archon (the A8 original is still the best IMO). But as I still have my A8 and those games... no problem

I remember running into a C64 being by a newsagents to keep track of his accounts and addresses for deliveries. I see no reason an A8 couldn't have done it.. and probably quicker too. I also created a program (I refuse to call them 'apps') back in the late 80's to keep track of the hours I worked so I could present a print out to my boss. For small businesses, I actually see no reason why the A8 couldn't be used today.

Like Jack, I also use Play On for Altirra now. Although, as Mt Robot says in his post linked to by Jack, if you have Homebrew installed (if not, why not?), it's easy enough to get atari800.

Plus, a Mega ST style case would allow for more room for any mods.

Just like to add my thanks for all that Mark has done for the Mac users in the Atari community. I too still use Atari800MacX, almost on a daily basis. Unfortunately, due to space constraints, I haven't had a chance to use SIO2OSX for quite some time. Regarding Kagi, I did read on a dev forum yesterday that they have now gone out of business. Damn shame they failed to honour the cheque.

Does anyone know where I can acquire a copy of the disk image, or even take dump, of Scapeghost by Level 9? From my research on the internet, it was released on A8, but I cannot find a copy anywhere

I have to agree with a number of people here and say that RoF was probably the game that impressed me the most, technically, back in the day. Out of the modern games, of not seen too many, but Yoomp! astounded me the first time I saw it.

Looks like I'm the only one who used the 822. I wrote a timesheet program and used it to present to my boss. I was perfect for the job.

From my experience, most BASIC's of the time were like that... I certainly don't remember a way to delete a line in Spectrum or Oric BASIC other than the way you described.

My family's first computer was a 16K ZX Spectrum, bought at the end of '82 via mail order, but didn't arrive until March '83. MY first computer was a 48K Oric Atmos, bought in '84 (I think)

Regarding MADS: It uses the org directive rather than the asterisk

You also need at least 2 spaces on line 10. The asterisk is the equivalent of the ORG directive in some compilers, so it should be treated as a mnemonic as well.

How many spaces do you have between the line number and the rest of the line? You should have at least 2, otherwise it will see the mnemonic as a label, rather than code