Hi to an old friend

[Chug]

I dug my old Atari 800XL out of the loft yesterday. Since then my 9yr old daughter has been merrily playing games like Star Raiders and World Karate Championship, and is currently trying her hand at programming in BASIC. Her laptop, which is immensely more powerful is gathering dust on the shelf as she enjoys the simple pleasure of making a computer do what you want it to.

[adam242]

Age nine is about when I first laid hands on an Atari 8-bit... a friend's 400 in 1982. Nothing short of magic.

 

Of course, it's a different kind of magic to today's kids - good to see they can still appreciate "simple pleasure of making a computer do what you want it to" in this world of overly complex PS4s, Wintel machines, smartphones, etc. Congratulations!

[w1k]

hi, welcome

[Chug]

Using my XL again is a serious nostalgia trip. Unfortunately many of my disks are corrupted after more than 20yrs in the loft.

[+therealbountybob]

Using my XL again is a serious nostalgia trip. Unfortunately many of my disks are corrupted after more than 20yrs in the loft.

You might find after turning them in the sleeves by hand (turn the middle ring) they will run...

 

Nice thread

[Chug]

You might find after turning them in the sleeves by hand (turn the middle ring) they will run...

 

Nice thread

I'll give that a go.

 

When I first showed my kids the floppy disks they reacted as though I was showing them dinosaur bones.

[Stormtrooper of Death]

Beautifull story. I am also trying to get the 2 sons of my girlfriend to become interested in programming / gaming on old computers. The oldest one (13 years), had a go with GW-basic and liked it. He was amazed that he was able to program. Might get them to game on Atari machines aswell.

[Chug]

A bit of a gripe now. When I went to school. Back in the dim and distant past. Children were taught how to programme computers using BASIC. As a result many went on to write their own programmes, and some even learn't machine code. Today's kids only seem to learn how to use pre-written software, hell my sons old school wanted all parents to buy IPads. Both my children seem slightly disbelieving when I tell them that all the software that they use has had to be written by someone. I believe that this is a major failing of the education system here in the UK. I don't know what the situation is like in other countries.

[+Stephen]

Same over here. It's one of the things I despise about the iPad, it's fully designed for data consumers, not producers. I started programming in BASIC when I was 7 on an Atari 400, and I do it full time now (well, not the BASIC )

[Chug]

Same over here. It's one of the things I despise about the iPad, it's fully designed for data consumers, not producers. I started programming in BASIC when I was 7 on an Atari 400, and I do it full time now (well, not the BASIC )

I sometimes find it hard to believe that the IPad is produced by the same company that made the Apple II, they are so dissimilar.

[bbking67]

Woz never had much to do with other products beyond the Apple II series (I think he developed the first Mac mouse). It's not the same with him... in the Jobs bio, apparently Jobs wanted to limit the expansion capability down to 1 or two slots (probably to suit his aesthetic tastes) and Woz wouldn't stand down, because it was HIS computer. Woz would have made things from a functional and engineering perspective--Jobs (and Apple today) is generally concerned with the look first.

[Chug]

I can't dispute that modern Apple products are very aesthetically pleasing to look at, but I feel that it's taken a lot of the inspiration and creativity out of computing. As an analogy, if Apple made sports cars they'd leave out the wheels because they spoil the line.

[adam242]

I can't dispute that modern Apple products are very aesthetically pleasing to look at, but I feel that it's taken a lot of the inspiration and creativity out of computing. As an analogy, if Apple made sports cars they'd leave out the wheels because they spoil the line.

 

And the hoods would be welded shut.