What Was Your First Atari 8-Bit Computer?

[LYNXGUY]

My friend showed me his Atari 400 and right after that I went and bought an Atari 800 and fell in love with it and he went and bought an Atari 1200Xl we made tons of games and programs and we had a few all nighters trying to finish some games and programs.

[+MrFish]

bump...

[kogden]

We had 8-bits around from my birth.... the first machine I could call my own however was a 130XE w/ OmniMon my folks got me when they upgraded to ST's. Started with a 1010 and black and white TV. Ended with a NEC composite monitor and 1050 Happy Drive. Had a 1020 and a 300bps modem too. Machine eventually died and I ended up with a 4MB Mac Plus as the ST scene was starting to die off.

[+DrVenkman]

My brother and I got a 400 and a 410 Program Recorder (part of the Programmer Kit) in October 1982. The machine was sold to a friend about a year later to help fund purchase of an 800. Both machines are long gone but amusingly, a few months ago I found a binder full of old documentation and catalogs, and the receipts from both machines.

Edited February 7, 2015 by DrVenkman

[ApolloBoy]

The first one I picked up was a 600XL I got from eBay around summer 2003, which turned out to be DOA. My first working A8 was an 800XL that I found on eBay a couple of months later.

[+MrFish]

The first one I picked up was a 600XL I got from eBay around summer 2003, which turned out to be DOA. My first working A8 was an 800XL that I found on eBay a couple of months later.

 

Did you ever get the 600XL working?

[atx4us]

Atari 800 w/48K RAM. Atari BASIC. Atari 410 Cassette Program Recorder - and wished that I could afford a disk drive. Pacman Cartridge

[atx4us]

I forgot to mention that the Atari 800 is still humming along

 

The keyboard contacts are missing key presses if not used for a long while. The Cassette Recorder has been LONG disposed of and was replaced with an Atari 1050 Disk Drive when it came out. I remember paying ~$400 (1984 price!) for the first disk drive and ~$180 for the second Atari 1050 DD a couple years later so that I can copy disk-to-disk. Only my first Atari 1050 DD is still working with an installed US Doubler.

[ApolloBoy]

Did you ever get the 600XL working?

I don't think I ever figured out what the issue with it was so I dumped it. It's funny, I've owned a number of A8s over the years and the only ones which turned out to be dead were 600XLs.

[kogden]

I don't think I ever figured out what the issue with it was so I dumped it. It's funny, I've owned a number of A8s over the years and the only ones which turned out to be dead were 600XLs.

 

I see more dead XE's than XL's. I will not even plug them in with an original power supply though. I always use a modern replacement.

 

If a 600XL dies, most of the time it is because the power supply killed it.

[+MrFish]

bump...

[+wood_jl]

8K 400. Even after a 48K upgrade ($190 in 1982 dollars!!!!!) I still couldnt' wait to get an 800 and have the flagship model.....until the 1200XL pissed on that dream, shortly after paying for an 800.

[JamesD]

I wanted an Atari when I was a kid but they were just too expensive at that time.
I bought a 130XE a few years back and then an 800 and an incognito board a couple years ago because that was the machine I always wanted.

[adamchevy]

The 800 I bought 2 weeks ago. I haven't had time to hook it up yet, but I've been reading a lot of books in preparation.

[+MrFish]

8K 400. Even after a 48K upgrade ($190 in 1982 dollars!!!!!) I still couldnt' wait to get an 800 and have the flagship model.....until the 1200XL pissed on that dream, shortly after paying for an 800.

 

The 1200XL pisses on an 800? I don't think so. The 1200XL needs a lot of help in stock form.

[Matej]

Atari 800XE + XC12 tape tape drive and DIY turbo 2000 cartridge + 2x quickshot joysticks...

It was in 1985 XMAS I was 5 years old and It costs as 4x monthly salary in my country in that time.

But it has opened way to my todays music and 2D/3D graphics skills on PC.

And mathematic and logic too (Atari Logo).

Some few kids had C64 and some had clones of ZX Spectrum (Didaktik M) but ATARI kids was

in dominance (as they was imported more cheaply from China)... And we was exchanging games

tape for tape every day in school .

We was smiling when we was playing in friends house who had ZX.

That horrible beeper sound and few colors.

And we was smiling on C64 kids too that nobody gots Commodores .

And no one had 5"25 discs because 1 floppy costs as 10 to 20 tapes.

So everybody had tape drives... There was also Atari clubs with their Atari magazines in every huge

city. And some homebrew software, games and hardware too...

Edited March 7, 2015 by Matej

[LYNXGUY]

8K 400. Even after a 48K upgrade ($190 in 1982 dollars!!!!!) I still couldnt' wait to get an 800 and have the flagship model.....until the 1200XL pissed on that dream, shortly after paying for an 800.

I had and still have an Atari 800 and my best friend had and still has an Atari 1200xl and he needed to use a program called FIXXL to run some games and programs so imho the Atari 800 is the best Atari computer ever. . . . . . .

[adamchevy]

I had and still have an Atari 800 and my best friend had and still has an Atari 1200xl and he needed to use a program called FIXXL to run some games and programs so imho the Atari 800 is the best Atari computer ever. . . . . . .

That's why I chose an 800!

[+MrFish]

Bump

[+davidcalgary29]

Delete

Edited June 11, 2016 by davidcalgary29

[Timothy Kline]

My first Atari 8bit was an 800XL and, if memory serves, the 1010 recorder. I don't remember when I was finally able to get a 1050 drive (I don't think it was all that long) but moving to a disk drive was a massive upgrade compared to that 1010. O.o

 

Oh, the many nights when I'd be working along on some Analog type-in that was all numbers, and blink, off went the power. One had to be doggedly tenacious and determined back in those days, but it sure taught me to CTRL+S every few moments once I moved to PCs-- and muscle memory STILL kicks in every few moments when I'm working on a PC.

 

--Tim

[Gunstar]

I was a late-comer to the world of Atari 8-bit computers, joining the ownership in the Tramiel era. I started with Coleco Telstar pong in the 70's, a 2600 in the early 80's and then a Timex/Sinclair 1000 (Sinclair ZX81) until 1985 when I got a 130XE. I had mostly used Apple II's in school, and that's what I wanted next, an Apple IIc, but I did my due diligent research and realized the 130XE was much more powerful and also had 128K, and for less than half the price (computer&disk drive/tape). I was 16 and saving for it myself. It was the best choice I ever made concerning computers. I now own expanded 1200XL and 600/800XL's only, since all my peripherals were always XL range.

Edited June 12, 2016 by Gunstar