AA 8-Bit User Age Demographics

[+MrFish]

I'll be 40 this August, and it was on my 7th b-day I got the 400. So yeah - I'm teetering on the edge of that age dividing line

 

Nice gift at that age. I wish I had gotten mine when I was younger. How long before you started coding on it though?

[+Stephen]

Nice gift at that age. I wish I had gotten mine when I was younger. How long before you started coding on it though?

Pretty much right away - typing in BASIC programs from various magazines of the day, then doing small modifications. I never did anything major on the machine, and unfortunately did not get into assembly coding until much later. Still though, it paved the way for my current career as a programmer.

[kogden]

Similar situation here, I got a 130XE Christmas '88 so I'd leave my dad's ST alone though I had a 400 and a 5200 for years prior to that for playing games on. Struggled with a 1010 briefly until he got a Happy 1050 from his buddies. I was like 7. I played with BASIC, did some Word Processing, played lots of games, but never got into Assembler. He got me a 1020 for the thing too. I had all kinds of fun with that thing.

 

Newer machines were popping up in our house here and there. By '92 we realized Atari Computer had no future due to mismanagement and my 8-bit and the ST's left to be replaced by 68K Macs and a communal 386.

 

Eventually I became a UNIX/Windows sysadmin. There's worse fates I guess. I blame Atari BASIC and HyperCard for my sleep disorders that have persisted into adulthood.

 

I guess you could say I was one of the first truly "born" into the digital generation. I don't remember a world before the personal computer but I was around during it's early years and grew up with them. Even had a lot of face time with Apple IIe's, IBM XT's, etc.

Edited January 12, 2015 by kogden

[+MrFish]

Pretty much right away - typing in BASIC programs from various magazines of the day, then doing small modifications. I never did anything major on the machine, and unfortunately did not get into assembly coding until much later. Still though, it paved the way for my current career as a programmer.

 

That's pretty good for a seven year old. I was 19 and I didn't do any programming for the first year I owned one; I just played games, especially Star Raiders and Jumpman Jr.

[20ohm20]

I turned 43 a few months ago and didn't get my first Atari 8-bit until 1995 or 1996. But I had a TI-99/4A, VIC-20, C64 and an Apple //e back in the 1980's.

[ACML]

"I was there before all this home computing and arcade games started and feel so bloody privileged to have seen it"

 

 

Mclaneinc,

That's exactly the way I feel about it. It was an awesome time, I'll be 51 this month. What I think is most special was the timing of it all. Being a child of the 70's was a very different world. There were no personal electronics, save those crappy LED football (American) hand held games, so you had no reason to stay indoors. You explored your little world with real friends and "#" just meant the number sign. Mostly, we (our parents included) actually had free time to indulge hobbies, learn to build something, whatever. To bring it back to the point, having what today's youngsters would call Neanderthal electronics, we slowly transitioned into tech and its trappings. Yes children coming out of school today are like Cyborgs, but they missed out big time on the "how it works". As you've opined, we got to crawl, walk with it before we could run, so we understood what is was, and what it could be. My children can not fathom the awe of seeing Star Raiders and daring yourself to understand how did they do that. Other equal marvels were Atariwriter, Syncalc, an encyclopedia on a CDROM, DOOM. The new stuff is wonderful, but I'll tell that I swear I have less free time these days. I spend so much time updating and maintaining computers and smart phones (most aren't even mine). I miss those days dearly. I guess thats why we keep coming back to AtariAge.

Edited January 12, 2015 by ACML

[Creature XL]

YOU BUNCH OF OLD FARTS!!!

 

(just kidding; I'm right there with you, and I clicked the most popular selections for both questions)

Wanted to say the same - although in green, not red

But I am in the 30s range, so suck it old guys

[Subby]

I'm 55 now and bought my 800 new in 1981 when I was 22....

Same here.

[+Ripdubski]

I've been noticing a disturbing trend recently* - time seems to be accelerating! A year used to be a long time. Now it seems a year passes by while I'm eating a packet of peanuts. Brush my teeth - another year gone! What the hell is happening?! It's 2015?? We've gone beyond Buck Rogers' flight in 1987, somehow missed the Skynet nuclear war of 1997, passed the far future of Space 1999, and now we're in Marty McFly's alternate future (minus the 3D shark). Pretty soon we'll have to get a Blade Runner ("he say you brade runner") to kill replicants in 2019.

 

Just last week... or was it 7 years ago... I became a member here to talk about Atari games I played the month before, in 1984. Now slx reminds us that in 40 years we'll all be dead. That's like 13 days in accelerated time. Oh man, life is short. I better hurry up and finish that game of Blue Max.

 

 

*recently, meaning the last couple decades or so

 

Time is relative. When your 6 and have to wait a year to go to Disneyland its 1/6th of your life. Seems like a long ass time. When your 40 and have to wait a year, its 1/40th. Seems much shorter.

[Muzz73]

I'm 41 until March and although I loved the A8 platform the first time I saw it (about 8 or 9), I didn't get one of my own until I was 25 or 26. Now I have several and will not part with any of them!

 

And as far as us having really never grown up is concerned, I quote Jason Reuben (co-creator of Keef the Thief) - "You're only young once, but you can be immature forever."

[Muzz73]

I'm 41 until March and although I loved the A8 platform the first time I saw it (about 8 or 9), I didn't get one of my own until I was 25 or 26. Now I have several and will not part with any of them!

 

And as far as us having really never grown up is concerned, I quote Jason Reuben (co-creator of Keef the Thief) - "You're only young once, but you can be immature forever."

[Mclaneinc]

 

Mclaneinc,

That's exactly the way I feel about it. It was an awesome time, I'll be 51 this month. What I think is most special was the timing of it all. Being a child of the 70's was a very different world. There were no personal electronics, save those crappy LED football (American) hand held games, so you had no reason to stay indoors. You explored your little world with real friends and "#" just meant the number sign. Mostly, we (our parents included) actually had free time to indulge hobbies, learn to build something, whatever. To bring it back to the point, having what today's youngsters would call Neanderthal electronics, we slowly transitioned into tech and its trappings. Yes children coming out of school today are like Cyborgs, but they missed out big time on the "how it works". As you've opined, we got to crawl, walk with it before we could run, so we understood what is was, and what it could be. My children can not fathom the awe of seeing Star Raiders and daring yourself to understand how did they do that. Other equal marvels were Atariwriter, Syncalc, an encyclopedia on a CDROM, DOOM. The new stuff is wonderful, but I'll tell that I swear I have less free time these days. I spend so much time updating and maintaining computers and smart phones (most aren't even mine). I miss those days dearly. I guess thats why we keep coming back to AtariAge.

 

 

Perfectly said my friend..

 

I so wish some of these kids could see it from the start to appreciate just how cool it all was but sadly it would be lost on them I guess, already over tainted with tech as if it had always been there.

 

As a kid I went climbing tree's wandering around the local countryside, doing bike rides for the day etc, I was actually chatting to a friend only yesterday about how he decided to walk to an appointment that was a few miles away just like you used to, actually exercising and doing it for yourself instead of doing the couch potato Bus or car ride..

 

When I got my first pong home game (yes it just played pong) I sat at that for AGES, it was a marvel, now a pong game is part of a loader or intro just for a bit of fun.

 

Magic times...

 

And yes, cyborg kids, sad in most respects but keen on tech so not all bad, shame most just use and refuse to learn how it actually works, I used to take those flip over numeral clocks apart to see how it worked, wasn't so good at putting them back together but I did learn how to do it after a clout to the head by my day for breaking the new clock

Edited January 13, 2015 by Mclaneinc

[atari8warez]

Of course it works in retrospect if you have already established (via the other question) that most people here first got their first machine during a specific time-frame

 

I should mark this date in my calendar as the first (and hopefully not last) day me and you agreed upon something in AA forums

 

59-30 by the way....ouchhh! why do I always have to deviate from the norm

Edited January 14, 2015 by atari8warez

[Nebulon]

I'm 25 and I got my first A8 when I was 14, I suppose that makes me the youngest by far so far.

Good thing you did. You might be the last one standing.

 

i.e. Keeper of the knowledge in the future and possibly the only person who will know how to shut down Skynet.

[Joey Z]

When I was very young, something like 1998 or 99 (I was 2 or 3 at the time) we had an atari 2600 in the house. Unfortunately, the cartridge connectors were worn and my dad decided to throw it away. A few years back, I decided to buy an atari computer because I like atari games and I liked computers. That was a 400 with 16K of RAM for about $50 on ebay. It came with the PSU and 11 cartridges. Since then, my collection has grown by a BASIC cart, a 48K ram expansion for the atari 400, an RS232 SIO2PC, an 850 and PSU, a 410, a 64K 600XL, a stereo POKEY upgrade, an 800XL and a 65XE. I also got a broken PVM from someone who bought it from ebay. It got damaged during shippind to them and I was able to repair it (moral of the story is to not use UPS). I have repaired an 800XL for a person and am in the process of repairing a 130XE. At some point, I'll be receiving a VBXE from sloopy.

 

BTW, I'm the youngest so far at 18 years old. I know there's another user on here older than me by a few months. They're also 18, but technically older than me

Edited January 14, 2015 by Joey Z

[hendersonn]

Of all who voted, I'm half of the "20-29" age bracket?

That can't be right (rather, there must be more of my peers who hold similar interests).

 

Although I think, kinda like building model rockets, age holds little weight here.

[kogden]

I'm young enough not to have been around for the "Genesis", ST's were around when I was 3 or 4. I was around for the tail end of the 8-bit days supported by a barely alive dying market, a local BBS, and a shrinking user's group. I liked the ST too though and we had them around as well.

 

I was always jealous at the local NOVATARI user's group meetings how much cooler looking the 800XLs all these old people were carrying was than my 130XE.

[atx4us]

I'm only 32 in hexadecimal I got my Atari 800 when I was 18 and it's still my favorite computer.

[+Larry]

It was early 1982... Saw the Apple II -- didn't like the price. Saw the Vic20 -- seemed like it was very limited and already nearly obsolete. Saw the Atari 400 -- couldn't believe anyone would buy something with that keyboard (and still wonder the same thing). Saw the Atari 800 and a few of the Atari commercials -- wow, the adventure began! BTW, it was the demo of Star Raiders that sealed the deal.

-Larry

[jacobus]

Good thing you did. You might be the last one standing.

 

i.e. Keeper of the knowledge in the future and possibly the only person who will know how to shut down Skynet.

 

and the guy that cleans up at all the estate sales in 30 to 40 years

[Nebulon]

 

Mclaneinc,

That's exactly the way I feel about it. It was an awesome time, I'll be 51 this month. What I think is most special was the timing of it all. Being a child of the 70's was a very different world. There were no personal electronics, save those crappy LED football (American) hand held games, so you had no reason to stay indoors. You explored your little world with real friends and "#" just meant the number sign. Mostly, we (our parents included) actually had free time to indulge hobbies, learn to build something, whatever. To bring it back to the point, having what today's youngsters would call Neanderthal electronics, we slowly transitioned into tech and its trappings. Yes children coming out of school today are like Cyborgs, but they missed out big time on the "how it works". As you've opined, we got to crawl, walk with it before we could run, so we understood what is was, and what it could be. My children can not fathom the awe of seeing Star Raiders and daring yourself to understand how did they do that. Other equal marvels were Atariwriter, Syncalc, an encyclopedia on a CDROM, DOOM. The new stuff is wonderful, but I'll tell that I swear I have less free time these days. I spend so much time updating and maintaining computers and smart phones (most aren't even mine). I miss those days dearly. I guess thats why we keep coming back to AtariAge.

 

 

For the younger users that are collecting and playing with the older machines, the above may not seem important -- but it is.

 

A buddy of mine (who moved to the coast with his wife) used to help teach assembly language at one of the universities in my city. How did he learn it, you may ask. He grew up with the 6809 chips on the old Tandy Color Computer machines and then migrated to the 68000 on the Atari ST computers. He then worked in the robotics industry and later on communications (satellite boxes, etc...). I was a ColecoVision (Z80), Color Computer II (6809), Atari 8-bit (6502), PC (x86), and Amiga (68000) kid growing up. It was the 68000 that really blew my mind.

 

His assembly language courses were based on the Motorola 68000 CPU and one day the university decided to remove all the Atari ST machines, replace them with PCs, and 'modernize' the curriculum. Here's what he had to say about the bulk of the programming students after the program was overhauled by the faculty, "Most of the students that we're seeing now in the new program are having difficulty understanding that there's code behind the interfaces. Honestly, if I were to discover that any of them had written code for mission-critical apps like those designed for hospitals and high-speed transit, I would walk out of the hospital and I wouldn't get on that train." The core problem was that people were skipping the fundamental base-level material and jumping right into the software for making software stage of the game, with little or no understanding of what was going on behind the scenes.

 

The fact that some of you guys and gals of the newer generations are digging around and figuring out how these machines really work could eventually be key to the survival of modern civilization. It pays to know how stuff works at a deeper level. And the good news is that you'll start to see things in common between the old platforms and their CPUs. That'll streamline the learning process and help demystify the newer CPUs and architectures that hit the market year after year. An old TV series that really outlines this learning and innovating process well is one called "Connections". Worth a look on YouTube.

 

Anyway, enjoy picking apart the inner workings of the old computers (or simply playing games on them). Don't let your trendy friends make you think you're crazy for liking old-skool systems. Each computer and console has its own unique 'feel' and each offers a different user experience.

[+MrFish]

Of all who voted, I'm half of the "20-29" age bracket?

That can't be right (rather, there must be more of my peers who hold similar interests).

 

I imagine so too; in fact that's part of what I was trying to find out. But then, for one, we're only getting votes from registered AA members, and that only from those who've seen the thread and chosen to take part and vote. I'd imagine there are quite a few in the 6-15 year old range too, but of course they'll be very few of them registered and attending the forums regularly. I also know that I formerly had the habit of laying off the forums for a number of months, so I would miss a lot of things. I'm sure there are many who have this as a occasional hobby. Also I've noticed many times that around half of the "Users browsing this forum" are "guests", which leads me to believe some people are just interested in reading the forums and not necessarily participating. Although I'm sure there are possible reasons why some members would check in as a guest on occasions (maybe while at work, etc.).

 

 

Although I think, kinda like building model rockets, age holds little weight here.

 

I think your analogy only holds up when taking about computers as a hobby in general, just as it would in talking about cars in general. In a specific case like this where we're talking about a computer produced in a specific range of years with specifications far different from home computers used these days, age means quite a bit. Although the hobby itself is obviously open to any age range.

[kiwilove]

It was before 30 I got my first home computer - the Atari 800 - and I got back into designing graphics again for it, for the past 2 something years.

 

For me, I guess the attraction is - kinda like stepping back into a time machine to re-engage in what I was doing some 30 less years ago - but of course it is not the same as back then... I'm using much easier graphics development tools (running on a PC laptop) and using Altirra to run/check the graphics with. I have used the internet/etc to help with the graphics designs...etc. So while it can run on an unmodified Atari 400/800 16k /etc computer. I could not have done these kind of designs back in the day... but still the possibility was always there - for this kind of project (ie. AtariBLAST!) to have been developed - if enough resources (time/effort/expertise) was thrown at it, back then...

 

There is never any guarantee that you will attain a ripe old age because a terminal illness can suddenly pop up - like losing a friend who was much younger than I.

It is not morbid to know the true nature of death and dying - which is nothing like what religions force upon us - they engage the human imagination on fanciful journeys.

 

The reality is - that death - the other side of life itself - is as natural to us, as this reality is - but we are not conscious of it - though it is always part and parcel of us. Religion and the media/etc would have us feed on our fears and to believe in things not true at all... I could elaborate further - but usually no one seems interested here..

 

Young people need not indulge in the world of 8-bit computers etc - if they do not wish to - but it should be there for them to engage in it, if they wish to educate themselves and be informed about how it all started and developed into what they use today. Which they take for granted.

There are lessons to be learned so that disasters/etc need not be repeated all over again.

 

An excellent series about inventions is the DVD? video Understanding the Inventions that Changed the World. Where the details are known - it seems all the inventions go through a forcing shed period - in which it goes through radical change, until eventually it does reach the masses in a form recognisable today. The early prototypes are unheard of...

 

Harvey

Edited January 17, 2015 by kiwilove

[Nebulon]

For those who were too young to get to play the older arcade machines, here's a list of some of the really cool ones (as well as a second page listing notable music from the era):

 

http://www.voltage-control.com/arcade01.html

[Tickled_Pink]

Now 45, was 16 in 1985.

 

Where has the time gone?