Old pictures of our Atari 8-bit setups

[KBRpilot]

I'm a bit late to the party, but really enjoyed looking at the nostalgic pictures.  Thanks to everyone posting.  Here's a picture I happen to have of me with my Atari 800XL in 1985.  I was fourteen and spent the whole summer of that year working to buy the disk drive.  This here is just after Christmas or on Christmas because I had received that aquarium as a gift as well as the Adventure Master text adventure making software in the picture.

 

Though not the same one, here's my current 800xl in the setup in my workroom where I go these days to get my 8-bit computer fix.  The Atari 800XL remains my most fondly remembered computer from the eighties.

[Max_Chatsworth]

51 minutes ago, KBRpilot said:

I'm a bit late to the party, but really enjoyed looking at the nostalgic pictures.  Thanks to everyone posting.  Here's a picture I happen to have of me with my Atari 800XL in 1985.  I was fourteen and spent the whole summer of that year working to buy the disk drive.  This here is just after Christmas or on Christmas because I had received that aquarium as a gift as well as the Adventure Master text adventure making software in the picture.

 

Though not the same one, here's my current 800xl in the setup in my workroom where I go these days to get my 8-bit computer fix.  The Atari 800XL remains my most fondly remembered computer from the eighties.

Lemme see...14 in 85...that's the same as me.  Although I was lucky to have cut my teeth on a 400 that we got for Christmas in '79...my older brother got the 800Xl in 83 as a gift, and was already and upperclassman in high school, so he was moving on to jobs/girls/etc on the weekend and then left for the army in 85, which made it effectively mine!  I've re-acquired a 400, but still on the hunt for an 800XL.  That's what I did most of my hacking with. 

 

I don't know how you did this, but your new setup/room looks MORE 80's than your old one...well done!  Must be the wood panel doing it's work.  

[KBRpilot]

16 hours ago, Max_Chatsworth said:

Lemme see...14 in 85...that's the same as me.  Although I was lucky to have cut my teeth on a 400 that we got for Christmas in '79...my older brother got the 800Xl in 83 as a gift, and was already and upperclassman in high school, so he was moving on to jobs/girls/etc on the weekend and then left for the army in 85, which made it effectively mine!  I've re-acquired a 400, but still on the hunt for an 800XL.  That's what I did most of my hacking with. 

 

I don't know how you did this, but your new setup/room looks MORE 80's than your old one...well done!  Must be the wood panel doing it's work.  

Thanks.  It took me a long time to find a deal I was happy with on an 800xl myself.  I have an 800 that I had gotten some years ago that was in horrible shape that I rebuilt, but this 800xl I only recently got and looks practically new.  Unknown to myself at the time of purchase, it also has been upgraded with a Newell 256KXl memory module.  This was a rather nice surprise as I can run enhanced 130XE software on it.  Back in the 80's my older brother had gotten a 400 when I was 12, this is what made me want to get an Atari computer.  It was my luck that they were on sale at the time I bought mine with birthday money, otherwise I probably would have gotten a 600xl.

[Max_Chatsworth]

10 minutes ago, KBRpilot said:

Thanks.  It took me a long time to find a deal I was happy with on an 800xl myself.  I have an 800 that I had gotten some years ago that was in horrible shape that I rebuilt, but this 800xl I only recently got and looks practically new.  Unknown to myself at the time of purchase, it also has been upgraded with a Newell 256KXl memory module.  This was a rather nice surprise as I can run enhanced 130XE software on it.  Back in the 80's my older brother had gotten a 400 when I was 12, this is what made me want to get an Atari computer.  It was my luck that they were on sale at the time I bought mine with birthday money, otherwise I probably would have gotten a 600xl.

Did you end up buying in person, or from someone on AtariAge, or ebay or what?  I would like to get an upgraded one as well if I can..possibly upgraded with video mods to make it look nice on modern monitors as well(If that exists).

 

 

[+slx]

1 hour ago, Max_Chatsworth said:

Did you end up buying in person, or from someone on AtariAge, or ebay or what?  I would like to get an upgraded one as well if I can..possibly upgraded with video mods to make it look nice on modern monitors as well(If that exists).

 

 

@Paul Westphal (www.eightbitfix.com) is on the forum here and should be able to help you. AFAIK he'll build up old Ataris to whatever specs you want. 

[toddtmw]

My original Atari setup from either January 1982 or January 1983

 

Okimate 10 Christmas Tree Pictures from December 1984. Astute readers will see the gumball machine box for the gumball machine in the pictures I posted earlier in this thread.

 

 

BASIC XE from Christmas 1986

[Max_Chatsworth]

51 minutes ago, toddtmw said:

My original Atari setup from either January 1982 or January 1983

 

Okimate 10 Christmas Tree Pictures from December 1984. Astute readers will see the gumball machine box for the gumball machine in the pictures I posted earlier in this thread.

 

 

BASIC XE from Christmas 1986

Old school cool....What exactly is that 3382 "Mad Dogs" hat for?

 

[Max_Chatsworth]

2 hours ago, slx said:

@Paul Westphal (www.eightbitfix.com) is on the forum here and should be able to help you. AFAIK he'll build up old Ataris to whatever specs you want. 

Thank you.  I came back to Atari hardware this year and thought, no big deal..I'll just buy an old 800XL with a disk drive..I mean, what could have changed since 1987?    Then find out about memory upgrades, super carts, SIO, video conversions, and on and on..and realize I had a ton of homework to do. 

[+slx]

2 minutes ago, Max_Chatsworth said:

Thank you.  I came back to Atari hardware this year and thought, no big deal..I'll just buy an old 800XL with a disk drive..I mean, what could have changed since 1987?    Then find out about memory upgrades, super carts, SIO, video conversions, and on and on..and realize I had a ton of homework to do. 

Fully understand. I have lots of those gadgets but much less of them installed and even less I know well enough to use without googling. There‘s a ton of options but don‘t let that put you off. I found a SIO based storage device to be the easiest starting point. 

[Max_Chatsworth]

1 minute ago, slx said:

Fully understand. I have lots of those gadgets but much less of them installed and even less I know well enough to use without googling. There‘s a ton of options but don‘t let that put you off. I found a SIO based storage device to be the easiest starting point. 

Does one of the cartridge solutions count as SIO solution?  Sometimes I can't tell...

 

[+slx]

6 minutes ago, Max_Chatsworth said:

Does one of the cartridge solutions count as SIO solution?  Sometimes I can't tell...

 

There is one that can be modded to double as cart and SIO device but I can’t recall which. Check the forums and the pinned topic about modern devices/connectivity. 

[toddtmw]

1 hour ago, Max_Chatsworth said:

Old school cool....What exactly is that 3382 "Mad Dogs" hat for?

 

Air Force Tech School, I was in the 3382nd squadron in the "Triangle" at Biloxi Air Force Base for training as an Avionics Inertial and RADAR repair specialist. Our squadron apparently, didn't have the best reputation.

 

I didn't help that reputation much. I was a Student Leader, but probably wasn't the best fit for it.

 

Every morning, there was a uniform of the day. There was a board in the squadron that told us what to wear. One morning, the uniform of the day called for us to carry our all-weather jackets.

 

We got down to the end to (I believe) the 96th squadron. That squadron was known for its discipline. We were waiting for things to clear to march to class and the 96th Sergeant comes up and instructs me to have the flight put on their all-weather jackets. I said, "But sir. the uniform of the day board says to carry it." He said, "And I'm telling you to put them on." So, of course, I respond, "If you can change the uniform of the day like that, wouldn't it be easier if we called you each morning and asked what to wear?"

 

He took my 341 form and a few days later, my Sergeant came up laughing and told me not to do something like that again.

 

So, yeah, that's what that hat was.

[Jeffrey Worley]

20 minutes ago, toddtmw said:

Air Force Tech School, I was in the 3382nd squadron in the "Triangle" at Biloxi Air Force Base for training as an Avionics Inertial and RADAR repair specialist. Our squadron apparently, didn't have the best reputation.

 

I didn't help that reputation much. I was a Student Leader, but probably wasn't the best fit for it.

 

Every morning, there was a uniform of the day. There was a board in the squadron that told us what to wear. One morning, the uniform of the day called for us to carry our all-weather jackets.

 

We got down to the end to (I believe) the 96th squadron. That squadron was known for its discipline. We were waiting for things to clear to march to class and the 96th Sergeant comes up and instructs me to have the flight put on their all-weather jackets. I said, "But sir. the uniform of the day board says to carry it." He said, "And I'm telling you to put them on." So, of course, I respond, "If you can change the uniform of the day like that, wouldn't it be easier if we called you each morning and asked what to wear?"

 

He took my 341 form and a few days later, my Sergeant came up laughing and told me not to do something like that again.

 

So, yeah, that's what that hat was.

I was at Camp Stennis, in Gulfport.  My Seabee Battalion was homeported there.  NMCB-74 (since retired).

 

Jeff

[djglish]

LOL about the uniform of the day.  I was stationed at Biloxi but that would have been before your time.  I was there from early 1977 to September of 78.  

I was a Medic working at the hospital, in Labor and Delivery, if you can believe that.  We were actually fairly busy.  All of those young guys getting their girlfriend pregnant and having to go into the service to have health coverage.

I'm an RN now, working in the Operating Room and getting ready to retire in just two months.  All the more time to get back into my old Atari equipment.

[Jeffrey Worley]

On 9/20/2020 at 5:02 PM, KBRpilot said:

I'm a bit late to the party, but really enjoyed looking at the nostalgic pictures.  Thanks to everyone posting.  Here's a picture I happen to have of me with my Atari 800XL in 1985.  I was fourteen and spent the whole summer of that year working to buy the disk drive.  This here is just after Christmas or on Christmas because I had received that aquarium as a gift as well as the Adventure Master text adventure making software in the picture.

 

Though not the same one, here's my current 800xl in the setup in my workroom where I go these days to get my 8-bit computer fix.  The Atari 800XL remains my most fondly remembered computer from the eighties.

I see you sold your fish to buy the 1050?  Poor fishies.

 

Jeff

[mikebrown66]

On 9/9/2020 at 9:57 AM, Max_Chatsworth said:

I love how you have an authentic non-ironic trucker style cap that so many have tried to emulate lo these decades later.  Cool stuff. What is the poster of the girl? It looks like it has Japanese writing...

Wasn't me in the picture, but a friend. I have never been a hat person. The photo on the wall is for Sigma Cameras/Lenses. So yes, Japanese. In the bottom right you can see the picture of the lens in question. I had a Sigma camera then (these are scans of slides by the way) and used it for these photos. 

[Max_Chatsworth]

On 9/24/2020 at 12:00 PM, mikebrown66 said:

Wasn't me in the picture, but a friend. I have never been a hat person. The photo on the wall is for Sigma Cameras/Lenses. So yes, Japanese. In the bottom right you can see the picture of the lens in question. I had a Sigma camera then (these are scans of slides by the way) and used it for these photos. 

Cool..thanks.  It's fascinating to me to see these old photos of people's setups because it's really a little view into the past when you see the clothing/toys/posters/art they have around their rooms. Unfortunately, I don't think a single picture exists of me or my siblings with our Atari 400 or my brother's 800XL, which is actually amazing since my dad was a professional(weekends) photographer for weddings/etc...and we have tons of family pics from Christmas, vacations, etc from back in the 70's and 80's.  Since all of us were young in 79 when we got the 400 and it was a Christmas present, I should see if my dad does have some sort of photo of us opening/using it after all. 

[Jeffrey Worley]

On 9/21/2020 at 1:53 PM, toddtmw said:

My original Atari setup from either January 1982 or January 1983

 

Okimate 10 Christmas Tree Pictures from December 1984. Astute readers will see the gumball machine box for the gumball machine in the pictures I posted earlier in this thread.

 

 

BASIC XE from Christmas 1986

Wow.  Basic XE for Christmas.  THAT'S LOVE.

 

Jeff

[Albert]

I missed that post.  I had one of those Okimate 10 printers!  Those things chewed through those color ribbons so damn fast!  I also had Basic XE and loved it. Such fun times!  Amusing how the box of this  color printer shows a black and white printout. 

 

 

 ..Al

[Tillek]

On 10/30/2020 at 4:44 PM, Albert said:

I missed that post.  I had one of those Okimate 10 printers!  Those things chewed through those color ribbons so damn fast!  I also had Basic XE and loved it. Such fun times!  Amusing how the box of this  color printer shows a black and white printout. 

 

 

 ..Al

They didn't want to use up the color ribbon.

[mikebrown66]

On 9/9/2020 at 6:55 PM, Jeffrey Worley said:

Wow. Is that a videodisk player?

 

Sorry for the late reply Dragonstomper, but if you are referring to what I think you are that is actually a Toshiba Betamax under the 14" Sony. They both rest on a wooden shelf/console cabinet I made that house two 1050's (which you can see in the photo if you look carefully) and a 800XL which is slide fully underneath the disk drives and only the front edge of it is visible. Finally through that wooden box out a few years back as I've not had the Atari hooked up for many, many years until just recently. A now we don't need the drives anymore.

[Master Phruby]

I had a Okimate 10. I swear you could only get five color pictures out of the ribbon. The printer took forever to even print out a regular page.  

[Alfred]

Man, me and Puff and Dataque were ancient compared to some of you guys, lol. Anyway, these are a few pics of the last time most of my hardware was hooked up, my computer room. The thing hanging off the side of the 800 XL on the desk beside the stack of 1050's is the DataQue Turbo-816 with its 32K and 64K static ram cards. One 1050 is a USD, one is a Happy and one is a 1050 Duplicator. You can't see it but on the far side of desk on the floor is the dual 8" floppy drive case with 40lb power supply; the case is about 3x4 feet, weighed about 30 lbs. I think that's the hand-built Puff E-Burner just behind the little lamp. The Oki laser is hooked up to the BB attached to that XL. The other XL under the whiteboard has another BB and is the Mux master system, you can just see the 40 pin ribbon cable hanging off the side before it goes over to the desk. That's a 200MB drive, the same one I have here that I unloaded the Puff BBS from. Where the two Mio units are in the window used to be another desk with two 800 XL slave systems that ran the Puff BBS. In the bottom of the RCA TV cabinet is the 5V/12V power supply from puff along with the 80MB 8" Winchester drive that used to be the mux host ages ago.  I think that's a Realistic STA-2100 200W/chn receiver. Still have it, along with the four Mach 1 speakers. Nothing like some loud tunes for the all night coding. The shelves out in the basement hallway were the hardware overflow area, haha, extra ATR-8000's, drives, machines, MPP stuff, every Antic/Analog,Byte magazine, any and everything. Not sure if that's the 1090XL on top of the ASCII terminal in the closet. Still kicking myself about throwing that out. And no, I'm not really a Captain Crunch fan, Alpha-Bits are the best.

[+Stephen]

38 minutes ago, Alfred said:

I think that's a Realistic STA-2100 200W/chn receiver. Still have it, along with the four Mach 1 speakers. Nothing like some loud tunes for the all night coding.

Sweet hardware collection!  If you still have that audio gear, can you post some pics at https://atariage.com/forums/topic/254388-vintage-stereo-systems/

[Jeffrey Worley]

On 5/2/2019 at 5:25 PM, toddtmw said:

These are pictures from my bedroom probably around '84. It was before I got my 130XE.

 

Notice the light pen (in the dancy rolled up paper holster I fashioned from notebook paper and masking tape) and the "artwork" I printed on my Panasonic KX-P1091 and my Okimate 10 printer.

 

Looks like this is also before I got my Indus GT drive.

 

Also, note the rubbermade box that just happened to be the right size for disks and the disk "tree" that stacked disks up for easy access.

 

FYI, I recreated that disk tree for 3-D printing: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2764610

 

The last picture is from Tech School at Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, MS. I was there from 9-85 thru 4-86. This was likely taken closer to the end of that period. The little switch box between the Atari and the disk drives had four outlets on the back and 4 switches on top to turn things on and off.

 

You cannot really see it here, but we were not allowed to have anything out that was not secured. To secure everything, I bought chain and loosened the screws for each thing and stuck a chain link inside and then tightened the screws down so the chain could not be removed.

 

 

We were also not allowed to have multiple plugs in our rooms. I got permission to have the plugs, but it had to always be unplugged when I was not in the room. (And they checked)

 

 

 

I had that same printer.  A Panasonic KX-P1091i.  Beat the pants off anything Atari-branded, a fast workhorse.