Recreating your BITD Experience

[Mclaneinc]

 

Well I'm glad it was an enriching experience Peter....Many folks don't remember a time before computers but I do and the way it changed my life was just great....Selling Atari games and hardware and getting paid to do it...Win win...

[Mclaneinc]

2 minutes ago, drpeter said:

 

If only nostalgia was what it used to be... ?

Ha ha...I sensed that was coming...

 

Twas a tremendous time to be alive, the start of the home digital age as it were...Mousetrap move over, the Atari in here....Good times..

[Faicuai]

On 8/26/2019 at 2:54 AM, drpeter said:

410 recorder stocks were late in arriving to the UK, so for some time (weeks or months) in early 1981 (?) I had a 16K Atari 400 from Maplins but no means of saving anything...

 

Having a computer of my own was such a fabulous novelty that I would type in programs again and again even without any means of saving.

Wow... you were truly a brave man, my friend..

 

Respect...

[telengard]

I have my original setups from back in the mid 80s.  130XE and Indus GT drive (cannot remember what I used for a monitor back then, I think it was just a TV).  Saved my paper route money forever it seems for that rig.  A year or so later a 520 ST w/ SC1224 (I have a 1040 currently).  Still have the receipts for both (Lyco and White House Computer)!

 

I imagine like many others in this thread, we have a wee bit more stuff than our original gear. 

Edited August 27, 2019 by telengard

[TGB1718]

drpeter, thanks, you reminded me of my first "Computer" experience, I was in college mid 70's and for General Studies, the

tutor would let us into the Teletype Terminal room where we could try simple programs, everything being printed on the TTY,

 

it even had a Lunar Lander game which despite each turn being printed was great fun, Oh happy days ?

[Keatah]

On 8/20/2019 at 5:15 PM, toddtmw said:

So, how far has everyone gone recreating your collection from BITD? (Or, if you still have everything, I'd love to hear about that too...)

As a child of the 70's my first enjoyable and memorable exposure to electronics was via pocket calculators, with red leds. These were expensive and magical and I got one from Olson Electronics sometime around 1972-1974. A few years later I would acquire an Apple II and both an Atari 400 & 800 along with the basic peripherals such as a 410 and 810 with assorted controllers and cartridges.

 

Today I only have the Apple II. The 400/800 were long ago sold off or trashed or taken apart for parts for projects. Or they didn't survive my childhood investigations into what made them work. Probably a little bit of everything.

 

For "recreating" the experience of having a 400 & 800 I simply use emulation. The reliability, convenience, and versatility is a huge plus with me. Especially because when I was a kid I so wanted an AIO that could do it all. Play everything! And I didn't want hardware sprawling all over the place then or now.

Edited August 28, 2019 by Keatah

[drpeter]

6 hours ago, TGB1718 said:

drpeter, thanks, you reminded me of my first "Computer" experience, I was in college mid 70's and for General Studies, the

tutor would let us into the Teletype Terminal room where we could try simple programs, everything being printed on the TTY,

 

it even had a Lunar Lander game which despite each turn being printed was great fun, Oh happy days ?

Ah yes! I'd forgotten the turn-based text Lunar Lander game.

 

If I recall, it told you your height and vertical velocity and you had to say how much fuel to burn each turn until either touchdown or crashdown or running out of fuel.

[Keatah]

We even played LunarLander by hand with pencil and paper. I would be "mission control" and the pilot would radio in to me the thrust duration. And I would check a graph and report back the position and speed according to that graph. 

 

To to have this computerized was utterly flabbergasting!

[Kyle22]

On 8/28/2019 at 1:34 PM, Keatah said:

As a child of the 70's my first enjoyable and memorable exposure to electronics was via pocket calculators, with red leds. These were expensive and magical and I got one from Olson Electronics sometime around 1972-1974. A few years later I would acquire an Apple II and both an Atari 400 & 800 along with the basic peripherals such as a 410 and 810 with assorted controllers and cartridges.

 

Today I only have the Apple II. The 400/800 were long ago sold off or trashed or taken apart for parts for projects. Or they didn't survive my childhood investigations into what made them work. Probably a little bit of everything.

 

For "recreating" the experience of having a 400 & 800 I simply use emulation. The reliability, convenience, and versatility is a huge plus with me. Especially because when I was a kid I so wanted an AIO that could do it all. Play everything! And I didn't want hardware sprawling all over the place then or now.

 

 

[Keatah]

Well sure, but none of the early 8-bit rigs came close being AIO. And that is a huge factor in my choice today.