I hate the computers of today

[Apex]

I have to Rant.

 

When I was young computers were fun. I had dreams of developing my skills as an Atari coder and designing awesome games for the masses. But today, computers have NO SOUL. There is NO excitement when working with these beasts. I HATE THEM. I work with computers in my career and I tell you, I would much rather be working with an old Atari.

 

I tried to explore game design on a PC and I didn't enjoy it at all. It's just so cumbersome, complicated and un-enjoyable. Back in the day, one could make a killer game in their basement with one Atari ST and some imagination. Today you need a $40,000,000 budget to produce a game that SUX.

 

GRRRR

I stumbled across some Falcon demos this week on the web and I was reminded again how much fun these machines are.

Gone are the good old days.

I wish there was some new sytem out there that is fun to work with. Oh well ...rant over ...carry on

[Lord Thag]

I completely agree. I loved the days when you bought a computer and they gave you a giant refence manual and the actual circuit diagaram with the machine. Back when you knew every inch of memory and every little tweak or exploit in your machine.

 

It would be really great if someone were to make a nice compact pc-in-a-keyboard setup with old surplus and make a new os that is designed to let you do everything you need to do, but simple enough to let the user completely understand his or her system. Hell, you could put a A/V out on the thing and sell it for $80 bucks and have it use flash memory sticks/cards instead of disks. Make it open source and you would have an entgire community of developers for the thing. Hell, if they can get whole operating systems that run off of a floppy disk, I'm sure it wouldn't be too hard.

 

Ah well, it would be fun again, wouldn't it?

[+remowilliams]

Well, modern computers can do great things and provide a ton of experiences that could only be dreamed of back in the day. They've also gone waaayyyy beyond the point where a single guy can have total intimate knowledge of the system. I don't hate them, but they are rather soulless and generic compared to my favorites of the past. It's not so much that they suck, but there is nothing in particular to endear them to you.

 

Oddly enough, the only modern experience I've had with actually enjoying a computer itself (and not the games - which I have enjoyed immensely over the years) is the modern Mac machines. My MBP17 is simply the finest and most endearing machine I have owned in recent times.

[danwinslow]

Well, if you are a gearhead you buy old cars to work on, not new ones. The new ones are too complicated, computerized, and inacessible. Same deal...old computers are all yours, you are only limited by the bare metal and your own imagination. Modern computers just sneer at you and update themselves automatically to remove your feeble little attempts at controlling them.

[The_Laird]

All very true!!

 

I was talking to a PC programmer the other day who has never used anything but and talking about the good old days, he really didn't understand saying stuff like "you can get a PC to do anything you want". I tried to explain the excitement when the first machines came out with custom graphics and what they could do for you. I mentioned for example hardware scrolling and hardware scaling (like the Lynx had) and he just didn't understand saying "but that can be written into the software" I tried to explain that the hardware chips meant you didn't have too!! He didn't understand

[jbanes]

I tried to explain the excitement when the first machines came out with custom graphics and what they could do for you. I mentioned for example hardware scrolling and hardware scaling (like the Lynx had) and he just didn't understand saying "but that can be written into the software" I tried to explain that the hardware chips meant you didn't have too!! He didn't understand

Ask him why he doesn't do 3D graphics in software.

[+else]

Well, if you are a gearhead you buy old cars to work on, not new ones. The new ones are too complicated, computerized, and inacessible. Same deal...old computers are all yours, you are only limited by the bare metal and your own imagination. Modern computers just sneer at you and update themselves automatically to remove your feeble little attempts at controlling them.

 

The nice this about old cars is that you can drive them around and show them off. With an old computer, well ahhhh, I guess you can take a picture and post it on the internet -- whoo hooo. It just doesn't have the same appeal to me. And I'm saying this as a computer guy....

[telengard]

Can't even begin to say how much I agree with you. I too program computers all day and can't wait to come home to tinker w/ my 8 bit (and 16 bit) computers. You summed it up nicely. Computers of today have no soul at all.

 

The closest any newer computer technology has come to captivating me in any way was BeOS. This was probably 6 or 7 years ago though.

I run Linux and that can't compare to turning on an 800 or ST. (note I didn't say "booting")

 

~telengard

Edited August 30, 2006 by telengard

[Apex]

I have a desire to go out and get an STE or Falcon again and start creating games or demos but I think that ship has sailed a long time ago.

I got my first computer, an STE in 1991. I got into the game late. Atari was on it's last lap and I was located in a place where I must have been the only STE owner for miles and miles. I should have lived in Europe at that time. I would have had so much support and progressed rapidly.

 

I am one bitter ex-Atarian. Damn those CEO's that led the ship into an iceberg strapped with mines

[Gregory DG]

Yeah, I miss my Atari ST days... I used to program in STOS a lot. That was fun.

 

Nowadays, the only thing I program in is .php

[Atari_Owl]

I agree also

 

I got my first computer, a Sharp in 1982.

 

For me, the excitement of computers ran from '82-'94, when the Falcon fell flat on its face.

Nothing else since has really held any character or charm.

 

In particular i miss that period around '80-'84 when we really felt like we were on an undiscovered frontier, and a lone coder in their bedroom could make a massive impact

 

Even by the time of the ST this was waning though.

[+DarkLord]

I have to Rant.

 

I hear ya bro! Your assessment of modern machines is spot on, AFAIC.

 

I use Linux now, on my main "PC" computers, and that helps some, at

least it has more soul than that -other- OS...

 

But...at the end of the day, I'd still rather turn my Mega ST or CT60'ed

Falcon on than any of my other comps, or laptop... I dream of getting

a STacy someday, so I will have a real laptop (okay, luggable!) then.

 

I think many of us are bitter, to differing degrees, on what happened

to the computing side of Atari...

 

I mean, when you think about all the missed opportunities, blown chances,

etc, etc,...it just makes a person sick inside.

 

But...it just makes my memories of the Atari "age", and my remaining

Atari computers, games systems and software, that much more precious

to me. Especially now, as I get older...

[Zeptari1]

I have a desire to go out and get an STE or Falcon again and start creating games or demos but I think that ship has sailed a long time ago.

 

 

 

Same here! I'd like to mess around with STOS or GFA basic.

 

I have a 1040STf, but my monitor died this past weekend.

 

 

R.I.P

SC1224

Sept 85 - Aug 06

 

 

 

Update: I got a Mega STE now!!! All is well!

Edited October 5, 2006 by Zeptari1

[ataridave]

Well, I am an information buff, so the internet is great, but, yeah, otherwise computers today just aren't as exciting. I never owned any of the Atari compters, but we did have a Mac Plus 512K! There weren't a lot of games for it, but there were some real gems! I'd get one again just to play the old games!

 

Which brings me to a rant-I HATE modern PC gaming. Consoles today are better, because you don't have to purchase the perfect graphics card, sound chip; whatever. Back in the day, all that was included in your computer, which was easy to upgrade, and didn't become outdated in three months.

[CartCollector]

It would be really great if someone were to make a nice compact pc-in-a-keyboard setup with old surplus and make a new os that is designed to let you do everything you need to do, but simple enough to let the user completely understand his or her system. Hell, you could put a A/V out on the thing and sell it for $80 bucks and have it use flash memory sticks/cards instead of disks.

 

That's sort of been done. Jaded computer lovers, check out XGameStation.com. The XGS is an 8-bit machine which has a CPU with 6kb of reprogrammable Flash memory and 256 bytes of RAM running at 80MHz. The CPU has complete control over the video - it controls the colorburst, syncs, etc. If that sounds a bit daunting, there is an open-source video engine you can use with sprite support. It has three-voice sound, joystick ports, and even a keyboard port. Programs are usually written in ASM or a combination of ASM and BASIC.

 

If that sounds a bit complicated for you, then just wait a few months for the Hydra, which is more software-oriented and has more memory. But I'm sure some of the 2600 game programmers here would have a field day with the XGS.

[Zonie]

I agree.

 

F*CK Windows.

F*CK Microsoft.

 

Edited September 20, 2006 by Zonie

[jens]

Hum - did I already mention this one?

Would be interesting running a small Linux and Aranym on it.

[+remowilliams]

Hum - did I already mention this one?

Would be interesting running a small Linux and Aranym on it.

Hmm, that thing might be cool for use as a 'drive slave' for my classic computers

[Zeptari1]

Hum - did I already mention this one?

Would be interesting running a small Linux and Aranym on it.

 

 

that thing is sooooo sool!

 

looks like a "beefed up" ST computer!

 

It seems a little over priced.

 

but i still like it.... it really does look like a Super Next Gen Falcon!

 

 

hehehe

 

-Rick

[Gunstar]

Well, I am an information buff, so the internet is great, but, yeah, otherwise computers today just aren't as exciting. I never owned any of the Atari compters, but we did have a Mac Plus 512K! There weren't a lot of games for it, but there were some real gems! I'd get one again just to play the old games!

 

Which brings me to a rant-I HATE modern PC gaming. Consoles today are better, because you don't have to purchase the perfect graphics card, sound chip; whatever. Back in the day, all that was included in your computer, which was easy to upgrade, and didn't become outdated in three months.

 

I agree entirely. I USED to be a computer guy, back in the '80s, and enjoyed gaming and graphic art on them mostly, I never was a programmer, but the computers of the day were a must for the best gaming, but as everything went to soulless PC, I switched my gaming to the modern consoles (starting with the Jaguar and 3DO) and I use my PC for three things; the internet and an SIO2PC file server for my 8-bit Atari and to download ST software from the net and make them into 3.5" ST floppies. My gaming and graphic art is all done on Consoles and classic computers. Though I do have classic consoles now too...but my 7800 doesn't compare nostalgically to my 8-bit computer. I never game on my PC and probably never will. I probably will continue buying new consoles though, the 360 being the next in line. I am fully aware that an Xbox is technically, basically just a PC, but it's still a hell of a lot easier to game on to me than a PC, and much easier to set up to play on a large TV screen.

Come to think of it, if you want a machine with soul these days, the consoles are the place to look, proprietary and/or standardized specs are the key; even with the Xbox, it's standard specs across the board with all Xbox's, so you know the game play will be exactly the same on your Xbox as it is on your neighbors, unlike PC's where everyone has a different processor and graphics cards so the experience is different and you also have to make sure your PC can handle the latest game or you are forced to upgrade. With an Xbox or other console, you know the latest game for it will work just a well on the console as the three year old game.

Edited October 7, 2006 by Gunstar

[sniperstorm]

The computers today are so much better then the computers of before. Our whole world is connected today. I can do everything from play awesome video games online with others from all over the world. To access my accounts, and even look at your house online, tell you exactly what it looks like, how much you paid for it, how many rooms it has and everything. BUT! Nothing was as fun as the computers back in the day. I used to goto monthy meetings, and had a group of computer friends. Now everyone has a computer, its like a toaster. or microwave. Its like going to a monthy toaster meeting.

[Gregory DG]

I used to goto monthy meetings,

Did you "GOTO" or "GOSUB?"

 

[mos6507]

Yeah, the network is kind of the computer these days.

 

But the early days of computers were kind of like seeing Star Wars for the first time. It was cool because you saw stuff that had never been done before. It's hard to recapture that sense of wonder again. We've become so used to the rapid pace of advancements that we take it all for granted.

[Gunstar]

The thing is though, that if the companies like Atari and Commodore/Amiga were still around today with current models, they would be just as connectible to the world as current day PC's and Macs, and they would have their own proprietary, and better, OS's similiar to Mac's OS X vs. Windows. Though just like the Mac, they probably would have the option to run Windows too. My point is we COULD still have computers with "soul" and though they would be as complicated internally as today's PC's, where it's difficult to know the whole machine inside and out like the machines of old, they would still be far more elegant in design and individuality. It wouldn't be the same soulless PC world it is today, yet we would still have the technilogical advantages of the PC's of today. The best of both worlds. The perfect Parallel to what could have been with todays computers is todays console market, with the choices of Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft and completely different, yet comparable power, of technologies and OS's. Computers of today don't HAVE to be standardized as they have with the PC market, only the internet needs to be standard. Just look at Macs and PC's to see the truth of this, as well as online consoles or any of the other myrad of devices that are internet capable today and connect to the world, but are completely incompatible with each other.

 

But the lack of computer individuality has literally hit the core today, with everything from Macs to PC's to current consoles all using the same few types of processors, from companies like AMD and Intel. That's the root of the problem. Lack of processor choice. With consoles the individuality has been reduced to just graphic processors. We need more choices, the competition drives the market's creativity and it's down to just a few huge megacorporations left, so creativity becomes limited and soulless. We need companies like Texas Instruments and Motorolla and others to get back in the game of processors for PC's to recreate the choice and individuality of computers.

Edited October 8, 2006 by Gunstar

[CartCollector]

Well, as far as processors go, there are the sort-of-68k PowerPCs you forgot to mention. They're in the PS2 and GameCube, so there. Actually, I think there are more choices for CPUs than GPUs, if you take time to think about it. I mean, there are Intel and AMD, but there's also IBM, Sun, Freescale, Renesas, ARM, etc. For GPUs, you have, what, nVidia, ATI, and 3DLabs?