WestofHouse

I would give my left pinky toe for one of those.

Note to self: Do not offer feedback on the next book.

I don't wish to get into an argument, but since you asked... The problem is that the legend has never been that specific. The legend has always been that Atari's excess combined with the crash in the market led them to bury thousands of E.T cartridges "somewhere in the desert." That they actually buried them in Sunnyvale is only a slight alteration. All we're talking about is semantics regarding location. That's like saying "It's a myth that the people of Victorian London threw their trash out their front windows onto the streets. In reality they threw their trash out their back windows." Perhaps, but none had made a game of it. The fact that Higinbotham's "Tennis for Two" turned out to be the progenitor of Pong may be only trivia, as you call it, but IMO still worthy of mention. I guess we'll agree to disagree. If I'm not mistaken it wasn't dismissed -- it was settled out of court. I could be wrong, however. I do not remember where I read that. And obscurity != irrelevance when it comes to history. If you'd added a footnote a third as long as your reply to me that would have covered it. Heh. And as I said, since the book is a history of Atari and not a history of video games it isn't a huge deal. That makes sense. I appreciate the explanation.

I just finished the book and thoroughly enjoyed it. My (unsolicited) comments: 1) The typos and mistakes that have already been discussed at length in this thread were not exaggerated. I was honestly surprised how many mistakes I found, from using an apostrophe to pluralize to mixing "their" and "there" to simple typos. 2) I felt the touted debunking of the infamous E.T. cartridges buried in the desert "myth" fell a little short. After explaining what really happened at the Alamagordo dump and saying they "hope this cleared all that up for everyone" [657], the authors then go on to say those E.T. cartridges (along with others) were actually buried in a dump in Sunnyvale. In other words, the unsold cartridges were buried, but just in a different dump? That's not much of a debunking. 3) I love the selection of photos and illustrations, but I would much rather have had them in line with the text rather than in a "review" at the end so you could see examples of what is being written about as you're reading. I found myself flipping to the photo sections repeatedly in the middle of chapters to hunt for an accompanying photo. I'm glad I didn't hold out for the Kindle version of this book or that would have driven me mad. 4) I was a bit disappointed that not even a mention was given to William Higinbotham. The book treats what Dabney and Bushnell were doing with CRT control in 1969 as revolutionary when Higinbotham was doing it with an oscilloscope in 1958. Granted the book is a history of Atari and not the history of video games, but a historical footnote at least would have been informative. 5) I felt the book was a little lacking in the story behind the founding of Activision. The book seems to suggest that the main reason that group of programmers left Atari was because they were unfairly compensated for their work, but unless I've heard the story wrong all these years the main reason they left was because of a lack of recognition. The book mentions elsewhere that Atari brass felt the programmers didn't deserve credit for their work, but I didn't feel that it tied that together very well with the exodus to Activision. It seemed more about the paycheck and lack of bonuses. Yet I'll never forget seeing the programmers' names and photos displayed prominently in Activision game manuals, finally giving them credit after laboring in obscurity at Atari. None of those issues detracted in the least from my overall enjoyment of the book, however, A thousand thanks to the authors for writing the book that was long overdue. I look forward to the next volumes.

Thanks, Russ. Another member is taking care of me. I'm eventually going to invest in an SIO2PC adapter, but as I said I'm just getting back into A8 computing so I don't have all the toys yet.

Hi, all. Since I'm just getting back into A8 computing I'm starting completely from scratch with hardware and software. Through another member I lucked into a 1050 drive NIB, but it contains DOS 3.0. Would any of you have a copy of 2.5 you could spare? I'd gladly pay for the disk and shipping. Thanks. Paul

LOL. I'm an idiot. I looked too quickly. Sorry, Phil. And thanks for the help! Signed, Space

Atariarchives has a scanned copy of Inside Atari DOS. That might be a good place to start. CLICKY

Thanks, River! I'm assuming once you start saving files to the blank disk image you can rename it through the SIO2SD interface? So with multiple virtual drives you could load programs in drive 1 and keep a blank in drive 2, for example, for easy and quick saves? That would be be much more convenient than the old days of swapping disks in a single drive. Heh.

Here's a stupid question: With an SIO2SD, how do you save files? Does it let you create virtual blank disks?

Hi, all. I'm just getting back into Atari computing for the first time in about two decades. I'm looking into some SIO2PC options and I've read the "newbies" thread, but I'm confused about a few things and hoping someone can set me straight. 1) Are there advantages/disadvantages between the USB vs Serial port options? I'd much prefer USB so I could use it with my laptop and not be tethered to my desktop, but I don't want to lose any functionality. I've seen that some options on certain software solutions only support a serial connection (unless I misinterpreted the documentation). 2) Can an SIO device be daisy-chained with an 810 or 1050 or do you have to connect it directly to your Atari? 3) One of my main reasons for getting back into Atari computing is attempting to rescue some old Atari Writer documents from floppy. Assuming the data is still good (a long shot, admittedly), which SIO2PC solution would be best for getting those files from my floppies to my PC for viewing, saving, and/or printing? Thanks! Paul

Gravity Rush was very fun. The combat got a bit annoying sometimes when I'd dive and miss, but the the game play is unique and I liked the design. I think the Vita game I've put the most hours into is Need For Speed. That is an excellent handheld racer. My Vita display just developed a stuck pixel, though, so I haven't been using it much. It's not horrible, it keeps drawing my eye to it and it bugs the heck out of me. I suppose (hope) I'll get used to it.

I think it's fun but it just seems to be missing something. The environments are gorgeous, the controls are tight, and the gameplay is fun, but it just isn't compelling to me. I'll occasionally pick it up and play one level, then quit.

That would be the one.

My transaction with MrFish ended up not working out, but he shipped fast, packed very carefully, and stayed in constant contact with me throughout the process. I wouldn't hesitate to buy from him again. His #1 goal is definitely buyer satisfaction. Thanks, Fish!

I'd prefer a 1050 to go with my 800XL but I'd settle for an 810 in good shape. Stock models are just fine. No Happy Chip necessary. Thanks. Paul

Looks like a beautiful unit. I'm interested. Sending PM.

My mom bought an Atari 800 for me for Christmas in either '80 or '81, I think (I'm horrible with dates), mainly because I begged for it. My best friend had received one the year before and I was dying to have one of my own. We were both Atari 2600 junkies so the progression to an Atari computer system was natural. I'll never forget seeing his 800 for the first time. We were only around ten years old, and I had no idea what a personal computer could or couldn't do. The vision I had was an all-knowing entity such as the bridge computer on Star Trek. I remember asking him, "Can you just type in a question and get an answer?" That was when I learned that the computer actually needed programs before it could do anything. After showing me a couple of quick BASIC tricks (e.g. 10 PRINT "I'M AWESOME") he popped in a Shamus cartridge and the graphics blew me away. Growing up with the 800 it always seemed like other computer users looked down on us a bit. I think because Atari was synonymous with gaming people always dismissed the 800 as a video game machine with a keyboard and not a real computer (The Apple ][ machines with their utilitarian green monochrome screens just looked so much more business-like.). I think this perception holds true a bit today, as evidenced by an eBay listing I saw recently for an "Atari 800 game console." In all fairness to those critics, however, my friends and I did more gaming than anything else on our 800s, but I think that was probably true for most kids my age and computers. Still, from high school through college I wrote all of my term papers in AtariWriter. I couldn't have survived without it. I just wish I'd spent more time learning BASIC and less time playing M.U.L.E., but that was my fault, not the machine's. I'm ashamed to say that one of the greatest things about being an Atari owner in the early days was the ease with which you could obtain pirated copies of games. Atari users naturally found each other and grouped together back then, and as soon as you met another Atari user the disc trading began. It's embarrassing now to think of the ratio of purchased to pirated games I had back then. I honestly can't think of anything about the Atari 8-bit computers that I didn't like. I was still using my 130XE in college after most students were working on a Macintosh or an IBM PC. As a matter of fact, I didn't abandon my 130XE until 1992 when I purchased my first IBM PC.

I got mine from Amazon last week. So far I've only flipped through it but it looks fantastic. I love seeing the old printed ads for the Atari computer systems. Can't wait to read it. A book on the history of Atari was long overdue.