A8 users... Where do you live

[erazmus]

42. Kelowna, BC, Canada. Grew up in the UK. Parents purchased for me one of the first 400s to land in the UK. The BASIC cartridges apparently didn't arrive, so I was stuck with Star Raiders for the first month until BASIC showed up. I spent hours writing programs with that membrane keyboard. Memories

[ThomSW]

doesn't matter, in hell, doesn't matter either

 

(another troll-based thread, heh)

[Spurge]

Interesting thread. Ages are about what I would expect too.

 

43 , Australia. Bought my first Atari in about '81, the 2600. Then an Atari 400, loved that thing to death .

[carmel_andrews]

doesn't matter, in hell, doesn't matter either

 

(another troll-based thread, heh)

 

 

 

 

 

To quote the old saying, it takes one to know one

[Cebus Capucinis]

Wow! Youngest member posting!

 

I'm 27 and currently reside in Albuquerque, NM -- though that will likely be changing in about 2-3 years -- and I got my first Atari computer only about a year or so ago, a nice little CIB 130XE that is still my main system! We had the PCjr in our house and the transition to just PC-based computing was so quick the only other computers I'd used were a Commodore 64 and an Apple IIe! I never even knew Atari made computers until I got one....embarrassing, I know!

[robcatron]

Rob Catron here (been a long time!). 41 years old now.

 

Originally from Flemingsburg, KY (my formative Atari years . Received my 800, 410, and of course Star Raiders exactly 29 years ago this upcoming Christmas Day (lucky kid). Still own and love it.

 

Moved to 800XL about 1984 or so (not 100% sure), then moved to ST as soon as the 1040 was released in the US.

 

Now living in Frankfort KY, where my A8 (and nice cart collection) still reside and get good use (especially when I get all sentimental around the Holidays)....Blue Max, here I come!!

Edited December 22, 2010 by robcatron

[Sleepy]

40, Germany/Cologne.

 

I´m using A8 since school days, I think it was in 1983/84 when I got my first one, a 600XL (which is still in my possession), the first time without any kind of mass storage device -

 

This means if we want to play we first spend one to three days in typing in a listing from a magazine, then search typing errors, play a few days and then the power socket is needed for something other than the computer...

 

My first cart was Dig Dug - just plug and play!

 

Sleepy

Edited December 22, 2010 by Sleepy

[pavros]

35, Poland. My father bought me Atari 130XE + XC12 in 1987 when I was 12.

 

Pavros

[spookt]

Hmm, thought I'd posted in here but apparently not.

 

I live in Darlington in the North East of the UK. Born just up the road in Durham 37 years ago.

 

My first machine was a ZX81 with a Memotech 16Kb RAM pack that was held on to the machine with velcro. I remember you had to be very careful using the machine so that the RAM pack didn't wobble and crash the system.

 

After a year I upgraded to a 600XL with 1010 and Pole Position. I remeber this Christmas VERY clearly because I hooked the 600XL up to the "big" TV in the lounge and now I had colour, sound and a joystick! I played Pole Position alot. I'm not sure I actually had any more games to start with but I used to spend hours typing stuff in and messing around in BASIC. I also discovered Star Raiders pretty quickly.

 

I soon got fed up with 16Kb and moved up to an 800XL still with the tape drive. At the time disk drives were an unafordable luxury. IIRC they cost more than the computer. By the time I could afford a drive the 1050s were disappearing and the XF551 was supposed to be available. I couldn't get one for love nor money so sold up and bought a C64 with floppy drive. That didn't last long as I soon upgraded to an A500 plus 512Kb and RTC then an A1200 (which I still have but now has an Apollo 68030 plus 64Mb of RAM and a SCSI card)

 

I got back in to Atari around 2000 when I bought an 800XL from the small ads in a local paper. Now I have far too many machines and boxes and boxes of games and accessories. The 8 bit Ataris get pretty much daily use, the Amiga gets turned on now and again and the C64 is history

Edited December 22, 2010 by spookt

[R6502A]

38, East London, England. My first computer was an Atari 800XL bought for me at the age of 12. Prior to that I spent hours at my friends house playing his 400. Pole position and Pac-Man were favourites.

The first cartridge ever bought for me was Donkey Kong and at the time I was blown away!!! I am in love with this version. It turned out that my Atari was a lot better than I initially thought. I still have my original Atari but it stopped working about 15 years ago. I can't bring myself to throw it away, even though my wife would love to see the back of it. There were two things she was warned about before we got married... don't interfere with my Atari or my record collection.

Edited December 23, 2010 by R6502A

[Tubular Gearhead]

41. I grew up in the Bay Area, San Jose CA.

 

I got my first Atari 400 in 1982, and by the time I was done with it I had installed a full-stroke keyboard and a 64k Mosaic ram board. My father knew someone from work that traded me an Atari 800 fully decked out with an ATR8000 CPM 64k expansion and two external drives (not quite sure why he went for the trade ). Unfortunately, I sold most of my Atari stuff when I was in high school and had to build up my collection much later. Wish I had kept some of that stuff...

 

On a side note, one of my best memories was a school field trip to the Atari headquarters in 1982 where they gave us a tour of the whole facility. At the end, they let our whole class spend an hour in the arcade they had on site and I remember playing games I had not seen yet in the arcades in the local mall.

[Blues76]

Hi,

 

I'm 34 years old (Born in 1976) . I was born in Concepcion, Chile . I move the Miami,FL USA when I was 14. I wanted an apple when I was a little kid but the good fortune that my father could not afford one of them, he bought me an atari 65 xe with a tape drive. The best investment ever. They bought me a 1050 disk drive a year later and I have been programming ever since I had my first computer , which was the Atari. I remember that when I was a kid, I just wanted a 130xe that my friend had and a modem. Before moving the US, my mom told me to sell the computer with so much software I had. It was very painful. Later when I was here, after some time, I started using PC until I was tired of Microsoft, that I primarily use MAC and some ubuntu. However, my pride and joy are my atari 8-bit computer that I have.

My main A8 system is a 130XE with 1050 disk drive , indus GT drive and SIO2PC (usb) plus some other cool stuff from AtariMax.

 

I'm so proud of the A8 community that we have, it's incredible. Specially with all the possible upgrades. I'm still not able to keep up with all the possible things I can add to my atari A8. Lately I'm been thinking to get a 1200XL.

 

Also, I would like to add, that Steve from AtariMAX is the best. He is a great guy to buy things from.

 

One last thing.... I used to buy most of my stuff (this year 2010) from BEST, but the guy claimed that I was asking for too many quotes compare to the ratio that I was purchasing. He banned me until the end of January 2011 but I said forget it!!! Maybe it was true that I was asking for too many quotes, but as of now, I'm banned from purchasing anything from BEST. So I'm left with B&C and Ebay. Anyways, I just wanted to add this, to make public the official BAN that I was imposed by BEST. Maybe I'm not a good A8 customer

 

In summary, I love Atari... My heart bleeds ATARI , I'm 34 years old , from CHILE but I live in Miami,FL USA for over 20 years. I was happy to find people from Chile and one from Miami.

 

I owe my love to computers to my Dad who gave me the Atari, and to the Atari to want me to program. I'm currently pursuing a PhD in Computer Science because I love programming/researching... all of it because of the ATARI

 

Hope to see more people from Florida.

Francisco

[flashjazzcat]

Hmm, thought I'd posted in here but apparently not.

Same here.

 

I live in "sunny" South Shields, on the north east coast of England. The town is commonly known as "Newcastle Upon Tyne" by inhabitants of the capital.

 

I was born in the local hospital 38 years ago, and have never really strayed far, apart from a few holidays in London and Kent. I once went to Copenhagen in the off-season when I was eight. Lego-Land was shut.

 

My first Atari was a 65XE, bought in 1987 IIRC. I only wanted it to keep up with the other kids at school who did nothing but talk about their Commodores and Ataris. The rivalry between the two platforms was no less ferocious at Brinkburn Comprehensive than anywhere else. My best mate Jonny got an XEGS for Chistmas (from the catalogue), but after his mother exchanged it twice because it didn't work, his dad gave up and bought him a 65XE from Dixons. Jonny and I had come to the console party pretty late, though, and although I was never much of a games fan, I recall the Atari cassette titles at the newsagents drying up when we'd only had the machines for a year or two.

 

A "serious" user from the start, I got an XF551 in 1989, followed by SpartaDOS X, followed by another 65XE when the first one blew up. The second 65XE got a 128KB upgrade, and I used that same set up more or less day in, day out as my main computer until the turn of the millenium. The Atari equipment then got packed away, before being retrieved two years ago. Since then, I killed the 65XE with my first attempts at modding, but the XF is still going strong.

Edited December 24, 2010 by flashjazzcat

[Kernal]

Boston Massachusetts

 

Got my 800xl from Uncle John and Uncle Mark in 1985, still running today, outlasted everyone of the other pcs ive ever had.

 

bought an ST a few years ago, also expanded my collection to a 130xe and a 1200xl

 

I also have an atari 2600, and did have a jaguar until i sold it.. which i regret now..

[nathanallan]

35, El Paso, TX. I love my A8's, but I don't have a very huge history with them. My first exposure was in the 4th grade in school, but since I got my first one a couple years ago it's been a great time.

[Chris Leach]

I am 37, and live in Mount Morris, Michigan(Near FLINT, Michigan)

 

My Father bought our first family Atari when I was about 8 or so, it was an Atari 800 48k Ram. My first system was an 800xl I purchased around the age 13.

 

 

Best Regards

 

Venom4728a

 

 

I lived in Mt. Morris for 18 years! I was born in Flint..good to see Mt. Morris on the member map!

[snicklin]

don't interfere with my Atari or my record collection.

 

And in my case it was "don't interfere with my Atari or my Retro Gamer collection".

Complaint 1: Why do you need all those old blocky computers and those massive televisions, get some flat panels and another PC instead

Complaint 2: "I want to open those (advent calendar style fronted edition) doors on your magazine" (it was the Xmas edition). She even sat on a Retro Gamer once. I went ballistic.

[+Philsan]

Complaint 2: "I want to open those (advent calendar style fronted edition) doors on your magazine" (it was the Xmas edition). She even sat on a Retro Gamer once. I went ballistic.

I have saved those doors from my wife and my daughter!

Now RG is in a safe place (RG binder).

[hitchcock4]

Living in Winston-Salem North Carolina. I'll be 39 soon - first Atari was a used 800 that came with an Indus GT drive and several Infocomm games. I guess I was 11 or 12 at the time.

 

I need to read through and see if anyone is in North Carolina -- I seem to recall someone in Raleigh.

 

{EDIT} I need to change my Location! I moved over the summer.

Edited January 15, 2011 by hitchcock4

[snicklin]

Now RG is in a safe place (RG binder).

 

They are so expensive!!

[carmel_andrews]

38, East London, England. My first computer was an Atari 800XL bought for me at the age of 12. Prior to that I spent hours at my friends house playing his 400. Pole position and Pac-Man were favourites.

The first cartridge ever bought for me was Donkey Kong and at the time I was blown away!!! I am in love with this version. It turned out that my Atari was a lot better than I initially thought. I still have my original Atari but it stopped working about 15 years ago. I can't bring myself to throw it away, even though my wife would love to see the back of it. There were two things she was warned about before we got married... don't interfere with my Atari or my record collection.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Anywhere near dalston/hackney....or more leytonstone/walthamstow

[+Philsan]

Now RG is in a safe place (RG binder).

 

They are so expensive!!

One part of me wants to keep all RG safe in binders, the other part thinks it would be better to remove and keep only interesting articles...

[4hubbs]

Just ran across this thread,I'm 53 and live in western North Carolina ( Hendersonville) got my first Atari about 1977 ( VCS ) and a 400 a short time later, then a 800xl when they came out. Still have the original and it works great. I remember getting a loan to buy my first floppy drive, i think it was around $400.00. Hadn't used my Atari in years and was going to sell it on Ebay, when I saw all the stuff for sale I ended up buying more. Now I keep it set up and try to play it everyday.

[R6502A]

38, East London, England. My first computer was an Atari 800XL bought for me at the age of 12. Prior to that I spent hours at my friends house playing his 400. Pole position and Pac-Man were favourites.

The first cartridge ever bought for me was Donkey Kong and at the time I was blown away!!! I am in love with this version. It turned out that my Atari was a lot better than I initially thought. I still have my original Atari but it stopped working about 15 years ago. I can't bring myself to throw it away, even though my wife would love to see the back of it. There were two things she was warned about before we got married... don't interfere with my Atari or my record collection.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Anywhere near dalston/hackney....or more leytonstone/walthamstow

 

Clapton, so between Dalston and Leyton. Where are you?

[scotty]

43 and in the suburbs of Cleveland Ohio.

 

All of my Atari'ing these days done via emulation. Bought my first 400 WWWWAAAAAY back in 1980. Sold it to a friend, bought an 800 and it took FOREVER to be able to afford a 1050!!! Them suckers were EXPENSIVE back then!! Added an 800XL, 520ST, 520STfm that I upgraded to 1 Meg of ram, and finally a Mega 2.

 

Still use Atari800+ and STeem almost daily. There is a freeware game called Match-It that I am addicted to for the ST that I play all the time.

 

I just love how the emulators let you add as much memory, virtual hard drives, and faster processors as you like. Would have cost HUNDREDS back in the day!!