Who wouldn't have an A8 and games for it if it wasn't for the Internet?

[Ross PK]

I wouldn't. All I would have is my Atari User magazines which I bought from the shop back in the day.

 

There's just no way you can find A8 stuff in the wild over here, not even in the Loot magazine. Even back in the early 90's it was impossible to get hold of any A8 stuff. I had always hoped since not long after selling my A8 and games back in 1991 that I would somehow get hold of an 800XL and games for it again. It wasn't until 2000 when I had my Dreamcast that I discovered I could buy one and games and even magazines from classic game shops on the net. And so, I became an A8 user once again.

[+Philsan]

I too can say thank you (or perhaps blame) the net!

[mimo]

the net has a lot to answer for

[Ross PK]

It makes you realise just how much we take being able to buy A8 stuff off the net and emulation for granted now. Well, I don't think I take it completely for granted, but still...

Edited August 29, 2007 by Ross PK

[yorgle]

The net is responsible for my A8 endeavors. Started with a 2600 and mushroomed from there. Without the net, there might have been a slight chance I would have dug my brother's old C64 out of the basement.

[+Guitarman]

I still have the A8 stuff I used back in the day. I blame the internet for the boatload I have now!! LOL

[+orpheuswaking]

Well Lets see... I shipped all of my PAL Atari items from the UK to the US in 1997 when I moved here and it was a fairly large collection then... Then I came across an awesome deal at a garage sale of all places in Ohio... That gave me a NTSC machine to work with... After that it was Ebay for some additional PSU's and stuff...

 

Now in the last two years I've grown my collection again via these very forums... Got an SIO2PC and MyIDE+Flash, I just love that we can use modern technology on a machine that should by all intents and purposes be dead...

 

Going forward I think everything will be via here and Ebay, I haven't seen anything in the wild for a good few years

[Pengwin]

The net has definitely rekindled my interest in all things retro-computing. although I managed to hold onto my 800XL since I first bought in 1985 or 1986

[accousticguitar]

Got mine on ebay...last year. All I had back in the day was a 2600, and I didn't even keep that.

[carmel_andrews]

I had my atari's (mainly a8, but also st/e etc) before i even knew the internet existed

 

first atari (and games) was an 800xl back in may '86

 

At least emulation allows me to play the games that i'd not have been able to get hold of through normal channels as there are heaps of them archived (emulator format) on places like vjetnam, 8biscuits, pigwa.net, lange seite etc etc

[JamesD]

I've purchased most of my old 8 bit machines off of the net. Most would have been difficult if not impossible to find without it.

[Mr.Amiga500]

I must say, the internet is awesome! Every bit of Atari hardware and software I have now is because of the internet. Not only that, but I got lots of nice free stuff from extremely generous people who I couldn't possibly have known if it wasn't for the internet. Pre-internet, I spent years searching the classified ads for Atari stuff without success.

 

The sheer amount of classic software available on the internet is mind boggling. I remember I stopped using my Amiga in 1991 because computer stores stopped selling Amiga stuff and I only had about 20 floppies of software. Now I have nearly 4Gb, over 100,000 files - and that's only the "best of the best". If I wanted, I could have 10x that or more.

 

Then there are the awesome die-hard coders still making great software for our beloved old computers. Without the internet, would they even have the incentive to continue? (...or our constant pestering for them to continue? )

[BSA Starfire]

I certainly wouldn't! Never heard of the XE series in the day only had a 2600. When my partner got into ebay a while ago I bought a 2600 to replace the one I had as a kid, while hunting for games I bought a XEGS with games for £3.50 on the off chance, came here after to see what I had bought! Great system, worth owning for star raiders and final legacy alone in my opinion. Frogger is also really good & moon patrol. Considering trying to get a tape deck and games but have heard they take forever to load, not 30secs like the supercharger. So only using carts so far. Also Atariage prompted me to get a Lynx, another sysyetm i had never heard of and really like.

Yep so no internet, no atari's for me.

best,

chris

[mimo]

I certainly wouldn't! Never heard of the XE series in the day only had a 2600. When my partner got into ebay a while ago I bought a 2600 to replace the one I had as a kid, while hunting for games I bought a XEGS with games for £3.50 on the off chance, came here after to see what I had bought! Great system, worth owning for star raiders and final legacy alone in my opinion. Frogger is also really good & moon patrol. Considering trying to get a tape deck and games but have heard they take forever to load, not 30secs like the supercharger. So only using carts so far. Also Atariage prompted me to get a Lynx, another sysyetm i had never heard of and really like.

Yep so no internet, no atari's for me.

best,

chris

 

Get an SIO2PC as soon as possible!

[Ross PK]

I must say, the internet is awesome! Every bit of Atari hardware and software I have now is because of the internet. Not only that, but I got lots of nice free stuff from extremely generous people who I couldn't possibly have known if it wasn't for the internet. Pre-internet, I spent years searching the classified ads for Atari stuff without success.

 

The sheer amount of classic software available on the internet is mind boggling. I remember I stopped using my Amiga in 1991 because computer stores stopped selling Amiga stuff and I only had about 20 floppies of software. Now I have nearly 4Gb, over 100,000 files - and that's only the "best of the best". If I wanted, I could have 10x that or more.

 

Then there are the awesome die-hard coders still making great software for our beloved old computers. Without the internet, would they even have the incentive to continue? (...or our constant pestering for them to continue? )

 

I think a lot of us may not realise this, but we really do have it better now than anytime back in the 80's as far as 8 bit gaming is concerned. But then again, do we really appreciate and enjoy our machines and games as much as we did in the 80's now that nearly everything is so easily available to us?

Edited August 31, 2007 by Ross PK

[mimo]

Well, Kids/work/being an adult get in the way a lot, I sure as hell dont get to play games for 8 to 10 hours straight like when I was a kid.

And back in the day I had maybe 30 games to choose, that made things easier, now with 3000 games it takes me 20 mins to decide!

[Mr.Amiga500]

But then again, do we really appreciate and enjoy our machines and games as much as we did in the 80's now that nearly everything is so easily available to us?

 

Good point. Usually something easily obtained is not as treasured. Also, the mystery is gone. Once you see all there is to get, there's nothing more to strive for. So, in the case of the Atari 8-bit, I don't really enjoy it as much as back in 1984. (but at least, I satisfied my craving)

 

For my Amiga though, I actually enjoy it much more today. Having only limited software back then, I only used a small fraction of its potential. With the motherlode of software I have now, I've been able to do some amazing things that impress the hell out of me. Eventually, that'll probably wear off too though.

[BydoEmpire]

I wouldn't, either. I picked up my XE last year on ebay and absolutely love it. I was a c64 guy back in the day. Nothing against the A8's, I just didn't have one. But it sure is nice to be able to play Star Raiders properly! I had many other consoles (2600, 7800, etc) before the internet, but I probably wouldn't have as many.

[Atari Smeghead]

I've been an Atari fella since the beginning. After seeing my friend John Spanburg's 800 and 810 setup, I begged my Dad to buy me one. We could only afford the 400, 410 and the BASIC cart, but that was the start of my lifelong love affair.

 

So, without the Internet, my Atari setup would most likely be the 800 I have now, a couple of US Doubled 1050s and a few hundred floppy disks.

 

The Internet (specifically eBay) provided me with the XEGS that I use as the primary gaming system, as well as lot of peripherals. I have over a dozen different kinds of joysticks, for instance. But the biggest advancement for my A8 pleasure is the SIO2PC and AtariMax carts. Before, I would boot up the 1050, play a handful of my fav games (unless the disk glitched) and was done for a while. Now, thanks to the WWW, I am able to play thousands of games I never previously owned (or even heard of) back in the day. I have discovered some real gems.

 

Also, I have bought and sold so much Atari stuff through eBay and here with AA users. I've met some fantastic people!

 

My Atari experience has been improved so much thanks to Al Gore and his Internet.

 

Cheers,

Smeg

[accousticguitar]

Now, thanks to the WWW, I am able to play thousands of games I never previously owned (or even heard of) back in the day. I have discovered some real gems.

I would like to hear what some of them are. There are probably some I haven't tried yet.

[deadmeow]

The internet enhanced my collecting back in the 90's when I was really into it. Most of my finds came from thrift stores, in about 1996 when I did the majority of my collecting. I then would go onto the newsgroups and big in auctions for atari 2600/5200 carts. That was a lot more fun than ebay. People didn't gouge you on shipping.

 

In 1996 I had an Atari 7800,5200, XEGS, and tons of other systems. As nice as Ebay is/was, its not the same now, that everyone uses it. Just like IRC chat used to be cool. Go onto Yahoo chat now, and you will see what the proliferation of cheap computing has done.

 

The internet is easily the best way to collect in this current day.

[Atari Smeghead]

Now, thanks to the WWW, I am able to play thousands of games I never previously owned (or even heard of) back in the day. I have discovered some real gems.

I would like to hear what some of them are. There are probably some I haven't tried yet.

 

Well, since it's a bit off-topic, I'll keep it brief, so as not to overwhelm. (It might make for an interesting new thread... )

 

Here are a few games that ended up in one of my AtariMax Multicarts , that I didn't know about or play until I discovered the emulator version:

 

Xagon, Chopper Hunt (the commercial release of Buried Bucks, the Analog Computing type-in game from Tom Hudson, IIRC), Espial, Blaster (probably the coolest-looking game ever), Hard Hat Mack and The Tail of Beta Lyrae.

 

If you have an 8 MBit AtariMax cart, go to the AtariMax forum and download one of the many Multicarts listed there. I happen to think my 5 multis are the best... But really, there are so many fantastic games, and playing them on A8 hardware is just the best.

 

But Atarimax, as far as I am concerned, is the best thing to happen to the A8, and the Internet brought it to the masses (or at least brought it to my attention).

 

Also, the Internet brought all of us together. I used to run an Atari BBS back in the day, and once that era faded, (and once my local Atari group CHAOS disbanded) I never imagined I would be able to do this type of interaction with like-minded people again.

 

Cheers,

Smeg

[accousticguitar]

Thanks. I don't have an Atarimax cart, but I do have sio2pc.

[peteym5]

Thanks to the Internet, I was able to Restore my old 130XE to a functional state, get a ton games and software I have never seen. I see people have now got together and started developing new games for the old system. Now I am aware of some new future upgrades like Videoboard XE, IDE cartridges with flash memory, and other hardware modifications.

[+Random Terrain]

My uncle in Ohio bought a used Atari computer with some cartridges and sent it to me years ago. We both didn't need the Internet for that. If I ever need something for it, it's nice the Internet is here.