Does anyone still type in game programs from magazines?

[Ross PK]

How is the 1010 working now?

 

I'm not sure as I've not finished typing in a really long program yet, I've just started typing one last night.

 

As for the short program that I written it works perfectly as I predicted, whether I CSAVED it in the 1010 or the XC12.

[buddpaul]

....must be nice to have a working 1010.

 

About a week ago, I hooked up my 410 that I bought a few years back (untested, of course - - - -can't even remember who I bought it from).

 

All the little buttons worked just as I'd hoped, save for one: you guessed it.....the Play button.

 

Phooey..........opened it up (not that I really knew what I was looking at).......belts looked fine. Rewind worked great, FF worked great.....just no Play. Off to the landfill with ya', I said!

 

.....bummer.......quite depressing.

 

Paul B.

[Ross PK]

Well that's strange. If the belts were fine and FF and RW were working then that obvioulsy means the motor was working as well.

 

Maybe a cog wheel came lose and moved slightly out of place?

 

I think it's important that some people are persistant with this sort of stuff though and we learn how to fix/restore them, because in the end all of the stuff is gonna die, and it'd be good if future generations can keep a lot of it going.

Edited March 20, 2008 by Ross PK

[Urchlay]

All the little buttons worked just as I'd hoped, save for one: you guessed it.....the Play button.

 

Don't be insulted if you already knew this but...

 

You did actually hook it up to the Atari and try to CLOAD or something?

 

I know at least one person who didn't know he had to do that, and threw away a tape drive that (probably) worked fine, because the Play button didn't do anything... he wasn't aware that the Play function is under the control of the Atari, and the Play button doesn't do anything unless the Atari tells it to...

 

Probably you already knew that, but if you didn't, well, it's an easy mistake to make

[bfutrel]

It's been many years since I last typed in a program.

 

The last one I typed in was one from Run magazine. It was supposed to do all sorts of nice stuff for the C128. Three pages of tiny print with the checksums. Each line was several groups of 4 digits. After saving it I ran the program and it said 'April Fool's from RUN Magazine!'. Even worse, I typed it in AGAIN to make sure I didn't do something wrong!

 

Needless to say I wasn't too happy about that....

[Trooper]

I've typed in a couple of games for Atarimania but haven't had time to do any for some time now.

 

/T

[bobkat2769]

Just wondering, what with the fact that you can just play the ROMS of type in games and even convert them to MP3's to record onto tape.

 

I'm one of those weird people that actually LIKES typing those things in. I wish I could explain it, but the closest I can come would sound a lot like the other person that posted saying he'd recently typed something in. It's great for learning stuff, but mostly there's a great deal of satisfaction involved once you're finished and you have it running properly.

 

Especially when the program as listed has fatal bugs and you track them down and fix them. Those are both the most frustrating and rewarding at the same time. *=^.^=*

 

I used to have several years of Compute! programs archived that I had typed in on floppies. Unfortunately after the Atari had been stolen about 10 years ago even though I still had the disks they got water damaged in storage and I had to toss them.

 

Fortunately I still have the magazines themselves and as I find time I'm typing them in again. Hopefully, eventually all of the ones from my collection as well as Kevin Savetz's should be up on his Atari Archives site if he ever finds the time for us to start this project. =^.^=

 

He does have, as near as I can tell, have all of the Antic disks and magazine content online so if you're looking for any of those drop and by and take a look.

 

If anyone would like to provide web space for an archive of these programs as I type them in again for others to enjoy please let me know and I can send them. Most of them are pretty mediocre, but a few were really good like SpeedScript and some of the utilities which I haven't gotten to yet.

[hellrazor]

back in the day my cousin and i would take turns typing and reading the hex code aloud! we got it done pretty quick that way...most of the games were either from ANTIC or ANALOG. the best game i think we ever typed in was SYNTRON... pretty cool robotron type game where one guy runs and the other guns (one screen character) we had a blast playing that one. i think my disc w/ that game is M.I.A. and the mag is long gone....sad

c ya

greg

[Urchlay]

I was one of the people who loathed typing in programs... Anything longer than a page or so, or anything all in hex or DATA statements, I wouldn't even try. I missed out on some good stuff due to that, but it wasn't a total loss: it meant I had more time to spend working on my own programs. Also, later on when I had a modem, found a couple BBSes that had a lot of the type-ins for download.

 

Back then I always wondered why magazines couldn't print the programs in machine-readable form, and sell a device like a barcode reader to read them with. I guess it would have been a short-lived thing, obsoleted when the mags started offering floppy disks with all the programs on them.

[bobkat2769]

back in the day my cousin and i would take turns typing and reading the hex code aloud! we got it done pretty quick that way...most of the games were either from ANTIC or ANALOG. the best game i think we ever typed in was SYNTRON... pretty cool robotron type game where one guy runs and the other guns (one screen character) we had a blast playing that one. i think my disc w/ that game is M.I.A. and the mag is long gone....sad

c ya

greg

Would this be the game you're talking about?

Syntron.zip

 

I couldn't find any info along with it. Just the exe in a bootable disk image.

 

Enjoy!

 

BobKat =^.^=

[theking21083]

I got my first Atari 8-bit (800XL) computer today so I just started typing in a game program. I am about 1/2 way done with it but now I have to go to bed. I can't wait to finish typing my first game.

[buddpaul]

All the little buttons worked just as I'd hoped, save for one: you guessed it.....the Play button.

 

Don't be insulted if you already knew this but...

 

You did actually hook it up to the Atari and try to CLOAD or something?

 

I know at least one person who didn't know he had to do that, and threw away a tape drive that (probably) worked fine, because the Play button didn't do anything... he wasn't aware that the Play function is under the control of the Atari, and the Play button doesn't do anything unless the Atari tells it to...

 

Probably you already knew that, but if you didn't, well, it's an easy mistake to make

 

 

Oh, jiminy-H-friggin'-Christmas!!!!!!!!!!! I really (REALLY!!!!!!) didn't know that!!!

 

I'm somewhere between mad and laughing right now!!!!!! .......and I'm really mad that I threw it away!! Grrrrr....I was in a bad mood that night! I really did hook it up to my XEGS and tried to start a tape, but I wasn't real persistent! I probably should've given myself a few days to chill out!

 

Oh well.....um, anybody got a 410 they wanna sell??

 

Paul B.

[Urchlay]

I'm somewhere between mad and laughing right now!!!!!! .......and I'm really mad that I threw it away!! Grrrrr....I was in a bad mood that night! I really did hook it up to my XEGS and tried to start a tape, but I wasn't real persistent! I probably should've given myself a few days to chill out!

 

The annoying thing is, most people selling Atari tape drives don't know that either, so they don't test them properly...

 

Odds are any 410 you buy won't work, unless it's from a seller who really knows what they're doing. The 410's drive belt goes around a tiny pulley, and if the drive sits unused for a few years, the belt develops a kink at that pulley. You can replace the belt (search this forum for "410 drive belt" for details), but any random 1010 probably has a better chance of working as-is, and an XC11 or XC12 might be a safer bet (just because they're newer).

[hellrazor]

thanx bobcat... but i dont think my laptop has the right program to run that program.... do you know where i can download it?

thanx again

greg

[bobkat2769]

thanx bobcat... but i dont think my laptop has the right program to run that program.... do you know where i can download it?

Um, my handle is spelled with a 'K' not a 'C' =^.^=;;

 

Anywayz... What are you running? Windows, Linux, MacOS, or other?

 

If it's windows I highly recommend the Atari 800Win+ Emulator. Of the various emulators I've tried I like that one best overall. That's what I used to do a quick test on the disk image and run the program.

 

If you want, PM me with your email address and I can send you the 800win+ installer along with the ROMs you'll need to run it. It's fairly small. Only about 2-3MB.

 

Laterz,

 

BobKat

[Noelio]

Yeah, I do actually enjoy typing games in for some reason, I've not done it for years but I'm actually looking forward to typing one in later (which I'm also doing to test my 1010). It seems like something that should feel incredibly laborious and a chore instead.

 

 

 

Wow Ross, talk about retro. I was the DATA line type-in master, and the 1010

was the only chance I had of recording it. The number keys are the top line of

key rows, so 10-key was done in a line (800XL).... Okay so it was a rainy day,

but yeah I typed in Safe-Cracker, whoohoo, a room, a safe, clicks, and more #'s....

entry....1010 to rescue, I can load it again, ....ehh, why?....hummm...via 1010,

well I just can!

 

I responded because I typed in over 100 of those. I still like Skydiver, Lunar Lander

 

I still have nearly 5 dozen of th0se 'type-ins' backed-up on floppy, backed from

1010. Have fun Friend! It's great when you type RUN and press Return, and.....

Wow! Safe Cracker!!! I'll never forget that one. BIG BIG program indeed.

Man, those were the days!

 

I don't know if it exists already, but an archive of programs from various books/mags would be incredible.

I mean just a site / section devoted strictly to them.

 

I've got a lot of books here that I really should scan in at least.

[NuY]

I've been on a bit of a typing mission for a few years, and am currently in possession of a new APE registration, so am able to transfer everything to the PC

 

If anyone's interested, I've done all the programs (not just games) from the following:

 

Games for The Atari by Paul Bunn (The one with Safe Cracker and Ski Run)

The Musical Atari (book)

Atari User magazine (all of Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 and most of Vol. 3)

 

Currently working on Best Of PCW Software For The Atari XL (about halfway through)

 

For the games from Atari User, I've written my own little menu proggy too.

 

If anyone (Atari Frog? ) is interested in these let me know and I'll get a transfer started. I had intended to hold off on the Atari User stuff until I finished it all, but seeing as there's an interest in this old stuff I can attach anything up to what I've completed.

[www.atarimania.com]

Thanks, that would be fantastic!

 

--

Atari Frog

http://www.atarimania.com

[NuY]

It felt good when I finished the program, typed run, and it came on the screen, it was like 'Yay, cool!' which you don't get with a ROM. I enjoyed typing it in too. People probably think I'm crazy but whatever.

 

Now to try and find the longest program I can to test the 1010.

Heh, two Atari type-in nuts so close together - I'm only in Warrington

 

Try a couple of the type-ins from the new thread I made to test the 1010, there's some huge ones on those disks. You won't have to type them in however, so that kind of may defeat the object...

[+Allan]

The Musical Atari (book)

 

Kevin Savetz has permission from the Author to put this on the web. You might want to contact him over at atariarchives .

 

Allan

Edited September 16, 2008 by Allan

[Marius]

Yes I do this!

 

Why? Again because of the nostalgia feel. I used to type with my fingers till they became red when I was a kid. And after typing the checking for typo's hehe.

 

I have plenty of books and magazines with basic lists and on a rainy day it is really a nice thing to type them in.

 

I'm not saving them to tape (like I did in the past) but I save them to a modern storage device like Sio2IDE.

 

Perhaps saving to tape is even cooler. I should try that again.

 

Greetz.

Marius

[Fres]

I've been on a bit of a typing mission for a few years, and am currently in possession of a new APE registration, so am able to transfer everything to the PC

 

If anyone's interested, I've done all the programs (not just games) from the following:

 

Games for The Atari by Paul Bunn (The one with Safe Cracker and Ski Run)

The Musical Atari (book)

Atari User magazine (all of Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 and most of Vol. 3)

 

Currently working on Best Of PCW Software For The Atari XL (about halfway through)

 

For the games from Atari User, I've written my own little menu proggy too.

 

If anyone (Atari Frog? ) is interested in these let me know and I'll get a transfer started. I had intended to hold off on the Atari User stuff until I finished it all, but seeing as there's an interest in this old stuff I can attach anything up to what I've completed.

 

Did these every get posted? (esp. the Paul Bunn stuff)

[Nukey Shay]

Use OCR software if pages are scanned instead of transcribed. Highlight & copy to notepad, save in emulator HD folder, ENTER"H:" the text file, save to disk image. Transfer to real floppy via APE if desired. The only typing you'll need to do is entering the filenames (and correcting unrecognised characters if using OCR).

[+Philsan]

Use OCR software if pages are scanned instead of transcribed. Highlight & copy to notepad, save in emulator HD folder, ENTER"H:" the text file, save to disk image. Transfer to real floppy via APE if desired. The only typing you'll need to do is entering the filenames (and correcting unrecognised characters if using OCR).

With Altirra emulator you can paste copied text directly.

[C-Rex2000]

No, but now that you mention it maybe I should....

I remember doing it back in the day, I would spend hours trying to find the typos that would screw the whole thing up...lol..

 

CZ