Happy Terti-Centennial, Candy!

[ClausB]

33 1/3 years ago this month I bought my first Atari. In the fall of 1980 I was a junior in the MSU Computer Science program. I had learned FORTRAN on punched cards and BASIC on an Altair in high school. I was learning Pascal and CDC Assembly and was writing programs on my own TI-59. I was itching to buy my own micro.

 

Returning from a summer abroad, I was broke. But I had a job at the MSU Observatory and started saving and shopping. I scoured every issue of BYTE and decided I wanted a micro with a TV interface and maybe graphics ability. An Apple II would be great but way too expensive. Cheaper alternatives included Cosmac Elf, Sinclair ZX80, and OSI C1P but they were mail-order, too risky with my hard-earned cash.

 

The local shop, New Dimensions in Computing, where I got my monthly BYTEs, displayed an Atari 800. Rob showed me its virtues but I was skeptical about buying a video game machine. Plus, at full retail price, it was almost as much as the Apple. Rob explained that the 400 had most of the same features at a much nicer price. I was starting to sway. Then one day I walked in to find a small crowd around the 800 enjoying a new game called Star Raiders. WOW! If the Atari can do such cool, fast graphics, I wanted one.

 

In December there was a sale on the 400, 410, and some educational software. Finally I could afford it! I asked Rob if he could substitute Star Raiders or BASIC for the eduware but his boss would not. Christmas break came along and I went on my family's annual shopping trip to the Grand Rapids malls. There was a toy store advertising the same sale so I asked about substituting and they agreed. Score! I spent the whole break in front of my new 8K Atari and a little B&W TV writing BASIC and shooting Zylons.

 

I had become friends with Rob so I dreaded returning to his shop and telling him. He was disappointed but he understood. I quickly hit the 8K limit though and so he sold me an Axlon 32K board. I felt like an expectant father waiting for his boss to install and test it. I snuck a few peeks at the 400's wonderous insides before he closed it up ad turned it on. Woohoo, more memory than I could ever use!

 

Then Rob lent me an Atari Hardware Manual which I had copied and then devoured for every little secret. There I read that my new love was named Candy.