How did you get your first Atari computer?

[+DarkLord]

Or in a dumpster?     

 

 

[Vyvyan B.]

20 hours ago, bfollowell said:

I just wasn't interested in hearing the tales of waking up Christmas morning to a brand new Atari under the tree, or a beloved Uncle that passed away and left 15 pallets of Atari gear. We've all seen those stories many, many, many times over.

Jesus, who (or what) pissed in your Cornflakes?

[_The Doctor__]

I think that he wants to hear the stories about where, how, why, and what people did through their hard efforts to purchase their own Atari machines. It gets to a deeper understanding of the person as well as their ideas and motivations. I find that interesting as well. I don't think it's animosity or ill will to keep within the topic structure like that. Doing a crap ton of chores and what they were, or working your *ss off for the family business or farm to get an Atari is also very interesting and knowing the different things within that is of note.

[Vyvyan B.]

Well, I'm terribly sorry that I wasn't born 20 years earlier so I could have had a paper route in 1976, riding my bike for 2 cents an hour, 12 hours a day, in a snowstorm, uphill (both ways) only to get home and have my father disembowel me with a rusty spork, or that one of my family members died of cancer in his early 40s so I could have come up with a better sob story for him. My apologies...

[Keatah]

Everybody should tell their Atari story just as they remember it. Nothing wrong in that. And anyone who denounces a story is just being an ass.

[Mclaneinc]

As said, I don't think he's also looking for stories of pain unless people want to tell them, he's just looking for the unusual or how hard working people had to be to get their dream machine. As he said, stories of being handed a machine  are nice, but been told a million times over. My story is a bit of both but I did have to work my backside off to get my machine, other bits came as part of the job and were not so hard.

Edited November 29, 2022 by Mclaneinc

[Keatah]

Since we are now being pedantic about what constitutes an acceptable story (or not), it is my fullsworn duty to point out the topic of the thread. "How did you buy your first Atari computer?". And each of us has so far answered that question to best ability. Not the respondent's problem if the story is accepted or rejected. They're being told as asked in the thread title.

 

Can we now get back to storytelling?

[Mclaneinc]

I'm happy with that, not that what I think means anything, but yes, name of thread suggest all stories, to be fair..

 

 

[telengard]

I purchased a 130XE and Indus GT drive from White House computers mid 1986.  Took me a LONG time to save up the dough for that.  I had a 7 day a week paper route and did dishes under the table at a local deli.   I had started wanting an Atari, after using an 800 much earlier but had to wait.  I didn't have a credit card or anything, so I believe I had got a money order and mailed it to them.  For games, I would have those sent CoD and would hunt down the UPS truck on my bike to ensure I got it!

 

The ST came out around this time and I ended up trading in the XE/Indus for a 520 ST purchased from Lyco in late 87.

 

I now have an 800, 800 XL, and 130 XE, etc.  But not anything original I had back in the 80s.

Edited November 29, 2022 by telengard

[_The Doctor__]

It asks

HOW DID YOU BUY

emphasis YOU BUY

not

how did you come by

 

that's my take on it.

[zzip]

Has there ever been a thread on AtariAge (or most places) that has gone exactly the way the OP wanted?   Why should this one be any different?

 

At least it's getting responses.   I'm sure many of us started threads that went nowhere.

[deffroe]

I've already told part of my story, that it was a Christmas present in 1985, so didn't have to work for it but boy was I made to pay for it.

I'd been given a big clue that I might be getting a computer so opened my prezzie's full of excitement and there it was, my 800XL, only to be told by luddite Dad that I wasn't allowed to connect it to the TV as he had heard that computers break TV's.  12 year old me was over joyed.....hang on, what???  If it wasn't for big brother being nearly 10 years older than me and already bought himself a Black and White 12" tv Christmas would have been horrible.  I never got to see my Atari in colour until about 1988 and was blown away all over again.

[Keatah]

I recall playing Atari VCS on a 12" JC Penny battery-powered television. It was what I had in my room and had to haul the VCS upstairs when the parents watched that Lawrence Welk show or George Baker Selection or even worse, Tom Jones, Englbert Humperdink, and Neil Diamond, on the big Zenith. Spare me!

 

Well I was obviously just a kid, but I was learning electronics at a feverish pace. I poured over this book in desperation to learn how to convert the bw set to color! I swear I was making some sort of progress and for sure thought I had gotten as far some color fringing. So very close! https://archive.org/details/televisionservic00midd

[bfollowell]

3 hours ago, Vyvyan B. said:

Jesus, who (or what) pissed in your Cornflakes?

No one at all. I'm merely pointing out that those stories aren't what the thread was intended for. We've all heard those stories time and time again and I was looking for something different, hence the title.

 

2 hours ago, Vyvyan B. said:

Well, I'm terribly sorry that I wasn't born 20 years earlier so I could have had a paper route in 1976, riding my bike for 2 cents an hour, 12 hours a day, in a snowstorm, uphill (both ways) only to get home and have my father disembowel me with a rusty spork, or that one of my family members died of cancer in his early 40s so I could have come up with a better sob story for him. My apologies...

No reason to apologize. Your story is just fine, I'm sure.  You play the overly dramatic victim role extremely well BTW. Oscar-worthy performance.

 

2 hours ago, Keatah said:

Everybody should tell their Atari story just as they remember it. Nothing wrong in that. And anyone who denounces a story is just being an ass.

Actually, I didn't denounce anyone's story and you, my friend, are the one on here throwing around names and being an ass.

 

1 hour ago, Keatah said:

Since we are now being pedantic about what constitutes an acceptable story (or not), it is my fullsworn duty to point out the topic of the thread. "How did you buy your first Atari computer?". And each of us has so far answered that question to best ability. Not the respondent's problem if the story is accepted or rejected. They're being told as asked in the thread title.

 

Can we now get back to storytelling?

And no, many haven't answered the question at all, because the question was how did YOU BUY your Atari. Not how did you get it, or how did you acquire it, or when was it given to you, but when did you buy it. If YOU didn't BUY it, then your story really wasn't what this thread was created for. I've never said that there is anything wrong with those stories; only that this thread wasn't intended for them. If someone started a thread asking what someone's favorite text adventure was, and everyone kept saying that it was Star Raiders or Bruce Lee, would the OP be an ass for pointing out that Star Raiders and Bruce Lee weren't the type of game that the thread was about?

 

1 hour ago, Mclaneinc said:

I'm happy with that, not that what I think means anything, but yes, name of thread suggest all stories, to be fair..

 

No, to be fair it definitely doesn't. You seem to be completely missing the point that I made above. The name in no way suggests all stories. What it does suggest is stories of how someone bought their own Atari computer. If they didn't buy their first Atari, and received it through some other means, then technically their stories don't fit with the intention of the thread.

 

Push comes to shove, several people have either outright called me an ass, or tried their best to make me feel like one, because they're offended and pissy that I've pointed out what I intended with this thread, and that's all I've done. I've not quoted or pointed out any particular story and told someone that it wasn't acceptable. I've only pointed out in generalized terms what the thread was intended for and what it wasn't. As the OP, no one else other than myself has the knowledge or the right to say what this thread was intended for and the thread was named in such a specific way as to make sure we didn't see the more generalized how did you acquire your Atari stories.

 

In the end, I couldn't care less anymore where or how anyone got their Atari. If there's a moderator around, feel free to change the title to "How did you get your first Atari computer?" as very few seem to be capable of understanding the difference.

 

[bfollowell]

2 hours ago, _The Doctor__ said:

It asks

HOW DID YOU BUY

emphasis YOU BUY

not

how did you come by

 

that's my take on it.

YES! Someone that can actually read! Someone that actually gets it.

 

[bfollowell]

2 hours ago, zzip said:

Has there ever been a thread on AtariAge (or most places) that has gone exactly the way the OP wanted?   Why should this one be any different?

 

At least it's getting responses.   I'm sure many of us started threads that went nowhere.

And yes, you're right. I should have never said anything and just let everyone post whatever the heck they wanted and intention and thread title be damned. I really couldn't care less anymore. Everyone post whatever the heck you want here. I'm just happy to hear however you acquired your first Atari. Tell all of your stories. They're all good because they all got us to the same point.

 

If someone reading this has the ability, please change the title to "How did you get your first Atari computer?" It will just make things so much easier.

 

[Vyvyan B.]

[bfollowell]

8 minutes ago, Vyvyan B. said:

 

I will definitely own my part of that! There's no sense in denying it. I think I've finally had my first "Hey you kids! Get out of my rutabagas!" moment.

 

[+ZuluGula]

I guess that you would have to be 60 or older now, to be able to work when Atari was sold in stores in the West, and ten years younger in the East.

[bfollowell]

16 minutes ago, ZuluGula said:

I guess that you would have to be 60 or older now, to be able to work when Atari was sold in stores in the West, and ten years younger in the East.

I'm not sure who that was meant for, but I'm not quite 60. I'm 56 and I was just a kid when I worked and bought mine in '82.

 

[zzip]

20 minutes ago, ZuluGula said:

I guess that you would have to be 60 or older now, to be able to work when Atari was sold in stores in the West, and ten years younger in the East.

Where I lived you could get a paper route at 12,   That's what I did and used the money to buy a 1050 drive and other stuff.   I'm not close to 60

[+DarkLord]

I was a respiratory therapist at a small rural hospital in 1982. (I posted

most of these details in an earlier post - just clarifying a bit)...

 

I bought my first 800XL in 1982. I was 21 years old at the time and quite

excited that I got my first computer and (legal!) beer purchase, all in the

same year. 

 

 

[Vyvyan B.]

I turned 37 last September, but I feel much older now for participating on these forums for the past few weeks. 😁

[Mclaneinc]

Lol..I'm 61 and DID buy MY Atari, and through good old honest hard work. Would I have liked to be given one, you bet, there were not cheap, so if you were given one, good luck to you, for those of us that laboured for our gains, well done.

 

And Brian, calm down, you are gonna need the nurse to mop your brow if you keep up

 

 

[TGB1718]

I stole my 800!!! ... wait a minute, it was the other way round, it's the shop that mugged me, what a price, but worth every penny and I'd do it again