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Atari ST

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posted on Apr, 18 2016 @ 05:54 PM
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Did anyone have one of these little gems?

My first console as a kid was a Megadrive II then PS1 then a N64 but I think the greatest console I ever had was an Atari ST.

I was gifted it by my mums friends husband who took pitty on me when my PS1 broke way back, now you'd think such a step back would be bad...Boy was I wrong. This thing came with like a thousand games, literally. Once I started with that big beasty block I couldn't take myself away from it, I couldn't comprehend how floppy disks and old tech could hold such
amazing games.

Games like:

Populous
Castles
Warmonger
Deuteros
my all time favourite Utopia

So many amazing games with such detail. The thing is busted but I still have a good few games, I'd love to get back to those games.Anyone know a reliable way to play these games again. That would make my day, no it would make my year.

What were your favourites of the Atari?



posted on Apr, 18 2016 @ 06:33 PM
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RAY1990,

Bro, do you even emulate?
www.emulators.com...

If this one doesn't work (I have 0 experience using it) just click here


edit on Cpm6Monday3420160030Mon, 18 Apr 2016 18:34:00 -05002016 by CagliostroTheGreat because: tags



posted on Apr, 18 2016 @ 07:08 PM
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a reply to: CagliostroTheGreat

I've used the mega drive one, suprised I never thought of that


Thanks for the links awesome!



posted on Apr, 18 2016 @ 07:14 PM
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RAY1990,

No prob man. I love emulating, especially GBA, soooo many pokémons!




posted on Apr, 18 2016 @ 07:37 PM
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I go back even farther!


My starter was an Atari 400 8-bit that I kicked up to a massive 48K!


I also replaced that membrane keyboard with the B400 full-stroke keyboard just as soon as it was available (no mean feat considering that the ribbon cable was no longer than absolutely necessary and had no mounting brace of any kind). Times like that inspired another of my "CornShuckerisms!", "Necessity is a MOTHER..." If I remember correctly, it was a 40 conductor cable and the socket was Extremely tight so I cut two popsicle stick just long enough to fit in the available space and then glued then to each side with the tinned contacts and just a shade of insulation showing on the edge that plugged in. It worked!


My 800XL setup should really be donated to a museum when I'm gone. WAY too many mods to list and every piece of hardware, software or game still has the original manuals to go with it. (The Epyx Ergonomic 500XJ was the absolute Best joystick ever made!)



posted on Apr, 18 2016 @ 08:05 PM
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a reply to: CagliostroTheGreat

Pokémon is awesome, very replayable games.

Finally got the emulator up and running, I can see me getting no sleep tonight



Again thanks for that.



posted on Apr, 19 2016 @ 12:21 AM
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a reply to: CornShucker

lol Sinclair zx81 here with a wopping 1kb memory


Back then you got most of your games from buying computer magazines and copying the code they published every month.
edit on 19-4-2016 by PhoenixOD because: (no reason given)



posted on Apr, 19 2016 @ 04:37 AM
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a reply to: CornShucker

What sort of games did you play on it?



posted on Apr, 19 2016 @ 04:45 AM
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a reply to: PhoenixOD

I remember when I first bought my Commodore 64, I couldn't afford the floppy disk drive which was like $350 so I would copy the code for the games from the back of the book. It would take me hours or all day to type it in. I would keep my computer on till I got tired of it. When I turned the computer off it was gone.

It is amazing how amused and entertained you can be by just seeing things move around on the screen. It was all new back then.. Just the computer itself was pretty amazing.



posted on Apr, 19 2016 @ 05:26 AM
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a reply to: RAY1990

A friend of mine got one.
I had an Amiga 500 as an upgrade from my Commodore 64. (ZX81 & spectrum before).
Most people I knew got Amiga's at the time.



posted on Apr, 19 2016 @ 06:00 AM
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a reply to: nOraKat

I still have my Commodore 64 and my Acorn Electron lol



posted on Apr, 19 2016 @ 06:30 AM
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originally posted by: nOraKat
a reply to: PhoenixOD

I remember when I first bought my Commodore 64, I couldn't afford the floppy disk drive which was like $350 so I would copy the code for the games from the back of the book. It would take me hours or all day to type it in. I would keep my computer on till I got tired of it. When I turned the computer off it was gone.

It is amazing how amused and entertained you can be by just seeing things move around on the screen. It was all new back then.. Just the computer itself was pretty amazing.


I got the C64 before there was a floppy, tape drive all the way.......

then bought 2 1541s. That was the life. No swapping the disks or turning them over.



posted on Apr, 19 2016 @ 08:43 AM
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a reply to: RAY1990

Dude, Utopia was great, need a remake of that imo



posted on Apr, 20 2016 @ 05:28 PM
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a reply to: RAY1990

F1 Grand Prix killed all left buttons from my Comp. Pro Joysticks, that game was a crime. They meant 100% racing time when they said so, which helped a lot to (mis)use house detention time actually working on my reaction and driving skills.

Imagine the horror when your kid starts giving a sh!t with a little help from a fricken computer...



Thanks for saving my life, whoever did that:





edit on 20-4-2016 by PublicOpinion because: (no reason given)



posted on Apr, 21 2016 @ 03:04 PM
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originally posted by: PhoenixOD
a reply to: CornShucker

lol Sinclair zx81 here with a wopping 1kb memory


Back then you got most of your games from buying computer magazines and copying the code they published every month.


I hear that! I looked forward every month to Analog, Antic (both Atari specific) and Compute! magazines.

In fact, the first program I can say that I "partially" wrote came about from typing in a program from one of the monthly mags. It's been so long ago that I forget what the use of the original program was, but I remember what caught my attention (I think it might have been a proofreading utility for entering assembly code data). The neat thing it utilized while running was to, when you hit Return (the Enter key), it would move the cursor back to the end of your line of code and then execute a comparison between what you had typed against a numerical code in the data section of the program running. If you were accurate, your line of BASIC code was kept and you moved to the next. If not, you sat there comparing the hexadecimal code in the magazine against what you had typed. What a boon for beginners like me! The program would allow you to just fix your mistake(s) and hit Return again. When you had it right, the line of code was kept and you moved on.

I'm thinking that it was Analog that had a machine code game that was their version of the quarter-snatcher Tempest. The thing was beautifully rendered, lightning fast and was played with either keyboard, trackball or the Atari rotary game controllers.

I remember lusting after a Sinclair before I got my 400. If memory serves... Didn't it feature keys that would do BASIC commands with a function key+key combination?

That's what my little cannibalized program did. I borrowed their idea and some of the code to create ctrl+keys that would generate a bunch of the most used BASIC command. Really cut down on typos...


I used to work with a guy who just kept talking about how the "good old days" might have been ok, but none of those old games is sh*t compared to X-Box or Playstation. When I'd finally had enough, I pointed out that he was comparing Model Ts to Lamborghinis. Entire games were written using less code and memory than what it takes for an in-game character to raise an eyebrow nowadays. He acted as if he'd had some kind of brilliant insight...



posted on Apr, 21 2016 @ 03:41 PM
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originally posted by: nOraKat
a reply to: CornShucker

What sort of games did you play on it?


Gosh... I've taken so long to respond because this thread and your question really sent me on a trip down memory lane. By the time Atari was really cooking and I'd drastically modded my 800XL our daughter was starting her teens and both our sons were small.

Without digging out boxes, I can't possibly name them all. All of the Pacman family, Frogger(s), Defender, Pitfall I & II, Donky Kong & Jr., Popeye, Space Invaders, Zaxxon, Galaxian, Joust, Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy (text adventure), Gateway to Apshai(sp?), Star Raiders, Q-bert, Miner 49er & Bounty Bob Strike's Back, and many, many more.

Some of the happiest times of my life were spent holding a joystick and playing games on the Atari that allowed two players at once. In theory, Goonies was supposedly possible with just one player using two joysticks but the timing on some screens required such split-second teamwork that I'd have to see it to believe it. Our oldest son was 5 or 6 at the time and we finally hit the wall on screen 7 or 8. I could see what we needed to do, but we never managed to pull it off.

I managed to master level one of Zorro, but always died promptly after starting the next level.

Caverns of Khafka was fun. Once I'd learned all the little quirks (it was a one screen game), I could literally race through the screen just for the fun of trying to reach the limit of its score. Although I never did, I do know that you go above 20 million and keep going.


Our daughter liked using Atariwriter+ and played a bit of everything.

The boys both loved our Sesame Street and Disney learning games as well as a series by Sprout Software.

Peanut Butter Panic was a favorite of our oldest son.

As considering the "trend" over began to manifest, I snagged anything I didn't already have while the prices kept falling. One local store owner offered to sell me his remaining inventory for $25 but I gave him $80. It even included a full, unopened Peachtree Accounting suite.

edit on 4 21 2016 by CornShucker because: edit for clarity

edit on 4 21 2016 by CornShucker because: spelling and an edit for clarity



posted on Apr, 21 2016 @ 04:12 PM
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originally posted by: Gothmog

originally posted by: nOraKat
a reply to: PhoenixOD

I remember when I first bought my Commodore 64, I couldn't afford the floppy disk drive which was like $350 so I would copy the code for the games from the back of the book. It would take me hours or all day to type it in. I would keep my computer on till I got tired of it. When I turned the computer off it was gone.

It is amazing how amused and entertained you can be by just seeing things move around on the screen. It was all new back then.. Just the computer itself was pretty amazing.


I got the C64 before there was a floppy, tape drive all the way.......

then bought 2 1541s. That was the life. No swapping the disks or turning them over.


I always thought the Atari cassette was brilliant. Training programs came with program data on one track and instructor voice on the other. Once the data was loaded in you would start the lesson with a very, very patient instructor. That's how I learned all three levels of Atari BASIC.

One thing the C64 had over Atari was file names. No such thing on the Atari, just the tape counter.

Later on, just as you mention eliminating the need to swap disks or turn them over, the high cost of doing anything on Compuserve or bulletin boards gave me the incentive to install the 128K Newell internal upgrade to my 800XL. Running ICD's SpartaDOS allowed me to run it as a ramdisk & I could download files lightening fast and then save them once I'd gone offline.

The marvelous folks at ICD made moving into the MS-DOS/IBM environment much easier than it would have been otherwise. SpartaDOS has very similar commands and directory structure. Their Multi-I/O Atari bus add-on gave me a high-speed (standard 9 pin) RS-232 port, an IBM-compatible printer port, a built in 512K ramdisk, and Atari SIO port for floppy connection (they daisy-chain after that) and a hard disk connection to which I connected an ICD 48 meg SCSI drive. In addition to my 1010XL cassette at the end of my daisy-chain I had D1: which was a 1050XL with the Black Patch Duplicator/US-Doubler mod, D2: a standard XF-551 and D3: which was a modded XF-551 with a 720K 3 1/2" drive matching the color of the case.

With my trusty Epson T-1000 printer and a 9600 baud Hates modem to round things out, I was capable of doing things most of my professor/boss's customers were still dreaming about. The majority were still running 256K XTs with monochrome monitors and a 20 meg drive, although he had several Radio Shack TRS-80 customers, too.

I even had an OASIS BBS set up that I would run when someone wanted to share a file or two.


edit on 4 21 2016 by CornShucker because: added dropped word

edit on 4 21 2016 by CornShucker because: spelling

edit on 4 21 2016 by CornShucker because: Added another sentence.

edit on 4 21 2016 by CornShucker because: spelling again.



posted on Apr, 21 2016 @ 07:17 PM
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a reply to: CornShucker



I even had an OASIS BBS set up that I would run when someone wanted to share a file or two

Not many remember
to you
Wildcat BBS setting on Apache server.



posted on Apr, 21 2016 @ 09:19 PM
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a reply to: RAY1990

I still have my Atari 7800 packed in a box a few feet from where I am sitting now.
I forgot to mention that I think it still works even though I haven't had it hooked
up for a long time.
edit on 21-4-2016 by mamabeth because: (no reason given)



posted on Apr, 22 2016 @ 04:42 AM
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a reply to: CornShucker

I thought some of those games would be too much for the Atari 400, being they came out much later. I've never even seen one. Maybe your a few years ahead of me.

Now that we have MAME, we can have some of those actual games on our computers, which was a dream back then. Too bad I'm not into it like I was. I'll play a little Tempest or Ms. Pac Man every now and then though..

Thanks for sharing.



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