Author: Ragstaff (nme-pr3.tpgi.com.au)
Date: 07-15-2003 07:19
Hi Chris, welcome to the Atari scene! :-)
I'm a little like you - I'm 23 now, but when I was 15 and in highschool, using an Atari computer everyone thought I was an idiot. They had their Playstations :-)
If you want information on all the things Atari made, you're probably a lot better off just following a few of the links on this site. We can give you a rundown, but we're bound to forget something :-)
Basically, you'll find that there are a few main camps in the Atari scene (the way I see it anyway)
There are people who are into the 8bit personal computers like the 400xl and stuff. These are from the same generation as Tandy TRS80, Commodore64, Amstrad CPC, Spectrum, AppleIIE etc. You may have heard of some of those...
They are basically a keyboard, with the motherboard and processor and everything inside the keyboard. Most of them could plug into TVs. This reminds people of consoles, but if you say that, true diehards might try to kill you :-)
The second camp is people who are into the games consoles, like the 2600 (the console that started it all really), and its big brother the 7800. (there was also a 5200 but that's rare).
There is also the 64bit console of the 1990s - the Jaguar, and the colour handheld console called the Lynx (which kicked a gameboys ass in its day, but suffered because the batteries only lasted a few hours)
Finally, you have the TOS people. I'm probably one of these more than anything else (though I do have a Jaguar, Lynx, and 2600 hehe). TOS is the operating system that was in the first Atari ST, that was released in 1985. The ST (Sixteen Thirtytwo) has the same processor as the Sega Megadrive (or Genesis of you're in the US) - a Motorola 68000 @ 8mhz. So if you have no idea of how powerful they were, you can say it's roughly like a Genesis/Megadrive.
The Amiga 500 is very similar as well, if you know what that is...
The ST was "all in one" like the 8 bits - the keyboard, processor, motherboard etc are all in one box. The ST had sockets to plug in printers, hard drives, midi equipment, modems (to go on the internet or whatever).
Since the first ST, we've had more modern versions -- in 1989 there was the STE (better sound and slightly better graphics abilities). There is also the TT, which was quite expensive and quite powerful (32 mhz 68030 processor). They cost a lot, even today.
There was also the Falcon030 (16mhz 68030) later.
All these computers used some version of TOS, and there is pretty good compatibility within the family.
I'd say that a TOS computer is the most viable hobby computer for you (but I'm biased!), because you can do a lot with them today - put them on networks with PCs, use the internet (email, www, chat etc), participate in the vibrant community and learn to program, make music, do word processing etc.
I think you'd have fun with one, if you are the techie sort who likes to program and find out how things work, but you can also use them if you don't know much about them. They are pretty easy to get the hang of.
If you are just into retro games and stuff, you're probably better off concentrating on the consoles.
I could only recommend the 8 bit path of you were quite technical, you liked programming etc, and don't mind learning to use a system that might be quite different to what you've used before.
You could also do all three :-)
As for buying, there is always ebay, and the atari message boards around the place.
I'd give you more info, but I'm late for work now, and I'm sure someone else will be able to give you plenty of advice!
Good luck Chris, I hope you stay with us :-)
Seeya,
Tom
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