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Comment by brulard | Hacker News Reader

I got an Atari and I'm in tech. Why should that be any different?

EDIT: I should clarify I meant an Atari game system.

I was just talking about my own experience, but since you ask (and I’m certain this will bore but you did ask):

I got into tech due to having access to that computer, at that time, in an environment that otherwise wouldn’t have been amenable to learning about it at all.

In my case - our family Spectrum was later replaced by a SNES and after that a PS1. After the 48k, I didn’t have access to a PC at home for another decade, and wouldn’t have seen the point of saving enough to get it if not for having the Spectrum.

If I had gotten an Atari to begin with I wouldn’t have had those experiences. I guess something else inspired you along the way - for me it was this.

Thank you for clarification, as other commenter pointed out, Atari computers (like 800 XE/XL) were quite popular in central europe and I haven't seen a game system (like 2600) around, even didn't know until much later that something like that existed.

For a lot of us Brits Sir Clive's machines were our first glimpse of the future. If that doesn’t sound like you, then just stand aside while we mourn our hero.

Actually, may I say it was the same for most eastern Europeans. Most of the programmers I know in Portugal started with a ZX Spectrum.

It’s funny that Portugal is an eastern European country.

I respect that. Atari computers for me and Commodores for some were a first glimpse of the future as well. I didn't expect downvotes for honestly asking how would having Sinclair differ from my experience.

I assume he meant an Atari video game system rather than an Atari personal computer.

Yeah I (or rather my parents) got an Atari 800XL and it totally got me in tech. But yeah Atari was much better known for its having consoles (5200 and 7800 I think). I was never interested in those.

Especially because the Atari was very unpopular in Europe. The C64 was king. That also made it more expensive which was why I got the 800XL.

But it also meant much less software around which is how I started programming.

In Italy, Atari "meant" the 2600. Later there was the brief rivalry of ST with Amiga, but only musicians ever bought the ST.

I grew up in France and the Amstrad was king (same in Spain I believe), the C64 a very very distant second, and nobody had ever seen a Spectrum (thankfully, if I may add : the C64 was special and in spite of its terrible palette deserves all the praise it gets. The Spectrum is a mediocre and incredibly overrated machine compared to the others. It was decent and affordable in 1982, but by 1984 both the C64 and Amstrad CPC were wiping the floor with it, and there was no longer a rational reason to prefer it. A bizarre love affair the UK has had with this machine...)

Understood.

I totally forgot how Europe was not really one thing but totally different countries back then. Not to mention the eastern countries.

I remember when the guys that kidnapped Heineken fled to Paris and they couldn't be extradited back because there was no extradition agreement yet between France and the Netherlands.... :X Such different times.

> the Atari was very unpopular in Europe

It depends on your definition of "Europe" ;-) The 8/16-bit Atari was (and still is, in some circles) extremely popular in Germany, Poland, and former Czechoslovakia.

Ok I'm from the Netherlands. The C64 was the computer and Atari was a very distant number 2 (or even 3, after the MSX). At least in my circles :) It was much more difficult to get an idea of the whole community back then.

But the C64 was 600 guilders at the time and the Atari was 'dumped' on the market at one point for 200 so it was an easy choice :)

speaking of the atari st, sometime in the late 80s a mail-order atari st software/accessory retailer in the us (i think it was w. brown enterprises or something like that) used to distribute their catalog monthly or quarterly in newsprint had a throwback sinclair special one year at christmas. for $40, you could get an unassembled zx-81 kit where everything had to be soldered in place by hand.

as an enthusiastic eight year old, i was perhaps not as good at soldering as i would have liked. good thing i was lucky enough to have the st to start with.

100% this - Atari was quite popular in central europe.

Commodore 64 was great for graphics. Atari 1040ST was great for music.

All the best music software was on Atari I think due to the excellent timing and MIDI support: Cubase, Emagic Notator/Logic (now only by Apple)

Though I guess both of those started on C64 but then migrated to Atari

It's a bit strange to compare the C64 with the Atari ST : the latter was a 16-bit computer, one generation after the C64. It had much better graphics. But it didn't match the Amiga :)

The mainstream 8-bit machine with the best graphics was probably the Amstrad CPC. Here's a comparison with the Spectrum for example : https://imgur.com/a/D7Ocd

When it comes to arcade-style gameplay though, the C64 was often ahead because of its hardware accelerated sprites (and a legendary sound chip that was ahead of its time)

You are right, it was actually the Amiga I was thinking of. I was an Atari kid (music).

100% this.

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