My involvement with Atari computers began way back in
1982 when I purchased a brand-new 400 from Currys in Birmingham for the
massive sum of £365. In fact, I was looking at several computers the
year before, trying to decide on which camp to jump into. I remember the
BBC Model B was a very strong candidate with a powerful Basic language,
but Commodore’s VIC 20 had poor graphics and I had also disregarded the
Sinclair ZX81 as being too fragile and “toy-like”.
This actually coincided with two events in my life: I
had changed jobs meaning my wage went up massively by 25% and I’d just
stopped racing as a sidecar passenger (needing something to replace the
thrills!). Racing was atrociously expensive even back in 1982 when a new
slick tyre cost £110 and a gallon of Castrol ‘R’ £11.95, and this newly
discovered wealth (or lack of expense, depending on which way you looked
at it) meant a slack handful of cash was waiting to be spent.
Eventually there was just one thing that decided my
choice of platform: Star Raiders! Wow, what a game: the moment I saw it
I knew this was the computer for me (oh yeah, the computer had good
graphics as well…) My very first attempts at Basic were on the 400 and I
soon learnt to type very quickly with the membrane keyboard and spent
many happy hours creating all manner of programs – however I soon learnt
my skills were simply not up to scratch in a commercial sense and with
the advent of the ST I gave up programming.
But from this early start I eventually upgraded some
time after to a 600XL (replaced soon after with an 800XL) and then
various peripherals started growing from the available ports: floppy
drive, printers (Epson LX86 and Atari’s 4-colour plotter), joysticks and
touch tablet. Throughout all this, the magazine I always looked out for
was Page 6 – I seem to remember ‘Atari User’ was the only published
glossy at this time, apart from US publications Antic and Analog;
although the latter was not Atari specific anyway.
Eventually I summoned enough courage to send in my
attempts at art using the Touch Tablet – the first time the artist had a
direct link to the Atari computer using an intuitive means to draw.
Although one disk was forwarded to Antic I never received any
acknowledgement or response but I was hugely pleased when Page 6 editor,
Les Ellingham, felt my digital daubs were good enough to appear in his
magazine. So in issue 14, my very first attempt at digital art appeared,
called ‘Highland’.
Encouraged by this I forwarded two more images, one of which appeared in
issue 20 of my nephew
Steven. Hard to believe we were then limited to a resolution of
160x192 with just four colours!
Soon after this the rumours of a new 16-bit Atari
computer emerged and it was only natural that my interest started to
shift towards this all-powerful technological breakthrough. I must admit
that during this time I did look at the Apple Macintosh that had been
recently released at, I believe, about £1,200. But the specification of
the new Atari ST proved far too alluring and eventually in November 1985
(?) I finally picked up my new 520ST (preceding the new-fangled ‘STm’
models with RF modulator!) with 128KB ROM and SF354 disk drive (just
360KB) and SM124 monochrome monitor. I believe these were the very first
shipment into the UK. What isn’t widely reported was that the main
portion of the OS was loaded from disk, due to these first models only
having 128KB (later models had the OS on 512KB) ROM, but if you ever
forgot to insert the disk you were presented with a reminder screen with
an incredible diagonally scrolling rainbow effect, like the DLI (Display
List Interrupt) of the previous 8-bit machines. I never actually saw
this effect ever again after upgrading the ROM.
The new STs proved to be very powerful with the “high”
resolutions of 640x400 monochrome and 16-colours at 320x240 and a
massive 512KB of memory, but somehow the magic had gone. Everything now
become more technological – even the games – and the sheer simplicity
and beauty of the earlier 8-bit machines was lost. Remember stunning
games like Lode Runner, Boulder Dash, Shamus and the fabulously humorous
‘Mule’? These never transferred properly to the higher-spec machines, if
at all, except for Star Raiders as the new ST version did seem to
capture some of the original’s playability, while still taking advantage
of the higher specs. Strangely, many of those games that did get ported
over seemed to run slower and more jerkily! Obviously the authors
weren’t bothered about optimising the code properly to take advantage of
the new processor and graphic chips…
But what really distinguished these early games from
current “interactive entertainment experiences”, was they were “GAMES”
and immensely playable. Somehow, I think modern trends towards games of
aural and visual excellence has lost the point when overload and boredom
can quickly set in. Strange to note that Lode Runner has now been
resurrected by Sierra on PCs and Playstations, while Boulder Dash has
spawned numerous versions…
After a very short time I upgraded the ST disk drive
to the later SF314 model (the more standard 720KB formatted) and when
the Philips CM8833 monitors finally appeared, took advantage of that as
well.
From there, the ST was replaced with a Mega ST (and I
still actually have both machines!) and around this time I co-owned a
shop selling Atari games, programs and computers, which led to hardware
development for the ST and Falcon.
I now concentrate much of my efforts in supporting
three different charities, but still work as a freelance writer, artist,
book publisher, Web designer and dabble in antiques where glass
collecting has become a consuming passion.
David P.Encill, March 2005
http://www.encill-art.co.uk/
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