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(Last updated: Sunday April 23, 2017)
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RetroAtari

My first home computer, the Atari 800XL, was purchased from P.C. Richards in Edison NJ. I was in college and it was no easy task to save up the extra money to purchase a computer. As an engineering student, personal computers were just starting to become required knowledge (though we didn't know it at the time) and I felt that the Atari 800XL was the best computer to get me started (this is a couple of years before the IMB PC and the Clone Wars ;-) ). The Apple II was far too expensive so it was a choice between the Timex Sinclair TS1000, Commodore 64 and the Atari 800xl. The Atari won because it was on sale and the TS1000 was out of stock. I remember bringing the Atari home, setting it up and pulling out my note books filled with notes I had taken. Notes from books and articles from the library (the closest thing we had to the internet in 1983). I quickly learned I'd need some storage and purchased a 410 tape drive from Bambergers (Macy's now). It was the floor model but I got it cheap and it only needed a little bit of repair. Eventually I picked up a 1050 drive and installed Omnimon XL and read everything I could on personal and microcomputers.

Fast forward to 2016 I'm still programming (and on the Atari). For Atari programming I'm using assembly language (6502), C and BASIC. I use CC65 (C) and ATASM (MAC/65) under Linux. Compile times are extremely fast and I can use emacs to do my editing. The main reason I'm programming on the Atari is to help out Vintage Computer Federation (VCF) at Infoage (many museums) in Wall Township.