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Am
I The Last One?
The
slow decline of the "pure" Atari user,
by CiH
Am I possibly
the last man left standing with a pure Atari
set-up for my mainstream computing needs? I
get the impression that just about everyone
else has got some kind of non-Atari machine
lurking on their workstation, whether it is
a Wintel, Linux, or Mac?
I've got a situation
where my needs have been met perfectly well
by my existing Atari set-up until now.
I've owned a Falcon, in fact more than one lately,
since 1993, and they have kept up reasonably
well with the changes to date. A little judicious
spending on extra hardware has helped here!
Let's take a
typical home user's definition of "mainstream".
This may consist of various forms of internet
use, the inevitable media use and games, the
odd letter written to the taxman, and maybe
swapping the latest recipe for bakewell tarts.
Well perhaps not the last two? Now to make life
easier, assume that I'm not too bothered with
having the latest of everything. This would
also tend to apply to almost anyone else not
using the very latest hardware.
I tend to think
for most things, the Atari still has the ability
to perform decently. There are several good
quality legacy applications still out there,
and even some newer stuff still being developed.
For example, I tend to think of Zview. This
is a smart gallery browser which looks really
good on modern Atari desktops. Apart from being
a brilliant picture viewer, it is intended to
be able to work with digital cameras, once the
various USB projects such as EtherNat are realised.
This is a major hobbyist area that Atari TOS
machines have missed out on up to now.
Historically,
the Atari series, particularly the Falcon, Milan,
and higher end clones have proved to be adaptable
and competent machines. There has always been
a strong and dedicated user sub-culture, proud
of the "real ale" virtues of their
efficient Atari set-up, over the fake flashiness
of lesser but more popular alternatives. For
me, the high-point of this user culture peaked
in the mid-to-late '90s, around the time that
Atari Computing magazine was active. But even
then, the rot was already starting to set in.
More and more people reluctantly started to
add a Wintel member to their family. Reluctantly
at first, then with more enthusiasm, as they
started to find things that it could do, but
their Atari couldn't.
Some of these
have defected wholesale, but many others kept
their Atari on, albeit in a slightly curious
state as "cherished hardware", where
it was still appreciated but only switched on
during high days and holidays. Some of you,
I hope, still consider their Atari as useful
on a daily basis. The trend away accelerated
with the growth of the internet, and a slow
but sure increase in the requirements to make
best use of that. It was a relatively easy matter
to get on-line back in 1997-98, with a large
and active Atarian community taking the plunge
together and helping each other out as problems
arose. Nowadays with the rise of broadband,
this only seems to be feasible with some kind
of mainstream hardware already in place?
Still, if anyone
can say different, that they managed to bluff
their way onto broadband access, with nothing
but a lone Falcon or Milan, especially managing
to negotiate their way through the clueless
helpdesks of NTL and other mainstream service
providers without total loss of hair and goodwill
to the world, then I take my non-existent hat
off to them! And then you can tell us how you
did it! Especially when their world view of
"Atari" starts and ends with something
wood-panelled and made in 1978...
The other Atari
loyalists are those nice people on the demo
scene of course. But even here, just about everyone
has got some sort of mainstream machine on their
desktop as well. The assumption is, that cherished
and ageing hardware has to be conserved carefully
for coding and development purposes.
There is the
condition of nostalgia by proxy, as many people
have got an emulated version of the Atari that
they loved in their carefree youth. That is
showing the right attitude, but with the "wrong"
hardware! Still, it's the thought that counts.
So the question
from the beginning of the article that I'm coming
back to remind you with, is to see if there
are any other survivors out there sharing my
situation, or am I really the last one?
I'm sad to say
that there may be an end to this era fairly
soon. I will probably need to get something
a bit more mainstream to connect to broadband.
My Falcon will still be very much part of this
brave new world, indeed very much at the centre
of things. We've just heard that the EtherNat
has been successfully tested, and an Atari set-up
seems to be a good bet for internet security
through obscurity. I'm quietly pleased that
I've kept going on a strict Atari diet up to
2005, when most rational people would have declared
this set-up obsolete in 1995!
What are your
thoughts on plodding a lonely Atari road in
this cynical age, and the difficulties thus
faced? Some feedback for the next issue would
be nice.
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