Hello from Munich (and Sunnyvale!)
Posted: 08 Sep 2020 12:34
Hi all,
I've been lurking around for a bit and thought it's time to introduce myself - my Atari history goes back to 1989 when I got a 1040STF and immediately fell in love. I started with the SM124 (the parent's choice) playing games like Bolo and Oxyd and learning to write GFA Basic. When I finally got the SC1435 (must have been around 1991?) it was all about getting my hands on the latest menu disks. I always wanted to become a famous cracker myself but was only about 11 years of age and did not have access to any community.
When I got my first PC (a Pentium 60) in 1995 the ST became boring and I only got back to it when I purchased a MegaSTE and a Falcon after they became affordable around 1999. This were the machines I always wanted. I also got in touch with the demoscene a bit after visiting the Error in Line demoparty in 1999, but I never wrapped my head around 68K assembly.
That spike of interest flattened down again pretty soon, and much to my regret I sold all my Atari stuff around 2000. 16 years later I was curios about whether the scene was still alive and decided to visit SillyVenture in 2017 (and again in 2018). Around that time I started collecting Atari hardware again, and found that fixing old ST's was a very rewarding activity. Now I have a decent collection of ST computers, including a MegaSTE and a Falcon which I was able to buy just before prices started skyrocketing. Now that I have a basic understanding about the hardware I hope to pick up learning assembly again, and contributing to the demoscene.
Due to my job I've been living in the Bay Area for some time (Mountain View, Sunnyvale, Berkeley, SF), sometimes from an office which was just a few hundred meters away from the old Atari HQ. I live in Munich, Germany now but used to travel to California frequently, until COVID-19, that is. Here's a picture from the former Atari HQ at 1265 Borregas Avenue which I took in January: https://photos.app.goo.gl/s2hcHo8ASYXg4jLB9
(Some more information on Atari's building locations can be found here: https://www.atari.io/atari-world-headquarters/)
Cheers
Tom
I've been lurking around for a bit and thought it's time to introduce myself - my Atari history goes back to 1989 when I got a 1040STF and immediately fell in love. I started with the SM124 (the parent's choice) playing games like Bolo and Oxyd and learning to write GFA Basic. When I finally got the SC1435 (must have been around 1991?) it was all about getting my hands on the latest menu disks. I always wanted to become a famous cracker myself but was only about 11 years of age and did not have access to any community.
When I got my first PC (a Pentium 60) in 1995 the ST became boring and I only got back to it when I purchased a MegaSTE and a Falcon after they became affordable around 1999. This were the machines I always wanted. I also got in touch with the demoscene a bit after visiting the Error in Line demoparty in 1999, but I never wrapped my head around 68K assembly.
That spike of interest flattened down again pretty soon, and much to my regret I sold all my Atari stuff around 2000. 16 years later I was curios about whether the scene was still alive and decided to visit SillyVenture in 2017 (and again in 2018). Around that time I started collecting Atari hardware again, and found that fixing old ST's was a very rewarding activity. Now I have a decent collection of ST computers, including a MegaSTE and a Falcon which I was able to buy just before prices started skyrocketing. Now that I have a basic understanding about the hardware I hope to pick up learning assembly again, and contributing to the demoscene.
Due to my job I've been living in the Bay Area for some time (Mountain View, Sunnyvale, Berkeley, SF), sometimes from an office which was just a few hundred meters away from the old Atari HQ. I live in Munich, Germany now but used to travel to California frequently, until COVID-19, that is. Here's a picture from the former Atari HQ at 1265 Borregas Avenue which I took in January: https://photos.app.goo.gl/s2hcHo8ASYXg4jLB9
(Some more information on Atari's building locations can be found here: https://www.atari.io/atari-world-headquarters/)
Cheers
Tom