I was in a similar scenario during those times. I did end up with internet gateway access in the very late 80s, which helped a lot. Speaking of islands though,

I was in a similar scenario during those times. I did end up with internet gateway access in the very late 80s, which helped a lot. Speaking of islands though, check out this FujiNet thing! https://fujinet.online/ https://fujinet.online/ Turns out, Atari 8-bit computers have device independent I/O. Suddenly, all those little islands are connected, and people are writing games in basic, playing together online.