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I remember spending 40 minutes loading Zaxxon on my Atari 800 on a cassette drive (only to have it crash half the time half way through the load). How times ha

I remember spending 40 minutes loading Zaxxon on my Atari 800 on a cassette drive (only to have it crash half the time half way through the load). How times have changed.

yodsanklai 5y ago
On my C64, my cassette drive was super sensitive and some games wouldn't load. Fortunately, my neighbour was an electrical engineer and he came up with a solution. He modded the cassette drive so that I could plug a headphone. From there, I would adjust the reading tape using a screw while trying to maximize the signal I was hearing. In some instances, it still didn't work so we had to use his oscilloscope.
- HNDen21 5y ago
  Ah yes azimuth... there was a program for that as well for the c64 in which the lines were straight after you aligned the heads with the screw driver... fun times..... saving the games with Turbo made it much better .. instead of 30 minutes it would take 3 minutes to load the game And I also never made it past level one on Zaxxon either.... See also a bit here https://sqlservercode.blogspot.com/2016/11/what-was-first-computer-you-bought-what.html https://sqlservercode.blogspot.com/2016/11/what-was-first-co...
- ArtWomb 5y ago
  Tape remains the "ideal" backup solution amongst some diehard sysadmins I know! 1951-1968 Early Computer Magnetic Tape Units- History IBM, UNIVAC, RCA, AMPEX https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEYyZSlQEdg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEYyZSlQEdg Of course now its like, "On my PS5, games load while I sleep...". And no one gets trained to debug with oscilloscopes, unfortunately. Regarding Ikegami, I could have sworn they developed one of the great NES titles: Commando. And now I can't help thinking how cool it would be to have an isometric version of of that top scroller. Digging deeper there are some interesting NES-era games in isometric style: Isolated Warrior, Solstice, etc ;)
  - cafard 5y ago
    Tape remains popular among those who write cyber insurance, and also apparently among those who've been hit with ransomware.
meepmorp 5y ago
I had a 400 and I envied the dual cartridge slots and usable keyboard on the 800 so bad.
- StanislavPetrov 5y ago
  That second cartridge slot was key when one of them was occupied by Basic!

I remember spending 40 minutes loading Zaxxon on my Atari 800 on a cassette drive (only to have it crash half the time half way through the load). How times have changed.

yodsanklai 5y ago

On my C64, my cassette drive was super sensitive and some games wouldn't load. Fortunately, my neighbour was an electrical engineer and he came up with a solution. He modded the cassette drive so that I could plug a headphone. From there, I would adjust the reading tape using a screw while trying to maximize the signal I was hearing. In some instances, it still didn't work so we had to use his oscilloscope.

HNDen21 5y ago
Ah yes azimuth... there was a program for that as well for the c64 in which the lines were straight after you aligned the heads with the screw driver... fun times..... saving the games with Turbo made it much better .. instead of 30 minutes it would take 3 minutes to load the game And I also never made it past level one on Zaxxon either.... See also a bit here https://sqlservercode.blogspot.com/2016/11/what-was-first-computer-you-bought-what.html https://sqlservercode.blogspot.com/2016/11/what-was-first-co...
ArtWomb 5y ago
Tape remains the "ideal" backup solution amongst some diehard sysadmins I know! 1951-1968 Early Computer Magnetic Tape Units- History IBM, UNIVAC, RCA, AMPEX https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEYyZSlQEdg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEYyZSlQEdg Of course now its like, "On my PS5, games load while I sleep...". And no one gets trained to debug with oscilloscopes, unfortunately. Regarding Ikegami, I could have sworn they developed one of the great NES titles: Commando. And now I can't help thinking how cool it would be to have an isometric version of of that top scroller. Digging deeper there are some interesting NES-era games in isometric style: Isolated Warrior, Solstice, etc ;)
- cafard 5y ago
  Tape remains popular among those who write cyber insurance, and also apparently among those who've been hit with ransomware.

meepmorp 5y ago

I had a 400 and I envied the dual cartridge slots and usable keyboard on the 800 so bad.

StanislavPetrov 5y ago
That second cartridge slot was key when one of them was occupied by Basic!