4 ms·

Wow. I still remember the first time I played a Mode 1 game that had ‘sound’. I think t was called Space Trek or Graphic Trek and was a Star Trek style space

Wow. I still remember the first time I played a Mode 1 game that had ‘sound’. I think t was called Space Trek or Graphic Trek and was a Star Trek style space game. Fire phasers and the thing made sound. Mind blown. The thing to remember is the Model 1 had zero sound designed in the thing. This game made sound by RAPIDLY turning on/off the relay that controlled the tape deck. The Relay!!! Soon thereafter the standard practice was to unplug the tape deck and hookup the speaker and the thing made sound using the same equipment that made the audio to record the programs on the tape drive. I now know if that hadn’t happened we’d have all burned out the relays in the thing… Wild times.

paulrpotts 3y ago
I used to hear what my Model 1 was up to by putting a little transistor radio next to it and tuning it until I could hear the screeching RF noise it put out. It would give me a sense of whether my code was still running, stuck in a loop, how tight the loop was, etc. My stepfather hated the fact that whenever I was working on it, he couldn't get clear radio reception for his classical music listening.