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My biggest problem with the 2600? The tape drive. I could write the code but if the tape drive crashed during write out, the entire code had to be re-written.

My biggest problem with the 2600? The tape drive. I could write the code but if the tape drive crashed during write out, the entire code had to be re-written. Solution was to write small chunks of code to multiple tapes. Yes, I had to swap the tapes, but if it crashed it was just that portion. And then, floppies showed up!

WaitWaitWha 3y ago
Thanks for the corrections. Sadly, my memory seems to fade. I remember it was an Atari. It had a tape drive that I struggled with. I leave it at that.
tenebrisalietum 3y ago
You had a tape drive for the Atari 2600 video game system that has no video RAM, 128 bytes of system RAM, a video chip not driven by the ANTIC that requires the CPU to program it for each line, and a crippled 6502 that addresses 4Kbytes of ROM max?
- vardump 3y ago
  Well... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starpath_Supercharger https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starpath_Supercharger "The Starpath Supercharger (originally called the Arcadia Supercharger) is an expansion peripheral cartridge created by Starpath, for playing cassette-based proprietary games on the Atari 2600 video game console.[2][3][4][5] The device consists of a long cartridge with a handle on the end, and an audio cassette cable. It adds 6 KB to the Atari 2600's 128 bytes of RAM (increasing it 49-fold to 6,272 bytes of RAM)..."
CyberDildonics 3y ago
How does this relate to the current story of finding code reuse?
Mountain_Skies 3y ago
Are you thinking of the Atari 400 or 800 instead of the 2600? While there were a few cassette systems for the 2600, they're somewhat rare and the only one that allowed for writing out programs appears to have been a homebrew hack.
eek2121 3y ago
The Atari 2600 is a video game console, not a computer. See the other comments. You most certainly were not thinking about the 2600 when you wrote this as it is a cartridge based system similar to the NES.

WaitWaitWha 3y ago

Thanks for the corrections. Sadly, my memory seems to fade. I remember it was an Atari. It had a tape drive that I struggled with. I leave it at that.

tenebrisalietum 3y ago

You had a tape drive for the Atari 2600 video game system that has no video RAM, 128 bytes of system RAM, a video chip not driven by the ANTIC that requires the CPU to program it for each line, and a crippled 6502 that addresses 4Kbytes of ROM max?

vardump 3y ago
Well... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starpath_Supercharger https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starpath_Supercharger "The Starpath Supercharger (originally called the Arcadia Supercharger) is an expansion peripheral cartridge created by Starpath, for playing cassette-based proprietary games on the Atari 2600 video game console.[2][3][4][5] The device consists of a long cartridge with a handle on the end, and an audio cassette cable. It adds 6 KB to the Atari 2600's 128 bytes of RAM (increasing it 49-fold to 6,272 bytes of RAM)..."

CyberDildonics 3y ago

How does this relate to the current story of finding code reuse?

Mountain_Skies 3y ago

Are you thinking of the Atari 400 or 800 instead of the 2600? While there were a few cassette systems for the 2600, they're somewhat rare and the only one that allowed for writing out programs appears to have been a homebrew hack.

eek2121 3y ago

The Atari 2600 is a video game console, not a computer. See the other comments. You most certainly were not thinking about the 2600 when you wrote this as it is a cartridge based system similar to the NES.