¢ATARI 8-BIT MEMORIES¢COMPETITION RESULT¢¢¢ Thank-you to everyone who sent in their favourite Atari 8-bit memories for the Futura 10 Competition! I have thoroughly enjoyed reading them all and, after much consideration, have picked a winner. Well, there are actually two winners...¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢ EDDIE & CRISPIAN COUSINS¢ from Golspie, Sutherland¢¢¢¢ Eddie Cousins and his son Crispian submitted individual entries which together show the joy an Atari 8-bit computer can bring to a family. They win a selection of five software titles!¢¢ I'm sure you will all enjoy reading their Atari 8-bit memories...¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢Atari 8-bit Memories¢by Crispian Cousins¢¢ It was a cold, snowy morning on the 25th December 1983. I had crept down the stairs so that I would not wake Mum or Dad. I then tiptoed into the sitting room where all the presents were laid out under the Christmas tree. I noticed a box in the corner with a big blue and red ribbon around it. I wondered "who's that for?" so I lifted the tag. I thought it would read "TO EDDIE" (my brother), but to my amazement it read "TO CRISPIAN, LOVE MUM & DAD". I couldn't believe it; I felt like jumping up and down in the air! Then I heard a creaking on the floorboards and raced up the stairs, like an Olympic winner, straight into my Dad!. He mutterded "What are you doing running around like this so early?". I just replied "Dad, it's Christmas!", and went back into my bed.¢¢ Half an hour later my Mum and Dad shouted in harmony "Come on Crispian and Eddie - time to get up". Once we had all assembled in the sitting room and were sitting down, Dad started the normal procedure of giving everyone a present. We would then open it and receive the next one. I had my eye on that box all the time. I thought I would never get it! After about forty minutes of continuous sweating and keeping myself calm, Dad handed me the box. I began to pull and tug at the blue and red ribbon when finally it gave way. I then tore the paper off and was left with a cardboard box with some large writing on it. It read 'Atari 800'. "What was this?", I thought to myself. Now came the time of opening the box - I pulled the flaps up and there lay in front of me this fine and elegant machine. I said "A computer!", in total amazement.¢¢ While Mum and Eddie were preparing and cooking Christmas dinner, Dad and I set up the computer and all the necessary parts to make it run. We then put a cartridge in the computer and turned it on - up came a title 'Star Raiders'. I couldn't believe it - I had a computer, and a fine one at that! We all took turns at having a go of the game... even my cat came over and had a look around to see what all the fuss was about. After a few hours, Christmas dinner was ready but my Mum and Dad had to literally drag me away from the computer as I had lost all track of the time!!¢¢ Well this is my most memorable Atari 8-bit computer occasion. Happy computing to you all!¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢Atari 8-bit Memories¢by Eddie Cousins¢¢ Although I had got the Atari 800 for the son it was becoming apparent that its use was creating a bottleneck, as everyone wanted to use it at the same time. It was proving both handy for games and serious applications. As we were cassette based it was becoming more and more obvious that sooner or later I would have to consider the disk drive option. It would be quicker for the loading of games and the saving and retrieval of files but at this time the systems were still quite pricey... so what should I do...?¢¢ After some time had elapsed, a 'Boots' advert on TV was declaring an XL and 1050 disk drive at the sale price of about 140 pounds. As the sale was in Aberdeen and I live some 70 miles from John 'o Groats, I decided to ring them up and see if they would send me the system. They said they would so I sent them the money and waited for each day's post with anticipation!!¢¢ The parcel soon came and it wasn't long before the new system was up and running. Well, to cut a long story short, it was the best move I'd made! Having programs on disk was so much more user friendly - in fact, so user friendly that the cassette system got the boot and everyone wanted to go over to the disk drive setup... the bottleneck remained!¢¢ Sometime went by and it was becoming more evident that TWO systems was the answer... this is what I have now plus two printers and believe it or not there is no more bottlenecks! Hooray!¢¢ So, initially buying the disk drive system from Boots changed my whole view about computing, and probably was responsable for me staying with Atari, as I was now aware of the POWER OF ATARI! This is my vivid memory of Atari.¢
