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Your first Atari, and last?

My first Atari was a 400. I have vague recollections of it, and I will get another one someday.

My second, and currently last, Atari is a 7800. I've had this thing since it was new, and still enjoy the occasional game of Centipede or Pole Position II. It's about time for me to look into repairing my controllers, and maybe buy a couple of spares too.
 
My first is an 800 I picked up weeks before lockdown in 2020. It is a toss-up weather it or my Apple IIe is my favorite 8-bit computer.

My most recent is a 2600jr that I picked up last year on Marketplace for $20
 
Mustang Matt said:
My first is an 800 I picked up weeks before lockdown in 2020. It is a toss-up weather it or my Apple IIe is my favorite 8-bit computer.

My most recent is a 2600jr that I picked up last year on Marketplace for $20
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I am in the same situation. The first computer I ever owned was an Atari 400 (and later 800XL) but the first computer I was exposed to was an Apple II. I know both very well (and learning more as I troubleshoot Apple II systems). One thing I can say is that, based on what I now know, the Atari 8-bit line was superior, at least graphics wise, to the Apple II series.
 
My first was an original Atari 520ST, with two disk drives. While Atari still existed, my last was Atari Portfolio!

Currently last purchase was a Mega STE.
 
My first Atari is a 1040ST that was dropped off at the transfer station I was working at. I was waiting for a truck but none were available so I was doing yard work. Come to find out it belonged to a late ham radio operator in the same club as me. I don’t have a last yet but I started collecting all the Atari personal computers and so far I have the 800, 1200XL, 65XE and XEGS. I may get a 130XE and a Mega ST at some point. I also have every Atari 8 but console except the 5200. Does 2600 count as a computer if you have the right peripherals?
 
I've started with an Atari 800 about in 82 (to long time ago to remember exactly) ;-) Later got hands on a 130XE, which I used for a short time until I got one of the first ST520s. After a short time I upgraded RAM to 1MB by adding 16 RAM chips piggy-pack onto the built in.
That machine served me until the early 90s - then I went over to the Macintosh.
Kept the machines for a long time in the attic, until one day they got lost while moving. A couple of years ago I got a 800XL - very good machine as well, quite happy with it.
 
My first was a 2600 jr I found at a Habitat ReStore. Not where I've expect to find something like that.

My last was an Atari 800 I got from a nearby auction place. Came with a bunch of carts and disk and tape drive. It works, but it needs a cleaning badly.
 
First Atari product I now owned was a Video Pinball console (first version) when I was a kid back around 1979.

Second through fifth were: an 800 computer, big beige model, a Video Music box, another Video Pinball (first ver) and the Super Pong console that I just posted about repairing in this forum. All were acquired around 1998-2000 but never used other than testing prior to sale.
 
I had the 2600. Brings back some good memories. I just got my first 8 bit (XEGS) and 16 Bit (1040) and I'm now learning the ropes of the machines I didn't have as a kid.
 
Fist was a 520ST which I ended up giving away (like a fool). I had a pretty good kit too. I upgraded it to 1MB, had both monitors, 20MB HD, external 2nd HD floppy and a bunch of software.
My last, which I still have, is an 800XL.
 
1st was a VCS (2600) 6 switch... 2nd was an 800XL, first with tape drive, then bought the floppy drive off a guy I knew. Currently, last is an 800XL with 2 floppy drives (one is a happy drive) and the tape drive. Honorable mention to the LEGO 2600 that I'm going to put real guts into.
 
My first Atari product was the 2600 back around 1980. My last was a1040ST from a couple of years ago.
 
My first Atari was a 2600, probably 79-81 or there abouts. My latest is a 400 that I purchased about 10 years ago, now re-capped, cleaned up, and working.
 
My first Atari was the 400. As a kid, living in a town where the only stores for electronics was Sears (Atari VCS) and Radio Shack, I had planned to get a VCS like my friends for games, and a TRS-80 Model 1 for computing (My best friend got me on programming by dropping a Sinclair ZX-80 (updated to 81) in my lap). Then our family visited JAFCO in a nearby larger city where I found the Atari 400. My mom suggested it for both games and programming.

I had the opportunity to purchase an 800 which were on sale to make room for the XL line. But by the time I got to the store, they all sold out and I bought the 800XL instead. This system served me very well for a long time, adding a 1050 disk drive, a 1030 modem for our local BBS and a SIO to Centronics adapter to attach a Panasonic KX-P1080i printer. Eventually, I sold that system to get an Atari 1040ST. I didn't really do as much with that system as I did with the 800XL (mostly due to the lack of available game and development software for the ST in my town). Traded the 1040ST to a clone XT retailer (looking for an ST to do some graphic art for his business) for a newly built XT clone, which I used through my university years and my first tech job.

Throughout my childhood and university years, I still had my 400 as a gaming console. I briefly had a 1200XL I found in a pawn shop. Eventually, both found new homes after I finished college.

As an accidental vintage computer collector (started about 6 years ago or so), I now have in my collection the 800 I wanted in my teen years; it was gifted to me just before the 2020 VCFPN (which got cancelled due to COVID) by Joe Decuir (we are both fellow members of the Seattle Retro Computer Society). I've spruced it up, picked up some tools and the Macro Assembler to get into writing some tools and try recreating some of my BASIC games in 6502 ML - just for fun. Got some games so my son and kids that attend our SRCS meetings with their parents can play them. Its amazing on how much I still remember about this system through the decades. And I'm pleased to discover that I have not lost my edge at Star Raiders... :-D
 
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My first Atari was a 400 (a leftover in the shop I worked), got a 1050 diskdrive with it and expanded the memory myseff. Can't remember where it went. Later on I got a 260ST, updated it to 1 Meg and a SH204 harddisk, the drive in that got replaced by a 'real' SCSI 2 GB drive, after that a Mega STE and finally a TT which I still have. It is in a big tower with lots of SCSI peripherals (HDDs, ZIP, DAT, CDRW) and more TT memory. On that machine I set my first Linux steps. PC's and laptops I got after that all ran Linux.
 
My first was a Sears version of the Atari 2600 that I bought while staioned at Tyndsll ASFB in Florida. Gave that to future in-laws in 82 after getting into the Apple II. Fastforward to 3 months ago when a friend gave me the Atari 400 his Dad found in his attic. Have since also picked up an Atari 800xl.
 
My one and only Atari is an 800. I do not have a power adapter for it yet so I have not been able to do much with it. Does anyone know the best place to purchase a power adapter for the Atari 800? I would love to find out if it works.

Seaken
 
You could get one from the Brewing Academy that is a usb cable so you can use a phone charger to power the computer. That's what I did after I bought an Atari 800 on eBay that didn't have a power sypply. It wirks great and there is no bulky power brick to have to deal with.

magnus
 
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