peter@unm-la.UUCP (bill peter) (09/19/86)
Hello. A few weeks ago I asked some newsgroups about a computer to buy
for my 3-year old. After doing a lot of research, I finally decided on
the Atari 800 XL.
A few days ago, I got the machine, showed my son how to play a few games...
And guess what? For a guy who loves Cray XMP-48s, Suns, and Macintoshes,
I LIKE THE ATARI MYSELF!! In fact, I'm quite taken by it! At $1 a
kilobyte, and with nice graphics, it's really a pleasant machine (much better
than a C164 or one of those terrible PCjrs). However, I have a few questions,
and would appreciate it if some people could set me straight on a few
points....
1. What fun stuff can technical types do with their machines? Are all
these Rambo XLs really something neat? Are their books around showing
neat hardware things one can do? What types of fun software is there
around (note: for serious stuff I am still married to my Mac....)
2. Is the public domain software good enough to justify buying a disk
drive? What's the best one to buy?
3. What mail-order places is it best to avoid? What are the best games
to play for a child? Does the monitor cable really improve the image
over the antenna? Where can I find out about how to make an RGB
input/output?
4. Is it fun taking the thing apart? (Hell, for $69, I can buy three of
them!)
Thanks in advance for any replies. By the way, I could not resend mail to
some of you last time; thanks for your comments, it really helped.
--
bill peter
Los Alamos National Laboratory ihnp4!lanl!wkp
University of New Mexico ihnp4!lanl!unm-la!peter