I got one of my two Atari 800’s out and fired it up today. My 30-year-old computer is still kicking!
My wife and/or kids started typing on my old computer, and their opinion is apparent! 🙂
The old programming cartridges (Action!, assembler, and BASIC) still work, but I currently have no way to store any programs I write. (I didn’t even bother to test the old cassette tape drive, because I’m almost certain that the drive belt has disintegrated.) So my first project to resurrect this box will have to be some hardware and software for serial communication. The “software” will have to be burned onto an 8k EPROM for the right cartridge slot. Fortunately, Make Magazine just published a [circuit board for Atari 8-bit computers][1] in their most recent issue.
I’m enough of a geek that I’m actually looking forward to this!
[1]: http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2011/02/diy-homebrew-video-game-cartridges.html