March 30, 2004

I don't often scour eBay for Atari items. I never really spent much time with Atari 8-bits, sadly (they were precursors to the Amiga, you know)—my 8-bit days were mainly spent with Apple II's. I did use and enjoy some of Atari's 16-bit machines, though. I got an Atari 520ST back in late 1986 and had much fun with it. I was a loud member of the "Amiga vs. Atari ST" geek war, even. Ended up with a Mega2 ST in 1989, but it didn't have quite the same soul. I don't picture setting up a vintage Atari rig, as I moved to an Amiga 2000 after my Atari days and with the Amiga being a sort of "superset" of the Atari ST (similar capabilities, software library, etc.), it doesn't seem worth the deskspace that I don't even have to begin with. Still, I found a vehicle with which to get a little of the good ole' nostalgia going.

I ran across an eBay auction for a set of STart magazines the other day. Bid and won. There were a number of Atari ST magazines out when I was an ST user. STart was the finest. The 8 issues from '88 - '91 that are on their way to me will be most interesting to dig into. I haven't touched an ST since I sold that Mega2 fifteen years ago. I wonder how much I'll remember?