My first computer was a Sinclair Spectrum which I got for Christmas in 1984 - it still amazes me how much could be achieved with just 48k! I still haven't seen any games which have more playability than some of the Speccy ones (one of my favourites was Mastertronics Rescue). In fact I still play on it sometimes!
I first got my STe back in 1989, it cost me £350 and came with the Power Pack software collection. Most of this software wasn't fully compatible!
Since then I have upgraded it steadily, my first major purchase was a Star LC20 9 pin printer followed closely by an upgrade to 1 meg. Next followed a SC1435 colour monitor to replace my TV, a new Canon BJ10sx Bubblejet printer, a System Solutions Mini hard drive, SM124 Mono monitor and my Reveal Fax Modem. Also during this time I upgraded my ST's memory, first to 2 meg and then to 4.
I bought myself an Atari Lynx 2 in 1994 and a Jaguar in December 1995.
In 1996 I bought a Jaguar CD player for just £50 brand new and at the end of 1996 I got a Pentium 133 PC (fx ducks for cover!). Finally, in March 1997 I bought a Falcon with 4 meg - certainly worth the wait!
Favourite software:
My favourite piece of Atari software ever must be Papyrus. There is nothing else on the ST which even comes close - it is even better than most PC and Mac packages.
Another piece of software which deserves a mention is NVDI 3. It is a remarkable piece of programming and I don't think I could live without it.
My favourite game at the moment has to be Microproses Civilization although it is closely followed by Frontier and Obsession.
Out of the mountain of PD and Shareware software currently available, I'd have to say both Kandinsky and Gemview.
Atari's main use:
When I first got my ST, I used it purely for playing games. It wasn't until 1991 that I decided to put it to more practicle use by programming some software.
Since then I have written over twenty programs all of which are available as PD, Freeware, Shareware or Licenceware. In 1996, I launched the Croft Soft HTML News Letter (now The Atari Times) and the Atari Authors Association.
I spend most of my computing time now either writing stuff for the News Letter, using Papyrus for typing various things and using the Bulletin Board Networks.
Me!
Well, I'm 19 years old and at the moment I am studying BSC Computing at the University of the West of England (UWE).
Apart from all the computer stuff above I'm also a big Science Fiction fan. I enjoy watching things like Star Trek (especially Deep Space Nine), Dark Skies, X-Files and The Outer Limits. I also read a lot and enjoy both SF and normal fiction books.
I also have strong interests in all things unexplained - which can range from UFO's and Ghosts to things like Ancient Egypt and the Maya.
Musicwise, there isn't much I dont like - except maybe dance music (it all sounds the same!)... Of course like most other students I also like to laze about doing nothing and going to the pub!