Last week was a blur of activities starting with my tenth wedding anniversary, continuing through Thanksgiving, and culminating in Christmas tree hunting.
Amid all the bustle, I almost forgot a milestone: Break Into Chat had its first birthday.
The Atari Jaguar 64-bit interactive multimedia system.
This week marks the 20th anniversary of the release of the Atari Jaguar in San Francisco and New York City.
Last year I wrote about Christmas 1993 when my parents surprised me and my brothers with an Atari Jaguar. Because the Jaguar wasn’t available nationwide yet, my parents teamed up with an uncle in California to obtain it.
In the 20 years since then, I sold or gave away all my other old Ataris — the 2600, 800, 130XE, 520ST and 1040STe — though I wish I still had all of them.
But the Jaguar remains — and it has new life because my kids now enjoy it.
Here’s a look back at this console that meant so much to us.
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As a journalist, I listen regularly to NPR’s On The Media program. Imagine my surprise and delight when a fellow journalist sent me a link to OTM’s TLDR podcast from yesterday in which one of the program’s producers revisits his old BBS stomping grounds.
The board was M-net, a large chat system that’s still running today — though nothing like it was in its heyday.
Please give this segment a listen, and be sure to let OTM know you appreciate their coverage of this important tech history topic!
Via OTM
What does it take to get published? How about a deranged TRS-80 Model I that has taken over a lunar colony? That did the trick for Hollie Satterfield in 1983, when 80 Micro magazine published his computer program “Attack of the TRS-80.” Afterward, he embarked on a career as a programmer analyst — and along the way, he created a popular BBS door game: Space Dynasty.
I shared some thoughts about Space Dynasty yesterday. This interview was conducted by email Feb. 16 through Oct. 18, 2013.
You can follow Hollie Satterfield on Twitter: @thathollie
They say first impressions are everything. That seems to have been true for teenage me when I tried Hollie Satterfield’s BBS door game Space Dynasty — and wrote it off.
But first impressions are often wrong.
(Also, don’t miss the follow-up interview with Space Dynasty creator Hollie Satterfield)
A fellow named Spiro in New Zealand is developing a new LoRD- or OOII-style BBS door game. He’s writing it in Pascal under Linux.
You can read about his progress and see some screenshots at his blog, The Old School Geek