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37 lines
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37 lines
3.1 KiB
Plaintext
---
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title: "A Computer Timeline: Atari ST, Amiga 500, DOS 486"
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section: "retro"
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tags: "retro"
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description: "The personal computing story behind the retro corner, from Atari ST and Amiga 500 to DOS 486 and beyond."
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layout: base.njk
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parent: "/retro/"
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---
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<h1>A Computer Timeline: Atari ST, Amiga 500, DOS 486</h1>
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<div class="detail-content">
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<p>Every retro computing setup has a story. Here's mine, from the first time I sat in front of a screen to the machines I use today.</p>
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<h2>1983-1987: First contact</h2>
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<p>When I started primary school in 1983, friends already had computers. One showed me everything a C64 could do, except the Lego game he kept promising to show me. That never happened, but I was hooked on computers anyway. Around the same time my father brought home an Epson HX-20, a tiny portable with a small screen and a built-in microcassette drive. That's where I wrote my very first BASIC programs.</p>
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<h2>1987-1990: The Atari ST era</h2>
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<p>In secondary school a friend named Matthias had an Atari, and a couple of classmates in the class also got Ataris over time. For Christmas 1989 I got my own 1040STFM. A year later, Christmas 1990, came the Mega ST 4 with a MegaFile hard disk, the beginning of a much deeper relationship with the platform. Early programming started with Omikron BASIC, then quickly moved to GFA BASIC, which became the main tool for writing software on the ST.</p>
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<h2>1990-1992: The Amiga detour</h2>
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<p>More and more classmates had Amigas, and I wanted one too. The Amiga arrived around April 1991, and while the Atari ST remained the programming machine, the Amiga became the creative hub: ProTracker for music, Deluxe Paint for graphics.</p>
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<h2>1992-1994: The PC arrives</h2>
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<p>Christmas 1993 brought a Vobis Highscreen 486 DX2-66 in its distinctive Colani tower case. The PC opened the door to DOS games, and in 1994 the real creative phase began: DOSMENU, the SkyLine demo group, and the first modem connecting to the outside world.</p>
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<h2>1994-2000: The Fido era</h2>
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<p>A modem in spring 1994 led to the FidoNet world, and by late 1995 I was running my own BBS node. Through the mid-90s I collected old and new machines enthusiastically, building up a collection that lasted until 2005 when most of it was sold off. By 2000, the FidoNet hobby had quietly faded.</p>
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<h2>2009 and beyond: The modern era</h2>
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<p>The collection shrank down to what I actually used daily: a 2009 iMac, a 2010 iPad 1, and eventually a Chromebook for everyday tasks in 2017. The iPad 1 is practically a museum piece by now, and the Chromebook has become the machine I reach for when I just want something that works.</p>
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<h2>2020: The retro revival</h2>
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<p>In 2020 the retro computing hobby came back in full force. The Mega ST 4 fleet was rebuilt, the MiSTer and MIST FPGA boards were added, and this site was born to document it all. The machines from the 90s were given new roles instead of gathering dust: a workstation, a demo machine, a reference piece, and a spare.</p>
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<p class="note">The pattern seems to be: every 10-15 years I rediscover the machines I grew up with and find new ways to use them.</p>
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</div>
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