Edit: I know what I am going to do. My granddaughter is 5.
I am going to write a little basic program that reads these cells wired to a couple paddle ports. I have one set I can take apart for this bit of fun. We have two hands, which makes for a perfect pairing.
https://www.atariarchives.org/ecp/chapter_5.php
Press a key, and something happens on screen. Maybe the color changes with the sound, or it says, "Hello Kiddo", whatever.
And the registers, math, change.
A couple hours on this should lead to interesting time watching her interact with it all.
Thanks for the inspiration. Should be fun. Now all I have to do is get a program into that Atari. Might finally be time to get one of those SD card devices for my Atari, or a FujiNet. Something.
It never fails. Mine and friends will play that one for some time. It is simple, immediate on a low latency display and all interactive.
Total classic!
Those computers did offer up 8 paddles! I am not sure any title ever made use of them.
And some days, they release new good games for it (these came in the last 6 months):
The majority of them seems to really enjoy playing the games, repairing them, enhancing them, writing new games for them. The fact that these computers are old does not matter to them, the retro crowd enjoy these computers just because.
My daily retro driver is an Apple //e Platinum with some good cards in it. Serial, CFFA 3000 disk emulator so I can use USB drives, and a FastChip 16Mz 65816 CPU.
I use it to write. Nice keyboard, and this may seem odd, but when I write on it, different words come out. It takes me to a place I find hard to be in otherwise. I can move my work back onto a modern machine with a USB stick.
I also game on it, currently enjoying Nox Archaist a couple hours here and there. That is a new release, 5 years in the making, and it is exemplary. Old school, runs on an Apple, but done with more modern ideas.
And it sometimes ends up being a terminal for various projects.
By "daily driver", I mean setup, ready to use. I do use it a few times per month.
My Model 100 is a portable curio. Sometimes when I am way out in the sticks, it is fun to play with. I may find it a home too. I have not used it in a long while. Took notes on it last time I did.
And my Atari 800XL and 400 see some gaming along with an original 6 switch VCS. (2600) These come out for old school game time once or twice per year.
I have young ones coming up and I plan on showing them the ropes old school. Probably the Apple to start. Lots of education and Oregon Trail.
My favorite thing to do is small, fun programming and or electronics. The Apple is great for both. It is awful nice to be able to write a little code with almost no worries. And if one wants, putting a circuit on a card is not hard.
Oh, and from time to time, I do use the Apple as a spiffy calculator. It can kind of just sit there holding values, bits of code, whatever. I have always used one this way since I was a kid. Sort of how people will use their powerful hand calculators.
My workbench has a pro grade CRT I got for a song, and the Apple all setup and ready to go. Both are off to the side, right there. Flip a switch and it is there, ready same as it always has been.
The CRT is special. Looks great and takes me back to fun places.
It all reminds me how far we have come, if nothing else. It is nice to have it handy. And sometimes, when I am blocked somehow, a romp on that machine seems to always shake me loose. Worth it just for that.
I write programs, trying to understand the hardware of the machine. I play games I remember. I play games I’ve never seen before. I try the “killer apps” like VisiCalc. I connect it to a BBS. But mostly I just collect.
My dad still has our old Atari 800 in the closet somewhere and I sometimes wonder if it still works. But I just can't imagine using it for more than few minutes nostalgia hit.