I'm trying to dig up some info on an old computer I had. I'm 90% positive it was made by Atari and it had a black and orange color scheme. A keyboard was built into the case and it had a cartridge slot (I think on the top of the system?). There was at least one joystick port. The joysticks were rectangular in shape and had a single rectangular button on the base. There may have been a separate floppy drive, but I think I'm confusing that with another old computer I had.

The only game I remember playing was Pole Position, and that was on a cart. The games came in big black plastic clamshell cases. I had a few of them, but I remember the rest just being generic space shooters.

Google has turned up lots of info on Atari computers, but I haven't had any luck with pictures to identify my system. Any of you guys know what system it was?

Atari 400?

So long...


'Now the time is here
for Iron Man to spread fear,
Vengeance from the grave
kills the people he once saved'
© Black Sabbath '70
*grunt* Metal *gnarf*

Did some more digging. It seems that the joysticks and Pole Position I remember were from the TI-99 computer. I still remember a black and orange Atari though and I'm sure I saw a picture of it in a book on retro games and systems. Still looking for info on that Atari one...

Unless there was some black and orange variant of the Atari 400, I don't think that was it.

> Did some more digging. It seems that the joysticks and Pole Position I remember
> were from the TI-99 computer. I still remember a black and orange Atari though
> and I'm sure I saw a picture of it in a book on retro games and systems. Still
> looking for info on that Atari one...
>
> Unless there was some black and orange variant of the Atari 400, I don't think
> that was it.
>
Doubt it: http://oldcomputers.net/compaqiii.html

> Did some more digging. It seems that the joysticks and Pole Position I remember
> were from the TI-99 computer. I still remember a black and orange Atari though
> and I'm sure I saw a picture of it in a book on retro games and systems. Still
> looking for info on that Atari one...
>
> Unless there was some black and orange variant of the Atari 400, I don't think
> that was it.

So not this, then?

> So not this, then?
>

No, definately not the Atari 400. I remember the cart slot had little flaps on it like the Genesis did, not a huge door covering it. I'm not entirely sure it was an Atari now; could have been another manufacturer. The time frame I'm thinking of would have been early to mid 80s, so I'm guessing it was an 8-bit computer.

I vividly remember seeing it in that book though, so it is more than just a garbled childhood memory.

A Binatone system? Like this?

We had one (not that one) a long time ago but it went to a car-boot sale (still have manual somewhere lol)

> A Binatone system? Like this?
>
> We had one (not that one) a long time ago but it went to a car-boot sale (still
> have manual somewhere lol)
>

I remember the system being black with orange trim, a full keyboard built into it, and a top loading cart slot on top of the system towards the back.

Maybe I'm wrong about the cart slot though... I'm going to try to go back to the comic shop I saw that book in over the next few days and try to find that pic again. This is driving me crazy!

The Spectrum and the Thomson MO5 / T07 had both cartridges as well. The MO5 and the Speccy are black, but not necessarely orange. Maybe it was a "clone" of one of these...



[download a life]

Quite a few MSX-based systems match the colour schemes you remember, and also had flapped cartridge slots:

Casio PV-16

Gradiente Expert Plus

Memotech MTX 500/512

There're quite a few more... Try using their search to see if you can't track it down.

> I'm trying to dig up some info on an old computer I had. I'm 90% positive it
> was made by Atari and it had a black and orange color scheme. A keyboard was
> built into the case and it had a cartridge slot (I think on the top of the
> system?). There was at least one joystick port. The joysticks were rectangular
> in shape and had a single rectangular button on the base. There may have been a
> separate floppy drive, but I think I'm confusing that with another old computer
> I had.
>
> The only game I remember playing was Pole Position, and that was on a cart. The
> games came in big black plastic clamshell cases. I had a few of them, but I
> remember the rest just being generic space shooters.
>
> Google has turned up lots of info on Atari computers, but I haven't had any luck
> with pictures to identify my system. Any of you guys know what system it was?
>