Memories

I ran across a reference to learning to type on computer, and was reminded of our first family PC, the Radio Shack TRS 80 Coco. My Dad brought it home in 1980. It ran off the TV, and loaded programs off a little cassette player. You had to remember to turn the volume down, though - the screeching as it read files was truly horrifying.

We subscribed to the monthly CoCo newsletter, which came with a cassette of new programs, all designed to make the most of CoCo's 4K RAM. Most were boring, at least as far as my siblings and I were concerned, although I'm sure the h@x0rs who wrote them didn't think so. I do remember one with great fondness, though - Hunt for Nauga. Your character, X, wandered through forests of trees, ^, and fired arrows, ->, which moved with agonizing slowness across the green screen. Thrilling times, I tell you, thrilling times.

Eventually we upgraded to a Commodore 64, and experienced the joy of Space Invaders first hand, but I'll never forget good old Nauga. The searing pain of playback, with the tapedeck volume cranked to the max, made sure of that.