Читать книгу The Dodo Collection - Steve Stack - Страница 18

Loading Computer Games from Tape

Of course, the games for all of the home computers just mentioned were loaded up by playing a cassette tape. Any tape player would do, but those rectangular box machines were the most commonly used. You would connect one to your computer with a cable, type ‘LOAD MANIC MINER’, or whatever the game was called, and then press PLAY.

A series of peculiar beeps, whirs, clicks, and general fuzziness would then be heard as the tape player communicated with the computer. Sometimes, with a bit of luck, the tape would get to the end, and the program would have loaded successfully, but the strike rate wasn’t great. It could take a few attempts to get it right.

There were no short cuts, either. A game could take five minutes or so to load, and you would invariably be looking at the screen waiting for something to happen. No Windows progress bars in those days. And you would have to go through the same process every single time you played the game. None of this download once and then it was on your computer for good. Oh no, if you wanted a quick game of Horace Goes Skiing after school, then you needed to twiddle your thumbs for a while first.

Progress is a wonderful thing. I can download an app to my phone within seconds and it will stay there forever, if I want. One click and I am checking a map, throwing an angry bird at a pig, or reading the latest news headlines. So why am I nostalgic for a time when it would take bloody ages, and usually two or three attempts, to get anything loaded?

I have no idea.

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