Goto 10: Retro Computing & Gaming

Goto 10: Retro Computing & Gaming

Share this post

Goto 10: Retro Computing & Gaming
Goto 10: Retro Computing & Gaming
A Digital Clock in BASIC

A Digital Clock in BASIC

Paul Lefebvre's avatar
Paul Lefebvre
Sep 11, 2023
∙ Paid
6

Share this post

Goto 10: Retro Computing & Gaming
Goto 10: Retro Computing & Gaming
A Digital Clock in BASIC
1
Share

Now that I have my Atari 130XE back up and running, I am starting to type in more of my programs from my Blue Binder of Programming.

Atari 130XE Setup and Modern Add-Ons

Atari 130XE Setup and Modern Add-Ons

Paul Lefebvre
·
September 8, 2023
Read full story
How I Learned to Program and the Old Blue Binder of Programming

How I Learned to Program and the Old Blue Binder of Programming

Paul Lefebvre
·
May 22, 2023
Read full story

Some of these programs are several pages long and will take me a while to type in because the 130XE keyboard is actually pretty awful. So for this post, I’ve started with one of the smaller programs which displays a digital clock on the screen and has an alarm function.

Before, I continue, a brief aside about how awful the 130XE keyboard is. There are really two main problems. The first is that the keys are not always where you expect them. Back in the early days of computing, keyboards varied quite a bit between computers. The Atari computers had non-standard things such as the double-quote being on Shift-2, which constantly messes me up since that is used a lot in BASIC programs. The < and > keys are also in odd positions, as are +, -, *, etc. My brain is so hard-wired to touch type on standard keyboards that I end up making a lot of typos when typing on the 130XE.

The second big problem is that the keyboard has a terrible feel. They keys require a lot of force to press them, which means typos aplenty.

Keep reading this post by becoming a Goto 10 paid member. Everyone gets free posts every Friday, but paid members get extra posts on Mondays (plus other perks).

This post is for paid subscribers

Already a paid subscriber? Sign in
© 2025 Paul Lefebvre
Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Start writingGet the app
Substack is the home for great culture

Share