Celebrate Atari's 40th anniversary by installing Stella Atari emulator, loading some Atari ROMs, and showing this generation what real gaming was like.
Stella Atari emulator is easily accessible via most Linux package managers. They're also available via Ubuntu Software Center and Linux Mint Software Manager.
Installation is fairly problem-free via any software manager. Once Stella is installed, you would need to download some ROMs. For those who aren't familiar with Atari games, ROMs are extremely small files that are less than 200 kB and are loaded to play Atari classics. Tons of Atari games are available online in web sites such as Atarimania, which carries one zipped file that contains a truckload of ROMs.
After downloading the zipped file, extract the ROMs to a folder. Launch Stella, which will prompt for the location of the ROMs. Select a ROM file and the game will begin.
Stella provides plenty of configuration options including the ability to manage audio and video settings. However, most users can just go ahead and get lost in nostalgia while getting hit by a payload in Battlezone or eaten by a ghost in Pac-Man.
The Stella site at Sourceforge.net has a pretty comprehensive user guide in case some of the games don't run or you really want to play Krull, Pitfall, or E.T. on a bigger screen. Even the most obscure games can be found online so you can spend a few minutes or two watching the mesmerizing graphics. That said, give your kid or some youngster a few tries at Asteroid or Pong and let them see what they missed during the golden age of gaming.
Note: For Ubuntu Unity users, you may find yourself unable to exit Stella or even switch windows. Just press the Super/Windows button on your keyboard to trigger the Dash and use the Unity Launcher to close Stella.
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