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- F A C E T O F A C E W I T H F A M O U S S C E N E R S
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- <link=macg.scr>M A C G Y V E R / A I D S ^ C O B R A</l>
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- 6502 and 68030 coder from Poland!
- real electronic wizard!
-
- the one who's willing to get "back on track" with new Atari releases!
-
- invited to the chat in accompaniment of an alcohol feast
-
- by Grey / Mystic Bytes
- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
-
- Grey: Gut Morning, Mac!
-
- MacGyver: Welcome, Grey :)
-
- Grey: It's a long time since our last friendly chit on Undercovers' pages
- at the end of the 90s... So we need to throw an eye to your garden
- to see what grew up and what withered away... ;)
-
- Let's remind our readers about you, what are ya doing apart from the
- usual staggering about with vodka-bottle at the demo parties, etc.
-
- MacGyver: So this year (during a great QuaST Party 2k3 in Poland) my counter
- of years displayed value 26. Today I'm unemployed man and I'm
- searching for a job.
-
- Grey: After the latest libation at QuaST Party 2k+3 in Orneta some nice
- rumours came to my ears telling me that you decided to resurrect the
- AIDS band. What made you decide to do it? Maybe the big crowd of
- 8-bit aTARI ppl visiting the latest QuaST edition? Or maybe it was
- just a rumour told under influence of cheap wine? ;) (also known as
- "brain-f*ckers", hehe).
-
- MacGyver: Well, an old love has been resurrected, old memories were stirred,
- Atari became reborn in my heart - the atmopshere of QP2k3 made it
- happen. After a couple of years friends from the scene met again,
- all of us felt spirit of Atari scene, we understood that Atari still
- lives. AIDS came back from lethargy, but not only our crew - there
- is a lot of guys returning to their activities. And all thanks to
- the mentioned atmosphere of the QP2k3 which gave many ppl the verve
- to get back to their activities. 3 years ago I wouldn't believe
- that things could change that way in the future.
-
- Grey: So how does the member-list of AIDS look nowadays? What functions
- belong to which member?
-
- MacGyver: Active members are: Lewis, Ars (both coders) and legendary POKEY
- music maker: Miker (one of the best musicians in the history of
- 8-bit Atari IMHO).
-
- Grey: AIDS... this name can be kinda "controversial" for ppl who aren't
- "up-to-date" with things happening on the 8-bit aTARI scene...
- Could you unravel this riddle for our readers?
-
- MacGyver: Warp (formerly known as Macioos) was AIDS founder and he is the most
- enlightened in this topic - but the problem is that no-one has had
- any contact with him for a few years... One of the unofficial
- versions say that AIDS is a short of "Apocalypse rIDerS" - some of
- the members left this group to create a new team extracting a few
- letters from the old name... so that's how the name was built ;)
-
- Grey: Are you going to hit the scene with any new release? Any date to
- expect it?
-
- MacGyver: Personally I want to resurrect some cancelled projects from the
- past. This year I am going to spread a full-working version of a new
- music tracker for 8-bit aTARI and release something for the
- forthcoming "Last Party" in Opalenica/Poland (end of December) -
- I won't say it's gonna be something groundbreaking but surely
- I won't come with empty hands ;) If we talk about 2004 - I hope to
- finish a few bigger projects which I've planned...
-
- Grey: What's your opinion about the current state of 8-bit Atari scene?
- Stagnation, clinical death, deep sleep, closing the ranks...?
-
- MacGyver: Isn't that an analogy for the subtitle of second part of "Matrix" -
- reloaded? ;) There is one polish proverb telling that "old love
- never dies" - after some years of silence the Atari spirit is back.
-
- Grey: Is it possible that this small, likable and friendly computer can
- bring us the sound of jaws dropping with surprise?
-
- MacGyver: It depends solely on original ideas from demomakers ;) But it's my
- guess there's gonna be many productions for 8-bit aTARI yet causing
- a loud noise in the future ;)
-
- Grey: What do you think about the quality of aTARI prods in comparison to
- cOMMY ones? Maybe this question sounds kinda controversial, but I
- would be grateful if you could answer sincerely...
-
- MacGyver: I'm not "up-to-date" with things happening on C-64 but new demos
- I've seen featured mainly pictures and 'profound' text... effects
- slope down in the grand plan... It's very different from 8-bit aTARI
- demos where ppl focus on effects much more than graphics or design..
- so it's very hard to compare. Of course that's my personal opinion.
-
- Grey: It looks like time is working on the side of aTARI? XL/XE machines
- are one of the most respected 8-bitters, at least in Poland... isn't
- it a kind of "historical justice"? Everyone outside our garden was
- spitting in our direction, now the same ppl make a deep bow...
-
- MacGyver: Paradoxically I think that reason of this return to popularity is...
- new technology! The Internet gave people better and faster methods
- of contact, faster and better availability of software and
- documentation, faster and better PCs (yeah!) gave better and very
- compatible emulators - people who don't have an original Atari can
- take a look at productions released for this computer... Even more -
- they can support it by doing new things! It's a big paradox but
- non-atari technologies are enlarging popularity of Atari.
-
- Of course I don't forget about die-hard atarians using original
- machines - the words above can be a kind of shock for them but it's
- not that important IMHO. The most important thing is that releases
- done under PC emulator are visible on aTARI. The PC is only treated
- as a tool - nothing else.
-
- Besides not everyone can code at work using original aTARI ;)
-
- Grey: It's the same story with the trusty ST... It seems that everyone
- forgot about the existence of the A500... while ST is still
- supported by some demo-groups...
-
- MacGyver: Yes, because A500 users managed to leave their machines and move
- to the A1200 when it arrived. Personally I would be so satisfied
- if Atari ST users could move to the Falcon as well - but many of
- them didn't. It's nothing strange to see Amigas featuring turbo
- cards with "Power PC" processors nowadays. Don't you think it would
- be so cool to have the same cards in Falcons? Just imagine -
- machines with aTARI symbol as fast as present PCs.
-
- Of course it's nice to see that ppl still like Atari ST... me too.
- But if I could I would choose amiga's scenario :(
-
- Grey: There was quite a lot of talented chaps from the 8-bit aTARI scene
- who moved to other platforms totally shunning an ST existence.
- (with only few small exceptions). Why's that?
-
- MacGyer: Amiga had better advertising than Atari - we know these jokes about
- Tramiel's marketing in Atari :( PC is a different fable - it became
- a standard at work, at school or at home as a movie player etc.
-
- BTW - I was never thinking about ST in the past - only Falcon was my
- dream machine at that time ;)
-
- Grey: Lately we could read on the inet that you're busy looking for a
- solution to bring your Falcon to life. So will you bring these plans
- to reality?
-
- MacGyver: Well, it only depends on money now. I am unemployed so every expense
- is mainly connected with my existential-survival sphere. But if my
- life becomes more stable someday - I will be back probably :)
-
- Grey: Some years ago in co-operation with Mayonez, "Cobra" made its 1st
- step into the Falcon scene with the "Infinity" intro released at
- QuaST Party '97. Did you ever think about any follow-up leaving your
- hands once again? I know that Mayonez has only a (partly damaged) ST
- and Your Falcon has broken wings as well, but.. there is a solution.
- I guess that Winio who was a former member of Cobra team could lend
- you his Falcon without bigger probs... What do you think?
-
- MacGyver: Let's say that our activities became dispersed - since the latest
- QP2k3 I see you Grey much often than anyone from Cobra :/ Winio is
- working and studying hundreds km away nowadays, Mayonez is working
- as well and he is busy with taking his doctor's degree.
-
- Grey: Even if Your Falcon is in clinical death atm are you able to throw
- an eye on the latest releases? What do you think about them? Did you
- notice any positive changes after all these years?
-
- MacGyver: I've seen some new Falcon productions - technical quality is quite
- good and still improving IMHO. Good work guys :) Especially I like
- the "Wait" demo by Toys. Keep things on that track! :)
-
- Grey: Did you hear that our scene gathers some ppl who regard a simple
- "memory extension" as typical PC-like behaviour? Is it fair?
- Nowadays configs of 8-bit aTARI machines cause shivers and nobody
- complains that any production needs 320kb of memory to run....
-
- MacGyver: So my proposal is to take a look at Amiga users - they are still
- expanding their machines and can easily scream "Amiga Rules". Why?
- Because they can compete with PCs. I wouldn't like to see anyone
- calling Atari just an old toy from museum. Atari has to be a
- platform which is still expanding.
-
- Grey: Is there any chance that CT60 will become a lifejacket for the
- Falcon scene (just keep in mind that ca. 150 ppl already have it!)
- or a nail in the coffin? Are you afraid that scene may be divided?
- The optimal config still isn't set, no standard as of yet...
-
- Anyway I want to believe that ppl who became lucky users of this
- powerfull and expensive toy will use it properly...
-
- MacGyver: If ppl really like and care about future of their Falcons then
- buying CT60 is a duty! You (we!) can't lose (maybe the last) chance
- to move in this direction! If there is anyone who complains about
- upgrading Falcons then I have a proposal to exchange their machines
- back to Atari 260ST with 256KB RAM and keep doing demos with a
- thousand scrolls. People! We can't sleep on such an occasion as the
- CT60!
-
- Grey: Ok, all's well that ends well. Thanx a lot for all your answers!
- I hope we will meet again in the accompaniment of beer mugs
- reminding ourselves of the good old days watching classics of the
- Falcon scene - Geranium, Entracte, Evolution, Obnoxious... etc. :)
- Stay Cool, Mac!
-
- MacGyver: Thanks, too :) I hope that the next time when we meet (with
- Obligatory beer!) both of us will be users of CT60 powered Falcons
- with hundreds of new demos - see you in the near future :)
-
-
- -- - --- -- -------------------------------------------------------------------
- CHOSNECK 4th appearance contact us:
- done by the dream survivors greymsb@poczta.fm
- ----------------------------------------------------------------- -- - --- ----
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