Commodore Free 8/Commodore_Free_Issue_08_2007_Commodore_Computer_Club.d64/t.bits & pieces

Text File | 2023-02-26 | 6KB | 174 lines

uBits & Pieces II: Return of the Byte
By Luke Lynde

Hello, Luke Lynde again. This time I
will give you a look back into the
past, when computers became a part of
my life, & the knowledge I have gained
along the way. The dates may be a
little off sometimes, for this was a
while ago  but the info I provide is to
the best of my poor memory

In 1987 I was in Year 8 in High School.
My first computer was an Amstrad CPC
464 - before then I had owned nothing
except for  maybe a Nintendo Game &
Watch, or some basic Space Invaders
handheld. The first game I played on it
was called 3D Grand Prix. I recently
played this again on an Amstrad CPC
Emulator named Caprice, I got a Shiver
when I came across it again. Memories!

I don't remember having this long,
because maybe 6 months later I had an
Amstrad CPC 6128 which came with a disk
drive, instead of cassette.

Disks were very expensive for the
Amstrad back then. I had a copy of
Tasword for the Amstrad 6128, it looked
much like Geos on the C128. Anyway, I
am sure there was a lot of competition
& similarities (not coincidences tho)
from rival 8-bit software producers. I
have never owned a C128 tho, or other
C= brand apart from C64 & Amiga 500.

Some time in 1988 I noticed a magazine
called Zzap!64. I got a copy, & just by
looking at the screenshots, it was
clear that the C64 was a superior
computer. The 4mhz processing power of
the Amstrad seemed somewhat wasted, in
comparison. After looking at this
magazine, I knew I had to get a C64, &
I did. 1988 was the beginning of my
association with C64.

In the back of Zzap!64  were ads for
people who swapped games. I contacted
Powerdual/DAAS who lived less than 10km
from me. DAAS stands for Doug Anthony
All Stars, they were a Comedy Act on
Australian TV at the time. I never met
this guy, but later he invited me to a
train station on the premise of
assaulting me, over some computer
scandal (my lips are sealed). He was my
first contact, & gave me the software
needed to start swapping with more
people.

In 1988 there were a lot of people
leaving the scene for the Amiga, or
other reasons. MAD (Mad Aussie Dealers)
had their HQ in Brisbane, where I live,
although the leader Jaguar - promised
the world & offered nothing on many
occasions. Much like another scener I
was talking to on my mobile phone last
year... He knew how to code,but by 1989
or so he apparently had enough. He did
try to charge me money for a contact
demo, though :( Once while talking to
him on the phone, he banged his head
against the wall & knocked himself out.
He called back later to tell me what
had happened?!?

1988 was the year of just starting to
understand the C64. 1989-1991 however,
was a big time, especially for swapping
amongst the scene. Groups I can
remember trading with in Australia
include: Ikon Visual, Chrome, Nova, TIS
(maybe it was TIC), QCF (Queensland
Copy Federation). I was involved in
some wars with groups as well, but I am
not going to talk about that (once
more, my lips are sealed). Forgiveness
is divine?

I made some good friendships also thru
swapping with so many different people.
My contact list was usually around 30,
so I was no mega swapper. Everyday,
packs were arriving in the mail on real
floppy 5.25" disks. Not the 3.5" of
today, that aren't really "floppy" at
all :) Keeping my contacts always
around 30, meant constantly dropping
some. It was always my perception, that
the Australian scene was considered a
bit lame, by the Europeans - & some
times, with good reason.

In 1991 I bought an Amiga 500, selling
my C64 & around 1000 disks for a small
fortune. However, I did not like the
Amiga scene at all - & was drawn back
to the C64 in 1992, the year after I
finished High School & started working.
I knew the C64 was the computer for me.
From 1992 until 1998 I was probably
active only half the time, but always
had a C64 around to hack around with, &
play games.

From 1999-2002/3 I had no C64 gear, &
at that time - I did not imagine myself
getting interested in the C64 again.
Thru emulation & the PC I rediscovered
the C64 scene again - & joined People
of Liberty around 2004. All my articles
released for People of Liberty are
under my handle of IQ-Dna, in the Scene
World disk magazine. It wasn't until
early 2005 that I started on real C64
hardware again, purchased through Ebay.

All my articles for Scene World were
done, when I was just using Emulation.
When I finally decided to go real C64
again, the magazine just died. A bit of
a kick in the teeth, but these things
happen I guess. Anyway, since then I
have been enjoying being a C64 user in
real time :) Nothing beats it! Sure,
Emulation offers a better image display
& other nuances, but the real
experience can only be found by using
the real thing.

It has been about 3 years back into the
C64 again, & no regrets. I now have 6
C64s, 2 1541-II drives, numerous books,
power supplies, & lots of cables &
other stuff. I also collect consoles
like Atari, Nintendo 64, Sega, Plays-
tation 1 etc. I have quite a lot of
stuff! Recently I picked up 2 Pentium
One computers & an Apple Power PC - for
free! One of the Pentium 1's I turned
into a DOS Platform for Star Commander
& CCS64, other 8-bit emulators, & PC
Dos Games. I have lots of computer
hardware filling up a large cupboard!

Anyway, that is my story. A lot of
people like to hide behind a handle &
group name, sure if that's the way some
sections of the C64 community operate.
I like to communicate sometimes on a
more human level. After all, I find it
more interesting to hear about stories
like the one I have told you today,
then to go deep into meaningless
arguments about who ripped which piece
of code from where, etc. Not that there
is anything wrong with that

Catch you later!