Loadstar 226/226.d81/t.diskovery

Text File | 2022-08-26 | 9KB | 299 lines

u
              DISKOVERY
     The Rise of the Techno-Amish


    You won't hear much about it on
the news. The news is just too busy
with celebrities and scandals and
selling our eyballs to advertizers who
must stay on the bleeding edge of
consumer appeal. But a revolution is
revolving around a little old computer
that was conceived 23 years ago this
month.

    I understand that the Jobites keep
their Apple II's grinding away,
meeting at Avilla College southwest of
Kansas City for a multi-day
programming bash. The numbers are
small, because -- contrary to
marketing hoopla -- the Apple II, in
its various incarnations, was not the
greatest 8-bit machine ever sold. Nor
the most popular -- even when such
naiscent technology had consumer
appeal.

    In England, I hear of loyal
Speckies -- devotees of the Sinclair
Spectrum computer. With apologies to
General William Booth, we'll call them
the Computation Army.

    Moreover, one hears absolutely
nothing about PC Jr./Peanut
worshippers. Or 80386 fans. These are
the products of the main stream, swept
away by the flood of ever-faster,
ever-bigger, ever-more-bloated
technologies. People who bought a PC
bought a tool (or a Free Cell
Solitaire Companion) and have always
expected the inevitible upgrade.

    Now, to be fair -- there is a used
X86 hardware underground. These are
guys with some technical knowledge and
precious little money who capture
computing power by networking several
antique boxes -- usually driven by
Linux or Open BSD operating systems.

    I mention all these denominations
of defunct digital devices as an
introduction to the largest and
(perhaps) most creative of the lot:
the [Techno-Amish] with our horse and
buggy C-64's. Very hoarse, but really
not all that buggy!

     Gimme that Old Time Computer
       It's good enough for me.

    At the 2003 Chicago Commodore
Expo, TA's from all over the Midwest,
Canada, Mexico and even the hyper-
state of California gathered to share
what's new with the old machine. I
failed to write down names -- and my
own memory is missing a chip or two
these days. I expect to get the video
shot by Robert Bernardo, at which time
I will retell this saga with some
facts!

    For now -- consider how we Techno-
Amish are constantly creating new ways
to make a 21 year-old computer new and
exciting.

    Of course, Jeri Ellsworth was
there. Her manufacturer required a
rebuild of the CommodoreOne board in
order to reduce production costs. As a
result, the current board is still a
ways from operational.

    However, she did have a new device
that attaches to the Retro Replay
cartridge and allows a direct
connection to a Local Area Network or
DSL modem! The RR-Net (with
Retro-Replay cart) costs $109 -- a
price I gladly paid so my C-64 can be
added to my office network of three
PC's.

    The RR-Net is driven by an
operating system called [Contiki].
It runs on a plain, old fashioned
C-64. It includes a TCP/IP connection
to the Web and has a browser. I am
still experimenting with the
capabilities.

    We saw a rare light-gun, and one
intrepid believer, Dave Ross (I think)
has built a Play Station controller
interface for the joystick port.
Another gang have reconstitued
Commadore driven BBS's -- but now
accessable over the internet.

    LOADSTAR was there with the Home
Tower on CD ROM, and I told of
starting the Computer Adventure Club
for 10-14 year-olds.

    Greg Nacu showed how far the Wings
operating system can go. Wings
requires a Super CPU and 4 Meg of
Super RAM to operate. But boy can it
operate! Greg loaded up a huge file --
and presented a real Movie! No -- two
real Movies -- the second was a
trailer for XMen 2, complete with
almost synchronized sound. This is via
a 40 column VIC II screen!

    The guys at LUCKI (Louisville, KY)
took the idea of using used PC
hardware to a new height -- creating a
"black box" that can make most
"modern" inkjet printers Post Script
compatible. With GEOs/Wheels and
PostPrint, full desktop publishing is
now possible with nearly any printer.

    Robert Schuchow demoinstrated a
remakable black and white slide show
of images. He used his own techniques
and software to convert Windows BMP
files to a high-res VIC II screen.

    The importance of Robert's work is
that HE did it, using his own ideas
and solving the various problems
himself. From across the room, the
images have incredible detail -- which
I am sure required an incredible
amount of tweaking.

    Here are ordinary guys (and a gal)
who have made technology personal.
Like Amish communities - where the
elders agree on how much technology is
appropriate for the faith, groups of
Commodore comrades move in their own
ways -- some using the Super CPU,
Wing, Wheels, or other operating
systems and peripherals. Some work
with what Jack gave us -- 65534  bytes
of ROM, 1 Mhz of clock, 16384 bytes of
Kernel and BASIC, and our marvelous
I/O chips.

    Jim Butterfield came to share our
shared myths and histories. He told of
the Pre-C-64 days -- indeed, the
pre-Commodore days. The engineers at
Motorola finished the 6800 and wanted
to do improvements they discovered
along the way. But Motorola had their
microprocessor, so these guys found
C.M.O.S., and built the 6501.

    Motorola didn't want a 6501, but
their lawyers sure got busy when
someone discovered that the 6501 and
the 6800 were pin-combatible. So the
6502 came out. At a time when Intel
was selling their 8080 for $180-$200,
the 6502 hit the market at an
incredible $25 a pop. Steve Wozniak
popped one into his Apple. Others
followed suit.

    We're talking about 1975, when the
Altair premiered on the cover of
Popular Electronics. But the legendary
Altair was a kit -- a bag of parts, a
PC board, and a schematic. Getting a
working machine going required skill
and luck. C.M.O.S. built its own
"experimental" computer -- the KIM1,
which came fully assembled, and
connections were made by "wave
soldering".

    C.M.O.S (not to be confused with
C-MOS) was gobbled up by Commodore
Business Machines (the particulars
range from a clever business deal to
outright skullduggery). The KIM1
expanded into the PET. And you know
most of the rest of the story.

    Back in those ancient days, Jim
and two friends compiled [The First]
[Book of KIM], which sold well beyond
any projections. A German translation
was licensed, and a pirated version
appeard in Eupope. Oddly enough, the
licensed book publishers never paid a
penny of royalties -- but the pirated
book DID! Go figure!

    Jim's stories took us back to the
exciting days of pioneering technology
-- and in fact, we have never
completely left.

    That's the way it is with Techno-
Amish.

     It does anything but Windows
       It's good enough for ME!


ADDENDUM:

    I visited with Jim Butterfield
after his talk and we sat together at
breakfast the next morning. I asked
Jim if he was planning to write this
stuff down. He said -- go ahead!

    His own story is also interesting.
His writing career was moving along
spendidly until he suddenly went
blind. Cataracts obscured his vision
-- except for putting his eye close to
a white on black computer monitor. So
he stayed in touch through email --
but otherwise had to retire. After a
half dozen years, he had the cataracts
removed. But the market for his "How
To" articles had dried up. Which, he
said, is just as well. He enjoys his
retirement and having time to travel
to such gathering to share our shared
"myths".

    The story of CBM's aquisition of
C.M.O.S. goes two ways. One story
tells of C.M.O.S. receiving huge
orders from CBM for calculator
processors. The smaller company could
not keep up financially -- so CBM
[helped out] by buying controlling
interest.

    The other version begins the same
-- a massive order for calculator
processors from CBM forces C.M.O.S. to
ramp up production. Then CBM cancels
the order. Suddenly C.M.O.S. is in
deep trouble. CBm buys them up at
bankruptcy prices.

    Perhaps both versions are true --
in some way. Jim (I think it was)
shared that if you shook hands with
Jack Tramiel over a deal, he would
honor it exactly. But should there be
no handshake, no holds were barred.
And if you had a writ