Hi from London

[rasclaat]

Hi!


Just saying hello - I don't know how much I will post here but it will probably wax and wane in sync with how deeply I'm thinking about Amiga stuff, which can be quite deeply sometimes!

I started out with a 1 Meg A500 - The Batman Pack - when I was about 12 or 13. I keep deleting this next section because I can't really express the influence that the Amiga had on me on so many levels. But it became my whole world for a while - I spent a ridiculous number of hours drawing and animating in DPaint, writing primitive hardcore in various ~Trackers, clocking up days and days of flight time in FA/18 Interceptor and using tools I barely understood to try and look beneath the surface and form an understanding of what was going on. More usually, I was baffled, but kept obsessively looking, grabbing samples from memory to use myself or simply poring over hex dumps and occasionally finding intriguing bits of plaintext. There's a message to hackers in Rik Dangerous which gave me a particular thrill when I stumbled across it. At one point I was able to borrow a friend's modem and start investigating the BBS scene but that was limited and always in the absolute dead of night because it involved connecting a 15 metre cable with a phone socket on one end to a compromised payphone.

So much about my Amiga is permanently burned into my brain - the colours of the LEDs (pink power LED on mine- I was very snooty about the orange ones which came in later) - the sound of the disk drive, the strobing screen as data de-crunched and the aesthetics of the crackers / demoscene - music and graphics which seemed impossibly slick at the time, and of course awe at the technical feats which these underground scientists pulled off. I dabbled in compiling utility disks and demos but I was a lamer really, operating alone as nobody I knew personally had my level of enthusiasm and technical interest.

My A500 went missing over the years - it spent a while in my parent's cellar and I suspect got taken to the dump at some point- RIP. But I have still got most of the disks and last January I got hold of a Greaseweazel, made a primitive floppy head cleaner and to my enormous surprise was able (with some consultation of this board and others) to pull a lot of my old data from floppies. Looking at it now I don't understand in the slightest how I was doing some of the things I was doing with the Amiga by the time I stopped using it, but it's fascinating picking over it all and of course I get a nostalgic rush when I see certain things popping up over Windows in my emulator.

I'm still dabbling with a few things through emulators and occasionally come close to grabbing a second-hand A500. I'm still remarkably good at FA/18 Interceptor and would love to understand it well enough to make my own adaptations (eg more dangerous Migs) and increase the challenge. Pete Cannon's Amiga Jungle productions have come to my attention and it's incredibly cool seeing how he works and inspires me to maybe do some production myself. I don't really know where I'm going with all of this, so I will sign off now, but it's lovely to talk about my passion for the Amiga somewhere where it has a chance of being understood!

Take care all and thanks for reading.


R

[TCD]

Welcome to EAB rasclaat and enjoy your stay

[DisasterIncarna]

Whale Come the more the merrier.

[eXeler0]

Another visitor,
stay a while, staaaayy foreeeeveeer.. ;-)

[chip]

Welcome !

[modrobert]

Welcome!

[gimbal]

Sounds like you'll fit right in.

[rasclaat]

Thanks all!

[multivac]

There are a few Amiga based Computer clubs running in the UK. If you are interested a quick search will find them. For example, the club I attend, when I can, had at least ten Amigas present including both original (Including A500s), NG and emulation during the last meeting. Lots of new hardware was present too.

[fxgogo]

Hi Rasclaat. Good to see another London based Amiga lover. Hope your new journey leads you down new paths.

[ElectroBlaster]

Welcome rasclaat

I was pretty much reading your story as if this was me! this is pretty much the same Amiga journey for me, apart from accessing the BBS scene! I never had that luxury.

Something about the Amiga just inspired people to do all sorts. It was a computer that I doubt we will ever see again, it was like lightning in a bottle that came at what seems the right time. It now lives as some kind of immortal being that refuses to die lol.

I was so effected by that computer and it made such an impact even to this day I am never far away from talking, showing, finding, repairing, messing about with at least something amiga related, even if its say using Renoise on a pc! I often pull in my old 8bit amiga samples that I archived way back in early 2000.

Pete Cannon is one I am just blown away by! He began by pulling out his old A1200, from that small decision and a bit of farting around, look where he is now! It shows things are still possible, the Amiga behind it in some way or another.

Just one thing! the current Amiga scene is like going down a big rabbit hole and your wallet could end up hating you for it lol. I cant even begin to work out what I have spent over the years.