What if you didnt get Amiga bitd?

Cobe · 13 June 2024, 00:40

Would you be the same? What kind of person would you be?
Would we be blissfully ignorantly satisfied bunch?

Knowing that something better not widely known lost the battle to established brute force certainly made us angry, vangeful.
It totally fit in my anti social establishment punk/skin lifestyle.

If we didnt experience the magic of Amiga would we be average Joe? Meaning.. Happy with constellation of life?
Not bitter and fill the blank _____________________________________

Karlos · 13 June 2024, 01:23

All the things that made the Amiga revolutionary at the start were adopted by everyone, eventually. All computers today multitask, they all have colorful, useful GUI, they all make use of dedicated hardware for graphics, IO etc (even if it's a SoC implementation), automatic configuration, etc.

It's legacy lives on everywhere.

Cobe · 13 June 2024, 01:33

Although you're right, it all sounds more like pep talk..
It doesnt metter nobody knows about you, you're legacy lives on..

TCD · 13 June 2024, 07:26

Same idiot, slightly different taste in video games. I guess.

malko · 13 June 2024, 08:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by Karlos

[...] All computers today multitask, [...] useful GUI, they all make use of dedicated hardware [...] It's legacy lives on everywhere.

Nowadays, the most installed OS, which is at its 11 version in the name SUCKS big in term of multitasking. It's pretended to be a professional leading to productivity OS but at the end it is so fat for nothing that the time spend in front of the screen waiting for the OS to give the hand back to the user is as important as the time you spend really working.The same OS has not invented the wheel regarding the usefulness of its GUI as a lot of by default choices, that you will have to opt out (when possible or findable (put so deep in sub-sub-sub menus)) cannot even save "by window" informations. Regarding the use of the hardware this is only true if you install the OS in a specific material as reusing old drivers is regularly impossible when upgrading the OS (???). Overweight people are encouraged to go to the training room (fitness) as an healthiest way of being, think the same should apply for OS and applications.

.

kriz · 13 June 2024, 08:24

For sure not the same, the demoscene and friends all made because of the Amiga.. Some of us oldtimers still meet in the area here aswell, so lifelong friendships...

Missed out on some games and such in the late 90s, but most played now anyway

Predseda · 13 June 2024, 09:08

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cobe

Would you be the same? What kind of person would you be?
Would we be blissfully ignorantly satisfied bunch?

Knowing that something better not widely known lost the battle to established brute force certainly made us angry, vangeful.
It totally fit in my anti social establishment punk/skin lifestyle.

If we didnt experience the magic of Amiga would we be average Joe? Meaning.. Happy with constellation of life?
Not bitter and fill the blank _____________________________________

I would not read this thread at first

Tigerskunk · 13 June 2024, 10:39

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cobe

Knowing that something better not widely known lost the battle to established brute force certainly made us angry, vangeful.

Actually I just moved on back then and was happy to play better games on more capable systems.

Amiga is more of a nostalgy thing for me. 1988 to 1990 were years were a lot happened for me in my life, and the Amiga was there with me.

4pLaY · 13 June 2024, 11:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cobe

Would you be the same? What kind of person would you be? Would we be blissfully ignorantly satisfied bunch? Knowing that something better not widely known lost the battle to established brute force certainly made us angry, vangeful.It totally fit in my anti social establishment punk/skin lifestyle.If we didnt experience the magic of Amiga would we be average Joe? Meaning.. Happy with constellation of life? Not bitter and fill the blank _____________________________________

I would have been a career criminal and drug addict. Unlike my friends back then, my interest in the Amiga and bbs scene / cracking scene, is the only thing that made me not go all the way like they did.

KONEY · 13 June 2024, 12:11

Changed everything for me. Music making and all the experiences connected with it, for instance.

acidbottle · 13 June 2024, 12:58

Would have gotten an Atari ST instead

TCD · 13 June 2024, 13:06

Quote:

Originally Posted by acidbottle

Would have gotten an Atari ST instead

drHirudo · 13 June 2024, 13:12

Quote:

Originally Posted by 4pLaY

I would have been a career criminal and drug addict. Unlike my friends back then, my interest in the Amiga and bbs scene / cracking scene, is the only thing that made me not go all the way like they did.

Yeah, similar for me. Instead of going out with the junkies and smoking strange substances, after school, I was in a hurry to go home and switch my Amiga 500 to play another game of Lotus, Adams Family, Myth, Sensible Soccer etc...

In the 1980-1990-ies, computer people were considered... not so social, even strange by some. Missing all the fun with big crowds and going home playing some strange machine and even trying to program it? How weird is that....

alexh · 13 June 2024, 13:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by acidbottle

Would have gotten an Atari ST instead

If there hadn't been an Amiga, 2nd generation Freeview (then OnDigital) set-top-boxes would have sucked even worse than they did as I added an Amiga like blitter with modulo etc. plus transparency and HW sprites to the integrated GPU. Features that were missing from 1st generation silicon (before I arrived) which was just a CPU driven framebuffer.

Unfortunately few of the MHEG (yes that is correct spelling) software engineers understood how to use them

8bitbubsy · 13 June 2024, 13:21

I was always bitter until I found Blitter...

That's about it. Thanks for coming to my Ted talk.

Photon · 13 June 2024, 19:43

Quote:

Originally Posted by 8bitbubsy

I was always bitter until I found Blitter...

That's about it. Thanks for coming to my Ted talk.

Teh famous 8bitBubsy, owner of 16-bits.org

I think not everyone could, or found their dream machine in an 8-bit, or their parents bought a 16-bit PC and no more home computers for you.

For me I have no response because for me it wouldn't have happened. The Amiga was obviously "it", so I sold everything I owned (including my beloved and only computer MSX) and worked extra (on top of schoolwork) to buy one.

So willpower changed the "what-if" into a "done".

Megalomaniac · 13 June 2024, 23:09

I got an Amiga because it was a home computer. The last one that was truly capable of competing with PCs on one side and consoles on the other. The hardware had that mixture of a good OS, efficient architecture, and superb specialist graphics and sound. Developers were attracted to it - it gained an infrastructure of gifted and creative developers (in a situation where universities hadn't started producing games programmers), and relatively small companies could still compete (even if the 'one teenager in his bedroom' era was largely over, we did get a few games that started life like that, eg Worms) without being tied to restrictive contracts and expensive cartridges. It was a great thing for the games industry.

By the time I got an Amiga, the ST was dying out, it was clear that the Archimedes was never going to go mainstream, and PCs were still unfriendly and expensive, and lacking decent arcade-style games. Similarly, consoles couldn't compete on 'serious' or 'quirky' games, let alone the many other uses of a computer. I would have needed a PC AND a console in order to match everything an Amiga could do.

If we'd lived in a world without the Amiga, maybe other systems would have expanded in popularity and functionality to fill the gap, but there was definitely a period where an Amiga was the only rational system.

In terms of computing more broadly, I was the kind of kid who massively benefitted from computers existing in my childhood. Quite nerdy, quite indoorsy, not a 'natural' in many settings. Computers gave not only a hobby and a purpose, but potentially a career path to aim at (for me it's a road untravelled, sadly, but for so many others it was the start of a great life). Creatives, punks, misfits - computers helped them all.

gimbal · 15 June 2024, 11:12

Dunno really. I might not have been a computer nerd at all. It was the A500 which made me obsessed with computers.

eXeler0 · 15 June 2024, 11:29

Its an interesting question because for me, I can backtrack to some very specific key decisions I made in my life and they relate to the Amiga. For e.g. I got in contact with a bunch of ppl making a PC game (non commercial project) and they needed a gfx artist and it was my work on the Amiga got me involved. Later I got into the gaming industry through those contacts and from there I got seriously into 3d which also set me on a specific path.
Life would definitely be different today, but hard to tell in what direction it would have gone instead.

Thorham · 15 June 2024, 12:47

Quote:

Originally Posted by malko

Nowadays, the most installed OS, which is at its 11 version in the name SUCKS big in term of multitasking. It's pretended to be a professional leading to productivity OS but at the end it is so fat for nothing that the time spend in front of the screen waiting for the OS to give the hand back to the user is as important as the time you spend really working.

Not gonna defend Winblows 11, but it runs blazingly fast on my not-so-highend peecee.

13 June 2024, 00:40	#1
Cobe Registered User Join Date: Jan 2014 Location: Belgrade / Serbia Age: 41 Posts: 1,008	What if you didnt get Amiga bitd? Would you be the same? What kind of person would you be? Would we be blissfully ignorantly satisfied bunch? Knowing that something better not widely known lost the battle to established brute force certainly made us angry, vangeful. It totally fit in my anti social establishment punk/skin lifestyle. If we didnt experience the magic of Amiga would we be average Joe? Meaning.. Happy with constellation of life? Not bitter and fill the blank _____________________________________

13 June 2024, 23:09	#17
Megalomaniac Registered User Join Date: Sep 2022 Location: Eastbourne Posts: 1,073	I got an Amiga because it was a home computer. The last one that was truly capable of competing with PCs on one side and consoles on the other. The hardware had that mixture of a good OS, efficient architecture, and superb specialist graphics and sound. Developers were attracted to it - it gained an infrastructure of gifted and creative developers (in a situation where universities hadn't started producing games programmers), and relatively small companies could still compete (even if the 'one teenager in his bedroom' era was largely over, we did get a few games that started life like that, eg Worms) without being tied to restrictive contracts and expensive cartridges. It was a great thing for the games industry. By the time I got an Amiga, the ST was dying out, it was clear that the Archimedes was never going to go mainstream, and PCs were still unfriendly and expensive, and lacking decent arcade-style games. Similarly, consoles couldn't compete on 'serious' or 'quirky' games, let alone the many other uses of a computer. I would have needed a PC AND a console in order to match everything an Amiga could do. If we'd lived in a world without the Amiga, maybe other systems would have expanded in popularity and functionality to fill the gap, but there was definitely a period where an Amiga was the only rational system. In terms of computing more broadly, I was the kind of kid who massively benefitted from computers existing in my childhood. Quite nerdy, quite indoorsy, not a 'natural' in many settings. Computers gave not only a hobby and a purpose, but potentially a career path to aim at (for me it's a road untravelled, sadly, but for so many others it was the start of a great life). Creatives, punks, misfits - computers helped them all. Last edited by Megalomaniac; 15 June 2024 at 20:22.

15 June 2024, 11:29	#19
eXeler0 Registered User Join Date: Feb 2015 Location: Sweden Age: 50 Posts: 2,974	What if you didnt get Amiga bitd? Its an interesting question because for me, I can backtrack to some very specific key decisions I made in my life and they relate to the Amiga. For e.g. I got in contact with a bunch of ppl making a PC game (non commercial project) and they needed a gfx artist and it was my work on the Amiga got me involved. Later I got into the gaming industry through those contacts and from there I got seriously into 3d which also set me on a specific path. Life would definitely be different today, but hard to tell in what direction it would have gone instead.

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13 June 2024, 01:23	#2
Karlos Alien Bleed Join Date: Aug 2022 Location: UK Posts: 4,419	All the things that made the Amiga revolutionary at the start were adopted by everyone, eventually. All computers today multitask, they all have colorful, useful GUI, they all make use of dedicated hardware for graphics, IO etc (even if it's a SoC implementation), automatic configuration, etc. It's legacy lives on everywhere.

13 June 2024, 01:33	#3
Cobe Registered User Join Date: Jan 2014 Location: Belgrade / Serbia Age: 41 Posts: 1,008	Although you're right, it all sounds more like pep talk.. It doesnt metter nobody knows about you, you're legacy lives on..

13 June 2024, 07:26	#4
TCD HOL/FTP busy bee Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Germany Age: 46 Posts: 31,935	Same idiot, slightly different taste in video games. I guess.

13 June 2024, 08:24	#6
kriz Junior Member Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: No(R)Way Age: 42 Posts: 3,222	For sure not the same, the demoscene and friends all made because of the Amiga.. Some of us oldtimers still meet in the area here aswell, so lifelong friendships... Missed out on some games and such in the late 90s, but most played now anyway

13 June 2024, 12:11	#10
KONEY OctaMED Music Composer Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Venice - Italy Age: 49 Posts: 672	Changed everything for me. Music making and all the experiences connected with it, for instance.

13 June 2024, 12:58	#11
acidbottle Registered User Join Date: Jul 2018 Location: Scotland Posts: 843	Would have gotten an Atari ST instead

13 June 2024, 13:21	#15
8bitbubsy Registered User Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Norway Posts: 1,715	I was always bitter until I found Blitter... That's about it. Thanks for coming to my Ted talk.

15 June 2024, 11:12	#18
gimbal cheeky scoundrel Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Spijkenisse/Netherlands Age: 42 Posts: 6,964	Dunno really. I might not have been a computer nerd at all. It was the A500 which made me obsessed with computers.

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