First mention of the Amiga on Usenet

Amiga1992 · 22 November 2003, 18:39

Read this on Lemon, Google has compiled shitloads of usenet archives that date back to 1981!!! Pretty nice history archive.

Anyway, here's the first mention of the Commodore Amiga

Drake1009 · 22 November 2003, 18:49

You mean there was no mention of it before Commodore bought it?

Amiga1992 · 22 November 2003, 19:46

Well, it's what Google says, first mention of the Commodore Amiga.

Maybe there are mentions of Lorraine before, let's search

Marcuz · 23 November 2003, 20:42

how have you done this? there are so many find that my search does not date before 25 october 2003 and the page is the 75!

well i mean how you know that that group was the place were to look in?

Amiga1992 · 23 November 2003, 21:21

Searching is hard and you need an advanced search,.. Haven;t found mentions of lorraine yet, I'll keep on looking, but the info HAS TO BE THERE SOMEWHERE.

fiath · 24 November 2003, 00:39

Unless the posts were not archived...

FromWithin · 24 November 2003, 01:36

Well I searched for over an hour on all sorts of terms to do with Amiga, Lorraine, Hi-Toro, employees, even stuff looking for things like "new computer".

Nothing to be found at all.

Amiga1992 · 24 November 2003, 01:41

It's a possibility, but with an archive dating back to 1981 SOME mention should be there.

RetroMan · 24 November 2003, 02:04

The earliest mentioning of the Lorraine I found is THIS

It´s from 19th February 1985 !

Amiga1992 · 24 November 2003, 03:22

Good find Retroman! I knew there was info in there.

Let's keep on searchng

Quote:

Next question: what on earth would you *use* 7 Meg for? Certainly
you aren't going to be writing programs that large. And 7 Meg of
data is about 2000 typewritten pages worth. I mean, we're talking
about a *home* computer here, not something that Bank of America is
going to use to run a 500-terminal on-line database

LOL! What would this guy think today?

FromWithin · 24 November 2003, 04:27

Quote:

Originally posted by Akira
Good find Retroman! I knew there was info in there.

When I said nothing to be found, I meant nothing to be found prior to 16th August 1984. Before that post there seems to be no mention of anything to do with it at all.

Amiga1992 · 24 November 2003, 06:04

I see what you mean. Maybe this was discussed in some private boards or something? AFAIK Lorrain was supah-secret.

FromWithin · 24 November 2003, 07:31

I found info that it was demonstrated to select potential investors at CES in Chicago in 1984.

But what I find strange is this:

Quote:

Commodore is reportedly buying out amiga! Hoorah!
Amiga is an amazing machine. 68K, 128K of RAM, video chips that make the c64 look like a VIC, sound chips, yow!

It's written in the present tense, meaning that there must have been knowledge of it at the time. And the "Hoorah!" would seem to indicate that there was prior knowledge of the Amiga before Commodore would have released a press-release of the buyout. You wouldn't "hoorah!" because someone you've never heard of has been bought.

So it's weird that this post is the earliest on Usenet.

Amiga1992 · 24 November 2003, 08:12

As I said, it's the earliest google staffers found about the Commodore Amiga. I bet there's more info buried deep within usenet, that these google sods could not find because they don;t know about stuff like "Lorraine"

gary · 24 November 2003, 23:57

Fidonet may contain earlier messages (and rumors) of the Lorraine project. It was maintained by BBS sysops but there may be usenet archives. I would imagine that the Lorraine team may not have wanted too much info to be known until a prototype was made to pitch to Atari/Commodore anyway so the first message in 1984 seems about right.

Dizzy · 25 November 2003, 00:01

If I remember correctly, Google had to recreat all the old post in the newsgroups, thx to users around the world who had saved the posts. So it is not complete, the still try to get old data that they miss.
This could be the reason why you couldn't find anything older.
But then again I might be wrong

Amiga1992 · 25 November 2003, 01:38

Quote:

Originally posted by gary
so the first message in 1984 seems about right.

As FromWithin says, this message talks about the Amiga as a thing already known in the usenet circles, so there HAS to be previous mentions of it. Seems like, as Dizzy says, they have not been able to collect all messages yet.

BTW when was usenet created? I'm surprised about its age. Have in mind I embarked onto BBS as late as 1997! But I knew back in 1989 that you could log on to BBSes like QuantumLink etc.

Dizzy · 25 November 2003, 09:04

Usenet came into being in late 1979, shortly after the release of V7
Unix with UUCP. Two Duke University grad students in North Carolina,
Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis, thought of hooking computers together to
exchange information with the Unix community. Steve Bellovin, a grad
student at the University of North Carolina, put together the first
version of the news software using shell scripts and installed it on
the first two sites: "unc" and "duke." At the beginning of 1980 the
network consisted of those two sites and "phs" (another machine at
Duke), and was described at the January Usenix conference. Steve
Bellovin later rewrote the scripts into C programs, but they were never
released beyond "unc" and "duke." Shortly thereafter, Steve Daniel did
another implementation in C for public distribution. Tom Truscott made
further modifications, and this became the "A" news release.

read more of the history here http://www.faqs.org/faqs/usenet/software/part1/

And this at Google http://www.google.com/googlegroups/a...nounce_20.html

Dizzy · 25 November 2003, 09:15

Funny Fact.

First mention of the Sony Playstation game console, December 1, 1992, comp.sys.amiga.games The Amiga got it first...

Amiga1992 · 25 November 2003, 12:59

Are these nodes still active? (unc, duke, unix, etc?)

22 November 2003, 18:39	#1
Amiga1992 Registered User Join Date: May 2001 Location: ? Posts: 19,658	First mention of the Amiga on Usenet Read this on Lemon, Google has compiled shitloads of usenet archives that date back to 1981!!! Pretty nice history archive. Anyway, here's the first mention of the Commodore Amiga

23 November 2003, 20:42	#4
Marcuz Registered User Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: . Age: 48 Posts: 5,562	how have you done this? there are so many find that my search does not date before 25 october 2003 and the page is the 75! well i mean how you know that that group was the place were to look in? Last edited by Marcuz; 23 November 2003 at 20:57.

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22 November 2003, 18:49	#2
Drake1009 Registered User Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: Denmark Posts: 2,284	You mean there was no mention of it before Commodore bought it?

22 November 2003, 19:46	#3
Amiga1992 Registered User Join Date: May 2001 Location: ? Posts: 19,658	Well, it's what Google says, first mention of the Commodore Amiga. Maybe there are mentions of Lorraine before, let's search

23 November 2003, 21:21	#5
Amiga1992 Registered User Join Date: May 2001 Location: ? Posts: 19,658	Searching is hard and you need an advanced search,.. Haven;t found mentions of lorraine yet, I'll keep on looking, but the info HAS TO BE THERE SOMEWHERE.

24 November 2003, 00:39	#6
fiath Moderator Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: South East / UK Age: 46 Posts: 1,930	Unless the posts were not archived...

24 November 2003, 01:36	#7
FromWithin Music lord Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Liverpool, UK Age: 50 Posts: 630	Well I searched for over an hour on all sorts of terms to do with Amiga, Lorraine, Hi-Toro, employees, even stuff looking for things like "new computer". Nothing to be found at all.

24 November 2003, 01:41	#8
Amiga1992 Registered User Join Date: May 2001 Location: ? Posts: 19,658	It's a possibility, but with an archive dating back to 1981 SOME mention should be there.

24 November 2003, 02:04	#9
RetroMan Registered User Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: Germany Age: 51 Posts: 3,704	The earliest mentioning of the Lorraine I found is THIS It´s from 19th February 1985 !

24 November 2003, 06:04	#12
Amiga1992 Registered User Join Date: May 2001 Location: ? Posts: 19,658	I see what you mean. Maybe this was discussed in some private boards or something? AFAIK Lorrain was supah-secret.

24 November 2003, 08:12	#14
Amiga1992 Registered User Join Date: May 2001 Location: ? Posts: 19,658	As I said, it's the earliest google staffers found about the Commodore Amiga. I bet there's more info buried deep within usenet, that these google sods could not find because they don;t know about stuff like "Lorraine"

24 November 2003, 23:57	#15
gary Junior Member Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Perth, Western Australia Age: 50 Posts: 283	Fidonet may contain earlier messages (and rumors) of the Lorraine project. It was maintained by BBS sysops but there may be usenet archives. I would imagine that the Lorraine team may not have wanted too much info to be known until a prototype was made to pitch to Atari/Commodore anyway so the first message in 1984 seems about right.

25 November 2003, 00:01	#16
Dizzy Pirate Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Denmark Posts: 3,395	If I remember correctly, Google had to recreat all the old post in the newsgroups, thx to users around the world who had saved the posts. So it is not complete, the still try to get old data that they miss. This could be the reason why you couldn't find anything older. But then again I might be wrong

25 November 2003, 09:04	#18
Dizzy Pirate Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Denmark Posts: 3,395	Usenet came into being in late 1979, shortly after the release of V7 Unix with UUCP. Two Duke University grad students in North Carolina, Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis, thought of hooking computers together to exchange information with the Unix community. Steve Bellovin, a grad student at the University of North Carolina, put together the first version of the news software using shell scripts and installed it on the first two sites: "unc" and "duke." At the beginning of 1980 the network consisted of those two sites and "phs" (another machine at Duke), and was described at the January Usenix conference. Steve Bellovin later rewrote the scripts into C programs, but they were never released beyond "unc" and "duke." Shortly thereafter, Steve Daniel did another implementation in C for public distribution. Tom Truscott made further modifications, and this became the "A" news release. read more of the history here http://www.faqs.org/faqs/usenet/software/part1/ And this at Google http://www.google.com/googlegroups/a...nounce_20.html

25 November 2003, 09:15	#19
Dizzy Pirate Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Denmark Posts: 3,395	Funny Fact. First mention of the Sony Playstation game console, December 1, 1992, comp.sys.amiga.games The Amiga got it first...

25 November 2003, 12:59	#20
Amiga1992 Registered User Join Date: May 2001 Location: ? Posts: 19,658	Are these nodes still active? (unc, duke, unix, etc?)

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