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Play games, explore and use simpler software, and lots of "maker"-y things. Using brand new WiFi 232 boards to get back onto the re-growing BBS scene is a lot o

Play games, explore and use simpler software, and lots of "maker"-y things. Using brand new WiFi 232 boards to get back onto the re-growing BBS scene is a lot of fun, too. Everyone there is totally into it. You use it how ever you want. Much of what we like to do (except the internet as we know it today) is right there. If you like retro gaming and productivity software, it retro-computing can be a ton of fun. For many, just getting the hardware maxed out in various ways is very rewarding. Example: I have an Amiga 1200 that uses a 4GB CF IDE hard drive. It also has a mild CPU upgrade. I also have an Amiga 2000 with 8GB of RAM and a torqued CPU (25 Mhz, which is more than 3X faster than the day the computer was born) and 2GB chip RAM. That all sounds laughable, but it boots in about 14 seconds. How about yours? If it didn't have the hard drive it would only take a couple of seconds. And as soon as I'm looking at the desktop (Workbench) I can launch a program off its new 4GB SCSI HD in a couple of seconds and jump right in. And this is all off the original OS, 1.3. It's a passion and a hobby. "What do you use it for?" I use it for fun and entertainment, and I connect now to BBSes more than Facebook. It's just so much more interesting. I'll take my machine(s) over these new hybrids any day. I don't need emulation except in a worst case scenario (like, if I'm traveling). But to each his/her own. There's no "right way". Just your way. FWIW I don't use the Vampire cards. I mostly use accelerators that were available in the late 80s and early 90s.

bartread 9y ago
Thanks, that's interesting. I think part of me just wishes I had the time to tinker, but my tinkering tends to be writing new versions of old arcade games, and that's pretty time-consuming on its own. I do often have videos like 8-Bit Guy's stuff on in the background when I'm working - he's become one of my favourite YouTubers, actually. I find it sort of gets me in the zone and can be quite motivating when I don't feel like doing much. I do like the idea of getting back into the BBS scene though. Certainly to me that's a lot more interesting than, as you mentioned, facebook - I imagine the people involved are a lot more self-selecting so plenty of interesting stuff going on rather than the bland diet of shared posts on FB.
- erickhill 9y ago
  > but my tinkering tends to be writing new versions of old arcade games, and that's pretty time-consuming on its own. Well, frankly that sounds bad ass. Next to my 2000 is a mint C64. I use it almost daily for PETSCII specific BBSes. In any case, there is still a very interesting game dev scene for it. My most recent favorite is Bear Essentials, by Graham Axten. You can read more about it here, if you're interested. https://amigalove.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=238 https://amigalove.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=238 Disclaimer: I wrote the article, and it's my commodore shrine/site.
  - bartread 9y ago
    Haha - thanks, that's kind, but whilst it might sound bad ass what it actually means is I spend as much time performance optimising game loading so people don't click off the page before they've had a chance to play, or doing SEO [1], as I do writing the games (which is by far the most fun bit). No disclaimer needed either: I really enjoyed the Bear Essentials post, so thanks for sharing. I found the comment about pixel perfect movement particularly resonated with me. I find most web games, and particularly Flash games (I used HTML/JS/CSS), fail quite badly in this sense, with characters/sprites often feeling quite detached from the backgrounds they're running or flying over. [1] If I didn't do these rather soul sucking tasks nobody would ever play the games, so whilst they're kind of a drag, this does keep my motivation to do them reasonably high.
- ZenoArrow 9y ago
  Writing new versions of old arcade games, very cool!! Out of interest, have you played with Cannonball before? It's an improved Outrun engine: https://github.com/djyt/cannonball/wiki https://github.com/djyt/cannonball/wiki https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bV9BZbk7C-E https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bV9BZbk7C-E There's a port for Vampire-enhanced Amigas, so any new content could find its way onto an Amiga too. ;-) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yVqB13EtZg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yVqB13EtZg
  - bartread 9y ago
    I haven't, although I watched the video about it just the other day. The original Outrun port for the Amiga has to be one of the most disappointing conversions for the platform: truly dreadful, especially when you compare it to games like Lotus and Lotus II, which really show how good arcade-style racers on the Amiga could be. Cannonball, on the other hand, looks absolutely fantastic. It's this sort of thing that makes me want to pick up some hardware and start tinkering with it again - I got rid of my A500 back in 2002 and have regretted doing so many times since.

bartread 9y ago

Thanks, that's interesting. I think part of me just wishes I had the time to tinker, but my tinkering tends to be writing new versions of old arcade games, and that's pretty time-consuming on its own. I do often have videos like 8-Bit Guy's stuff on in the background when I'm working - he's become one of my favourite YouTubers, actually. I find it sort of gets me in the zone and can be quite motivating when I don't feel like doing much. I do like the idea of getting back into the BBS scene though. Certainly to me that's a lot more interesting than, as you mentioned, facebook - I imagine the people involved are a lot more self-selecting so plenty of interesting stuff going on rather than the bland diet of shared posts on FB.

erickhill 9y ago
> but my tinkering tends to be writing new versions of old arcade games, and that's pretty time-consuming on its own. Well, frankly that sounds bad ass. Next to my 2000 is a mint C64. I use it almost daily for PETSCII specific BBSes. In any case, there is still a very interesting game dev scene for it. My most recent favorite is Bear Essentials, by Graham Axten. You can read more about it here, if you're interested. https://amigalove.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=238 https://amigalove.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=238 Disclaimer: I wrote the article, and it's my commodore shrine/site.
- bartread 9y ago
  Haha - thanks, that's kind, but whilst it might sound bad ass what it actually means is I spend as much time performance optimising game loading so people don't click off the page before they've had a chance to play, or doing SEO [1], as I do writing the games (which is by far the most fun bit). No disclaimer needed either: I really enjoyed the Bear Essentials post, so thanks for sharing. I found the comment about pixel perfect movement particularly resonated with me. I find most web games, and particularly Flash games (I used HTML/JS/CSS), fail quite badly in this sense, with characters/sprites often feeling quite detached from the backgrounds they're running or flying over. [1] If I didn't do these rather soul sucking tasks nobody would ever play the games, so whilst they're kind of a drag, this does keep my motivation to do them reasonably high.
ZenoArrow 9y ago
Writing new versions of old arcade games, very cool!! Out of interest, have you played with Cannonball before? It's an improved Outrun engine: https://github.com/djyt/cannonball/wiki https://github.com/djyt/cannonball/wiki https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bV9BZbk7C-E https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bV9BZbk7C-E There's a port for Vampire-enhanced Amigas, so any new content could find its way onto an Amiga too. ;-) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yVqB13EtZg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yVqB13EtZg
- bartread 9y ago
  I haven't, although I watched the video about it just the other day. The original Outrun port for the Amiga has to be one of the most disappointing conversions for the platform: truly dreadful, especially when you compare it to games like Lotus and Lotus II, which really show how good arcade-style racers on the Amiga could be. Cannonball, on the other hand, looks absolutely fantastic. It's this sort of thing that makes me want to pick up some hardware and start tinkering with it again - I got rid of my A500 back in 2002 and have regretted doing so many times since.