Re: [steem] Atari Questionaire
- From: stefan kuhn <stefanj_mail@xxxxxxxx>
- To: steem@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 26 Feb 2004 13:27:49 +0100
Edouard Lombard wrote:
> Why not tell us about your own Atari story?
Well, I think I'll tell the whole story. It all started when I was 15
and finally had some money, because I had my "konfirmation" (christian
initiation celebration, don't know the english term)
and you usually get alot of money there.
This will cause some moans, but actually at that time, my dream-machine
was a VIC-64. However, I couldn't afford it, so I bought a VIC-20. :)
Where I lived, there were absolutely NO people who also had such a
computer, so I coudn't trade games and programs (yes, the problem is as
old as software itself... ;) ) like the VIC-64 users could.
So I digged out the basic manual and tried to write my own games -
that's how I learned to program. ;)
The next computer I switched to was an Atari 800-XL and since it was
very popular in my region, I could trade games and stuff with my
friends and other people. Yet, I was more interested in programming and
eventually switched from basic to 6502 assembler language.
When the Atari ST came out my two best friends and I were thrilled about
this new 16/32 bit computer and how fast this thing must be and decided
that we MUST have this one.
So we saved money and bought our first Atari STs and started
programming. My interest mainly shifted to programming the sound-chip
and the MIDI ports, while my two friends started making their first
game: "Terranova", which was distributed by "Kingsoft".
Meanwhile I started to write my own music composition software
"MIDIPlay", which I used to compose my own music and extended to my
needs over the years.
Also during that time I helped my friends with the other games they
wrote, most importantly "Spherical", which was distributed by "Rainbow
Arts", where I also made the sound f/x and music for.
The game was a big success, we even ported it to the Amiga, others
ported it to Amstrad, VIC-64, etc.
We all got the money for our first SH-204 harddisks that way. It was
loud, it was slow, it had "only" 20 MB, but we thought it was the
greatest piece of hardware of all times! ;)
I was the last one of us three who left the ST and bought a PC. That was
in 1995. I had all in all 3 Ataris. The first one was a 520STFM, then a
1040 ST with 4 MB memory expansion, TOS 2.6 and SCSI harddisk in a
tower, and finally when it died, I bought a similar tower second hand.
I worked on, and used my "Midiplay" for 5-6 years, and it was my main
reason not to switch to another platform.
> How many do you have?
No hardware ST anymore. They all died by long.
> Which model?
See above.
> How much do you like it?
I knew the purpose of every memory address, so I had a very close
relationship to it... ;)
> Are you some of you not working in the computer industry now?
No, I'm not not working in the computer industry now. ;)
Means, yes, I'm working in the computer (software) industry as a
software developer now. In the audio software industry, to me more specific.
> How did you get yours?
See my story.
> How do you still like to use them?
I boot up STeem mainly to look at the programs I wrote and to play
around with my "MIDIPlay". I'm happy that it runs in STeem and that I
can actually listen to my old music (if I connect my old synths to my PC.)
I even further developed my only ST game (which was never released)
"Monster Mission" on STeem. Originally I wrote this "dungeon shooter"
style game for color mode, but when I got my monochrome monitor, I had
to change the code to work in mono mode. (Which looked ugly.)
Using STeem, I loaded the source up in my DevPak assembler and changed
it back to work under color mode. That was fun. ;)
> Do you use Steem in conjunction with your real machine?
No, since I have no real ST anymore.
> What are your favourite programs/games?
Mainly my own software. I was never too much into ST gaming. ;)
> Do you mainly use original discs or ones found on the Internet?
I use mainly my own discs, most of them I was able to transfer to the PC
before my last ST died.
> How do you share your time of personal use between Atari and PC?
This varies. I have phases where I am extremely nostalgic and run STeem
all the time. But in general I would say 95% PC now.
Best,
Stefan
--
Steem - http://www.blimey.strayduck.com/
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