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The Story Of The Commodore Amiga In Pixels_ PDF

292 Pages·2017·458.762 MB·English
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The Story of the Chris Wilkins Roger M. Kean 2 The Story of the Amiga in Pixels The Story of the Chris Wilkins Roger M. Kean FusionRetrobooks First published 2017 by Fusion Retro Books Fusion Retro Books, 51 Dencer Drive, Kenilworth, CV8 2QR http://www.fusionretrobooks.com Copyright © Fusion Retro Books 2017 Every effort has been made to contact the copyright holders of the material reproduced in this book. If any have been inadvertently overlooked please contact the publisher. Copyright © in any individual’s images are their own. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. Printed and bound in Slovenia ISBN: 9780993131592 n o n n o n Acknowledgements Thanks and gratitude go to the following who helped to make this book: Andrew Fisher and Roger Kean for writing the history of the Commodore Amiga and Roger for laying out the pages; Steve Day for another great cover design; Oli Frey for being an artistic genius and giving permission for us to reproduce his art – who can forget the covers Oli created for The Games Machine and Thalamus Games?; Stuart Williams & Retro Computing News for permission to quote Jay Miner; Kieren Hawken for the game reviews; Adrian Mogg (Mole), Robert Brammeld and Andrew Wilk (Artstate Digital) for supplying photos for the Anarchy feature and Matthew Simmonds (4-MAT) for his contribution; Johnnathan Taylor and elettroLudica (photography by Marco Di Gennaro) for providing the double page Commodore imagery; Martyn Carroll for writing the feature on AGA games; Sven Harvey for looking at how Public Domain and Shareware became part of the Amiga scene; the guys and gals from Anarchy and Scoopex for keeping the Amiga demoscene alive; Gareth Perch, Christopher John Payne and Andrew Fisher for proofing the book; each programmer, artist and musician who took the time to those who gave up their time to talk about the write personal memoirs, and golden days of Amiga computing; and last but not least my wife Nomita, daughters Amber and Sienna and son Milan, who are always there helping and providing suggestions on how to make my books better and better. Thanks so much guys. Foreword David Pleasance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 History of the Amiga Andrew Fisher & Roger M. Kean 8 Amiga Creatives & Graphics — PD & Shareware Sven Harvey . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 Anarchy & the Demoscene Mark Hellewell . . . . 70 Scoopex & the Demoscene Photon . . . . . . . . 82 AGA – too little too late? Martyn Carroll . . . . . 90 The Games K ieren Hawken reflects on a bunch of the most popular (and perhaps the greatest) Amiga games . . . . . . 100 The Memoirs ........ 190 Stoo Cambridge ....... 236 Glenn Corpes ............ 192 The Oliver Twins ....... 240 Simon Butler ............. 202 Jon Hare .................... 244 Mevlut Dinc .............. 206 Peter Johnson ........... 250 Allister Brimble ......... 210 Gari Biasillo ............... 254 James Sachs .............. 212 Mark Knight ............. 258 Alex Trowers ............. 216 Phil Boag-Butcher ..... 262 Anthony Ball ............. 220 Raffaele Cecco .......... 268 Barry Leitch ............... 224 Archer MacLean ....... 272 Tobias Richter ........... 228 Lutz Osterkon ........... 280 Ash Hogg .................. 232 Christopher Payne .... 283 Foreword by David Pleasance must say that I felt incredibly Ih onoured when I was asked to write this foreword and also delighted, for two reasons. First, I am a huge fan of publisher Chris Wilkins’ work. He has this amazing ability to capture the spirit of his books’ subjects – be it software, developer or hardware – and presents the content in a way that all readers easily relate to, digest and thoroughly enjoy. This in itself is a profound and unique talent. Second, of course not only is the Amiga a computer around which I centred an immense part of my it to my biggest customers such as career but the Commodore Amiga Dixons, Comet, Currys, Laskys and the 4 also changed so many people’s lives rest. It was very frustrating, particularly considerably, all round the globe. at computer shows and other similar 0 For me, when the first Amiga – the events, which we attended regularly. A1000 – was launched in 1985, it really I remember vividly the occasion was a bitter-sweet moment, and why when we were showing off the A1000 9 was that? At the time my responsibility for the very first time at the Personal within Commodore Business Machines Computer World show, London’s UK Ltd was National Sales Manager of highest profile annual event, which was 6 4 the consumer products division so when held in September at Olympia. We had Commodore positioned the Amiga 1000 a large screen on which we displayed 0 as a business and productivity machine it thirty-two different windows and we meant it was not within my portfolio. had different programs running in each Grrrrrr… simultaneously! Admittedly there were 9 Can you imagine how that felt? To some fairly modest programs among have a computer with revolutionary them, but it was nevertheless a truly jaw- 6 capabilities within touching reach but dropping demonstration, and it made us unable to market it, sell it, or even show the star exhibit of the show. 6 The Story of the Amiga in Pixels Well, one day my wish was granted in the form of the Amiga 500. At last a computer with all the same incredible features (in fact more) than its big brother but at a price we could offer to the mass market. Many things came into play over the next period, including the launch of the Batman Pack in association with Ocean, which elevated the A500’s profile. The resulting sales grew to an incredible level and we were able to maintain such substantial sales on a regular basis. The next model to be released was the Amiga 2000, closely followed by the awesome A3000 and A3000T. (Eventually, I set myself up a professional music recording studio at the heart of which I had an A4000 controlling all the equipment, a task it performed flawlessly.) Within the consumer products division we launched a few models of Amiga, but the Amiga 1200 was by far and away the most popular and successful. It cemented our position as the number one home computer product of the 1990s. So here we are so many years later and the Amiga has spawned a generation of computer savvy individuals, many of whom are now in high-profile positions in leading corporations around the globe. I am certain you will thoroughly appreciate The Story of the Commodore Amiga in Pixels and it will stir up lots of your warmest memories. Enjoy! Amiga – ‘the first aesthetically satisfying PC’ The History… by Andrew Fisher additional reporting: Roger M. Kean lthough earlier computers existed in isolation from the world, requiring A their visuals and sound to be generated and live only within their memory, the Amiga was of the world, able to interface with it in all its rich analog glory. JACFeamobyni rgfGuealare erDnyne  cM1ve9ei nli9one0p rP. eaartrs it sh, e PWraessS sHo, 2ewr0er1:o Th2t)e. e JB Cimuotmm bmyr ioMndgoairnheg eA rt mhinai gtTh af u(eMt FuruIeTt ut ore & Cloanto Italia srl the then present, from idea to market, Battilana C. tthweis sttionrgy r oofa dth, ein Atemrtiwgian winags taw loo nogf tahned Michael biggest computer companies of the Over thirty years later the computer and 1980s – Commodore and Atari. its custom hardware live on in emulation. It is the story of unique ideas, At the heart of the Amiga story is management failings and the rapid the man credited as ‘the father of the growth of both the gaming industry and Amiga’, Jay Glen Miner (1931–1994). the everyday use of computers. From After a background in electronics with bedroom to office, from business to TV the US Coastguard and a decade in Nolan Bushnell, studio, the Amiga had a loyal following. industry designing chips for calculators below, in a 1980s television interview and computers, Miner joined Nolan and, right, in 2013. Bushnell’s fledgling Atari, Inc. in 1974. Once settled in – Jay regularly went to work with his dog Mitchy (she even had her own id badge) – he was tasked with developing a chipset for the new Atari Video Computer System or vcs, later known as the Atari 2600. A vital Miner-designed component of the 2600, Jacoplane twhaes tthiae (mTaeclehviinseio’sn g Irnaptehrifca chea rAddwaaprtee. rA) s 8 The Story of the Amiga in Pixels

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