Commander X16

On 11/12/2021 at 11:46 AM, BruceMcF said:

And, to be clear, it IS a hardware problem. The software's working JUST as it was intended to.

That reminds me of an incident many years back where a software problem cost me $100 because I was sure it was a hardware problem.

Long story short, I was having issues with a sound card, the internet was young, info was scarce, and I concluded the card must be failing. So, I upgraded, got a new card, different model. Couple weeks later, I randomly learn via a forum it was a driver issue, and a patch was forthcoming.

Yeah, that was defiantly a classic "Picard Facepalm" moment for me. ?

About 7 years ago, a friend of mine started building his own giant collection of arcade machines focused on vector graphics games and pinball. I was into retro gaming/computing a bit at that point, but getting to spend so much time with those machines really gave me the bug bad.

I didn't have the money or space to get into arcade machines. I've been a programmer for 20 years and I knew there were still at least a few people out there doing programming for old consoles, so I decided to pickup a 2600, my first childhood console, to learn how it worked and how to program for it.

Every 2600 tutorial starts out with a brief history of the 6502, that's where I learned just how big a part of my childhood entertainment that little processor was. It was in basically every console I loved and a bunch of the arcade/pinball machines I liked. Then I learned just how big of a community there still was around, not just retro computing, but even specifically 6502 based machines. Knowing that what I learn for programming the 2600 could be somewhat transferable to so many different machines was really appealing.

I learned a ton over the next few years but, eventually, my interest in building anything fun or useful myself waned quite a bit. Now I appreciate what others have built so much more and I love playing the homebrew games.

IMO, the retro communities are the best ones to be a part of on the internet these days, and they are what have really kept my interest so high for this long.

On 11/18/2021 at 5:31 PM, jtk said:

IMO, the retro communities are the best ones to be a part of on the internet these days, and they are what have really kept my interest so high for this long.

I share that opinion. While I love modern tech, many of the communities are more "toxic" than I care to deal with, so I don't participate in them unless there's a darn good reason.

My time is precious to me, so I prefer to spend my community "geek" time here. ?

On 11/19/2021 at 11:16 AM, Strider said:

I share that opinion. While I love modern tech, many of the communities are more "toxic" than I care to deal with, so I don't participate in them unless there's a darn good reason.



My time is precious to me, so I prefer to spend my community "geek" time here. ?

I concur. With a minimum of exceptions to the rule, everyone here is great to interact with. I may or may not be an exception. ?

On 11/19/2021 at 10:25 AM, Scott Robison said:

I concur. With a minimum of exceptions to the rule, everyone here is great to interact with. I may or may not be an exception. ?

Some consider you exceptional, but I don't know what noun they'd pair with that adjective. ?



I guess making that comment makes me a retro grammar geek. ?

On 11/19/2021 at 11:43 AM, Edmond D said:

Some consider you exceptional, but I don't know what noun they'd pair with that adjective. ?



I guess making that comment makes me a retro grammar geek. ?

Yes, we'll go with that. I'm exceptional. Just please don't qualify it.

I have private messages from one party telling me in what ways I'm exceptional, but I really think there were some language issues involved as well.

In reading all the posts here, I bookmarked this one as something to get back to. I've reread everything and realize I've not answered the original thread's question.



I liked 8 bits computers in the 80s, when they were the only choice in town, and now 40 years later I still like them even with the huge amount of choice available to me. I assume that's true of most of the people here with fond memories of those bygone years which we now can "relive" some of the past thanks to fusing together a 8 bit desktop device in a world where multi-core, megahertz, retina display, portable devices are $0 down and everywhere. 



Like the majority I use modern computers in my mundane life as a tool. I've made a living sleuthing why a computer isn't working as intended. I have a pet phrase of "I like to work with a computer, not work at a computer" which differentiates getting a task done verse getting a machine to work as expected. 

On an 8 bit platforms I did things for fun back then, and now I hope to get more of that enjoyment with the X16.  

It's a level of computing that I can wrap my head around without having to undertake serious study.

I have enough ADHD-like traits that study is difficult for me; if I don't learn something super easily and quickly, I'm probably going to take a long time getting fully conversant in the subject.

So, 8-bit computing is that point for me. The more primitive CPU architectures and the more primitive operating systems, anyway. Using SYS to invoke a KERNAL routine after having loaded locations 780 through 783 with register values... that's close to the upper bounds of dealing with complexity that I'm willing to do. Throw GEOS at me and I balk, even though that's 8-bit computing.

The X16. to me, represents an incremental approach, rather than a shifting paradigm.

Unlike most in the X16 community for whom their first machines were C64s and Amigas, I was introduced to computing on a 386. So instead of experience with 6502-based architectures, I pledged allegiance to the x86 (in other words, the dark side?)

Nevertheless, during high school in the late 80s I spent most weekends at a friend's house where we played on his Amiga 500. And boy, was I in absolutely no doubt of just how superior my friend's Amiga was to my dad's work PC for games in every way.

Then the 90s hit and we all know the trajectories plotted by the fortunes of Microsoft and Commodore. If some suggest that in view of events, it was a happy accident to have started on a PC after all, believe me I take no pleasure in the fact that for the past three decades and counting, Windows remains ubiquitous.

In the twilight of MS-DOS I was learning C with the goal of making Sierra style adventure games, but when DOS was removed from Windows beginning with XP, I went off and did other things. With time I returned to coding as a hobby, and did a deep-dive into the modern way of pushing pixels to the screen by learning one of the common graphics APIs behind most games since the late 90s (in my case, DirectX).

What's all this got to do with 8-bit computers you ask? Well this is it... while I'm proud of keeping up to date with the way graphics are done today and I can build some interesting Windows demos, it's apparent I'm never going to make a game. Today's versions of the leading graphics APIs are focused on producing near cinematic quality visuals and can achieve near-photo realism at 4K resolutions which is of course what most AAA titles (with huge budgets) desire. But that's also the problem... with such a limitless capability offered by today's GPUs and 64-bit PCs, also comes the limitless potential for paralysis.

This is what has happened to me... I can't bear to open up my latest Visual Studio project any more. I'm attracted to retro computing more than ever because at one time all you needed was a C compiler, Paint Deluxe, and a cozy 320x240 screen resolution... and then watch your shareware contributions flow.

I'm not sure if the X16 will be right for me, but I really enjoy reading the forums and look forward to the day when coding projects return to being manageable and above all, fun!

 

On 12/16/2021 at 6:19 AM, MaicoD said:

Unlike most in the X16 community for whom their first machines were C64s and Amigas, I was introduced to computing on a 386. So instead of experience with 6502-based architectures, I pledged allegiance to the x86 (in other words, the dark side?)

Welcome to the community. While X86 technology continues to advance, you're more than welcome to evolve into the 8 bit space. ? 



Having started on a more complex and ever changing platform might make you appreciate of the X16.  While Basic is an easy language to start with, assembly and some of the other languages available on the X16 are more involved. VERA, memory banks and the sound chips add a level of complexity too.

As for coding, deploy the emulator and start having fun by coding something. If it leads on to something sharable, please do!