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2022-11-28 14:18:15
https://vintagecomputing.ch/?browseid=5792
Depeche
Demo coder, known for cool demos and trainers.
Depeche jonied Spreadponit in 1989. He mysteriously left SP in 1990 and broke up alomst all contact. He then went over to DefJam but not very much later stopped his Amiga activity. Depeche was so fond of language games that he once bought a Langenscheid's dictionary of slang-English!
Data 
Born 1972, grown up and living in Switzerland
Todays occupation: finishing studies (comp. sci)
Work
Demos: Wooow, Scrapheap, Empire, Power!, HI5 and more
Trainers: a whole lot...
Sound: some crazy mixes
Tools: a disk copier in a bootblock, TLB-Utilitydisk, more
Hobbies
old days: being creative, being cool, speaking cool, cool places, cool clothes, cool people, arcade games, pinball machines
today: unknown.
Music
DM, Art of Noise, Erasure, Pet Shop Boys, Yello, LL cool J, Derek B, De la soul, ...
Giger H.R. (Swiss)
2023-03-28 11:38:31
https://vintagecomputing.ch/?browseid=905
Giger was an educated as an industrial designer. Afterwards he made art and after working with jodorowski on dune, he joined the aliens-team. He created the slick fast monster in ALIEN. he influenced with his style (developped before in paintings and sculptures) the whole scifi. And so he became also one of the most influencing artist for games like r-type and and and and and …
Trainer
2023-02-14 11:43:15
https://vintagecomputing.ch/?browseid=5442
Often implemented add on in a crack: service to have endless lives, start at some point of the game etc. 
https://vintagecomputing.ch/?browseid=5934
Hah, I might not be the best to explain Amiga history, but I’ll do my best :) Fish disks were the main way to distribute public domain, open source, shareware etc. before the internet was wide-spread. People would send Fred Fish software, and he’d compile them into individual disks that people would copy. Magazines would have lots of companies that would allow you to order copies of these disks etc. He ended up creating over a 1000 disks this way. When cd-roms became a thing, you could order the whole collection on those. Those were strange times :)
Aminet was the most famous ftp-archive for amiga software. It was run by the same guy that made Brainfuck, Urban Müller. Rather than chronologically like fish disks, it was organized by topic, with readme’s for every file. You could upload to a staging area, and he’d put them in place. Much like fish disks, companies would print cd-roms with the latest from aminet for those not hooked up to the internets (or on 56k modems, which was most people).
Not allowed object type!
2023-03-16 15:44:53
https://vintagecomputing.ch/?browseid=7407
Use a zip for uploading different files.
Tracker
2023-05-07 09:21:37
https://vintagecomputing.ch/?browseid=1856
Tracker were software - used especially on the Amiga. The most of the music was created in this type of music software. And the people behind the swiss games of the 80ies/90ies even created a tracker and the possibility to use the same framework also in games. 
https://vintagecomputing.ch/?browseid=5522
  • don't write specs. Users should consider themselves lucky to get any programs at all and take what they get.
  • don't comment their code. If it was hard to write, it should be hard to read.
  • don't write application programs, they pro- gram right down on the bare metal. Application programming is for feebs who can't do systems programming.
  • don't eat quiche. Real programmers don't even know how to spell quiche. They eat Twinkies, Coke and palate-scorching Szechwan food.
  • don't draw flowcharts. Flowcharts are, after all, the illiterate's form of documentation. Cavemen drew flowcharts; look how much it did for them.
  • don't read manuals. Reliance on a reference is a hallmark of the novice and the coward.
  • programs never work right the first time. But if you throw them on the machine they can be patched into working in only a few 30-hours debugging sessions.
  • don't use Fortran. Fortran is for wimpy engineers who wear white socks, pipe stress freaks, and crystallography weenies. They get excited over finite state analysis and nuclear reactor simulation.
  • don't use COBOL. COBOL is for wimpy application programmers.
  • never work 9 to 5. If any real programmers are around at 9 am, it's because they were up all night.
  • don't write in BASIC. Actually, no programmers write in BASIC, after the age of 12.
  • don't document. Documentation is for simps who can't read the listings or the object deck.
  • don't write in Pascal, or Bliss, or Ada, or any of those pinko computer science languages. Strong typing is for people with weak memories.
  • know better than the users what they need.
  • think structured programming is a communist plot.
  • don't use schedules. Schedules are for manager's toadies. Real programmers like to keep their manager in suspense.
  • think better when playing adventure.
  • don't use PL/I. PL/I is for insecure momma's boys who can't choose between COBOL and Fortran.
  • don't use APL, unless the whole program can be written on one line.
  • don't use LISP. Only effeminate programmers use more parentheses than actual code.
  • disdain structured programming. Structured programming is for compulsive, prematurely toilet-trained neurotics who wear neckties and carefully line up sharpened pencils on an otherwise uncluttered desk.
  • don't like the team programming concept. Unless, of course, they are the Chief Programmer.
  • have no use for managers. Managers are a necessary evil. Managers are for dealing with personnel bozos, bean counters, senior planners and other mental defectives.
  • scorn floating point arithmetic. The decimal point was invented for pansy bedwetters who are unable to 'think big.'
  • don't drive clapped-out Mavericks. They prefer BMWs, Lincolns or pick-up trucks with floor shifts. Fast motorcycles are highly regarded.
  • don't believe in schedules. Planners make up schedules. Managers 'firm up' schedules. Frightened coders strive to meet schedules. Real programmers ignore schedules.
  • like vending machine popcorn. Coders pop it in the microwave oven. Real programmers use the heat given off by the cpu. They can tell what job is running just by listening to the rate of popping.
  • know every nuance of every instruction and use them all in every real program. Puppy architects won't allow execute instructions to address another execute as the target instruction. Real programmers despise such petty restrictions.
  • don't bring brown bag lunches to work. If the vending machine sells it, they eat it. If the vending machine doesn't sell it, they don't eat it. Vending machines don't sell quiche.
https://vintagecomputing.ch/?browseid=4280
where it successfully established itself primarily in the United Kingdom, France, Spain, and the German-speaking parts of Europe.
.
2023-03-13 16:28:54
https://vintagecomputing.ch/?browseid=7355
MOVE.L  #1000,A0       ;bring address in A0          
MOVE    #1,(A0)        ;write 1 into this address

RECORD: 
  DC.W 2                ;number of entries -1                  
  DC.W 1,2,3            ;elements of list

CLR.L   D0            ;erase D0 completely                   
MOVE.L  #RECORD,A0    ;address of list in A0                   
MOVE    (A0),D0       ;number of elements -1 in D0                   
MOVE    1(A0,D0),D1   ;last element in D1                   ...           
RECORD: DC.W 2                ;number of entries -1                   
DC.W 1,2,3            ;elements of list



CMP  #2,D1
CMP   #2,D1      ;comparison,or subtraction
                 BNE   UNEQUAL    ;branch,if not equal(Z flag not set)
                 MOVE  #0,D2      ;otherwise execute D2=0
        
          UNEQUAL:

 T        true,corresponds to BRA
          F        false,never branches
          HI       higher than                   C'* Z'
          LS       lower or same                 C   Z
          CC,HS    carry clear,higher or same    C'
          CS,LO    carry set,lower               C
          NE       not equal                     Z'
          EQ       equal                         Z
          VC       overflow clear                V'
          VS       overflow set                  V
          PL       plus,positive
          MI       minus,negative
          GE       greater or equal              N*V N'*V'
          LT       less than                     N*V' N'*V
          GT       greater than                  N*V*Z' N'*V'*Z'
          LE       less or equal                 Z   N*V'   N'*V

 ---------------------------------------------------
      Bcc     Label         conditional branch,depends on condition
      BRA     Label         unconditional branch(similar to JMP)
      BSR     Label         branch to subprogram.Return address is
                            deposited on stack,RTS causes return to that
                            address.
      CHK     <ea>,Dx       check data register for limits,activate the
                            CHK instruction exception.
      DBcc    Reg,Label     check condition,decrement and branch
      JMP     Label         jump to address(similar to BRA)
      JSR     Label         jump to subroutine.Return address is
                            deposited on stack,RTS causes return to that
                            address.
      NOP                   no operation
      RESET                 reset peripherals(caution!)
      RTE                   return from exception
      RTR                   return with loading of flags
      RTS                   return from subroutine(after BSR and JSR)
      Scc     <ea>          set a byte to -1 when condition is met
      STOP                  stop processing(caution!)
      TRAP #n               jump to an exception
      TRAPV
https://vintagecomputing.ch/?browseid=4494
Tiling was a design pattern often used in the beginning of the gamedesign.
Reason:
  • Tilebase is simple to use. Create the tiles and just say here is TileA, titleB.
  • Tilebase save space (######) - important in the beginning
  • Tilebased could be used for creating games (Labyrinths) with Sprites in front
  • You can create very fast new levels
  • The hardware has often tilebased background support 
  • Seamless tiles create very fast interesting backgrounds and foregrounds … 
https://vintagecomputing.ch/?browseid=5112
All in one. Democollection - show all possible things in one demo. also often wirh story telling aspects - visual narrative or a classic story.
What is possible on one disc. More longterm motivation, more content needed.
Own type/textsorte.
https://vintagecomputing.ch/?browseid=7501
and for the machine to not look like “a pregnant calculator”
https://vintagecomputing.ch/?browseid=7881
 
  • most games - you play not act 
  • qix no
  • pac man - somehow but too hard
  • moon lander? no really
  • asteroids no
  • galaxy - some visual aspect - mukokuseki
  • missile command no 
  • atari 2600 porno games no
  • klax arcade - chain
  • frogger
  • most shootenup (space invader - war visuals) 
  • lemmings? dark behind the nice graphics
  • battle chess - reanalog - brutal
  • demoscene? biggest part - yes
  •  
https://vintagecomputing.ch/?browseid=1263
Made by crackers and a lot of anti-protection-mechanics. So a long time this game was not cracked.
Example: all tracks are not starting at the same place like normally - every track starts somewhere else. therfore they 
Keyboard C64
2023-04-07 17:32:44
https://vintagecomputing.ch/?browseid=8022
The Theory
Limitations
The technical limitation on the C64 Keyboard hardware is that not more than 2 keys may be pressed at the same time if you want to be 100% sure the result is valid. In some cases, three keys will work fine but whenever 3 keys form a right angle in the keyboard scan matrix, a 4th letter will appear. The combination “ABC” will work fine but the combination “ASD” will form such a triangle and the matrix will also report that the “F” key is pressed. Same goes for “ASF” which would incorrectly read a “D” the same way.
In short, the C64 keyboard is not a piano where you can play choords and stuff.
https://vintagecomputing.ch/?browseid=8893
digitalization was after the end of the idea of the replica of man as a robot and thinking being. something that the analog first read largely unchallenged. it was a colonization of a new space, a space that created itself - cyberspace. with this, this space did not come into conflict in a first moment - in the sense of earlier struggles over existing mostly analog territory. this is probably also one of the reasons why digitalization proceeded creepingly and was not perceived or actively fought by parts of the broad population (the nerds etc.). and many waves of digitalization then also emerged in the field of music (synthies) or games, for example, and took hold in everyday life at home. the normal things, however, continued to run until they then also arrived in the working environment.
cracking
2022-05-21 16:38:51
https://vintagecomputing.ch/?browseid=3088
part of the cracking job in the most of the cases. 
https://vintagecomputing.ch/?browseid=997
Games made with old technologies but not old working hardware. 
the exceptions - Tex
2022-07-07 13:29:31
https://vintagecomputing.ch/?browseid=3380
not suisse, but people worked with their muscian jochen hippel. 
Port
2022-08-02 13:41:25
https://vintagecomputing.ch/?browseid=4943
A port is game that was ‘ported’ to another system. A lot of arcades were ported for example to less powerfull hardware. 
Therefore the question is: Are not all of games Demakes?
https://vintagecomputing.ch/?browseid=5966
Areas like the demoscene or electronic games existed only rudimentarily as analog systems (pinball etc) In this sense they were new and updated the system.
Other areas changed or replaced existing areas: 
- Data collection and analysis (punch cards, etc.)
- word processing

> From media running on humans to media running on computers
Important Notes
2023-03-16 15:45:14
https://vintagecomputing.ch/?browseid=7405

Installation

really find the correct channel in tv! 
GameDevs
2022-04-13 10:25:54
https://vintagecomputing.ch/?browseid=1136
GameDevs are gamedeveloppers. The name tells also a lot about the idea behind. The most important thing was the technical difficulties. 
.
2022-11-22 15:55:54
https://vintagecomputing.ch/?browseid=1025
Homecomputer were attractive for:
  1. as Computers create staff
  2. as Consoles
  3. you could pirating easily software games included
  4. the 16-bit consoles had mouses and guis. easier to use.
Therefore a lot of console wanted to make out of the console a computer (like intellivision). And a lot of users also thinks that the videogame crash was also because a lot moved away from consoles to computers. 
The other possibility were Personal Computers. The ‘Homecomputer’ was more. It was not only a working station. Personal Computers were mostly monochrome (PC: CGA, EGA)
https://vintagecomputing.ch/?browseid=5884

 

Facts

  • TTV1 was the first file-based Amiga virus
  • Its creation was a fun experiment. It was inspired by the boot block based SCA virus which had reached dubious fame due to its very successful spreading and the flaw of overwriting the boot block. Would it be possible to create a self spreading file, thus breaking out of the boot block dread?
  • Development took place between spring and fall 1988.
  • The early code name was HOUZ virus.
  • Thinking up the name we tried to find something that would sound mean and at the same time on the verge to ridiculous. The final name was inspired by a rap band called The Terrorists.
  • The virus does not harm the system. In fact, care was taken to avoid any even unintentional damage.
  • Identity of the authors was kept secret for 30 years. It was officially revealed on March 9, 2019 at the Demonights 008 event in Bern Switzerland
  • "The names have been changed to protect the innocent" shown in the message was inspired by the song Beat Dis by Bomb the Bass. They have sampled it from the Dragnet radio series.
  • The "BGS9" was in fact a clone. Its code is almost identical even including the resident name "TTV1". It got more reach and thus was regarded as the origin.

About the life of the beast

  1. TTV1 installs itself as a reset proof resident module (KickTag/ROMTag) named "TTV1"
  2. On reset the resident module (virus) is called
  3. Execution gets delayed in order to gain disk write access. Therefore Intuition's OpenWindow function is redirected.
  4. As soon as the AmigaDOS tries to open the CLI window the OpenWindow gets called the virus looks for the startup-sequence on the booted disk
  5. The virus is looking for the first command (A) in the startup-sequence
  6. File request windows (e.g. "Disk is write protected") are being temporarily disabled
  7. Virus renames A to $a0202020a02020a020a0a0. This is a combination of none breaking spaces and spaces. The idea is that the user will oversee this "invisible" file.
  8. Virus writes itself as an executable command with the name of A to the disk
  9. Eventually A gets loaded and executed with all its parameters by the virus
The next time the user will boot the disk the virus gets loaded into RAM and step 1 takes place. On reset the horizonal beam position gets evaluated. If the beam position is smaller than a certain number the screen turns black and a message in white letters appears.
https://vintagecomputing.ch/?browseid=5946
Aminet was the most famous ftp-archive for amiga software. It was run by the same guy that made Brainfuck, Urban Müller. Rather than chronologically like fish disks, it was organized by topic, with readme’s for every file. You could upload to a staging area, and he’d put them in place. Much like fish disks, companies would print cd-roms with the latest from aminet for those not hooked up to the internets (or on 56k modems, which was most people).
FILE_ID.DIZ
2023-02-07 10:00:37
https://vintagecomputing.ch/?browseid=6685
  1. Program/file name: Ideally, all uppercase and followed by one space. Carriage returns are ignored in this file.
  2. Version number: In the format "v1.123", followed by a space.
  3. ASP number: Only if an actual ASP member, otherwise ignored.
  4. Description separator: A single short hyphen "-".
  5. Description: The description of the file. The first two lines should be the short summary, as older boards cut off the rest. Anything beyond that should be extended description, for up to eight lines, the official cut-off size. Additional text could be included beyond that but might not be included by the board.
https://vintagecomputing.ch/?browseid=7061
A rework of the not used pico8-game for lovebyte. Added graphics and effects and sound.
My personal demo-problem: no restrictions for demo. so you could make everything. You would have to go for visual narration like the other prods in this category. 
https://vintagecomputing.ch/?browseid=7127
@la1n/imp89 @Shana @dipswitch Sorry, I only just now noticed about this intense discussion going on. Shana has put it 100% correct already. The name eventually was given to the event by Furball/Fake That back in 1996 for Bünzli#1 (taking place near Bern). Was changed to 'Buenzli' (no umlaut) once international visitors started to appear. This then was kind of a 'trademark' for a while. When we changed the location from Winterthur to Olten, we also rebranded the party to Demodays, a name that was a bit generic but worked without the need to explain it all the time. It also allowed for the Demonights pun afterwards. 'Demodays', however, has not really been adopted by the demoscene too much, many people just kept it calling Buenzli (or 'Buenzu' for some). This is also somewhat reflected in inconsistent naming/series ordering on Pouet and possibly Demozoo. I'm happy, Furball &the other teenage guys called the event Bünzli: Without that decision, we wouldn't have interesting discussions like this 😉
https://vintagecomputing.ch/?browseid=7933
'C64 an 8bit console computer on steroids'.
The intellivision was at the same time a real good 16bit system and console and not like the c64 a 8 bit processor with 64k ram. Hell to code for … 
.
2023-04-10 19:18:00
https://vintagecomputing.ch/?browseid=8104
But when the Commodore 64 was conceived, it was to be primarily a game machine, not a computer.
Restrictions
2023-04-17 10:15:52
https://vintagecomputing.ch/?browseid=8298
8bit in everywhere 
- memory
- graphic
- sound
- coding  (branch, length of the code)
> complexity
> seize developping! 
> 8bit damocles sword
>> finding not allover solutions (like gameengines!) - engines for jump and runs, shootemups > special solutions
https://vintagecomputing.ch/?browseid=3003
Who are the tracker-musicians in switzerland? 
Development Process
2022-05-29 11:04:38
https://vintagecomputing.ch/?browseid=3509
The game development process was splittet into different type of productions. Each part had its own tools like coding / assembler, images > paint tools and of course music with the trackers. 
https://vintagecomputing.ch/?browseid=7187
_ virus
_ transformation
_ smart monster
_ fit monsters 
_ nihilation
_ all also visuals rules
next step
2022-04-14 12:47:21
https://vintagecomputing.ch/?browseid=1445
Faster, not linear (storing and loadibg) 
Wholes in the discs
2022-05-12 08:48:46
https://vintagecomputing.ch/?browseid=2541
Detection
Software tries to read something from the disc. Could not read it. You can try it several times. Handling errors. It is no 1 or 0 it is an exception.
Copying
A copy makes a 0 out of the whole. And the software can detect this - it is nether 0 or 1. 
 
Dongles
2022-05-12 08:57:33
https://vintagecomputing.ch/?browseid=2555
not used so often, expensive to produce. 
Online protection
2022-05-12 08:59:33
https://vintagecomputing.ch/?browseid=2557
not known for 1980-1991.
https://vintagecomputing.ch/?browseid=2792
most possible reason: you could several discs put into a letter. 
https://vintagecomputing.ch/?browseid=3330
Computer Sciences was this really important for universities? No was the long answer in Switzerland. 
// Calculatings 1/0 is not enough for mathematicians. 
All around the memory
2022-08-02 13:38:15
https://vintagecomputing.ch/?browseid=5046
Memory is changing all the time. We tend to create memory as a system (perhaps because we can than save space and energy).
/ ()
https://vintagecomputing.ch/?browseid=7905
  • Show colors
  • Show good graphics
  • show a lot of sprites!
  • hast do be somehow 3d
  • not really graphical design … 
(Intro and demoscene)
Website: Imp89
2024-08-04 18:53:05
https://vintagecomputing.ch/?browseid=2836
check: was this really every online?
https://vintagecomputing.ch/?browseid=1140
The shareware modell was the only that worked in those days. Because to get a publisher for mac was almost impossible.
Sokoban - Sokoban-clone
2024-10-12 11:11:38
https://vintagecomputing.ch/?browseid=1212
  • Tilebased
  • Too fast
  • not yet solved - TargetFields constantly