users |
new user |
login
SWISS VINT...
projects
 
cybersuter

swiss vintage computing

computing, gaming and gamedesign (historical and actual)
ACTIVITIZ
SUBCONSC
NOTIFIZ
POSTS
 
BROWSE  
RHIZOME
INDX  
SECTIONS
ATTRS
MEDIA  
TEAM + ACCESS  
SEARCH
Art, GameArt & Experiment
|
Retro
|
Vintage computing
|
About
|
Gaming & GameDesign
|

SEARCH

.
2022-04-27 16:34:21
https://vintagecomputing.ch/?browseid=2083
Pierre Jaquet-Droz (French: [ʒakɛ dʁo]; 1721–1790) was a watchmaker of the late eighteenth century. He was born on 28 July 1721 in La Chaux-de-Fonds, in Canton Neuchâtel, at the time part of the Kingdom of Prussia.[1] He lived in Paris, London, and Geneva, where he designed and built animated dolls known as automata to help his firm sell watches and mechanical caged songbirds.

Notable works[edit]

 
Constructed between 1768 and 1774 by Pierre Jaquet-Droz, his son Henri-Louis (1752-1791), and Jean-Frédéric Leschot (1746-1824), the automata include The Writer (made of 6000 pieces), The Musician (2500 pieces), and The Draughtsman (2000 pieces).
His astonishing mechanisms fascinated the kings and emperors of Europe, China, India and Japan.
https://vintagecomputing.ch/?browseid=7638
With support for multicolor sprites and a custom chip for waveform generation, the C64 could create superior visuals and audio compared to systems without such custom hardware.
The C64 dominated the low-end computer market (except in the UK and Japan, lasting only about six months in Japan[7]) for most of the later years of the 1980s.[8] For a substantial period (1983–1986), the C64 had between 30% and 40% share of the US market and two million units sold per year,
In the UK market, the C64 faced competition from the BBC Micro, the ZX Spectrum, and later the Amstrad CPC 464.[11] but the C64 was still the second most popular computer in the UK after the ZX Spectrum.[12] The Commodore 64 failed to make any impact in Japan. The Japanese market was dominated by Japanese computers, such as the NEC PC-8801, Sharp X1, Fujitsu FM-7, and MSX.[13]
Part of the Commodore 64's success was its sale in regular retail stores instead of only electronics or computer hobbyist specialty stores.
One computer gaming executive stated that the Nintendo Entertainment System's enormous popularity – seven million sold in 1988, almost as many as the number of C64s sold in its first five years – had stopped the C64's growth. Trip Hawkins reinforced that sentiment, stating that Nintendo was "the last hurrah of the 8-bit world".[57]
 
 
.
2022-10-01 00:51:11
https://vintagecomputing.ch/?browseid=5574
cently founded by Eduard Stiefel, where he worked together with Ambros Speiser on developing the first Swiss computer ERMETH, and developed the programming language Superplan (1949–1951), the name being a reference to Rechenplan (English: computation plan), in Konrad Zuse's terminology, designating a single Plankalkül program. He contributed especially in the field of compiler pioneering work and was eventually involved in defining the languages ALGOL 58 and ALGOL 60. He was a member of the International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP) IFIP Working Group 2.1 on Algorithmic Languages and Calculi,[1] which specified, maintains, and supports ALGOL 60 and ALGOL 68.[2]
.
2022-12-19 15:00:31
https://vintagecomputing.ch/?browseid=6156
'dropfiles', small binary or text files dropped into known locations in the BBS'
A major use of doors is for door games: computer games played on the BBS.[3] These games included strategy games such as TradeWars 2002, Food Fight!, [4] Solar Realms Elite,[5] Space Dynasty, Usurper,[6] and Barren Realms Elite.[7] There were also role-playing games (RPG), often derived from earlier email-based games. One such game was Seth Robinson's Legend of the Red Dragon,[8] and another popular dystopian RPG: Operation: Overkill,[4] another was Mutants!. BBSes often published high scores, encouraging players to beat others.[9]
InterBBS leagues allowed users of different BBSes to compete against each other in the same game. A modern version of this known as BBSlink exists allowing sysops to offer door games on their BBS which are hosted on a remote server, thereby increasing the user base of the game.
Market WAR
2023-03-20 16:48:40
https://vintagecomputing.ch/?browseid=7642
The Tandy Color Computer was the runner up. The Apple II was the winner in the category of home computer over $500, which was the category the Commodore 64 was in when it was first released at the price of $595.
n the United States, the greatest competitors were the Atari 8-bit 400, the Atari 800, and the Apple II. The Atari 400 and 800 had been designed to accommodate previously stringent FCC emissions requirements and so were expensive to manufacture. Though similar in specifications, the C64 and Apple II represented differing design philosophies; as an open architecture system, upgrade capability for the Apple II was granted by internal expansion slots, whereas the C64's comparatively closed architecture had only a single external ROM cartridge port for bus expansion.
Aggressive pricing of the C64 is considered to have been a major catalyst in the video game crash of 1983.
The price war with Texas Instruments was seen as a personal battle for Commodore president Jack Tramiel.[25] Commodore dropped the C64's list price by $200 within two months of its release.[6] I
Meanwhile, TI lost money by selling the TI-99/4A for $99.[26] TI's subsequent demise in the home computer industry in October 1983 was seen as revenge for TI's tactics in the electronic calculator market in the mid-1970s, when Commodore was almost bankrupted by TI.[27]
Although many early C64 games were inferior Atari 8-bit ports, by late 1983, the growing installed base caused developers to create new software with better graphics and sound.[34]
 
Mechanical Turk
2022-04-27 16:37:01
https://vintagecomputing.ch/?browseid=2077
The Turk, also known as the Mechanical Turk or Automaton Chess Player (German: Schachtürke, lit. 'chess Turk'; Hungarian: A Török), was a fake chess-playing machine constructed in the late 18th century. From 1770 until its destruction by fire in 1854 it was exhibited by various owners as an automaton, though it was eventually revealed to be an elaborate hoax.[1]Constructed and unveiled in 1770 by Wolfgang von Kempelen (1734–1804) to impress Empress Maria Theresa of Austria, the mechanism appeared to be able to play a strong game of chess against a human opponent, as well as perform the knight's tour, a puzzle that requires the player to move a knight to occupy every square of a chessboard exactly once.
https://vintagecomputing.ch/?browseid=4554
Aus Wikipedia über Hofstettler: 
Kreml von 1986 (englische Version Kremlin, herausgegeben von Avalon Hill, Träger eines „Origins Award“ 1988) ist eine Parodie der sowjetischen Politik. Dieses Gesellschaftsspiel lässt sich nicht im klassischen Sinn in die gängigen Spielarten einordnen, da ihm sowohl ein Spielbrett wie auch Spielkarten im herkömmlichen Sinn fehlen. Die Spieler spielen die Rolle grauer Eminenzen, welche hinter Kandidaten stehen, die um Ministerposten bis hinauf zum Amt des Staats- und Parteichefs kämpfen. Nimmt ein Spieler dabei mehr als nötig Einfluss auf das Spielgeschehen, so verrät er seine „Beziehungen“ und macht sich dadurch angreifbar. Kreml stellt insofern ein Kuriosum dar, als man durch weitestgehende Passivität und Unauffälligkeit beste Gewinnchancen wahren kann. Der Spielverlauf nimmt dabei immer wieder überraschende Wendungen.
https://vintagecomputing.ch/?browseid=4598
In den 1980er-Jahren veranstaltete eine Gruppe um Urs Hostettler regelmässig Spielabende, an denen unkonventionelle Gesellschaftsspiele gespielt und gelegentlich auch selber entwickelte Prototypen neuer Spiele getestet wurden. Hostettler gründete 1982 mit anderen Mitgliedern dieser Gruppe die Genossenschaft „Fata Morgana“ (Vertrieb von Spielen und Liedermacher-Platten) und später das „DracheNäscht“, einen Verkaufsladen für Spiele und Drachen in der Berner Altstadt.
 
.
2022-10-01 10:38:54
https://vintagecomputing.ch/?browseid=5570
Walter Saxer at the ETH, and from 1945 to 1948, a mathematics teacher in Glarisegg and Trogen. In 1948, he received his Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) from ETH with a well-received thesis on complex analysis.
https://vintagecomputing.ch/?browseid=1138
First developing on Atari ST (Assembler) but never published something except a demo for a bbs 1993 (First founded by two brothers). First not released ‘product’. A listing game for Happy Computer. 
Than switched to Macintosh (1995 ). Games in C . And than published over the net (website) or in Maganzines Disc-Magazines as Shareware. Paid first with checkes (almost impossible to get the money for 15$ games), so switched to real money and than to KAGI.com a first worldwide payment service.
Inbetween the author worked produced Flash-Games for advertising and ported a lot of games for Java (Applets) 1996 . 
Afterwards switched to Objective-C on MacOSX with a new name: la1n.ch. 
https://vintagecomputing.ch/?browseid=4280
where it successfully established itself primarily in the United Kingdom, France, Spain, and the German-speaking parts of Europe.
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=792
With modems1987  and zterm you could enter to a bbs and download software. You needed the number and of course a computer on the other side. So this bullet boards system where dial in systems. from time to time the mother of a guy took the phone .-) 
You only used this in the ‘phone cheap time’ - >21.00. A game for Amiga or Atari ST was 900kb - the modem was about 3600-12200 bauds. you waited very long from time to time.
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=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=7371
Die Besonderheit war, dass die Zuschauer per Telefon unmittelbar in die Sendung eingreifen konnten: Es gab eine auf einem Stativ montierte, bewegliche Armbrust mit dahinter angebrachter Fernsehkamera. Dabei war die optische Achse des Kameraobjektivs mit der Linie Kimme – Korn – Ziel identisch. So konnten mitspielende Zuschauer am heimischen Fernsehapparat mit den Kommandos Höher, Tiefer, Rechts, Links und Schuss auf eine Zielscheibe schießen, indem ein Kameramann die Aktionen mit verbundenen Augen an einen Joystick ausführte, der sich an einer Säule neben der Armbrust befand. Es handelte sich damit um die erste interaktive Fernsehsendungin Europa. Schützen, die sich im Saal befanden, führten den Schuss direkt mit dem Joystick aus.
.
2023-03-20 16:40:51
https://vintagecomputing.ch/?browseid=7640
In January 1981, MOS Technology, Inc., Commodore's integrated circuit design subsidiary, initiated a project to design the graphic and audio chips for a next-generation video game console. Design work for the chips, named
https://vintagecomputing.ch/?browseid=2059
there are two aspects came together in the universal computer. 
1. computing (sorting)
2. control (cases, if then, input)
before this were seperated functions in analoge maschines.
Motorola 68000
2023-03-17 10:37:06
https://vintagecomputing.ch/?browseid=503
Base for a lot of computers (GUI, Mac, Atari, Amiga, Next  etc) arcades and Arcades! Expensive but with a fantastic assembler-language. 
Listing Cultures
2023-02-10 08:58:30
https://vintagecomputing.ch/?browseid=801
The listing culture is a hybrid between gutenberg galaxis and software. Software was often distributed in the mainframe time as source code ( c ). each system had a different set of hardware, processor. c and co were the platform. You could compile it for your system. 

The listing culture brought source code to the magazines and could be published. first with basic and co for homecomputers, later with checksums, than basic with assembler inlines, than only shortcodes. 
of course by typing in you could learn how to code and solve problems.
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 …
https://vintagecomputing.ch/?browseid=1469
1949 John von Neumann veröffentlichte im Jahr 1949 seine Arbeit Theory and Organization of Complicated Automata. 
> Sich selbst ausführende und verbreitende Programme
homecomputer 16-bit
2022-07-07 15:44:34
https://vintagecomputing.ch/?browseid=1543
this computers came with an operating system, gui-based and mouse. basic was a prg to use (not anymore line based). there were some new styles of basics coming up like gfa-basic, omikron-basic (atari st). 
and the most games were coded in assembler (68000 was a god processor for assembler). so you had to buy assembler, which was not included. 
Archimedes 32bit RISC
2022-06-24 08:59:14
https://vintagecomputing.ch/?browseid=1557
archimedes with its risc-processor was still an exception. you could code in basic games like ! virus. 
the exceptions - Tex
2022-07-07 13:29:31
https://vintagecomputing.ch/?browseid=3380
not suisse, but people worked with their muscian jochen hippel. 
processors
2023-03-17 10:19:05
https://vintagecomputing.ch/?browseid=7445
very important also for the developers of games. it was knowhow. the ground language. 
https://vintagecomputing.ch/?browseid=7891
tribute to?
exploting? 
> tribute - take the best … collage
.
2023-04-10 11:33:12
https://vintagecomputing.ch/?browseid=8078
IN JANUARY 1981, a handful of semiconductor engineers at MOS Technology in West Chester, Pa., a subsidiary of Commodore International Ltd., began designing a graphics chip and a sound chip to sell to whoever wanted to make “the world’s best video game.”
Capitals (Bourdieu)
2023-05-06 14:00:42
https://vintagecomputing.ch/?browseid=8741
communities (as systems) have their own language, their own values (and thus also their own capitals), their own operations, their own exensions, their own decision extensions.
MUS LocalTalks
2023-05-08 10:54:27
https://vintagecomputing.ch/?browseid=8871

 

In verschiedenen Städten und Regionen finden lokale Treffen statt, die “LocalTalks”*. Neben Referaten über ein aktuelles Thema oder einer Produkte-Präsentation, findet hier auch der persönliche Austausch zwischen den Mitgliedern statt. Wir helfen auch bei technischen Problemen oder man unterhält sich einfach über Themen rund um die Apple-Welt & Co.
*) In den Anfangszeiten der Macs konnten diese Computer bereits kommunzieren. Und zwar über LocalTalk (eingeführt 1985).  Direkt von Maschine zu Maschine. Mit der Einführung des iMacs 1998 wurde die Unterstützung von LocalTalk seitens Apple jedoch eingestellt. Unsere ComputerTreffs vor Ort heissen jedoch traditionell immer noch LokalTalks ;-)
  • Geändert am 04. Februar 2021.
Bitterli, Peter (Import)
2023-05-27 12:36:35
https://vintagecomputing.ch/?browseid=8995
Important for board games in switzerland. 
linkz: https://vintagecomputing.ch/?browseid=1
functions: login | users | systems
social license!
part of rhizomZ-universe

DETAIL