Hi

Day 12 of the C-A-R Advent Calendar and half way
through... 

Today its the turn of the 1581... 158-what ?

http://www.commodore-amiga-retro.com/amiga/amiga_scuzz29.htm

Well you gotta dig on this page to find it, but this represents
Commodore's final admission that the 3.5" drive had taken
over from the 5.25" drive. All of the drives previous to this
had been for the 5.25" with many of the drives developed
in duo style ie 1541 and 1541-II.. or the fat one and the
thin version. You could actually build a very respectable
collection of computer kit just acquiring floppy drives for
the Commodore range of machine... C64 C128 etc. In
essence they were computers in their own right and with
modification run a very acceptable OS like say GEOS.

Anyway.. the 1581 .. tenth row down.

I returned from Wales on one of my weekly treks across
the bridge and stopped at Swindon services having gone
past the turn off and travelled to Newbury, turned round
and came back to grab a snack at the services cus I was
early.. Trouble was the service station was swamped
with football supporters going to Cardiff for either an
international or an FA cup replay... or play-off. Can`t
recall. All I do know is that it was murder at the services.
I struggled to Swindon and met up with this retro nutter.
He had all his kit in boxes stacked to the ceiling and was
in the process of translating all the games and OSs to
his chipped XBOX so he could play everything in the
lounge on his widescreen surround sound system.
Was quite strange running an Amiga 500 through
such a system. He had loads and loads of kit and I
took a lot more than I had planned.. The 1581 was
the gem for me though. This guy had an OpalVision
boxed plus the 40MHz GVP A500 sidecar. We chatted
till very late... And I drove home so pleased....

Well, I  thought I was driving home. I forgot that I travelled
back up the motorway from Newbury and on the way home
turned right onto the Motorway instead of left. I only realised
this when I got to Bristol.... That's what retro collecting
does to you sadly.. I really wasn't thinking about the
driving. I was very late in that night.

Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without a general
mucking around on the C64 and particularly with one
of these disk drives. An art form that has long since
disappeared but one that still brings a whole bag
of memories to anyone who has used one of these
drives. They really are something else... Amazing.

scuzz
http://www.commodore-amiga-retro.com

Hi

I love old magazines, and very often nab a few as they go
threw the Bay and spend many a happy hour mucking
around with the stuff on their pages. Those that know
me appreciate that I have quite a few machines of
varying flavours set up here.... Anyroadup...To Wimp
as featured in Your Commodore 1986 article by
Allen Webb.. Where the concept of using the C64
to generate a WIMP environment.

... ' For those of you that don`t know , WIMP means
Window, Icons, Mouse and Pointers. This package
mostly covers the IMP part since Windows would
need quite a bit more code... '

' Newer machines use the WIMP system to provide
a simple "front end" whereby a user with little training
can use the software. Icons ( little pictures ) are used
to represent functions, these being selected with
pointers controlled by a mouse. Due to the constraints
of such a system, bit mapping of the screen is
mandatory. Hence the rather large lump of code.. '

The article then goes on to explain how to set up a
WIMP environment discussing SETUP, COLSET,
TEXT, POINT, CHANGECOL, ZONE,
CHARS, TOGGLE, BASICSCREEN, HLINE,
VLINE, SHAPE, PTEXT, ZSHAPE and ICON.

Later in the mag they discuss all that is new at
the Commodore Show in Manchester where they
say ' The supposed selling point of the 64C is a 
thing called GEOS. First Analytical Ltd, the UK
agents for the product , and if you don`t know 
what GEOS is its a window/icon system providing
file handling, a text handler and graphics pack.... '

And then much later in the mag we have a review
of Graphic Environment Operating System... 
' Windows, Icons and Menus all form part of the 
new easy to use operating system that you can add to
your C64 with GEOS. '

' GEOS replaces many of the usual typed commands
with a series of pictures, called icons, making handling
of your input much easier '

Verdict... ' GEOS provides an extremely easy user
interface for the C64 and a disk drive. Myself, I
would probably prefer to use the old style Commodore
commands for LOADing and RUNing disk programs.
Novices found GEOS quick and easy to use '

[ end quotes ]

I love GEOS. I have a very large box full of GEOS
stuff. Setting up a C64 with a disk drive isn`t gonna
break the bank with Ebay. And the fun of just getting
the whole thing to work is very rewarding. Last month
I acquired a large bound folder stacked full of GEOS
stuff ' The New Operating System Standard for the
Commodore 64, 64C and 128 Computers ' including
desktop, geoPaint, geoWrite, diskTurbo and DiskAccessories.

This truly was the beginning of everything we know about
computers today... So why not grab a bit of history and
have a go yourself.

The mighty Bo Zimmermann has quite an extensive tutorial
on GEOS... which is always a blast. Just don`t venture
into his collection gallery.... ( Big Head )   :-)

http://www.zimmers.net/geos/index.html

[ And then earlier this month... ]

Hi

My GEOS disks arrived. All wonderfully sealed
as new. 

First up are the 26 disks of GEOMETRIX ( spelt metrix )
A collection of software from the GeoMetrix GEOS User 
Group. This was a user group in Oregon evidently. This
batch is the magazine disk. The other batch of disks is
the Info, News and Reviews section. These are new disks
so I really don't know where this guy is getting his GEOS
stuff from. Maybe I`ll ask him....

scuzz
http://www.commodore-amiga-retro.com

Hi

I remember venturing into Game once and pulling this box
off the shelf and near  dropped it due to its weight. My
goodness, there is a lot in this game , I thought. And I
was right for Hired Guns not only was heavy in weight
it was definitely heavy in content. 

Made by Psygnosis in 1993 for the Amiga  this game
boasted being ' The ultimate multi-player RPG... Set
in a world of cruel mutant creatures and high tech 
weaponry '

Hired Guns was no Doom, but you could see that with
computer advances the next thing from Hired Guns had
to be this form of game. A really strange experience with
four screens open at any one time showing all the members
of your troup... You knew you were in trouble when a
particular screen had the nasty bloody slash marks.
Unlike the CD games of today, the game makers knew
how to fill the box. They loved to set the scene, and
give you background info to make the game interesting.
Much like DreamWeb and Diary of a Madman ( if I recall )
So here we have booklets, Countdown to Graveyard,
The Luyten System, Hired Guns the manual, and Amiga
Instructions. You also get the silly codes sheet for copy
protection. This was a five disker and a great play. One
that kept me up loads of nights. I would also spend hours
on the phone to friends, discussing how far they had
got.

ESCAPE FROM A DOOMED PLANET

Two star systems, one bloody war. ... Good 
old Rorian Deevergh.

scuzz
http://www.commodore-amiga-retro.com

[ gaming retrospective ]

Hi

Depressed. Just finished BloodRayne2 on the PS2 and I gotta
say I am gonna miss that chick. Kinda Buffy with attitude. A 
real great game, with some ever so slightly dubious content...
The bit I like is that she has this guy on a headset talking to her
and advising. Another thing that Lara nicked. Another great
thing is the development of game moves as the game progresses.
The way you use the controller develops as you go through the
game. By the time your finished you wish the controller had
several more buttons so you can go kick ass with more venom.

To my point.. The early machines used the buttons, and it 
became obvious that the relationship of these button does
affect the game play. A poorly organised set could spell
certain doom for the game. The Spectrum and similar did
take a bashing, as can be seen from numerous cover plates
I have to these machines. The joystick for me on the Spectrum
didn't really happen... 

On to the Amiga and I got through joysticks very quickly especially
playing Sensi Soccer. The little metal connectors just broke off.
My shelves were filled with the dead and dying. I also have been
known to play Sensi without the ability to move in one of the
directions... Very silly. Again it was obvious that the quality
of controller needed to develop with the game. And the
amount of really crap joysticks around was truly amazing.
The Quickshot range were pretty good.

Enter the PS1 and the birth of the true game pad. For me the
design stands the test of time, a classic. I didn't like the addition
of the little thumb sticks at first but now I couldn't live without
them. Strange that the XBOX controller particularly didn't
consider the correct ergonomic design of the controller particularly
when you chuck it half way across the room. With the XBOX
controller you are likely to do serious damage. I don`t like the
XBOX arrangement.. Very poor. The Dreamcast wasn't that
good either.. too much distance between things. The Nintendo
controller has the handles too straight, unlike the PS2. 

And so the verdict for me is that I love the weight style and
design of the PS2 controller, particularly the curved underside
which is very very comfortable for holding. Well thought out.
Never quite understood though why they didn't put some
extra buttons on the base.. I do have other fingers I can use.
Having just gone through the battle I have with the final boss
in this game.. I really could have done with those extra buttons.

Batman Begins next.... ' Fear me '  Magic film, lets hope the
game lives up to the same.

And yes I have been quiet.. Totally absorbed.. Sorry. Which
has meant... er not much sleep. Bad boy.


scuzz
http://www.commodore-amiga-retro.com

Playstation 2 BLOG

Bloodrayne 2
This week I have been mostly playing...

Image scanned into PC with £10 video camera

Mercenaries

Have been playing Mercenaries for most of the year
on and off. Quite an original game, in so much that
you can destroy, borrow and use nearly everything
you come across. The purpose of the game is that
you can work for different factions in North Korea
and earn money for capturing the Pack of 52 which
represent high ranking officers. The challenges get
more and more difficult and the Ace Contracts take
you to a unique location for a very difficult
challenge. You call upon the Russians to supply you
with equipment, vehicles, tanks and helicopters etc
all for a price. Takes an age to play, and you need
to be quite cunning sometimes planning a mission, like
hijacking buses to block a bridge... Great stuff and
well worth the purchase price.

N E X T - U P

Xenosaga II - DaVinci Code

Commodore 1581