Hi

Day 14 of the C-A-R Advent Calendar collection retrospective, 
and today it isn't a computer at all... Its a board game. 
The Dark Tower.

http://www.commodore-amiga-retro.com/amiga/amiga_scuzz272.htm

Twas Christmas 1981 and it snowed. So much we got snowed in. 
This really is how Christmas should be spent. Fortunately 
we had been lucky enough to purchase in the Debenhams 
closing down sale a quite unusual board game. What we
hadn't realised is that this was technically a computer 
game, as movement through the game was decided by the 
brain of the machine in the Dark Tower. I had played 
Dungeons and Dragons games to death during that period 
but never had I come across a game that took away all 
that element of chance.. Or so it seemed. There was no 
way of cheating on this game, the Dark Tower knew all 
of your moves and could even display an inventory for 
you of your items on the small screen, if you were 
prepared to miss your turn. Also, the Dark Tower knew
if you had collected the key from a kingdom and would 
not let you leave the Kingdom without it. In 1981 you 
can appreciate that this was pretty amazing. And at 
the time we were requested to drag the game round house 
after house to play. It really was a fantastic game.

[ quote ]

Dark Tower was an electronic fantasy boardgame produced 
by Milton Bradley in 1981. Here is some information on 
the game and how it played.

Dark fantasy brought to life in electronic form. Players 
roam about the land trying to find the three keys into 
the Dark Tower and defeat the oppressive evil within. 
The whole game is directed by an electronic tower that 
keeps track of troops, supplies and conducts combat 
with the random monsters.

The artwork for both Dark Tower and Dragonmaster was 
done by illustrator Bob Pepper, who has also been 
responsible for many children's books and science 
fiction and fantasy book covers. 

The Challenge: to retrieve the Ancient Magic Sceptre 
that has been stolen by a tyrant king. The Sceptre 
is the Power Staff of the Empire, and a kingdom has 
been offered as reward for its return. The Sceptre 
lies hidden in the Dark Tower, guarded by a fierce 
band of the tyrant's Brigands. Three magic keys will 
open the tower to you. Find the keys in three 
foreign kingdoms, and you may lay siege to the Dark Tower.

In search of the key, leave the Citadel in your home 
kingdom with a handful of warriors. On your journey, 
you will fight battles, be attacked by dragons, lose 
warriors to plague and starvation and get hopelessly 
lost in uncharted territories.

But don't despair! Visit the Bazaars to buy warriors 
and other supplies. Stop at the Tombs and Ruins to 
discover treasures of gold, dragonswords, magic keys, 
helpful wizards and the flying horse, Pegasus. The 
Sanctuary's are open to you, too, ready to outfit 
you with warriors, gold and food.

[ end quote ]

The game is very much a collectors item now and there
is quite a good deal of interest obtaining the game.
You can play the game on the web and I give the link
below. I have even had a guy mail me wanting me
to scan all the parts. It just may turn out that
my most rare of items turns out to be the first
computer I purchased back in 1981. The game is
intact and I do believe I have every piece.

Not so much collecting here, more the looking after
for 25 years. 

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

Hi

I hadn`t realised that the Amiga 1000 came a variety
of motherboard flavours and the one featured on my
website is the version 3 without the daughter board.

Kinda makes me want to crack open the others to
exactly what they look like inside.

This was pointed out to me by a passing visitor. I
since found this info on the web...

[ quote ]

This the third revision of the Amiga 1000 board, without
daughterboard and configured for PAL-output. ....The internal 
PSU (power supply unit), with its big fan at the machine's 
back is a Mitsumi SR68-05550M. Right from the PSU, in the 
middle of the board are Denise (U4A), Agnus (U4C) and Paula 
(U4F). Directly right from them a 'field' of 8 pcs. 74LS244, 
perhaps memory address logic, because below them (extending 
from the PSU to the middle of the board) is the machine's 
RAM bank. 512 KBytes consisting of 16 pcs. 64Kx4 (U1B-U1M 
and U2B-U2M). Half of that RAM is used as WOM to store the 
Kickstart. Moving right, again, there are several 74xx with 
the board's silk-screening below them and the two controller 
ports to their right. Note that this normally is the location 
of the floppy drive. Moving up from here, are the expansion port
(machine's right side) with the big CPU (U6U) next to it. Left 
from are the two 8520 CIAs (U6S and U6T) and below them the 
two A1000 OS ROMs (U5N, U5S) with empty soldering pads for 
another two (U5T, U5R). Moving up again and a little left, 
there's the board's PSU connector with a shielded 'cage' 
above it (with five 74xx and an oscillator within)
must have something to to with video output. Interesting is the 
low integration density of the board, compared to that of later 
machines (like the CD³²)

[ end quote ]

Thanks to the mighty Sothius for that.

http://www.sothius.com/hypertxt/welcome.html?./additional/a1000addition.html

Just realised I have four Amiga 1000's

Amiga 1000

Processor : Motorola 68000 7.14mhz (less than 1 mips) :
Custom Chips (3): Portia, Daphne and a dual inline 40 Pin 1/2 meg Agnus.
RAM : 256k Ram(*) / 512k Maximum chip ram(*2)
HD : Optional 20mb
FD : 1 3'1/2" - 880kb

From where the journey really started. Magic.

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

[ collecting and rebuilding retrospective ]

Hi

That was fast and furious. Just secured an Amiga 3000UX
which is a 3000 variant. In the end it was a head to head
with me and this guy in the States. At close the final bid
was my bid so I guess I got that just about right. Close
though... All the fun of the auctions. And the A3000UX
hopefully now finds its way to the retro collection. A great
find that.

[ response ]

The full UX came with a graphics card and ethernet didn't it?  
Maybe the tape drive?  Too bad Commodore didn't continue 
pursuing the UNIX route, among other things.

[ end response ]

Yup that would be the one. You have to start somewhere, and
that is how many of my Amiga projects get going. Most important
is the case, with the all important badging and serial number. It
also has the motherboard, hard drive, power supply and a few
other pieces. The ethernet card isn`t really going to cause 
probs... I am a patient man. May take a while but it will happen.

The Unix that comes with the A3000UX is pretty special.  
None of your flashy Unix clones (Linux, *BSD, Mac OSX, ...) 
this is the real thing,(C) AT&T Unix.

[ quote ]

The A3000UX is essentially the same machine as the standard 
A3000, however it was labelled A3000UX because it was shipped 
with an alternative UNIX operating system called Commodore 
Amiga UNIX, affectionately known as Amix. Amix was a full port
of AT&T's System V SVR4 UNIX  and included the X Window System
which is a server for hosting graphical environments and the
Open Look graphical interface. The A3000UX only ever used
versions of the A3000 motherboard which contained an 030@25Mhz
and a 68882@25Mhz (as opposed to an 030@16Mhz and 68881@16Mhz)
and was usually shipped with the Commodore 3070 tape drive and 
a three button mouse. Other Amigas were generally shipped with 
two button mice. Optionally the A2410 graphics card, A2065 
Ethernet card and the A2232 multi-port serial card were also 
shipped with the machine. The A3000UX is fully capable of running
AmigaOS in every way the "normal" A3000 is but was supplied with 
the special Kickstart 1.4 ROMs that were designed to either 
boot UNIX or load the real Kickstart from a file. Shortly after
release, Sun Microsystems, a major UNIX vendor was interested
in rebadging the A3000UX for supplying as an entry level UNIX
workstation. Unfortunately in true Commodore style, the deal
fell through. Commodore also released another UNIX based 
workstation called the A2500UX. 

[ end quote ]

From Wikipedia:

"The Amiga 3000UX is a model of the Amiga computer 
family that was released with Amiga Unix installed instead 
of AmigaOS, a full port of AT&T Unix System V Release 4. 
The system was otherwise equivalent to the standard A3000. 
At one point, Sun Microsystems approached Commodore-Amiga Inc. 
with the offer to produce the A3000UX under license, as a 
low- to mid-range alternative to the high-end Sun workstations.

That this offer was declined was one of the many "strange" 
management decisions that led to the popular belief that 
Amiga would have been a real success story but for the 
Commodore management.

It is possible that Commodore (or a third party) repurposed 
A3000UX machines for standard AmigaOS as some standard A3000 
models have been found with labeling suggesting they were 
originally to be sold as A3000UX machines."

Sun Microsystems wanted the A3000?!  Never heard that one 
before.  I think this is a little suspect as Sun already 
had a line of boxes back then....  (and the powerful 
SparcStation was on its way).

[ Bad news when the 3000UX arrives ]

Hi

Hopefully the Amiga is talking to the word. Not been 
a particularly wonderful day. Have spent all the time 
here in the workshop which is generally a good thing. 
However, having checked over the A3000UX motherboard 
I was somewhat saddened to discover a quite large
scratch on the underside. There had been battery damage 
though nothing fatal, and there had been a mod to the board. 
The biggy, was that someone had scratched the rear of the 
board a good eight inches. Looks as though its been chucked 
across a bench to be honest. Sadly not repairable. So the 
hunt starts for a replacement. I have added pictures to the
HELP section of the site under a title relating to the A3000UX. 

Anyway more on that later.

Hi

That link page to the A3000UX motherboard probs
is as below. Hopefully you can use the link.

http://www.commodore-amiga-retro.com/amiga/amiga_scuzz352.htm

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

Those games starting to flood in now... Including
Galactic-Conqueror from Titus which I gotta say
I don`t remember the first time around. It was
distributed on all the major platforms, so maybe
one or two of you may have heard of it...

You can see the cover here to the box

http://www.mobygames.com/game/galactic-conqueror

[ quote ]


The game is a blend of action sequences in an Afterburner
-esque pseudo-3D view. These sequences vary between ground 
combat, aerial combat and space combat, with different 
motion physics and enemy craft. There is also a strategic 
battle choices on a galactic map invaded in real-time.

[ end quote ]

Sounds that it was quite expensive in its day. Zzap 
reviewed the game in March 1989...

[ ZZap ]

' Yeah, this is the kind of atmosphere we want from an 
Amiga game - loads of brilliant technical presentation 
screens and some ace instructions - just to start off 
believing in the world you're playing in. As for the 
game itself - well, it's pretty good 3D blasting fun. '

[ End Zzap ]

There are few games on the Bay you can't get some
info on, so worth trudging around Google before
placing that all important bid.

You may recall Titus from the very wonderful Crazy Cars
series of games.... and the talented Eric Caen.

There are some better scans of the game here

http://www.cpczone.net/covers/index.php?scan=1163

Plus good scan archive of games covers here

http://www.cpczone.net/covers/index.php?csection=g

Well there you go. I like games. You never know where
it may take you, looking at the history.

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

[ Just ignore me ]
Hi

If easily offended and truly love your broadband connection
and are easily insulted then please do not read on. These
are the words of scuzz as they appertain to him. Probably
one on his own.... And very very strange anyway.

Scuzz reflects on the BT Yahoo leaflet pushed through his
door and decides to share his thoughts with the group...

Carry on...

Another big push by BT to get me onto the Broadband
bandwagon and the sweetener this time is to be cheaper
than my dial up for the first six months...

OK Comparison

Dial-up - Slow
Broadband - Fast......

Not really noticing that at the moment but that is a fact I
cannot deny... So 1 - 0 to Broadband.

Dial-up Inconvenient 
Broadband Effortless

Er.. Dial up may be inconvenient to some... 
I don`t use any effort getting on line... 
Perhaps they refer to the fact that I could use the
telephone line for something else whilst on line...
Even I struggle to do two things at the same time. 
More of a family thing that one...For me no great loss. 
I don't use the telephone land line for anything else 
anyway. Still puzzling over the effortless....

And so for me I have to give a return score of 1 for dial-up

That's a 1 - 1 overall

Dial-up Frustrating 
Broadband Exciting

Frustrating I guess in terms of being able to download 
a 34MB file or a movie ( from what ever source), or 
music ( from what ever source ), or iPOD legal stuff, 
or large files, or interactive sites with large files.....
or maybe on-line gaming, say on the X360.... Cool
Processing....
For me large files means more storage, means faster 
computers to play said files in the modern format, means 
better graphics probably and to the more modern storage
drives, definitely more storage capacity.... And streaming,
what is the point of streaming... No residual pay back..
or play back. Alive for the moment... Not to my computing
taste.. Probably leads to XP... I say probably, though not
necessarily... On line gaming... Is it gaming or chat... Dunno.
Processing..... 

No... Dial-up isn't frustrating, just more patient,
more selective, more restrictive, yes 'restrictive'... But not
frustrating. A matter of choice. A slower path... but not
frustrating, unless of course I want the faster route... No.

Exciting... When was the last time there was anything 
remotely exciting that I viewed on the internet... Thinks .. 
Laughs. Maybe they refer to viewing movies on the PC... 
Thinks... I use my TV, satellite and DVD for movies and 
that's bad enough most of the time. .. Same old same old.
Can't do two things at the same time... I watch a film
and then use my computer... TV.... computer... 

For my speed demands.. Dial-up is fine 2-1 to dial-up.

Dial-up still winning... Turns leaflet over...

And so I turn to the BT added whizz....

Wired or wireless v s>'security and safety'... No way
Don`t trust wireless on any level..... Yes I'm a sceptic
and so whilst I don`t need to be I won`t. BT only 
seem to give you the wireless router... Interesting.

Connection 8MB download.... No mention of upload.
Speed is a broadband winner. No question. But when
speed is not essential, why bother.... For me that is.

Online safeguards... And don`t I just need them for
all those important credit and private details that get
junked around the finance houses of the world...  Money
makes the world go round. Really is of no use to me 
what so ever as all these measures slow me down... 
And that's my fault, for not being broadband. Such
an idiot .. scuzz.

Free UK evening and weekend calls over the internet...
Still trying to work that one out...

Wi-Fi freedom BT Openzone minutes... No... didn't get
any of that...

And the big push for BT Vision... TV by broadband....
Looks like a push to become totally telephone line 
dependant.

Scuzz chucks the leaflet in the bin. I know I get on the old
high horse about broadband and the later OSs. My only fear
is that one day I will be without dial-up, and the world won`t
care. Well I care, cus I love my retro gear. I love the independent
freedom that comes with not being a sheep. I will bang my drum
until a can bang no more that the big move in computing in these
last few years is toward an external controlled environment
that is internet dependant, and which one day will govern and
dictate the way I use my computer. The machine will
become less the ... ' Effortless and Exciting '... computer ..
to the more ' Effortless and Moronic ' .. home entertainment
centre... And really about as remote from a computer as
the emulation is to a classic computer... Sorry if that
offends, but I love choice..... I just hope I can maintain that
freedom for my lifetime at least. ....

It's all about the perceived getting something for nothing....
Download central.... The invisible touch.... 

One day they will switch me off no doubt.... Moves on.

OK Enough... Pop Quiz... Sing-a-long..

I've got a little black book with my poems in
I've got a bag with a toothbrush and a comb in
When I'm a good dog they sometimes throw me a bone in
I got elastic bands keeping my shoes on
Got those swollen hand blues.
Got thirteen channels of shit on the TV. to choose from
I've got electric light
And I've got second sight
I've got amazing powers of observation
And that is how I know 
When I try to get through 
On the telephone to you 
There'll be nobody home 

Now that is entertaining. Try getting through that wall.

As I say my thoughts only. You enjoy your broadband.

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

Mondrian: Broadway Boogie Woogie

[ Collecting retrospective ]

Hi

The A500 when it arrives is going to be treated to
some fantastic expansions. Today arrived a boxed
SupraRAM 500RX. I do have one of these, but not
in it's lovely box. This unit has 2Mb installed which
is odd cus it says 2Mb ( 1 Mb x 4 ZIP DRAM) .
The unit has a 'Amiga Bus Pass-Through' so I can
add even more to the A500. 

Spec includes, zero wait states, allows the creation
of large RAM disks and an on off switch for test modes.
It really is amazing how many expansions there were
made for the A500. When they finally pulled the plug
on this machine, must have upset quite a few folk. What
would have been even more freaky was buying your
A500 and then finding inside an A500+ which is what
Commodore did with the Cartoons Classic pack that
first Christmas of the Plus release.

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

The Dark Tower