ScuzzBlog: Diaries January 2022
Entry 24th January 2022: Post 1: Amiga Tower - The only way is up.
Amiga Tower - The only way is up.
It is a testament to the efforts of the Amiga community in the late
nineties that their was still so much enthusiasm for the platform.
With little or next to no new actual Amiga computers being released
it is surprising just how many were still persevering. Though the
magazines were growing less by the year, there was still active
content and a die hard developer base. The computer attempted to
embrace the CD and so magazines would regularly distribute CDs
filled with Amiga goodies to sample. Later versions of popular
software were also previewed.
The downside for the user base was with so little new hardware they
were forced to upgrade and adapt what they had to accommodate the
hardware provided for other systems. The most obvious upgrade being
the 'tower-ising' of your A1200 or A4000. In doing so the kit could
benefit from a plethora of cards together with more onboard options
for drives both SCSI and IDE.
The magazines of the day certainly reflected a community now modd'ing
their kit and provided CD cover discs to feed their passion. Though
the magazines reported various take-over and buy-outs for the Amiga,
together with third part Amiga towers and the like, the sense was
that the community were going it alone and feeding their own hobby.
Sadly that is what the Amiga became in the late 90's, a hobby for
Amiga die hard fans. The kit was noticeably 'creaking' at the towers
and was in desperate need for newer computers.
With each passing year the magazines died until the last giant fell.
Amiga Format was last to go and the user base was ejected to the Yahoo
Group AFB. The first part of the 2000s saw a very active usage of the
Yahoo Groups with AFB, CU, Amiga Active, AMOS, SAMBA, Pure Amiga etc.
There still appeared to be active users and folk willing to help with
technical questions. But with no major publication supporting the
platform it was obvious that developers were no longer going to able
to promote their products.
I guess Amiga Active was the last big publication to vanish and with
it the end of the dream for many Amiga users of their ever being any
phoenix rising from the ashes. And so post 2008'ish the users either
sold their kit on Ebay or put it in store. Some struggled on and my
group Commodore Amiga Retro managed to keep the flag flying a little
longer. The groups battled on until Yahoo finally closed them down
completely, and with it the last lines of connection to the original
user base. Today we are left with very little of what existed in the
nineties post the demise of Commodore. Most of my historical links
have all but died. We still have Aminet and the Big Book and AmigaOrg,
Amiga World Net and EAB who still try to offer serious discussion. Sadly
the new breed of thumbs up, following, social networking, data farming
sites have adopted the name and seem to be doing a very good job of
disconnecting it totally with the origins of the platform.
Anyhoo... I was never a fan of the tower. I have an A4000d in an ATEO,
I have and A1200 in an EZ but they are no substitute for an actual new
Amiga. My actual Commodore and Escom towers are limited to the A4000T
and A3000T which I never use. They are 'monoliths' under dust covers.
The A4000T is the least photographed of all my computers. It sits not
3 feet here to my left, draped in white linen and used as a shelf for
PlayStation 2 games. The A3000Ts have an XBOX 360 and a collection of
Spectrum games on top. I keep saying I will resurrect the A4000T. I
did remove its front door and place in safe store. I do have a second
A4000T tower, never used. Who knows. The images inside are so blurred
and old... it is such a shame.
So for me 'the only way is up' was never a dream for my Amigas. What I
so dearly longed for was an actual new Amiga. The day I visited Escom
I felt so lonely, dejected and abandoned. From the tone of the sales
person I knew there was no intention of developing a new Amiga. That
was a very sad day. My bubble had been finally burst and so retro was
to be the only future for my interest. And that was about 120 Amigas
ago. I do not ever regret my decision to stay with the Amiga. Nothing
in this world makes me happier than my time and memories with the most
wonderful friend I have ever had. She will be with me to the end. And
whilst she never was placed in an elevated status she towers head and
shoulders above both the modern kit and its so called modern users. I
live in the past because the future for three decades has been 'retro'.
Cooo Yazz .. the music ' The only way is up '
Sorry in advance for Googles adverts
Amiga Tower - The only way is up.
|
