ScuzzBlog: Diaries June 2024
Entry 18th June 2024: Post 1: Escom era - Tomorrow is a hope, never a promise.
Escom era - Tomorrow is a hope, never a promise.
Whilst putting away the Amiga Technologies A1200 computer with
the failed hard drive, I reflected again on the Escom era and
how it came and went in a blink of an eye. And yet the legacy of
that period was to give the community the very last batch of
Amiga computers, that still circulate today.
The Amiga Technologies or Escom kit remains whiter than white
and has lasted the test of time better than most, for me. I am
always happy to power one of these units up cus the floppy is
tough as old boots and the case is always gleaming.
Escom managed to survive barely a year from June 95 to June 96.
It took six months for the shops to start stocking the new [old]
Amiga 1200 computers, albeit with the 3.1 ROM and in the Magic
Pack. With so much promise the machine fizzled and popped for
six months until the community realised there wasn't going to be
any real new Amigas, or Amiga kit. What we were getting was just
rebadged old kit in a flashy new box.
The shops had piles of 1200 machines stuffed at the back, whilst
the floor was filled with shiny new up-to-the-minute PCs with all
the very latest gadgets. The Amiga was just a temptation to bring
possible PC buyers into the store.
The magazines had but a handful of half worthy games and a few new
gadgets to expand your new A1200 with kit that it should already
have as standard, like a CD-ROM. A few companies tried to keep kit
viable with new accelerators and RAM cards but it was hardly the
plethora of gear and kit that the Commodore era had maintained.
I watched as the games shelves in my favourite store shrank to a
couple of lines. There was no restocking of games controllers and
what was on offer was pushed to the very back of the store. The
magazines got less, and thinner, and the optimism that began in Jan
96 soon evaporated as the Escom promise faded and died.
For me it was the last straw. I wasn't about to spend two thousand
quid on a system that was about to lose its backer. It was obvious
that there was very little future for the Amiga post Escom without
serious new up to date kit. Sadly that little dream had long since
vaporised into the ether.
So what to do ?
I knew when I stood looking into the window of Escom, bereft of
any visible Amiga presence, I had been backing the wrong horse. It
became obvious that I had to finally accept my PC fate, and so I
purchased a Win95 machine for a little over two thousand quid.
What is remarkable is that I have traversed the mediocrity of the
Win95, Win98, XP, Win7 and Win10 eras sitting here punching at this
Windows based crap and yet always, and I mean always, there has
been sitting right next to me an active Amiga 1200. Right now it
is another Amiga Technologies machine from the Escom era. I have
never been able to fully cut the ties, and probably will never. I
struggled this week with one failure but moved very quickly to
remedy the situation. And there I was pouring my efforts out trying
to salvage a broken hard drive, cus it provided a link to a better
past, one where time on the computer was truly magical. I don't
blame Commodore or Escom for ending what had been a glorious dream,
but I do curse Windows for not trying to fill the void with a
worthy substitute.
It is a truth that I will most likely leave this world and return
to the void never having seen a later Amiga than the one recycled
by Escom back in 1996. I would have hardly believed in 1993 that
I would still be using my beloved original A1200 some thirty years
on in the future.
The opening line from League of Legends latest video echoes ...
' Tomorrow is a hope, never a promise '.
Escom era - Tomorrow is a hope, never a promise.
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Last updated 18th June 2024
Chandraise Kingdom
Keep the Faith
scuzzscink 2024