ScuzzBlog: Diaries March 2021
Entry 22nd March 2021: Post 1: My Amigas - Who wants to live for ever.
My Amigas - Who wants to live for ever.
I have been criticised in my time for hoarding computers. Really
couldn't care less. I have but one hobby and that is computers.
So I just have fun with my interest and I would seriously buy a
lot more if I had the space.
Saying all that I have more of an interest in the look and feel
of the computers and less with the actual working aspects of them.
Let me explain.
When I purchased my Amiga 1200 in 1993 I just saw it as the next
in my line of computers. No different to my next video recorder
or washing machine. I was well use to the life expectancy of all
things mechanical and the A1200 was no different. I had spent a
year struggling with a drive on a PCW9512 trying to get the last
pages of my book printed off. So having a new computer was a bit
of a relief.
I was aware of the technological advancement of computers and
given the collapse of Commodore shortly after, I had already in my
head pencilled in a 1995/96 date for my next computer and I was
sure it was going to be a PC.
During my time with the A1200 I kinda fell in love with the kit
and began to trouble myself over it failing. Consequently in 1995
I purchased a second A1200 just in case. I then got a cheap 600
which came with a monitor. Now I had a bit of a backstop. However
in 1996 I did buy that Windows 95 machine and I was off and running
with PC based machines which have been my main computers since
that day.
I have never gotten the A1200 or Amiga out of my blood and carried
on using the kit long after I got the Win95 machine. It has not
been a main computer but it certainly has been a real favourite.
In the early 2000s I decided to enlarge the collection of Amigas
with kit I purchased off Amibench. This included the EZ tower,
A4000T and CD-ROM and Squirrel. I also purchased a brand new
Amiga Technologies A1200 for keep sake just in case the older kit
broke. I was keen to keep an Amiga running for as long as I could.
My passion for computers has always filled my thoughts and I have
never stopped expanding the wider reaches of my interest. This can
be expressed in three ways. First as my primary driver that is
constantly updating the current kit. So whilst I have the Win7
machine still as my main computer, I do have a Win10 brand new DeLL
waiting in the wings. Just sitting here. The second consideration
is that of my love affair with the Amiga and so a few selected
computers do hold a special place in my heart. These include my
very first Amiga 1200 which I still use. The third aspect of my
computer interest is the retro computers and they really are just
treated like books on a book shelf. I have and I hold and they are
merely for reference.
And to the point of this blog.... The concern of others that I may
be letting the kit die by not changing the capacitors. I have no
fear of the 'void'. The empty abyss grows ever closer with each day
and we are all destined to die. The computers are but a passing
moment in time. I never anticipated the Amiga to last more than
four years. I have been very grateful that she still lives on. I
had already prepared for her demise and have the newer computer
just waiting. I sense though that when she does give up the ghost
I will simply place her in her Desktop Dynamite box and bid her a
fond farewell. The event gives me closure and it is long overdue.
My computers are my world and my world can not escape the clutches
of death. That moment I pass from the world into the void will mark
the end of everything, and what happens then I care not. I live for
my world and my world exists for me and nobody else. The kit is
really just old junk. It is expired goods that have given me a good
deal of pleasure. After so many years waiting for the A1200 to pop
I reflect on the fact that I got good value for my money. I couldn't
bare the thought of anyone else even touching my kit.
And so no... you can't has my stuff. Once I am gone it will have
served its use. These are not museum pieces , this is my world.
Here is an interesting timeline that may shock you. These are my
main computers by year.
1983 - ZX81
1984 - 16K Spectrum
1984 to 1988 48K Spectrum
1988 - Spectrum+
1988 - 1993 PCW9512 and 1512
1993 - 1996 Amiga 1200
1996 - 2000 Win95 Colossus
2000 - 2008 Evesham Win98
2008 - 2011 Evesham XP
2011 - Current day HP Win7
[2017] I bought a DeLL PC never use it.
The Amiga actually was my main machine for just 2.5 years. I was
using the PCW9512 for five years. The Win98 machine for eight years.
And so I should actually be celebrating Windows more than the Amiga.
So today when I switched on the five Amiga computers that form my
inner circle to check they were working and muck around a while with
my passion, I reflected on whether somewhere inside of these computers
there was a leaking capacitor that was slowly eating away at the
computer. I know not. What is more I don't care. We are all rotting
away and eventually that thing that takes us simply works to return
us to the void. Life is a journey but as with all journeys there has
to be an end. I have loved my time with the computers but even I
have to admit that I have no desire to live for ever. So for the
Amiga there will come a day, when she will be gone and I am prepared.
In the mean time though I will play Hired Guns and watch Clara Veiga
strutting her stuff on my A1200. Forever young.
Happy days.
And the moral. By all means have an interest in the past, but never let
it dominate your future. Life is way too short.
Some pictures. Quite meaningless. Just showing the bloody Amigas are
still alive and kicking as ever. Would be a blessing if they would
give up so I can put them away.
My Amigas - Who wants to live for ever.
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