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Category Archives: Retro
River Software down under
Back in 1991, I operated a small software company in Australia named Entertainment Software. Essentially, it was a mail-order business, complemented by several independent computer stores that carried my products. During that same year, I reached out to Jack Lockerby, … Continue reading
Posted in Commodore, Retro
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The Quest for the Sun
In September 1986, I found myself in year 10 at a regional high school in New South Wales, eagerly anticipating my work experience at a local computer shop called RAMROD. The store manager, Greg, was an absolutely awesome guy who … Continue reading
Posted in ATARI ST, Atari ST, Programming, Retro, STOS
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BBS and beyond
On Monday, June 30, 1986, we launched Comm-Link BBS for the Gosford Commodore User Group (based in Gosford, NSW). Over the past six months, I had worked on designing, programming, and conducting extensive testing to reach the point where users … Continue reading
Posted in 8 Bit Computer, BASIC, Commodore, Programming, Retro
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Vital Message
My second BASIC to C conversion using the classic Usborne 1980s computer books which helped many of today’s tech professionals were inspired by the Usborne computing books they read as children. The books included program listings for such iconic computers as the … Continue reading
Posted in BASIC, C, Commodore, Programming, Retro, Software
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Robot Missile
Usborne 1980s computer books helped many of today’s tech professionals were inspired by the Usborne computing books they read as children. The books included program listings for such iconic computers as the ZX Spectrum, the BBC Micro and the Commodore 64, … Continue reading
Posted in BASIC, C, Commodore, Programming, Retro
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Retro Computer Kit
Early in September 2019 while on holidays in London I had a couple of free days available and decided to head north to Cambridge to visit the Centre for Computing History which was having an event day. Hidden away in … Continue reading
Posted in 8 Bit Computer, BASIC, Hardware, Retro
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An adventure in 3583 bytes
Towards the end of 1983, I wrote several text adventure games for the Commodore VIC 20. Inspired by the classic Commodore released cartridge-based text adventures by Scott Adams, especially AdventureLand and Pirate Cove, I started programming my series. I had … Continue reading
Posted in BASIC, Commodore, Programming, Retro, Software
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TheC64
A couple of years ago Retro Games released TheC64 mini. Basically a little C64 without a working keyboard. It was a lot of fun, especially playing some of the built-in games and of course adding some old favorites. For Christmas … Continue reading
Posted in 6502 Assembly Lanuage, BASIC, Commodore, Programming, Retro, Software
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BASIC wasn’t a dirty word
Why was the Commodore VIC 20 such a fabulous computer to learn to program? When you look back at the release of the VIC 20 in 1981 the word computer wasn’t in the vocabulary of the average person. Outside of a few … Continue reading
Posted in BASIC, Commodore, Programming, Retro, Software
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Metal Slug . . .
Over the past 5 years, I have backed via Kickstarter and purchase from specialist book publishers like Bitmap Books a number of extremely high-quality books about my favorite topic retro gaming and computers. With each new book, I await the delivery with … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Retro
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