Fired up an Acorn for the first time in years
Discussion
clonmult said:
selym said:
Elite.
I'll just leave that there.
ArcElite, the definitive version of what is probably the best game ever released on any platform in the history of everything ever.I'll just leave that there.
Just an amazing game that can still be played today in the form of Oolite. (Well, you could do a couple of years ago)
selym said:
clonmult said:
selym said:
Elite.
I'll just leave that there.
ArcElite, the definitive version of what is probably the best game ever released on any platform in the history of everything ever.I'll just leave that there.
Just an amazing game that can still be played today in the form of Oolite. (Well, you could do a couple of years ago)
I rarely played it on the Arc, as I'd played it for so many years on the BBC B ...
I had an A5000 and then a RISC PC which then got a StrongARM upgrade. Recently had a bit of a reminiscence about it all as I donated the RISC PC and some associated stuff to a computer museum. Did a large amount of my GCSE/A-Level and university design work on it too.
Spent as many hours playing Saloon Cars, Chocks Away, Starfighter 3000, Stunt Race 2000 as I did the Nintendo/Sega games of the same era. By coincidence I now work not far from where 4D's offices were.
Great machines!
Spent as many hours playing Saloon Cars, Chocks Away, Starfighter 3000, Stunt Race 2000 as I did the Nintendo/Sega games of the same era. By coincidence I now work not far from where 4D's offices were.
Great machines!
Another former Archimedes user here
I had an A440, bought on a massive discount. My mum saved and saved and saved for it, it was a huge amount of money for her and involved making a lot of sacrifices. So I made damn sure I used it. I learnt everything about programming and electronics from working on that machine.
Anyone remember Zarch? That was the ubiquitous demo to show what the Arc could do, it had me absolutely gobsmacked and I learnt everything I had to in order to produce something similar, including 3D geometry, assembly language etc.
Games: Saloon Cars was ace
Nevryon was great. E-type was good fun. The various ports of Amiga games from Krisalis (?) were usually well done. Break 147 was very cool, a snooker simulator that felt amazingly realistic for its time. Elite...everyone has already mentioned it. One of the few "games that changed gaming" and the Arc version was definitive. Of course there was a lot of dross as well.
Magazines: Archimedes World, Acorn User, Micro User - yep, and if you go way back you will see some of my articles in all 3, mainly software reviews written to pay for the software I just bought
I wrote some commercial software, but I won't mention the titles here I still have my RISC OS 2 programmers reference manuals including the RISC OS 3 supplement, along with the Dabs book on Archimedes assembly language. I think I may even have an A3000 technical reference manual somewhere.
I think the Raspberry Pi is a brilliant gadget, it should be on the standard school curriculum and every school pupil should be given one.
I had an A440, bought on a massive discount. My mum saved and saved and saved for it, it was a huge amount of money for her and involved making a lot of sacrifices. So I made damn sure I used it. I learnt everything about programming and electronics from working on that machine.
Anyone remember Zarch? That was the ubiquitous demo to show what the Arc could do, it had me absolutely gobsmacked and I learnt everything I had to in order to produce something similar, including 3D geometry, assembly language etc.
Games: Saloon Cars was ace
Nevryon was great. E-type was good fun. The various ports of Amiga games from Krisalis (?) were usually well done. Break 147 was very cool, a snooker simulator that felt amazingly realistic for its time. Elite...everyone has already mentioned it. One of the few "games that changed gaming" and the Arc version was definitive. Of course there was a lot of dross as well.Magazines: Archimedes World, Acorn User, Micro User - yep, and if you go way back you will see some of my articles in all 3, mainly software reviews written to pay for the software I just bought
I wrote some commercial software, but I won't mention the titles here
I still have my RISC OS 2 programmers reference manuals including the RISC OS 3 supplement, along with the Dabs book on Archimedes assembly language. I think I may even have an A3000 technical reference manual somewhere.I think the Raspberry Pi is a brilliant gadget, it should be on the standard school curriculum and every school pupil should be given one.
Blast from the past!
Another owner here: A310 upgraded to the max - IFEL solder in 4MB upgrade, IFEL 4 slot backplane, 35MHz ARM3 & MEMC1a, ICS IDE hard drive card & 420MB drive (and Acorn ST506 podule and 2x 5.25in 20MB ST506 drives!!) Plus various other bits.
Like many others, taught myself assembler and wrote a few demos and utilities in the early to mid-90s.
Still have it in the loft and it worked the last time I booted it up. Trying to work out a way to get the hard drive image off the hard disk so I can run all my old stuff under emulation.
I've actually been doing a lot of sorting of stuff from my parents' in the last week or so and there is a pile of Arc stuff sat next to me - floppy drive, RISC OS2 ROMs, a 20MB ST506 hard drive & enclosure, and several boxes of floppies!
Somewhere I also have the RISC OS2 PRM and that Dabs Press book on assembler which taught me the basics!
Lander was the demo of Zarch that Arcs came with - also vividly remember watching the Clare's Light and Sound Demo in a dealer called Alpha Microtec on the Stratford Road in Shirley and being knocked out when comparing it to my Atari ST...
Hard to believe that it's 27 years since the Archimedes was launched.
Another owner here: A310 upgraded to the max - IFEL solder in 4MB upgrade, IFEL 4 slot backplane, 35MHz ARM3 & MEMC1a, ICS IDE hard drive card & 420MB drive (and Acorn ST506 podule and 2x 5.25in 20MB ST506 drives!!) Plus various other bits.
Like many others, taught myself assembler and wrote a few demos and utilities in the early to mid-90s.
Still have it in the loft and it worked the last time I booted it up. Trying to work out a way to get the hard drive image off the hard disk so I can run all my old stuff under emulation.
I've actually been doing a lot of sorting of stuff from my parents' in the last week or so and there is a pile of Arc stuff sat next to me - floppy drive, RISC OS2 ROMs, a 20MB ST506 hard drive & enclosure, and several boxes of floppies!
Somewhere I also have the RISC OS2 PRM and that Dabs Press book on assembler which taught me the basics!
Lander was the demo of Zarch that Arcs came with - also vividly remember watching the Clare's Light and Sound Demo in a dealer called Alpha Microtec on the Stratford Road in Shirley and being knocked out when comparing it to my Atari ST...
Hard to believe that it's 27 years since the Archimedes was launched.
Edited by NiceCupOfTea on Thursday 24th April 13:24
NiceCupOfTea said:
Another owner here: A310 upgraded to the max - IFEL solder in 4MB upgrade, IFEL 4 slot backplane, 35MHz ARM3 & MEMC1a, ICS IDE hard drive card & 420MB drive (and Acorn ST506 podule and 2x 5.25in 20MB ST506 drives!!)
Only 35MHz? I had one that ran at 40MHz 
But that's only because I worked for a company that made them, and went through every single chip to find the fastest one.
I did stick a fan on it to help with cooling...
TheGroover said:
Right, I have memories of playing a game on an (I think) A3010. It was an isometric adventure where you played a robot. Had to solve puzzles and the like, and your boss was called De'Ath. I can't for the life of me remember what it was called, does it ring any bells?
After much googling it seems it was Carnage Inc. I'd like to play it again, I'll have to check out some emulators I think... I also enjoyed Technodream (Nevyron 2) so I'll search that out as well...
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