CPC 30th birthday!

[steve]

Two ideas to mark the 30th anniversary of the CPC,

1, remake soft871m http://www.cpcwiki.eu/index.php/File:Amstrad_Computer_User8507_006.jpg, I would not wear it, but others might .

2, produce a printed version of CPCWiki, an encyclopeadia of the CPC. there is so much in the Wiki that I simply do not realise is there, it would be great to simply flick through the pages of the encyclopeadia and see just how much is in there.

[robcfg]

The T-Shirt idea is nice, but I'd slightly change the text on it to "I've been an Amstrad computer user for the past 30 years"... 

[Trebmint]

Why not just have a birthday convention?

[db6128]

Probably because users are so widely spread. Which is a good thing. But it means that any location chosen is likely to exclude the majority of users, who would not be able to get there.

steve: Nice idea, but a fair proportion of the wiki is not written to a standard that would really work on paper: we have people conversing within the main text, things that are not very well translated, lots of stubs, etc. This is not meant as a criticism of CPC Wiki and certainly is not specific to it: any attempt to pool content from a wiki for publication is going to face a lot of obstacles if it wants to be worthwhile.
Of course, in the longer term, the idea of a carefully selected, edited, and referenced selection of the best and most important articles would be a really nice idea for a project: the kind of thing that sometimes gets done by single authors but that would of course benefit a lot from having a team or community rather than just one person, with the aim now being presentation and depth rather than just getting information onto the internet in any format.

I think a t-shirt could be good, though! Probably not that exact design, mind you. The wireframed Amstrad logo, or maybe the one with the solid background and red stripe, would work well; probably, it should also include the square-ish CPC logo – and maybe also the 464 if anyone would want that, although it might be nicer to keep it general to the family as it has the same birthday, too.

[Sykobee (Briggsy)]

Well, I guess you've already seen the work I've done on my FPGA board

Great work!
Btw, will this work on the FPGA Arcade board, which will shortly be available?

[ralferoo]

Btw, will this work on the FPGA Arcade board, which will shortly be available?

It could be made to work in theory, but I don't intend to get an FPGA arcade board because they are pretty expensive, and also somewhat Amiga focused (such as the onboard 68000!). That and they've been "any time soon" for years!

I guess my board is similar but intended for 8-bit emulations, so I have a tape input and SCART output for instance. I reckon also mine will be substantially cheaper to make when the time comes - I've built my current one-off prototype board for less than the cost of the FPGA arcade!

[Sykobee (Briggsy)]

The FPGA Arcade has no 68000 on board - the Minimig does, but that's been around for a few years now.


It's targeted for re-implementation of many old systems, not just the Amiga. It was initially intended for arcade games, hence the name.


The boards are now in production. But yeah, they will be around £200 in the end, and for 8-bit implementations you need far less of a system, smaller FPGA, etc. I'd be interested to read about yours!

[ralferoo]

There's a few pictures on my blog, albeit sporadically: CPC FPGA - Recreation of an Amstrad CPC on an FPGA

Certainly, I'm at least 2 prototypes away from having something I'd consider ready for sale, but I can't imagine selling them for more than £100 when they're done, and possibly quite a bit cheaper than that if I knew I could sell a lot - one of the biggest expenses at the moment is making the PCBs, but obviously if you're making hundreds the cost per board comes down a lot. Obviously, if I was making that many, I couldn't do them by hand so I'd have to pay extra to get the boards populated...

But I'll certainly keep people on here informed of my progress...

[lynwen]

Wow, nearly as old as me, when I celebrate my 30th next year I'll be sure to celebrate it along with my cpc 464    have had one for as long as I can remember!

[Gryzor]

@Steve, the t-shirt or a hoodie is a good idea, but if we're to do it it should be something unique, not something anyone and everyone could do, like take the vector logo and go to a print shop. Maybe a graphician in here could make something cool?

Also, the encyclopaedia would be an awesome idea. Yes, it would need a lot of work, but, db6128, every single book needs editing. Here we have lots of content already, so editing shouldn't be such a bad problem. I think the major difficulty would be organising the thing - what to include and in what order. But still, a great idea...

@lynwen, it won't be complete without the 80s hair and accessories. Party like it's '84!

[db6128]

@Steve, the t-shirt or a hoodie is a good idea[...] Maybe a graphician in here could make something cool?

Definitely a good idea, and I'm sure someone here could!

Also, the encyclopaedia would be an awesome idea. Yes, it would need a lot of work, but, db6128, every single book needs editing. Here we have lots of content already, so editing shouldn't be such a bad problem. I think the major difficulty would be organising the thing - what to include and in what order. But still, a great idea...

I wasn't meaning anything bad against this wiki, just nothing things I've perceived that affect the wiki format in general. And I agree that none of these are insurmountable – far from it! If the effort can be found, I'd be firmly in favour of the idea. I'd like to offer whatever services I could, but things are going to get very busy next month, so I wouldn't want commit to anything in case I have too little time.

[TFM]

@lynwen, it won't be complete without the 80s hair and accessories. Party like it's '84!

There is a good education movie about that. It's called 'Class of 1984'. Look it up

[Devilmarkus]

What I like is the list:
- *snip*
- xxxxx (part)
- xxxxx (part)
- xxxxx (part)
- ProjectArgon (best part)

Cool that they already know, who is going to code the best part :-D

[TFM]

Link?

[McKlain]

Push'n'Pop | Amstrad CPC Demoscene | 30 years megademo - Call for Demomakers

[Gryzor]

@db6128, I know you didn't mean anything bad

A collaboartive project like this does have its inherent drawbacks, and this here is one of them. I was just saying that yes, this issue notwithstanding, one could still pull it off!

[TFM]

A chain is as strong as its weakest part.

[beaker]

A chain is as strong as its weakest part.

And here's a link to the video discussing that phrase for absolutely no reason at all. Enjoy 

[Gryzor]

Stop it, half asleep already.

[Bryce]

Well Jeramiah already gets it wrong on the first slide, so so-much for that:

"This is a reference to human beings" - No it's not! That phrase can be used in reference to anything which has multiple parts, such as the design of a computer, bridge, car and even non-physical things such as a process, etc, etc....


Now I'm boring myself

Bryce.

[Munchausen]

The CPC series is almost exactly one year older than me... and the 664 was released the month I was born!


I'll have to ask my parents exactly when it was they bought the 6128, but I can't ever remember it ever not being around, and I guess it was some time before 1987 because I know for a fact that I inserted most of a half chewed rusk biscuit into the floppy drive, and I could only have been at most two or so at the time! (Don't worry my Dad cleaned it - I'm still using it now).


So I'd say the CPC was pretty formative for me - I learned to program on it and it sparked in me the interest of a life time.


I don't know what to do to celebrate it's 30 years - but I'd definitely like to celebrate it!

[Gryzor]

I'd say the CPC was formative to some extend for most of us here, but not many grew up from moment zero with them!

[lynwen]

I'd say the CPC was formative to some extend for most of us here, but not many grew up from moment zero with them!

Are you saying most people on here are really old and wrinkly 

[TFM]

Depends how quick you are

[Gryzor]

Thank you for staying on topic. Pretty lame to destroy such a good thread...