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chinnyhill10 · 22:41, 26 October 13

Hi! Finally got around to joining.

First got a CPC Christmas 1985, and used it as my main computer right up until Christmas 1992 (when I got an Amiga 1200). But I still continued to buy Amstrad Action every month and buy CPC games because I was a proper fanboy. Remember going to Paris in 1993 and being overwhelmed with the amount of software in the Virgin Megastore and ended up buying CPC stuff when I should have probably been buying Amiga games!

I was even one of the idiots who bought a GX4000 at Christmas 1990.

I amassed a few hundred games, had expansions coming out of every slot on my CPC. Protext, Teletext adaptor, 3.5 inch disc drive, DMP 2000, even had the CPC hooked up to the stereo.

On my first trip onto the fledgling World Wide Web in mid 1995 I downloaded a CPC emulator from a URL I found in Amstrad Action and ftp'd onto NVG and downloaded some dsk images.

Then when I got my own net connection later in '95 I was a regular on comp.sys.amstrad.cpc (or whatever it was called) under my real name and stayed there for about 6 years until I drifted off of Usenet. In fact I sent my GX4000 cartridges off to another poster who then placed them online (think it was Kevin Thacker?). So you may well all be playing my Pang cartridge!

Sadly by 2002 my CPC was so utterly worn out it had to be binned. Edge connectors were gone, keyboard was shot to bits and the monitor was very ill. It had given me thousands of hours of enjoyment and had lead a very hard life.

Today I don't run any original CPC hardware. Why? Well the CPC was always a proper computer with a decent keyboard and a good quality monitor. Feels perfectly correct to be running it under emulation where as a C64 or Spectrum feel wrong (for them you need an imperfect display and a crap keyboard to get the full experience).

Ironically I own lots of other original hardware. C64's, a couple of +3's, a BBC Master, a pimped up A1200, Dreamcast, Megadrive, SMS, SNES, 7800, a Saturn and a load of other bits and pieces. But no CPC's.

Have lurked here for a fair while but thought it was about time I got an account.

Zoe Robinson · 23:31, 26 October 13

Hello and welcome to the forum. I remember c.s.amstrad.* - we may have talked at some point.

MacDeath · 00:41, 27 October 13

Where are you from ?

anyway Bienvenue/welk'ohm/will come/benvenudo / etc...

robcfg · 01:04, 27 October 13

Welcome to our lovely forum!

I agree with you that the CPC is quite well emulated, but there are always some nice games that you should really watch on the original hardware.

Cheers!
Rob

mr_lou · 07:03, 27 October 13

Welcome to our cozy corner.

Quote from: robcfg on 01:04, 27 October 13I agree with you that the CPC is quite well emulated, but there are always some nice games that you should really watch on the original hardware.

Strongly agreed!
Also, I compose music on the CPC, and would never use an emulator for that. Only the real hardware gives the correct sound.

Lots of CPC's at eBay.

TotO · 08:56, 27 October 13

Quote from: chinnyhill10 on 22:41, 26 October 13Today I don't run any original CPC hardware. Why? Well the CPC was always a proper computer with a decent keyboard and a good quality monitor. Feels perfectly correct to be running it under emulation [...] Ironically I own lots of other original hardware. [...] But no CPC's.

I though the same in 2009, when I have seen the emulators running a CPC and remember me exactly what it was in mind.
Then, in 2010, I started to work on a CPC game and I was curious to see how my graphics looked on the real computer... And it was a big surprise to see that the emulators are far to the real machine.
- The display is not the same on a CTM (a bit close on a LCD)
- The moves are more smooth on the real machine
- The musics sound better (internal of external speakers)
- Some bugs seen and ear on emulators are not presents
- Better to not speak about the FDC...
And finally, it was a real pleasure to reuse the original keyboard and the compacts floppy discs.

For all those reasons, I will never back to emulators, except for tests when I was not at home.

Gryzor · 18:47, 28 October 13

Welcome mate! Glad you joined us, hope you stay!

Used to frequent the Usenet too, that was before strong fora were available (on any subject).

...and, yeah, I may fire up the emulator to see something in a hurry, but -although I see your point, actually feeling the old machine is unbeatable...

TFM · 21:45, 28 October 13

Hi and welcome here.

chinnyhill10 · 22:55, 28 October 13

Yeah, it's nice to have the hardware. I wouldn't mind a standalone 6128 but there's no way I want a CTM 644 in the house. Let alone the size, a 25+ year old CRT has no appeal to me. It's only going to end up at the dump when the inevitable happens. Worked with too many CRT's to know it only ends one way.

What we really need is better CRT emulation in the emulators.

Keep in mind though I don't complain much about the quality of emulators. When I first started the CPC emulator (was it CPCEMU?) couldn't do borders or mode 2 properly. And sound was terrible as well. These days the emulation is far better.

I remember being an Alpha tester on the first CPC Plus emulator as well. Think it was called Multi Machine. Ah, those were the days!

chinnyhill10 · 23:18, 28 October 13

Quote from: Gryzor on 18:47, 28 October 13
Welcome mate! Glad you joined us, hope you stay!

Used to frequent the Usenet too, that was before strong fora were available (on any subject).

It was comp.sys.amstrad.8bit . A great resource back in the day with lots of the great and good posting. Cliff Lawson used to be a regular and gave some fascinating insights into the CPC and Amstrad in general.

But when I got ASDL, the point of Usenet was lost. I no longer needed to read stuff offline and with a change of ISP I lost access to a news server. So I just vanished one day without a goodbye.

arnoldemu · 10:10, 29 October 13

Quote from: chinnyhill10 on 22:41, 26 October 13
.... (think it was Kevin Thacker?). ...

yes it was me, I dumped them using my amiga.

I am here as arnoldemu

welcome btw.

chinnyhill10 · 12:49, 02 November 13

Quote from: arnoldemu on 10:10, 29 October 13
yes it was me, I dumped them using my amiga.

I am here as arnoldemu

welcome btw.

Cool. I remember you sending the files back and me loading them up and being terribly excited. Multi Machine was the only emulator that could use them and as I recall it was still in alpha and very CPU heavy. Great idea though, having all those machines in one emulator. Never seemed to take off though.

Munchausen · 14:59, 03 November 13

Welcome to the forum!

Quote from: chinnyhill10 on 22:55, 28 October 13
Yeah, it's nice to have the hardware. I wouldn't mind a standalone 6128 but there's no way I want a CTM 644 in the house. Let alone the size, a 25+ year old CRT has no appeal to me. It's only going to end up at the dump when the inevitable happens. Worked with too many CRT's to know it only ends one way.

What we really need is better CRT emulation in the emulators.

Or a scart cable/VGA converter/S-Video converter? You don't need a CRT anymore these days

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