new cpcoxygen website.

[arnoldemu]

http://cpcoxygen.net/
Saw the link on comp.sys.amstrad.8bit.

[nurgle]

Looks nice. Thanks for posting it here!

[Gryzor]

Yeah, saw it too! but what's it gonna be now, in its new form?

[Travis P]

Yeah, saw it too! but what's it gonna be now, in its new form?

I also wonder how it will evolve. I remember in the old format they hosted the Amstrad Action scans, nice to get some credit as I scanned and donated a few issues way back when.

[John Kavanagh]

I also wonder how it will evolve. I remember in the old format they hosted the Amstrad Action scans, nice to get some credit as I scanned and donated a few issues way back when.

Hi Travis,

You did indeed donated a lot of good quality scans of AA, and I will be mentioning you and others who donated in the new site. I still list the name of the scanners on the old site at http://cpcoxygen.fxwebdevelopment.com/aa.html

There are a few UNKNOWNS, did you scanned any of those? If so I'll put your name there.

I do feel it is important to list the name of the people who put time and effort into the scans. I am slightly annoyed at some sites which put the Amstrad Action scans up and didn't bother to list the scanners. Extremely unfair as it only takes a moment to give some credit.

If anyone knows who scanned any of the UNKNOWN issues please let me know and I put their names on.

John

[Travis P]

There are a few UNKNOWNS, did you scanned any of those? If so I'll put your name there.

Unfortunatly I didn't scan any of those. All the ones you got my name under were the only ones I scanned, which were basically the early issues.

[redbox]

Glad to hear the CPC Oxygen website is back. 

The AA scans are brilliant, as was the Oxygen magazine - I found your parallel cable articles invaluable!

[cpc4eva]

yeah i just saw cpc oxygen phase II  now didnt know about the site as i saw it from the retro action home page.


now anyone can register and add articles and posts to cpc oxygen with wordpress :0)


they have a poll about improving the cpc.  I thought this was interesting as all the poll selections were as i see it necessary to improve the cpc.  so all of the above should be a selection too.


I've always thought that cpc should have had more than one joystick port it was a real let down not being able to play 2 player games.


the other improvement that i always thought that the upgrade of the cpc should have happened around 3 years after its launch around 1987 instead of 1990 when the plus was launched. 

[MacDeath]

@cpc4eva

Yes I think a bit like you.

IMO the PLUS range could even have been loaded in early 1988...
And should have been 128k only (like the Speccy +2 and +3...)

128K ram and 256K-512k cartridges is what the GX4000 lacked a lot.


Concerning the 2 joy ports...I don't think it was that much a big deal.

If games rarely featured a 2 player option, it wasn't because of the only one Joy port at all.

It was just because of lazy Arcades ports or lazy Z80/8 bit ports.


With my brother, we were used with this : he played Keyboard and i played Joy.


IMO the more problematic stuff was the lack of use of extra buttons on CPC and all the computers of the Era (C64, Speccy, ST and Amiga almost all used only 1 button joys...)
while the CPC can actually have a 6 buttons joy...by merging the 2 joys into one.

As a result, poorer gameplay was the rule.
Also too few Games had a real decent redefine controls option.

IMO, the real deal was that the CPC6128 had no extra stuff at all.
If it could have got some of the Extra Ram to be used by Sound and Video chips without taking it to the CPU...

Let's say : 16K to 32k for the video and also 16-32k for the sound...yet you may also be able to use it for something else by "disabling/reducing" the video/sounds...
We also know that an overscan/full screen need actually 24k to cover the entire screen.


This would have made a freaking kool CPC with a real Video card and a real Sound card and a fully working Z80 (with it's full 64Ko....)

But because the 6128 was just a 464 with extra Ram banks and a Disk drive...
the original design was done like that because it wasi ntended to feature only 64K.
And they kept this flaw even with the PLUS range.


Another slight improovement would have been to implement 5 more colours in the palette :
Dark Grey
Light Grey
Dark Pink
Brown
Medium brown

With only this, the palette would have been perfectly balanced IMO and many games would look incredibly better.

Sadly enough, those are not present in the poll.

But the point are :

-More Ram ?
no use as the Z80 is running at a lower Ram because of the Sound or Graphics.
And no use as even the 128K of a 6128 was too rarely used.
yet I do believe the correct Ram setting for a CPC would be 256K...yep.
But this would need the Video and Sound (or even the Asic's PLUS stuff) to be actually able to tap into those baks without parasiting the Z80's adresses...and a bigger Disk drive then (DD 3.5" then with 720ko per disc)

-Hardware sprites and Scrolls ?
Done in the PLUS.
And again no use if you take this from the z80 power...

-8 colours Mode 1 and 32 colours in Mode 0 ?
You clearly don't know how the Video part of the CPC works if you ask for this. 
8 colour mode can be achieved with a 3 bit codage and 32 colours with a 5 bit codage.
Why not after all.
But in a 8 bit world in Bytes where every things come by 1, 2, 4 or 8 bits... those prime numbers are not good.
Yet...would slow even more the z80 and need the full Video system to be re-think.

Perhaps a character-attribute-like system that would enable to set a different ink palette per character would have been sweet.
let's say :
1 bit per character : 2 colour palettes (ink settings actually) available
2 bits per character : 4 colour palettes available...

And disastrous too as we would only had even more speccy ports...lol, and it would have given us even less Z80 Ram if no other improuvement done at the same time.

Another solution : doubling the Video Ram to get double bits colours code.
so : Mode 0 : 256colours
Mode 1 : 16 colours
Mode 2 : 4 colours.
The 256 colours mode0 is perhaps one thing the Atari ST missed IMO...

But to do this, it would need the GateArray/CRTC couple to be able to "overclock" at double speed...and the Video Ram to be used at extra Ram banks (so a 6128 version at least) or else it would be unusable with a 464/664 version...

-3.5 inch floppy drive ?
Well, as so many game producers didn't even made real 6128 versions...the 3" was more than enough.
Expensive Discs but reliable ones and fast too.
Of course for the professionnal point of view, the 3.5" would have been great for all the C/PM library.
And for the snotling I was it would have meant more discs to put more cracked games...

-A Zilog Z80B CPU running at 6 MHz (instead of 4 MHz) ?
I believed the CPC's Z80 ran at 3.33Mhz thx too our lovely Video system ?
Wrong proplem too.
Just getting a part of the 6128 extra Ram especially for the Video and sound is more than enough to free a lot of power for the z80...and even have some Ram banks left.



So with only the +5 colours on the Palette and the better use of the Extra Ram for video and Sounds to lighten the z80 efforts, the CPC6128 could really have been a more serious competitor to the MSX and C64 despite a fully softwared sprite/scroll management...

Because it would have been cheaper and good enough...

Imagine the sweet fastness of a speccy and improuved graphics of an Amstrad...all together in a "cheap" complete  package.


Just imagine :

Barbarian with :
-128k version and full z80 capability...the +5 palette colours and the real video/sound "card" system...
-a 2 button management (to get a better gameplay).

Awesome !
Oustanding !
Incredibly fuck Yeah !!!

Just having seen what could be achieved with Rick Dangerous 128+ simply by using more multi loadings and the extra +64k Ram banks...
And a Palette with a real Grey gradiant, real browns...
Shame on Sir Alan Sugar !