Talk about Amstrad CPC

[teopl]

I have this idea:

I would like to make a presentation of Amstrad CPC computers to my co-workers (I work in software company).

Some of the topics could be:
- history of Amstrad and 8-bit computers in general
- small course in BASIC programming
- example in C programming for Amstrad
- presentation of my and/or other people's software
- presentation of new hardware made for Amstrad (SF3, RSF3, M4, ...)
- old and new games, demos
- sit and use actual hardware

I never did a public presentation like this but idea of making this sounds attractive, especially because I think my company will allow to connect the machines and have this exhibition available for people for few days.

Question for all who could contribute:
- what do you think about the idea, do you have suggestions?
- do you know some useful similar presentations (video or written) which I can use to prepare?

[Gryzor]

The wiki itself and Wikipedia would be a great place to start? 

[teopl]

The wiki itself and Wikipedia would be a great place to start?

Sure, google, wiki, youtube, ...

Or I should just tell ChatGPT to do it for me

I was thinking more in direction if someone already saw something like a "talk about amstrad" which was actually done good from where I could "steal" ideas.
(and I started the topic without even making a basic google search I admit!)

I will definitely use wiki after I make some "skeleton" for the talk.

[Gryzor]

GPT has produced hilarious results, as showcased elsewhere here!

But, that's what I'm saying, even the introductory articles from here or the Wikipedia will get you started with the outline very quickly! 

[HAL6128]

How much time do you want to spend and/or how deep do you want to dive?

[teopl]

That is maybe the most important question for me since I am limited in:

- time to present (1-2h would be maximum for first presentation and if it goes well I could think about next)
- time to prepare (I would not spend 2 months preparing material and slides since I don't have that time now  - so I could invest 2-3 weeks few hours a day)

This is why I was interested in similar talks to see how others have organized this...

In any case, the "after-party" of trying cpc hardware and games can be left for after the talk if anyone wants to stay longer...

[HAL6128]

In my point of view 2 hours is not very much time for such a lot of points (7) mentioned above. This would mean that you'll have 10-15 minutes per topic.
Just did some short brainstorming for the first topic ("history of Amstrad and 8-bit computers in general"): computer history in general until the home computer aera takes a lot of time.
Starting from a view in the cpu development in time e.g. intel 4004 > 8008 > 8080 > z80 (spectrum, msx, cpc, including IBM PC philosophie) and competitors like mos 6202, 6207 , 6510 (c64, atari), motorola 6800 or gaming with arcade and consoles etc., etc.
Wow, huge topic!! .
Showing a demo, game or program even takes at least a couple of minutes.
Pretty tough for a good presentation. 

But very interesting.
Please make a video or podcast if you are finished!!

[teopl]

Exactly! This is why I wanted to brainstorm... The topics are just ideas, there can be only 1 or 2 selected topics (or main focus can be only on 1 or 2)

I am interested if anyone did such a thing and if there are some "take aways" / tips for doing it.

My idea is to dig a little on the internet and try to extract the interesting stuff hoping the flow of the presentation will emerge  

I will probably not record it (at least not first presentation) but I might publish some document because I must make one anyway for the presentation.

It would be great to see feedback from young(er) developers who did not have any contact with 8bit computers, maybe even someone will be interested to join us...

[Prodatron]

@Teople, I really like your approach and intention for making such a presentation!
I wonder for what kind of company are you working for, which likes to host such a presentation? Sounds really cool!
I am not sure, but I guess the CPC wasn't common in Serbia/Yugoslavia in the 80ies, or was it?
I have a "Tesla" computer from the 80ies, but IIRC it was from Czechoslovakia?
I did some powerpoint stuff for SymbOS in the past, but unfortunately nothing regarding the basics of the CPC, just that it is now >1 million times worse than an actual PC, so that people will get a feeling about the differences to actual machines.

[Shaun M. Neary]

Someone wants us to do their college / uni project for them...

Yeah, sorry... we saw you coming a mile away. Nice try though..

[eto]

CPC specific history is available e.g. here:
https://www.theregister.com/2014/02/12/archaeologic_amstrad_cpc_464/

On top of that you should watch/read interviews with Roland Perry, e.g. the most recent one from October this year: 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzwyO9gtoIU 

[teopl]

@Teople, I really like your approach and intention for making such a presentation!
I wonder for what kind of company are you working for, which likes to host such a presentation? Sounds really cool!
I am not sure, but I guess the CPC wasn't common in Serbia/Yugoslavia in the 80ies, or was it?
I have a "Tesla" computer from the 80ies, but IIRC it was from Czechoslovakia?
I did some powerpoint stuff for SymbOS in the past, but unfortunately nothing regarding the basics of the CPC, just that it is now >1 million times worse than an actual PC, so that people will get a feeling about the differences to actual machines.

Thanks, yes, this is just idea, let's see if I will execute it  Well, I did not ask for permission from the company, I just guess they will approve... especially if this attracts some external developers who would then maybe apply for a job hehe...

You know how old people try some medicine and it helps them and then they recommend it to everyone thinking they would also like it? I guess this is my thinking about showing retro computers to others who did not have contact with it  

CPC was not very common in Serbia/Yugoslavia, but also not very rare - Commodore was the king (later Amiga), there were also a lot of Spectrums and few original creations like Galaksija, Pecom32, ...

Altough Tesla was Serbian (Croatians will not agree hehe) - I don't know of Tesla computer, but very interesting name, I guess Ilon Mask stole it

[teopl]

Someone wants us to do their college / uni project for them...

Yeah, sorry... we saw you coming a mile away. Nice try though..

Haha, yeah I remember college (still  )

[Prodatron]

Altough Tesla was Serbian (Croatians will not agree hehe) - I don't know of Tesla computer, but very interesting name, I guess Ilon Mask stole it

Yes, of course he was Serbian, but burn in Croatia, and now some people are angry about the new croatian Euro coin. Never mind, this always happend in history so many times (e.g. see Nicolaus Copernicus; in fact he was German but also Polish, so wtf, he was just a great guy).
My old Tesla computer is one of this one:
https://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=730

CPC was not very common in Serbia/Yugoslavia, but also not very rare - Commodore was the king (later Amiga), there were also a lot of Spectrums and few original creations like Galaksija, Pecom32, ...

Ok, that's very interesting!

[GUNHED]

Some of the topics could be:
- history of Amstrad and 8-bit computers in general
- small course in BASIC programming
- example in C programming for Amstrad
- presentation of my and/or other people's software
- presentation of new hardware made for Amstrad (SF3, RSF3, M4, ...)
- old and new games, demos
- sit and use actual hardware

You could add Z3Plus, SymbOS and FutureOS (and their applications) to show modern software.

[VincentGR]

GPT is a joke, gives false results for the Amstrad.
Better check wiki.

[HAL6128]

GPT is a joke, gives false results for the Amstrad.
Better check wiki.

Yeah, I can confirm that. On my question to GPT "why was the C64 better than the Amstrad CPC?" I got the ultimate and no further complaining answer> see screenshot !!
(Source: www.lemon64.com) ... will check out those lemonhead guys.

[VincentGR]

I went deep in the rabbit hole with this.
It told me that the C64 had better graphics than CPC who has color clash.

[zhulien]

- history of Amstrad and 8-bit computers in general- small course in BASIC programmingCPC BASIC is quite good and has some unique features not found in some others, in particular I would look at those given for most part BASIC is er... BASIC.

https://www.cpcwiki.eu/index.php/Locomotive_BASIC#EVERY_i.5B.2Ct.5D_GOSUB_ln <-- EVERY and AFTER commands for some simple threading/timeslicing, such as playing music in the background or making game events happen periodically without having to time things in a main game loop.

https://www.cpcwiki.eu/index.php/Programming:An_example_to_define_a_RSX <-- RSXs are quite elegant way of adding extra commands to BASIC and they can be coded to be as safe as BASIC commands.

- example in C programming for Amstrad

https://github.com/lronaldo/cpctelera <-- check out CPC telera