Hey there! I'm Kevin, a newcomer to the vintage computer scene.
I grew up just out of the range of the C64 period, but DOS-based computers tended to be the norm in the USA by the time I could read anyway, so I missed out on a lot of great computers.
I think my first computer was an MS-DOS machine, and its previous owner was an RPG fan because I remember playing The Bard's Tale, Might & Magic Book 2 and AD&D: Pool of Radiance.
Though I think I corrupted the command interpreter on that computer accidentally?
I have vague memories of that.
Anyway, in August of this year I got frustrated with attempting 6502 development for the NES, and wanted to improve my ASM skills in other ways.
That's when I decided to take a look at the C64, and I've ended up much further down that rabbit hole than I could have ever imagined. I started out with coding in C64Studio and emulating with VICE, but soon after I realized I wanted a real machine to run my code on. Thankfully for me a friend of a friend had some PAL machines stored in boxes, and I managed to acquire those wonderful computers. Still need to fix one of them up (could be a PLA fault, could be something else, but I don't really have the tools to do a full check) but I have a working machine and seeing my code running on real hardware is a joy.
My ultimate goal is to immerse myself in the massive culture I missed out on from computers of the day, as well as make a few games along the way.
It's nice to meet you all!
I grew up just out of the range of the C64 period, but DOS-based computers tended to be the norm in the USA by the time I could read anyway, so I missed out on a lot of great computers.
I think my first computer was an MS-DOS machine, and its previous owner was an RPG fan because I remember playing The Bard's Tale, Might & Magic Book 2 and AD&D: Pool of Radiance.
Though I think I corrupted the command interpreter on that computer accidentally?
I have vague memories of that.
Anyway, in August of this year I got frustrated with attempting 6502 development for the NES, and wanted to improve my ASM skills in other ways.
That's when I decided to take a look at the C64, and I've ended up much further down that rabbit hole than I could have ever imagined. I started out with coding in C64Studio and emulating with VICE, but soon after I realized I wanted a real machine to run my code on. Thankfully for me a friend of a friend had some PAL machines stored in boxes, and I managed to acquire those wonderful computers. Still need to fix one of them up (could be a PLA fault, could be something else, but I don't really have the tools to do a full check) but I have a working machine and seeing my code running on real hardware is a joy.
My ultimate goal is to immerse myself in the massive culture I missed out on from computers of the day, as well as make a few games along the way.
It's nice to meet you all!
