Jet Set Willy

from WinCustomize Forums
Computers are my hobby since 1979. In that period there was no trace of DOS and CP/M was ruling. The first home computers started to appear. Sinclair, Commodore, Amstrad, Acorn, Atari. Just to name a few. And how about "Jet Set Willy", "Pssst!" and "Attack of the Mutant Camels"?

Here are some links to help you visit memory lane:

http://www.the-underdogs.org/company.php?offset=0&id=167&sort=name
http://www.emuunlim.com
http://www.retro-games.co.uk/museum/museum.htm
http://www.arhs.net/related/emulator+games
http://directory.google.com/Top/Computers/Emulators

You know what I really would like? "Jet Set Willy" that runs on my Nokia.

What was your favorite game back in those days?
8,336 views 33 replies
Reply #1 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Commodore 64 is sooooooooooo basic. *sigh* I still have it. I remember my class used C64 & Apple comps. Talking about basics.
Reply #2 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I could’ve cared less about computers back then. I was out having fun
Star Control: Origins
Reply #3 from WinCustomize Forums Top
At that time I was having "way too much fun". Actually computers made me quit using drugs. I figured that if I really wanted to understand those things (I wanted to learn how to program) then I better keep a clear mind.
Reply #4 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Atari was fun. I played Pac-Man for the first time. Looking & downloading skins & themes relax me. It relieves the stessssssssssss.
Reply #5 from WinCustomize Forums Top
My fav games - Pac-Man, Pit Fall, Haunted House, Q-bert, Frogger, Donkey Kong, Space Invaders, & Centipede. Atari was fun.
Reply #6 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I used to love playing Crystal Castles at the arcade...

I held (briefly) the Moon patrol record for the state of Alaska in 1982 or 83....

Stil have my commodore PET (before the Vic 20 and C64) as well as my Tandy Color Computer....

Ahhh....The memories....



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Reply #7 from WinCustomize Forums Top
My first computer...

http://www.cate.com.au/download/m6800/index.html#Dream6800

Check these specs:

1k ROM - including and interpreted programming 'language' (CHIPOS)
1k of static RAM (with 256 bytes reserved for video display and 256 bytes for 'OS') so 512 *bytes* of program memory
64 x 32 dots B/W display (on a TV)
Hex Keypad
300 bd Cassette data storage

Built it when I was about 15/16 yo - it's still in the shed somewhere...




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Reply #8 from WinCustomize Forums Top
"the temple of raaka-tu" running under cp/m on a northstar minicomputer.
Shame on MadIce for reminding me of my age!
Reply #9 from WinCustomize Forums Top
My fav games - Pac-Man, Pit Fall, Haunted House, Q-bert, Frogger, Donkey Kong, Space Invaders, & Centipede. Atari was fun.


funny thing is I have those games on my PC!
Reply #10 from WinCustomize Forums Top
i'm still trying to get Jafo to upgrade my Imsai 8080. i think it ran at about 1.6 Mhz. it doesn't seem to handle dsl very well.
Reply #11 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Oh! And Manic Miner of course. The sequal of JSW.

NorthStar? I forgot about those. Don't start about those WS dot commands!
Reply #12 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Bangkokboy: Try a 1200/75 acoustic modem. Or is that too fast?
Reply #13 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Hey! I suddenly remember those tables in fast food restaurants with a built-in pong, bricks or space invaders game.
Reply #14 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Z80 assembler (on CPM) was the first computer class I attended. We were lucky to be using terminals while others were still punch-carding their way...Seems like only yesterday....



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Reply #15 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Hehe, Peff. My first language was BASIC. Then I read somewhere that Z80 assembler produced the fastest programs. So, I figured I would learn that. No class. By own. I took me a year to write a program in it that actually did something usefull. Ah! Integer division routines. Or even worse. Floating point routines. No math processors in those days.

Actually, assembler still comes in handy for games programming and graphics optimization. Though I am not making my hands dirty a lot these days.

[Message Edited]
Reply #16 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Yes, MadIce, I still use it in my day to day work (586, that is)...But with hardware so cheap, nowdays, it's rare to have to use it often...


These youngsters have is sooo easy....I remember paying $1200 for a 2Meg harddrive (for my color computer)

As Kona say's...You could build two full PC's for that....



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Reply #17 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Still can run 'Commando' on a C64 emulator on my PC....and my first messing with comps had me creating a proggy in Basic that could calculate spoke lengths for building bicycle wheels.....[worked, too]....
Reply #18 from WinCustomize Forums Top
One of the programs I wrote in those days we used when playing Traveller - a role playing game by Games Designer's Workshop. In that game the scenario needed space maps which were generated by dice using complicated tables. It took ages to make these maps. That proggy did all that in a few minutes. It would give information about planet classes (water planet, dessert planet, gravity, etc.), political and economic system, population, etc. The map was in 3D! Well, almost. It also generated random planet names. One could even pronounce them and they sounded very SF.
Reply #19 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Still can run 'Commando' on a C64 emulator on my PC....and my first messing with comps had me creating a proggy in Basic that could calculate spoke lengths for building bicycle wheels.....[worked, too]....


never have had a problem with what length I use. Damn that reminds me I have to buils a set of disc rims thursday...
Reply #20 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Kona....when you build genuinely 'custom' wheels you need to 'roll your own' spokes....eg, 17" diameter rims/wheels with 27 spokes....18 cross 2 drive side and 9 radial left side dished to a 9 speed freewheel on Bullseye hubs....definitely 'non-standard'....
Reply #21 from WinCustomize Forums Top
definitely 'non-standard'....


I take off my hat for you, you are the man.
Reply #22 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Retro games are back again, because of the small memory avalible to Java games in cellular phones. This is what I think about it.

http://madice.joeuser.com/index.asp?AID=234
Reply #23 from WinCustomize Forums Top
the first z80 assembler code i wrote was inserted into a canon video game. my code didn't work, i thought. then i discovered that my code was turning the cannonball pixels on and back off so fast that the human eye couldn't really see it. i was very young, inexperienced, and dumb in those days. ( at least back then i had an excuse!)
Reply #24 from WinCustomize Forums Top
When I was 6, I had an IBM PS/2 Model 25 system. I think it ran at 4Mhz...oh yes, and it had 20MB of hard drive space, which was enormous in '87. Ahh, in those days my Dad messed it up and I had to reinstall the OS. Frankly, I don't think DOS will be stamped out totally for a while, because it is still darn stable. Has DOS ever "crashed" or given you a BSOD? Not here. I'm learning QBasic at school now, and it's like a flashback. Weird...



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Reply #25 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I totally forgot about Saturn. AND Neo Goe. (I always thought Noe Goe was a bad idea.. as a kid I never figured out why. still don't know)