I wish this silly blonde in the leftmost picture would stop sticking her tongue in my ear it is effecting my concentration, excuse me a moment... Oy, blonde totty, get your bloddy tongue out of my ear, I have some serious machine code subrountines to finish!

The webmaster began his committed relationship with computing technology some twenty years ago in the early 1980's when he first witnessessed the first computer in action; it was a BBC model B computer with 32 kilobytes of RAM. It later led him to receiving his first computer in 1986, a humble Sinclair ZX Spectrum 128k with which he learnt BASIC (beginners all symbolic instruction code) and some limited Z80 assembler programming, courtesy of OCP assembler and a book by Rodney Zakks. However, you have also probably already noticed that the webmaster is a huge Sinclair Spectrum fan by what he has have placed on his home page.

I hold little interest in modern day computing. Since the demise of the Sinclair Spectrum and Commodore Amiga, computing has become all too commercial and I cannot be bothered keeping up with today's developments. Gone are the days that the "bedroom" programmer who could write his latest blockbuster game and earn £50,000 in the process.

Then you have the nightmare of upgrading software drivers every couple of months, because nowadays everyone writes bloated source code, thanks to Bill Gates. Hence, the larger the program code, the more chances of a developer introducing yet more software bugs.

It is for this sole reason that the webmaster looks back to the years of Sir Clive Sinclair, and Jay Miner's wonderful Amiga. It is this golden era when micro computing was truly a programmers hobby and a joy to behold, unlike today's nonsense. Some 20 years on, and I still find myself fiddling around with Amiga's and Sinclair Spectrums both in real and emulated form even today. Their wonderful little machines... If you wanna read about my *real* Amiga 1200 project, you can click this link. It has been modified with plenty of hardware hacking. I also use an Athlon 3800+ which is currently running WinUAE together with AmigaOS 3.9, but I assure you I shall not be fiddling around with modern day computing 20 years from now, because it frustrates the hell out of me.

As many Amiga / Linux programmers shall happily tell you, we are experts in our field, who like to tinker and learn the inner workings of our OS. We could be compared to the automobile mechanic who tunes the combustion engine, but without the modern day electronic crap that goes into modern day cars! We also wish to install and remove programs by hand without an uninstaller. Unfortunately, under Windows this is not really possible, since software written for this operating system is designed for the novice, who is indeed happy to rely on a badly written uninstall program to remove segments of a previous installed application. Never trust such installers/uninstallers, since you end up with endless dregs of crap being left behind sitting in the Windows registry. It is like entrusting ones soul to the devil.

Anyhow, my reason for building this page is because such nostalgia has prompted me to put together my thought processes and early recollections of early Sinclair and Commodore computing and memorabelia into this web page to remind others of a bygone era when microcomputing used to be fun. Despite the Amiga 1200's aging technology this 14 year old slab of silcon brings me much happiness and this entire webpage was coded on this prehistoric machine. Still, it also clearly demonstrates what can be accomplished with a little imagination, and creativity, when one wants to put their mind to a dedicated task no matter how old the technology or the hippy himself that continues to embrace it. Hopefully, my web page provides you with the necessary influx in progressing you back to the "golden days" of computing, and when most computer programmers had long hair. Prior to this era, most people were at the Woodstock festival watching Jimi Hendrix, getting free love, flower power and lots of substances. Spare me a toke or two! Hey, way out man ! Jimmy was truly the king of electronic feedback and distortion and the perfectionist of the wah wah peddle...

I have been beavering away for two years to put this page together. It now stands at 23 megabytes, and consists of 455 html files, and 2069 local html links. All that remains is I hope you find many articles of interest, together with an insight into 1980's computing. The secret lies in a dash of humour, and my own mix of satire for the ultimate formula.

Furthermore, why not also have a look around the 'Retro Museum' for some interesting relics and information of some of my collections of old micro's from a bygone era. Ah, those were the days...

On an end note, If you missed out on the early Amiga demo scene, you really did miss out on a golden era; it combined the crux of graphics artists, musicians and programmers of the early 1990's. Shame on you, now go and stand at the back of the class. Further revision is available here which includes my all time favourite top ten.

Best regards and I hope you enjoy your stay....

The Webmaster