I'm carrying a surprise exhibit for #PaCommEx... can you tell what it is?
That's right! It's the Sam440ep, a rare PowerPC Amiga made by the Italian company ACube Systems!
It still works perfectly, and boots into AmigaOS 4.1.
Compared to a classic m68k Amiga, it feels blazingly fast: windows with soft shadows move smoothly on a high-resolution, true-color screen.
More pics from the first day of Commodore Pacific Expo.
Robert Bernardo kindly provided a monitor and desk space to exhibit my 600 MHz PPC AmigaOS 4.1 running on the Sam440ex.
A 9 year old was typing BASIC commands on the Plus 4 next to me. I introduced him to the one-liner maze generator published in the original user manual of the Commodore 64:
10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
Afterwards, he started modifying the code, trying different values to see what would happen... much like I did when I was about the same age 🥲
Now this young programmer has his own YouTube channel, and he's coding an adventure game called High Honor:
https://youtu.be/eG9Rp45BepA
The hand-written program listing of High Honor is impressive.
I also scribbled BASIC programs while in school, and I also used squared paper to draw sprites or PETSCII art, but this work is *neat*! 🥹
It's also remarkable that the parents don't know anything about programming. They told me that their elder son asked for a Commodore 64, and they bought it without being too sure what he'd be doing with it.
This is pretty much how I started learning the fun and rewarding profession I'm still doing today.
So I wish both these kids to reach their potential and enjoy their careers 👍
Meanwhile, I managed to get AmigaOS 4.1 online.
The TCP/IP stack seems quite buggy, at least the configuration interface. There are better alternatives for the classic m68k Amiga, but on PowerPC I'm stuck with what's bundled with the OS 😒
Next, I run AmiUpdate, which self-updates and then shows several years worth of updates for various apps, including the web browser and AmiSSL. I need this update for compatibility with websites which have disabled older TLS versions.
Unfortunately, most updates failed because I didn't have LHA, the de-facto standard archiver for Amiga software.
So I download LHA for PPC from Aminet, but... it's an lha archive too! 😭
The C64 Mini (left) and its new sister, The A500 Mini (right). Both super cute.
This particular C64 Mini had a functional keyboard, which must have required a crazy amount of work 😲
@confusedbunny Oh really? I was wondering why they didn't use XAD 🙂
Thank you for the info, I'll try to figure out what went wrong when I reconnect the Sam at home.
On my last attempt today, AmiUpdate had forgotten all update servers, and I couldn't figure out how to restore them.
On the return flight, I read a few forum threads, and it seems I should check the contents of the SiteList file.
https://forum.hyperion-entertainment.com/viewtopic.php?p=55882
#amiga #amigaos
@donncha @bertspace I volunteered for One Laptop Per Child in 2007 because it was a promising opportunity to demystify computing for the next generation of coders.
#OLPC didn't reach the same scale of the #C64, but it was worth trying.
@profoundlynerdy Next time I visit my mom in Italy I'll check if any of my old C64 tapes are still readable.
I coded a Scott Adams-style adventure with PETSCII artwork... and a football manager game... both left in an unfinished and unplayable state, of course!
@codewiz Dan is the MAN!
He also writes a superbly awesome newsletter about the Mega65 https://m65digest.substack.com/
Bernie
Uli Kusterer (Not a kitteh)
Chris Young
BashCat
Bert
Donncha Ó Caoimh
Profoundly Nerdy
TagNachtLampe
Kigelia
Amiga Love ❤