Morten's Blog

I remember my first meeting with a personal computer. I think it was in 87-88 so i was about 7 or 8 years old, and the beauty was a C64. Man, did i love that computer. A few of my friends also got it, and we were all hooked.

But there was one friend. We visited him one day, and he had a strange thing called an Amiga 500. And it literally blew us away.

Of course, being kids, we didn’t want to be friends with him anymore, and started our own C64 “club”. Of course excluding our Amiga owning friend. But the sight and experience of the Amiga was stirring something inside us all. And pretty quickly, one after another, we defected over to this newfound source of power.

It took quite a while for me to get an A500, but one day my brother and i managed to buy a used one from a friend of my brother. Needles to say, and please bear in mind i was still a selfish kid, my younger brother didn’t get to enjoy it that much.

Commodore Amiga 1200

Then we all got wind that there was something new and wonderful, gleaming in our childish digital horizons. The Amiga 1200! This baby had it all! And suddenly the A500 didn’t fill our needs.

There was Protracker, 3D rendering, Demos, BBS’, CD-ROMs, accelerator cards, and seemingly endless possibilities! And, the almighty craving of a kid hooked on computer games, the AGA graphic. Bringing us graphics in games we had never dared to dream of before.

There was something magic about the A1200, something almost spiritual. It was so small, so powerful, and such a delight to use that it was impossible not to be mesmerized by it’s electronic beauty.

I remember the best time was when i set up my own BBS, using something called MaxBBS i think, on a single 14.4 modem. My parents didn’t approve much of me hogging the phone line at nights, to put it mildly. So i remember many a night having to strip wire with my teeth and twisting on some phone line plugs. And, with the stealth skills of a ninja, running the line from the basement to the kitchen where the phone line outlet was, so that people could dial in.

And, ah, the music! While others were listening and discussing the latest pop artists, we were collecting modules and listening to them with an almost religious attention. I mean, who would ever need more than four channels!? Come on!

And the endless debates in the school halls about the great Amiga VS PC controversy, i am sure you all remember those. The ugly dos/windows compared to the beauty and force of the Workbench!? Man, how we laughed at those poor schmoes.

But as time went by, we started to get a little worried. The PC was beginning to steamroll the Amiga in power. (at least the power of the hardware we could afford). And as years went by our laughter started to silence, and we all slowly defected over to the enemy’s side.

But there was something missing, the magic was not there. And the wonderful world that is found in and around the Amiga, never really let go in our hearts.

Sure, i can emulate an Amiga on my lightning fast PC, more powerful than any Amiga I’ve ever owned. But the great magical feeling; it’s just not there on the PC, and it can’t be emulated.

But as i said, the Amiga never really let go of our hearts, and we could never bring ourselves to throw away or sell the Amigas. So nowadays we sit down in front of it, and marvel at the fun it can still bring us. And the memories that it triggers.

Ah, those were the days!

So how do you like my wordpress theme? :) It’s not completely finished or debugged, but it works.

My blog now also uses the newest version of Wordpress.

I’ve finally given in and registered at facebook. I was skeptical about the whole thing, since I have my own blog I mean. But I’ve discovered that facebook has some functions that i find quite useful.

You’ll find me here .

Fikk over 1kg Beef Jerky med forskjellige smaker i postkassen i dag, som jeg hadde bestilt for noen dager siden hos Wild West Jerky i England. Beef Jerky er tørket, saltet og røkt okse/kalve kjøtt, som er tilsatt diverse krydder og marinader. Det kommer i små biter som er gode å knaske på, noe jeg har gjort i hele dag.

Jeg har ofte sett det i filmer og serier, og altid lurt på hvordan det smaker. Så en kveld bestemte jeg meg for at dette måtte prøves, og bestilte da en “Mixed Value Pack”. Og jeg kan opplyse om at det smakte fortreffelig. Noen smaker synes jeg var litt i søteste laget til å være kjøtt, men typen “Cracked Pepper” var skikkelig snadder!

Så om du er på jakt etter snacks som er litt sunnere enn chips og smågodt, så anbefaler jeg deg å prøve Beef Jerky.