C00LeS WaReZ UNiON MeMOiRS: cHApTER #0x85

========= C00LeS WaReZ UNiON * HiSToRiCaL mEmOiRZ * cHApTeR #0x85 =========

DaTE:     1996-11-16 aT 13:37

LoCATi0N: oSMO "OH7MO" kAERkkAeinEn'S hOmE @ hOeTToEvAaRA LiETEVESi

pREsENT:  OH7MO . mR.mEgAsTuFf . DaRk FuCKeR . dArK sTuFFeR . wArlord . myXTer
===========================================================================

dArK sTuFfEr: Indeed. Tenhunen has apparently done some research but filled in the gaps with sensationalism.

myXTer: That's actually a much worse than I could've ever imagined!! All the childporn and drug stuff...

OH7MO: But it was still the whole story aboot the Joensuu mutilation murder y'all told us?

mR.mEgAsTuFf: Yeah. Wampires was a scenecrew and we were makin' a demo for a while before da murder, but THAT WAS ALL OF OUR COOPERATION!

myXTer: Well, I just wanted to like pay back to CWU, so I spent some time with their gang in Liperi...

myXTer: Well, they did talk about all kinds of violence, but I would've never guessed that they could actually do something like that...

mR.mEgAsTuFf: D'ya think there's some truth in it!? Can't ya see they're tawkin' aboot fuckin' CANNABIS INJECTIONS!!

OH7MO: Yeah, right, might be. I was jut reckonin' if they'd come up with a way to use it intravascularly...

OH7MO: Y'all can trust me for sure, I ain't told yer secrets to anybody else even once... But where did y'all use it?

dArK sTuFfEr: In Oulu, during the Abduction party, we got some cannabis to some.

mR.mEgAsTuFf: But we never took any of it back to Lietevesi, UNLIKE WHAT THAT TENHUNEN SLUT IS CLAIMIN' IN DA TABLOID!!

DaRK FuCKeR: But we also actually had a joint circulatin' there at CGK in Iisalmi!

dArK sTuFfEr: Indeed, I had almost forgotten this! The C64 demo shown to us by the CGK members there was so impressive that -

OH7MO: Allright then, that's all okay. I also smoke pot when I was young, and even took some LSD...

DaRK FuCKeR: I'm actually a bit afraid of goin' back home, 'cause they might've read that story there...

mR.mEgAsTuFf: I don't think ya die from it, I was also given some beatings by that fuckin' Reijo like how many times last year...

mR.mEgAsTuFf: And beatin' is quite minor compared to what kinda shit Osmo may be gettin' from da shit in that tabloid...

OH7MO: Yeah, that's quite big stuff there. They've called me a sexual offender and a founder and leader of a criminal gang and what not...

OH7MO: So, I guess I don't gonna have much chances for gettin' money for livin' anywhere anymaw.

wArlord: I'm sure at least Kela would give ye some money, for the fuck's sake...

OH7MO: But I've been havin' this principle of not usin' any social benefits paid by taxpayers -

wArlord: Well, if yer fuckin' aboot to starve to death dammit, I'd really recommend ye to get some humility and go to their office!

OH7MO: I somehow reckon they'd never gimme nuffin' even there, 'cause I've got this criminal reputation -

OH7MO: Well, they'd need the criminal evidence from that, and there's nuffin' 'cause I'm innocent. I've only got the reputation...

OH7MO: No, I wouldna do that either... Was just reckonin' aboot startin to produce emergency nutrition... Grasshoppers and algae...

OH7MO: They're not so bad for nutrition. Besides, I've even got a tank in the shed, that suits for the algae...

wArlord: Couldna ye just go to some Iisalmi or Kuopio and ask some programmin' work there, for real?

wArlord: Fuck's sake, there's a labor shortage in computers, especially programmers! I don't reckon some Iltalehti stuff weighs much there.

wArlord: Ye wouldna hafta move there properly yet, ye could just go and do some gig there, or take the work to yer home!

mR.mEgAsTuFf: I really think yar now makin' up excuses for keepin' yer self-pity dammit! Go do some fuckin' work and take da bucks!

wArlord: And whatta fuckin' idea was it to eat grasshoppers? Especially if yer gonna move to some city next summer already -

OH7MO: Well, even if I'd never take the cultivation gear with me, they'd still stay right here waitin' for the worse days.

OH7MO: They've been tawkin' aboot computer systems breakin' up in the year two thousand, and that the society would collapse at the same.

dArK sTuFfEr: I consider it perfectly reasonable to prepare oneself for threats like this. The Y2K prognoses sound very realistic to me.

OH7MO: Yeah. But still, we're already near to collapse here in Lietevesi. The depression just gets deeper here even if it ended elsewhere...

OH7MO: It was all different back in the eighties, when there was plenty of work to do! And everthang else was so much easier too...

OH7MO: Even banks were eager to grant loans. I had just graduated and the bank still gave me the bucks to buy this hut.

OH7MO: Right that! Folks got loans and bought televisions and video recorders to their homes, so we repairsmen got work to do too.

OH7MO: I had lotsa repair works in queue in the beginnin', and even ran out of space in this Höttövaara hut.

OH7MO: I then rented the corner in Producer House and put up the OKtroniikka office there.

mR.mEgAsTuFf: Had ya already founded yar company when we moved to Lahnala with Ritu and Sari?

mR.mEgAsTuFf: Oh? I don't really remember nuffin' 'bout those times... in my mind, ya have like always lived here!

mR.mEgAsTuFf: Well, I guess my earliest memories are when I'm here playin' games with yar computer or watchin' some videos...

mR.mEgAsTuFf: Nope, I've just recall da photos in da album, and what Ritu and Sari have talked' about him...

mR.mEgAsTuFf: Well, sometimes she didn't wanna tell it, but at some point I found out he had hanged himself...

DaRK FuCKeR: He hanged himself 'cause Ritu always went to the police station to fuck the cops there! My mummy told -

OH7MO: Well, I reckon there might be sump'n true in that gossip... Ritu had been havin' some affairs with Pate Jääskeläinen at the time.

OH7MO: Well, maybe the reasons were actually more complex. But I'm sure Allu had his own reasons for hangin' himself...

mR.mEgAsTuFf: I'm happy I don't recall nuffin' 'bout it! I'm sure it'd given me some helluva pains and traumas...

OH7MO: Well, we were reckonin' with Ritu how hard it was for ye. After all, ye were da first one who noticed it.

OH7MO: Yeah, ye had gone to play in the shed and then found Allu hangin' there. Ye had then run to Ritu and cried a lot aboot it...

OH7MO: Well, we decided with Ritu to let ye peacefully forget it and not tell ye aboot it even aftewards.

OH7MO: Ye then started to want to come to my place ever more often. 'Cause I had the video recorder and even several computers already...

OH7MO: We reckoned with Ritu that it'd be best for ye if ye can sink yer worries into some other reality.

OH7MO: Yeah, I took my Kaypro II from the storeroom to replace the PC the cops took, and then also took the Telmacs and OsmoTron...

OH7MO: I reckoned that now that it'd be easier to tawk aboot memories if we've got the actual gear to fiddle with.

mR.mEgAsTuFf: I remember I was so eager to play all kindsa car games and some ASCII-graphic shoot'em'ups 'coz I didn't know 'bout nuffin' better!

OH7MO: Well, the Telmacs and CP/M gear ain't ever been very good for games, compared to the kids' toy computers.

mR.mEgAsTuFf: But still, da Spectrum WAS FUCKIN' MISERABLE compared to da C64!! When I got my sixtyfour I quitted visitin' Osmo!!

OH7MO: But nevertheless ye visited me regularly for many years until ye got yer Commodore...

mR.mEgAsTuFf: Well, at some point I started to visit Korhonens for da games, 'coz they got a sixtyfour before us!

wArlord: But the Kopsanens also had their Spectrum too, afore even Korhonens got nuffin'.

mR.mEgAsTuFf: Well, I reckon it was da same shitty grade as Osmo's gear. Luckily I already knew 'bout better machines 'coz my cousin in Helsinki got a C64...

OH7MO: Spectrum was quite a heap cheaper than Commodore, so I always recommended it to all parents when then came to ask me...

OH7MO: Well, I reckoned it'd be good to have at least some computer with Basic, and a few kilobytes of RAM so it wouldna run out...

mR.mEgAsTuFf: We weren't even fuckin' interested in some Basics, and even if we were, it'd have been fuckin' pain to type with that rubber!!

mR.mEgAsTuFf: Ye were a fuckin' obscure man at da time, 'coz ye wanted some Spectrum even when everbody else had a C64!!

mR.mEgAsTuFf: Yeah, right, I remember how ya always praised yar Spectrum at school, havin' a better BAYSICK and that it'd be faster and whatnot...

OH7MO: I actually first reckoned aboot recommendin' Salora Fellow, 'cause it was even cheaper than Spectrum, less than a thousand marks...

OH7MO: But 'cause the computer club at the school in the town also had a Spectrum, I reckoned aboot it'd be better to have the same brand.

wArlord: Yeah, I guess it might've been pain in the ass tryin' to find some games for the Salora, 'cause nobody even had one...

mR.mEgAsTuFf: Well, I guess we could've found at least some games for it, unlike da fuckin' OsmoTron that actually was sumthing nobody else had!

dArK sTuFfEr: What kind of computer is OsmoTron? Is that the "wonder computer" I remember myXTer having praised in the elementary school?

OH7MO: Yeah, it is. We could maybe go to the kitchen and take a closer look at it.

OH7MO: Well, some of the accessories are originally fro Telmac. 'Cause I had bought all kinds of extensions for my TMC-600...

OH7MO: The disk drive's from Telmac, and the expansion unit I had filled with all kinds of relay controllers and A/D converters...

OH7MO: Well, I had already reached Telmac's limits, and I also reckoned it'd be great to design and implement the main box all yerself.

OH7MO: I actually had already bought by Kaypro II, but that had been quite expensive, more than ten thousand marks.

wArlord: So, even the spare parts would've costed quite a heap if ye had broken some piece when buildin' sump'n?

OH7MO: Yeah, and yer always more familiar with a device ye have made all by yerself...

OH7MO: On the other hand I wanted a computer with a processor compatible with Kaypro, so I could adapt the same programs to run on both.

OH7MO: I was reckonin' aboot it, yeah, but I decided that NEC V30 would've better 'cause it's also got a 16-bit mode.

OH7MO: Well, I had the principle that all programs should be self-made whenever possible...

OH7MO: Well, it wasn't still that an unusual project in the eighties to make yer own operatin' system...

DaRK FuCKeR: Wowwww!! Hey, I recall that OsmoTron logo!! Even though I only visited this place a few times back then...

dArK sTuFfEr: So, OsmoTron actually has 256 colours? What kind of video circuitry does it use?

OH7MO: Well, at first it only had just one Motorola 6845 that gave ye a screen of text.

OH7MO: Then later I designed another card that had two of that kinda Motorolas in parallel.

OH7MO: It gave out sixteen colors, and later I built a couple of additional graphics modes, so there were 256 colors total in the end.

OH7MO: Yeah, at the same time. At the lowest resolution ye can even use them freely...

DaRK FuCKeR: Osmo, was it for OsmoTron, the damn tuff cargame ye played with a steerin'-wheel controller?

OH7MO: Yeah, it is, and I've even still got the weel... Lemme just dig it up from there...

wArlord: 'Twas quite a gadget here, even with a turbo boost button like in Knight Rider.

DaRK FuCKeR: Wowwww, that was so tuff!! Can ye start the cargame right now pleeze...?

OH7MO: The game was on EPROM just like most of the other commonly used programs. It actually loads nuffin', just jumps there...

wArlord: And I guess the operatin' system was also on ROM 'cause it started up straight after powerin' up?

OH7MO: Yeah, and it doesn't even check the memory at startup, just does the minimum initializations...

OH7MO: Well, the actual operatin' system doesn't need much, but the command interpreter is based on a programming language called Forth...

OH7MO: And there I took some ideas from a bigger Forth I had been tryin' out with my Kaypro.

OH7MO: And there's also CP/M on an EPROM, the same as in Kaypro, if ye want sump'n the CP/M is more handy at -

DaRK FuCKeR: And it's the best feature that ye can jump!! I don't even recall any cargames from the Amiga where yer car could jump!!

OH7MO: Well, I put in the jump feature here 'cause ye liked Knight Rider so much back then...

DaRK FuCKeR: I reckon it just makes the game a bit too easy if ye can just jump over everthang...

OH7MO: Well, Mika sometimes got mad when he blundered in the games, so I made it easy enuff so that it's just fun to drive.

OH7MO: Yeah, it had, but I then dismantled the synth circuit I had been usin' as a kinda soundcard...

OH7MO: I guess I needed its components for some other project, can't really recall anymaw.

OH7MO: I had already been buildin' some synthesizers back in the seventies, so I put in parts from some of 'em...

OH7MO: It played some kind of version of the Knight Rider theme in the intro, and then the car brumms in the game itself.

OH7MO: But at least I tried if I could do it, ye can't really know it otherwise.

mR.mEgAsTuFf: Yeah, I guess ya remember 'em well, 'coz I always reserved OsmoTron for myself so ya had to just play with da Kaypro or da fuckin' Telmac!!

OH7MO: But I actually also made a couple of cargames for the Kaypro and Telmac, 'cause Mika was so interested aboot cars.

mR.mEgAsTuFf: But da Kaypro also had a better game, da Donkey Kong clone... was it called LADDER?

mR.mEgAsTuFf: That wasn't a very good game either, but at least it was better than da selfmade car game of yars!!

mR.mEgAsTuFf: Yeah, right, guess it's quite okay for a computer as shitty as that...

mR.mEgAsTuFf: Was the damn miserable lookin' Telmac game called OSMORACE 1 then?

OH7MO: Yeah... it's just a very simple game made with Basic, 'cause that was still well enuff for yer taste back then.

OH7MO: Well, there were a few games for it, but I reckoned they were all made with Basic, so it's better to make yer own and save money.

mR.mEgAsTuFf: Well, yeah, I can very well believe there was never any good soft for Telmac... nobody even fuckin' had that thing!!

OH7MO: Right, they only ever sold a few hundreds of it... the earlier Telmac sold several thousands, even to other countries.

OH7MO: Well, Kaypro is actually made in America. It showed in the price, but ye also got some quality and durability with it!

wArlord: But I mean, all these strange Telmacs and AMCs, and ye even mentioned Salora...

OH7MO: Well, I wanted to support domestic production, especially when I actually knew many of the makers from the HAM radio circles!

OH7MO: But Fellow was actually from Hong Kong, they had just bought the Salora name for it -

dArK sTuFfEr: I would be interested in trying it, even for mere technical curiosity.

myXTer: I might be more intersted in trying your Kaypro, now that you have it ready in your project room...

OH7MO: Yeah. I've also still got some of yer programs on a floppy, so feel free to look at it...

dArK sTuFfEr: Does this hardware have raster interrupts, or how have the sky and the moving stripes of the terrain been implemented?

OH7MO: Well, in principle there's an entire graphics mode designed just for that game.

OH7MO: Well, as I told, there are two of them Motorola chips readin' the video memory at the same time.

OH7MO: At first, one of them gave the pixels and the other gave 'em their colors, but later I deviated a bit from this principle.

OH7MO: How was it after all... anyway, there's a settin' that makes the second chip reread a few color slots on every scanline...

OH7MO: So, ye dinna need no raster interrupts like the toy computers, just write the per-scanline colors in the right places in the memory.

dArK sTuFfEr: This is peculiar. I would be fascinated in studying this hardware at a deeper level.

OH7MO: Well, I guess many big computer manufacturers have already implemented all that so much better...

dArK sTuFfEr: I have already read about those implementations, but OsmoTron is completely unfamiliar to me and therefore interesting.

DaRK FuCKeR: But I reckon it's the best ever that YE MADE SUCH A COOL COMPUTER ALL BY YERSELF!!

wArlord: I also believe that's in its own class among selfmade computers, at least in Finland...

dArK sTuFfEr: Indeed. The video circuit functionality sounds very much like the Copper chip of the Amiga.

DaRK FuCKeR: For real!? So, ye DON'T EVEN KNOW what kinda graphics features Amiga has and ye still managed to make THE SAME KIND BY YERSELF!!

wArlord: Listen to me now, Osmo. What aboot ye take yer OsmoTron with ye tomorrow and go show it to all the electronics companies.

wArlord: I guess ye could just snap yer fingers then to get a very well-paid job, with all of yer design skills...

mR.mEgAsTuFf: Yeah, take a job at fuckin' Nokia or sumthing. I'm sure they need a fuckin' heap of electronics designers for their GSM phones now -

OH7MO: Well, that machine was never supposed to be a show-off of my skills or nuffin'.

OH7MO: I just wanted to make a computer that's good enuff that Mika would like it and keep visitin' my place...

mR.mEgAsTuFf: So, ye actually spent all the time and effort on OsmoTron JUST BECAUSE OF ME?!??

OH7MO: Well, of course I used it too, and it was also quite rewardin' to twiddle with that stuff on my free time -

mR.mEgAsTuFf: BUT STILL, DAMMIT!!! Fuck's sake, I can't take this anymore... sorry...

OH7MO: Well, anyway, at some point Mika decided that his Commodore is much better than my OsmoTron, and stopped visitin' me.

myXTer: But I still had the energy to praise and defend OsmoTron at school even after that.

myXTer: Yeah. And also because I was more interested in Basic programming than playing games...

myXTer: And because I had a Spectrum and later PC, when everybody else thought you should have a C64 and an Amiga...

mR.mEgAsTuFf: Well, the PCs of that era were fuckin' pieces of shit compared to da Amiga! Some four colors at max, and beeper sounds...

mR.mEgAsTuFf: Well, Amiga had 4096 even before da AGA timez, many times more nevertheless!! And still ye wanted to twiddle with that kinda CRAP!!

myXTer: Well, I used to think nobody would even have a hard disk or a monitor for the Amiga, and they were granted in PCs...

mR.mEgAsTuFf: But da Amiga had a fuckin' multitaskin' O.S. and THERE STILL AIN'T a proper one for the PC!

myXTer: Well, I didn't really understand much about that stuff yet. I might choose otherwise now if I had the chance...

OH7MO: Well, I still reckon that all the huge multitasking systems are quite useless in a single-user computer.

wArlord: But I also reckon it's totally useless that somebody spends years and years for buildin' a computer like that...

wArlord: With yer own operatin' system that nobody else ever uses either, and just ONE game for a couple of kids of the village...

OH7MO: I actually made some more games for it later. But ye never even wanted to visit me to check 'em out, 'cause Mika told ye not to...

wArlord: So, ye made some games just for Sam's playin'!! If ye had just reckoned' aboot yer use of time a bit more wisely -

DaRK FuCKeR: I would've wanted to see 'em for real!! They sounded so cool from what Sam told us!!

OH7MO: Except that UFOSIMU lacks all the props, but y'all can play it on the keyboard too...