M.M.A/SPEED CO.
And so the time has come, my dear ones, to take a little look at the world around us with a silent question: "Who are we? Where are we going? And what do fingers have to do with it?"
Why am I saying this? Just that I've been reading the notes of Mr. Nemo in the latest ZXFORMAT... And now all sorts of incomprehensibility is pouring out of me! However, to be fair, it should be noted that not only Nemo can express thoughts in an obscure and beautiful way. It turns out that there are people in Samara capable of creating interesting literary works on computer themes. So, if you are ready for a serious conversation - let's go!
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(We thank the editorial staff of the Samara electronic journal "SAMAGON" for the provided material, as well as Mr. V.A. Vtorov personally)
(C) V.A. Vtorov
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MASTERPIECES OF ELECTRONIC WRITING
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Volume 140
JOURNEYS OF DILETTANTES
"The human need to express oneself on stage does not depend on society's need for actors."
V.ETUSH.
"If I wanted to kill my competitors... I would provide them with hordes of specialists. After receiving a lot of good advice, my competitors would not be able to get to work."
Henry FORD.
The word "dilettante" now has a derogatory connotation and is usually said in a condescending tone. Meanwhile, in the last century, this term referred to enthusiasts of their craft.
For very simple reasons, such enthusiasts are not favored by the state (regardless of the regime) and are secretly loathed by "pros" of all kinds. No one likes competitors. Meanwhile, much of what is now of interest to many was largely created by "novices" and usually in defiance of state regulations.
At the origins of electronics stands... the apprentice and student of bookbinding Michael Faraday. Most of his fundamental discoveries were made with the help of homemade ("self-made") devices.
The logical foundations of computers - Boolean algebra - were created single-handedly by George Boole, who was born into a poor working-class family: his education ended at 16, and he went "into the world." The authorities of that time either ignored or criticized "Boolean logic"...
Only more than a hundred years later (in 1946), C. Shannon, a student who worked as an operator on a clumsy mechanical computing device, developed the foundations of information theory based on Boole's ideas.
The "differential analyzer," which Claude Shannon "programmed," was a huge mechanical adding machine the size of a whole room, with a bunch of rollers, gears, etc... To set a task for the machine, one had to manually adjust the gear ratios: this took 2-3 days, one had to sweat quite a bit and get dirty with machine oil.
The same goes for music. Professionals of the 18th century denounced as best they could one "underachiever" who spoils the art, panders to the tastes of the crowd, etc... This was said about Bach. He himself, burdened with a large family and debts, moved from one principality to another to be able to get a job as an organist in a church, because cumbersome organs only stood there.
In the 19th century, a sensationally scandalous young virtuoso traveled across Europe. He was accompanied by crowds of hysterical admirers, and there was shouting and howling at his concerts... And his name was not Jackson, but Franz Liszt. And he played on a relatively new instrument at that time - the piano.
The foundations of modern music were laid on cotton plantations and in... barbershops. To make waiting for their turn less boring, they placed banjos in the waiting room, and the patrons would strum on it, passing the time (they did not read newspapers due to illiteracy).
Thus, the blues was formed, and this is why American musicologists call the "three gangster chords" "barbershop harmony."
Jazz began absolutely underground, in the back rooms of New Orleans dives, where musicians played "for themselves" at night after working that evening at the cabaret gigs for which they were paid (the small "new Americans," who had become fabulously rich from bootlegging, did not spoil jazz musicians).
It is characteristic that these musicians came from the most impoverished backgrounds, there were initially few of them, they all knew each other and actively exchanged ideas. (Louis Armstrong did not even know the exact year of his birth).
Professional entertainers from Broadway and established composers from "Tin Pan Alley" (the alley where music publishing companies were concentrated) initially did not want to know them. It is not surprising that the latest achievements of technology - radio and sound recording - came to the aid of the new art. Independent radio stations appeared (mainly in the provinces), and they delivered to listeners exactly what they needed. (The first radio broadcast "Barn Dance" began transmitting in 1922 from a station in Atlanta. It embodied the rural custom of gatherings with dancing, where banjo players played their own or itinerant "boys," who received dinner, drinks, and shelter as payment).
Listening to the radio was also real "hacking," as tuning into a station was not an easy task: one had to poke a needle at a piece of unrefined silicon for a long time in search of a section with rectifying properties... Vacuum tube receivers made a real revolution.
Recording studios grew like mushrooms: they were hastily equipped in basements, attics, or even in real barns. Records were sold in huge quantities in rural shops along with a pound of butter and a pack of nails.
But everything passes: by the 50s, the machine of mass culture had ground and digested the once revolutionary jazz. Many of the pioneers died (usually in obscurity) from drugs or tuberculosis, and the fortunate brothers themselves turned into classics... The sugary music of these "fat cats" was no longer wanted by the new youth...
At that time, strange things began to happen in England: white teenagers (from students to hooligans) began to listen to a completely unpopular rhythm and blues, music from black crooners like Little Richard or the outcast E. Presley (some newspapers considered him a communist agent). Moreover, these gatherings took place in apartments, not in music halls.
This was facilitated by cheap forty-five records and the appearance of inexpensive quality turntables.
Among them were about 10 particularly stubborn individuals. They themselves tried to perform something similar, it was of no interest to anyone, and they all played in one place, the London club "Marquee." The club was led by an already not-young fanatic Alexis Korner, an unpopular musician and collector of strange records. Communication in the club was informal: they listened to records, tried to play themselves... it would have been impossible five years earlier: there were still no affordable amplifiers for non-professionals like Fender and Standell, or simple Vox electric organs.
Almost unbelievable, but a fact - from here emerged almost all of today's "rock legends": "The Rolling Stones," "Led Zeppelin," Elton John... underground bands like "Velvet Underground" and many others equally famous. The "Beatles" stood somewhat apart, but they were generally "from the Urals" - from the port city of Liverpool. By the mid-70s, Beatlemania, unprecedented concerts in stadiums... all had already passed.
Somewhere in Indonesia, journalists found a guy who had never heard (!) of "The Rolling Stones." He was awarded a huge prize... about this, newspapers wrote: the public, yawning, read them.
Society needed new toys. Technical progress prepared them, and new heroes with personal computers under their arms were already looming on the horizon.
PERSONAL HELL
"We need people who can content themselves with unremarkable activities in silence."
Nietzsche.
The first universal computer was built by Herbert Zuse in the living room of his parents' house with his own (and borrowed) money. The "Z3" started operating in 1941, processing data from "punch tape" made from old film, hand-punched by the author of this amateur device. The first computer was personal from the start, but it was already more compact and "progressive" than the American "MARK-I" (3304 relays, 17 m long) or the English "Colossus," which resembled a factory workshop more than anything. Moreover, alternative colossi were created with state funding from military departments, were classified, and even serviced by officers "saluting each other" (from the recollections of one of the Harvard scientists).
H. Zuse continued to work alone with such fervent enthusiasm that he only interrupted his work during the bombings of Berlin. The first computer was created by the first hacker (not the other way around).
However, other pioneers also began working under similar conditions, developing logical structures... crawling on the floor among scattered matchboxes that "emulated" logical cells and manually moving beads that played the role of bits.
Ten years later, computers occupied entire machine rooms: and hackers brought folding beds from home so as not to part with their beloved toy (and it was easier to get expensive machine time at night). Like Bach in his time, they could not have dragged their favorite instrument home.
But the main obstacle was not even this - the very process of programming was multi-step, and between the author and the result stood a horrendously large crowd of a priori indifferent intermediaries: bosses, technicians, systems analysts, watchmen, and illiterate operator girls who initially filled out punch cards with terrible mistakes. A typical situation was as follows: having received 2 hours of very expensive machine time, you would simply get a listing of the program with indications of erroneous lines, and the program would not even think of launching: the crowd of queue-standers was already kicking you away from the terminal: either the punch input was not ready: or there was a system-wide failure (a couple of times a week - guaranteed): or...
"O, gods, poison me, poison me," M. Bulgakov wrote correctly.
And the communication through the keyboard of the remote terminal resembled a séance: results were issued in text form, on a sheet of paper (there were no displays yet). But still, it was in this way that the first debuggers, text processors, machine speech, poetry, music were obtained, and satellites and hydrogen bombs were designed.
"It is possible that the main motivating factor for the spread of personal computers was that paradoxical mixture of admiration and annoyance that early mainframe computers caused among people... annoyance specifically among those who were most interested in them. Like photographers who were not allowed to develop and print the photographs they took, or mechanics who were forbidden to look under the hood of a car, they felt deceived and insulted."
(Computer Basics, 1985)
Contents of the publication: Oberon #04
- From the Editorial
This editorial discusses the legal 'charges' against the creators of Oberon #4 as a humorous narrative, highlights the challenges faced in publishing this issue, and announces a potential hiatus for the magazine.
- Scroll
Analysis of the game 'Chaos' by Julian Gollop. Simplified gameplay mechanics and strategic elements. Description of creatures, spells, and tactics.
- Scroll - Unbeliever
Description of a mathematical game for ZX Spectrum where players collect formula symbols while navigating gears.
- Scroll - M.M.A
Discussion of 'Doc the Destroyer', a unique fighting and adventure game for ZX Spectrum. The article covers controls, character customization, and game mechanics. Compatibility issues on different ZX Spectrum models are also addressed.
- Overview - M.M.A
The article provides a review of games for ZX Spectrum, including KOMANDO 2, WRESTLING SUPERSTARS, TAG TEAM WRESTLING, and CAPTAIN PLANET. It highlights the features, graphics, and gameplay of each game, noting both strengths and weaknesses. The review concludes with recommendations and comparisons to other platforms and games.
- Overview
Overview of various ZX Spectrum games, highlighting their unique features, gameplay mechanics, and design elements. Includes critique on sound effects, graphics, and technical issues. Discusses games like 'Stryker in the Crypts of Trogan', 'Phileas Fogg's Balloon Battles', and 'Survival'.
- Overview - Alex Noman
The article reviews games for the ZX Spectrum, including BOOVIE, MOTOR MASSACRE, SOCCER PINBALL, and HUXLEY PIG 1 & 2. Each game is detailed in terms of gameplay, graphics, and unique features. The discussion includes comparisons to other games and highlights specific technical aspects.
- Review
A review of various games, including Little Computer People and Lost Caves, highlighting their features and versions. It also discusses 75Occ Grand Prix by Codemasters with its limitations. The article provides insights into game mechanics and versions.
- Review
Detailed review of various assemblers like Alasm 3.8, TASM 4.12, and others, highlighting their features and shortcomings.
- About Everything
Announcement of the creation of the SamZxNet network in Samara and the challenges of setting it up with HAYES modems. Explanation of the modems' power requirements and potential difficulties. Invitation for technical advice from experienced readers.
- About Everything
Description of travel to ENLIGHT'97 and meeting various demoscene participants. Observations of event organization and issues. Insights into participant experiences and scene discussions.
- About Everything
Report on the second day of ENLIGHT'97: events, challenges, and reflections. Describes voting results and organizational difficulties. Highlights future prospects for Spectrum demo parties.
- About Everything
The article features reader feedback on Oberon #04, critiquing design and content choices and discussing issues with software protection and game enhancements.
- About Everything
Discussion of the adventure game KAYLETH with gameplay tips and advice. Includes a game dictionary and suggestions from the author and their team. Calls for a local artist for future RPG development.
- About Everything
Reflection on the closure of the 'ZX-REVIEW' magazine and the adaptation of its article for 'Oberon'. Discussion on the development of ultra-short boot loaders. Optimization techniques for writing one-sector boot loaders on ZX Spectrum.
- About Everything
Exploration of amateur contributions to electronics, music, and computing history, highlighting figures like Faraday and Babbage. The evolution from handmade instruments to personal computers. Discussion on jazz, blues, and rock'n'roll's informal origins.
- About Everything
The story of Lieutenant Edward Roberts' journey from radio kits to creating the first PC, the Altair 8800, overcoming skepticism and challenges.
- About Everything
The article explores the rise and evolution of the computer industry, highlighting the transformation from passionate hobbyists to corporate dominance by giants like IBM and Microsoft.
- About Everything
An exploration of Sir Clive Sinclair's project after selling the Sinclair brand, detailing the features of the Cambridge Computers Z88 laptop.
- About Everything
Discussion of software market problems in 1997 for ZX Spectrum, highlighting lack of new software and user reluctance to pay.
- Announcement - M.M.A
Announcement of 'Black Raven' game by V. Mednonogov, focusing on gameplay, technical challenges, and upcoming features.
- Announcement
Discussion of the decline in ZX Spectrum development, reviews of new games and utilities, and announcements of future projects.
- Educational Program
The article provides an overview of FidoNet, a non-commercial computer network often considered the predecessor of the Internet, detailing its origins, growth, and unique cultural aspects.
- Hardware
Instructions for connecting the 'ALEGRO' modem to computers with normal port #FF, detailing hardware modifications required for proper signal handling.
- Hardware
Connecting Hayes-compatible modems to ZX Spectrum, focusing on Scorpion and Pentagon models, detailing hardware modifications. Specific instructions for internal port blocking and signal alignment provided. Step-by-step process and technical intricacies explained.
- Hardware
Discussion of the transition from 5.25' to 3.5' floppy disks for ZX Spectrum, including installation issues and solutions for compatibility with existing software.
- Let's Feast
A satirical story about a Rabbit who lost his house to a cunning Fox and how a Rooster helped him reclaim it.
- Let's Gourmet
A humorous tale about Malysh and Karlson's adventures with technology, drawing parallels between computers and everyday life, culminating in a comic mishap with an AMIGA computer.
- Advertising
Article discusses free advertising policy of Oberon, catalog of programs and hardware for ZX Spectrum, and adventure game engagement.
- Advertisement - Kano
Promotional campaign by Magic Soft and RPSG in Russia for Amiga multimedia computers, offering exhibitions, sales, and consultations. They highlight Amiga's advantages over other systems, describe various models, and provide price lists. Collaboration with 'Computers for Population' for distribution and services.
