Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gYSj5VUU1I
I Brought Atari STs To An Amiga Show - Kickstart 02 Vlog
Introduction
Kickstart takes place at the Notts County Football Ground and is in its second year. This Amiga show has rapidly become one of the premiere events on the retro computing calendar and this year I was invited along to run my own table all about the shared history between Atari and Commodore.
Script
Hey everyone, Rees here and welcome back to the old studio. I know right, this place still exists, it’s still my office at home, I still do my day job in here and even my editing for my videos and stuff. So of course it’s not been demolished or anything, it’s just, it’s kind of where I keep the cream of the crop of my Atari collection.
And speaking of that collection, I’ve actually been asked to bring some of it down to a show this weekend, a local show to me, it’s literally just an hour away in Nottingham.
And It’s an Amiga show!
Yeah, I know the guy who runs the thing, Ravi, he’s a good friend of mine, really great guy. I went down last year just as a guest, just kind of had to have a wander around and talk to people and see what the Amiga scene was all about.
And I had an absolutely amazing time, and I got talking to him off the back of that initial one last year, and he said, well, why don’t you come down next year and have your own table, and kind of show some stuff off?
And at first I kind of thought, you know, this is an Amiga show, how am I going to make Atari stuff fit in with the whole theme?
But of course, Atari history is a bit of a specialist subject of mine, and as we all hopefully know, there is a huge amount of shared history and crossover and cross pollination between the two companies - and that’s something that I really want to kind of show off this weekend, I want to give people some interesting stuff to play with that’s not Amiga stuff and also, you know, kind of educate people and just kind of spread the message that there’s a lot more that actually unites us than divides us - and that we’ve all got this kind of shared history.
So that’s the theme of my table for this year and I’m just preparing some stuff so I thought I’d put together a bit of a vlog type video of the weekend.
I’m not quite sure how this is going to come together but we’ll give it a go. So here’s a couple of the things that I’m thinking of taking with me, just as I’m kind of packing them and getting them loaded into the car. I’ve also got to pop over to the new studio, because there’s a couple of bits over there that I want to pick up.
But before we get into that, I just wanted to show you my sign that I’ve made for my table - there’s actually a couple of signs here but yeah, this is
“ctrl-alt-rees’s Atari Community Outreach Project, celebrating the rich shared heritage of Commodore and Atari.”
“AKA Ravi asked me to bring some Atari stuff to an Amiga show, and I’m scared and wolves are after me.”
Hopefully people will see the funny side of that. But yeah, that’s my concept for my table. And just a few things that I’m going to be taking with me to Kickstart this weekend - I think I’ll start off with the Atari 800.
And of course the actual chipset in this, the the ANTIC chip and the CTIA chip, were designed by a team that was led by Jay Miner, who of course is known as the father of the Amiga.
That’s actually what he went on to do after this - he designed the Lorraine chipset in the Amiga. In fact, he started that project while at Atari. Another thing that I want to take, of course, is the ST - it does need some representation at the show.
So that’s the 260ST, that’s a very rare machine. I’ve done a video on that on my channel if you’re interested in the story behind that.
But it also has- the launch for the 260ST also has quite an interesting story that’s quite similar to the launch of the Amiga 1000. So that’ll give me a potential talking point with people as well. And of course the ST was kind of developed and released under Jack Tramiel while he was owner of Atari in the 1980s and he was the founder of Commodore who made the Amiga!
So, you know, you can’t really get any kind of closer connection than that. So that’s a story that I’m going to enjoy telling to people.
Of course, I’ll be taking the monitors and stuff as well and I also want to take my STE, which is actually over at the studio.
I’m also going to be taking my Atari 5200, one of my absolute favourite consoles of all time, I think. It just has a real presence, a really cool piece of design, and it’s absolutely massive.
But of course there’s the Amiga connection there as well, because it uses that same Jay Miner designed chipset as the Atari 400 and 800 computers - and also, this wasn’t released in the UK, and this is - obviously it’s going to be predominantly British people at the show - so I think there’s going to be some interest in this as something that people just won’t have had any hands on experience with before.
And of course I’ll also be taking the trackball controller for that, because the joystick controllers that came with it are notoriously terrible, and I’m not going to argue with that.
But in this box underneath I have my 2600 - my original Heavy Sixer VCS from 1977. Very interesting console in its own right, of course - but again, before Jay designed the the CTIA and the ANTIC chips in the the 5200 and the 8 bit home computers, he designed the TIA chip that went into this. So another piece of his, his kind of story and his history, which I think people are going to find really interesting.
And then another Atari console with an Amiga connection is the Lynx - now this was designed by some ex-Commodore Amiga people working at Epyx, the game developer and publisher in the 1980s, and of course it went on to be acquired by Atari and sold by them. So, another fun thing that I’m going to have set up on the table - I’ve got my collection here of all my games and stuff and I’ll have that out for people to play with.
And yeah, hopefully the batteries last a reasonable amount of time - In fact, I need to remember to pack a battery charger!
Cool. So I think I’ve just about rounded up everything from here that I’m going to need. I’ve got an HDMI cable here. I’ll be taking a nice modern flat panel monitor. And the OSSC Pro, so I can show that off and maybe get it hooked up to some different systems for some testing while I’m there. So that’s quite handy.
I’ve got the STE, of course, so I can show those Amiga owners what a proper high end ST can do. I’ve got my Atari SC1425 monitor, and my little JVC 9 inch CRT as well, so should be well covered for monitors - and of course on the power side of things, just a bit of a power strip type thing, a UK one and an American one with a 110V step down transformer for my US import consoles.
So I think that’s about all of the stuff that I need from the studio but perhaps most importantly I now need to record this week’s Ramble, which is my weekly podcast that I do on my second channel, Rees.
So yeah, I guess I’d better sit down and get that recorded before I get this stuff loaded up and drive up to Nottingham.
“…but Rees, you’re an Atari guy, what are you doing exhibiting stuff at an Amiga show? And Yeah, you know what? I’m as surprised as you are and some of you will probably be listening to this on your way into the show. I actually spoke to a surprising number of you who listened to these and actually watched my channel last year so I’m not gonna give any spoilers in this. But pop in and see my stand in the the user group room and I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised at what I’ve managed to put together.”
Ah, the M1 on a Friday afternoon… Joy!
It’s Ratcliffe-On-Soar Power Station!
Well, here it is.
It’s a helpful Pillock!
Nearly there.
This is me blotting my shirt.
Because it’s covered in bobbins.
Oh nice!
Gaffer tape.
You don’t need to film that!
You know the Trip’s flipping amazing - it’s built into the castle rock, It’s a medieval pub. So it’s one of the oldest, well, they say it’s the oldest in England.
“Happy birthday to you, Caroline Smith of beautiful Belfast.”
This is not the exit…
So, due to an admin error on my part, I’ve actually booked the hotel for the Friday and the Saturday, even though I’m going home tonight so I thought I may as well check in today, I can’t amend the booking.
So yeah, I’m going to pop into my hotel room, maybe have a pee, and then go home - as you do!
Ah!
So I was staying opposite this place, pretty much - I mean the view is very, very similar - I don’t know what the room number was last year. But I was staying opposite this place last year and they actually had live music on until quite late into the night - and it was actually pretty good, it was like 50s rock and roll stuff so, maybe I’ve got that to look forward to on the Saturday night!
[rocking and rolling intensifies]
But yeah, I think I’ll pop home and I’ll be back first thing in the morning.
Look, we’re right by the train station here as well, so I can watch the trains coming and going. But not tonight!
Now this one’s much bigger and has a mirror, which the other one didn’t.
You’d think they’d both be the same, wouldn’t you?
Huh huh, M69.
Just a quick early morning dash to the studio to pick up a few bits that I forgot yesterday.
“Certainly when we were researching this book, I’d say I probably got through definitely more than 100.”
“A week!?”
“No, no.”
Can you identify this sound?
Wait for it…
Wait for it…
It’s going to test your age, this one.
Is it 98?
98? Well done!
Disco mode!?
Disco mode, yeah. It’s got two modes as well.
That’s so cool.
And then when it’s done that.
There’s a drying stage.
I imagine we’re going to get bored of this by the end of the weekend!
I do have a volume control in the back!
[Infernal disco music]
Oh yeah! Deliveroo!
There we go - and then when it’s finally finished the cycle, which also includes this tune, it’ll give you this track…
Hahaha!
Two men have gone into a toilet with cameras…
It goes black, you see.
Hey! We’ve just signed an Amiga! Did you record that or could you use it?
It was actually recording.
I’m stalking you for a selfie, I’ve actually got my phone out now!
We won’t have a phone off - I’m rocking a Nokia!
Kazoos for the Rambles.
“Seventh floor”
“Ground floor”
It’s beans!
Hahaha!
So it wasn’t too much of a late one last night, I got back about 1am - I managed to restrain myself somewhat, stayed on the beer all night and didn’t get too silly so I’m actually feeling okay, I’ve just been down for breakfast, forgot to record that but you don’t want to see my breakfast anyway, it’s not very interesting.
So just about to head back over to the football ground and see what’s in store for day two.
Day two was much quieter last year, so perhaps I’ll get a bit more of a chance to go around and film some stuff, rather than being chained to my table all day, but yeah, I’ll see you there.
This was the ST - the - it’s a Jag controller for the ST.
…and so there were some games that were Power Pad compatible, very few, but I’ve never seen one of these in person. It’s incredible.
When we’ve had enough cleaning going on, we obviously need to dry the disk, yeah?
So we’ll go on to the drying…
It’s actually video!
…and then it started off with this high pitched squeal coming out of the speakers.
…and then just some patterns on the screen, and I don’t know if it was deliberate or… Oh, I didn’t know about that one!
So that tape is the ZX Spectrum version of the game - there’s another game inside the game.
It’s cool, isn’t it?
Do you like it?
Well, I mean, it’s an Amiga, but, you know.
Yeah.
No, that’s really awesome!
Going on Epic probably in about two months and then onto Steam later anyway, you know. We’ve had approval by both platforms and we’re all ready to go on board with them, you know.
Yeah, they all kind of worked in the industry.
Every time I’ve tried that, it’s never worked. So I just-
Cannot see.
Cannot tell what the-
Our first prize is a sexy stack of PlayStation 2 games - they include Eye Toy Play 2, Driver: The Getaway, Eye Toy Antigrav, Soul Calibur 2, and Prince of Persia: The Sands Of Time.
Our lucky winner is…
Adrian!
187…
There you go mate!
Whoo!
It goes very fast, it looks really cool - I just want it myself!
476…
Alright! Woo!
So, are we going to see this on your stream now?
You have to, yeah.
Yeah.
I’ve been so busy and you’ve been- I didn’t even see you till today.
I know, I know, I know!
And so here we are, the Monday, the morning after the weekend before, if you like and I’m still very tired, I’m still very drained, my social battery is very, very, very much exhausted. But what an absolutely fantastic weekend that was.
Some amazing musical acts on the, on the Saturday night - Ravi always knows how to put together an amazing party and so many great people there - not, not only my kind of fellow exhibitors, like the Big Red Arrow Club YouTubers on the one side and Rob Smith with his absurd floppy disk disco- disco floppy disk cleaning machine on the other side, and all the people that helped me out, obviously Chris Pillock, who helped me get set up on the Friday, and yeah, all the great people there, all the Pixel Addict people, the Amiga Addict people.
Boat - John Shawler from Amigos Retro Gaming - who kind of hosted and emceed the whole thing.
And indeed, all of the the punters, the guests, the people that actually came to my desk and shared all their amazing stories about their childhoods and owning this 8 bit Atari stuff, and even Atari ST stuff, and hey, if the old rivalry between the Amiga community and the Atari ST community is still alive, it certainly wasn’t apparent over the weekend because it was just all about this shared love of all of this cool old computer equipment and the games and things, so a big shout out to Ravi, thank you ever so much for putting on a great event yet again, I really don’t know if I’ve done it justice in this video, I probably haven’t because I think some of the biggest moments and some of the busiest parts I was just too busy chained to my desk - and I certainly don’t say that to complain because, like I say, I did have a fantastic time.
But I missed out on all of the talks, from what I gather, I think they have been recorded, so I’m looking forward to catching up with those - and, yeah, this is probably about the tenth take that I’ve tried to do of this outro, and I just end up waffling and giving people shout outs and thanking everyone so I will call that a day. I hope you enjoyed the video. Thank you ever so much for joining me on this journey - and hey, if you do get the chance to check out Kickstart next year - and it’s a big year next year, it’s the 40th anniversary of both the Amiga and the Atari ST - then come down to the event, it’s going to be absolutely fantastic again, I can almost guarantee it.
So, yep, that’s all I have for you, I hope you enjoyed the video, and I shall hopefully see you in the next one.
Bye!
Original Video Links
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Relevant Links:
Official Website: https://www.amigashow.com
260ST Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLmC5jWXTP8
Pure Amiga: https://www.pureamiga.co.uk
The Retro Hour Podcast: https://theretrohour.com
Rob Smith’s Floppy Cleaning Station: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqdionqLqqs
Vogue Renege: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUNvHbt_XCxQgrox7gC0NwA
Hoffman: https://soundcloud.com/h0ffman
Amigos Retro Gaming: https://www.youtube.com/@AmigosRetroGaming
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