Amiga.org

Amiga.org specific forums => New User Introductions => Topic started by: iainnitro on January 17, 2012, 08:05:25 AM

Title: Greetings From Kansas
Post by: iainnitro on January 17, 2012, 08:05:25 AM
Hello all:

I am actually a long time Amiga user, but new to the platform well after the "death".  I was saving money for an Amiga when Commodore called it quits and ended up with a PC instead... then became a Mac user and currently a vintage computer buff using a PC for main day to day stuff.

Currently, I am also an officer in my local Amiga User Group which still meets!  It is called Amiga Midwest and has a yahoo group affiliated as well as the core membership which currently numbers 5 members.  It had many in the hey day!!!  Recently, the Commodore Users Group of Kansas City actually disbanded, I was involved as their President for a while and actually had hoped to merge the two groups as "Commodore Users"... but soon learned about the rivalry that seems to exist between Commodore 64/128 people and Amigans.  A little sad to me, but we did get some folks interested in Amigas from that side.

I collect Macintosh (68k) and Amiga and do some retro PC stuff with a Pentium 120 I rescued. Between 1991 and 1994 I ran my BBS (The Electronic Oblivion BBS in Olathe, Kansas) which started out using RemoteAccess 2.02 and now actually is reincarnated as a Major BBS 6.25 BBS, however it is not currently on-line.

Hopefully, I will find a good sense of community here and indeed find other Serial Communication buffs as well as obviously fellow Amiga users.

I love the old Motorola 68K processors in many platforms, as you might have guessed from my opening paragraph.  I always loved those and subsequently the PPC chips.  I even keep my eye on the modern FreeScale processors that are currently based on the PPC designs.  Always loved the architecture and somehow, I still got stuck in Intel land :-D  Well, one does have to make a living.

My vocation is that of a programmer.  I write code for UNIX and Linux mainly with a current focus on Python.  Traditionally, my work has been done in Perl, BASH shell and C-like languages.  Interestingly enough, I wrote my first professional application in Apple BASIC on an Apple IIe while still in high school.

Anyhow, I hope to give as much as I get from this community and want to strive to be a good resource for anyone who will listen to my stories and such.  Though only 41 (as of now in January 2012), I feel I sometimes channel my grandfather who could very definitely spin a yarn or two.

Hopefully, this has not been too boring and indeed, I welcome other people's stories as much as I will be more than happy to share my experiences and opinions with everyone here.

I hope to be a good friend to all as well.

Finally, I would like to share that I love the Amiga as well as other retro machines and I have never seen a more adamant group than those of the Amiga users.  I always envisioned that if Apple ever went under, that those users would be as passionate and stick with the platform like the Amigans did when Commodore pulled the plug... but I think that there will never be users as passionate about their platform as we Amiga folk.
Title: Re: Greetings From Kansas
Post by: spirantho on January 17, 2012, 08:24:39 AM
Welcome to Amiga.org!

You'll find many people of varying "persuasions" but almost all of them have a love for the "classic" Amiga, so as long as you don't mind the occasional bit of bickering and infighting that goes on on any public forum, you'll have a great time I'm sure.

Oh, most of us here like the Commodore 64 too. :)
Title: Re: Greetings From Kansas
Post by: iainnitro on January 17, 2012, 08:29:11 AM
Thanks for the reply!  Yeah, I am definitely no stranger to dynamics of computer forums, same deal as the old BBSes!  The community seems very cool and indeed I am glad to find a group that likes the retro hobby and doesn't look at you with that strange look you get when you ask for things like a 25 pin straight through cable or a modem cable at your local computer store :-)  End up on Amazon a lot anyhow due to people not "stocking" such items.

Glad to be here.
Title: Re: Greetings From Kansas
Post by: utri007 on January 17, 2012, 10:30:04 AM
I'm disapointed, I was hoping this was a Dorothy Gale :(
Title: Re: Greetings From Kansas
Post by: save2600 on January 17, 2012, 02:33:02 PM
Welcome iainnitro!

Even though there's only 5 of you in your User Group, sounds pretty cool! Wish we had something like that where I live now. While I didn't attend too many back in the day (we had a user group that met in the basement of our library in Libertyville, IL back in the 80's), I would love to be a part of something like that today. Wait - that's really what A.org is all about... a User Group that meets online is the difference.  :lol:
Title: Re: Greetings From Kansas
Post by: trekiej on January 17, 2012, 06:41:56 PM
Welcome.
Title: Re: Greetings From Kansas
Post by: dwaldrop on January 17, 2012, 11:03:38 PM
Mike -

The user group... is that the old AUGKC group?  

When/where do you meet?  I am in KC and used to go to the Commonore and Amiga users group.  I think the last one I went to met at the Library on 87th Street in Overland Park!

Great to know that there are a few of us left in the midwest US.....

WELCOME!!!!!

-David
Title: Re: Greetings From Kansas
Post by: Templario on January 18, 2012, 10:14:15 AM
Welcome to Amiga again!
Title: Re: Greetings From Kansas
Post by: TheBilgeRat on January 18, 2012, 03:31:11 PM
Amiga was decently active in Kansas back in the day.  I believe NewTek got their start there in Topeka.  I bought my A1200 from a computer store in Topeka ran by my friends uncle.

Welcome from a former Kansan!