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[personal profile] graafen
On Christmas Day 1990 my passion for computers was born. I was a wee seven year old, and under the tree was a rather large box, wrapped up in festive paper, with my name written on it.

I at once knew what it was. I don't recall whether my father announced that we were getting a computer, specifically an Amiga, or whether I had begged him for one, but I had foresight that under the tree, wrapped up in Christmas cheer and proof that my working-class parents had elevated themselves to the middle-class, was a brand new computer.

It was an Amiga 500 Screen Gems Pack, which also came with the Astra Pack, and I loved that beast. I loved it so much that I'd spend hours in my room playing the games that came with it, so much so that my mother would berate me for spending so much time inside.

My father enjoyed it too, often playing the more challenging simulator games such as F-19 Stealth Fighter, Megafortress: Flight of the Old Dog and Microprose Formula One Grand Prix. He had a subscription to Amiga Format, but sometimes bought CU Amiga. I'm sad to say that I didn't read the articles, but I was always excited to see what new game demos were on the cover disks.

Ten years later and I was still using my good old Amiga 500 along with a PC. When I ran away fromleft home at the age of 17 I took my Amiga with me to Sheffield, but when I moved back in with my parents, my Amiga stayed in Sheffield. I do miss it.


LAN Party 2001 - A500 on the floor


When I moved away from my parents I got myself an A1200, a machine I'd wanted ever since they were released, from eBay. I loved that machine too, but it oddly stopped loading from floppies and, in a moment of stupidity and anger at having too much stuff, threw it in a skip. I regret doing that a lot.

So, for the last few years I've been without an Amiga. That was until a couple of months ago when [livejournal.com profile] darac and [livejournal.com profile] dsw gave me two A1200s! Both of them had problems, but with the aid of another A1200 from eBay I was able to construct a fully working machine.
I love this A1200, do not intend to ever let it go. I've already put a hard drive inside of it and have also added this:



Yes, that's right, USB and PS/2 mouse ports along with the standard DE-9 joystick ports. I hope to see more interesting hardware upgrades like this. :D

In finishing it's quite obvious (to me, at least) that the Amiga had a huge impact on my life. I feel lucky to have experienced such an incredible line of machines.

Date: 2011-09-03 02:27 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] jenna-vixen.livejournal.com
Ah okay :)

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Graafen

May 2012

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