Interview with Doug/Dynamic Computing – Creator of the 10 Minute Amiga Retro Cast by Puni/Void
Introduction
A few years ago we had almost no active podcasts or YouTube-channels covering the Amiga. The active ones back then was Radzik with his Amiga Podcast and the Amiga Roundtable show. Radzik is still going, but the Amiga Roundtable show has unfortunately been quiet for years. These days we are lucky to have several to choose from. Examples are The Amigos Podcast, The Retro Hour, Ms. Mad Lemon (YouTube-channel), AMIGArama and the 10 Minute Amiga Retro Cast.
The 10 Minute Amiga Retro Cast celebrated its 1 year anniversary in August of 2019. I therefore thought it would be interesting to say hello to Doug, the creator of the show, and to hear a bit about how it all started.
The Interview
Puni: Hi Doug! First of all I’d like to congratulate you on the 1 year anniversary of your podcast. Secondly I’d like to thank you for taking the time to do this interview. 🙂 Now, I’m sure our readers are interested to know a little more about who you are, where you live and perhaps which was your first Amiga?
Doug: I call Tucson, Arizona in the United States my home. I have been here since 1993. Before that, I lived in Rockford, Illinois. I watched the Amiga from a distance in 1985 and 1986, but the Amiga 1000 was too expensive as I was 16 years old. 1987 when the Amiga 500 came out, I realized I could afford that! I bought a nice A500, a 1084S monitor, an external floppy and some software, and never looked back! I still have that Amiga to this day and use it on several of my shows. In 1991 I bought an Amiga 3000, which is probably the finest Amiga ever made and used it for many years until finally getting a PC in 1995.
Puni: Your show, 10 Minute Amiga Retro Cast, had its 1 year anniversary in August this year. What made you start the podcast and what was your initial plan with it?
Doug: Over the past 25 years, I would bring my Amiga’s out of storage every year or two and play with one for a week or so, and then get busy on another project and put them away. In 2018 I once again brought my A4000 out of storage, and realized I would just follow the same pattern unless I had a reason to keep using the Amigas that I loved so much. I started watching a few videos from Retro Man Cave, The Guru meditation and a few others, and binge-listening to AmigaRAMA. This got the idea cooking in my mind that I could do something similar, yet different. I did not want to do another gaming series, so I decided to concentrate on Hardware, Software and teaching people about the great Amiga on my channel. I also found a fantastic way to convert my videos into an MPEG1 format that a lot of Amiga’s could play back and a HAM6 animation format that any amiga with 2 MB and a hard drive could play back. That worked well for several episodes, until my “10 Minute Amiga Retro Cast” started drifting into 15 minute, 20 minute and longer episodes! Those got too big to convert. I love to help people with the new Amiga hardware that has come out, and also provide tutorials and reviews on older hardware and software.
Puni: Of all the episodes that you have made so far, which one was the most fun to make and why?
Doug: I really like the Amiga OS 3.1.4 episode when it first came out. There was a real sense of excitement in the Amiga community with the first real new Operating System in decades and it was a joy to learn about it and then help people install and configure it on their own machines. I have been told that I have sold a lot of copies of Amiga OS 3.1.4 after people watch the video. A close second is my ACA500+ video. That is such a great piece of hardware and it was really fun to learn about it and share the knowledge.
Puni: And… which one was the hardest and most frustrating to make?
Doug: To be honest, it would be one of my 8 Bit “ChickenHead Chronicles” videos. My son and I did a great episode with video and audio all about the VIC-20 game Cosmic Cruncher – I was very proud and excited to do it with my 14 year old son – but the video capture did not work and all we got was the audio, and it ruined the episode. I keep thinking we will redo it, but sometimes the magic of spontaneity is lost in a reshoot. As far as the Amiga, my videos I do about the legal problems with the owners of the Amiga Copyrights and certain other parties are hard to do. I really try to stay balanced, but sometimes raw emotions slip out. Crazy that we still deal with this 25+ years after the Amiga’s demise!
Puni: What are your future plans for the 10 Minute Amiga Retro Cast and where do you see the show in the autumn of 2020?
Doug: I want to go from four videos average per month to six or eight videos. I generally release one every weekend, three Amiga and one 8 bit per month. I want to do four Amiga and two 8 bit per month as there is just so much to talk about! That may be a challenge, as my full time jobs is time consuming. I also want to integrate the Video Toaster into the production of my videos. I have already integrated it with my modern gear, and it does a great job even today. My plan is to do a twice monthly “News” program about the Amiga and 8 bit, with an ‘80’s style vibe but talking about modern hardware and software on our lovely platform. Most of it would be processed through the Video Toaster. By this time next year, it would be great to have my subscriber count up around the 5000+ range.
Puni: I see that you, in co-operation with Pixel Vixen and Amiga on the Lake, are hosting an Amiga graphics competition as we speak (September 2019). I think this is a super idea and I hope that we will see more of this in the future. If all goes well, will you consider hosting more of these kind of competitions in the future?
Doug: Oh for sure! The response has been pretty good so far, and I think it will be quite successful. The Amiga has always done such a great job as far as graphics, and I really want people to be able to share their work to bring our community closer together. Vicky (Pixel Vixen) is a really great person and I enjoy collaborating with her. Her experience with Amiga Art and Art in general just made her a natural to collaborate with. Amiga on the Lake has been awesome with donating the Personal Paint 7.3C prizes, and I have ended up getting to know Aaron and Jeff pretty well. Look for more collaboration videos in the future. And I really want to make the Art Competition and annual thing.
Puni: I love playing games on the Amiga. Some of my favorites include Moonstone, Parasol Stars, Monkey Island, Banshee and Nitro. Do you enjoy gaming on the Amiga and if yes, what are your all-time favorite Amiga games?
Doug: I was always very picky with my Amiga gaming, and gaming in general. I put hundreds of hours into Dungeon Master, Black Crypt and Eye of the Beholder, that was my genre back in the late eighties. I certainly appreciated all of the beautiful Amiga games back then, but only a few held my attention for long. Today I am really enjoying some of the new Amiga games coming out, such as Worthy and River Raid Reloaded.
Puni: Personally I have a soft spot for the newly released Reshoot R. Have you tried this game and if yes, what is your opinion of it?
Doug: It is an incredible game and I have watched quite a few videos about it. I have not made the plunge to purchase it yet. It is on my list of things to buy.
Puni: Are you familiar with the Demoscene? Do you like watching demos? If yes, any favorites?
Doug: I used to watch a few demos back in the day, but it was not quite as popular in the United States back in the day. Some of the new demos out now are incredible. Anything from “The Black Lotus” group blows my mind. The “Eon” demo from this year still amazes me that it can be played back on an Amiga 500. Demo coders have some of the most creative minds, and I wish that mentality would exist with modern software writers – less bloat and more tight code would make everything better.
Puni: There are many different Amiga platforms today. We have the next-gen ones like AmigaOS 4.x, MorphOS and AROS, as well as the classics, FPGA-based systems and so forth. In your show you have mostly covered the classic Amiga. What is your opinion about the next-gen solutions?
Doug: Wow… To be honest, not too much. I watched the Amiga PPC potential be squandered in the mid 2000’s with lawsuit after lawsuit, and it just stagnated for too long. Now the hardware is too expensive for an OS that has hardly been updated in a decade. It is better now that we can run Amiga OS 4.1 on our WinUAE sessions as it opens up an entire new market. I think MorphOS is incredible, and it has been kept fairly up to date over the years. I think FPGA solutions are incredible. I am on the list for a Vampire, and if the new Vampire 4 platform could somehow be used with AmigaOS 4.1, we could see real potential for a reasonably priced “New” Amiga. A guy can dream….
I stick with the Classic Amiga’s because I have such strong feelings for them. I do love to push them as far as I can, though. My Amiga 4000 has a nice 68060 running at 80 Mhz and 114 MB of RAM, and she is not yet fully upgraded. The new AmigaOS 3.1.4 is really becoming quite stable, so I think I will stick with the Classic until the new owners of Amiga come around with a coherent vision for the future. Don’t hold your breath for that one, though…
Puni: Do you own a next-gen Amiga or perhaps you are planning to buy one? Many people are discussing the upcoming A1222 with the name Tabor on various Amiga forums. What is your opinion about it and do you think it will be released in 2019?
Doug: Hmmm… By the time Tabor sees the light of day, I am afraid it will be too obsolete. Several of my friends own “Next Gen” Amigas, and to be honest, they seem to use their classics more. If it were 2004 and “Tabor” was coming out at a reasonable price point I would be very excited. If we could have a new Amiga in about the $600-$750 price range, maybe it would have a chance.
Puni: Thanks for taking the time to answer our questions. The Versus team wishes you best of luck with your show in the future and look forward to watching upcoming episodes. 🙂 But before we end, is there something on your mind you’d like to share with the readers? Perhaps some greetings to fellow Amiga enthusiasts? 🙂
Doug: Keep the community alive and growing all the time. Support those people who still create software and hardware for our platforms, as they are the life blood of our community. Getting involved is the best way to really feel a part of the community, and I find the community welcomes people with open arms.
Puni: Ok, thanks mate and have a good one! We in the Versus team would like to wish you the best of luck with your podcast in the future.
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