Trixter
Veteran Member
I've been wandering in and out of these forums for half a decade and never thought to introduce myself, so here goes:
Howdy! I'm Jim Leonard and I've been going as "Trixter" online since 1986, when it was my cracking (later demoscene) handle on 312/708 area BBSes. My first introduction to computing was when I was a wee lad and my father would bring home terminals and serial line analyzers he was writing documentation for. In 1981, my first computer game was Adventure on an Osborne a neighbor had lugged home from the office, and around that time I also became infatuated with home consoles (mainly the 2600 and Intellivision) and coin-ops. In 1983, I stopped writing my school papers longhand and used Apple Writer on Apple IIs my school had recently acquired. In late 1984, my father used his employee discount from AT&T and brought home an AT&T PC 6300. The rest, as they say, is (my) history.
Some accomplishments over the last two decades that I'm proud of include the gaming information website MobyGames, my involvement in the demoscene (including a series of DVDs and Blu-rays that document some of its better efforts), and getting full-screen full-motion color video+audio working on an 8088+CGA machine. I was also partially responsible for the explosion of the abandonware scene, although that is not something I'm particularly proud of.
While I enjoy most forms of retrocomputing across multiple platforms, the main focus of my hobby centers around the creative use of IBM PCs and clones. By "creative", I do not mean using them in traditional creative pursuits like drawing art or writing stories (although there's nothing wrong with that!), but rather making the computers themselves do unconventional things via creative programming. Some examples of what I enjoy using my old machines for:
Howdy! I'm Jim Leonard and I've been going as "Trixter" online since 1986, when it was my cracking (later demoscene) handle on 312/708 area BBSes. My first introduction to computing was when I was a wee lad and my father would bring home terminals and serial line analyzers he was writing documentation for. In 1981, my first computer game was Adventure on an Osborne a neighbor had lugged home from the office, and around that time I also became infatuated with home consoles (mainly the 2600 and Intellivision) and coin-ops. In 1983, I stopped writing my school papers longhand and used Apple Writer on Apple IIs my school had recently acquired. In late 1984, my father used his employee discount from AT&T and brought home an AT&T PC 6300. The rest, as they say, is (my) history.
Some accomplishments over the last two decades that I'm proud of include the gaming information website MobyGames, my involvement in the demoscene (including a series of DVDs and Blu-rays that document some of its better efforts), and getting full-screen full-motion color video+audio working on an 8088+CGA machine. I was also partially responsible for the explosion of the abandonware scene, although that is not something I'm particularly proud of.
While I enjoy most forms of retrocomputing across multiple platforms, the main focus of my hobby centers around the creative use of IBM PCs and clones. By "creative", I do not mean using them in traditional creative pursuits like drawing art or writing stories (although there's nothing wrong with that!), but rather making the computers themselves do unconventional things via creative programming. Some examples of what I enjoy using my old machines for:
- Well-programmed games or simulations (ie. Microsoft Flight Simulator, Indianapolis 500: The Simulation, Interphase, Vaxine, Stunt Track Racer). By "well-programmed", I mean impressive graphics/3-D at fast display rates (for an old/slow computer).
- Copy-protection schemes (and cracking them)
- Multi-voice music output out of the PC speaker (the slower the platform, the better). There is a ZX Spectrum subculture dedicated to this, btw.
- Demoscene Demos
- Assembler programming
- Early video or audio compression schemes
- Early PC soundcards, sound devices, and sound/music software.
Last edited:
