pouët.net

Maali at least is on topic. :-)

So maybe we should have only 2 categories in the end:

- Amiga demos that run on Okkie's Amiga

- Amiga demos that don't run on Okkie's Amiga


Much simpler and less confusing that way.

Yeah, every so often, and then a thread like this pops up and projects how much of a shitshow it would be.

Okkie's Amiga intensifies...

What y'all saying? I think it's time to introduce tags based on the Amiga chipset each demo runs. ;)

Since Amiga 500 has had ECS Agnus from some time in 1990, I think you'll commonly find ECS Agnus viewed as part of the "classic Amiga" platform.


Big blits can be useful for demo effects. I've used them a few times. :)

Is there much software for unmodified A500 (i.e. 512 kB chip memory) that requires the 1 MB Agnus though?

Bonus bike shed question: ECS machines like A500+, A600, and A3000 all shipped with 2 MB Agnus. The OCS Agnus is 512 kB, so where does that leave the 1 MB Agnus? Semi-ECS? Fake ECS, to go with the fake fast memory? :D

Clearly a subjective matter. ECS Denise, too?

All of a sudden it all makes sense. :-)
Still a somewhat wasted opportunity IMO to not having the majority of machines unified as a platform¹, including six or seven thousand demos made during that period, in exchange for such a minute detail (which breaks things, unlike details in Denise). (According to some random internet numbers, more than 1 million A500s were sold, versus 80.000 A500+.)

¹ In the sense: Old demos run on newer machines, as well as newer demos run on old machines.

Just read the nfo, I think it is fine as it is :)

Do we need to split the ZX Spectrum category into classic 48k and +2/+3? I mean, bank switchable video ram and an actual soundchip seem like a much bigger boost in features than an extra sprite and a bigger blit.

Also more RAM, faster CPU, newer OS, harddisk, gfx card... technically OCS/ECS, but it's also a label with which you may have an association.

Of course you can read an info file, you find out when you try to get e255 to run, you may sometimes see issues with productions that advertise themselves as "OCS" and are not. But you likely won't get it on the bigscreen or internet, and you go ooh shiny, OCS.

Subjective like everything else. It's just paying a high price for a platform which is otherwise very homogenous and for which a 35y old back catalogue with thousands of demos exist with a widely consistent notion.

No, since that is only present in the pure ECS machines, of which there are far fewer (as you also point out).

What is a "pure ECS machine" though? A500+, A600, and A3000 are obvious, but what about late A500 with ECS Denise and ECS Agnus, but still nerfed to only have 512 kB chip memory unless you modify it? Should a "pure ECS machine" have 1 MB chip memory and exclude late A500 but include late A2000? Or should it be upgradable to 2 MB chip memory (without modification) and exclude late A2000 as well? Should Kickstart 2.x be a consideration?

I'm aware that none of it matters for 99.99% of prods, it's mostly to illustrate that established terms aren't necessarily well-defined. Either way, there's no need to include ECS Agnus in the definition of a platform that captures the "golden age" of A500, because the software assumed 512 kB Agnus.

Right, ECS doesn't matter. Hence the idea to have a category where the chipset and a number of other criteria did or do matter - which opens up a new category for wilder stuff, like demos running from e.g. harddisk on any chipset or gfx card.

There are not that many productions of that kind yet, but "mixed Amiga" would be an interesting platform nonetheless, and I know there are productions being worked on.

You don't need a whole new platform. Just make a list. When you have actually figured out what to put in it and people agree it make sense, maybe it can be converted to a platform if necessary?

pulkomandy: no chance, as explained on page 1

Is it possible to have a sticky comment at the top of each release? Then people could say which one to sticky in the 'fix me beautiful' thread. Seeing as a lot of this info (including for new prods) rarely appears in the first comment.

not currently and i don't see why we'd need it since nfo's are already updatable

I propose we merge the all Amiga and Atari categories into a single "Amitari"-category instead.

I think it should be Atiga instead. But maybe we can have both.

kudos to kusma for taking this thread to the next level down, now we are confusing brands with platforms. for once i shall participate in this madness by facetiously proposing to merge all commodore machines with all atari machines, so also C64, C128, PET, plus4, and whatever other crap they pooped out over the years

so amicommodari64 that is! :D

but then ppl will complain that "vcspongpetjaguarcd32plus4msdos" should be subdivided

Now we're talking! When looking at the Atari zoo at Pouet, there's a lot of potential for subdivision and merging.

Bitfat: what Atari zoo? I see 8 Atari platforms and 9 Commodore platforms on Pouet. I don't see Atari having any special treatment there.