Amstrad CPC, or in fact its German incarnation Schneider CPC, was the very first computer I ever laid my hands on. It was around 1988, last class of the elementary school in Poland. Already few years after it was a thing in the Western world.
Sometimes it haunts me. Like the rest – Atari XE, Atari ST, Amiga… And it’s the same story. “You have written no demoscene piece for me“. Do you know how it feels? It’s been even worse, as Z80 and Amstrad CPC hardware was a total alien to me.
It’s like fighting too many fights simultaneously, isn’t it? Yeah, but with a difference it’s not a fight. It’s just a hobby, right? So why not to open another book, and immerse in it when I want to. Don’t take it too seriously!
I never did more than a dozen lines of BASIC code retyped from the Amstrad manual. And where to start now…
CPCMANIA and its Programming Tutorials, such a great resource! So far I found this piece super informative and something that opened the door for me. Sure, during last couple of months I found lot of other sites and books, but those C examples was a key enabler for me. Thank you Mochilote!
Even with all these materials close at hand, or under pillow, it’s not an easy road. For neither of the retro platforms I reached level that is “enough”, but exotic (to me) aspects of Amstrad CPC architecture and how key chips work make the ride bumpy and… so fun.
It took me quite some time to understand how the screen memory is organized, for instance. And I still don’t feel too comfortable with the concept. How super rewarding it is though when after weeks (not continuously of course :D) of investigating various sources, drawing matrix on paper and calculating dec-hex-bin, finally you feel you see it on the horizon.
I wonder how many people like me try to “get it”. And how valuable it might be for someone if I share my Amstrad CPC coding story here.
It’s so much better than crossword puzzles or Sudoku. Happy coding!
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