A twenty minute walk from Elisa’s Pasila office you find The Computer Museum of Kallio. A few curious Elisa nerds visited the fascinating “I love 8-bit®” exhibition currently on display. Some of the bravest share their experience, in their own words and pictures.
Boris Vassilev Service Manager, GES Content Delivery
Jeff Baraton, senior software developer, GES Content Delivery
Arkanoid or Wall breaker on Commodore Amiga 600
This wall breaker was called “Arkanoid” when I played it on Amstrad CPC 6128 in the early 90s. There was no mouse back then, only keys or joystick.
In the picture, this is a Commodore Amiga 600 that has a mouse. It made the game much easier. I found again this “bug” with the sticky platform: when you have grabbed the ball, when you move the platform, the program is not able to move the ball fast enough to follow the platform. That allows you to release the ball from a different platform angle than the one you grabbed the ball from.
Sega Master system, a predecessor to Sega Mega DriveMy first home console (that was already retro gaming when I was 10), the ancestor of Sega Mega Drive: the Master System.
Here I am racing in the desert, and a mirage shows me both left and right corners at the same time. But I am not confused, I will go straight!
The Master System uses cartridges to play games, like the Mega Drive. But the Master System also has a game built-in that boots when you don’t insert any cartridge. In my model, the game was “Alex kid”, a platformer adventure with no possibility to save/restore progress! In this museum model, the game was “Hang on”, a motorbike race game.
Timo Hakkarainen, senior system specialist, GES Content Delivery
The start of some new endevour for Elisa, perhaps?
Daaaad! This AI can speak!
Sampo Uosukainen, senior system specialist, GES Content Delivery
VTech Laser 2001 rebranded as Salora Manager computerOne very interesting exhibition item was the Salora Manager Computer, which was a VTech Laser 2001 rebranded as Salora for the Finnish market. It was released in Finland in 1983, but was short-lived, because it was soon overrun by the legendary Commodore 64, which came to the market the same year.
Atari ST, on the leftThe Atari ST, on the left, was the first micro computer with an integrated MIDI interface, which made it popular among musicians.
Boris Vassilev, service manager, GES Content Delivery
Speedtesting a 1982 computer with an endless GOTO program“How fast or slow is this 1982 computer?” I asked myself, then decided to test it with an endless, inefficient program that gets slower as it runs.
I did not have a deliverable by the deadline; my curiosity was not satisfied; and my programming pride was hurt. GOTO is harmful indeed. (Accepting pull requests)
Two Timos programming vintage computersTimos in their natural habitat. Please do not disturb them!
Boris Vassilev
Thanks for the memory!