Greetings from Vancouver Island

[VanguardHydra]

Hello!

My name is Colin. I am a classic 8-bit Gamer. Growing up in the 80's I enjoyed and owned systems like the Colecovision, Commodore 64C, and NES in the 90s.

I still own those systems, but they have been in storage for decades. After finding channels like 8-Bit Guy, Retro Recipes, and 8-bit show and tell; it has made me want to pull out those systems and start tinkering again.

I never did much with BASIC back then. As an adult, I have learned C, C++, VB, Powershell, but never got in to BASIC. I want to do that now.

The X16 is a great way to get back in to it with a modern edge.

Would love to see a Gen 2 X16 option with an integrated keyboard like the C64C or Amiga 500 styling. I am just glad to see the X16 is a reality.

Thanks.

[Edmond D]

Welcome from another islander (View Royal.) What part of paradise do you live in?

The X16 is a great BASIC platform, but with more graphic, sound and memory than anything I had to play with in the 80's. BASIC was the first of probably 20 languages that I've had to learn or dabble in over my career. It's a good simple foundation language to start with; your resume simple CBM BASIC V2.0+ shouldn't be a problem.

[VanguardHydra]

Thanks for the Welcome!

I'm mid-island in Chemainus.

I'm playing a lot with the emulator right now on a Mac. I am trying to figure out how to use the .BAS files that are in the X16-Demo GitHub.

So far I like it a lot.

[Edmond D]

Chemainus is pretty South in terms of geography, but if it's population distribution then I'd agree it's mid "island-ish."

I'm also on a MAC platform - there seems to be a few of us here, perhaps hidden amongst all the hardcore Linux and Windows users. It hasn't caused issues or ignited any flame wars, since we're all awaiting the day when everyone has a real X16 on their desk. The 64 bit based emulators are the best (acceptable? ) approximation/tool we have till real hardware ships.

(In Windows or Linux Ctrl/V, I'm sure there's an equivalent on Mac).

I'm sure your aware of Command-V for paste, but I mention it for those who might not know. I've used it very infrequently, since the BAS format is relatively new way to distribute software, plus I've been occupied with other things. Perhaps now that the rainy season is here I'll be able to do more playing.

Finally there are a couple of retro guys in Victoria who occasionally meet to show systems and talk like 1980's teen geeks. Let me know if you're interested in coming out/down some time.