Juergen Buchmueller

[Q] What’s your preferred handle?
[-JB-] My handle? I guess you mean nick name here!? It’s pullmoll, which is similiar to the name of a brand of sweets in Germany. They’re with herbs and are supposed to help if you cough all the time πŸ™‚

[Q] Sounds like something I could do with right now. How long have you been interested in computers?
[-JB-] Since I first saw one (actually only the terminal). IIRC my very first experience was with a PDPxy on a visitors day in the Max Planck Institut for radio astronomy in Bonn, Germany. I played a text adventure ‘The ride after Laramy’ and also vaporized dozens of Klingon ships with laser + torpedos being captain Kirk πŸ˜‰ I was about 12-13 then, so this is..umm..23 years ago.

[Q] Quite a while then.. What computers have you helped add support for in MESS?
[-JB-] In (almost) chronlogical order: TRS-80, Colour Genie, Atari 800 / 5200, KIM-1, PC-XT, Laser/VZ, Microbee, ZX80/ZX81 (unfinished). Recently I didn’t do new drivers – lack of time πŸ˜‰

[Q] Not a bad list, I’ve used some of them myself. What games/other programs have you written?
[-JB-] I mostly wrote games for Colour Genie, back in 1982 to 1984. Not much on other machines. I always was more the ‘tool man’ πŸ˜‰ A few game titles I remember are: Hektik, Andromeda, Baeng-Baeng, Ballo(o)n, Chopper, Crazy Painter, Poker, Saug (Suck :), Synthi and Zalaga.

[Q] Juergen “The Tool Man” Buchmeuller.. What languages do you program in and which do you prefer?
[-JB-] a) any b) C and clones with similiar syntax

[Q] How did you become involved in Retro-Computing?
[-JB-] It started all after I ruined my old machines by heavy usage and fiddling too much with the hardware and i/o ports πŸ™‚ When I couldn’t get replacement parts for the Video Genie 3003 (= System80) and my Colour Genie anymore, I started writing a Z80 emulation in x86 assembly language. I still have an old trs80 emulator of mine lying around somewhere. It worked on a 12MHz 286, which was my machine when I wrote it. Much later I became aware of the internet and soon stumbled across MAME. Of course was interested in how they emulated the Z80. I followed the development for about a year and I then sent in some bugfixes and extensions for the Z80 core and was soon added to the developers list.

[Q] Nothing stirs innovation like a dead PC. Which is your favourite Retro-Computer? And Why?
[-JB-] It’s still the TRS-80 because a) it is the Z80 machine and Z80 is my 2nd language πŸ˜‰ I wrote most games on the Colour Genie using a hex editor. b) it has simple hardware / video and the games had thus to be intelligent and appealing to attract people. c) it was the most widely spread of the very early homecomputers, I think even more than the PET. Maybe Apple // was close, but I didn’t really like the limited 6502 instruction set.

[Q] I actually programmed more technical Assembly on 6502 (C=64) than Z80 (VZ-300). What are your future plans in regards to Retro-Computing / Programming / MESS etc ?
[-JB-] I’m currently working on a (big) database to allow searching through info for all the emulated and not yet emulated games. With MAME now having 2293 drivers and about 1500 more (partially unknown) ROM sets being dumped + available, it’s about time to try to organize and cross reference it all. Otherwise I’m always looking into what is needed. I did some discrete sound emulations for MAME drivers and might do more if somebody asks me to do so πŸ™‚

[Q] Wow! Huge job there. What is your favourite Retro-Game? (Defense Command, perhaps? πŸ˜‰
[-JB-] Defense Command was one of the better games, yes. But the game I played most on the TRS-80 was Star Fighter (stfig1). You could say it was something like a very early version of Elite. I still remember the key combinations for ‘combat mode’. C: combat beam on B: beacon on T: identify target 1: slow motion I also liked Dancing Demon and Android Nim because of the graphics.

[Q] Why do men have nipples?
[-JB-] Because they’re an invention of nature which was derived from the womens physics. Men are good for one thing – you know which one πŸ˜‰ Simply put: men are a bastardization of women. Or maybe the nipples are just a good joke of God to give us something to discuss about. You decide πŸ™‚

[Q] Anything else you would like to add..
[-JB-] Love, peace and understanding. Don’t do to anybody what you don’t want to happen to you.
Cheers
Juergen

Thank you .. and good night.

© 2024: Dick Smith VZ200 and VZ300 | GREEN EYE Theme by: D5 Creation | Powered by: WordPress