Octavian

From what I can tell, you are an end user rather than a producer. You have no entry on the CSDb and nothing on here or Lemon indicates you are anything more than a platform enthusiast. This is fine, but perhaps you and I ran in different circles. Get back to me when you start coding, writing music, or pixeling for the C64. I have programmed for many, many platforms since 1982-- computers, consoles, whatever. The worst-- WORST-- community by FAR is the Commodore 64. Nothing else compares to it. If I had done what Durin did here on any of those other platforms, I would have received a "sorry to see you go, thanks!" and it would have been done. I could do that in my A2 communities today and would receive that. But the thing is, I don't think I'll ever have to. While there might be "jerks" in those communities, I have yet to encounter them in nearly ten years of programming and participation. I have spent ten minutes on this subforum-- this THREAD-- and have encountered a half a dozen. From my 35 years experience in Commodoreland, I doubt that is selection bias on my part. In this thread alone, Durin was called names, shamed, and had his motives and sincerity questioned by people like you. Please tell me why you had anything other than "Okay, sad to see you go." Do you feel like you're part of the problem yet? Do you feel like your attitude could be part of the problem? I assume not, which I think is really sad. At your age, you should be a little more situationally aware. Hang out on the CSDb for a while to get your finger on the pulse of this crap. Read the forums and look at the "feedback" on releases. See how the voting system there is weaponized against people they don't like or don't know. See how people treat one another there. It's really, really sad, and it's been that way since it was created. For whatever reason, the C64 community fetishizes driving people away, gatekeeping, and maintaining those ludicrous cliques from the '90s instead of having fun and creating awesome things. Durin is the most recent in a very, very long line of people who have left due to the toxicity of this "community," I am absolutely certain he won't be the last.

Hello King Durin / plbyrd-- I believe we met at an ECCC / VCF in Chicago a few years ago. You seemed like a pretty decent guy, and I totally empathize with you in this decision. The CSDb will never let your releases go, so purging your stuff from the Internet is entirely impossible. If you still have your active account on the database, just try to delete your stuff. It'll come back like a bad penny. The Commodore scene is full of the worst of the worst people-- the same people in this thread calling you a "whiner" and a "jerk" times 100. The majority of the Commodore "scene" are in their 40s and 50s now days, and they *still* can't resist calling names like 8th graders and playground bullies.Tsk. I was on the receiving end of it for too long. Never again. Don't let these entitled people bring you down. I would say to not let them chase you from the "scene," but the modern C64 scene is like a sandbox full of turds and really not worth the time and headaches to develop software for. I am probably one of the few people who think you are doing the right thing in halting your development for the system. It's your work, your time, and your altruism. It's really amazing that so many people feel entitled to your labors simply because it exists on their favored platform. You owe them nothing. If you ever get bitten by the retro bug again, I suggest looking in to developing on the Apple II line ( E / GS) or for the Atari 8 bits. I walked away from the Commodore 64 a few years ago and have been developing for other 8-bit hardware, and the difference between users of the Apple II and the Commodore 64 is VERY stark. The people and users of my software on the Apple II line are helpful and thankful, and I really enjoy talking to people in those communities. They are active on Reddit, Usenet, and Facebook community pages, and I finally remembered what it felt like to be part of a fun, positive, and exciting computing community like I did back in the '80s. Perhaps that's what you'll need after you step away for a while. A breather can be very therapeutic, after all. Either way, the best of luck to you! If you happen to make it out to ECCC again this year, send me a PM and I'll buy you a beer. Take care--

I think I'll go for the MicroDrive/Turbo. After looking for software options for this machine, I stumbled across the What Is The Apple IIgs website and found a ton of HD images that have a lot of 8 bit and 16 bit software pre-installed. I haven't checked out Polymorph's links yet, but it sounds like something marginally similar to the Amiga's WHDload project. I would snag a CFFA, but the limited production runs and waitlists just aren't my thing, and I don't want to babysit the website for news that a new batch might be coming in a few weeks or months and then HOPE I can get one when they come. If there is a application or game that won't run from HD, I can always just dump it to a floppy from the HD. In fact, I love the sound the Apple II drives makes. It makes "Wizardry!" sound like "Wizardry!" to me.

Not the op, but coincidentally, I got an Apple ][gs just the other week. I had my eye on the MegaDrive/Turbo unitn as it seems as though it would be faster and more versatile than the Floppy Emu in terms of a HD alternative. Do you have any thoughts on that product?