What happened to Raster?

[twh/f2]

I had the great pleasure to personally know Radek 'Raster' Štěrba for almost 10 years. At the moment I'm deeply emotionally impacted by his sudden decease. It is very hard to express thoughts and find words for it. Therefore I like to re-publish a blog post about Raster which Fandal wrote in 2008. At the time I started studying the czech language and translated the blog post to german. Maybe somebody want to translate the text to other languages, so that people will get an idea ..

 

Original Post: http://atari.fandal.cz/blog_2008.php#18012008

(thanks to fandal)

 

Tribute to Raster

 

Etwas über Radek Štěrba zu schreiben heißt unvermeidlich von der Superlative zu schreiben. Für die Mehrheit der Atarianer ist er eine lebende Legende, einfach übermenschlich, für manche sogar ein Halbgott. Das muss man sich mal vorstellen. Raster widmet sich der Software- und Hardwareentwicklung, ist ein hervorragender Musiker, Grafiker, Coder und schreibt Spiele und Demos. Auf der Welt gibt es nicht sehr viele derartige Menschen und schon erst recht nicht bei uns. Als damals Jirka Bernášek (Bewesoft) und Davi Spilka (Datri) sich aus der Atari Szene verabschiedeten, hatte er in Tschechien absolut keine Konkurrenz mehr und nichts deutete daraufhin, dass sich dies noch mal ändern würde.

 

Nehmen wir diesen Raster doch mal unter die Lupe. Beginnen wir mit der Software. Die Datenbank auf atari.fandal.cz kennt über 80 (!!) Einträge mit seinen Namen - einfach unglaublich. Zu den bekanntesten Spielen von Raster gehören zweifelsohne die herausragenden Titel Naturix, Magnetit, Videopoly oder Dangerous Street und die in Zusammenarbeit mit Robert Knill entstandene Reihe an Spielen wie Gunhead, Predator oder Imagine. Aus neuerer Zeit stammen die unglaublich beliebten Multijoy-Spiele wie Cervi, Cervi 2, Multris und Shot’em All. In der Demoszene konnte Raster schwer punkten mit seiner „Self Demo“ und seinen 1KB Intros mit denen er mehrfach auf der bekannten Forever Party gewann. Natürlich darf man nicht den berühmten Raster Music Tracker vergessen, einem Windows Musik Editor, der eine regelrechte Revolution in der Musikentwicklung des kleinen Ataris auslöste. Schließlich schrieb eben jener Raster auch noch eine große Menge nativer und plattformübergreifender Utilities. Das alles ist einfach unfassbar!

Mit Rasters Softwareaktivitäten in der Atari Szene hört es freilich nicht auf. Er ist auch ein Hardware-Guru. Gerade Raster steht für das Aufkommen des Multijoys, einem Interface das es möglich macht 8 oder sogar 16 Joysticks an den Atari anzuschließen. Dann kann man mit diesem Hardwarewunder gemeinsam simultan zocken. Außerdem zeigt sich unser Held verantwortlich für das S/XEGS RAMCart Projekt, einem programmierbaren 128 kB Cartridge welches die allermeisten Cartridge-Typen unseres geliebten Ataris unterstützt. Zum gegenwärtigen Zeitpunkt arbeitet Raster zusammen mit Bob!k an einem weiteren, zunächst streng geheimen Hardware Projekt, welches -glaubt es ruhig- wiederum einschlagen wird wie eine Bombe.

 

Um es zusammenzufassen. Raster ist ein hyperaktiver Atari-Alleskönner, auf dem Atari ein Meister im Rang eines Professors, treibende Kraft im Atari Club Prostějov, erster Mann im Flop-Magazin, kurz ein Superstar mit Format, der es verdient hat ein Denkmal zu erhalten. Er ist mit Abstand der nahmhafteste und berühmteste tschechische Atarianer aller Zeiten und seine Bekanntheitsgrad nimmt noch weiter jedes Jahr zu. Wir können froh sein, dass wir ihn in unserer Mitte haben. Ich glaube, das auf uns nicht nur ausländische Atarianer, sondern auch Leute von anderen Platformen heimlich neidisch sind.

 

PS: Falls sich dieses Geplaudere hier anhört wie irgendein Heldenepos, dann – so sollt ihr wissen- war das meine volle Absicht. Dieser Mensch verdient das wirklich. Irgendwer musste das ja mal so deutlich sagen.

 

 

Raster, Du wirst mir fehlen!

[NRV]

Really, really sad.. rest in peace Raster.

[Heaven/TQA]

thanks twh...

Edited August 1, 2011 by Heaven/TQA

[sack-c0s]

ahh... don't really know what to say that hasn't been said before to be honest. I was thinking (hoping?) this would be one of those 'sorry guys - real life has left me with no time for A8 stuff' type posts but sadly not...

 

From what little I knew of him he seemed like a decent bloke - easygoing, relaxed, knowledgeable and had that (sadly rare) gift of taking feedback and suggestions in the spirit in which they were intended, as a constructive means of improving things rather than some kind of personal insult, which led to him doing some bloody good stuff.

 

My thoughts are with his family.

[+Philsan]

Radek's software productions (Fandal's website):

http://atari.fandal....ch=radek&from=0

[_Fandal_]

Raster's funeral will be held this Friday (5th August) in Prostejov/CZ.

 

There will be a lot of Atarians and other sceners and I promise that we will say our last "good bye" for all those who will not be able to come.

 

There were some questions from AtariAge/ABBUC/AtariArea/AtariOnLine members if they can donate a wreath or something like that. I think it is not necessary but thank you very much for all your condolences and prayers!

 

F.

[+CharlieChaplin]

Oh well,

 

this is so sad and it looks like 2011 is becoming a sad year for the A8 scene. Just two days after we were informed about Raster`s tragic death, atarionline.pl informs us that Jurgi/Tristesse has died...

 

Rest in peace Raster and Jurgi !!

 

And, refering to the saying "they are not dead, as long as we remember them", maybe someone could do a memorial page for (all) Atarians that left us and write (or let others write) something on this page about their private life and their work on the A8 (in the A8 scene)...

 

-Andreas Koch.

[+orpheuswaking]

We also lost Allison over in the ST scene

[+Philsan]

Raster's funeral will be held this Friday (5th August) in Prostejov/CZ.

 

There will be a lot of Atarians and other sceners and I promise that we will say our last "good bye" for all those who will not be able to come.

 

There were some questions from AtariAge/ABBUC/AtariArea/AtariOnLine members if they can donate a wreath or something like that. I think it is not necessary but thank you very much for all your condolences and prayers!

 

F.

Frantisek,

unfortunately I didn't had the chance to know your friend Radek because it was not a regular of AtariAge forum.

But in his website and in yours I discovered that he has done so much for Atari community, from 1990 till yesterday.

Not only he was very smart but it seems he was a nice person.

 

Only a little personal example: I have a folder with my selection of Atari best music and today I found that many songs were made by him!

I am not able to use it but I know that many musicians/coders use his Raster Music Tracker.

Years ago I purchased an SDrive (c0nsumer) and a multijoy would be nice (both designed by him).

I found he programmed many games and demos too.

 

I don't know what are the habits in Czech Republic but I think a wreath from "AtariAge friends" or "Atari friends" in general would be well-deserved.

Otherwise perhaps an offer could be made for his family or in his memory.

Let me know.

[miker]

Rest in Peace, Raster. It's a great loss to whole Atari community...

 

A bit too early, no?

[Heaven/TQA]

Fandal. Please put an Atari sign there... and at some words to family, too, that he was knew all over the place. I don't know if he had family, wife, children etc but at least tell all of them that we fully appreciate his great work and he will not forgotten.

[puppetmark]

Fandal. Please put an Atari sign there... and at some words to family, too, that he was knew all over the place. I don't know if he had family, wife, children etc but at least tell all of them that we fully appreciate his great work and he will not forgotten.

 

I second that. When I lost family, it was a comfort to know how many lives they touched, even indirectly, and Raster touched many, all across the world in fact. Plus, he leaves a legacy behind for the Atari community to enjoy for countless years to come. Let them know he will be part of our community always!

 

 

 

 

 

[José Pereira]

Raster's funeral will be held this Friday (5th August) in Prostejov/CZ.

 

There will be a lot of Atarians and other sceners and I promise that we will say our last "good bye" for all those who will not be able to come.

 

There were some questions from AtariAge/ABBUC/AtariArea/AtariOnLine members if they can donate a wreath or something like that. I think it is not necessary but thank you very much for all your condolences and prayers!

 

F.

 

Is it possible to open a Page and publicity it in all Atari Forums where we can post our Names and a Message if we want to...

A way to show how many and our much and all over the World, we like, know and say 'Thanks' to Raster.

[emkay]

Fandal. Please put an Atari sign there... and at some words to family, too, that he was knew all over the place. I don't know if he had family, wife, children etc but at least tell all of them that we fully appreciate his great work and he will not forgotten.

 

 

Put an "Atari" sign there.... good lord. I hope no one is that quixotic.

 

If you want do real condolences, send them letters , flowers, wreaths "from friends" ....

[Heaven/TQA]

MK... Ich meinte "symbolisch", d.h. auf einem Kranz oder so...

[dwhyte]

[+JAC!]

I felt like there should be a proper English version and not only Google Translate. Translated based on thw's German version of Fandal's blog.

 

Tribute to Raster

 

When writing something about Radek Štěrba you cannot but write in superlatives. For the majority of Atarians he is a living legend, simply superhuman, for some even a demigod. Imagine that. Raster is dedicated to software and hardware development, is an outstanding musician, graphic designer, coder and writes games and demos. In the world there are not many people like him, especially not here with us. When Jirka Bernášek (Bewesoft) and Davi Spilka (Datri) left the Atari scene, he had absolutely no competitors left in the Czech Republic and nothing indicates that this situation will ever change. So let us take a closer look at Raster.

 

Let's start with software. The database on atari.fandal.cz contains more than 80 (!!) entries with his name - quite unbelievable. Some of the most famous games from Raster include undoubtedly the outstanding Naturix, Magnetit, Videopoly and Dangerous Street, as well as the games series created in cooperation with Robert Knill which includes Gunhead, Predator or Imagine which where. More recently he created incredibly popular Multijoy games like Cervi, Cervi 2, and Shot’em All. In the demo scene Raster scored a lot with his "Self Demo" and his 1kb intros with which he beat his competitors at the famous Forever Party on more than one occasion. Of course we should not forget the famous Raster Music Tracker, a Windows music editor which unleashed a real revolution in the musical development of the small Atari. Finally, Raster created a large amount of native and cross-platform utilities. All this is just unbelievable!

 

And the list does not end with Raster’s software activities in the Atari Scene. He is also a hardware guru. By creating Multijoy Raster created an interface that makes it possible to connect 8 or even 16 joysticks to a single Atari. This hardware wonder allows you to play together simultaneously. Moreover, our hero is responsible for the S/XEGS RAMCart Project, a programmable 128 kB cartridge which supports the vast majority of our beloved Atari's cartridge types. At present Raster is working together with Bob!K on another - initially top secret - hardware project, which will make an impact again – you can be sure of that.

 

To sum it up: Raster is a hyperactive Atari all-rounder, an Atari master at professor level, the driving force of Atari Club Prostějov, the first man in the Flop-magazine, a superstar with format who deserves a monument. He is by far the most notable and famous Czech Atarian of all time and his popularity will continue to grow every year. We can be glad to have him in our midst. I believe that not only foreign Atarians, but also people from other platforms are secretly envious of us. PS: If this tribute sounds like some heroic epic, then you should know that this is completely intentional. This man really deserves it. Someone just had to say it.

Edited September 22, 2011 by JAC!

[UNIXcoffee928]

Thanks for taking the time to do the translation.

 

His untimely passing was a true tragedy. Men such as he are few & far between, and the unlikely nature of his accident makes the whole thing even more bizarre, and more incomprehensible.

 

Like Seymour Cray's accident, while he was still in his prime, it is a very unfair thing, and it makes us wonder how much potential was wasted due to a split-second occurrence. The only thing that we are left learning is that you must always be vigilant in life.

 

At least, if you believe in an Afterlife, we can gain some consolation in knowing that these fellows will be designing something very cool, for when we find out (heart-felt smiles).

 

My Condolences to family, friends, loved ones.

Edited September 22, 2011 by UNIXcoffee928

[Mclaneinc]

They often say "the good die young" and its sometimes very true..

 

Worse still, I look out of my window at the yobs, drug dealers, thugs, pimps etc on this estate I live on and think how unfair life can be, a million of these would not be worth one of Raster. These carry on with their vile disgusting lives, profiteering off of others misery & stupidity yet Raster, a guy who spent his time giving back, helping and entertaining others for free gets his life snatched away.

 

To quote our American friends, life sucks......

Edited September 22, 2011 by Mclaneinc

[+Philsan]

 

Ten years has passed since the tragic passing of Radek Štěrba and today @Fandal published this beautiful photo.

 

As I wrote on Facebook commenting a post by @pseudografx, unfortunately I didn't have the chance to know Radek but I was shocked by the tragic passing of this important member of our community.

Not only it was a genius, but he was a good and helpful person too.

 

At least it's good to see that he is always remembered in many productions.

[+MrFish]

I use his utilities all the time, especially Atadim (Atari disk image tool), which is an extremely handy tool for quickly manipulating Atari and MyDOS images. Dratex is an equally handy Atari/PC line feed conversion tool, and then of course there's RMT. Definitely still appreciate his many contributions to the hobby.

 

[+Stephen]

Sad indeed.  I can't believe it's been ten years already.

[Heaven/TQA]

RIP.... more sad it is in analmux thread who passed away, too...

 

 

[Mclaneinc]

Sadly, it's a trend that's likely to grow in these years as many of us start hitting 'those years'..

 

And it's not as if the earth is being that kind to us at the moment, floods' viruses, quakes and severely hot weather also attempting to 'check us out'.

 

Great pic of Raster tho, looked a kind soul.. So, all Atarians, keep safe, keep well...

 

 

[VinsCool]

I am truly grateful of Raster's contributions.

 

I may not have had the chance to know him before, but his Raster Music Tracker gave such a big impact on my own journey.

I love using it to make random music experiments, or bigger song projects, and without it, I would never have learned how to even make music in the first place, and more recently, how to code for the Atari 8-bit!

 

His work was a huge inspiration for my own experiments, and exploration of the Atari 8-bit platform, and I would never have come this far without his music tracker.

 

So, thank you, Raster, for the inspiration, your tools and code made me learn a lot of things over the relatively short time I have been around this scene.

I hope I will be able to do even more with the new experience gained over the last couple months I have spent studying the system.

The chip music possibilities keep motivating me to push the limitations even further, and being able to use your ASM code to prove my dumbest ideas can work is something I can never be thankful enough for!

 

I was only 16 in 2011, and did not know about you until nearly a decade later, but I am very grateful for the amount of work and contributions provided over the years.

I only discovered several of your projects very recently, and I can tell you were passionate and enjoyed what you did!

 

Rest in peace, sir, you are legendary, in my opinion!

 

I would like to add an honourable mention to Analmux, who also passed away a few years ago.

Your own experiments with the Atari 8-bit sound capabilities were simply incredible and ahead of their time, and those were directly in relation to my own!

So thank you too, Analmux, for motivating me to explore the Atari a lot further, your own work also was also an important part of my adventure, and this was what helped me the most to understand how programming works.

 

I hope you too, are resting in peace.

 

The work of these two men have inspired me a lot more than anticipated, and it feels truly refreshing to be able to do things of my own, now!

 

I think most people who have read my posts know how much I love experimenting music using RMT, so obviously it has become one of my favourite programs since I have created my earliest Atari noises.

Being able to discover a lot of new things and being able to hack my own code into Raster's to show what can be done is something I am really proud of currently.

 

I know none of that would have happened if I did not try to use his music tracker out of curiousity somewhere in 2018.

 

So once again, thank you for everything, and rest in peace.

Same to Analmux, thank you too.

 

It makes me sad to know people can go at any moment without any warning.

But one thing I remember, their legacy is not forgotten!