RETROpulsiv 4.0 [Retro]

On November 8 and 9, the fourth edition of RETROpulsiv took place at the University of Applied Sciences in Augsburg. The event’s motto is “There aren’t enough retro events in the south.” It is organized by university staff and the “Association for the Preservation of Classic Computers.”

On Saturday morning, I set off for Augsburg by car—I had originally planned to take the train, but unfortunately the train drivers’ strike threw a wrench in my plans. The trip went smoothly, and I arrived early enough to find a parking spot near the event.

Two rooms in the university’s computer science department were reserved for the computers. On Saturday, the rooms were just barely sufficient—one room was completely filled with Amiga computers, while the second room, unfortunately, was sparsely populated with a few different systems (including Robotron, Sinclair, PlayStation, Schneider Joyce, Atari 800XL, etc.)

In the room with the Amigas, there were a few highlights—including a souped-up Amiga 1000 with a Motorola 68060 (100 MHz) and what is likely the only surviving prototype of the Amiga Walker. This was personally presented by Petro Tschytschenko (former Commodore Europe head). He also brought along the first Amiga 1200 motherboard produced in France for Escom. It was a lot of fun to listen to him recount his experiences and answer the many questions from the Amiga “experts.”

So it was no surprise that virtually all the visitors and “exhibitors” in attendance filled a university lecture hall almost to capacity for the afternoon presentation by Petro. For an hour, he talked about his time at Commodore. Since he had also published his memoirs as a book this year, attendees could purchase a copy on-site with a personal dedication and autograph. The book is also available for purchase online: http://www.petrosbook.com/

Unfortunately, I have to say that without that presentation, the trip wouldn't have been particularly worthwhile for me—there just weren't enough other systems on display besides the large Amiga section. Still, I had some really good conversations that day with some nice “colleagues” 🙂

There might be a bit more to see at the next RETROpulsiv 5.0 (April 18, 2015)—the A1K Forum has once again announced a major event, as the birthday of the Amiga will be celebrated. There will also be an open house at the university again, so there should be more visitors to see.

At the moment, I don't have any information yet on how Sunday's event went.

But I think that, if my schedule allows, I’ll be back in Augsburg in 2015—events like this need to be supported! Maybe I’ll even participate as an exhibitor someday and bring something from my collection. Many thanks to the organizers for all their hard work in putting this event together. 🙂