After several years of playing on my cousins ZX Spectrum and Commodore 64, my parents brought my sister and myself a joint present an Atari STFM 520, to play with and most importantly to do school work on. Christmas day I hardly touched it not being interested, but from Boxing Day onwards you couldn’t get me away from it (not exactly sharing it), playing the games, programming little bits in basic, and when I really had to, homework. Not being able to afford many discs one day I had the brilliant idea that I had several game discs, and I only used the PRG files, the other files just made stupid symbols appear on the screen so why not delete them and use the space for my files. After clearing up space on about 30 discs, I tried to play one and to my surprise it didn’t work! A lot of learning was done then. After that came STOS, then all I did was program (although I never finished anything), 3D extensions which required me to upgrade to 1MB, then STOS proved too slow so a move to Devpac, and I’ve played about with programming ever since. Although the only things I have finished are projects for other people, like websites.

Like the others here, I started with one of the first homecomputers, a TI99/4A, and learnt to program in Basic on it. But I spent most of the time typing listings from magazines, mainly games. After two years I moved to an Atari 800XL, more RAM was always a good argument in those days. All in all, I found out, that programming was not for me and I was really happy to get an Atari 520 ST. No more typing, no endless storing on cassettes, just a wonderful game-machine with the possibility to run professional programs. I never thought of buying an Amiga or PC. All my friends had ST’s and we swapped many disks with the newest games and apps on. Finally in 1994 I had to write my diploma thesis and needed a PC. I stored my ST and all my disks in a box and there they stayed for more than 10 years. In 1999 I read an article about emulators and soon started to collect roms for MAME, Atari 2600 and the Atari ST to run with PacifiST. I also made a few images with PacifiST and FcopyPro. What now followed was the ‘hunting-and-collecting’-years. In the beginning of 2004, I had a complete collection of MAME and GoodRoms and about 800 missing TOSEC files, but also more than 45000 unknown roms for various systems. The question was, what I should do next. I was bored of collecting and only being a consumer. I needed a new direction, something more active, perhaps something to make a name for myself. So I joined the TOSEC Atari ST team and the Atari-Forum. I sorted many and corrected information about the content of menu disks and the result is the gamelist of Steem. Finally Paul invited me to join the GamebaseST project. No question, that I said yes. My thanks go to my wife and son for their understanding why I spend so much time in front of my computer with imaging and scanning.

My first family home computer was a Commodore +4 and it wasn't long before I started teaching myself Basic on it. A few years later and we got a second hand Atari 520STFM (I remember being amazed by the intro for Xenon 2) and soon got into STOS. After trying to write a few games in STOS (only 1 came close to being finished) I decided I needed more performance and started learning assembler using Devpac. I continued to be an Atari enthusiast, acquiring a Lynx next, then a Jaguar and later a second hand Falcon. Now I'm big into the ST emulation scene and trying to get back into development using Devpac on the excellent debug build of Steem. Current projects are a chip music player and a revamped STE/TT/Falcon version of Turrican.

My games playing odyssey began during the mid 1980's with an obscure home computer the Acorn Electron, which unfortunately didn't last long due to the systems unreliability. This turned into a blessing in disguise because after much pleading I received a ZX Spectrum which was to become may first gaming love and is the computer that really got me into gaming.

Eventually came the time to move into the 16-bit era. I had made my choice, and it was an Amiga that I decided would be my 16-bit powerhouse, that was until I visited an old friend with an Atari ST his mountains of games and the allure of Xenon convinced me to go the Atari route. This is a choice I would not regret with the ST becoming the system that really kick started an obsession in gaming. I was purchasing 2 -3 magazines per month thus becoming something of mogul. Unlike the other guys on the project I have no programming experience merely a lust for ST games and a reasonable memory from those halycon days, so I basically pick fault with their hard work!

Following the demise of my beloved ST after many years loyal service I moved into the console scene with a MegaDrive then Saturn & finally the PS2. But it was after purchasing a PC in 2003 that I discovered emulation, the first machine I looked for was the ST, reigniting my love affair with Atari's last great machine (sorry Jaguar & Falcon owners!).

I started getting into computers when I was 5 years old. A cousin of mine whom we used to visit owned an Atari 400 and I spent all my time there writing stories on the cartridgeless-'Memo Pad' and playing cassette games. When Phil upgraded to an 800XL, the 400 was mine as a Christmas present! Needless to say I was hooked for life. The year after, when Phil upgraded to an ST, the 800 was mine. And the year after that, a brand new ST was my best Christmas present ever! I started getting into computers when I was 5 years old. A cousin of mine whom we used to visit owned an Atari 400 and I spent all my time there writing stories on the cartridgeless-'Memo Pad' and playing cassette games. When Phil upgraded to an 800XL, the 400 was mine as a Christmas present! Needless to say I was hooked for life. The year after, when Phil upgraded to an ST, the 800 was mine. And the year after that, a brand new ST was my best Christmas present ever!

Once I'd got over my initial fear of playing Dungeon Master and even Space Harrier (I had to settle with Overlander as the games were too realistic for me!) I got hold of STOS Basic which for several years became my life. Starting off as 'Megadaz' I coded some fairly basic games and demos, before moving on to better things (Vexirik Demo is a STOS demo) and calling myself 'Black Eagle'. I also did coding for Germany, and produced several Public Domain products. The 'Eagle Extension' was my first (and unfinished) extension to STOS and received quite a good review in the 'STOSSER' disk-based maggie. I even produced two mags of my own - "Much STOS Gigazine".

Although my 520ST and 2Mb 1040STE are long gone, I still have my 400 and 800XL (albeit unused for years) and will be an Atari fan forever.

Well my first home computer experience was seeing 3D Monster Maze on a friends ZX81 and it wasn't long after that I got my own rubber keyed 48k Spectrum, I was only 11 back then. Years later I remember having a Tatung Einstein for a while, which actually was quite fun to program and felt like a real computer with its 3" disks.

When the 16bit gaming revolution came along I headed into my local shop having decided to buy an Amiga, only to come out with an Atari ST (with STOS basic). That event actually changed the direction of my whole life, as I ended up supporting the Atari ST platform in my first Job, then for another 4 years with System Solutions/Atari Workshop.

I went from 520ST through to TT030 and Falcon before jumping onto the PC platform, but in the last few years I've been tempted back by the strong Retro scene, I've even got myself some 8bit Atari XE computers and 2600 Consoles thanks to eBay.

Paul does 95% of the hard work that goes into GBST, I just poke my nose in when I can to do some scripts and playtesting. I think you will like the new version when we finish it.

Like a lot of people in the early 1980’s I grew up with a ZX Spectrum in one hand a Commodore 64 in the other, I loved both with equal measure, but must admit that the humble Speccy is the one I would choose if stranded on a desert island. Then came the awesome Atari ST and Amiga computers, I really can’t choose between these two but for pure fun I would always go for an Atari ST.

I was involved quite heavily on the Amiga and programmed various pieces of software, the most famous probably being two educational titles called Titanic and Tutankhamun. Both of these are still listed on in the Hall of Light website for anyone who wishes to take look.

So why did I choose to start a database for the Atari ST instead of the Amiga? Well, I always wished I had done something on the ST in its heyday, so by doing this I am fulfilling something I should have done way back then.

Anyway, I never have liked talking about myself so I hope you enjoy using GBST as much as we have enjoyed creating it. Stayed tuned because the next version is going to be hot!