Interviews
Interview with Crisp
Published in Vandalism News #32
Performed by Jazzcat
J)
Welcome to the Vandalism News magazine! Please introduce yourself to the readers.
C)
Hi, finally you got me to write something, so I am about 28 years old, yeah and I can still eat by myself, need no nurse to do it ;-) I currently work as an Office Automation Technician, that’s someone who repairs and installs everything you can find in an office from a simple copier over faxmachines to complete networks with internet connection and so on. My hobbies besides surfing the net is listening to music (at the mo' mostly MP3, but only good encoded ones I can hear the difference! Only use the Fraunhofer Encoder its simply the best ;-) Yeah and from time to time it play some games on PC, PSX or the good old C64 which I only use in an EMULATION, I prefer the CCS64 V2 (still Beta but this one ROCKS, it even let my BETASKIP IFFL system run!!!) And I also started to code some lines on the C64 Emulator it maybe a nice DEMO when I ever manage to finish it... That’s a real problem finishing something when you want to make it PERFECT... I also try to make some Music on the PC but I had to tell that I was really lazy the last month with it. Ok I think this must be enough for the Intro... maybe more at the RADWAR Y2K PARTY
J)
Could you tell us a bit about your C-64 history. When did you start in the scene? What groups have you been in? What are the main events and highlights of your scene career?
C)
I started in the scene I think it was around 1988-89 (I know very Late) but I started with computer in 1983 my first MACHINE was a SINCLAIR ZX81 it died on my try to improve its RAM from 1KB to 8KB this sounds really funny these days 1KB for all Programs and the Screen Memory... around 1985 I got my first Commodore Computer but it was a C16 with 121 colours and no sprites and a very poor sound interface, but to start coding first in BASIC later in MACHINE Code it was really useful and around 1987 I got my first Commodore C64 and I even own it and it works like my C128 and the two VC1541 and some other hardware for it... The first scene group I joined was DUALIS Leader of it was G'Hardy (Hi to ya if ya read this!), I think it was around 1990 I joined ACTION (jo SPITTY!) and when ACTION was history I was in ARCADE and at last I joined TRSI and now I became a part of RADWAR but only for fun stuff not illegal actions anymore, coz I am too old for doing this and the LAW has changed very since the beginning of the scene thing. When I started the justice didn't even know how to handle computer related crime now they know... Yeah the highlights have been of course the RADWAR Parties and the possibility to talk to other computer freaks all over the world which you could archive with an other hobby. I can remember some very funny conferences we had with Canadian, French, English and Germans in one line and all talking funny stuff about each other especially the Canadians and the French people talked in French and some Germany guy translated it to us in German and we fought back in English... so many stories I can await to meet some sceners again at the Party...
J)
What were the days of Action like? and in which group did you feel the happiest?
C)
Well Actions was a bit like work coz Spitty could get really on your nerves (How far are you with it... is it ready to release ... ;-) But all in all Action time was the best coz it was the Time where the best stuff was released on the C64 after it only a few things are released by the software industry... that won't mean that I didn't enjoy being in the other groups... and on the other hand only cracking a protection was no fun anymore it became more interesting for me to do some coding for myself and trying to earn some money with it... I developed some really cool fast loaders with decrunchers wrote some demos and games and many tools ...
J)
What are your all-time favourites:
Demo Group: BLACK MAIL, CREST
Demo: Dutch Breeze
Programmer: Manfred Trenz
Musician: Martin Galway, Rob Hubbard, Jeroen Tel
Graphician: Hein Design
Game: Katakis, Turrican
Cracker: -
Cracker Group: -
Fixer: -
Fixing Group: -
J)
What's your view on the internet and how it has affected the way computer scenes and people communicate and produce?
C)
I wish I had it much earlier not only in the late nineties more in the eighties... yeah the problem I had with the Internet is that there are now, sorry for saying this, too much lamers (ok everyone has to learn but don’t ask ME!) around. In the good old scene days the most people you know had a great knowledge about their computer and how to use it and how to code now when you go in the net and search for information and ask some people in the newsgroups, IRC, chat rooms and so you get very soon very pissed about them, and always the same stupid question why did this not work how do it do it now and .... The only good thing is that I can get now contact of some old scene contacts again which have moved and I can get em by email now.
J)
Are you in contact with Irata, Benson, MWS, HOK and the others still?
C)
Yeah I just improved HOK Pc with a new CPU it was only some weeks ago (Hi alter Spalter!), and I talked to MWS about how the Party will be and many other things... I also email with some other guys but not that often...
J)
What is the hardest game you have worked on? And what crack by any other past or present cracker have you seen that has been the most impressive?
C)
Oh I wont tell it the Hardest but the only which got much interest are the ones protected by MWS ;-) That’s how we get to know of each other, I started with a protection he created for a C64Party held in Bocholt/Germany I cant crack the protection at the party but the next day at home when I had all my tools and hardware the protection was gone in 30 minutes... and I called him talked a bit about it and after that I tried the game he protected call LOGO which got also some really nice things in it like a ACTION REPLAY Cartridge protection with the NMI-IRQ programmed to a special RASTERLINE ($D012) so if you freeze and try to restart there are some things going in a very different way the game wont work like before and to remove this things was really work... and he also did some nice Floppy coding That’s why we then started to team up on some projects the biggest was the BETA SKIP IFFL SYSTEM which was a complete and easy to use IFFL system, for the reader who don’t know it its a tool which puts all files together in one single file with auto start loader all files a crunched in it and are decrunched by loading and it also contains a hiscore-save in the same file and you could copy the file like a normal file to another disk, it is useful for applications and mostly games which have many levels and files which graphic and layout, text data in it so you can keep the directory of the c64 clean and clear for the user and you even wont waste space on the floppy because on file starts direct after the other no fill bytes like in normal floppy use... ok I think that’s enough for it.
J)
Ever call any boards in the old times of the C64 era?
C)
Yeah I used to call sometimes the Channel Zero (Action Board) and I also posted a little bit on it. and some other boards but I cant remember em all. I did the Good Bye Demo for Channel Zero.
J)
What’s your views on OB/TRSI. Apparently he claims he was in Red Sector in 1985 and that he was leader of TRSI.
C)
sorry no idea about it, because I can imagine even talking about it with him.... and overall its history now... ;-)
J)
Been to many scene parties? such as Venlo. Which ones did you attend?
C)
I only was at the German Party places, cos going to parties also means spending money for travelling and so on and that time I was still at school and ya know for going to school you don’t get money (very lame thing... ;-)
J)
What are you currently doing these days, still in the scene? if so, any new projects?
C)
Well these questions is a bit answered with the first one... I really wish I had more time to code again... but when you work the whole day with computers you really wont see em when you are at home... ;-) There are also some other things in the world like this electronic toys... ;-) The things with boobs ;-) *LOL*
J)
Is there any chance you may return to the scene in the future? even just to crack a few games with other old crackers in groups such as Remember or Nostalgia?
C)
Nope! I recently help HOK with a game on C64 where he started to throw everything away but I don’t think doing any illegal things now... I also think I am too old for this things now it more fun when you are a young boy in school doing this for learning how to use the computer and so on...
J)
Ever had any wars or disliking towards some group or person in the scene?
C)
Yep. I can remember that I wrote one of my first fast level decrunchers which was then used by the BIGNOSE called STING (I think he was that time in a group called ENIGMA) and he claimed he had done it. And the result could be read in some scene mags in that time. But as time goes bye its all over... And it wont have been a problem if he had contacted me first and asked if he could use it or just give me a credit for it.... If someone asked me for help I tried my best to help...
J)
The magazine industry on the C64 has developed over the years, what are your views on C64 disk magazines and their purposes in the scene?
C)
Well the MagicDisk64 was very nice but only later when Ivo Herzeg joined them and coded their very nice Menu System. And I also earned some money in writing some Tools which they sold then, like "Small Agnus" and AMIGA IFF to C64 KOALA/FLI Converter, BETA SKIP the IFFL Buster done by MWS and me... and so on... yeah and in the late days the disk mags became the only source for new stuff for the last active groups in the scene but at that time I had quit already...
J)
Who do you think is the biggest lamer to walk the face of the C64 scene?
C)
Oh I don’t have a special one to mention here.... there have been some lamers around but that’s life ya know...
J)
Please feel free to send any greetings to anyone you know...
C)
OK my very Personal greets fly to in NO special order: HOK (always a good PAL and long Phone calls...), MWS and all in RADWAR (Hi Arnd!), JIHAD (now on PSX, I think), Spitfire (SPALTER ruleZ), A-MAN, Lexi, G'Hardy, and to much more which I cant remember now when writing this... sorry (I know its very stupid to read 'and much more' you always wanna know who ;-)
J)
Thanks for your time Ingmar, do you have some last comments for the readers?
C)
Come to The Party and have much fun... I won't miss the days in the scene, knowing it was the beginning of the computing era for the masses...
Signed,
Crisp.