---

Interview with Exotica

Editor: Andreas Stürmer










Interview with Jools Smyth (ExoticA) - Editor: Andreas Stürmer All know them, many got them, a few played them... the good old classic games like Gianna Sisters, Ilyad or Uridium. But where to get infos, NI-icons, music or a high quality gamebox scan for all the classics? ***ExoticA*** is the answer...

How old are you and where do you live?

I'm 25, and I live in Oxford, England.

Since when are you involved in the Amiga scene and what was the reason why you've chosen this fabulous computer system?

Got my Amiga 500 in about 1990, after much saving. I had been using friends Amigas for a couple of years previously, and I just HAD to get one of my own. The incredible Music, Graphics, Demos, Games, etc. It was a totally new experience.

What is you private computer config?

I currently have a little Amiga LAN including my A500,A1200/030,A2000/060,A3000/060,A4000T/060 and some other things. I suppose the A4000T is my main machine, and contains most of the expansion cards (Cybervision64/3D, Toccata, X-Surf). I am also actively using my C64, and have a collection of other systems including some of the machines I used before Amiga (Dragon 32, Acorn Electron, BBC Micro, Spectrum 48k+, Sinclair QL and so on.)

Your website ***ExoticA*** got very large the past years. How did you get that large amount of gamebox scans, informations and especially all the music files?

Most of the game boxes belong to a couple of friends who contribute to the site. Both of them have collections with over 1000 boxes. My own collectoin is somewhat smaller with currently around 250 titles. Some of the information areas on ExoticA are also from other people such as Scenery demo scene guide. There is a credits page at exotica where you can see some information about the various people who help. The music comes from my own collection and others.

Did you manage all the work alone or do you have some people how help you?

I started it with a friend from sweden who helped me with server space and some of the earlier gfx (A few which are still used). Since then many people have contacted me and contributed lots of information, music, graphics and so on. Certainly without the great support I have got, the site would never have been as big as it is today. As I mentioned in the last answer most of the people who help can be found on the credits page. Those who contribute various small files and so on are normally credited on the news page which has archives since 1997 when I started the site.

What exactly can we find on your website http://exotica.fix.no ?

Information about Amiga games, music (Mostly the more exotic audio formats - see site for more information), game box scans, Amiga demo scene information and releases from groups, some old utils, diskmags, and much more. Soon to be opened is another music area which will contain all the Game Music not currently on the site. This new area already contains about 170 meg of music.

How much work, how many years of work are behind ***ExoticA*** ?

So far 4 years. Started in October 1997. I don't have any plans to stop working on it either

What do you think of the current position of the Amiga?

Well, it's still a very popular computer, with a good following of users, developers and so on. Small market, but still much used by hobbysts and people like me

What's your oppinion about PPC hardware, PCI Boards and all that stuff?

Well I suppose PCI busboards enables access to cheap gfx cards/ethernet etc. There is not that much in the way of Amiga specific gfx cards being made anymore, and Ariadne-2 and X-surf are not that cheap.. I can only say from my own personal opinion, I have no need for PCI. Although I have considered a few times getting a PPC coprocessor card, but the price normally changes my mind

Do you think the AmigaOne will make his way better than the Amigas before?

I dont think it will have the same impact as the Amiga first did no. But I do not reflect the market in anyway, as I do my own thing. Perhaps it will do very well, perhaps not. All I know, is that currently I have no plans to get one. I think I have at least 50 years worth of stuff to put on ExoticA, and perhaps after that it will be time to retire Probably no time to get a new machine

You are on IRC too, please tell us where to find you...

#amigaexotic on IRCNet

How else can people get in contact with you?

Email: buzz@totem.fix.no

Thanks for answering!

You are most welcome. Thanks for taking an interest in the ExoticA project

Regards
buzz