Izhevsk Scene, IMAGE Group, and Soft Trading

Welcome to Image World ! We are glad that you decided to reply to our little letter. And upon receiving it, decided to reply (of coz!). Truly, there was a bit of a delay with the answer, for which I sincerely apologize. I hope that something like this won't happen again (at least on my end). It certainly upset me, of coz, that you, M.M.A, put Izhevsk on your blacklist. But I think I will raise Izhevsk in your eyes, since Niks'on is the only such moron in our city. Well then... First, a few events that happened in our beloved and dear to our hearts city of Izhevsk, stuff I haven't told you yet about us and our city. To start from afar, the size of your catalog surprised me quite a bit. Since I'm the main guy doing progz trading on a large scale in Izhevsk, I logically should have the biggest prog bank. But here's how I do it. Absolutely all games I pass to Power Of Sound (POS), and their game catalog is somewhat larger than mine. I only keep games that caught my eye for some reason. Could be an Intro, or the game itself. However, since POS doesn't deal with music demos at all (it seems), I have a broader catalog of Demoz. But, I repeat, I record programs selectively. That's why my catalog is a bit tinier (10 drops = 1 crumb ;}). About the InterNet... A friend of ours dug around in that net here. For example, the catalog of text adventures (?) alone, and only for the letter "S" (?), consists of over 70 (???) titles. So, once he passes his exams, the progs will flow like a river... Don't send mail to me via Fido yet, because that's the address of an acquaintance of mine (if I gave it to you). But if you have access to E-Mail, I'll provide an address at the end of the letter where you can send whatever you want. In a few days I'll get point status in Fido. Then we can talk big via Fido. And also, for some reason I often find your progs on our BBS, like FIZZY (I got it long before your parcel arrived). Can you explain why? Yes, tell me how to organize a network like ZX-Net (if you know, of course). Which modems are better to use for that. If you know how to hook a Hayes modem to Speccy and make a hop ;) into Fido, as well as questions about BBS setup. Generally, everything you know on this topic interests me very much. In the echo conference I saw a schematic for connecting a modem to Speccy, but there is no terminal software for it, and writing one myself is too much of a drag. If there was one, everything would be cool. After all, you can wire it up this way and that, and each connection needs its own software. About the Amiga... You offended me a lot with the phrase "...Commodore Amiga (it's a computer, not an add-on for Spectrum)...". It feels like you consider me some kind of Dusya Pedalkina from a remote Siberian village. I've heard a lot about that wonder machine, pressed its keys a couple of times, and so I will never prefer a PC over it. I think in about a year an A1200 will finally be on my desk. And then everything will be rulez forever. I only need a PC right now for the modem, and as soon as it's properly hooked to Speccy, all interest in PC will vanish. About the catalog... Of course send it on a 3.5" disk, but if it turns out too fat, better burn that monster onto a 5.25" disk in PC format (density doesn't matter). That's because picking up 400 kb of mail isn't very pleasant. And by snail mail it might even be faster. I don't know how it is where you are, but here a point owes a "big beer" of 1 crate. Moving on... Probably the right time to answer your questions. M.M.A: What happened to the disks sent to KIRILL NIKITIN? Is there any hope of getting them back to Samara? DRG: I haven't been able to reach that jerk by phone for 2 months already (?), and traveling to his place is a drag. If I happen to drive by, I'll definitely smack him and shake them out of him. But I can't promise anything, because he was "bringing" your letter to me (and basically is still "bringing" it) since New Year. So for now my answer to this is a humble "hell knows". But by the next parcel I'll try to give a more precise answer. M.M.A: I want a complete list of everyone you correspond with, for better software trading. DRG: You're always welcome to that. I'll lay it out like you did: With whom | Who | How | Goal FIKUS/FLASH INC. | Me | Parcels | Soft exchange STEVE/ADG/RPSG | Me | Parcels | Soft exchange SLASH/ADG/RPSG | Me | Letters | Quick INFO DR/RPSG | Me | Just a letter so far and a Fido reply | Don't know yet ZOMBUSTERS CREW | Me | Parcels | Soft exchange EXCESS/IMAGE | Me | Parcels | Joint WORK, soft exchange UCI/IMAGE | Me | Parcels | Joint WORK, soft exchange ROB F./ENTIRE | Me | Letters | INFO from Ukraine I store all texts with letters on disk, so if I forgot anyone I'll add them next time. M.M.A: What is IMAGE? If both you and HACKER GRI (from Kazan apparently??) are in it, and I also heard about IMAGE in Kirov... Is it really something new and global???? DRG: Let's hope it turns into something global. For now Image is a new scene group we came up with, and after discussing it, EXCESS (Kazan) and Virtual Code Inc. decided to join. So right now we are three groups (though I hope this situation won't last long). The Kirov group has nothing to do with us whatsoever. I simply learned about them after the core roster of IMAGE was formed, and renaming didn't make any sense or appeal. M.M.A: Doesn't your group have too many musicians per capita? Could you, Dmitry (comment: Why so formal? Call me Dragon, Diman, Dimon, or whatever you fancy, just not Dmitry. Good thing you didn't think of adding a patronymic;), organize the creation of three or four music tracks for our electronic magazine OBERON (hope you've seen issues 2 and 3?). In exchange, if you need them, I can send several Samara tunes. DRG: I'm aware. We actually have a few tracks lying around. You can basically include them (if you like them, of coz). But I warn you right away that all our musicians write music in ASM. And that means, as you probably know, at least 11 thousand tacts on a standard player and around 6-8 on an optimized one. Let me tell you more about our musicians: PUNKER - writes mostly in styles like ROCK, PUNK, and similar, ballads turn out great. PREDATOR - is currently composing for COVOX in 4 channels. Maybe they will also run on platforms like SoundDrive, General Sound, Atlantic Ultra Sound. Mostly it's a style incomprehensible to many of us. A mix of some hard-techno, progressive, and who knows what else. STRIKER - writes nice techno tracks. I think they will suit you. You'll find tunes somewhere on the floptransfer. As for Samara tunes, send them along. Soon we'll have a leased line to the InterNet. And there might not be enough tracks for INTROZ. Just specify the composer (?) and whether it's usable in programs. M.M.A: How is AMIGA doing in your city? Such a progressive computer! Or is the IBM fever winning? DRG: I'm all for AMIGA with every fiber of my soul, but I don't have one yet. And in town, looks like nobody does. M.M.A: Write down what hardware each of you uses (roughly the way I did it). DRG: Why not ("well if no, then no", as the Chukchi would say). DRAGON - PROFI 512K/COLOR CP-DOS/COVOX/SOUNDRIVE/COLOR MONITOR/PRINTER ROBOTRON CM 6329.01 M/2 FDD 5.25"//KEMPSTON MOUSE. The mouse doesn't work yet (haven't gotten around to it). STRIKER - PROFI 512K/BW CP-DOS/COVOX/BW TV/1 FDD 5.25" PUNKER - PROFI 512K/BW CP-DOS/COVOX/COLOR MONITOR/2 FDD 5.25"/PRINTER ROBOTRON CM 6329.01 M PREDATOR - PROFI 512K/BW CP-DOS/COVOX/COLOR MONITOR/1 FDD 5.25"/PRINTER ROBOTRON CM 6329.01 M RAM - PENTIUM 100/8 Mb/650 Mb/SB/FDD 3.5"/BW MONITOR NIK BEAST - PENTIUM 100/16 Mb/2.1 Gb/SB/2x CD-ROM/FDD 3.5"/SVGA MONITOR PROFI 512K/BW CP-DOS/PRINTER ROBOTRON CM 6329.01 M/2 FDD 5.25" BW/TV DR.VIRUS - At work: 486DX4-100 standard config +SCANER, +MODEM. NIKE LTD - 386DX4-40/4Mb/170Mb/my SB/VGA M.M.A: After reviewing the list of people I correspond with, think and decide how we should exchange programs: parcels or letters. In any case, I prefer letters - cheaper, faster, simpler! DRG: I'm probably for letters too. It really is cheaper, simpler, faster. But if a pile of software accumulates (for instance, after looking through your catalog I might get totally shameless and place a massive order. Or you can do the same, or I'll send you progs downloaded from the net). If that suits you, just give a shout ;) Done with questions (you had rather few of them. Don't be shy - ask!). And here are my questions + those from throughout the letter: 1. PLS rewrite OVER ZE TOP, MK DEMO2. 2. We only have Oberon issues number one and two. If you have them, send the rest. 3. You promote KEMPSTON MOUSE. What exactly does your promotion entail (nudging all users to assemble this device, selling boards, or something else)? 4. Would really like to check out progs like: MK(FULL); DOOM(FULL); ZX-POWER 1,2; ZX-FORMAT #6; CITADEL(FULL); DUNE-2(FULL); WARCRAFT(FULL); SPECTROFON 22; magazines that I don't have; 5. Write roughly the same list at the end of each letter. 6. Don't take Mr.LAVA/POS's message to heart. 20.05.97 DRAGON/ATLANTIC/IMAGE P.S.: Today around 22:30 and 23:00 the phone rang. I pick up the receiver and to my surprise hear your voice: "Hi! It's Maxim from Samara." I thought you were cursing me out for the delayed letter, but looks like I was wrong. Once again I want to say SORRY for the delay. There are reasons for it which I'd rather not delve into, as I don't like burdening good people with my problems. In the future I promise to be quicker. P.P.S. I FORGOT TO PRINT MY CONTACT DETAILS: Addr: 426063; Izhevsk; Vorovskogo st.; bldg. 119-A; apt. 44. To Dmitry Sergeyevich Zamyatin Tel: (3412) 760-125 E-Mail: izhlisa@udmnet.ru FidoNet: 2:5050/16.1 ; to Zamyatin Dmitry OR If you send anything to E-Mail, specify that it is for me, i.e. [Zamyatin Dmitry]