Tao / Contrast Designs, Triad
Added on January 18th, 2005 (8694 views)
www.c64.com?type=3&id=159



Tell us something about yourself.
David Weinehall, 29, Umeå, 1975-12-08, Umeå, unemployed, Linux, C64, poetry, hockey, movies.

What handle(s) did you use and how did you come up with it/them?
Iceman when in Contrast, watched Top Gun too many times... Tao when in Triad, from the philosophy.

What group(s) were you in?
Contrast Designs and Triad.

What roles have you fulfilled?
Contrast: organiser, coder, cracker, swapper and artist. Triad: coder and cracker.

How long were you active for?
From 1988 and I’m still active.

Tell us about those years and how you got into the scene in the first place.
I bought a C64 in 1986, decided early on that demos were cool, decided to find a group to join, met Ezoob of Contrast and got invited to join.

Describe a typical day for you in front of the computer.
I drew some fonts and a logo or two, fetched today’s snail-mail, copied new stuff onto some disks, biked to the post-office, went back again, programmed, and maybe cracked a game if I had a new original.

Did you personally invent any special techniques or tools to make things easier for you?
I didn't invent any techniques, but I did do quite a lot of tools, such as an optimiser that removed not seen colour-data from images to lessen their compressed size, an equal-char-packer (Byte-Buster), a very nice C/G-editor (TBoard-Painter), etc.

When you look at what you did back then, what are you most proud of?
Uhmm... Dunno, really. Might be the adapting depacker for the Byte-Buster or the TBoard-Painter.

Who were your heroes on the scene and why?
Mr. Z, for his brilliant cracks, Panoramic Designs for their demos, Hein Holt and Electric for excellent graphics and Jeroen Tel for superb music.

What, for you, was the coolest thing ever invented on the C64?
I think the demo-part Blue in Panoramic's demo Mentallic beats everything. It's fantastic.

Did you go to any copy-parties, meetings or tradeshows?
Only a few copy-parties. I had too little money, and I was too far away from all the action. I had a lot of smaller meetings together with Mayday of Vision and some people from Active though. No tradeshows.

In your opinion, what was the scene all about?
Friendship, attitude and excellence. The C64 scene did what no other scene has done since – break all limits again and again and again and again.

What were the particular highlights for you?
Favourite game was probably Paradroid, favourite demo Red Storm and Refugee by Triad and Mentallic by Panoramic Design. Favourite picture: almost everything by Electric. Favourite musicians: Hubbard, Daglish, Tel, Ouwehand, Galway... Too many heroes to mention, really. Oh, setting up my BBS Virtual Light was a highlight too, and getting the copyright for C*Base from Professor Plum.

Any cool stories to share with us?
Not really.

Are you still in contact with any old C64 people today?
Yes, I'm still active more or less. I'm still working on C*Base, and from time to time also do a little work on my demo, which is at least as delayed as King Fisher's demo Refugee was.

When did you get your C64 and do you still have it lying around somewhere?
1986, and yes, I still got it.

Was the C64 really as special as we like to think it was?
Yes. It's the single most sold computer, and the computer that people brought the most out of. And it was the computer with the SID-chip. That alone makes it *the* computer.

When can we expect to see some new C64 output from you? :)
Hopefully a new version of C*Base, and my demo – who knows?

Do you have a message for your old contacts and/or anyone reading this?
Yes, keep up the good work and call Antidote for the ultimate online experience – a real good old C*Base BBS available via the Internet.

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