--------------------------------------------------» QUESTIONS START --------------------------------------------------» 22nd of September 2003 ### Give us some information about yourself (full name, age, birthplace and date, where you reside, job and interests). Pex Tufvesson, born 1974 in Lund, Sweden. I'm working with FPGAs, making internet encryption for the Swedish government. ### What handle(s) did you have and how did you come up with it/them? Zax 1985-1987, which was a nice combination of letters from the bottom left corner of the keyboard. Actually means "scissors" in Swedish. Mahoney 1987-, named after the hero in "Police Squad"-movies! ### What group(s) were you in? Defiers, Triumph, Triad, Northstar, MegAKLoPpARnA ### What tasks did you have (swapper, coder, artist, musician, organizer etc.)? Musician and coder. ### Between what years were you active? 1985-1991 ### Tell us about those years and how you got in to the scene in the first place. The scene actually got into me, so to speak. I was enjoying coding on the Commodore64, and used this computer as a way of expressing creativity. I tried to do demos in a way that not many other coders could (or wanted to)! ### How could a typical day infront of the computer look like? (In the 80's that is) I never had "a day" in front of the computer. Most of the time, my day was really fragmented. I went to the swimming hall to practise swimming, between 5-11 times a week during my scene-years. And going to school at the same time saved me from a non-active life. Anyway, this ment that I had to make notes to myself about what I was doing in order to be able to quickly continue from where I had left. In the end, I learnt that great projects and great things can be completed by making small efforts whenever the occasion permits. Still, that's how I manage things in everyday life. ### Did you self-invent any special techniques or tools to make things easier for you? I made my own rom-cartridge for the Commodore 64, which included a tape-turbo, disk-turbo and the incredible DisMon, a 4096-byte memory monitor, which I used for coding all of my old C64-demos. On the Amiga, I made my own boot-program for "saving" a few kilobytes of memory when booting by only using a 1-colour CLI instead of 3 colours. ### If you take a look at what you did back then, what are you most proud of? That I still every now and then talk to "normal" people that can remember the stuff I did 15 years ago. I've had people saying that the NoiseTracker I did on Amiga500 was the only reason that they bought a computer! That makes me happy! ### Who were your scene heroes and why? Well, I didn't really have the time or the interest to be aware of the scene. I made my own demos together with Kaktus, and somehow, we were a part of a scene that surrounded us. We had fun, not because of the scene, but because of those nice people that we met and invited to gatherings here in the south of Sweden! ### What was the coolest thing someone invented on the C64? (It could be a tool, a routine etc.) I'm impressed by the "take 6 sprites with 1 pixel distance in the y-direction, expand them forever by toggling $d017 twice every raster line, change their sprite pointers every row, and make a large image in the border wobble, turn upside down, etc.". I don't know what that's called, but it's brilliant! Different versions of this routine can be used for drawing circles in the border, or wobbling images! ### Did you go to copy-parties, meetings or tradeshows? Yes, mostly local ones in the south of Sweden. ### What was the scene all about in your opinion? An excuse for getting together. Some people play volleyball, some plays in a band. The scene was into "homemade stuff" on computers, and used this as a way of getting together. ### What were the highlights? (Favourite event, demo etc.) The mental excercise of making stuff fit into limited hardware. Today's PCs are no fun, because most limitations are gone now. ### Any cool stories to share with us? Hmm... maybe. But not right now! Sorry..! ### Are you in contact with old C64 people today? Every now and then, some of them I just rarely meet on the street, and that's ok with me! ### When did you get your C64 and do you still have it lying around somewhere? I sold my C64 and bought an Amiga500. ### Was the C64 really that special that we like to think it was? Yes, it was a very nice computer. Enough complex to keep us investigating every corner of it, and sufficiently simple to keep up an easy was of playing with computers! ### When can we expect to see a new C64 production from you? :) Hmm.. I made one for the BitLive-gathering in Brighton the 13th of September 2003. There is really nothing new for the C64 planned from me! But maybe it'll come when you least expect it! ### Do you have a message to your old contacts and everyone else reading this? If you really want to know more about Pex "Mahoney" Tufvesson, then take a look at http://Mahoney.c64.org Have a noise night! :) / Pex --------------------------------------------------» QUESTIONS END --------------------------------------------------» THANKS FOR PARTICIPATING! Andreas Wallström andreas.wallstrom@chello.se www.c64hq.com