Interview with Ján Zahurančík

1. Hello and welcome from us at BlitterWolf. For our readers could you tell us your name, country and occupation please?

A. First of all, thank you for the opportunity. My name is Ján Zahurančík from Slovakia. I am senior HR consultant and facilitator, and apparently an Amiga freak too :) I am the author of emulation distro called AmiKit available at http://www.amikit.amiga.sk.

Ján Zahurančík

2. When was your first experience with the Amiga and what were your thoughts?

A. As a Didaktik Gama user (our local clone of ZX Spectrum) I was shocked when I saw Amiga in action for the first time. I remember it was an Amiga 500 showing an Eric Schwartz’s animation in a loop in a shop window.

3. What Amiga systems do you currently own?

A. I don’t have any real machines anymore. I went virtual about 15 years ago :)

4. How many Amiga systems have you owned in your lifetime?

A. I had Amiga 500 with RAM expansion and then an Amiga 1200 with Blizzard 1240. I had an AmigaOne too.

5. Do you prefer using Classic or New Gen hardware?

A. Classic as I have grown up on it :)

6. What Amiga Operating System between 1.x and 4.x do/did you like to use most?

A. AmigaOS 3.9 is my favourite one, for the very same reason as before.

7. Have you ever been a member of an Amiga group and if so when and where?

A. Actually yes. It was around 1995, I was part of Slovak demo making group called Reform. My music modules are still somewhere on Aminet :)

8. Did you have your most favourite played games on Amiga and what were/are they?

A. I loved Lotus Turbo Challenge, Another World, Sensible Soccer, Cannon Fodder, Pinball Fantasies, Slamtilt, Syndicate, Mega lo Mania, Civilization, Dune 1 and 2, Elite, Frontier, Hired Guns and many, many more, of course.

9. Best Amiga system of all time for you?

A. Looking back I think Amiga 500 was the best. You simply turned it on, inserted a floppy disk and played the game almost instantly. Without any need to mess with OS. And you could turn the computer off anytime too :)

10. Best Amiga game of all time for you?

A. Every week different game!

11. What are your thoughts about what happened to Commodore - Amiga?

A. I was 14 years old at that time so I hardly noticed it ;)

12. How do you feel towards AmigaOS4 and reincarnations like AmigaOne?

A. I am happy that it’s still alive, in whatever reincarnation.

13. What do you make of the Amiga spin offs like MorphOS or AROS?

A. My previous answer applies ;)

14. What do you think about accelerators like the Vampire?

A. That’s something that makes me want the real Amiga machine again! :)

15. What do you see as the future for Amiga or Amiga like OS?

A. It will be in our hearts forever ;) It seems that the principle of light-weight operating systems is becoming important again.

16. Any further comments to make?

A. Support your favourite Amiga developers, there aren’t many left.

Michael Holmes