         Interview: Dirk Gently of TSi
       done by Tomcat / Controlled Dreams

This  name  is not widely known on the Hungarian
scene,  but it covers a great face: DirkGent was
one  of  the  founders of the Hungarian scene at
around  1990.  Maybe some will recognize his old
name:  Dada  / Twin Sectors, alias Zsolt Werner.
We  entered channel #montblance on IRC, did this
on  the event of releasing the diskmag Scanner's
edition 8.

-  Well...  so  Scanner  was the first Hungarian
diskmag?

-  Yes,  and  now  came number 8., after a three
years break. :)

-  Then  I  remember well. Why stopped it for so
long, and why was it restarted?

- Lack of good subjects / death of the scene.

- So you think scene is dead?

-  Sure... yes, it is dead... Hungarian scene is
noted nowhere, not like back in 1992.

-  Well, it's true. And do you think changing is
possible?

-  Not really... there are no such mads nowadays
like  Jones,  who can really spend an entire day
with coding.

- Hm, I think there are some... but something is
missing, what were present in TSi.

-  Persistence,  what is missing... despite that
nowadays' scene has the great possibilities what
we did not have - the Internet and the IRC.

-  And  the  BBSs...  there weren't so many that
time.   Anyway,  what  could  be  done?  (stupid
questions rule)

-  The  BBS scene was cool in Hungary that time,
mostly  at  the end of '93, but that time it was
obvious  that  the  scene  is  dead.  I remember
trading  2-3 hours in the night, this is why CoV
[a papermag - Tomcat] was so up-to-date. Just at
the end of '93.

-  A  long  time  ago  you managed to define the
meaning  of  the word 'lamer'. How to define the
word 'scene'?

-  Hmmm...  it  has been already defined by many
people.  Scene is the place where computer folks
assemble,  but  I  think TRf has another opinion
about this ;-)

-  Other.  Was  it  the  scene  what taught  you
Finnish, or you learned it somewhere?

-  Well,  I  learned  it because TSC/ex-TSi also
started  it,  and  I didn't want him to overtake
me. :)

-  Anyway,  why  TSi  fell  to pieces? Valentine
joined   Abaddon,   TSC   and   others   founded
Phantom... what has happened at you?

- Val has left the group earlier. I did not want
to  release  more  Scanners, because I thought I
will  never  overmake  Scanner  #5.  I sat on it
for  a  half  year,  but it seems on it, though.
It's   another   subject,  that  Scanner  #8  is
undoubtedly THE diskmag...

- Let's ramble to let the the readers see that I
can't  make  a  normal  interview...  How the PC
scene started in Hungary?

-  Hmmm...  on  the summer of 1990? Then I first
met Dr. Lamer (P‚ter Trajbj r). Or at the end of
1990?   Then   I  met  Jones.  But  actually  it
started  only at the beginning of 1991, when Val
+ Greg + etc. founded Twin Sectors.

-  Heh, I also have a friend called Dr. Lamer, I
will tell him that he is not the only one...

-   OK!   :)  Smart  idea,  there  are  too  lot
scenefaces  nowadays  using oldies' names... eg.
Roy  Batty... or Tomcat. :) The other day I read
in  some  AD&D book about some Zsolt G sp r, who
also called himself DADA... :-/

- First products, parties?

-  Hmmm... There was the first get-together here
at  BME [Budapest Technical University - Tomcat]
but  that  time  there  were  no demo compos, or
such,  because  no PC groups existed besides us.
:)   Or  I  think,  there  were  some  dudes  in
Socialist Brigade, but I am not sure.

-  If  I  remember well, Future Crew's works had
some influence at us...

- That time there was no FC yet, their demo only
appeared in '92... but there was an EGA megademo
written  in  '90  by a Holland group. Since then
they disappeared in the sinker, but that time it
was  the  only  valuable scene-product. What was
their  name?  It  was a 300K demo... so ql. Now,
back  to TSi products, Jones was undoubtedly the
best coder of the era.

-  What  caused  really  the death of the scene?
Some  say  commerciality,  others say the oldies
got bored of it, others again say that the butts
and  lamers  overtook  the scene, and this ended
the world of elite groups.

-  Yep.  Boring,  profism, military, university,
writing  into  paying  papermags,  etc... I also
concentrated  to  CoV,  it  payed, even if not a
lot.

-  What  do  you  think is better, friendship or
elitism?

- Nowadays there weren't elite scene in Hungary,
even if we wanted it. Simply there are no people
in  Jones'  caliber.  Nah,  it  won't  harm,  if
someone calls himself elite... this could really
be  done  by Jones, because he proved himself to
be it. Maybe the folks don't know, but Jones was
the  author  of SP Modplayer, which was far more
better in its time than Cox's MP.

- Which groups do you take something for? (I bet
Controlled Dreams is not on your list. :)

-  None. OK, I didn't see any of their products,
except  the  diskmags,  but  neither of these is
better  than  Terror News... so it is execrable.
Maybe  I  should  watch some demos, and not only
believe Basq and Psyc. :) But there is really no
Hungarian  scene  today.  So Jones made a really
cool  modplayer  in  April 1991, it could do LPT
stereo/mono  playing,  9-10  bits  IS playing, 4
channel  oscilloscope, etc. It was fuckin' good,
and  fast  (full  assy,  ofcoz). But the problem
today is that the Hungarian scene has nothing to
be  proud  of  in  European  level.  It  had  in
1991-92,  especially  Jones, or Maxwood with the
conversion of Wish!.

-   What   do   you   think  about  these  days'
conceitedness?  I mean if someone codes a 4K, he
usually  won't  ever  more  greet some non-coder
people. A lots of these exist...

-  Now,  I can't discuss about this, because the
scene was highly conceited even in 1992... so do
I... :)

-  At  least  you  confess it... ;) Now, this is
enough  for  a  day,  and  I  will check the new
Scanner... thanx for the report.

-  You  go?  :)  shit... Download Scanner, and I
will look for critics! :)

-  You  will get it, no problem... just like you
criticized Terror News... >:->

-  Hehe...  :)  as you like it... :) Write in it
that I really liked the article about gipsies in
TN (pity that later Taylor withdrew it :((()
