Boing Bouncing Ball Demo Amiga/Atari/Commodore 64/Sinclair QL Comparison | Nostalgia Nerd Extra

[@kristina80ification]

I like how the Sinclair QL one seems like a little kid trying desperately to do what the grown ups are doing and getting it slightly wrong, lol.

[@LondonSteveLee]

I think the QL version was trying to demonstrate the multitasking capabilities of QDOS.

[@another3997]

Other than the C64, the QL is the oldest one there. Apart from the Amiga, it's the only one to have a preemptive multitasking OS at launch, and relatively apeaking, it's launch price was cheaper than any of the others. But no fancy graphics or sound hardware, an 8 bit bus, a terrible keyboard and an initial reliability problem or three and a lack of software didn't do it any favours. 😂

[@ChristopherDrum]

It's crazy to me, because these imposter demos all assume the "bouncing ball" was the interesting point, but it was the "full screen bouncing ball animation while multitasking Workbench" that set the Amiga demo apart from what others could do. So, Amiga FTW!

[@saganandroid4175]

And the shadow effects. I always wondered why, since the source code is available, Boing wasn't made snazzier, and or updated for AGA.

[@bryede]

Yep, the Amiga version is using very little CPU time while the QL version is practically overheating that poor machine.

[@Elbas_Tardo]

And stereo realistic sound. Only Amiga makes it possible. ;D

[@illegalquantity]

I'm totally amazed by the C64 version. The Spectrum is funny, the Atari is surprisingly good, the Amiga is the real one, so it's the best one. The sound came from a garage door :)

[@HuntersMoon78]

Looks good on the C64, smooth animation and the physics are good too

[@Elbas_Tardo]

Yes , its amazing. :O

[@ghostyboi9186]

the C64 was capable of doing the demo just as well as the amiga pretty much. the only difference is the amiga could do it in the background with other stuff running. i fear if you tried to do it on the C64 and run something else at the same time the poor thing would just die

[@MD_il_microcanale]

C64 the best

[@Elbas_Tardo]

@@ghostyboi9186 And at a lower resolution too, but still very smooth for a 8 bits machine.

[@another3997]

​@@ghostyboi9186The C64 version is impressive, although it cannot do it "just as well" as the Amiga. A lower resolution, fewer colours available, more restrictions and certainly no spare cycles to do anything else in the background. That demo has been carefully fine tuned to make it run that well on a C64.

[@saganandroid4175]

You really should have shown the Amiga multitasking that demo with others at the same time. A later version of Boing! for Amiga let you adjust the speed to crazyfast.

[@BilalHeuser1]

"I've got balls of steel!!" -- Duke Nukem

[@akfreed6949]

Where's the 8bit ATARI version ? I know there is one .

[@enderjed2523]

There was also a going demo for the Atari 800.

[@daishi5571]

I like the fact they tried a different (if ugly) background on the QL. But I think the 64 is the most interesting one.

[@Mrshoujo]

There was a Boink demo for the Atari 8-bit and a FujiBoink! version. Even a version for the venerable Atari 2600!

[@brianhebert6152]

"Mom, can we buy an Amiga so we can watch that cool bouncing ball demo?" "No, we have it at home on our Sinclair QL" The Amiga ball demo at home: 0:01

[@christianweyer74]

👍🏻 Is the code available for all of them?

[@LasseHuhtala]

Is nobody going to mention multitasking? :-)

[@dcangrlish8802]

I take it these all have a copy of Deluxe Paint and Soundtracker running preemptively in the background? HE-HE...

[@BNostalgiaNerd]

+DC Angrlish Every single one. Just not the the same machine....

[@dcangrlish8802]

lol \o/ ;)

[@RobertPayne556]

I saw that Pharaoh's head too. 🤣

[@saganandroid4175]

What we don't see here is that the Amiga version of the Boing! ball can be sped up to crazy speeds by clicking the (IIC, Right) mouse button.

[@dempseydiscus]

well it wasn't so much the ball bouncing in itself as I understand it, it was the fact, that the Amiga could do that and other things at the same time called multitasking... please play the demo again showing the Atari ST or any of the others do something like that... maybe the Sinclair QL is the only one that could do the same.

[@jasongoodacre]

I'm impressed that the Commodore 64 version holds up so well against the more powerful Atari and Amiga.

[@SomePeopleCallMeWulfman]

They are all cheating with the shadow: it's just a grey circle that never changes size.

[@aldob5681]

well, the shadow of a ball is a circle...

[@RobertPayne556]

...that bounces at the same height, hmm. 🤔

[@steliosarvanitis5606]

Note that the amiga version has a sound file running instead of the code generated sound, ow, also the amiga boing ball was running on the Lorraine in the first place. xD Also, i like the commodore 64 physics.

[@saganandroid4175]

"Running a sound file". Seriously? By this, I assume you mean that it need not burden processor with menial chores. In fact, the Amiga audio subsystem has 4 DMA channels just for fetching sound. That's only triggered when the Boing ball hits the floor or sides of the screen. And if you pay attention to the sound, it's in stereo. not only stereo, but 3D stereo: the loudness of the left or right audio channel is determined by how far from the center of the screen the ball is.

[@muhammedyasinhanyasar539]

was the shadow of the ball pre-calculated without any ray casting and light, or not?

[@d_vibe-swe]

I don't know about the other systems, but the Amiga had a special extra bitplane called halfbright, using a total of 64 colours, where the last 32 colours are half dimmed. That's perfect for making shadow effects without any hassle. Edit: this might have been made without half-bright, because apparently the few first Amiga 1000 systems did not have halfbright, and I think this was made when the first systems was demonstrated.

[@Shane661]

"Mom can we have an Amiga at home?" No, we have Sinclair QL at home.

[@crystalgayleaddict]

commodore 64 does it as well as amiga, especilly for the sound! amazing!

[@bjbell52]

What? No Atari 800 version ;-)

[@AnOfficialAndrewFloyd]

bjbell52 Or Fuji Boink.

[@jesuszamora6949]

Or TRS 80? How about an IBM XT or AT?

[@RiksVids]

This one? kzbin.info/www/bejne/eKe2gWWAiqmebpI

[@SonikkuBrat]

You forgot the Color Computer 3 version by Sockmaster!

[@pcsocket462ecsviak7vza]

zx spectrum?

[@schneil]

Speccy version- it's the pause screen for fat worm blows a sparky

[@M3MB3Rrr]

There is even an Atari 2600 version. :D

[@doctorcrankyflaps1724]

Great video.

[@SSteelification]

I'm rather impressed at the ST version, never gave it much of a look but its been growing on me. I'm really shocked at how smooth the C64 is, I had no idea it could do such a thing!

[@vittosphonecollection57289]

Really impressive wow

[@pepelota74]

This is from when computers used to have balls...

[@1BitFeverDreams]

There's a 1986 version that could run on black and white macs as well kzbin.info/www/bejne/bpzaeGiDntF1nMU

[@mathsDOTearth]

we need the cpc 6128 in this mix!

[@8BitRetroJournal]

I'm a big fan of the Sinclair QL but I have to say, I find the question it poses kind of funny. Unfortunately, yes, you do really need an Amiga 🙂 The sound effect on the Amiga and C64 really stand out.

[@8BitRetroJournal]

@RasVoja Yup, although supposedly you can get digital audio out of the QL's network port.

[@marty9248]

The C64 bouncing ball was very well done...nice physics.

[@d_vibe-swe]

Amiga was the only one using multitasking ;)

[@petroidau]

The beauty of the boing ball was never that it could animate a boing ball full screen while playing sound, it was that it could do the boing ball while multitasking with other apps ;) Dragging it down and showing a word processor open was the wow factor.

[@8BitRetroJournal]

The QL also had a preemptive multitasking kernel and could also run additional programs in the background. I've run this demo with a small task running in the background showing a clock. I don't think the Atari ST or C64 could easily, though you could be creative with the C64 from what I've seen (8-Bit Show And Tell).

[@Ieatcrumbs]

The Atari ST one goes "◼️◼️◼️◾◾◾▪️▪️▪️"

[@jmm1233]

Wow C64 version seems somewhat better than the original Amiga version

[@Woomiasty]

the amiga is the original (I think at least) but the C64 is the best in my opinion

[@zspeciman1313]

Very interesting comparisons. I recall the Mac had a black & white version of Boing, but by far the smoothest one, it was called Vanlandingham. I wish someone can capture or show a link to that video.

[@atariandre5014]

Where is the Atari 8 bit version ? Ah it’s here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/eKe2gWWAiqmebpI

[@stevenpavelish6017]

Boing balls everywhere!

[@TheSudsy]

Massive respect for the C64 version 8bit fco. However, the Amiga demo was intended to be run at the same time as many other apps. The ray traced "juggler" demo was more stand alone - interesting to see that an any of these other machines...... although the C64 may make a stab at it. :)

[@Archimedes75009]

What about the Archie version ? See here : kzbin.info/www/bejne/n5jKn62QnbysnNU

[@10p6]

C64 cheats a little as it is the only one that uses an animated sprite over line drawn graphics.

[@tuomollo]

Everyone cheats. There is no 3d in this demo. It's a 2d sprite and the rotation effect is done using color cycling.

[@JOT381]

Although only 64k, the C64 looks better and moves more realistically than the Amiga or ST!

[@jakubkrcma]

The color palette on the C64 is fucked up in this video BUT it has the ONLY proper BALL of ALL!!! Other balls are NOT properly round - they are merely a bunch of straight lines... Obviously, what can be done on a C64, can be done much better on an Amiga, for example. But still, the C64 version is BY FAR the best of those seen here...

[@TheSudsy]

Read the other comments, the Amiga demo did this first not to show how round it's balls were, but how BIG by running a wordprocessor, workbench screen and a game in the background at the same time. You literally just grabbed the screen and slid it down to reveal them all running in real time.........

[@jakubkrcma]

@@TheSudsy Of course but it would be better if the ball was drawn properly, which is no problem for such a powerful computer.

[@evertonshorts9376]

@@jakubkrcma Lets not forget that it was drawn in assembly language at 2AM by a drunk man.

[@jakubkrcma]

@@evertonshorts9376 👍🤣

[@bazz303]

teknoid vison? the atari version!

[@mUbase]

BALLS!!!!

[@Foebane72]

The Amiga was the FIRST, and will always be the BEST.

[@PissGOOGEL]

and most expensive.

[@JomasterTheSecond]

So many big red balls...

[@razorpit]

Bouncing to the left and to the right.

[@DyoKasparov]

Amiga has best one...ofc :p

[@Mandrak789]

QL's bouncing ball was fail. Choppy movement, and that background image was god damn awful.

[@Mandrak789]

@RasVoja but QL had a lot faster CPU than C64

[@saschahubner747]

Atari ST is the winner. Is it with Blitter support? It looks very good on the ST!

[@davidspencer7254]

The ST version is the nicest. They overdid the background on the QL.

[@CountScarlioni]

The ST does look the smoothest and prettiest. But was it also running Deluxe Paint and WordPerfect in the background? The point of the boing ball was not the animation, it was to demonstrate multi-tasking abilities.

[@davidspencer7254]

I'm aware of that, I own Amigas and have done since 1990.

[@CountScarlioni]

@@davidspencer7254 I was actually replying to the OP rather than yourself David, but thanks for the response all the same. Like yourself I joined the Amiga family in 1990 although Ironically I didn't ever run the boing ball anim until the CD32!

[@Mark-pr7ug]

The Amstrad CPC 464 had its own version of this demo. It came on one of those now ancient computer magazine cassette' tapes. kzbin.info/www/bejne/o2qqoGuZrLh3sLM The code adjusts the CPCs display using interupts to scroll the ball around.

[@mehdimehdizade6634]

Atari ST version seems to be the best. Smooth and clear, sounds good too!

[@jimkrom]

The whole point of the boing demo was to show that the Amiga could multitask, not that it could do the ball thing and that is why you see at the bottom of the screen the workbench bar. It is running at the same time as workbench and other applications, actually it is running on another screen than the workbench at the same time. When the ST pulls that let me know.

[@SchardtCinematic]

I had this on my C=64 amd loved how cloae it was to the Amigas

[@Pika-Chu64]

Why am I scared there's nothing scary

[@gurujoe75]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/inW2aoOChNeWj5Y - ZX Spectrum Next .. BASIC.

[@Dysphoricsmile]

Wait, so Commodore 64 wins the 3D ball bouncing then?!? Well, I expected the Amiga to be the clear winner with the Atari ST right behind, but it actually is C64, Amiga, ST, QL - god the QL is weak... 8 bit in the Era of 16 bit and still somehow massively lacking against the Commodore 64... Which also SOMEHOW managed to make a smoother animation than Commodore's of Amiga - well this is NOT a benchmark of course, but it DID work as a good advertisement for the Amiga! Wait, is the Amiga made by Commodore??

[@rbbm454]

I'd imagine that the C64 version was done after many years of C64 programming, remember that the bouncing ball demo was done on the Amiga before Commodore had bought it and the system itself was a stack of dev boards, just look at some of the demo's in later years for the Amiga.

[@davidspencer7254]

The QL was preemptive multitasking and was not 8 bit. Also, it was aimed at business and hobbyists and was released in 1984.

[@SettimaLegione]

@@davidspencer7254 was not a 8 bit? Sorry it's a 8 bit cpu by definition. To be precise it was the 8 bit version of a 32 bit family.

[@davidspencer7254]

@@SettimaLegione it was a version that had an 8 bit databus to allow for cheaper supporting architecture. That doesn't make the chip an 8 bit, nor does it make it comparible with Motorola's 8 bit offerings, Z80, MOS 65*.

[@BloodiTearz]

even the c64 looks better than the atari st