Mike 'Ambroid' Foran Facebook:facebook.com/mharkonnen CRS Norwich (Modern Repairs): crsnorwich.co.uk CRS Yarmouth (Retro Repairs): crsyarmouth.co.uk Ambroid: ambroid.co.uk Top 3 Games 1. Dune 2. Cannon Fodder 3. It Came From The Desert

Amiga History

I was introduced to the world of the Amiga when I was just 6 years old. My dad (Kevin) who is also part of our group showed me his Amiga, and from that point, I was hooked. Being so young, I saw the 500 as a games machine and of course played everything I could. I realised it was a bit more than that when I watched dad using it to write letters, but to me, it would always be my first gaming computer.

What Does The Hobby Mean To Me?

I couldn’t quite believe it when I stumbled upon the Norwich Amiga Group on Facebook. All these years later I thought, and yet people still wanna Amiga! Sure enough I attended a meet-up that was held and since then I have never looked back. I am quite proud to be a Norwich Amigan and help out and attend events where I can. My favourite so far was seeing our group at a very large convention in Norwich, which I was attending, but as my business CRS. Had I not been part of the group or know the people I know because of the group, I would never have had the chance to showcase my business in such a way. Being part of the group has made me realise there is a lot more to the Amiga than I thought and there are always new things to discover. The fact hardware and software continues to be developed for the system speaks volumes.

Projects

CRS – My main business and focus, initially I started the business with only modern PC repairs in mind. However, since being part of NAG, I met Nigel French who inspired me to expand the business into the retro repairs market. We now do Re-Capping, board transplants and other repairs to Amiga’s and other classic systems.

Ambroid – My oldest running project. I bought the game in 2006, and by 2012 I had given up. I have recently started breathing some fresh life into it and things are looking on the up. Ambroid is a text based war game, so it has a very niche market and appeal, but because of my interest in everything retro I am giving it another shot. If you like simple games you should check it out, it has a very retro 90’s web feel and that is the whole idea.

My Amiga Systems

A500 – My father’s original A500. Dad gave me the Amiga! I was, at first, a bit reluctant, but I soon got over that and went all out with it :D The Amiga I used in my childhood has now had quite a few changes. I added a Pi-Storm and 1MB ChipRAM expansion, we’ve got HDMI output and raspberry-pi Wi-Fi with CaffineOS. Before the Wi-Fi update to Pi-Storm it was using a PlipBox and I also tried to set up a very new piece of hardware called a Wodem, but I gave up in the end. The Amiga now sits inside a lovely blue case created by R.A.W. Talent Art. I didn’t want to part with the floppy disk drive for a Gotek, mostly because we still have loads of floppy disks and there is something about being able to still use a real floppy disk. The 500 can be seen at most NAG meet-ups and events.