The 8-Bit Guy | ||||||||||
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Personal information | ||||||||||
Born | 1975 (age 48–49) | |||||||||
Website | www | |||||||||
YouTube information | ||||||||||
Channel | ||||||||||
Location | Kennedale, Texas, USA | |||||||||
Years active | 2006–present | |||||||||
Genre | Retrocomputing | |||||||||
Subscribers | 1.43 million [1] | |||||||||
Total views | 265 million [1] | |||||||||
Associated acts | ||||||||||
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Last updated: November 28, 2023 |
David Murray (born 1975), [2] commonly known as The 8-Bit Guy, is an American retrocomputing enthusiast and video game developer who runs a YouTube channel under the same name.
Murray launched his YouTube channel in 2006 under the username adric22. [3] He worked on repairing and refurbishing iBook G3 and G4 laptops and later on MacBooks, buying and selling them on eBay, and later from his own website. He called himself the iBook Guy. He made videos to show how he repairs some of the equipment, but had made his living with the actual repairs, as well as resales. In 2011, he shut down his repair business. [4]
Five months after creating his channel, David and his brother [5] made a channel called MyPCHelp, [6] which would mostly upload computer tutorials for any person to understand. [4]
Murray noticed his general videos about computing were attracting more subscribers. [4] In 2015, he renamed his primary channel to "The 8-Bit Guy" and focused on retrocomputing. [7] He says an average episode takes about 15 hours to produce. [4]
Murray ran several different YouTube channels with topics such as keyboard instruments from the 1980s, coin collecting, and airguns, although the latter two did not have as much popularity as his retrocomputing videos so he stopped uploading videos to them. [4] [8]
Murray was dissatisfied with his long used in-home filming studio, so in 2020 he began construction on a small building in his backyard which would hold his new studio. In 2021, the new studio was finished and became Murray's primary filming location. [9] [10]
On January 2, 2024, David announced that after two years of falling views and revenue, he will be forced to shift some focus away from YouTube to the X16 project and a job he took at a local arcade venue in Bedford, TX. [11]
The channel is known for its videos on restoration of old computers, [12] [13] and demonstration of old technology. [14] [15] Murray has also developed video games designed to run on old computers, including Planet X1 for the VIC-20, [16] Planet X2 for Commodore 64, [17] [18] Planet X3 for MS-DOS [19] [20] [21] and Attack of the PETSCII Robots for the Commodore PET (which has since been then ported to many other platforms, [22] including VIC-20, Commodore 64, Commodore 128, Amiga, Apple II, ZX Spectrum, Atari 8-bit, MS-DOS, NES, SNES, and Sega Genesis). He has demonstrated the development of these games on his YouTube channel. [23] [24] Moreover, he has developed PETDraw for various Commodore computers, a pseudo-raster drawing software using PETSCII. [25] In addition, Murray is working on the Commander X16, an 8-bit computer inspired by the Commodore 64, made using off the shelf modern parts (although with a few new old-stock chips such as the YM2151). [26] [27] [28] [29] Murray is also passionate about electric cars, and has published videos about them on his channel. [30] [12]
Murray also co-hosts the GeekBits podcast alongside his brother Mike Murray and friend Craig Bowes. [31]
Murray lives in the Dallas–Fort Worth area in Texas. [32] [ time needed ] He has lived in his current house in Kennedale since the mid-1990s. [33] Prior to their buyout, he used to work for AST Research as a tech support specialist. [34] His second cousin was musician Dimebag Darrell. [35]
Amiga is a family of personal computers introduced by Commodore in 1985. The original model is one of a number of mid-1980s computers with 16- or 16/32-bit processors, 256 KB or more of RAM, mouse-based GUIs, and significantly improved graphics and audio compared to previous 8-bit systems. These systems include the Atari ST—released earlier the same year—as well as the Macintosh and Acorn Archimedes. Based on the Motorola 68000 microprocessor, the Amiga differs from its contemporaries through the inclusion of custom hardware to accelerate graphics and sound, including sprites and a blitter, and a pre-emptive multitasking operating system called AmigaOS.
The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International. It has been listed in the Guinness World Records as the highest-selling single computer model of all time, with independent estimates placing the number sold between 12.5 and 17 million units. Volume production started in early 1982, marketing in August for US$595. Preceded by the VIC-20 and Commodore PET, the C64 took its name from its 64 kilobytes(65,536 bytes) of RAM. With support for multicolor sprites and a custom chip for waveform generation, the C64 could create superior visuals and audio compared to systems without such custom hardware.
Chiptune is a style of electronic music made using the programmable sound generator (PSG) sound chips or synthesizers in vintage arcade machines, computers and video game consoles. The term is commonly used to refer to tracker format music using extremely basic and small samples that an old computer or console could produce, as well as music that combines PSG sounds with modern musical styles. It has been described as "an interpretation of many genres" since any existing song can be arranged in a chiptune style defined more by choice of instrument and timbre than specific style elements.
S-Video is an analog video signal format that carries standard-definition video, typically at 525 lines or 625 lines. It encodes video luma and chrominance on two separate channels, achieving higher image quality than composite video which encodes all video information on one channel. It also eliminates several types of visual defects such as dot crawl which commonly occur with composite video. Although it improved over composite video, S-Video has lower color resolution than component video, which is encoded over three channels.
PETSCII, also known as CBM ASCII, is the character set used in Commodore Business Machines' 8-bit home computers.
Retrocomputing is the current use of older computer hardware and software. Retrocomputing is usually classed as a hobby and recreation rather than a practical application of technology; enthusiasts often collect rare and valuable hardware and software for sentimental reasons.
The Plantronics Colorplus is a graphics card for IBM PC computers, first sold in 1982. It implements a superset of the then-current CGA standard, using the same monitor standard and providing the same pixel resolutions. It was produced by Frederick Electronics, a subsidiary of Plantronics since 1968, and sold by Plantronics' Enhanced Graphics Products division.
The Yamaha YM2151, also known as OPM is an eight-channel, four-operator sound chip. It was Yamaha's first single-chip FM synthesis implementation, being created originally for some of the Yamaha DX series of keyboards. Yamaha also used it in some of their budget-priced electric pianos, such as the YPR-7, -8, and -9.
The AMD 700 chipset series is a set of chipsets designed by ATI for AMD Phenom processors to be sold under the AMD brand. Several members were launched in the end of 2007 and the first half of 2008, others launched throughout the rest of 2008.
Retrobright is a hydrogen peroxide-based process for removing yellowing from ABS plastics.
Scene World Magazine is a disk magazine for the Commodore 64 home computer. The magazine has been released regularly since February 2001.
George Kusunoki Miller, known professionally as Joji and formerly for playing the characters Filthy Frank and Pink Guy, is a Japanese singer-songwriter, rapper, internet personality, and record producer. Miller's music has been described as a mix between R&B, lo-fi, and trip hop.
The Try Guys is an American online entertainment group and media production company that produces content for their YouTube channel. The group was founded by Keith Habersberger, Ned Fulmer, Zach Kornfeld, Eugene Lee Yang. The Try Guys are known for testing a wide range of activities, such as testing their sperm count, raising toddlers, shaving their legs, and wearing women's underwear. The four men created The Try Guys while working for BuzzFeed before forming their own company, 2nd Try LLC, in 2018. They have since expanded their company to include more than twenty employees, starred in a show on the Food Network, and released a book titled The Hidden Power of F*cking Up.
Emiliano Rodolfo Rosales-Birou, also known as Emile Rosales and better known by his online alias Chuggaaconroy, is an American YouTuber, Internet personality and Let's Player. Starting his online career in 2008, Rosales-Birou is most notable for his comprehensive walkthrough videos on various video games released on Nintendo platforms, including titles from the Mother, Super Mario, The Legend of Zelda, Pikmin,Pokémon, and Xenoblade Chronicles series.
Dávid Julián Dobrík is a Slovakian-American Internet personality. He found early success on the video-sharing platform Vine before starting his vlog on YouTube in 2015. In 2019, he co-founded the photography app Dispo. Dobrik entered the United States as a child, and was later protected under the DACA program, before eventually being granted permanent residency.
"Bad Apple!!" is the sixth track in the soundtrack of the 1998 bullet hell video game Lotus Land Story, the fourth entry in the Touhou Project series created by Team Shanghai Alice. The instrumental theme was originally designed to be played during the third stage of the game, as chiptune on the Japanese NEC PC-9800 computer platform, at 161 beats per minute using a frequency modulation synthesis chip. The Lotus Land Story version that has more than 1.4 million views on YouTube is a remake of the song from an official Touhou album named Akyu's Untouched Score Volume 1 and was released on the 21st of May, 2006.
Joel Gustaf Berghult, better known as Roomie, is a Swedish YouTuber, singer-songwriter, and producer based in Los Angeles, California.
DavidWilliam Plummer is a Canadian-American programmer and entrepreneur. He created the Task Manager for Windows, the Space Cadet Pinball ports to Windows NT, Zip file support for Windows, HyperCache for the Amiga and many other software products. He has been issued six patents in the software engineering space. He holds the world record score for the video game Tempest. He is also known for his YouTube channels, Dave's Garage and Dave's Attic.
Clint Basinger, better known as LGR, is an American YouTuber who focuses on video game reviews, retrocomputing, and unboxing videos. His YouTube channel of the same name has been compared to Techmoan and The 8-Bit Guy. Basinger is known for building, restoring and reviewing many vintage computers and reviewing mainly PC games. The channel is funded through YouTube advertising, and through Patreon.
Peter Leigh, more commonly known by the alias Nostalgia Nerd, is a British presenter, YouTuber, author and Twitch streamer, who documents and specialises in ageing technology and software. First appearing on YouTube in 2014, he routinely and enthusiastically explores forgotten computers and the technology surrounding them. He often specialises in historical documentaries on vintage computing, but also delves into technical explanations. Leigh also ventures into modern, mystery, explanation and more frivolous tech videos, with a humorous style and British wit.
...1972...three years before I was even born.