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The 8-Bit Guy

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The 8-Bit Guy
Murray at the 2021 Vintage Computer Festival Midwest
Personal information
Born1975 (age 48–49)
Websitewww.the8bitguy.com
YouTube information
Channel
LocationKennedale, Texas, USA
Years active2006–present
GenreRetrocomputing
Subscribers1.44 million[1]
Total views271 million[1]
Associated acts
100,000 subscribers2016
1,000,000 subscribers2019
Last updated: May 21, 2024

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.

History

[edit]

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 TheiBookGuy. 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, Murray 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 local arcade venue he partly owns in Bedford, TX. [11]

Content

[edit]

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 (since ported to other platforms,[22] including VIC-20, Commodore 64, Commodore 128, Amiga, Apple II, ZX Spectrum, Atari 8-bit computers, MS-DOS, NES, Super NES, and 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.[16] 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).[25][26][27][28] Murray is also passionate about electric cars, and has published videos about them on his channel.[29][12]

Murray also co-hosts the GeekBits podcast alongside his brother Mike Murray and friend Craig Bowes.[30]

Personal life

[edit]

Murray lives with his wife and daughter in the Dallas–Fort Worth area in Texas.[31][time needed] He has lived in his current house in Kennedale since the mid-1990s.[32] Prior to their buyout, he used to work for AST Research as a tech support specialist.[33] His second cousin was musician Dimebag Darrell.[34]

References

[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to The 8-Bit Guy.
  1. ^ a b "About The 8-Bit Guy". YouTube.
  2. ^ Murray, David (July 27, 2017). Commodore Calculator Repair. Event occurs at 10:40. Retrieved November 19, 2023 – via YouTube. ...1972...three years before I was even born.
  3. ^ "The 8-Bit Guy - YouTube". www.youtube.com.
  4. ^ a b c d e "8Bit Guy: About". The 8-bit Guy official website. Retrieved July 28, 2021.
  5. ^ "r/8BitGuy - Comment by u/TheGeekPub on "Did you know 8 Bit Guy had a channel as early as 2006?"". reddit. June 3, 2020. Retrieved August 1, 2022.
  6. ^ "MyPCHelp - YouTube". www.youtube.com. Retrieved August 1, 2022.
  7. ^ Michuad, Scott (October 22, 2015). ""The 8-Bit Guy" Discusses Game Audio". PC Perspective. Retrieved July 27, 2021.
  8. ^ Cole, Samantha (October 1, 2020). "YouTuber Milkshake Ducked After Incorrectly Disassembling Vintage Computer". Vice. Retrieved July 27, 2021.
  9. ^ "New 8-Bit Guy Studio Construction - Part 1". YouTube.
  10. ^ "How the Apple 1 computer works". YouTube.
  11. ^ Changes coming for 2024, retrieved January 11, 2024
  12. ^ a b David Murray (February 26, 2017). "I hated Apple II back in the '80s – an interview with The 8-Bit Guy" (Interview). Interviewed by Grzegorz Ciesielski. Arytima. Retrieved July 27, 2021.
  13. ^ Grossman, David (February 24, 2017). "Watch an Old Macintosh Plus Brought Back to Life". Popular Mechanics. Retrieved July 27, 2021.
  14. ^ Dormehl, Luke (January 4, 2017). "YouTuber 8-Bit Guy Shows How The NES Zapper Gun Worked". Digital Trends. Retrieved July 27, 2021.
  15. ^ Limer, Eric (November 2, 2016). "The First Real Webcam Is Laughable In Hindsight". Popular Mechanics. Retrieved July 27, 2021.
  16. ^ a b Murray, David. "David's software". The 8 bit guy. Archived from the original on October 1, 2022. Retrieved October 1, 2022.
  17. ^ Murray, David. "PLANET X2 FINISHED!". The 8 bit guy. Archived from the original on October 1, 2022. Retrieved October 1, 2022.
  18. ^ "Planet X2 (Commodore 64)". Moby games. Archived from the original on October 1, 2022. Retrieved October 1, 2022.
  19. ^ Murray, David (May 22, 2019). "PLANET X3 IS HERE! AND WITH NEW VIDEO MODES!". The 8 bit guy. Archived from the original on October 1, 2022. Retrieved October 1, 2022.
  20. ^ "Planet X3 (DOS)". Moby games. Archived from the original on October 1, 2022. Retrieved October 1, 2022.
  21. ^ Tarason, Dominic (June 4, 2018). "Planet X3 is a brand new CGA DOS game in development". Rock paper shotgun. Archived from the original on October 1, 2022. Retrieved October 1, 2022.
  22. ^ "Attack of the PETSCII Robots". thandor.net. January 14, 2021. Retrieved August 14, 2021.
  23. ^ Griffiths, Josh (December 1, 2017). "The 8-Bit Guy Demonstrates the Process of Making a Commodore 64 Game". Cliqist. Retrieved July 27, 2021.
  24. ^ Horti, Samuel (July 9, 2018). "Meet the dev making his first DOS game -- in 2018". Gamasutra. Retrieved July 27, 2021.
  25. ^ "Project Commander X16". Retro summit. Archived from the original on October 1, 2022. Retrieved October 1, 2022.
  26. ^ Murray, David (February 19, 2019). "Building my dream computer - Part 1". YouTube. Archived from the original on October 3, 2022. Retrieved October 3, 2022.
  27. ^ Murray, David (September 12, 2019). "Building my Dream Computer - Part 2". YouTube. Archived from the original on October 3, 2022. Retrieved October 3, 2022.
  28. ^ Murray, David (October 12, 2022). "The Commander X16 has finally arrived!". YouTube. Archived from the original on October 28, 2022. Retrieved October 28, 2022.
  29. ^ Cole, Jay (October 7, 2016). "BMW i3 REx Road Test, Charging And Fuel Tank Coding - Video Review". InsideEVs. Archived from the original on July 27, 2021. Retrieved July 27, 2021.
  30. ^ A Discussion about Piracy: GeekBits Podcast Pilot Episode 1, retrieved March 29, 2022
  31. ^ Tom & Melody (March 7, 2021). "(S1E6) 8-Bit Computers, Mental Health" (Podcast). We Are One. Retrieved July 27, 2021.
  32. ^ Tour of Home Network 2020, retrieved November 3, 2023
  33. ^ Murray, David (August 14, 2019). "AST Computer - Tales from Tech Support". YouTube. Event occurs at 7:05. Archived from the original on October 3, 2022.
  34. ^ "Casio Superdrums Keyboard Review MT-500 MT-520/205". YouTube. August 1, 2016. Retrieved April 8, 2023.
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