Floppy Days 130 - Interview with Forrest Mims III

25 syys 2023 · Floppy Days Vintage Computing Podcast

01:31:04

Interview with Forrest Mims III, Electronics Author

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/FloppyDays

Sponsors:

8-Bit Classics

Arcade Shopper

Books:

Forrest's first memoir "Siliconnections: Coming of Age in the Electronic Era" - https://amzn.to/48wmIao Forrest's best-selling book "Getting Started in Electronics" - https://amzn.to/3LDExdY Forrest's upcoming book "Maverick Scientist: My Adventures as an Amateur Scientist" - https://amzn.to/3PAgP3k

Hello, and welcome to episode 130 of the Floppy Days Podcast for September 2023. I’m your host, Randy Kindig, and I’ll be bringing you this podcast as the beautiful fall weather and foliage descends on central Indiana. I love the podcast, and I love the computer shows that start popping up in the fall, which you’ll hear more about on this show.

I feel like I’ve been EXTREMELY lucky lately, in being able to get interviews with some outstanding contributors to the early home computer era of the late 70’s and early 80’s. As you know, I’ve had interviews recently published with Paul Terrell, who jump-started the early Apple Computer with his purchase of their first 50 Apple I’s. Those interviews will continue as Paul and I continue to talk. Additionally, I also recently was able to talk with one of the most prolific, impactful authors of electronics books and kits on the planet, Mr. Forrest Mims III. I would be surprised if just about every listener of this podcast hasn’t heard of Forrest and wasn’t impacted in some positive manner by his terrific tutorials on electronics. In this episode, Forrest and I talk about his early involvement with the creation of MITS and the Altair, how he got into publishing numerous books for Radio Shack, and much, much more. Forrest is still extremely busy and involved with the scientific community today and was happy to share his story. Almost as happy as we are to have been able to talk with him.

Before we talk with Forrest, I will give a short run-down of what I’ve been up to and new acquisitions (that’s where the computer show discussion comes in).

New Acquisitions/What I’ve Been Up To

TS2068 Twister/HDMI board - https://www.andertone.com/product/the-twist/

TS2068 OS64 board - https://www.andertone.com/product/zebra-os-64-cartridge-for-timex-sinclair-2068/

HDMI cable - https://www.amazon.com/Genesis-Original-Master-System-Console/dp/B07Z5W7QS7/

2068 Personal Color Computer User Manual - https://www.andertone.com/product/timex-sinclair-2068-personal-color-computer-user-manual/

T/S 2068 Basics and Beyond by Sharon Zardetto Aker - https://www.andertone.com/product/t-s-2068-basics-and-beyond/

The Essential Guide to Timex/Sinclair Home Computers - https://www.andertone.com/product/the-essential-guide-to-timex-sinclair-home-computers/

TS2068 group on groups.io - https://groups.io/g/TS2068

“Back Into the Storm” by Bil Herd and Margaret Morabito (autographed) - https://www.8bitclassics.com/product/back-into-the-storm-a-design-engineers-story-of-commodore-computers-in-the-1980s/

modern power supply for TS2068 - https://www.andertone.com/product/ts-2068-power-supply/

M100/T102/T200 TPDD1 boot disk - https://www.arcadeshopper.com/wp/store/#!/TPDD1-disk-26-3808/p/141211027

TI99 CF7+ case - https://www.arcadeshopper.com/wp/store/#!/3D-printed-case-for-CF7/p/80201708

Upcoming Shows

Tandy Assembly - Sep. 29-Oct. 1 - Courtyard by Marriott in Springfield, Ohio - http://www.tandyassembly.com/

Amiga38 Germany - Oct. 6-7 - Das Rote Krokodil - Kunstwerk Mönchengladbach - https://amigaevent.de/WB.html

The Interim Computer Festival - Oct. 7-8 - Seattle, WA - https://sdf.org/icf/

AmiWest - October 14-15 - Sacramento, CA - https://retro.directory/browse/events/4/AmiWest.net

Dragon MeetUp - October 7-8 - The Centre for Computing History in Cambridge - https://www.facebook.com/events/225011523831254/?ref=newsfeed

Portland Retro Gaming Expo - October 13-15, 2023 - Oregon Convention Center, Portland, OR - https://retrogamingexpo.com/

Chicago TI International World Faire - October 14, 2023 - Evanston Public Library, Evanston, IL - http://chicagotiug.sdf.org/faire/

Mactoberfest Bay Area Meetup - October 14, 2023 - Belmont, CA - https://www.bigmessowires.com/2023/09/03/mactoberfest-bay-area-meetup-is-october-14/

World of Commodore - Dec. 2-3, 2023 - Admiral Inn Mississauga, Mississauga, ON - http://www.worldofcommodore.ca/

http://chiclassiccomp.org/events.html

Facebook show schedule - https://www.facebook.com/VintageComputerShows/

Interview

Web site operated by Forrest - http://www.forrestmims.org/biography.html

History of MITS - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micro_Instrumentation_and_Telemetry_Systems

Forrest at Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forrest_Mims

“The Altair story; early days at MITS.”, CREATIVE COMPUTING VOL. 10, NO. 11 / NOVEMBER 1984 / PAGE 17, Forrest M. Mims III - https://www.atarimagazines.com/creative/v10n11/17_The_Altair_story_early_d.php

Easy-to-understand guide to home computers by Forrest Mims III - https://archive.org/details/easy-to-understand-guide-to-home-computers

Digital computer book by Paul Malvino - https://www.amazon.com/Digital-computer-electronics-introduction-microcomputers/dp/0070399018/

Understanding Digital Computers by Forrest Mims III - https://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Digital-Computers-Self-learning-Microcomputer/dp/B002E6HIAI/

Forrest’s articles in Popular Electronics Magazine - https://worldradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-Consumer/Archive-Poptronics-IDX/search.cgi?zoom_query=forrest+mims&zoom_page=2&zoom_per_page=10&zoom_and=1&zoom_sort=0&zoom_xml=0

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Episodit

Floppy Days 140 - Paul Terrell Interview - The Byte Shop Part 1
27 kesä 2024· Floppy Days Vintage Computing Podcast
Episode 140 - Interview with Paul Terrell, The Byte Shop - Part 1

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/FloppyDays

Sponsors:

8-Bit Classics

Arcade Shopper

Hello, and welcome to episode 140 of the Floppy Days Podcast, for June, 2024. I am Randy Kindig, your guide to this journey through vintage computer goodness.

This month I’m bringing you another interview episode. Paul Terrell is a name well-known in the annals of computer history; probably most famously for his kickstart of Apple Computer through the purchase of one of Steve Jobs’ and Steve Wozniak’s first batches of Apple I computers for his Byte Shop. The Byte Shop was a very early computer store that was one of the few that existed in the world, at the time. I’ve had an earlier introductory interview with Paul where numerous topics were covered in a more general manner. I also talked with Paul about his time at Exidy working on the sorcerer computer. In this interview, we focus primarily on The Byte Shop, how it got started, what it was like, and much more. Through several conversations with Paul, the interview ran quite long, so this is part I of The Byte Shop discussion. If you want to know what it was like to run a computer store in those early days, this is the interview for you! Along the way, you’ll learn even more about just what the home and hobby computer scene was like in those days.

New Acquisitions/What I’ve Been Up To

American Computer and Robotics Museum - https://acrmuseum.org/

Vtech Pre-Computer Unlimited - https://vtech.fandom.com/wiki/PreComputer_Unlimited

USB-C Power Adapter for Atari 8-bit - https://mozzwald.com/product/atari-8-bit-usb-c-power-adapter/

USB-C Power Adapter for Apple IIc - https://mozzwald.com/product/apple-iic-usb-c-power-delivery-adapter/

Upcoming Shows

Show list I maintain for the remainder of the current year - https://floppydays.libsyn.com/current-year-vintage-computer-show-schedule)

KansasFest, the largest and longest running annual Apple II conference - July 16-21 (in-person), July 27-28 (virtual) - University of Illinois in Springfield, IL - https://www.kansasfest.org/

Southern Fried Gaming Expo and VCF Southeast - July 19-21, 2024 - Atlanta, GA - https://gameatl.com/

Nottingham Video Game Expo - July 20-21 - The Belgrave Rooms, Nottingham, U.K. - https://www.nottsvge.com/

Fujiama - July 23-28 - Lengenfeld, Germany - http://atarixle.ddns.net/fuji/2024/

Vintage Computer Festival West - August 2-3 - Computer History Museum, Mountain View, CA - https://vcfed.org/events/vintage-computer-festival-west/

Silly Venture SE (Summer Edition) - Aug. 15-18 - Gdansk, Poland - https://www.demoparty.net/silly-venture/silly-venture-2024-se

VCF Midwest - September 7-8 - Renaissance Schaumburg Convention Center in Schaumburg, IL - http://vcfmw.org/

VCF Europe - September 7-8 - Munich, Germany - https://vcfe.org/E/

Teletext 50 - Sep 21-22 - Centre for Computing History, Cambridge, UK - https://www.teletext50.com/

Portland Retro Gaming Expo - September 27-29 - Oregon Convention Center, Portland, OR - https://retrogamingexpo.com/

Tandy Assembly - September 27-29 - Courtyard by Marriott Springfield - Springfield, OH - http://www.tandyassembly.com/

AmiWest - October 25-27 - Sacramento, CA - https://amiwest.net/

Chicago TI International World Faire - October 26 - Evanston Public Library (Falcon Room, 303), Evanston, IL - http://chicagotiug.sdf.org/faire/

Retro Computer Festival 2024 - November 9-10 - Centre for Computing History, Cambridge, England - https://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/72253/Retro-Computer-Festival-2024-Saturday-9th-November/

Silly Venture WE (Winter Edition) - Dec. 5-8 - Gdansk, Poland - https://www.demoparty.net/silly-venture/silly-venture-2024-we

Meet The Listeners

Brian Cox's site FVResearch.com - https://www.fvresearch.com/
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Floppy Days 139 - Vic Tolomei (Exidy) Interview
28 touko 2024· Floppy Days Vintage Computing Podcast
Episode 139 - Interview with Vic Tolomei, VP Software Development, Exidy

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/FloppyDays

Sponsors:

8-Bit Classics

Arcade Shopper

Hello, and welcome to episode 139 of the Floppy Days Podcast, for May, 2024.

This month I’m bringing you another interview episode; in the ongoing effort to document the story of Exidy and its Sorcerer computer. I’ve already talked, in previous episodes, with Howell Ivy and Paul Terrell, both principals at Exidy and in the creation of the Sorcerer computer. Those were quite popular episodes! In this episode, I also tracked down Vic Tolomei, VP of Software Development at Exidy during that same time, and got his story. If you want to know what it was like to lead a software development effort at that time, this is the interview for you!

Upcoming on the podcast, I have more interviews to share, as well as more hardware to cover. I’m actually a few months ahead with developing content, which I guess is an advantage of being retired!

I've created some tiers for paid members and have come up with some ways to reward those who are generous enough to monetarily support the Floppy Days Podcast on Patreon.

First of all, all tiers ($2/month and up) will receive early access to companion videos for any interviews that are published. The audio will be published to Floppy Days immediately, as usual, while any video will be made available exclusively to all paid members for a period of time (at least 30 days) before the general public. The videos will be published for you on Patreon.com, and then moved to the Floppy Days YouTube channel after the exclusivity period is over.

Other benefits have been added for the tiers above the minimum $2 tiers, such as Floppy Days merchandise, an audio introduction for supporters, and even the option to co-host an episode!

It is my intention to always make all content available to everyone at no cost, while at the same time providing some benefits for those generous enough to support the podcast. I hope this is a good compromise.

Please let me know your thoughts. Enjoy!!

New Acquisitions

VTech Advantech IQ Unlimited - https://vtech.fandom.com/wiki/I.Q._Unlimited_Computerv

A8PicoCart - https://github.com/robinhedwards/A8PicoCart

M100/T102/T200 Dial-A-ROM - https://www.soigeneris.com/dial-a-rom-for-vintage-computers

Upcoming Shows

Show list I maintain for the remainder of the current year - https://floppydays.libsyn.com/current-year-vintage-computer-show-schedule)

CorgsCon (Columbus Ohio Retro Gaming Society) - June 1 - Kasich Hall – Ohio Expo Center, Columbus, OH - https://www.corgscon.com/

Game Not Over 2024 - June 8-9 - Dunstall Park Racecourse in Wolverhampton, U.K. - https://retro.directory/browse/events/326-game-not-over-2024

VCF Southwest - June 14-16, 2024 - Davidson-Gundy Alumni Center at UT Dallas - https://www.vcfsw.org/

Boatfest Retro Computer Expo - June 14-16 - Hurricane, WV - http://boatfest.info

Vancouver Retro Gaming Expo - June 22 - New Westminster, BC, Canada - https://www.vancouvergamingexpo.com/index.html

Pacific Commodore Expo NW v4 - June 22-23 - Old Rainier Brewery Intraspace, Seattle, WA - https://www.portcommodore.com/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=pacommex:start

Kickstart Amiga UK Expo - June 29-30 - Nottingham, UK - https://www.amigashow.com/

KansasFest, the largest and longest running annual Apple II conference - July 16-21 (in-person), July 27-28 (virtual) - University of Illinois in Springfield, IL - https://www.kansasfest.org/

Southern Fried Gaming Expo and VCF Southeast - July 19-21, 2024 - Atlanta, GA - https://gameatl.com/

Nottingham Video Game Expo - July 20-21 - The Belgrave Rooms, Nottingham, U.K. - https://www.nottsvge.com/

Fujiama - July 23-28 - Lengenfeld, Germany - http://atarixle.ddns.net/fuji/2024/

Vintage Computer Festival West - August 2-3 - Computer History Museum, Mountain View, CA - https://vcfed.org/events/vintage-computer-festival-west/

VCF Midwest - September 7-8 - Renaissance Schaumburg Convention Center in Schaumburg, IL - http://vcfmw.org/

VCF Europe - September 7-8 - Munich, Germany - https://vcfe.org/E/

Portland Retro Gaming Expo - September 27-29 - Oregon Convention Center, Portland, OR - https://retrogamingexpo.com/

Tandy Assembly - September 27-29 - Courtyard by Marriott Springfield - Springfield, OH - http://www.tandyassembly.com/

AmiWest - October 25-27 - Sacramento, CA - https://amiwest.net/

Chicago TI International World Faire - October 26 - Evanston Public Library (Falcon Room, 303), Evanston, IL - http://chicagotiug.sdf.org/faire/

Retro Computer Festival 2024 - November 9-10 - Centre for Computing History, Cambridge, England - https://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/72253/Retro-Computer-Festival-2024-Saturday-9th-November/

Interview Links

Interview with Vic - https://www.kotaku.com.au/2018/10/the-story-of-chiller-one-very-messed-up-video-game/

Vic has several software credits at Moby Games, including Arrows and Alley, and Magic Maze for the Sorcerer - https://www.mobygames.com/person/636004/vic-tolomei/

Exidy Sorcerer Book: Software Internal Manual for the Sorcerer (1979)(Quality Software) by Vic Tolomei - https://archive.org/details/Software_Internal_Manual_for_the_Sorcerer_1979_Quality_Software

VP of Software, Vic Tolomei at The Ultimate (So Far) History of Exidy blog - https://allincolorforaquarter.blogspot.com/2013/07/the-ultimate-so-far-history-of-exidy_21.html
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Floppy Days 138 - Interview with Hans Franke, VCF Europe and Computeum
24 huhti 2024· Floppy Days Vintage Computing Podcast
Episode 138 - Interview with Hans Franke, VCF Europe and Computeum

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/FloppyDays

Sponsors:

8-Bit Classics

Arcade Shopper

Hello, and welcome to Episode 138 of the Floppy Days Podcast for April, 2024! My name is Randy Kindig and I host this podcast about beautiful, obsolete, extremely interesting computers of 35 to 45 years ago, when computer diversity was abundant.

This episode is an interview show, where we talk with Hans Franke. Hans is very active in the classic computer community, being an organizer of the European Vintage Computer show AND curator of a computer museum! We discuss both of these things with Hans and learn more about the vintage computer scene in Europe.

I actually have several interviews completed and queued up to publish. So, while I continue to work on covering the next computer in the timeline, expect several interviews in the near term. I won’t go into details, but these are great interviews that I think you will enjoy.

I also wanted to mention those listeners who appreciate the show enough to donate through patreon.com. I really appreciate you guys and it helps offset the cost of running the podcast.

What I’ve Been Up To

Indy Classic Expo - http://www.indyclassic.org

8-Bit Classics - http://www.8bitclassics.com

80 column card for Atari 1090XL at Tindie from Brian Reifsnyder

New Acquisitions

Coco MPI mention on an earlier episode (Episode 131)

Cloud-9 - http://www.cloud9tech.com/

Texas Instruments TI58 & TI59 calculators coverage on an earlier episode (Episode 3)

TI58/59 battery pack mod from Bob Wolfson

2.4A power adapter for Atari XL/XE - https://www.8bitclassics.com/product/atari-xl-xe-2-4a-amp-power-adapter/

Upcoming Shows

The 32nd Annual “Last” Chicago CoCoFEST! - May 4-5, 2024 - Holiday Inn & Suites Chicago-Carol Stream (Wheaton), Carol Stream, Illinois - https://www.glensideccc.com/cocofest/

The Festival of Portable Computing - May 18-19 - Centre for Computing History, Cambridge, England - https://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/72231/The-Festival-of-Portable-Computing-18th-19th-May-2024/

CorgsCon (Columbus Ohio Retro Gaming Society) - June 1 - Kasich Hall – Ohio Expo Center, Columbus, OH - https://www.corgscon.com/

Game Not Over 2024 - June 8-9 - Dunstall Park Racecourse in Wolverhampton, U.K. - https://retro.directory/browse/events/326-game-not-over-2024

VCF Southwest - June 14-16, 2024 - Davidson-Gundy Alumni Center at UT Dallas - https://www.vcfsw.org/

Boatfest Retro Computer Expo - June 14-16 - Hurricane, WV - http://boatfest.info

Vancouver Retro Gaming Expo - June 22 - New Westminster, BC, Canada - https://www.vancouvergamingexpo.com/index.html

Pacific Commodore Expo NW v4 - June 22-23 - Old Rainier Brewery Intraspace, Seattle, WA - https://www.portcommodore.com/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=pacommex:start

Kickstart Amiga UK Expo - June 29-30 - Nottingham, UK - https://www.amigashow.com/

KansasFest, the largest and longest running annual Apple II conference - July 16-21 (in-person), July 27-28 (virtual) - University of Illinois in Springfield, IL - https://www.kansasfest.org/

Southern Fried Gaming Expo and VCF Southeast - July 19-21, 2024 - Atlanta, GA - https://gameatl.com/

Nottingham Video Game Expo - July 20-21 - The Belgrave Rooms, Nottingham, U.K. - https://www.nottsvge.com/

Fujiama - July 23-28 - Lengenfeld, Germany - http://atarixle.ddns.net/fuji/2024/

Vintage Computer Festival West - August 2-3 - Computer History Museum, Mountain View, CA - https://vcfed.org/events/vintage-computer-festival-west/

VCF Midwest - September 7-8 - Renaissance Schaumburg Convention Center in Schaumburg, IL - http://vcfmw.org/

VCF Europe - September 7-8 - Munich, Germany - https://vcfe.org/E/

Portland Retro Gaming Expo - September 27-29 - Oregon Convention Center, Portland, OR - https://retrogamingexpo.com/

Tandy Assembly - September 27-29 - Courtyard by Marriott Springfield - Springfield, OH - http://www.tandyassembly.com/

AmiWest - October 25-27 - Sacramento, CA - https://amiwest.net/

Chicago TI International World Faire - October 26 - Evanston Public Library (Falcon Room, 303), Evanston, IL - http://chicagotiug.sdf.org/faire/

Retro Computer Festival 2024 - November 9-10 - Centre for Computing History, Cambridge, England - https://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/72253/Retro-Computer-Festival-2024-Saturday-9th-November/

Schedule Published on Floppy Days Website - https://floppydays.libsyn.com/current-year-vintage-computer-show-schedule

Interview with Hans Franke

VCF Europe (VCFe.org)

Computeum (Computeum )
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Floppy Days 137 - Post-VCF SoCal 2024 with Paul Nurminen
11 maalis 2024· Floppy Days Vintage Computing Podcast
Post-VCF SoCal 2024 with Paul Nurminen

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/FloppyDays

Sponsors:

8-Bit Classics

Arcade Shopper

0 Floppy Days Tune
1 min 13 sec Vintage Computer Ads
1 min 43 sec Intro
2 min 53 sec bumper - Paul Nurminen
3 min 00 sec Discussion with Paul Nurminen
1 hr 20 min 00 sec Closing

Hello, and welcome to episode 137 of the Floppy Days Podcast. I’m Randy Kindig, the host of this show. This episode is an adjunct to and follow up to the last episode (#136) of Floppy Days. In that episode, which covered the Grundy New Brain, I alluded to the fact that in the “What I’ve Been Up To” section of the podcast, I was going to publish a separate episode just for that. I did that because I don’t like to have episodes over about 90 minutes, and having this segment in that show would have pushed it well beyond that.

So, for this episode I enlisted the aid of Paul Nurminen (aka Nurmix), who was also an attendee and exhibitor/vendor at the recent Vintage Computer Festival Southern California, to help me do a follow up discussion of that show. We discuss our exhibits, other exhibits of note, our general thoughts about the show, and a whole lot more.

I hope you enjoy this.

Links

VCF SoCal - https://www.vcfsocal.com/

Intellivisionaries Podcast - http://intellivisionaries.com/

White Flag Computing - https://www.whiteflagcomputing.com

Episode 83 of Floppy Days about the Intellivision Keyboard Component with Paul Nurminen - https://floppydays.libsyn.com/floppy-days-83-the-intellivision-keyboard-component

1090XL expansion unit and 320K RAM board - reifsnyderb

Discussion - https://forums.atariage.com/topic/333084-swutils-simcheck-simtest-osdump/

Purchase - https://www.tindie.com/products/5cfab/1090xl-modernized-reproduction-main-board/

The VintNerd - https://thevintnerd.com/index.html

Mega65 - https://mega65.org/

10-Minute Amiga Retro Cast - https://www.youtube.com/c/10MinuteAmigaRetroCast

Aquarius+ computer - https://forums.atariage.com/topic/352635-introducing-the-aquarius/
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Floppy Days 136 - Grundy New Brain Peripherals to Web Sites with Chris Espoinidis
28 helmi 2024· Floppy Days Vintage Computing Podcast
Grundy NewBrain Peripherals thru Web Sites with Chris Despoinidis

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/FloppyDays

Sponsors:

8-Bit Classics

Arcade Shopper

0 Floppy Days Tune
1 min 13 sec Vintage Computer Ads
1 min 42 sec Intro
5 min 17 sec bumper - Chris Espoinidis
5 min 28 sec New Acquisitions
6 min 33 sec bumper - Gerald McMullon
7 min 16 sec Upcoming Computer Shows
12 min 01 sec bumper - Steve O’Hara-Smith
12 min 27 sec Peripherals
22 min 37 sec Using the Machine
33 min 14 sec User Groups/Newsletters
38 min 36 sec Books & Manuals
41 min 47 sec Software
44 min 11 sec Ads
46 min 45 sec Modern Upgrades
51 min 43 sec Emulation
59 min 07 sec Buying One Today
1 hr 02 min 52 sec Community
1 hr 04 min 50 sec Current Web Sites and Videos
1 hr 12 min 45 sec Closing

Hello, and welcome to episode 136 of the Floppy Days Podcast. I’m Randy Kindig, the host of this show, and I’ll be your guide to a journey back to the year 1982, when a very interesting, low-cost machine entered the market in Great Britain. This is the final episode on the Grundy New Brain, not a well-known machine, most particularly here in the United States where very few have even heard of it; let alone ever owned one.

If you want to know more, I’ve recently published interviews with John Grant, Steve O’Hara-Smith, and Gerald McMullon concerning their involvement with the New Brain back in the day. I also, in the most recent episode, discussed tech specs around the machine with my co-host.

Regarding that, in that last episode, to help me talk about the machine, I enlisted Chris Espoinidis to co-host this episode. Chris manages the New Brain Emulator site from his home in Greece. Even though Chris created one of the premier New Brain emulators in existence, and that was the primary focus of his Web site initially, his site has become one of the best places (along with Gerald McMullon’s Website) to get any and all New Brain information (which quite honestly is quite sparse).

The focus of this last episode detailing the machine, Chris and I will cover things like peripherals, Web sites, books & magazines, software, using the machine, emulators and all of the topics that have become the standard for machine coverage on Floppy Days. This episode will complete all the details we know on the New Brain, with the intent to impart every bit of information to you that I could find about this little-known machine.

Before we do that, I will talk about upcoming shows.

Upcoming Shows

Interim Computer Festival SPRING - March 23rd and 24th, 2024 - Intraspace, Seattle, WA - https://sdf.org/icf/

Midwest Gaming Classic - April 5-7 - Wisconsin Center, Milwaukee, WI - https://www.midwestgamingclassic.com/

VCF East - April 12-14, 2024 - Wall, NJ - http://www.vcfed.org

Indy Classic Computer and Video Game Expo - April 13-14 - Crowne Plaza Airport Hotel, Indianapolis, IN - https://indyclassic.org/

The Commodore Los Angeles Super Show - April 13-14 - Burbank VFW Hall, Burbank, CA - https://www.portcommodore.com/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=class:start

VCF Europa - April 27-28, 2024 - Munich, Germany - https://vcfe.org/E/

The 32nd Annual “Last” Chicago CoCoFEST! - May 4-5, 2024 - Holiday Inn & Suites Chicago-Carol Stream (Wheaton), Carol Stream, Illinois - https://www.glensideccc.com/cocofest/

VCF Southwest - June 14-16, 2024 - Davidson-Gundy Alumni Center at UT Dallas - https://www.vcfsw.org/

Boatfest Retro Computer Expo - June 14-16 - Hurricane, WV - http://boatfest.info

Pacific Commodore Expo NW v4 - June 22-23 - Old Rainier Brewery Intraspace, Seattle, WA - https://www.portcommodore.com/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=pacommex:start

Kickstart Amiga UK Expo - June 29-30 - Nottingham, UK - https://www.amigashow.com/

Southern Fried Gaming Expo and VCF Southeast - July 19-21, 2024 - Atlanta, GA - https://gameatl.com/

VCF Midwest - September 7-8 - NEW VENUE TBD - http://vcfmw.org/

Portland Retro Gaming Expo - September 27-29, 2024 - Oregon Convention Center, Portland, OR - https://retrogamingexpo.com/

Tandy Assembly - September 27-29, 2024 - Courtyard by Marriott Springfield - Springfield, OH - http://www.tandyassembly.com/

Chicago TI International World Faire - October 26, 2024 - Evanston Public Library (Falcon Room, 303), Evanston, IL - http://chicagotiug.sdf.org/faire/

http://chiclassiccomp.org/events.html

Facebook show schedule - https://www.facebook.com/VintageComputerShows/

Newsletters

NewBrain Online (Dutch/Netherlands) - https://retro.hcc.nl/newbrain/newbrain-online.html

Books and Manuals

books/manuals at archive.org - https://archive.org/search?query=grundy+newbrain

Modern Upgrades

NewBrain SD-Box

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3G5fARz7HnM

https://newbrainemu.eu/new/download/nb-sd-card-box-v-2-circuit-diagram/

Emulation

NewBrain Emulator by Chris

https://newbrainemu.eu/new/download/newbrain-emulator-beta-4/

https://github.com/cdesp/NB-Emulator-V.3

Buying One Today

https://www.ebay.com/itm/325473049117 - $999 BIN (from Greece)

Grundy NewBrain Model AD.Complete with PSU, Manual, AZERTY !! Tested & Working!! - https://www.ebay.com/itm/334406491114 - 995 euro (from Netherlands)

untested, no power supply - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/256162599251 - 449 pounds BIN (from UK)

Community

Forums

AtariAge - https://forums.atariage.com/search/?q=grundy&quick=1&type=forums_topic&nodes=116

Stardot - https://www.stardot.org.uk/forums/search.php?keywords=grundy&fid%5B0%5D=45

Current Web Sites/Videos

https://www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk/Museum/Grundy/

https://www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk/Museum/Grundy/gerald.php

https://web.archive.org/web/20160303192051/http://newbrain.hcc.nl/

https://www.newbrainemu.eu/

Article on NewBrain in Popular Computing Weekly (PCW) - https://newbrainemu.eu/component/option,com_docman/task,doc_download/gid,99/Itemid,52/

Grundy NewBrain Model A repair

http://www.8bit-homecomputermuseum.at/repair/newbrain/newbrain.html

http://www.8bit-homecomputermuseum.at/repair/newbrain/newbrain_ad_repair.html

Series of videos on fixing the NewBrain from the Clueless Engineer - https://www.youtube.com/@Brfff/search?query=grundy

Several videos by Chris on using the emulator and many other videos - https://www.youtube.com/@CDESP072

NewBrain Robot Car - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2T6mNi2ula4

References

history article by Gerald McMullen - https://newbrainemu.eu/component/option,com_docman/task,doc_download/gid,96/Itemid,52/

https://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/5291/Grundy-NewBrain-AD/

https://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/8265/Grundy-Business-Systems/

https://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=176

https://www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk/Museum/Grundy/index.php

https://www.theregister.com/2012/07/02/newbury_labs_grundy_business_systems_newbrain_is_30_years_old/
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Floppy Days 135 - Grundy New Brain Tech Specs with Chris Despoinidis
28 tammi 2024· Floppy Days Vintage Computing Podcast
Grundy NewBrain Tech Specs with Chris Despoinidis

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/FloppyDays

Sponsors:

8-Bit Classics

Arcade Shopper

0 Floppy Days Tune
1 min 14 sec Vintage Computer Ads
1 min 43 sec Intro
5 min 38 sec bumper - Chris Espoinidis
5 min 51 sec New Acquisitions
16 min 32 sec bumper - Gerald McMullon
17 min 15 sec Upcoming Computer Shows
21 min 26 sec bumper - Steve O’Hara-Smith
21 min 45 sec Interview with Chris Espoinidis
36 min 23 sec Tech Specs
1 hr 12 min 07 sec Closing

Hello, and welcome to episode 135 of the Floppy Days Podcast. I’m Randy Kindig, the host of this show, and I’ll be your guide to a journey back to the year 1982, when a very interesting, low-cost machine entered the market in Great Britain. This machine, if you've been following the show, was the Grundy New Brain. This is not a well-known machine, most particularly here in the United States where very few have even heard of it; let alone ever owned one.

As you know, I’ve been hot on the trail of pioneers who were involved with development of this machine. I’ve recently published interviews with John Grant, Steve O’Hara-Smith, and Gerald McMullon concerning their involvement with the New Brain back in the day.

In this episode I move more into discussing details of the machine and its impact on the home and small business market in the 1980’s. To help me talk about the machine, I was able to track down Chris Espoinidis and convince him to co-host this episode. Chris manages the New Brain Emulator site from his home in Greece. Even though Chris created one of the premier New Brain emulators in existence, and that was the primary focus of his Web site initially, his site has become one of the best places (along with Gerald McMullon’s Website) to get any and all New Brain information (which quite honestly is quite sparse).

The focus of this episode, and the next, is to cover things like tech specs, Web sites, emulators and all of the topics that have become the standard for machine coverage on Floppy Days. This particular episode contains an interview with Chris, and then goes into great detail concerning the technical specifications of the New Brain. The next episode will cover all the other details, with the intent to impart every bit of information to you that I could find about this little-known machine.

Before we do that, I will talk about new acquisitions and upcoming shows.
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Floppy Days 134 - VCF SoCal 2024 Preview with the Organizing Team
8 tammi 2024· Floppy Days Vintage Computing Podcast
VCF SoCal 2024 Preview with Organizing Team

Hello, and welcome to this bonus, interview-only episode of the Floppy Days Podcast. My name is Randy Kindig; your host. This episode is a discussion with most of the organizing team around the very first Vintage Computer Festival 2024 that is coming up February 17 & 18 in Orange, CA. You’ll hear how the show came about, why the particular location and time were selected, and what you can expect to see at the show. I’m excited to have a new VCF available in an area and time that should be fantastic to visit and be a part of.

Note that this interview occurred on Dec. 5, 2023, and you’ll hear several references to the show being “2 and a half months” away.

Links

VCF SoCal Website - https://www.vcfsocal.com/

VCF SoCal Organizers - https://www.vcfsocal.com/faq#organizers

The VintNerd Website (Steve and Micki) - https://thevintnerd.com/index.html

The VintNerd YouTube Channel - https://www.youtube.com/thevintnerd

Matt’s YouTube Channel - https://www.youtube.com/@polymatt

Pathways to Invention Film (Levi) - https://pathwaystoinvention.org/

Southern AMIS Projects (Rob) - https://www.southernamis.com/

Video version of this interview - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_y2zfRP8kyE&t=9s
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Floppy Days 133 - Grundy NewBrain History with Gerald McMullon
31 joulu 2023· Floppy Days Vintage Computing Podcast
Grundy NewBrain History with Gerald McMullon

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/FloppyDays

Sponsors:

8-Bit Classics

Arcade Shopper

0 Floppy Days Tune

1 min 14 sec Vintage Computer Ads

1 min 43 sec Intro

6 min 33 sec bumper - Gerald McMullon

7 min 15 sec New Acquisitions

13 min 55 sec bumper - Steve O'Hara-Smith

14 min 13 sec Upcoming Computer Shows

17 min 26 sec Interview with Gerald McMullon

57 min 51 sec Closing

Hello, and welcome to episode 133 of the Floppy Days Podcast for December, 2023. I’m Randy Kindig, your host on this vintage computer retrospective.

Hard to believe we’re coming up on the end of 2023. It was Feb. 2013 when I took the first halting steps in producing a podcast, so we’re coming up on 11 years of Floppy Days very soon.

We are currently covering computers that were released in the year 1982. We are very early in that year, with lots of other computers to be covered.

This episode is about a machine that was developed in the UK. It was pretty much unknown in the United States and even in the UK didn’t get much traction. The machine I’m talking about is the Grundy NewBrain. There are a lot of unique things about this machine that you’ll discover through the history episode, these interviews and the episodes that cover the details.

I’ve been fortunate enough to be able to contact a few people who were involved in the development of the machine. I’ve published interviews so far with John Grant and Steve O’Hara-Smith. This episode is also an interview episode, but this time with another key member in its development: Gerald McMullon. Gerald has a lot of interesting information to share about the NewBrain, including information about its development and support of the machine after its release.

I have been able to contact some other principals in the development of the NewBrain: Basil Smith and Mike Wakefield. Unfortunately, Basil has had a lot of recent requests for interviews, so I’m waiting in line for that. However, should I be able to talk with Basil and/or Mike, I will of course bring all of that to Floppy Days in future episodes.

This current episode is the end of the interview episodes around the NewBrain at this point in time. Next month, and actually likely the next 2 months, we will be covering the details of the machine such as tech specs, emulators, software, newsletters, peripherals, web sites, etc. That will happen with a special co-host that I’m going to leave as a surprise for right now.

New Acquisitions

TI95 cassette interface - https://github.com/molleraj/ti95interface

AquariCart + 32K RAM - https://www.ebay.com/itm/124471439128

MC-10 3-button joystick pad - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzsGst8HAiI

Upcoming Computer Shows

Vintage Computer Festival SoCal - February 17-18, 2024 - Hotel Fera Events Center, Orange, CA - vcfsocal.com

Interim Computer Festival SPRING - March 23rd and 24th, 2024 - Intraspace, Seattle, WA - https://sdf.org/icf/

Midwest Gaming Classic - April 5-7 - Wisconsin Center, Milwaukee, WI - https://www.midwestgamingclassic.com/

VCF East - April 12-14, 2024 - Wall, NJ - http://www.vcfed.org

Indy Classic Computer and Video Game Expo - April 13-14 - Crowne Plaza Airport Hotel, Indianapolis, IN - https://indyclassic.org/

VCF Europa - April 27-28, 2024 - Munich, Germany - https://vcfe.org/E/

The 32nd Annual “Last” Chicago CoCoFEST! - May 4-5, 2024 - Holiday Inn & Suites Chicago-Carol Stream (Wheaton), Carol Stream, Illinois - https://www.glensideccc.com/cocofest/

VCF Southwest - June 14-16, 2024 - Davidson-Gundy Alumni Center at UT Dallas - https://www.vcfsw.org/

Boatfest Retro Computer Expo - June 14-16 - Hurricane, WV - http://boatfest.info

Pacific Commodore Expo NW v4 - June 14-15 - Old Rainier Brewery Intraspace, Seattle, WA - https://www.portcommodore.com/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=pacommex:start

Kickstart Amiga UK Expo - June 29-30 - Nottingham, UK - https://www.amigashow.com/

Southern Fried Gaming Expo and VCF Southeast - July 19-21, 2024 - Atlanta, GA - https://gameatl.com/

Fujiama - July 23-28 - Lengenfeld, Germany - http://atarixle.ddns.net/fuji/2024/

Silly Venture SE (Summer Edition) - Aug. 15-28 - Gdansk, Poland - https://www.demoparty.net/silly-venture/silly-venture-2024-se

Portland Retro Gaming Expo - September 27-29, 2024 - Oregon Convention Center, Portland, OR - https://retrogamingexpo.com/

Silly Venture WE (Winter Edition) - Dec. 5-8 - Gdansk, Poland - https://www.demoparty.net/silly-venture/silly-venture-2024-we

http://chiclassiccomp.org/events.html

Facebook show schedule - https://www.facebook.com/VintageComputerShows/

Interview

Gerald’s Website - http://www.mcmullen.com

NewBrain Nutshell History by Gerald at Binary Dinosaurs - https://www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk/Museum/Grundy/gerald.php

NewBrain history article by Gerald in Micro Computer Mart newsletter - https://newbrainemu.eu/component/option,com_docman/task,doc_download/gid,96/Itemid,52/
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Floppy Days 132 - Grundy New Brain History with Steve O'Hara-Smith
21 marras 2023· Floppy Days Vintage Computing Podcast
Grundy NewBrain History with Steve O’Hara-Smith

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/FloppyDays

Sponsors:

8-Bit Classics

Arcade Shopper

0 Floppy Days Tune

1 min 14 sec Vintage Computer Ads

1 min 43 sec Intro

6 min 14 sec bumper - Steve O'Hara-Smith

6 min 32 sec New Acquisitions

22 min 53 sec bumper - Gerald McMullon

23 min 36 sec Upcoming Computer Shows

26 min 51 sec Feedback

30 min 19 sec Interview with Steve O'Hara-Smith

71 min 46 sec Closing

Hello, and welcome to episode 132 of the Floppy Days Podcast; a podcast about home computers in the magical years of the late 70’s through the 80’s. I’m Randy Kindig, your host on this voyage.

We are currently covering computers that were released in the year 1982; a banner year for personal computers. It’s actually going to take quite some time to get through this year in history.

This is the second episode about a computer that few in the United States know much about. It was released in the UK and even there didn’t get much traction. It was a unique beast, with its own personality and quirks; before it went quietly into the annals of history. The machine I’m talking about is the Grundy NewBrain.

As it was so relatively unknown, I’m going to be spending a lot of air time talking about its history:

in the last episode (Episode 131) I summarized its history, including a short interview with John Grant of Nine Tiles, whose company did some work on the machine

This episode contains an very informative interview with Steve O’Hara Smith, who was involved with development of the machine

The next episode will have an interview with Gerald McMullon, also having done some work on the early NewBrain, as well as support after its release

Finally, there will be 1 or more episodes to cover the usual topics of tech specs, Web sites, emulators, etc. I will have a special guest co-host for that.

So, as you can see, there’s a ton of upcoming information about the NewBrain. Please join me in learning more about this unusual machine.

Before we get into this interview, I’ll let you know what I’ve been up to and have been able to acquire lately; which continues to grow seemingly beyond my control.

That brings me to some administrative news. In order to provide maximum flexibility for my listeners, I’m going to start publishing a timeline in the show notes. It will have a time marker for each section of the podcast, so that, for instance, if you want to jump straight to an interview and re-listen to just that section, you can do so. This is an easy thing to provide, with the audio editing software I use, so from now on expect to see that information in the show notes.

New Acquisitions

TS2068/Spectrum group - https://groups.io/g/TS2068

Wafadrive - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotronics_Wafadrive

mini-bus expansion board - https://www.andertone.com/product/ts1000-expansion-extender/

composite mod for TS1000/ZX81 - https://www.ebay.com/itm/175512970894

64K RAM pack (Memopak) - https://www.andertone.com/product/memopak-64k-ram-pack/

TS1500 keyboard membrane - https://www.ebay.com/itm/304824623956

Upcoming Computer Shows

Atari Party 2023! - Saturday, December 2, 2023, 1pm to 4pm - Quakertown Train Station, Quakertown, PA - https://quakertowntrainstation.org - organized by Peter Fletcher

World of Commodore - Dec. 2-3, 2023 - Admiral Inn Mississauga, Mississauga, ON - http://www.worldofcommodore.ca/

Vintage Computer Festival SoCal - February 17-18, 2024 - Hotel Fera Events Center, Orange, CA - vcfsocal.com

Interim Computer Festival SPRING - March 23-24, 2024 - Intraspace, Seattle, WA - https://sdf.org/icf/

Midwest Gaming Classic - April 5-7 - Wisconsin Center, Milwaukee, WI - https://www.midwestgamingclassic.com/

VCF East - April 5-7, 2024 - Wall, NJ - http://www.vcfed.org

Indy Classic Computer and Video Game Expo - April 13-14 - Crowne Plaza Airport Hotel, Indianapolis, IN - https://indyclassic.org/

The 32nd Annual “Last” Chicago CoCoFEST! - May 4-5, 2024 - Holiday Inn & Suites Chicago-Carol Stream (Wheaton), Carol Stream, Illinois - https://www.glensideccc.com/cocofest/

VCF Southwest - June 14-16, 2024 - Davidson-Gundy Alumni Center at UT Dallas - https://www.vcfsw.org/

Boatfest Retro Computer Expo - June 14-16 - Hurricane, WV - http://boatfest.info

Southern Fried Gaming Expo and VCF Southeast - July 19-21, 2024 - Atlanta, GA - https://gameatl.com/

Fujiama - July 23-28 - Lengenfeld, Germany - http://atarixle.ddns.net/fuji/2024/

Silly Venture SE (Summer Edition) - Aug. 15-28 - Gdansk, Poland - https://www.demoparty.net/silly-venture/silly-venture-2024-se

Portland Retro Gaming Expo - September 27-29, 2024 - Oregon Convention Center, Portland, OR - https://retrogamingexpo.com/

Silly Venture WE (Winter Edition) - Dec. 5-8 - Gdansk, Poland - https://www.demoparty.net/silly-venture/silly-venture-2024-we

http://chiclassiccomp.org/events.html

Facebook show schedule - https://www.facebook.com/VintageComputerShows/
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Floppy Days 131 - Grundy NewBrain History with John Grant
26 loka 2023· Floppy Days Vintage Computing Podcast
The Grundy NewBrain History with John Grant

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/FloppyDays

Sponsors:

8-Bit Classics

Arcade Shopper

Hello, and welcome to episode 131 of the Floppy Days Podcast; where old computers get a new lease on life and have a purpose once again! I’m Randy Kindig, your host on this journey to the late 70’s through the 80’s.

We are currently covering computers that were released in the year 1982; a banner year for personal computers.

Next up is a computer that few in the United States know much about. It was released in the UK and even there didn’t get much traction. It was a unique beast, with its own personality and quirks; before it went quietly into the annals of history. The machine I’m talking about is the Grundy NewBrain. Certainly a bold and pretentious name for a computer, but memorable nonetheless.

As it was so relatively unknown, I’m going to be spending a lot of air time talking about its history. Here’s how I’m planning to cover this unique machine:

in this episode I’ll be summarizing its history, including a short interview with John Grant of Nine Tiles, whose company did some work on the machine

a later episode will have an interview with Steve O’Hara Smith, who was involved with development of the machine

yet another episode will have an interview with Gerald McMullon, also having done some work on the early NewBrain, as well as support after its release

Finally, there will be 1 or more episodes to cover the usual topics of tech specs, Web sites, emulators, etc. I will have a special guest co-host for that.

So, as you can see, there’s a ton of upcoming information about the NewBrain. Please join me in learning more about this unusual machine.

Before we get into the history of the machine, I’ll let you know what I’ve been up to and have been able to acquire lately, computer and modern upgrade-wise.

New Acquisitions

the Commodore Room - https://www.youtube.com/@thecommodoreroom4554

Tandy Assembly - http://www.tandyassembly.com

PiKey-10 upgrade - http://www.pikey.tech/

NewSoft - (https://jaynewirth.wixsite.com/newsoft

CoCo3 512K RAM upgrade - http://www.cloud9tech.com

CoCo Multi-pak PAL upgrade - http://www.cloud9tech.com

ChromaTRS - https://www.ebay.com/str/trs80universe

Vintage computer printed items - https://techdungeon.xyz/

48KRAM (Josh Malone) Twitch channel - https://twitch.tv/48kRAM

Vintage Computer Shows

Atari Party 2023! - Saturday, December 2, 2023, 1pm to 4pm - Quakertown Train Station, Quakertown, PA - https://quakertowntrainstation.org - organized by Peter Fletcher

World of Commodore - Dec. 2-3, 2023 - Admiral Inn Mississauga, Mississauga, ON - http://www.worldofcommodore.ca/

Vintage Computer Festival SoCal - February 17-18, 2024 - Hotel Fera Events Center, Orange, CA - vcfsocal.com

Midwest Gaming Classic - April 5-7 - Wisconsin Center, Milwaukee, WI - https://www.midwestgamingclassic.com/

VCF East - April 5-7, 2024 - Wall, NJ - http://www.vcfed.org

Indy Classic Computer & Video Game Expo - April 13-14 - Indianapolis, IN - http://www.indyclassic.org

The 32nd Annual “Last” Chicago CoCoFEST! - May 4-5, 2024 - Holiday Inn & Suites Chicago-Carol Stream (Wheaton), Carol Stream, Illinois - https://www.glensideccc.com/cocofest/

VCF Southwest - June 14-16, 2024 - Davidson-Gundy Alumni Center at UT Dallas - https://www.vcfsw.org/

http://chiclassiccomp.org/events.html

Facebook show schedule - https://www.facebook.com/VintageComputerShows/

References

history article by Gerald McMullen - https://newbrainemu.eu/component/option,com_docman/task,doc_download/gid,96/Itemid,52/

Grundy NewBrain history at Centre for Computing History - https://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/5291/Grundy-NewBrain-AD/

Grundy articles at Centre for Computing History - https://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/8265/Grundy-Business-Systems/

Grundy NewBrain at old-computers.com - https://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=176

Grundy NewBrain at Binary Dinosaurs - https://www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk/Museum/Grundy/index.php

2012 Article on the Grundy NewBrain at The Register - https://www.theregister.com/2012/07/02/newbury_labs_grundy_business_systems_newbrain_is_30_years_old/

NewBrain at Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grundy_NewBrain
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Floppy Days 130 - Interview with Forrest Mims III
25 syys 2023· Floppy Days Vintage Computing Podcast
Interview with Forrest Mims III, Electronics Author

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/FloppyDays

Sponsors:

8-Bit Classics

Arcade Shopper

Books:
Forrest's first memoir "Siliconnections: Coming of Age in the Electronic Era" - https://amzn.to/48wmIao Forrest's best-selling book "Getting Started in Electronics" - https://amzn.to/3LDExdY Forrest's upcoming book "Maverick Scientist: My Adventures as an Amateur Scientist" - https://amzn.to/3PAgP3k
Hello, and welcome to episode 130 of the Floppy Days Podcast for September 2023. I’m your host, Randy Kindig, and I’ll be bringing you this podcast as the beautiful fall weather and foliage descends on central Indiana. I love the podcast, and I love the computer shows that start popping up in the fall, which you’ll hear more about on this show.

I feel like I’ve been EXTREMELY lucky lately, in being able to get interviews with some outstanding contributors to the early home computer era of the late 70’s and early 80’s. As you know, I’ve had interviews recently published with Paul Terrell, who jump-started the early Apple Computer with his purchase of their first 50 Apple I’s. Those interviews will continue as Paul and I continue to talk. Additionally, I also recently was able to talk with one of the most prolific, impactful authors of electronics books and kits on the planet, Mr. Forrest Mims III. I would be surprised if just about every listener of this podcast hasn’t heard of Forrest and wasn’t impacted in some positive manner by his terrific tutorials on electronics. In this episode, Forrest and I talk about his early involvement with the creation of MITS and the Altair, how he got into publishing numerous books for Radio Shack, and much, much more. Forrest is still extremely busy and involved with the scientific community today and was happy to share his story. Almost as happy as we are to have been able to talk with him.

Before we talk with Forrest, I will give a short run-down of what I’ve been up to and new acquisitions (that’s where the computer show discussion comes in).

New Acquisitions/What I’ve Been Up To

TS2068 Twister/HDMI board - https://www.andertone.com/product/the-twist/

TS2068 OS64 board - https://www.andertone.com/product/zebra-os-64-cartridge-for-timex-sinclair-2068/

HDMI cable - https://www.amazon.com/Genesis-Original-Master-System-Console/dp/B07Z5W7QS7/
2068 Personal Color Computer User Manual - https://www.andertone.com/product/timex-sinclair-2068-personal-color-computer-user-manual/
T/S 2068 Basics and Beyond by Sharon Zardetto Aker - https://www.andertone.com/product/t-s-2068-basics-and-beyond/

The Essential Guide to Timex/Sinclair Home Computers - https://www.andertone.com/product/the-essential-guide-to-timex-sinclair-home-computers/

TS2068 group on groups.io - https://groups.io/g/TS2068

“Back Into the Storm” by Bil Herd and Margaret Morabito (autographed) - https://www.8bitclassics.com/product/back-into-the-storm-a-design-engineers-story-of-commodore-computers-in-the-1980s/

modern power supply for TS2068 - https://www.andertone.com/product/ts-2068-power-supply/

M100/T102/T200 TPDD1 boot disk - https://www.arcadeshopper.com/wp/store/#!/TPDD1-disk-26-3808/p/141211027

TI99 CF7+ case - https://www.arcadeshopper.com/wp/store/#!/3D-printed-case-for-CF7/p/80201708

Upcoming Shows

Tandy Assembly - Sep. 29-Oct. 1 - Courtyard by Marriott in Springfield, Ohio - http://www.tandyassembly.com/

Amiga38 Germany - Oct. 6-7 - Das Rote Krokodil - Kunstwerk Mönchengladbach - https://amigaevent.de/WB.html

The Interim Computer Festival - Oct. 7-8 - Seattle, WA - https://sdf.org/icf/

AmiWest - October 14-15 - Sacramento, CA - https://retro.directory/browse/events/4/AmiWest.net

Dragon MeetUp - October 7-8 - The Centre for Computing History in Cambridge - https://www.facebook.com/events/225011523831254/?ref=newsfeed

Portland Retro Gaming Expo - October 13-15, 2023 - Oregon Convention Center, Portland, OR - https://retrogamingexpo.com/

Chicago TI International World Faire - October 14, 2023 - Evanston Public Library, Evanston, IL - http://chicagotiug.sdf.org/faire/

Mactoberfest Bay Area Meetup - October 14, 2023 - Belmont, CA - https://www.bigmessowires.com/2023/09/03/mactoberfest-bay-area-meetup-is-october-14/

World of Commodore - Dec. 2-3, 2023 - Admiral Inn Mississauga, Mississauga, ON - http://www.worldofcommodore.ca/

http://chiclassiccomp.org/events.html

Facebook show schedule - https://www.facebook.com/VintageComputerShows/

Interview

Web site operated by Forrest - http://www.forrestmims.org/biography.html

History of MITS - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micro_Instrumentation_and_Telemetry_Systems

Forrest at Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forrest_Mims

“The Altair story; early days at MITS.”, CREATIVE COMPUTING VOL. 10, NO. 11 / NOVEMBER 1984 / PAGE 17, Forrest M. Mims III - https://www.atarimagazines.com/creative/v10n11/17_The_Altair_story_early_d.php

Easy-to-understand guide to home computers by Forrest Mims III - https://archive.org/details/easy-to-understand-guide-to-home-computers

Digital computer book by Paul Malvino - https://www.amazon.com/Digital-computer-electronics-introduction-microcomputers/dp/0070399018/

Understanding Digital Computers by Forrest Mims III - https://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Digital-Computers-Self-learning-Microcomputer/dp/B002E6HIAI/

Forrest’s articles in Popular Electronics Magazine - https://worldradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-Consumer/Archive-Poptronics-IDX/search.cgi?zoom_query=forrest+mims&zoom_page=2&zoom_per_page=10&zoom_and=1&zoom_sort=0&zoom_xml=0
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Floppy Days 129 - Paul Terrell - Exidy Part 2
30 elo 2023· Floppy Days Vintage Computing Podcast
Paul Terrell - Exidy Part 2

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/FloppyDays

Sponsors:

8-Bit Classics

Arcade Shopper

Hello, and welcome to episode 129 for August, 2023 of the Floppy Days Podcast, with your host, Randy Kindig!

If you’re a regular listener, you’ll know that we’re in the middle of a series of episodes where we talk with Paul Terrell. Paul has been credited with essentially jump-starting the personal computer industry in many ways, not the least of which was by buying the original Apple I computer from the just-getting-started Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak and selling it in his equally-famous computer store, The Byte Shop. This was one of the first personal computer retail store chains in existence. Paul was also a member of the legendary Homebrew Computer Club and attended the West Coast Computer Faire. He was involved in the development of both the Exidy Sorcerer and BYT-8 computers and he later went on to start ComputerMania Inc. which was a chain of computer stores created with the purpose of renting computers and software.

The first episode with Paul (June 2023’s episode) was a sort of overview before Paul’s time being involved with Exidy and the Exidy Sorcerer computer. Last month was segment 1 of 2 focusing directly on Exidy and the Sorcerer. And, this month is segment 2 of 2; again focusing on Exidy and the Sorcerer. You’ll hear more about how the Sorcerer came about, hear Paul’s insight into why certain design decisions were made, and what mistakes were made. The Sorcerer was truly an early, important machine, and had impressive features for the timeframe that it came out. As a reminder, if you want to hear additional information about the Sorcerer and about Exidy, there are 2 other Floppy Days Podcasts you’ll want to listen to:

Episode 17, where the Sorcerer is covered in detail - https://floppydays.libsyn.com/floppy-days-episode-17-the-exidy-sorcerer-live-from-vcfse-20

Episode 114, which features an interview with Howell Ivy. Howell was the principal designer of the Sorcerer and recollects his time at Exidy. - https://floppydays.libsyn.com/floppy-days-114-howell-ivy-exidy-sorcerer-and-exidy

Paul decided he would really like to be able to talk about his incredible career in its entirety, including an amazing number of industry-impacting contributions, more than just the time with Exidy, and I of course was ecstatic that he decided my humble podcast could be a good medium for that. What that means for the listener, is that you can expect an even broader series of continued podcasts with Paul in the near future, interspersed with other computer-based and interview episodes along the way.

I really hope you enjoy the Paul Terrel series in general, and this episode should give you a nice wrap-up on his involvement with Exidy and the Sorcerer!

New Acquisitions

Console5 - http://www.console5.com

Okimate 10 printer - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Okimate_10

ATR8000 - https://www.atarimagazines.com/v3n4/ATR8000.html

Happy 1050 - https://www.8bitclassics.com/product/happy-1050-upgrade-for-atari-1050-disk-drive/?ref=Floppydays

Atari Joystick USB Adapter (JAKAdapter) - http://kair.us/projects/jakadapter/index.html

Upcoming Shows

VCF Midwest - September 9-10 - Waterford Banquets and Conference Center, Elmhurst, IL - http://vcfmw.org/

World of Retrocomputing - September 16-17 - Kitchener, Ontario, Canada - https://www.worldofretrocomputing.com/2023-worc-expo

Tandy Assembly - Sep. 29-Oct. 1 - Courtyard by Marriott in Springfield, Ohio - http://www.tandyassembly.com/

Amiga38 Germany - Oct. 6-7 - Das Rote Krokodil - Kunstwerk Mönchengladbach - https://amigaevent.de/WB.html

The Interim Computer Festival - Oct. 7-8 - Seattle, WA - https://sdf.org/icf/

AmiWest - October 14-15 - Sacramento, CA - https://retro.directory/browse/events/4/AmiWest.net

Dragon MeetUp - October 7-8 - The Centre for Computing History in Cambridge - https://www.facebook.com/events/225011523831254/?ref=newsfeed

Portland Retro Gaming Expo - October 13-15, 2023 - Oregon Convention Center, Portland, OR - https://retrogamingexpo.com/

Chicago TI International World Faire - October 14, 2023 - Evanston Public Library, Evanston, IL - http://chicagotiug.sdf.org/faire/

World of Commodore - Dec. 2-3, 2023 - Admiral Inn Mississauga, Mississauga, ON - http://www.worldofcommodore.ca/

http://chiclassiccomp.org/events.html

Facebook show schedule - https://www.facebook.com/VintageComputerShows/

Paul Terrell Interview

Paul on LinkedIN - https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-terrell-2441a17/details/experience/

Paul on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/paul.terrell.92/

Paul at WikiPedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Terrell

Interview with Paul at NextShark - https://nextshark.com/paul-terrell-apple

“Today in Apple history: The Byte Shop, Apple’s first retailer, opens” by Cult of Mac - https://www.cultofmac.com/457420/byte-shop-opens-tiah/

“The Man Who Jump-Started Apple by Harry McCracken”, August 23, 2007, PC World - https://web.archive.org/web/20110511184229/http://blogs.pcworld.com/techlog/archives/005240.html
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Floppy Days 128 - Paul Terrell - Exidy Part 1
28 heinä 2023· Floppy Days Vintage Computing Podcast
Floppy Days Episode 128 - Paul Terrell - Exidy Part 1

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/FloppyDays

Sponsors:

8-Bit Classics

Arcade Shopper

Hello, and welcome to episode 128 for July, 2023 of the Floppy Days Podcast, with your host, Randy Kindig!

If you’re a regular listener, you’ll know that we’re in the middle of a series of episodes where we talk with Paul Terrell. Paul has been credited with essentially jump-starting the personal computer industry in many ways, not the least of which was by buying the original Apple I computer from the just-getting-started Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak and selling it in his equally-famous computer store, The Byte Shop. This was one of the first personal computer retail stores in existence. Paul was also a member of the legendary Homebrew Computer Club and attended the West Coast Computer Faire. He was involved in the development of both the Exidy Sorcerer and BYT-8 computers and he later went on to start ComputerMania Inc. which was a chain of computer stores created with the purpose of renting computers and software.

This guy has had an amazing career and I am truly honored to be able to bring you a series of interviews with Paul for the podcast. Paul and I will be covering his entire career, from his early beginnings, thru the Byte Shop years and his time with the nascent Apple Computer, and beyond. The first segment (last month’s episode) was a sort of overview before Paul’s time being involved with Exidy and the Exidy Sorcerer computer. This segment is part 1 of 2 focusing directly on Exidy and the Sorcerer. You’ll hear how the Sorcerer came about, hear Paul’s insight into why certain design decisions were made, and what mistakes were made. The Sorcerer was truly an early, important machine, and had impressive features for the timeframe that it came out. If you want to hear additional information about the Sorcerer and about Exidy, there are 2 other Floppy Days Podcasts you’ll want to listen to:

Episode 17, where the Sorcerer is covered in detail - https://floppydays.libsyn.com/floppy-days-episode-17-the-exidy-sorcerer-live-from-vcfse-20

Episode 114, which features an interview with Howell Ivy. Howell was the principal designer of the Sorcerer and recollects his time at Exidy. - https://floppydays.libsyn.com/floppy-days-114-howell-ivy-exidy-sorcerer-and-exidy

Paul first contacted me after the interview I had with Howell Ivy and Howell’s involvement and remembrances of the Exidy Sorcerer. He really liked Howell’s interview and wanted to add a few details and give his perspective on the Sorcerer. As we talked further, Paul decided he would really like to be able to talk about his incredible career in its entirety, more than just the time with Exidy, and I of course was ecstatic that he decided my humble podcast could be a good medium for that.

I really hope you enjoy the Paul Terrel series in general, and this episode should give you a nice perspective on his involvement with Exidy and the Sorcerer!

Upcoming Shows

Vintage Computer Festival West 2023 - August 4 & 5 - Computer History Museum, Mountain View, CA - https://vcfed.org/events/vintage-computer-festival-west/

Atari Buy/Sell/Swap/Trade Event - August 5th 10am-2pm - 15 miles SE of Charlotte, NC - https://forums.atariage.com/topic/352517-atari-buysellswaptrade-event-august-5th-10am-2pm-15-miles-se-of-charlotte-nc/

ZZAP! Live 2023 - August 12 - The Holiday Inn, Kenilworth, CV8 1ED - https://fusionretroevents.co.uk/category/zzap-live/

Silly Venture SE (Summer Edition) - Aug. 17-20 - Gdansk, Poland - https://www.demoparty.net/silly-venture/silly-venture-2023-se

Fujiama 2023 - Aug. 30 - Sep. 3 - Lengenfeld, Germany - http://atarixle.ddns.net/fuji/2023/

VCF Midwest - September 9-10 - Waterford Banquets and Conference Center, Elmhurst, IL - http://vcfmw.org/

Tandy Assembly - Sep. 29-Oct. 1 - Courtyard by Marriott in Springfield, Ohio - http://www.tandyassembly.com/

Amiga38 Germany - Oct. 6-7 - Das Rote Krokodil - Kunstwerk Mönchengladbach - https://amigaevent.de/WB.html

The Interim Computer Festival - Oct. 7-8 - Seattle, WA - https://sdf.org/icf/

AmiWest - October 14-15 - Sacramento, CA - https://retro.directory/browse/events/4/AmiWest.net

Portland Retro Gaming Expo - October 13-15, 2023 - Oregon Convention Center, Portland, OR - https://retrogamingexpo.com/

Chicago TI International World Faire - October 14, 2023 - Evanston Public Library, Evanston, IL - http://chicagotiug.sdf.org/faire/

World of Commodore - Dec. 2-3, 2023 - Admiral Inn Mississauga, Mississauga, ON - http://www.worldofcommodore.ca/

http://chiclassiccomp.org/events.html

Facebook show schedule - https://www.facebook.com/VintageComputerShows/

Paul Terrell Interview

Paul on LinkedIN - https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-terrell-2441a17/details/experience/

Paul on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/paul.terrell.92/

Paul at WikiPedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Terrell

Interview with Paul at NextShark - https://nextshark.com/paul-terrell-apple

“Today in Apple history: The Byte Shop, Apple’s first retailer, opens” by Cult of Mac - https://www.cultofmac.com/457420/byte-shop-opens-tiah/

“The Man Who Jump-Started Apple by Harry McCracken”, August 23, 2007, PC World - https://web.archive.org/web/20110511184229/http://blogs.pcworld.com/techlog/archives/005240.html
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Floppy Days 127 - James Shackel Estate Haul and Paul Terrell Intro
30 kesä 2023· Floppy Days Vintage Computing Podcast
Floppy Days 127 - James Shackel Estate Haul and Paul Terrell Intro Interview

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/FloppyDays

Sponsors:

8-Bit Classics

Arcade Shopper

Hello, and welcome to episode 127 for June, 2023 of the Floppy Days Podcast, with your host, yours truly, Randy Kindig!

I doubt there are few listeners who don’t know the name Paul Terrell. Paul has been credited with essentially jump-starting the personal computer industry in many ways, not the least of which was by buying the original Apple I computer from the just-getting-started Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak and selling it in his equally-famous computer store, The Byte Shop. This was the first personal computer retail store in existence. Paul was also a member of the legendary Homebrew Computer Club and attended the West Coast Computer Faire. He was involved in the development of both the Exidy Sorcerer and BYT-8 computers and he later went on to start ComputerMania Inc. which was a chain of computer stores created with the purpose of renting computers and software.

This guy has had an amazing career and I am truly honored to be able to bring you a series of interviews with Paul for the podcast. Paul and I will be covering his entire career, from his early beginnings, thru the Byte Shop years and his time with the nascent Apple Computer, and beyond. This first segment is a sort of overview leading up to Paul’s time involved with Exidy and the Exidy Sorcerer computer. You’ll hear a small bit about Bill Gates, the early Micro-soft, the Byte Shop, the early Apple, the Homebrew Computer Club, the West Coast Computer Faire and a whole lot more. Later episodes will be focused primarily on a single topic, such as the Sorcerer, the Byte Shop, etc.

Paul first contacted me after the interview I had with Howell Ivy and Howell’s involvement and remembrances of the Exidy Sorcerer. He really liked Howell’s interview and wanted to add a few details and give his perspective on the Sorcerer. As we talked further, Paul decided he would really really like to be able to talk about his incredible career in its entirety, more than just the time with Exidy, and I of course was ecstatic that he decided my humble podcast could be a good medium for that.

I really hope you enjoy the series in general, and this short episode should give you a taste of the things to come!

What I’ve Been Up To and New Acquisitions

Console5 (cap kit for Osborne) - http://www.console5.com

“The Commodore Room” YouTube Channel - https://www.youtube.com/@thecommodoreroom4554

Upcoming Shows

Kickstart Amiga UK Expo - July 1-2 - Nottingham, UK - https://www.amigashow.com/

KansasFest, the largest and longest running annual Apple II conference - July 18-23, 2023 (in-person) - July 29–30, 2023 (virtual) - Rockhurst University in Kansas City, Missouri - https://www.kansasfest.org/

Southern Fried Gaming Expo and VCF Southeast - July 28-30 2023 - Atlanta, GA - https://gameatl.com/

Atari Buy/Sell/Swap/Trade Event - August 5th 10am-2pm - 15 miles SE of Charlotte, NC - https://forums.atariage.com/topic/352517-atari-buysellswaptrade-event-august-5th-10am-2pm-15-miles-se-of-charlotte-nc/

ZZAP! Live 2023 - August 12 - The Holiday Inn, Kenilworth, CV8 1ED - https://fusionretroevents.co.uk/category/zzap-live/

Silly Venture SE (Summer Edition) - Aug. 17-20 - Gdansk, Poland - https://www.demoparty.net/silly-venture/silly-venture-2023-se

Fujiama 2023 - Aug. 30 - Sep. 3 - Lengenfeld, Germany - http://atarixle.ddns.net/fuji/2023/

VCF Midwest - September 9-10 - Waterford Banquets and Conference Center, Elmhurst, IL - http://vcfmw.org/

Tandy Assembly - Sep. 29-Oct. 1 - Courtyard by Marriott in Springfield, Ohio - http://www.tandyassembly.com/

Amiga38 Germany - Oct. 6-7 - Das Rote Krokodil - Kunstwerk Mönchengladbach - https://amigaevent.de/WB.html

AmiWest - October 14-15 - Sacramento, CA - https://retro.directory/browse/events/4/AmiWest.net

Portland Retro Gaming Expo - October 13-15, 2023 - Oregon Convention Center, Portland, OR - https://retrogamingexpo.com/

Chicago TI International World Faire - October 14, 2023 - Evanston Public Library, Evanston, IL - http://chicagotiug.sdf.org/faire/

World of Commodore - Dec. 2-3, 2023 - Admiral Inn Mississauga, Mississauga, ON - http://www.worldofcommodore.ca/

http://chiclassiccomp.org/events.html

Facebook show schedule - https://www.facebook.com/VintageComputerShows/

Paul Terrel Interview

Paul on LinkedIN - https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-terrell-2441a17/details/experience/

Paul on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/paul.terrell.92/

Paul at WikiPedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Terrell

Interview with Paul at NextShark - https://nextshark.com/paul-terrell-apple

“Today in Apple history: The Byte Shop, Apple’s first retailer, opens” by Cult of Mac - https://www.cultofmac.com/457420/byte-shop-opens-tiah/

“The Man Who Jump-Started Apple by Harry McCracken”, August 23, 2007, PC World - https://web.archive.org/web/20110511184229/http://blogs.pcworld.com/techlog/archives/005240.html
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Floppy Days 126 - Bob Frankston - VisiCalc
26 touko 2023· Floppy Days Vintage Computing Podcast
Floppy Days 126 - Interview with Bob Frankston, Co-developer of Visicalc

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/FloppyDays

Sponsors:

8-Bit Classics

Arcade Shopper

Hello, everyone! Welcome to episode 126 of the Floppy Days Podcast, with yours truly, Randy Kindig, as the host.

Everyone, and I mean everyone, listening to this podcast has surely heard of the ground-breaking application (for its time) Visicalc. Visicalc was the first spreadsheet computer program for personal computers, originally released for the Apple II by VisiCorp on October 17, 1979. It is considered the killer application for the Apple II, turning the microcomputer from a hobby for computer enthusiasts into a serious business tool, and then prompting IBM to introduce the IBM PC two years later. More than 700,000 copies were sold in six years, and up to 1 million copies over its history.

Initially developed for the Apple II computer, VisiCalc was ported to numerous platforms, both 8-bit and some of the early 16-bit systems, such as the Commodore PET, Atari 8-bit, TRS-80 (TRSDOS), CP/M, MS-DOS, and even the HP Series 80.

VisiCalc was later replaced in the market by Lotus 1-2-3 and eventually by Microsoft’s Excel, which is the dominant spreadsheet today. Spreadsheets, along with word processors, and presentation tools are still today considered one of the key applications for computing.

Bob Frankston, along with Dan Bricklin, are the co-inventors of VisiCalc. This month, we have an interview with the aforementioned Bob Frankston. Bob was kind enough to take time to talk with me about what it was like to create such a ground-breaking tool.

Before doing that, I have a few new acquisitions to discuss and I’ll tell you about upcoming computer shows.

New Acquisitions/What I’ve Been Up To

Retro Innovations

Lige and the YouTube show “The Commodore Room” - https://www.youtube.com/@thecommodoreroom4554

Console5 (cap kits)

Upcoming Shows

The 64 bits or less Retro Gaming Festival - June 3-4 - Benton County Fairgrounds in Corvallis, Oregon (sponsored by the Portland Retro Gaming Expo) - https://www.64bitsorless.com/

Boatfest Vintage Computer Exposition - June 23-25 - Hurricane, WV - http://boatfest.info

VCF Southwest - June 23-25 - Davidson-Gundy Alumni Center at University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, TX - http://vcfsw.org

Pacific Commodore Expo NW v4 - June 24-25 - “Interim” Computer Museum, Seattle, WA - https://www.portcommodore.com/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=pacommex:start

Kickstart Amiga UK Expo - July 1-2 - Nottingham, UK - https://www.amigashow.com/

KansasFest, the largest and longest running annual Apple II conference - July 18-23, 2023 (in-person) - July 29–30, 2023 (virtual) - Rockhurst University in Kansas City, Missouri - https://www.kansasfest.org/

Southern Fried Gaming Expo and VCF Southeast - July 28-30 2023 - Atlanta, GA - https://gameatl.com/

ZZAP! Live 2023 - August 12 - The Holiday Inn, Kenilworth, CV8 1ED - https://fusionretroevents.co.uk/category/zzap-live/

Silly Venture SE (Summer Edition) - Aug. 17-20 - Gdansk, Poland - https://www.demoparty.net/silly-venture/silly-venture-2023-se

Fujiama 2023 - Aug. 30 - Sep. 3 - Lengenfeld, Germany - http://atarixle.ddns.net/fuji/2023/

VCF Midwest - September 9-10 - Waterford Banquets and Conference Center, Elmhurst, IL - http://vcfmw.org/

Tandy Assembly - Sep. 29-Oct. 1 - Courtyard by Marriott in Springfield, Ohio - http://www.tandyassembly.com/

AmiWest - October 14-15 - Sacramento, CA - https://retro.directory/browse/events/4/AmiWest.net

Portland Retro Gaming Expo - October 13-15, 2023 - Oregon Convention Center, Portland, OR - https://retrogamingexpo.com/

Chicago TI International World Faire - October 14, 2023 - Evanston Public Library, Evanston, IL - http://chicagotiug.sdf.org/faire/

World of Commodore - Dec. 2-3, 2023 - Admiral Inn Mississauga, Mississauga, ON - http://www.worldofcommodore.ca/

http://chiclassiccomp.org/events.html

Facebook show listings - https://www.facebook.com/VintageComputerShows/

Interview

Bob’s Website - https://www.frankston.com/

New York Times article on Bricklin and Frankston joining Lotus (acquisition) - https://www.nytimes.com/1985/04/10/business/business-people-former-friendly-rivals-joining-forces-at-lotus.html

Bob interview on TwitTV - https://twit.tv/shows/triangulation/episodes/4
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Floppy Days 125 - ZX Spectrum Part 7 With PJ Evans
23 huhti 2023· Floppy Days Vintage Computing Podcast
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/FloppyDays
Sponsors:

8-Bit Classics

Arcade Shopper

Welcome to Floppy Days #125 for April, 2023. And I’m your host, Randy Kindig.

We are currently in the year 1982 for home computers. This episode is the continuation of a multi-episode arc that covers the Sinclair ZX Spectrum through all the usual topics. This is the seventh of those, with the first having been the interview with John Grant of Nine Tiles, the second and third being coverage of the history of the Spectrum with Alessandro Grussu, the fourth being the interview with the author of the terrific book “The ZX Spectrum Ula: How to Design a Microcomputer”, Mr. Chris Smith, the fifth covering tech specs for the Speccy with Chris, and the sixth covering the topics peripherals, using the machine, and magazines with PJ Evans, Tour Guide and Sinclair curator at The National Museum of Computing on Bletchley Park in the U.K.

The topics covered in this episode include books, software, ads, modern upgrades, emulation, buying one today, community, and Web sites. Once again, my co-host will be PJ Evans, who did a wonderful job last episode. This will be the final episode covering the ZX Spectrum, after setting the record in terms of number of episodes on Floppy Days about a single machine.

As usual, I will also talk a bit about what I have been up to, including an update on any new acquisitions that have come my way. In addition, I’ll briefly tell you about upcoming shows of which I’m aware.

Before we get started I want to mention the show sponsors for Floppy Days.

https://www.8bitclassics.com, run by my friend Corey Koltz, is a great place to get vintage computer items. This includes video cables, power supplies, PC boards, cartridges, upgrades and more for a wide variety of vintage computer platforms. In the New Acquisitions section I cover each month on this show, often one of the items I talk about has been ordered from 8-Bit Classics. Corey has been a friend of the show for some time and I really appreciate his support of the podcast. Check out the site… he has some great stuff.

https://www.arcadeshopper.com, run by my friend Greg McGill, is another terrific site to get vintage computer items. Greg has a wide variety of hard-to-find items for a large number of platforms. This is another site that I do and have done a lot of shopping at and have mentioned numerous times on Floppy Days. If anything shows out of stock, just ping Greg through the contact form and he can check whether he has or can get more of the item for you.

I also wanted to mention those listeners who appreciate the show enough to donate through patreon.com. This includes Chris Petzel, Tony Cappellini, laurens, Richard Goulstone, Josh Malone, Andy Collins, Simon McCullough, Jason Moore, Quentin Barnes. I really appreciate you guys and it helps offset the cost of running the podcast.

Links Mentioned in the Show:

New Acquisitions and What I’ve Been Up To

Amiga 500 Parceiro - [email protected]

Atari XEP80-II Case - https://thebrewingacademy.com/collections/atari-800-xl-xe-xel-xld/products/xep80-ii-by-mytek

FD sign and shirt - http://www.vistaprint.com

book - Over the Spectrum - https://amzn.to/3AmFaSZ

ZXPand+ Case - http://www.sellmyretro.com

Upcoming Shows

Indy Classic Computer and Video Game Expo - April 29 & 30 - Crowne Plaza Airport Hotel, Indianapolis, IN - https://indyclassic.org/

The 64 bits or less Retro Gaming Festival - June 3-4 - Benton County Fairgrounds in Corvallis, Oregon (sponsored by the PortlandRetro Gaming Expo) - https://www.64bitsorless.com/

Boatfest Vintage Computer Exposition - June 23-25 - Hurricane, WV - http://boatfest.info

VCF Southwest - June 23-25 - Davidson-Gundy Alumni Center at University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, TX - http://vcfsw.org

Pacific Commodore Expo NW v4 - June 24-25 - “Interim” Computer Museum, Seattle, WA - https://www.portcommodore.com/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=pacommex:start j

KansasFest, the largest and longest running annual Apple II conference - July 18-23, 2023 - Rockhurst University in Kansas City, Missouri - https://www.kansasfest.org/

Southern Fried Gaming Expo and VCF Southeast - July 28-30 2023 - Atlanta, GA - https://gameatl.com/

ZZAP! Live 2023 - August 12 - The Holiday Inn, Kenilworth, CV8 1ED - https://fusionretroevents.co.uk/category/zzap-live/

VCF Midwest - September 9-10 - Waterford Banquets and Conference Center, Elmhurst, IL - http://vcfmw.org/

Tandy Assembly - Sep. 29-Oct. 1 - Courtyard by Marriott in Springfield, Ohio - http://www.tandyassembly.com/

AmiWest - October 14-15 - Sacramento, CA - https://retro.directory/browse/events/4/AmiWest.net

Portland Retro Gaming Expo - October 13-15, 2023 - Oregon Convention Center, Portland, OR - https://retrogamingexpo.com/

World of Commodore - Dec. 2-3, 2023 - Admiral Inn Mississauga, Mississauga, ON - http://www.worldofcommodore.ca/

Books

books listed at World of Spectrum - https://worldofspectrum.org/archive/books

Spectrum Machine Language For The Absolute Beginner by William Tang 2020 - https://amzn.to/3Ix6mn3 (Retro Reproductions)

Over the Spectrum by Philip Williams 2020 - https://amzn.to/3YFsbGu (Retro Reproductions)

Spectrum Games Bible 1982-1984 Paperback – June 11, 2008 by P Johns - https://amzn.to/3KfL0vy

ZX Spectrum Games Code Club: Twenty fun games to code and learn Paperback – November 23, 2015 by Gary Plowman (Author) - https://amzn.to/3EgSFGk

Spectrumpedia by Alessandro Grussu (2 volumes) - https://www.alessandrogrussu.it/sp.html

Volume I (English) - https://amzn.to/3Ek9boX

Volume II (English) - https://amzn.to/3IGVwet

The Micro Kids: An 80s Adventure with ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64 and more Paperback – Illustrated, December 8, 2018 by Gary Plowman - https://amzn.to/3Klsan7

The ZX Spectrum Ula: How to Design a Microcomputer Illustrated Edition by Christopher David Smith - https://amzn.to/3IwGgjU

Sinclair ZX Spectrum : A Visual Compendium - https://www.bitmapbooks.com/collections/by-system/products/sinclair-zx-spectrum-a-visual-compendium

Software

archive at World of Spectrum - https://worldofspectrum.org/archive

TOSEC at archive.org by Lady Eklipse - https://archive.org/details/zx-spectrum-tosec-set-v-2020-02-18-lady-eklipse

Top 10 games - https://www.techradar.com/news/gaming/30-best-zx-spectrum-games-594151

1. Elite – Firebird Games

2. R-Type – Electric Dreams Software

3. Chuckie Egg - A'n'F Software

4. Manic Miner - Bug-Byte Software Ltd

5. Knight Lore - Ultimate Play The Game

6. Back to Skool - Microsphere

7. Football Manager - Addictive Games Ltd

8. Lunar Jetman - Ultimate Play The Game

9. Horace Goes Skiing – Beam Software

10. Boulder Dash – Front Runner

Productivity and Education Software from Sinclair Catalog (all cassette) - https://archive.org/details/sinclair-research/ZX%20Spectrum%20Software%20Catalog/mode/2up

Ads and Appearances

Starring the Computer - http://www.starringthecomputer.com/

Ad - http://www.retro8bitcomputers.co.uk/Sinclair/ZXSpectrum

Modern Upgrades

ZX-AY external stereo audio interface for all ZX Spectrum models - https://www.bytedelight.com/?product=zx-ay-external-stereo-audio-interface-for-all-zx-spectrum-models

ZX-HD HDMI Interface - https://www.bytedelight.com/?product=zx-hd-hdmi-interface-with-ulaplus

DIVMMC - https://www.thefuturewas8bit.com/shop/sinclair/divmmcfuture.html

SpectraNet - https://www.bytedelight.com/?product=spectranet-internet-interface-with-closed-case

Emulation

Emulator list at World of Spectrum - https://worldofspectrum.net/emulators/

Spectaculator (paid) https://www.spectaculator.com/

Fuse:

Windows - https://sourceforge.net/projects/fuse-emulator/files/fuse-utils/1.4.3/fuse-utils-1.4.3-win32.zip/download

macOS - https://fuse-for-macosx.sourceforge.io/

Linux - http://fuse-emulator.sourceforge.net/

Speccy - https://fms.komkon.org/Speccy/

Eighty One - https://www.aptanet.org/eightyone/

Retro Virtual Machine (RVM) - https://www.retrovirtualmachine.org/

ZEsarUX - https://github.com/chernandezba/zesarux/

ZX Spectrum 4 Android - https://www.zxspectrum4.net/android/

QAOP (browser-based) - http://torinak.com/qaop

JSSpeccy (browser-based) - https://jsspeccy.zxdemo.org/

Community

Facebook

Spectrum Forever - https://www.facebook.com/groups/491247224287188

Spectrum for Everyone - https://www.facebook.com/groups/400461880300289

World of Spectrum - https://www.facebook.com/groups/1571053279836005

ZX Spectrum - https://www.facebook.com/groups/164156683632183

Twitter

ZX Spectrum Code Club - https://twitter.com/zxspectrum_club

Mastodon

Sinclair ZX Spectrum Bot - https://oldbytes.space/@[email protected]

Spectrum User - https://oldbytes.space/@[email protected]

Forums

AtariAge - https://www.atariage.com

https://worldofspectrum.org/forums/

https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/forums/index.php

https://www.sinclairzxworld.com/viewforum.php

Podcasts

Our Sinclair: A ZX Spectrum Podcast by Amigos Retro Gaming - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/our-sinclair-a-zx-spectrum-podcast/id1454120857

Reddit

https://www.reddit.com/r/zxspectrum/

Web Sites

Byte Delight shop - https://www.bytedelight.com

The Future Was 8bit shop - https://www.thefuturewas8bit.com/

Power supplies for Spectrum machines at Retro Games Supply - https://en.retrogamesupply.com/collections/other

Dr. Steve Vickers at YouTube - https://www.cs.bham.ac.uk/~sjv/

“The first ZX Spectrum prototype laid bare” article about John Grant - https://www.theregister.com/2019/03/05/the_first_zx_spectrum_prototype_laid_bare/

The official world archive for the Sinclair ZX Spectrum - https://worldofspectrum.org/

The Spectrum Show by Paul Jenkinson - https://m.youtube.com/user/BuckingTheTrend2008

The MagPi - https://magpi.raspberrypi.com/issues/67

Interview with Steve Vickers & Richard Altwasser - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLnuY3EKnWE

References

Retro 8-bit Computers - http://www.retro8bitcomputers.co.uk/

Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZX_Spectrum

Old-Computers.com museum - https://www.old-computers.com/museum/default.asp

https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/
- Kuuntele Kuuntele uudestaan Jatka Soittaa...
- Kuuntele myöhemmin Kuuntele myöhemmin
Floppy Days 124 - ZX Spectrum Part 6 with PJ Evans
29 maalis 2023· Floppy Days Vintage Computing Podcast
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/FloppyDays
Sponsors:

8-Bit Classics

Arcade Shopper

Welcome to Floppy Days #124 for March, 2023. And I’m your host, Randy Kindig.

We are currently covering the very productive year for home computers of 1982. This episode is the continuation of a multi-episode arc that covers the Spectrum through all the usual topics. This is the sixth of those, with the first having been the interview with John Grant of Nine Tiles, the second and third being coverage of the history of the Spectrum with Alessandro Grussu, the fourth being the interview with the author of the terrific book “The ZX Spectrum Ula: How to Design a Microcomputer”, Mr. Chris Smith, and the sixth covering tech specs for the Speccy with Chris.

The topics covered in this episode include peripherals, using the machine, and magazines. Next episode we will complete the ZX Spectrum coverage, by talking about books, software, ads, modern upgrades, emulation, buying one today, community, and Web sites.

As usual, I will also talk a bit about what I have been up to, including an update on any new acquisitions that have come my way. In addition, I’ll briefly tell you about upcoming shows of which I’m aware and share any feedback I’ve gotten.

Before we get started I want to mention that I now have some show sponsors for Floppy Days.

https://www.8bitclassics.com, run by my friend Corey Koltz, is a great place to get vintage computer items. This includes video cables, power supplies, PC boards, cartridges, upgrades and more for a wide variety of vintage computer platforms. In the New Acquisitions section I cover each month on this show, often one of the items I talk about has been ordered from 8-Bit Classics. Corey has been a friend of the show for some time and I really appreciate his support of the podcast. Check out the site… he has some great stuff.

https://www.arcadeshopper.com, run by my friend Greg McGill, is another terrific site to get vintage computer items. Greg has a wide variety of hard-to-find items for a large number of platforms. This is another site that I do and have done a lot of shopping at and have mentioned numerous times on Floppy Days. If anything shows out of stock, just ping Greg through the contact form and he can check whether he has or can get more of the item for you.

I also wanted to mention those listeners who appreciate the show enough to donate through patreon.com. This includes Chris Petzel, Tony Cappellini, laurens, Richard Goulstone, Josh Malone, Andy Collins, Simon McCullough, Jason Moore, Quentin Barnes. I really appreciate you guys and it helps offset the cost of running the podcast.

Links Mentioned in the Show:

New Acquisitions and What I’ve Been Up To

Amiga 1000 - [email protected]

Commodore SX-64 repair video by The Commodore Room - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Flsn_FD2zpA

Upcoming Shows

Midwest Gaming Classic - March 31-April 2 - Wisconsin Center, Milwaukee, WI - https://www.midwestgamingclassic.com/

VCF East 2023 - Apr 14-16, 2023 - InfoAge Science and History Museums, Wall, NJ - https://vcfed.org/events/vintage-computer-festival-east/

The Commodore Los Angeles Super Show - April 15-16, 2023 - Burbank VFW Hall, Burbank, CA - https://www.portcommodore.com/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=class:start

31st Annual “Last” CocoFest - April 22-23, 2023 - Holiday Inn & Suites Chicago, Carol Stream, IL - https://www.glensideccc.com/cocofest/

Indy Classic Computer and Video Game Expo - April 29 & 30 - Crowne Plaza Airport Hotel, Indianapolis, IN - https://indyclassic.org/

The 64 bits or less Retro Gaming Festival - June 3-4 - Benton County Fairgrounds in Corvallis, Oregon (sponsored by the PortlandRetro Gaming Expo) - https://www.64bitsorless.com/

Boatfest Vintage Computer Exposition - June 23-25 - Hurricane, WV - http://boatfest.info

VCF Southwest - June 23-25 - Davidson-Gundy Alumni Center at University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, TX - http://vcfsw.org

Pacific Commodore Expo NW v4 - June 24-25 - “Interim” Computer Museum, Seattle, WA - https://www.portcommodore.com/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=pacommex:start j

KansasFest, the largest and longest running annual Apple II conference - July 18-23, 2023 - Rockhurst University in Kansas City, Missouri - https://www.kansasfest.org/

Southern Fried Gaming Expo and VCF Southeast - July 28-30 2023 - Atlanta, GA - https://gameatl.com/

ZZAP! Live 2023 - August 12 - The Holiday Inn, Kenilworth, CV8 1ED - https://fusionretroevents.co.uk/category/zzap-live/

VCF Midwest - September 9-10 - Waterford Banquets and Conference Center, Elmhurst, IL - http://vcfmw.org/

Tandy Assembly - Sep. 29-Oct. 1 - Courtyard by Marriott in Springfield, Ohio - http://www.tandyassembly.com/

AmiWest - October 14-15 - Sacramento, CA - https://retro.directory/browse/events/4/AmiWest.net

Portland Retro Gaming Expo - October 13-15, 2023 - Oregon Convention Center, Portland, OR - https://retrogamingexpo.com/

World of Commodore - Dec. 2-3, 2023 - Admiral Inn Mississauga, Mississauga, ON - http://www.worldofcommodore.ca/

Feedback

Claus, webmaster at www.mtxworld.dk

Using the Machine

http://www.retro8bitcomputers.co.uk/Sinclair/ZXSpectrum

Popular Magazines/Newsletters

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:ZX_Spectrum_magazines

https://www.old-computers.com/museum/default.asp

Crash

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crash_(magazine)

Modern Crash - https://fusionretrobooks.com/collections/crash-magazine

articles for Crash written by Paul Evans - https://www.google.com/search?domains=www.crashonline.org.uk&sitesearch=www.crashonline.org.uk&q=paul%20evans

Your Sinclair

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Your_Sinclair

Current blog - https://www.ys3.org/

Sinclair User

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinclair_User

https://archive.org/details/sinclair-user-magazine?&sort=-week&page=2

Spectrofon

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spectrofon

Sinclair Programs

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinclair_Programs

https://archive.org/search?query=Sinclair+Programs&and%5B%5D=mediatype%3A%22texts%22

ZX Magazin

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZX_Magaz%C3%ADn

References

Retro 8-bit Computers - http://www.retro8bitcomputers.co.uk/

Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZX_Spectrum

Old-Computers.com museum - https://www.old-computers.com/museum/default.asp

https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/
- Kuuntele Kuuntele uudestaan Jatka Soittaa...
- Kuuntele myöhemmin Kuuntele myöhemmin
Floppy Days 123 - Amiga 1000, Parceiro, and Podcast Tenth Anniversary!
28 helmi 2023· Floppy Days Vintage Computing Podcast
Floppy Days 123 - Amiga 1000, Parceiro and Podcast Tenth Anniversary!

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/FloppyDays
Sponsors:

8-Bit Classics

Arcade Shopper

Welcome to episode 123 of Floppy Days for February, 2023, where classic computers are all the rage and we lovingly take you back to the days when computers were simpler and we were younger.

This is a special show for me, because this month (Feb. 17 was the publish date) marks the 10th anniversary of publishing this podcast! Man, oh, man, where has the time gone?! This podcast itself has become vintage, depending on your definition of vintage.

My original intent was to continue the coverage of the ZX Spectrum this month, but my special co-host for that show was unable to record this month. I decided this was the perfect opportunity to have a special show to in some way commemorate the 10-year anniversary. My co-host and I have scheduled the recording for the Spectrum show for early March, so I’ll publish that as early in March as I can. In the meantime, for this show I wanted to talk about how the show has changed and grown over the years and what my plans are for the future.

I apologize for not having one of my two typical formats (machine coverage or interview) for this show. Not to worry though, I’ve got what I think is an interesting story around my recent work to test and set up some Amiga 1000s that have come my way; including some information about a great upgrade for the A1000 called Parceiro II.

I do also want to mention that I now have some show sponsors for Floppy Days.

https://www.8bitclassics.com, run by my friend Corey Koltz, is a great place to get vintage computer items. This includes video cables, power supplies, PC boards, cartridges, upgrades and more for a wide variety of vintage computer platforms. In the New Acquisitions section I cover each month on this show, often one of the items I talk about has been ordered from 8-Bit Classics. Corey has been a friend of the show for some time and I really appreciate his support of the podcast. Check out the site… he has some great stuff.

https://www.arcadeshopper.com, run by my friend Greg McGill, is another terrific site to get vintage computer items. Greg has a wide variety of hard-to-find items for a large number of platforms. This is another site that I do and have done a lot of shopping at and have mentioned numerous times on Floppy Days. If anything shows out of stock, just ping Greg through the contact form and he can check whether he has or can get more of the item for you.

I also wanted to mention those listeners who appreciate the show enough to donate through patreon.com. This includes Chris Petzel, Tony Cappellini, laurens, Richard Goulstone, Josh Malone, Andy Collins, Simon McCullough, Jason Moore, Quentin Barnes. I really appreciate you guys and it helps offset the cost of running the podcast.

On a sad note, one other thing I wanted to talk about was the passing of a good friend in the community, James Shackel (aka Airshack). James passed from this earth in January of this year due to illness, and it was a shock to me to realize I would no longer have James to talk to. James came from the TI community, but was interested in a lot of the vintage machines. Over the years, I traded a Sinclair ZX Spectrum +2A to him for a TIPI network card for the TI99 and James sent me things numerous times, such as books or software. Most recently, just 3 months ago, I traded a Commodore 128 to him for an Atari 1200XL he had. He also had been a patreon donator for Floppy Days for some time. He pinged me all the time to discuss ANTIC or Floppy Days or just to let me know about some new vintage computer thing he came across. I saw James at Tandy Assembly in October last year, just the second time I had ever seen him in person, but he never told me he was ill.

James had a singular sense of humor and I will miss it, and him, very much. It reminds me that we need to appreciate the people around us while we can, as we don’t know how long they will be around. James, I will truly miss you.

Ok, let’s get on with the show. I hope you find something interesting out of this episode. Here’s to 10 more years of Floppy Days!

Intro

James Shackel passed away - https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/legacyremembers/james-shackel-obituary?id=39585348

New Acquisitions

computer trading cards - https://www.8bitkick.cc/home-computers.html

Yamaha MSX AX-150 Computer - https://www.msx.org/wiki/Sakhr_AX-150

memory mapper + SD card interface - Arcade Shopper

Amiga 1000 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amiga_1000

Parceiro II by David Dunklee:

https://bytecellar.com/2021/12/13/parceiro-an-extraordinary-upgrade-for-amiga-1000-users/

[email protected] to order one

Upcoming Shows

Midwest Gaming Classic - March 31-April 2 - The Wisconsin Center, Milwaukee, WI - https://www.midwestgamingclassic.com/

VCF East 2023 - Apr 14-16, 2023 - InfoAge Science and History Museums, Wall, NJ - https://vcfed.org/events/vintage-computer-festival-east/

The Commodore Los Angeles Super Show - April 15-16, 2023 - Burbank VFW Hall, Burbank, CA - https://www.portcommodore.com/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=class:start

31st Annual “Last” CocoFest - April 22-23, 2023 - Holiday Inn & Suites Chicago, Carol Stream, IL - https://www.glensideccc.com/cocofest/

Indy Classic Computer and Video Game Expo - April 29 & 30 - Crowne Plaza Airport Hotel, Indianapolis, IN - https://indyclassic.org/

Pacific Commodore Expo NW v4 - June 24-25 - “Interim” Computer Museum, Seattle, WA - https://www.portcommodore.com/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=pacommex:start

KansasFest, the largest and longest running annual Apple II conference - July 18-23, 2023 - Rockhurst University in Kansas City, Missouri - https://www.kansasfest.org/

Southern Fried Gaming Expo - July 28-30 2023 - Atlanta, GA - https://gameatl.com/

Portland Retro Gaming Expo - October 13-15, 2023 - Oregon Convention Center, Portland, OR - https://retrogamingexpo.com/

http://chiclassiccomp.org/events.html

10th Anniversary Special Content

OldComputers.net timeline - http://oldcomputers.net
- Kuuntele Kuuntele uudestaan Jatka Soittaa...
- Kuuntele myöhemmin Kuuntele myöhemmin
Floppy Days 122 - NEC PC-6001 and Japanese Computers with Carlos Camacho - Part II
31 tammi 2023· Floppy Days Vintage Computing Podcast
NEC TREK PC-6001, Part II

Please donate at: https://www.patreon.com/FloppyDays.

Welcome to Floppy Days #122 for January, 2023. And I’m your host, Randy Kindig.

We are currently covering the very productive year for home computers of 1982. As regular listeners will know, we’ve been covering the ZX Spectrum and the myriad of information about that machine. While we still have more information to cover, such as emulation, Web sites, and a lot more, we are currently taking a tiny step back to pick up coverage of a machine that I recently acquired and wanted to talk about, but which came out in very late 1981. That machine is the Nippon Electric Company (NEC) PC-6001 and its US variation, the PC-6001A, or NEC-TREK. It actually was released in November, 1981 in Japan. Thus, you can see that this is really a very tiny detour to go back and pick up this machine. It’s one I didn’t know about, honestly, and when I acquired a very clean, boxed version in the Great Barn Find of 2022, not only did I decide to keep the machine but also to cover it on Floppy Days. I hope you can forgive me this minor detour off the path of covering the machines in the approx. order they were released. I think you’ll find this machine interesting, as I did, and enjoy hearing about it.

This is the second episode of a 2-part arc on this machine, due to the amount of material we were able to pull together and length of time it took to go through it. Last episode we covered history and tech specs (as well as a brief interview with my co-host), and this month we will cover the remaining usual topics.

With me this month again to provide the co-hosting duties will be Carlos Camacho. Carlos lived in Japan for a while and has a great perspective on this line of computers, as well as a lot of experience and knowledge around Japanese computers in general, which I think you’ll find interesting. The research he did on the PC-6000 line a few years ago was a tremendous help in pulling together information for this show. At the end of the day, if you have an interest in acquiring anything for this platform, you’ll need the information that Carlos provides on how to navigate the Japanese vintage computer market. I know I learned a ton from Carlos.

Very soon we’ll return to ZX Spectrum coverage.

As usual, I will also talk a bit about a few new acquisitions (beyond the barn find) that have come my way. In addition, I’ll briefly tell you about upcoming shows of which I’m aware and share any feedback I’ve gotten.

I hope you enjoy the show!

Links Mentioned in the Show:

New Acquisitions
IBM PC5140 Display Adapter - http://ohlandl.ipv7.net/5140/5140.html#CRT_Display Spectrum Machine Language for the Absolute Beginner by William Tang - https://amzn.to/3Y1p8rq C128D JiffyDOS - https://store.go4retro.com/jiffydos-kernal-rom-overlay-ic/ Atari Fast BASIC - https://github.com/dmsc/fastbasic
Upcoming Computer Shows
VCF East 2023 - Apr 14-16, 2023 - InfoAge Science and History Museums, Wall, NJ - https://vcfed.org/events/vintage-computer-festival-east/ The Commodore Los Angeles Super Show - April 15-16, 2023 - Burbank VFW Hall, Burbank, CA - https://www.portcommodore.com/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=class:start 31st Annual “Last” CocoFest - April 22-23, 2023 - Holiday Inn & Suites Chicago, Carol Stream, IL - https://www.glensideccc.com/cocofest/ Indy Classic Computer and Video Game Expo - April 29 & 30 - Crowne Plaza Airport Hotel, Indianapolis, IN - https://indyclassic.org/ Pacific Commodore Expo NW v4 - June 24-25 - “Interim” Computer Museum, Seattle, WA - https://www.portcommodore.com/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=pacommex:start j KansasFest, the largest and longest running annual Apple II conference - July 18-23, 2023 - Rockhurst University in Kansas City, Missouri - https://www.kansasfest.org/ Southern Fried Gaming Expo - July 28-30 2023 - Atlanta, GA - https://gameatl.com/ Portland Retro Gaming Expo - October 13-15, 2023 - Oregon Convention Center - https://retrogamingexpo.com/
Feedback
Khalid Yousif NEC PC-6001 MkII SR FM synth music capability - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvVq8MHoybA Khalid’s website to document and archive findings on the Iraqi Warkaas - https://warkaa.org/ YouTube Playlist by Todd Geiger - Computers - In Their Own Words Byte High No Limit Podcast - https://sunspotstories.podbean.com/
Popular Magazines/Newsletters
PC-6000, 6600 information magazine SAVE, produced by Hokuten (owner of pc-6001.net) - http://www.pc-6001.net/p6/save/index.html Oh, PC! - all NEC models - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:First_Issue_of_Oh!PC.jpg I/O Magazine - https://archive.org/details/iomagazine PIO Magazine - https://archive.org/details/PioVol.1
Books
PC-6000,6600 related book list - http://www.pc-6001.net/p6/syoseki/index.html Amazon Japan - to get books in Japanese
Software
TOSEC: NEC PC 6001 (archive.org) - https://archive.org/details/NEC_PC_6001_TOSEC_2012_04_23 Software Compilation Neo Kobe - NEC PC-6001 (archive.org) - https://archive.org/details/Neo_Kobe_NEC_PC-6001_2016-02-25
Ads and Appearances
https://oldcomputers.net/nec-pc-6001.html video ad - (Japanese with English subtitles) https://archive.org/details/necpapikonpc6001acomputercommercial1981subsvtcdvplemfm https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTCdVPlemFM
Emulators
https://retrocomputing.stackexchange.com/questions/12241/how-do-i-use-nec-pc-6001-p6-or-cas-files PC6001V - http://papicom.net/p6v/ PC6001VW - http://p6ers.net/bernie/develop/pc6001vw3.html iP6 and iP6 Plus Windy’s Room - http://www.eonet.ne.jp/~windy/index.html iP6 home page - http://www.retropc.net/isio/ip6/ VNECTREK - October 27, 2009 in the Wayback Machine - https://web.archive.org/web/20091027114600/http://www.geocities.com/emucompboy/ MAME/MESS - https://www.mamedev.org/
Buying One Today
freight forwarding companies buyee zenmarket Jauce
Community
Facebook - Japanese Vintage Computer Users - https://www.facebook.com/groups/japanesevintagecomputers Forums AtariAge - https://forums.atariage.com/forum/116-classic-computing-discussion/ VC Federation - https://forum.vcfed.org/index.php?forums/other/ PC-6000,6600 information bulletin board at pc-6001.net - http://www.pc-6001.net/cgi/p6bbs/imgbbs.cgi Reddit - https://www.reddit.com/r/pc6001/
Current Web Sites
Purchasing today at The Beep Shop - https://www.beep-shop.com/list/pc60_c.html Write-up of the PC-6001 at the 1982 Consumer Electronics Show in the May, 1982 Byte Magazine (archive.org) Write-up of the PC-6001 in the March, 1983 Byte Magazine (archive.org) https://archive.org/details/byte-magazine-1983-03-rescan/page/n503/mode/2up?view=theater&q=6000 NEC PC-6001 search at archive.org - https://archive.org/search.php?query=nec+pc-6001&sin= Obscure Systems Showcase: 10 Games For The NEC PC6001 by Sharopolis (YouTube) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jREmdyXXLhE The PC-6001: NEC's home challenger by Re:Enthused (YouTube) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYfC3YwvGLA PC-6001 series portal site - http://p6ers.net/ some PC-6001 software (WAV for real machine and .P6 for emulator) - http://inufuto.web.fc2.com/8bit/ iP6 information and links at retropc.net - http://www.retropc.net/isio/2ndindex.html PC-6001 World - http://www.pc-6001.net/p6/index.html http://vector.co.jp - download site
References
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PC-6000_series NEC Retro - https://necretro.org/ https://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=177&st=1 GiantBomb.com - https://www.giantbomb.com/nec-pc-6001/3045-115/ OldComputers.net - https://oldcomputers.net/nec-pc-6001.html https://www.wikiwand.com/en/PC-6000_series https://forums.atariage.com/topic/233915-i-now-own-and-am-baffled-by-a-japanese-nec-pc-6001/
Co-host
The Color Computer Store - https://twitter.com/trs80cocostore, @TRS80CocoStore, https://www.ebay.com/usr/colorcomputerstore
- Kuuntele Kuuntele uudestaan Jatka Soittaa...
- Kuuntele myöhemmin Kuuntele myöhemmin
Floppy Days 121 - NEC PC-6001 and Japanese Computers with Carlos Camacho - Part I
7 tammi 2023· Floppy Days Vintage Computing Podcast
Please donate at: https://www.patreon.com/FloppyDays.

Welcome to Floppy Days #121 for December, 2022. And I’m your host, Randy Kindig. Happy holidays to all!

We are currently covering the very productive year for home computers of 1982. As regular listeners will know, we’ve been covering the ZX Spectrum and the myriad of information about that machine. While we still have more information to cover, such as emulation, Web sites, and a lot more, we’re going to take a tiny step back and pick up coverage of a machine that I recently acquired and wanted to talk about, but which came out in very late 1981. That machine is the Nippon Electric Company (NEC) PC-6001 and its US variation, the PC-6001A, or NEC-TREK. It actually was released in November, 1981 in Japan. So, you can see that this is really a very tiny detour to go back and pick up this machine. It’s one I didn’t know about, honestly, and when I acquired a very clean, boxed version in the Great Barn Find of 2022, not only did I decide to keep the machine but also to cover it on Floppy Days. I hope you can forgive me this minor detour off the path of covering the machines in the approx. order they were released. I think you’ll find this machine interesting, as I did, and enjoy hearing about it.

With me this month to provide the co-hosting duties will be Carlos Camacho. Carlos lived in Japan for a while and has a great perspective on this line of computers, as well as a lot of experience and knowledge around Japanese computers in general, which I think you’ll find interesting. The research he did on the PC-6000 line a few years ago was a tremendous help in pulling together information for this show.

This will be a 2-part episode, due to the amount of material we were able to pull together and length of time it took to go through it.

After that, we’ll return to ZX Spectrum coverage.

As usual, I will also talk a bit about what I have been up to, including an update on the The Great Barn Find of 2022, as well as a few new acquisitions (beyond the barn find) that have come my way. In addition, I’ll briefly tell you about upcoming shows of which I’m aware and share any feedback I’ve gotten.

Finally, while I usually abstain from talking about monetary support for this podcast, I do want to mention that I have a way for you to help if you have the inclination. I have a page set up at https://www.patreon.com/FloppyDays where you can donate. Any funds will be used to defray the cost of managing the podcast as well as acquiring new hardware to talk about. On that topic, I do intend to beef up the various Floppy Days offerings, including some additional content depending on the donation level at Patreon. Look for that as soon as I’ve figured out what I want to offer and how to manage it. I do want to send out a heart-felt thank you for everyone who has already contributed and continues to contribute!

I hope you enjoy the show!

Links Mentioned in the Show:

New Acquisitions
Tandy M100/T102 items from http://www.ArcadeShopper.com Inside Commodore DOS by Richard Immers and Gerald G. Neufeld The Personal Computer BASIC S Reference Manual by Donald A. Sordillo An Introduction to Electronic Data Processing by Roger Nett and Stanley A Hetzler Principles of Compiler Design by Alfred V. Aho and Jeffrey D. Ullman A Comparative Study of Programming Languages by Bryan Higman Assembly Language Programming for the IBM Personal Computer by David J. Bradley
Upcoming Computer Shows
VCF East 2023 - Apr 14-16, 2023 - InfoAge Science and History Museums, Wall, NJ - https://vcfed.org/events/vintage-computer-festival-east/ 31st Annual “Last” CocoFest - April 22-23, 2023 - Holiday Inn & Suites Chicago, Carol Stream, IL - https://www.glensideccc.com/cocofest/ Indy Classics presented by Indy Vintage Computer Club - late April - near Indy airport - TBA
Feedback
Byte High No Limit Podcast episode - https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/byte-high-no-limit/id1649091845?i=1000590462992 You can play the Elite game yourself here - https://www.bbcelite.com/hacks/teletext_elite.html
Co-host Interview
The Color Computer Store - https://twitter.com/trs80cocostore, @TRS80CocoStore, https://www.ebay.com/usr/colorcomputerstore
- Kuuntele Kuuntele uudestaan Jatka Soittaa...
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Näytä enemmän

Episodit

Floppy Days 140 - Paul Terrell Interview - The Byte Shop Part 1

Floppy Days 139 - Vic Tolomei (Exidy) Interview

Floppy Days 138 - Interview with Hans Franke, VCF Europe and Computeum

Floppy Days 137 - Post-VCF SoCal 2024 with Paul Nurminen

Floppy Days 136 - Grundy New Brain Peripherals to Web Sites with Chris Espoinidis

Floppy Days 135 - Grundy New Brain Tech Specs with Chris Despoinidis

Floppy Days 134 - VCF SoCal 2024 Preview with the Organizing Team

Floppy Days 133 - Grundy NewBrain History with Gerald McMullon

Floppy Days 132 - Grundy New Brain History with Steve O'Hara-Smith

Floppy Days 131 - Grundy NewBrain History with John Grant

Floppy Days 130 - Interview with Forrest Mims III

Floppy Days 129 - Paul Terrell - Exidy Part 2

Floppy Days 128 - Paul Terrell - Exidy Part 1

Floppy Days 127 - James Shackel Estate Haul and Paul Terrell Intro

Floppy Days 126 - Bob Frankston - VisiCalc

Floppy Days 125 - ZX Spectrum Part 7 With PJ Evans

Floppy Days 124 - ZX Spectrum Part 6 with PJ Evans

Floppy Days 123 - Amiga 1000, Parceiro, and Podcast Tenth Anniversary!

Floppy Days 122 - NEC PC-6001 and Japanese Computers with Carlos Camacho - Part II

Floppy Days 121 - NEC PC-6001 and Japanese Computers with Carlos Camacho - Part I