Panelists: Jack Nutting (hosting), Earl Evans, Ken Gagne, Paul Hagstrom, and Carrington Vanston

Host’s Topic: Radio Shack Memories

Radio Shack has filed for bankruptcy, and we take this opportunity to talk about times when their history and ours coincided.

Retro Computing News:

• Radio shack store closure list
• Adios Radio Shack photo(shop)
• The original 1978 source code of Microsoft BASIC for 6502
• Analysis of Microsoft BASIC source code
• 16 pieces of classic software whose code is now accessible
• Atari Christmas 1981 internal video
• WITCH-E project
  • RCR #39
  • Two tonne Witch computer gets reactivated
• Raspberry Pi 2
• PiPlay
• A2SERVER, etc.
• BBC: How much is a retro-computer worth?
• Commodore 65 sold for $22,862 on eBay
• DiscoRunner BASIC interpreter
• Underworld Ascendant
• Orion Trail
• Oregon Trail movie trailer
• KansasFest 2015
• Voltera circuit board printer
• OSH Park
• Snap Circuits
• Asteroids: Outpost

Vintage Computer Commercial:

• TRS Model III

Retro Computing Gift Idea:

• New Radio Shack Robotics Starter Kit

Auction Picks:

• Carrington: Very white Apple IIc on eBay
• Carrington: Enchanter Trilogy for Apple II
• Carrington: Apple II wall mount, maybe, sorta
• Paul: Curated TRS-80 collection
• Paul: TRS-80 Model 4P, b/w screen
• Paul: TRS-80 Model 4P, green screen
• Paul: Model 100 bar code reader
• Earl: Radio Shack Tandy TRS-80 Model 1 Home Computer Includes Expansion Bay & Printer
• Ken: GoldenEye soap
• Jack: Vintage Radio Shack 150-in-1 electronics kit

Intro / Closing Song: Back to Oz by John X – link
Show audio files hosted by CyberEars

Listen/Download:

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

Panelists: Earl Evans (hosting), Ken Gagne, Paul Hagstrom, Michael Mulhern, Jack Nutting, and Carrington Vanston

Host’s Topic: Are we cheating cheaters?

Flash storage devices, Internet modems, multi-cartridges with entire software libraries, super RAM add-ons, LCD flat panels – what’s so retro about all that?

Retro Computing News:

• Alan Turing’s hidden manuscripts to be auctioned
• New CD by Tony Longworth “Have You Played Atari Today?”
• Loading BASIC onto an Altair from paper tape
• 6502 Home Computer – A homebuilt MOS 6502 based microcomputer system
• Bob Bishop’s computer — saved!
• Google’s “DeepMind” AI dominates old Atari games
• The untold story of the invention of the game cartridge
• Retrochallenge 2015/01
  • Michael Sternberg’s Structris port
  • MMPHOSIS and Apple II VBL
  • Bob Bishop, “Have an Apple Split” Softalk, Oct 1982
• TUAW closing
• OzKfest 2015
• Statisfaction, Apple II and football stats
• CoCoFest

Vintage Computer Commercial:

• John Cleese, comparing Compaq Portable II to a 22-pound fish

Retro Computing Gift Idea:

• Captain Jules’s Useless Box

Auction Picks:

• Carrington: Sealed Might & Magic II (B&W version) for Mac
• Carrington: Sealed Macwars for 128K Mac
• Paul: Macintosh Portable
• Michael: John Madden (American) Football for the Amiga
• Earl: Machine Language Monitor Cartridge for Commodore VIC-20
• Earl: Hasbro Think-a-Tron
• Ken: Virtual Boy
• Jack: Indus GT disk drive

Intro / Closing Song: Back to Oz by John X – link
Show audio files hosted by CyberEars

Listen/Download:

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed