Panelists: Paul Hagstrom (hosting), Quinn Dunki, Earl Evans, and Carrington Vanston

Topic: Fortran, for better or for worse

The year 1954 brought us Fortran (not named after the year though) to help us with our math, and development of SAGE to scan the skies for threats.

Topic/Feedback links:

• IBM 650
• Drum memory
• Wurlizter SideMan (not 1954, but related via tangent)
• SAGE (Gizmodo)
• SAGE (Wikipedia)
• Fortran
• Fortran 2018, 202x

Retro Computing News:

• system7.app
• macos8.app
• Tech details for system7.app, macos8.app
• Return to Monkey Island
• ACM opens first-50-years backfile
• Game of pong in a single sprite
• Sprite pong video
• SWTPC 6800 rescue
• SWTPC 6800 fan site
• ADB makes fun of the IIGS manual
• University of Saskatchewan self guided computer history tour
• A2stream, audio server
• A2stream demo
• AppleWin with Uthernet II
• a2stream file for this very episode: http://yesterbits.com/media/a2s/rcr254.a2stream

Vintage Computer(-related) commercials etc.:

• IBM SAGE (1960)

Retro Computing Gift Idea:

• Atari sneakers
• See also: Atari NFT sneakers

Auction Picks:

• Carrington:
  • Apple Credit salesperson’s kit
  • Apple branded radio lunchbag
• Earl:
  • MMD-1 8080A Trainer
  • See also: MMD-1 (Oldcomputermuseum)
• Paul:
  • Funniest CD of the century
  • The drive of a new generation
  • USB evangelism mouse
  • Companion diskette
  • Astra 1620 dual drive for Atari
  • VM 4209

A2Stream file:

• a2stream file for this episode: http://yesterbits.com/media/a2s/rcr254.a2stream

Feedback/Discussion:

• @rcrpodcast on Twitter
• Vintage Computer Forum
• RCR Podcast on Facebook
• Throwback Network
• Throwback Network on Facebook

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

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

Panelists: Paul Hagstrom (hosting), Earl Evans, Michael Mulhern, and Carrington Vanston

Topic: Prebricked drives

Episode 253 relates to 1953. Core memory begins its long dominance of the RAM space, the IBM 701 is introduced. A year that was kind of between things, so as one might expect the conversation keeps sliding into a discussion of beverages.

Topic/Feedback links:

• Magnetic core memory
• Advent of Computing, episode 77
• The Thinking Machine (1961)
• IBM 701
• Williams tube
• Jeffries tube
• Exploring the Amiga series, assembly language programming
• Brief tour of the PDP-11
• Top 20 C64 games from 2011-2021
• Commodore 64 turns 40

Retro Computing News:

• SystemSix desk calendar
• SWTPC 6800 rescued (Adrian’s Digital Basement)
• Jobs for the boys?
• The ultimate multics project
• A quarter century of Unix. Peter Sallas. 1994 Addison-Wesley
• The evolution of the Unix time sharing system
• Compatible time sharing system
• Incompatible time sharing system
• Easter Egg found in Windows 1.0.
• Mariupol Computer Museum in Ukraine
• Club it8bit
• A Brick for Some Bytes: My First Hard Drive (Byte Cellar)
• One of the Biggest Frauds in Tech History – The Miniscribe Brick Fiasco (Tech Time Traveler)

Vintage Computer(-related) commercials etc.:

• Tab

Retro Computing Gift Idea:

• The Art of Point and Click Adventure Games

Auction Picks:

• Carrington:
  • MCM/70
  • About the MCM/70
• Earl:
  • IBM Core Memory
  • See also: Core memory shield for Arduino
• Michael:
  • RCA Selectron 256bit
  • See also: Selectron tube
• Paul:
  • QuickLetter
  • Murder Party
  • CA Simply Tax 1993
  • eMate pin

Feedback/Discussion:

• @rcrpodcast on Twitter
• Vintage Computer Forum
• RCR Podcast on Facebook
• Throwback Network
• Throwback Network on Facebook

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

Listen/Download:

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

Panelists: Paul Hagstrom (hosting), Quinn Dunki, and Carrington Vanston

Topic: UNIVAC liked Ike

Episode 252 relates to 1952. The year when UNIVAC correctly called the election early and nobody believed it. The year the paper introducing the Huffman code compression algorithm was published. And the 50th anniversary of all the things that happened in 1902.

Topic/Feedback links:

• UNIVAC predicts the 1952 election
• CBS news election coverage, 1952
• A method for the constructions of minimum-redundancy codes (Sep 1952, Proceedings of the I.R.E.)
• The Huffman algorithm, and family
• Stuffit end of life announcement
• Mac Folklore Radio, Raymond Lau (Stuffit) interviews
• RetroMagazine World, issue 13 (EN)
• David Ahl’s magazine auctions, some signed
• The Capacitor Plague
• The Lost Sectors, playthrough of Deathlord

Retro Computing News:

• Monmouth College typewriter class
• TubeTime’s QuadLink repair and reverse engineering project
• Apple patenting the home computer?
• The Amiga Show
• Apple II video to HDMI using Raspberry Pi Zero/Pico
• Teardown of a Minitel terminal

Vintage Computer(-related) commercials etc.:

• Remington Quiet-riter

Retro Computing Gift Idea:

• The Colouring Book of Retro Computers
• Highlighters for reproducing yellowing

Auction Picks:

• Carrington:
  • Computer Bug
  • 1990s Tech Stock Bubble in a can
• Paul:
  • Woz near Steve Jobs
  • Tim Cook near Steve Jobs
  • Steve Jobs Rare
  • Just Stuffit World Tour shirt
  • AutoDoubler
  • PKZIP 2.70
  • Multiputer

Feedback/Discussion:

• @rcrpodcast on Twitter
• Vintage Computer Forum
• RCR Podcast on Facebook
• Throwback Network
• Throwback Network on Facebook

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

Listen/Download:

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed