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

Host’s Topic: The Way We Weren’t

Things didn’t have to be the way they are. We pick a handful of turning points (hardware, software, business decision, etc.) and imagine they did not happen, or happened differently. What kind of alternative computing future could we have found ourselves in instead?

Retro Computing News:

• The search for the lost Cray supercomputer OS
  • Chris Fenton
  • Andras Tantos
• FreHD: TRS-80 virtual hard drive
  • Ian Mavric’s YouTube videos
  • Ian Mavric’s Site (where to order)
  • Mark Blair’s Model 4 ROM adapter for auto boot ROMs
  • Tezza’s collection of TRS-80 disk images
• Apple II vs. Commodore 64 chess match
• Retro UK cinema fest:
  • Micro Men (BBC 2009)
  • Computerphile on BBC Micro
  • Computerphile on Elite
  • Podfather (BBC 2009)
  • From Bedrooms to Billions
• Complete Historically Brewed ebook discounted
• Steve Jobs: “OpenDoc is Dead”
• Mac30th Celebration
• Sinclair’s 1984 big shot at business
• 8-bit harmonica
• Michael’s 2014 Winter Warmup

Vintage Computer Commercial:

• Sega SC3000

Retro Computing Gift Idea:

• Retro computer wrapping paper

Auction Picks:

• Carrington: Apple II cables from Digi4D
• Paul: TRS-80 pocket computer
  • Alt: IMSAI 8080
• Earl: MiST: Amiga/Atari ST FPGA clone
• Myles: Huge Apple/Mac computer collection
• Michael: iMac clock (You can never have too many clocks)

Intro / Closing Song: Back to Oz by John X – link
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Panelists: Carrington Vanston (hosting), Paul Hagstrom and Earl Evans

Host’s Topic: New guts, same glory?

Would you be happy to own/use a “vintage” computer where the insides had been replaced with modern tech that 100% emulates/replicates the original experience? And what happens when the day comes that you can 3D-print a retro computer indistinguishable from the original? Our panelists discuss whether retro computing beauty is only skin deep.

Retro Computing News:

• Atari Styled USB Joystick
• Pictures of Apple’s first employees
• World of Commodore 2013
• Programming the UniDisk 3.5 as a co-processor
• Chris Crawford wants to fix video games
• Acorn Learning Curve setup video
• Winter Warmup IP Telecomputer update

Vintage Computer Commercial:

• Acorn Learning Curve

Retro Computing Gift Idea:

• Digi-Comp II: First Edition (recration)
  • Giant Digi-Comp II
  • Digi-Comp I replica kit
  • Digi-Comp I emulator

Auction Picks:

• Carrington: Apple IIc, new in box
• Paul: Commodore SX-64
  • Alt: Another Commodore SX-64
• Earl: Sinclair ZX80

Intro / Closing Song: Back to Oz by John X – link
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Panelists: Earl Evans (hosting), Paul Hagstrom, and Carrington Vanston

RCR Holiday Give-Away Contest
Enter now for a chance to win Sophistication & Simplicity
by Steven Weyhrich.

Topics:

• Host Topic: Our favourite modern-day add-ons for vintage computers
• Christmas Bytes Festival: Dec 27-31, 2013
• A Computer’s Carol by James Houston
• Bletchley Park podcast
• Homebrew Computer Club 2013 Reunion video
• Vintage computer meetings starting in Switzerland
• N8VEM single-board computer
• Raising the CDC 6500 from the dead
• Vintage System Software Developer job opening
• Richard Garriott goes through old notebooks
• The Spoony Experiment
• Floppy Days podcast
• CoCo: The Colorful History of Tandy’s Underdog Computer
• The Tano Dragon (quite similar to the CoCo), new in box at CA Digital
• Introducing a Mac Plus to the Web
• The U.S. federal agency that still uses floppy disks
• Modernizing power supplies:
  • Apple III power supply auction
  • Littlepower
  • IIGS PS replacement

Vintage Computer Commercial:

• 1998 DEC Digital Equipment Corp Notebook Computer Commercial

Retro Computing Gift Idea:

• Men’s Barcode scan UPC Code cloth tie

Auction Picks:

• Carrington: Acorn BBC Model B with DataCentre
  • Related: RetroClinic DataCentre
• Paul: Commodore 64 incredible music keyboard
• Earl: Atari 800 macro assembler and text editor

Intro / Closing Song: Back to Oz by John X – link
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Panelists: Carrington Vanston (hosting), Earl Evans, and Paul Hagstrom

Topics:

• Host Topic: Wibbly-Wobbly Timey-Wimey Stealy-Wheely. If you could go back and time and bring forward something you used to have, what retro goody would you snatch away from your younger self to have today?
• 1997 DEC retrospective on VAX and VMS
• Briel Computers’ Replica 1 ten available for pre-order
• Nishida Radio:
  • UNISDISK
  • Component video card for Apple IIe
  • RGB component video adapter for Apple IIgs
  • NISHIPPLE: Apple II compatible logic board
  • Lots of other Apple II goodies
• Plamen Vaiselov:
  • Disk II
  • Mockingboard
  • ZX-80 Kit
• BootZero’s HDDD A2 3.5 drive Disk II emulator
• The Art of Selling a Speccy Game
• Kickstarter: Slightly Magic 8bit Legacy Edition
• 2014 Winter Warmup Retrochallenge
• IXO Telecomputer:
  • Byte 1982 editorial: “A revolution in your pocket”
  • Inc. 1982 write-up: “Toying with computers”
  • Inc. 1983: “The revolution has been postponed”
• Merlin simulator
• Lamb Chops!, new Apple II game by Brian Picci
• Brian Picci’s other games
• JSMESS: the endgame

Vintage Computer Commercial:

• BBC Micro: the story of Daphne

Retro Computing Gift Idea:

• Sophistication & Simplicity: The Life and Times of the Apple II Computer by Steven Weyhrich

Auction Picks:

• Carrington: 1986 Ziggy Christmas Card Disk
• Earl: TRS-80 Color Computer serial number 1
• Paul: Very complete Model 100 set
  • Alt: Kaypro II, cheap start, good shape
  • Alt: PX-8 with multi-unit
  • Alt: Anderson Jacobson acoustic coupler
  • Alt: Nixdorf LK-3000

Intro / Closing Song: Back to Oz by John X – link
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Panelists: Earl Evans (hosting) and Carrington Vanston

Topics:

• Host Topic: The Cycle of Retrocomputing
• Homebrew Computer Club reuinion
• Ultimate unboxing video: ICT 1905E mainframe, circa 1970s
• Ken Gagne’s unboxing videos:
  • Wii U
  • PS4
  • XBox One
• Sophistication & Simplicity by Dr. Steven Weyhrich
• Forrest Mims interview
• The Amp Hour podcast
• Javascript classic Mac emulator based on PCE
• Apple II DOS source code released, with Apple’s permission
• Google BBS Terminal
• Sealed Apple IIc that just can’t sell
• World of Commodore: Toronto, Dec 7, 2013
• The Secret Weapons of Commodore
• Earl Evans book announcement: Back For A Bit

Vintage Computer Commercial:

• Bill Cosby for TI99: This is the One

Retro Computing Gift Idea:

• HTML Tag Necklace

Auction Picks:

• Carrington: Apple Museum for sale
• Earl: Laser 128

Intro / Closing Song: Back to Oz by John X – link
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Panelists: Carrington Vanston (hosting) and Earl Evans

Topics:

• Host topic: Did going digital inevitably lead to a short-term-data culture?
• Learning Forth on the Atari 8-bit systems
• Mad Dog: 8-bit(-ish) online horror adventure game
• Commodore 128D Gamma Ray Spectrometer
• Cyan (Myst): Writing The Next Age

Vintage Computer Commercials:

• SinClair ZX Spectrum James Bond 007 Special Edition

Retro Computing Gift Idea:

• Activision Patches

Auction Picks:

• Earl: Hexamatic/16 hex to decimal conversion tool
• Carrington: Gremlins 2: The New Batch for Amstrad 464
  • Alt: Personal Software version of Zork

Intro / Closing Song: Back to Oz by John X – link
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Panelists: Earl Evans, Dr. Steven Weyhrich and Carrington Vanston

Topics:

• Host topic: How does today’s “Maker” movement compare to the computing in the 70s & 80s
• Cloudpaint: online MacPaint simulation
• ANTIC podcast interview with Chris Crawford
• Homebrew Computer Club Reunion Kickstarter
• JSMESS: Run old computer emulations in a browser
• Centre for Computing History slideshow
• Vintage Computer Festival East 9.1
• CommVex V9 on Blip.tv

Vintage Computer Commercials:

• Radio Shack is Christmas HQ

Retro Computing Gift Idea:

• NeoPixel Ring
• GEMMA: Miniature wearable electronic platform

Auction Picks:

• Steve: 1950’S IBM SAGE computer history film
• Earl: Vintage Road Warrior Telecoupler
• Carrington: Full Throttle for PPC Mac (sealed)
  • Alt: Spectre VR for 68K Mac

Intro / Closing Song: Back to Oz by John X – link
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Panelists: Earl Evans and Carrington Vanston

Topics:

• Host topic: Collecting to have vs. collecting to use.
• Blazin’ Forth for the C64
• Wayne Green (1922-2013)
  • Jason Scott tweets about Wayne Green
• Linotype: The Film
• Atari 7800 Expansion Module
  • Status Page
• Audio from listener David Wilson: is Retrocomputing a fad?
• How to make a BBC Micro work in North America

Vintage Computer Commercials:

• Atari 400 brings the Computer Age home

Retro Computing Gift Idea:

• The Three Fives Kit (555 timer IC model)

Auction Picks:

• Earl: Macintosh SE 1mb RAM Two 800k Drives
• Carrington: “Big box” original Wasteland for Apple II

Intro / Closing Song: Back to Oz by John X – link
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Panelists: Earl Evans and Carrington Vanston

Topics:

• Host’s topic: What can we learn from old computers?
• The interseller 8-track player
• Commodore 8bit Search adds Amiga search
• Apple’s “Twiggy Mac” comes back to life
• New items from www.s100computers.com
• New run of CFFA3000 cards announced
• DXForth 4.00 for CP/M
• Code Academy
• The C64 vs Apple II chess match discussion
• Ken Shirriff’s blog

Upcoming Retrocomputing Events:

• VCF Midwest 8.0, Sept 28-29, 2013, Lombard, IL, USA
• Retropalooza, Sept 28, 2013, Arlington, TX USA
• VCFe 14.0 Oct 5-6, Winterthur, CH
• Portland Retro Gaming Expo Oct 5-6, Portland, OR
• DEC Legacy 2013, October 19th/20th, Marchesi Centre, Windermere, UK
• Syntax DemoParty, November 9-10, 2013, North Melbourne, Australia

Vintage Computer Commercial:

• Are you keeping up with the Commodore?

Retro Computing Gift Idea:

• Gift card for Amazon

Auction Picks:

• Earl: NIB Vintage Microsoft MacEnhancer For Apple Macintosh
• Carrington: Quadra 605 with printer
  • Alt: 1979 Challenger

Intro / Closing Song: Back to Oz by John X – link
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Panelists: Earl Evans and Carrington Vanston

Topics:

• Host topic: Get Off My Lawn tech that bugged us even back then.
• Digital Den to preserve and exhibit vintage computers
  • Indigogo campaign
  • Cambridge museum aims to preserve digital history
• KansasFest attendees feature on ComputerWorld
• GOG.com and the challenges of retro PC gaming
• The itty bitty Mac
• Manson H. Whitlock, typewriter repairman, dies at 96
• Polybius song by Julian Corrie
  • Polybius urban legend

Upcoming Events

• VCF Midwest 8.0, Sept 28-29, 2013, Lombard, IL, USA
• Retropalooza, Sept 28, 2013, Arlington, TX USA
• VCFe 14.0 Oct 5-6, Winterthur, CH
• DEC Legacy 2013, October 19th/20th, Marchesi Centre, Windermere, UK

Vintage Computer Commercials:

• Rasputin for ZX

Retro Computing Gift Idea:

• The Xronos alarm clock

Auction Picks:

• Earl: Commodore CBM PET Model 8032
• Carrington: Deja Vu II: Lost in Las Vegas for Apple IIgs

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

Listen/Download:

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