Retro Computing Roundtable

Panelists: Paul Hagstrom (hosting), Earl Evans, Jack Nutting, Blake Patterson, and Carrington Vanston

Topic: As Seen on TV

Retro computers, as featured in TV and movies. What shows at the time had computers in them? What shows of today has yesterday's computers in them?

Topic/Feedback links:

• Rebuilding James Bond’s Apple IIc - A Software Forgery
• Blake mentions: War Games, The Fantastic World of D.C. Collins, Whiz Kids, 2010: The Year We Make Contact, Electric Dreams, Cloak and Dagger, Weird Science, Knight Rider, Kindergarden Cop, City Slickers, Wayne's World
• The War Games IMSAI 8080
• Earl mentions: Terminator - Rise Of The Machines, Star Wreck - In The Pirkinning, UFO, Colossus: The Forbin Project
• Jack mentions: Manhunt: Unabomber
• Carrington mentions: Desk Set, Alphaville, World on a Wire, Crosstalk, The Rachel Papers, Evilspeak, Takeover, The KGB, The Computer, and Me, Triumph of the Nerds, Pirates of Silicon Valley, Computer Chess, John Wick series, Magic 2.0: Off to Be the Wizard (Scott Meyer).
• Paul mentions: Halt & Catch Fire, Stranger Things, The Americans, The Goldbergs, Young Sheldon, Schooled, Blindspot, Devs, The IT Crowd, Lost, Preacher, Timeless, Mr. Robot
• Spectrum Next unboxing video
• New C64 printed circuit boards
• Camelot dungeon game, on Cyber1 (PLATO)

Retro Computing News:

• Bill Metcalfe, BBS game developer, passed away
• Apple and Steve Jobs' Biggest Mistakes Ep 1 - The Macintosh
• GraphicConverter now opens Apple II formats
• ATR Image Explorer
• The Long View - Macintosh Y2020
• Moritz & Alexander (2019). Vintage electronics for trusted radiation measurements and verified dismantlement of nuclear weapons. PLOS ONE.
• Bubbles Whiting—Using Punch Cards
• 1970s Unbuilt Kit Computers
• Sylvain Lefebvre made a DooM-chip
• Brief Engadget write-up of DooM-chip

Upcoming shows

• VCF Southeast 8.0. July 10-12. Atlanta, GA.
• KansasFest. July 24-25. Online.
• WozFest SWEET 16. Sat Jul 25. Online.
• VCF West. August 1-2. Mountain View, CA (Computer History Museum).
• VCF East. October 10-12, 2020 (rescheduled). InfoAge. Wall, NJ.

Vintage Computer-related Commercials:

• Are you keeping up with the Commodore?

Retro Computing Gift Idea:

• UpCart Plus for C64

Auction Picks:

• Blake: Mindset Computer System
  • See also: Mindset Computer (Bytecellar)
  • Exatron Stringy Floppy Disk Drive Wafer media
• Carrington: AOL t-shirt
  • My Other Computer Is An Apple II (sticker)
  • My Other Computer Is A Commodore 64 (sticker)
  • My Other Tablet Is A Newton (sticker)
  • Radio Shack CGP-115 4-pen printer
  • Spare paper rolls for CGP-115
• Earl: MAINDEC-11-DZMMC-A-PB (PDP-8 paper tape)
  • Commodore Computer Gold Rim Shot Glass
  • NeXT shot glass
• Paul: Applesurance diagnostic disk controller
  • See also: Apple II The Review, Spring 1986 (p. 18)
  • See also: Stephen Buggie presentation (KansasFest 1996)
  • Personal Software VisiStuff
  • Tandy 1000 EX
  • DEC PDP etc. stuff
  • Martek Electronics Apple II external keyboard
  • See also: Compute! (Feb 1989)
  • See also: Computist (#74)

Closing words links:

• Clipper Summer 87 unboxing
• Home Computers: 100 Icons that Defined a Digital Generation (book, CNN Style)

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 - link
Show audio files hosted by CyberEars

Listen/Download: