Ed Smith, developer of the Imagination Machine

Ed Smith is an African American was born in 1954  in Brownsville Brooklyn, NY. Ed studied electrical engineering at Westinghouse High School, then computer science and marketing at Pace University.

Ed is one of only two African Americans to develop a video game system in the 1970s and the first African American to work in the design of a personal computer – The Imagination Machine.

Links Mentioned in the Show:

Intro

• Floppy Days that covered the MP1000 and IM-1 back in 2014 (episode 22) - https://floppydays.libsyn.com/floppy-days-episode-22-the-apf-imagination-machine

New Acquisitions/What I’ve Been Up To

• book - Commodore the Final Years by Brian Bagnall - https://www.amazon.com/Commodore-Final-Years-Brian-Bagnall/dp/0994031033/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&linkCode=ll1&tag=flodaypod-20&linkId=2145a99d3cb6c0a9d26dc08ee0b9394f&language=en_US 
• MagPi Magazine - https://magpi.raspberrypi.org/ 
• Pi4 8GB - https://www.raspberrypi.org/products/raspberry-pi-4-model-b/ 
• Fusion Magazine - Amiga special - https://fusiongamemag.com/collections/magazine/products/fusion-amiga 
• Current Notes magazines - collection at Archive.org - https://archive.org/details/@allan52 
• Next Without For Podcast - http://www.nextwithoutfor.org/#:~:text=Welcome%20to%20Next%20Without%20For&text=Next%20Without%20For%20is%20a,or%20(b)... 

Upcoming Shows

• July 24-25, KansasFest - https://www.kansasfest.org/ (virtual) cost $20 to register
• August 1-2, VCF West, Computer History Museum, Mountain View, CA - http://vcfed.org/wp/festivals/vintage-computer-festival-west/ - going virtual
• Aug. 20 - Aug. 23, 2020, Fujiama, Lengenfeld, Germany - http://abbuc.de/~atarixle/fuji/2020/ 
• September 12-13, VCF Midwest, Elmhurst, IL - http://vcfmw.org/ 
• October 10 - 12, VCF East, InfoAge Science Center, Wall, NJ - http://vcfed.org/wp/festivals/vintage-computer-festival-east/ NOTE: You can order a t-shirt to support the VCF events at http://vcfed.org/wp/t-shirts/ for $20 + shipping
• October 24, Chicago TI International World Faire, Evanston Public Library, Evanston, IL - http://chicagotiug.sdf.org/faire/ 
• October 30 - November 1, 2020, Tandy Assembly, Springfield, OH - http://www.tandyassembly.com/ 
• December ?, World of Commodore, Mississauga (Toronto), Ontario, Canada - https://www.tpug.ca/ - No word on the Website yet

Interview

• Ed’s Website - https://www.imaginethat2.com/ 
• article on Ed Smith, Black Enterprise, Dec. 1982 - http://books.google.com/books?id=N6pacvfrf0wC&lpg=PP1&pg=PA40#v=onepage&q&f=false
• https://www.fastcompany.com/3063298/ed-smith-and-the-imagination-machine-the-untold-story-of-a-black-vid  by Benj Edwards, Fast Company, 9/2/16
• “Imagine That!” by Ed Smith and Benj Edwards - https://www.amazon.com/Imagine-That-Americans-personal-computers-ebook/dp/B0846535TR