Floppy Days 127 - James Shackel Estate Haul and Paul Terrell Intro Interview

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/FloppyDays

Sponsors:

• 8-Bit Classics 

• Arcade Shopper  

Hello, and welcome to episode 127 for June, 2023 of the Floppy Days Podcast, with your host, yours truly, Randy Kindig!

I doubt there are few listeners who don’t know the name Paul Terrell.  Paul has been credited with essentially jump-starting the personal computer industry in many ways, not the least of which was by buying the original Apple I computer from the just-getting-started Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak and selling it in his equally-famous computer store, The Byte Shop.  This was the first personal computer retail store in existence.  Paul was also a member of the legendary Homebrew Computer Club and attended the West Coast Computer Faire.  He was involved in the development of both the Exidy Sorcerer and BYT-8 computers and he later went on to start ComputerMania Inc. which was a chain of computer stores created with the purpose of renting computers and software.

This guy has had an amazing career and I am truly honored to be able to bring you a series of interviews with Paul for the podcast.  Paul and I will be covering his entire career, from his early beginnings, thru the Byte Shop years and his time with the nascent Apple Computer, and beyond.  This first segment is a sort of overview leading up to Paul’s time involved with Exidy and the Exidy Sorcerer computer.  You’ll hear a small bit about Bill Gates, the early Micro-soft, the Byte Shop, the early Apple, the Homebrew Computer Club, the West Coast Computer Faire and a whole lot more.  Later episodes will be focused primarily on a single topic, such as the Sorcerer, the Byte Shop, etc.

Paul first contacted me after the interview I had with Howell Ivy and Howell’s involvement and remembrances of the Exidy Sorcerer.  He really liked Howell’s interview and wanted to add a few details and give his perspective on the Sorcerer.  As we talked further, Paul decided he would really really like to be able to talk about his incredible career in its entirety, more than just the time with Exidy, and I of course was ecstatic that he decided my humble podcast could be a good medium for that.

I really hope you enjoy the series in general, and this short episode should give you a taste of the things to come!

What I’ve Been Up To and New Acquisitions

• Console5 (cap kit for Osborne) - http://www.console5.com 

• “The Commodore Room” YouTube Channel - https://www.youtube.com/@thecommodoreroom4554 

Upcoming Shows

• Kickstart Amiga UK Expo - July 1-2 - Nottingham, UK - https://www.amigashow.com/ 

• KansasFest, the largest and longest running annual Apple II conference - July 18-23, 2023 (in-person) - July 29–30, 2023 (virtual) - Rockhurst University in Kansas City, Missouri - https://www.kansasfest.org/ 

• Southern Fried Gaming Expo and VCF Southeast - July 28-30 2023 - Atlanta, GA - https://gameatl.com/ 

• Atari Buy/Sell/Swap/Trade Event - August 5th 10am-2pm - 15 miles SE of Charlotte, NC - https://forums.atariage.com/topic/352517-atari-buysellswaptrade-event-august-5th-10am-2pm-15-miles-se-of-charlotte-nc/ 

• ZZAP! Live 2023 - August 12 - The Holiday Inn, Kenilworth, CV8 1ED - https://fusionretroevents.co.uk/category/zzap-live/ 

• Silly Venture SE (Summer Edition) - Aug. 17-20 - Gdansk, Poland - https://www.demoparty.net/silly-venture/silly-venture-2023-se 

• Fujiama 2023 - Aug. 30 - Sep. 3 - Lengenfeld, Germany - http://atarixle.ddns.net/fuji/2023/ 

• VCF Midwest - September 9-10 - Waterford Banquets and Conference Center, Elmhurst, IL - http://vcfmw.org/ 

• Tandy Assembly - Sep. 29-Oct. 1 - Courtyard by Marriott in Springfield, Ohio - http://www.tandyassembly.com/ 

• Amiga38 Germany - Oct. 6-7 - Das Rote Krokodil - Kunstwerk Mönchengladbach - https://amigaevent.de/WB.html 

• AmiWest - October 14-15 - Sacramento, CA - https://retro.directory/browse/events/4/AmiWest.net 

• Portland Retro Gaming Expo - October 13-15, 2023 - Oregon Convention Center, Portland, OR - https://retrogamingexpo.com/ 

• Chicago TI International World Faire - October 14, 2023 - Evanston Public Library, Evanston, IL - http://chicagotiug.sdf.org/faire/  

• World of Commodore - Dec. 2-3, 2023 - Admiral Inn Mississauga, Mississauga, ON - http://www.worldofcommodore.ca/ 

• http://chiclassiccomp.org/events.html 

• Facebook show schedule - https://www.facebook.com/VintageComputerShows/ 

Paul Terrel Interview

• Paul on LinkedIN - https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-terrell-2441a17/details/experience/ 

• Paul on Facebook -  https://www.facebook.com/paul.terrell.92/ 

• Paul at WikiPedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Terrell 

• Interview with Paul at NextShark - https://nextshark.com/paul-terrell-apple 

• “Today in Apple history: The Byte Shop, Apple’s first retailer, opens” by Cult of Mac - https://www.cultofmac.com/457420/byte-shop-opens-tiah/ 

• “The Man Who Jump-Started Apple by Harry McCracken”, August 23, 2007, PC World - https://web.archive.org/web/20110511184229/http://blogs.pcworld.com/techlog/archives/005240.html