Floppy Days Episode 128 - Paul Terrell - Exidy Part 1

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Sponsors:

• 8-Bit Classics 

• Arcade Shopper  

Hello, and welcome to episode 128 for July, 2023 of the Floppy Days Podcast, with your host, Randy Kindig!

If you’re a regular listener, you’ll know that we’re in the middle of a series of episodes where we talk with 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 one of the first personal computer retail stores 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.  The first segment (last month’s episode) was a sort of overview before Paul’s time being involved with Exidy and the Exidy Sorcerer computer.  This segment is part 1 of 2 focusing directly on Exidy and the Sorcerer.  You’ll hear how the Sorcerer came about, hear Paul’s insight into why certain design decisions were made, and what mistakes were made.  The Sorcerer was truly an early, important machine, and had impressive features for the timeframe that it came out.  If you want to hear additional information about the Sorcerer and about Exidy, there are 2 other Floppy Days Podcasts you’ll want to listen to:

• Episode 17, where the Sorcerer is covered in detail - https://floppydays.libsyn.com/floppy-days-episode-17-the-exidy-sorcerer-live-from-vcfse-20 

• Episode 114, which features an interview with Howell Ivy.  Howell was the principal designer of the Sorcerer and recollects his time at Exidy. - https://floppydays.libsyn.com/floppy-days-114-howell-ivy-exidy-sorcerer-and-exidy 

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 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 Paul Terrel series in general, and this episode should give you a nice perspective on his involvement with Exidy and the Sorcerer!

Upcoming Shows

• Vintage Computer Festival West 2023 - August 4 & 5 - Computer History Museum, Mountain View, CA - https://vcfed.org/events/vintage-computer-festival-west/ 

• 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 

• The Interim Computer Festival - Oct. 7-8 - Seattle, WA - https://sdf.org/icf/ 

• 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 Terrell 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