Floppy Days Vintage Computing Podcast

Hello, welcome to the Floppy Days Podcast. My name is Randy Kindig and this a special interview show to help get the word out about an upcoming event: Vintage Computer Festival Midwest. This will be the tenth iteration of this event and I talk with Jason Timmons, one of the main organizers of the event. He tells us all about the event, including guest speakers that will be there, exhibits, vendors and much more. If you can make it to Chicago, IL the weekend of August 29 & 30, 2015, I highly recommend that you drop in and enjoy the show.

Links

VCF Midwest home page - http://vcfmw.org

VCF Midwest Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/events/820722747964784

VCF Midwest Twitter - https://twitter.com/vcfmidwest

ECCC home page - http://starbase.globalpc.net/eccc/

Jim Brain, Retro Innovations - http://store.go4retro.com/

GoFundMe page for show donations - http://www.gofundme.com/vcfmw10

The TRS-80 Model III and 4

On the personal computer timeline, we’re currently in the 1979 to 1980 time frame. I do apologize that this month’s topic, the TRS-80 Model III and 4, is being presented slightly out of order in that there were a couple of machines introduced a little prior to this that I plan to cover. However, as I already had this one recorded I decided to present it now rather than hold up publishing an episode just to maintain a precise order.

As usual, I have a short preamble before we get into this month’s topic, covering new acquisitions, upcoming shows, and a little bit of feedback.

I was lucky enough to get author and vintage computer collector Michael Nadeau to agree to co-host this episode with me, so this should be a fun and interesting episode.

Links Mentioned in the Show:

News

• New book from Evan Koblentz "Abacus to smartphone, The evolution of mobile and portable computers” - http://www.amazon.com/dp/1514810301/?tag=flodaypod-20, https://www.createspace.com/5596053

• Retro Computing News, Stuart Williams, Editor & Publisher - http://retrocomputingnews.com

• VCF Midwest 10 - http://vcfmw.org/ August 29-30, 2015, Elk Grove Village, IL

• Chicago TI International World Faire - http://www.chicagotiug.com/tiki-index.php?page=Faire October 31, 2015, Evanston, IL

Interview with Co-Host - Michael Nadeau

• Michael’s Classic Tech Site - https://classictech.wordpress.com/

• Collectible Microcomputers” by Michael Nadeau -http://www.amazon.com/dp/0764316001/?tag=flodaypod-20

Magazines/Newsletters

• TRS8BIT - http://trs-80.org.uk/Tandy_Page_2x.html - current magazine produced today

• 80-U.S. Journal - http://www.trs-80.org/80-us-journal/

• TRS-80 Microcomputer News - http://www.trs-80.org/trs-80-microcomputer-news/

• 80 Microcomputing/80 Micro - https://archive.org/details/80-microcomputing-magazine

Books

• “Priming the Pump: How TRS-80 Enthusiasts Helped Spark the PC Revolution” by Welsh, Theresa; Welsh, David (2011-02-23). The Seeker Books - http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004P8JNIS/?tag=flodaypod-20

Modern Upgrades

• FreHD TRS-80 Hard Drive Emulator - http://www.vecoven.com/trs80/trs80.html

• Ian Mavric’s TRS-80 Store - http://ianmav.customer.netspace.net.au/trs80/emulator

• Hi-Res Graphics Board (HRG) - Improved Grafyx HRG board - Ian Mavric (Australia) - http://ianmav.customer.netspace.net.au/hires/hires.htm

Emulation

• TRS32 - http://www.trs-80emulators.com/ - Matthew Reed's emulators, utilities, and development tools for TRS-80 Models 1/3/4. Windows and DOS

• XTRS - http://www.tim-mann.org/xtrs.html - Tim Mann’s TRS-80 Model I/III/4/4P Emulator for Unix

• SDLTRS - http://sdltrs.sourceforge.net/index.html

Current Web Sites

• Matthew Reed’s web site - http://www.trs-80.org

• Terry Stewart video of Model 4 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjkjIN1pe_A

• vwestlife video of Model 4D - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycjNyud0RMc

• TRS-80 Model 4p movie streaming Dr. Who from floppy (gp2k00) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SkfJgMuERo

• TRS-80 on Wikipedia -http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TRS-80

• Ira Goldklang's TRS-80 Revived Site - http://www.trs-80.com/wordpress/trs-80-computer-line/model-iii/

Jason Scott Presentation at VCF Southeast 3.0 in Roswell, GA, May 2, 2015.

This is the Floppy Days Podcast on vintage computing and my name is Randy Kindig. This is a special episode featuring Jason Scott of archive.org fame. Many of you will be familiar with Jason Scott and the work he does in helping to preserve media and content, including content associated with our beloved vintage computers. You may or may not be as familiar with the work also being done to emulate vintage computers and vintage gaming platforms in a browser.

On May 2, 2015 Jason Scott gave a presentation to the crowd at VCF Southeast entitled “Every Computer in Your Browser-The Internet Archive Emulated Software Collection.” Jason and the VCFSE organizers were kind enough to agree to allow me to rebroadcast this presentation on Floppy Days to help get the word out about all the great work being done to preserve our machines. Jason also had presentation material to go along with the talk that I am posting on the Floppy Days site for your enjoyment.

Jason Scott is a Free-Range Archivist at the Internet Archive (archive.org), home of the Wayback Machine and 20 petabytes of saved media and content, provided for free for all. As the software curator, he is responsible for JSMESS project and integration into the Internet Archive's seemingly-endless pile of software, making it playable. He lives in Hopewell Junction, NY, mere hundreds of feet from where the CPUs of Nintendo 64s were manufactured. Jason is also a filmmaker. He is the creator of a 2005 documentary film about BBSes, BBS: The Documentary, and a 2010 documentary film about interactive fiction, GET LAMP.

Links

Presentation material - http://imgur.com/gallery/cNX4E

Welcome to part 3 of the now 3 part episode covering the Atari 400 & 800 computers. This episode will cover Web sites, emulation, books, software, modern upgrades, connectivity to modern computers, and much more. I’m very happy to have pretty much the entire Atari 8-bit podcasting group as special guest hosts helping me cover these topics. This includes Wade from Inverse Atascii (http://inverseatascii.info/ ) , Rob of Player/Missile (http://playermissile.com/ ), Jack of RCR (http://rcrpodcast.com/ ), Kevin from Antic (http://ataripodcast.com/ ), and Brad from Antic (http://ataripodcast.com/ ). Enjoy!!

Links Mentioned in the Show:

New Acquisitions

• “Atari Player-Missile Graphics in BASIC” by Philip C. Seyer - http://www.amazon.com/Atari-player-missile-graphics-BASIC-Philip/dp/0835901122

• “All About the Commodore 64, Volume Two” by Craig Chamberlain - http://www.amazon.com/All-About-Commodore-Craig-Chamberlain/dp/0942386450

• “Inside Atari DOS” Compiled by Bill Wilkinson, OSS - http://www.amazon.com/Inside-Atari-DOS-Bill-Wilkinson/dp/0942386027

• “Presenting the Atari ST, Volume I” - http://www.amazon.com/Presenting-the-Atari-St/dp/091643933X

• “The VisiCalc Book, Atari Edition” by Donald H. Beil - http://www.amazon.com/Visicalc-Book-Donald-H-Beil/dp/0835983943

• BASIC XL for the Atari - https://atariwiki.org/wiki/Wiki.jsp?page=Basic%20XL

• Action! for the Atari - https://atariwiki.org/wiki/Wiki.jsp?page=ACTION

News

• Commodore Vegas Expo - http://www.portcommodore.com/commvex July 18-19, 2015, Plaza Hotel & Casino, 1 Main Street in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.

• 27th Annual KansasFest - http://www.kansasfest.org/ July 14 –19 in Kansas City, Missouri.

• Amiga 30th Anniversary Event https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/890300835/amiga-30th-anniversary-in-california Saturday, July 25 at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA. Kickstarter runs until April 18

• VCF Midwest 10 - http://vcfmw.org/ August 29-30, 2015, Elk Grove Village, IL

• Chicago TI International World Faire - http://www.chicagotiug.com/tiki-index.php?page=Faire October 31, 2015, Evanston, IL

• Interview transcript site (Kevin Savetz) - http://computingpioneers.com

Feedback

• “32 Basic Programs for the Apple Computer” by Tom Rugg - http://www.amazon.com/32-BASIC-programs-Apple-computer/dp/0918398347

Books

• PDFs of so many Atari 8-bit books - http://www.atarimania.com/documents-atari-atari-400-800-xl-xe--books_1_8.html

• Atari Inc. Business is Fun - http://www.amazon.com/dp/0985597402/

User Groups and Shows

• SPACE: St Paul Atari Computer Enthusiasts - http://www.spaceweb.us/wiki/Main_Page

• Circa 1994 list of user groups - http://www.atarimax.com/freenet/freenet_material/6.16and32-BitComputersSupportArea/3.ReferenceDesk/35UserGroupListing.php

• big list of newsletters from various clubs - http://mcurrent.name/magslist.html

• 400/800 debut announcement in Winter 1979 - http://mcurrent.name/atarihistory/wci_games.html

• Atari Bit Byter User Club (ABBUC) - http://www.abbuc.de/

Modern Upgrades

• Ultimate 1MB - http://www.lotharek.pl/product.php?pid=67

• 4MB Flash Megacart - http://herale.org/4MB_FLASH_MEGACART

• 8-bit stereo upgrade - http://www.lotharek.pl/product.php?pid=45

• Dragon cart - http://www.atari8ethernet.com

• Randy’s review of all the storage alternative options on Antic Episode 17 - http://ataripodcast.libsyn.com/antic-episode-17-the-atari-8-bit-podcast-holiday-special

• Side 2 - Compact Flash cartridge - http://www.lotharek.pl/product.php?pid=68

• SIO2SD - SD interface - http://www.lotharek.pl/product.php?pid=49

• MyIDEII - CF cartridge from AtariMax - http://www.atarimax.com/

Connectivity to Modern Computers

• SIO2PC (AtariMax) - http://www.atarimax.com/sio2pc/documentation/

• SIO2PC (Lotharek) - http://www.lotharek.pl/product.php?pid=98

• Contiki for Atari - http://sourceforge.net/projects/ataricc65lib/

• Contiki configurator / image download - dsk format - http://contiki.cbm8bit.com

• Wades ASP Server source for Null modem connection - http://atariage.com/forums/topic/222959-xm301-modem-to-x86-pc-for-file-transfer/?p=2959967

Emulation

• Windows: Altirra - http://www.virtualdub.org/altirra.html or Atari800 - http://atari800.sourceforge.net/

• Mac: Atari800MacX - http://www.atarimac.com/

• Linux: Atari800

• Android: Colleen

• iOS: see iOS Atari Emulation Guide at Antic site by Chris Olsen - http://ataripodcast.libsyn.com/webpage/category/IOS%20Atari%20Emulation%20Guide

• In Browser - https://archive.org/details/softwarelibrary_atari

Web Sites

• Vendors

• BEST Electronics (Brad Koda) - http://www.best-electronics-ca.com/

• B&C ComputerVisions (Bruce Carso) - http://www.myatari.com/

• Video 61 & Atari Sales (Lance Ringquist) - http://members.tcq.net/video61/index.html

• Eight-Bit Fix (Paul Westphal) - http://www.eightbitfix.com/

• Others

• AtariMania (books, magazines, software) - http://www.atarimania.com/

• AtariAge (news, forums) - http://www.atariage.com

• Archive.org - https://archive.org/

• AtariArchives (books, magazines) Kevin Savetz - http://www.atariarchives.org/

• Atari FTP Archive (software) - http://ftp.pigwa.net/

• Fandal (software) - http://a8.fandal.cz/

• Atari Museum (Curt Vendel) - http://www.atarimuseum.com/

• Bits of the Past - http://www.bitsofthepast.com/ RAM upgrades, 4-in-1 OS adapter boards

• Atari 8-bit FAQ (Michael Current) - http://faqs.cs.uu.nl/na-dir/atari-8-bit/faq.html

• Atari 8-bit FTP Search Engine (Bill Kendrick) - http://www.newbreedsoftware.com/xlsearch/

• Atari 8-bit at Reddit - http://www.reddit.com/r/atari8bit

• Atariteca (Spanish) - http://atariteca.blogspot.com/

• Atari 8-bit Forever (Bostjan Gorisek from Slovenia) - http://gury.atari8.info

• Atari.org, the Definitive Atari Resource - http://www.atari.org/

• 8-bit GUI project, The Last Word, and more (Jonathan Halliday) - http://atari8.co.uk/

• WUDSN IDE for 8-bit development (Peter Dell) - http://www.wudsn.com/index.php/ide

• USB Joystick - http://www.syzygycompany.com/store/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=50

• Atari 800 Best Game Pack - http://atari800.tistory.com/category/Download

In this special joint podcast, live from VCF Southeast 3.0, we discuss our favorite parts of the show, play a game of “Never Have I Ever”, and more!

Podcast Title: “Inverse Antic Personal Computing Floppy Maccast”

Hosts:

Antic - Randy Kindig, Kevin Savetz, Brad Arnold

Floppy Days - Randy Kindig

Inverse Atascii - Wade Ripkowski

History of Personal Computing - David Greelish

RetroMacCast - James Savage

Hi Everyone, and welcome to this special edition of The History of Floppy Days… uh, I mean, One o’clock, Two o’clock, Three o’clock Personal Computing! No, that’s not right… No… wait, it’s the combo podcast of Floppy Days AND The History of Personal Computing podcast! We’re live, here at the Vintage Computer Festival Southeast and I’m your host, David Greelish! Please join me in welcoming my co-hosts, Jeff Salzman and Randy Kindig!

We have three significant machines to discuss on this special podcast, as we’re celebrating three significant milestones in the history of personal computing this year. First, it’s the fiftieth anniversary of the DEC pdp-8, then it’s the fortieth anniversary of the Altair 8800, and lastly, it’s the thirtieth anniversary of the Commodore Amiga.

Links:

PDP-8

• Bernhard Baehr's PDP-8/E Simulator for Macintosh - http://www.bernhard-baehr.de/pdp8e/pdp8e.html

• Willem van der Mark's PDP-8/E Simulator in Java - http://www.vandermark.ch/pdp8/index.php?n=PDP8.Emulator

• A very portable simulator for PDP-8, works on virtually any modern OS - http://simh.trailing-edge.com/

• PDP-8 at Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PDP-8

Altair 8800

• “Remembering Ed Roberts” at Classic Computing - http://www.classiccomputing.com/CC/Blog/Entries/2010/10/10_Remembering_Ed_Roberts.html

• “What Both of the Big Computer Museums Forgot to Mention…” at Classic Computing - http://www.classiccomputing.com/CC/Blog/Entries/2015/2/1_Both_Big_Computer_Museums_Forgot_to_Mention....html

Podcast Links

• The History of Personal Computing podcast

• Electric Dreams BBS podcast

Welcome to the Floppy Days Podcast. My name is Randy Kindig and I’m your host. This is an interview-only episode of Floppy Days. I was recently at Vintage Computer Festival Southeast 3.0 in Roswell, GA, and I had a chance to sit down with John Linville. John is a legend in the Tandy Color Computer circles and has produced a cartridge for the CoCo containing a fun game called Fahrfall. This is an exciting development for the CoCo community and John tells us all about it.

Links

Internet Archive link, where you can play Fahrfall - https://archive.org/details/softwarelibrary_coco_fahrfall

Fahrfall blog - http://fahrfall.blogspot.com/

John’s Other Blogs - http://vdgtricks.blogspot.com/, http://retrotinker.blogspot.com/

Most up-to-date Fahrfall gameplay video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gc3iKXOxUH8

Welcome to part 2 of the now 3 part episode covering the Atari 400 & 800 computers. This episode will cover Web sites, emulation, books, software, magazines, tech specs, and much more. I’m very happy to have pretty much the entire Atari 8-bit podcasting group as special guest hosts helping me cover these topics. This includes Wade from Inverse Atascii, Rob of Player/Missile, Jack of RCR, Kevin from Antic, and Brad from Antic. We also have memories from Bill of Antic. Enjoy!!

Links Mentioned in the Show:

New Acquisitions

• MCX-128 for MC-10 (YouTube, FozzTexx) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bW5d5C2F-88

• CoCo List - [email protected]

• “Z80 Microcomputer Handbook” by William Barden, Jr. - http://www.amazon.com/Z-80-Microcomputer-Handbook-William-Barden/dp/0672215004

• Juiced.GS (Quarterly Apple II Journal) - https://juiced.gs/

• “Fundamentals of TI-99/4A Assembly Language” by M.S. Morley - http://www.amazon.com/Fundamentals-TI-99-4A-assembly-language/dp/0830617221

News

• Fahrfall - new cartridge game developed for the CoCo by John Linville - http://fahrfall.blogspot.com/ , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0k5do3j7eb4

• VCF SE 3.0 - http://www.vintage.org/2015/southeast/ - Saturday, May 2 & Sunday, May 3, 2015 Kings Market Shopping Center, Roswell, Georgia

• Commodore Vegas Expo - http://www.portcommodore.com/commvex July 18-19, 2015, Plaza Hotel & Casino, 1 Main Street in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.

• 27th Annual KansasFest - http://www.kansasfest.org/ July 14 –19 in Kansas City, Missouri.

• Amiga 30th Anniversary Event https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/890300835/amiga-30th-anniversary-in-california Saturday, July 25 at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA. Kickstarter runs until April 18

• VCF Midwest 10 - http://vcfmw.org/ August 29-30, 2015, Elk Grove Village, IL

• Chicago TI International World Faire - http://www.chicagotiug.com/tiki-index.php?page=Faire October 31, 2015, Evanston, IL

Feedback

• Rama operating his computer (YouTube) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPR76sWm8U8

• Andy Collins blog - www.randomorbit.co.uk

Peripherals

• Cassette Specs/Usage - http://www.atariarchives.org/dere/chaptC.php

• SIO Specs - http://www.atarimax.com/jindroush.atari.org/asio.html

• Disk Specs - http://www.atarimax.com/ape/docs/DiskImageFAQ/

Magazines

• Atari User - http://atariuser.com/portal/

• AtariMagazines.com - http://atarimagazines.com

• for more, see http://playermissile.com/magazines.html

Hello, welcome to the Floppy Days Podcast. My name is Randy Kindig and this a special interview show to help get the word out about an upcoming event: Vintage Computer Festival Southeast. This will be the third iteration of this event and I talk with Earl Baugh, of the Atlanta Historical Computing Society. He tells us all about the event, including special guest speakers that will be there, exhibits, gaming areas, a workshop where you can learn to solder and much more. If you can make it to Roswell, Georgia, the weekend of May 2 & 3, 2015, I highly recommend that you drop in and enjoy the show.

Links

VCF East 3.0 - http://www.vintage.org/2015/southeast/

Kickstarter - https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/20859909/help-fund-the-vintage-computer-festival-southeast-0

Hello, welcome to Floppy Days Episode #34. This is a special bonus episode and the topic of this show is the upcoming (as of this podcast) 2015 24th Annual "Last" Chicago CoCoFest on April 25 & 26 at the Heron Point Convention Center in Lombard, IL. I interview Bob Swoger, secretary of the Glenside Computer Club, which sponsors the show. He talks all about the show and he gives the scoop about what you can expect to see there. Although the intent of this episode was to primarily cover the CoCoFest, it turns out that Bob has a very interesting and storied history with vintage computers.

One final note: The "Man from Canada" mentioned by Bob several times is Markus Blumrich of Grandora, SK, Canada.

I hope you enjoy it.

Links:

Glenside Computer Club - http://ncmedals.com/glenside/index.htm

Cloud9, Cool Stuff for Your CoCo - http://www.cloud9tech.com/

CoCoList for Color Computer Enthusiasts - http://five.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/coco

LogiCall - http://ncmedals.com/glenside/LogiCall.html

Vintage Computer Festival Midwest 6.0 2011 LogiCall (video) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-R4UfU9_Cw

Casey’s Restaurant & Bar - http://www.caseysrestaurant.com/home.aspx