Floppy Days Vintage Computing Podcast

FLOPPY DAYS 159 - The KayPro - Part 3 With Matt Jones

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

Sponsors:

• 8-Bit Classics

• Arcade Shopper and https://thekeep.net

• FutureVision Research

• Tuc's Workbench

Hello, and welcome to episode 159 of the Floppy Days Podcast for January, 2026. I'm Randy Kindig, your host. We are currently covering computers introduced in the year 1982 and, to that end, we are currently in the middle of a series of podcasts about the Kaypro line of computers. Kaypro had a rich and varied family of computers; certainly much more so than I ever realized. I was able to interview David Kay, son of the founder of KayPro, and president of the company for some time, in the previous two episodes. This month we'll delve into history, tech specs, and more, through the topic of using the machine. Next month we'll complete the series by starting with books and magazines and ending with current Web sites and a lot more content in between.

I will have a video version of this episode posted to the Floppy Days Podcast channel on YouTube.

You will hear ads from some great vintage computer stores, themselves vintage computer fans, throughout the early part of this podcast. For all of these storefronts, when you place an order, please mention Floppy Days in the notes or comments of the order. Doing so will help support the podcast. Many thanks!!

I also wanted to mention those listeners who appreciate the show enough to donate through patreon.com. I really appreciate you guys and it helps offset the cost of running the podcast.

Regarding that, I've created some tiers for paid members and have come up with some ways to reward those who are generous enough to monetarily support the Floppy Days Podcast on Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/FloppyDays ), such as early access to videos of interviews like the one being brought to you in audio form in this episode. Visit Patreon to see more details concerning the rewards for supporters .

I just want to say that it is my intention to always make all content available to everyone at no cost, while at the same time providing some benefits for those generous enough to support the podcast. I hope you agree I've come up with a good compromise

Please let me know your thoughts. Enjoy!!

New Acquisitions

• C64 Ultimate - https://www.commodore.net

• Smith Corona Ultrasonic 450 Typewriter and Messenger Module - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTcWEU2UPgM

News

• Interview with Stewart Cheifet for Floppy Days back in 2017 - https://floppydays.libsyn.com/floppy-days-78-interview-with-stewart-chefeit-computer-chronicles

Upcoming Vintage Computer Shows

• Vintage Computer Festival Montreal - Jan. 24-25, 2026 - Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, QC - https://vcfed.org/vcf-montreal/

• Tandy Retro Show 2026 - Jan. 24-25 - virtual - tandyretroshow.com

• Vintage Electronics Expo - Jan. 31, 2026 - Oakland Expo Center, Waterford, MI - https://www.thevee.org/

• Vintage Computer Festival SoCal - February 14-15, 2026 - Hotel Fera Events Center, Orange, CA - vcfsocal.com

• Indy Classic Computer and Video Game Expo - March 20-22 - Wyndham Indianapolis Airport Hotel, Indianapolis, IN - https://indyclassic.org/

• VCF East - April 17-19 2026 - InfoAge Science and History Museums, Wall, NJ - https://vcfed.org/events/vintage-computer-festival-east/

• Midwest Gaming Classic - April 24-26 - Baird Center, Milwaukee, WI - https://www.midwestgamingclassic.com/

• The Annual "Last" Chicago CoCoFEST! - April 24-25, 2026 - Holiday Inn & Suites Chicago-Carol Stream (Wheaton), Carol Stream, Illinois - https://www.glensideccc.com/cocofest/

• Commodore Los Angeles Super Show 2026 - April 25-26 - Burbank, CA - http://www.portcommodore.com/class

• VCF Europe - May 1-3 - Munich, Germany - https://vcfe.org/E/

• Vintage Computer Festival Pacific Northwest 2026 - May 2-3 - Tukwila Community Center, South Tukwila, WA - https://vcfpnw.org

• VCF Southwest - May 29-31, 2026 - Westin Dallas Ft. Worth Airport - https://www.vcfsw.org/

• Retrofest 2026 - May 30-31 - Steam Museum of the Great Western Railway, Swindon, UK - https://retrofest.uk/

• Schedule Published on Floppy Days Website - https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vSeLsg4hf5KZKtpxwUQgacCIsqeIdQeZniq3yE881wOCCYskpLVs5OO1PZLqRRF2t5fUUiaKByqQrgA/pub

References

• Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaypro

• KayPro (CP/M) information at retrocmp.de - https://retrocmp.de/kaypro

• KayPro Journal - http://kayprojournal.com

FLOPPY DAYS 158 - Interview with David Kay, KayPro - Part 2

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

Sponsors:

• 8-Bit Classics

• Arcade Shopper and https://thekeep.net

• FutureVision Research

• Tuc's Workbench

Hello, and welcome to episode 158 of the Floppy Days Podcast for December, 2025. I'm Randy Kindig, your host. We are currently covering computers introduced in the year 1982 and, to that end, this month I'm beginning a series of podcasts about the Kaypro line of computers. Kaypro had a rich and varied family of computers; certainly much more so than I ever realized. In researching Kaypro, I discovered that while Andrew Kay, the founder of the computer company, was no longer around, it turns out his son David, who ran the company for some time, was still around. I was able to contact David and he graciously agreed to talk with us for the podcast. Kaypro has a very interesting storyline and I hope you enjoy this. We talked so long that I decided to break the interview into 2 parts, so you'll hear part 2 this month, and part 1 was last month. Following that, we'll delve into episodes covering history, tech specs, etc. on the Kaypro. All the usual topics. It looks as though I'll have 2 episodes covering those topics.

I will have a video for this posted to the Floppy Days Podcast on YouTube. One note here. This is one of the last videos where I used a videoconferencing tool that just didn't do a great job. It has a tendency to not keep up with video and you may note that the mouth doesn't stay in sync with the audio sometimes during the interview. In addition, audio-wise, you may hear some low clicks throughout the interview. I've since switched to Zoom and it seems to do a better job of audio and video quality, albeit more expensive. In the meantime, friend of the show Brian Cox offered to improve the audio quality using some high-end tools he had, and thanks to him, you benefit from his work. Hopefully, the clicks are gone and the sound from both David Kay and myself is better for the interview section. Thanks, Brian!

You will hear ads from some great vintage computer stores, themselves vintage computer fans, throughout the early part of this podcast. For all of these storefronts, when you place an order, please mention Floppy Days in the notes or comments of the order. Doing so will help support the podcast. Many thanks!!

I also wanted to mention those listeners who appreciate the show enough to donate through patreon.com. I really appreciate you guys and it helps offset the cost of running the podcast.

Regarding that, I've created some tiers for paid members and have come up with some ways to reward those who are generous enough to monetarily support the Floppy Days Podcast on Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/FloppyDays ), such as early access to videos of interviews like the being brought to you in audio form in this episode. Visit Patreon to see more details concerning the rewards for supporters .

I just want to say that it is my intention to always make all content available to everyone at no cost, while at the same time providing some benefits for those generous enough to support the podcast. I hope you agree I've come up with a good compromise

Please let me know your thoughts. Enjoy!!

What I've Been Up To

• Byte 50th Anniversary Event - https://www.facebook.com/events/853596483843378

• Byte 50th Anniversary tribute mini-podcast on the Floppy Days YouTube channel - ​​https://youtu.be/ANR1fYicwxI

New Acquisitions

• Porta MC-10 - https://portacoco.com/

• TRS-80 MODEL 4P GOTEK VERTICAL SLED - https://www.ebay.com/itm/157418076045

Upcoming Shows

• Vintage Computer Festival Montreal - Jan. 24-25, 2026 - Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, QC - https://vcfed.org/vcf-montreal/

• Tandy Retro Show 2026 - Jan. 24-25 - virtual - tandyretroshow.com

• Vintage Electronics Expo - Jan. 31, 2026 - Oakland Expo Center, Waterford, MI - https://www.thevee.org/

• Vintage Computer Festival SoCal - February 14-15, 2026 - Hotel Fera Events Center, Orange, CA - vcfsocal.com

• Indy Classic Computer and Video Game Expo - March 20-22 - Wyndham Indianapolis Airport Hotel, Indianapolis, IN - https://indyclassic.org/

• VCF East - April 17-19 2026 - InfoAge Science and History Museums, Wall, NJ - https://vcfed.org/events/vintage-computer-festival-east/

• Midwest Gaming Classic - April 24-26 - Baird Center, Milwaukee, WI - https://www.midwestgamingclassic.com/

• The Annual "Last" Chicago CoCoFEST! - April 24-25, 2026 - Holiday Inn & Suites Chicago-Carol Stream (Wheaton), Carol Stream, Illinois - https://www.glensideccc.com/cocofest/

• Schedule Published on Floppy Days Website - https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vSeLsg4hf5KZKtpxwUQgacCIsqeIdQeZniq3yE881wOCCYskpLVs5OO1PZLqRRF2t5fUUiaKByqQrgA/pub

Interview Links

• "The Word Processing Book" by Peter McWilliams - https://amzn.to/3M6zJks

• Andrew Kay at Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Kay

• KayPro at Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaypro

FLOPPY DAYS 157 - Interview with David Kay, KayPro - Part 1

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

Sponsors:

• 8-Bit Classics

• Arcade Shopper and https://thekeep.net

• FutureVision Research

• Tuc's Workbench

Hello, and welcome to episode 157 of the Floppy Days Podcast for November, 2025. I am Randy Kindig, your host. We are currently covering computers introduced in the year 1982 and, to that end, this month I'm beginning a series of podcasts about the Kaypro line of computers. Kaypro had a rich and varied family of computers; certainly much more so than I ever realized. In researching Kaypro, I discovered that while Andrew Kay, the founder of the computer company, was no longer around, it turns out his son David, who ran the company for some time, was still around. I was able to contact David and he graciously agreed to talk with us for the podcast. Kaypro has a very interesting storyline and I hope you enjoy this. We talked so long that I decided to break the interview into 2 parts, so you'll hear part 1 this month, and part 2 next month. Following that, we'll delve into episodes covering history, tech specs, etc. on the Kaypro. All the usual topics. It looks as though I'll have 2 episodes covering those topics.

I will have a video for this posted to the Floppy Days Podcast on YouTube. One note here. This is one of the last videos where I used a videoconferencing tool that just didn't do a great job. It has a tendency to not keep up with video and you may note that the mouth doesn't stay in sync with the audio sometimes during the interview. In addition, audio-wise, you may hear some low clicks throughout the interview. I've since switched to Zoom and it seems to do a better job of audio and video quality, albeit more expensive.

You will hear ads from some great vintage computer stores, themselves vintage computer fans, throughout the early part of this podcast. For all of these storefronts, when you place an order, please mention Floppy Days in the notes or comments of the order. Doing so will help support the podcast. Many thanks!!

Please let me know your thoughts. Enjoy!!

What I've Been Up To

• Byte 50th Anniversary Event - https://www.facebook.com/events/853596483843378

New Acquisitions

• A2Pico - https://jcm-1.com/product/a2pico/

• PicoMicroMac - https://jcm-1.com/product/picomicromac/

Upcoming Shows

• World of Commodore 2025 - December 6-7 - Admiral Inn, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada - https://www.tpug.ca/world-of-commodore/world-of-commodore-2025/

• Vintage Computer Festival Montreal - Jan. 24-25, 2026 - Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, QC - https://vcfed.org/vcf-montreal/

• Tandy Retro Show 2026 - Jan. 24-25 - virtual - tandyretroshow.com

• Vintage Electronics Expo - Jan. 31, 2026 - Oakland Expo Center, Waterford, MI - https://www.thevee.org/

• Vintage Computer Festival SoCal - February 14-15, 2026 - Hotel Fera Events Center, Orange, CA - vcfsocal.com

• Indy Classic Computer and Video Game Expo - March 20-22 - Wyndham Indianapolis Airport Hotel, Indianapolis, IN - https://indyclassic.org/

• VCF East - April 17-19 2026 - InfoAge Science and History Museums, Wall, NJ - https://vcfed.org/events/vintage-computer-festival-east/

• Midwest Gaming Classic - April 24-26 - Baird Center, Milwaukee, WI - https://www.midwestgamingclassic.com/

• The Annual "Last" Chicago CoCoFEST! - April 24-25, 2026 - Holiday Inn & Suites Chicago-Carol Stream (Wheaton), Carol Stream, Illinois - https://www.glensideccc.com/cocofest/

• Schedule Published on Floppy Days Website - https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vSeLsg4hf5KZKtpxwUQgacCIsqeIdQeZniq3yE881wOCCYskpLVs5OO1PZLqRRF2t5fUUiaKByqQrgA/pub

Interview Links

• "The Word Processing Book" by Peter McWilliams - https://amzn.to/3M6zJks

• Andrew Kay at Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Kay

• KayPro at Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaypro

Floppy Days 156 - Interview with Paul Schindler, Computer Chronicles

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

Sponsors:

• 8-Bit Classics

• Arcade Shopper and https://thekeep.net

• FutureVision Research

• Tuc's Workbench

Hello, and welcome to episode 156 of the Floppy Days Podcast for October, 2025. I'm Randy Kindig, your host for this "retro"spective covering vintage computers of the late 70's through the 80's and the people who were on the forefront of that incredible revolution.

This month, I'm bringing you another interview episode with a tech media personality that was involved with the Computer Chronicles TV show (among many other things): Mr. Paul Schindler. Paul has a big personality and has a lot of great stories about Computer Chronicles and about the tech industry in general in those days. I really enjoyed talking with Paul and he made me laugh a lot!

As you know, if you're a regular listener, I was able to interview Stewart Cheifet some ago about Computer Chronicles. Computer Chronicles was a great way to get information about computers in those early days and I've always wanted to do some follow-up. Thanks to S.M. Oliva, who is mentioned in the resulting interview, and who runs a blog called "Computer Chronicles Revisited", I was able to get in contact with Paul.

Next up for Floppy Days will be a series of podcasts on the KayPro line of computers, for which I was able to line up an interview with a key figure from that company and was also able to find someone who knows a lot about the computer line to help me discuss the technical topics. Stay tuned for that series.

As usual, I will begin this podcast going through new acquisitions and what I've been up to, upcoming vintage computer shows and more.

Video version of the episode at YouTube:

New Acquisitions/What I've Been Up To

• Tandy Assembly - https://www.tandyassembly.com

• TRS-80 LED sign - https://techdungeon.xyz

• TS2068 mailing list - https://ts2068.groups.io/g/main/topics

• Compute!'s Gazette - https://www.computesgazette.com

• Atari Tricky Tutorial #7 Disk Utilities by Jerry White - https://www.atarimania.com/documents/Tricky-Tutorial-7-Disk-Utilities.pdf

• TenoxVGA for Atari TT - https://www.legacypixels.com

• Call-A.P.P.L.E. - https://www.callapple.org/

News

• Compute's Gazette article from the October, 2025 issue about Floppy Days written by Brian Cox of FutureVision Research - https://shop.computesgazette.com/product/computes-gazette-issue-4-digital-edition-october-2025/

Upcoming Shows

• Ami West - November 1-2, Sacramento, CA - https://www.amiwest.net

• Atari Party 2025 - Nov. 22, 2025 (noon to 4) - Quakertown, PA Train Station - http://atariparty.org/

• World of Commodore 2025 - December 6-7 - Admiral Inn, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada - https://www.tpug.ca/world-of-commodore/world-of-commodore-2025/

• Vintage Computer Festival Montreal - Jan. 24-25, 2026 - Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, QC - https://vcfed.org/vcf-montreal/

• Tandy Retro Show 2026 - Jan. 24-25 - virtual - tandyretroshow.com

• Vintage Electronics Expo - Jan. 31, 2026 - Oakland Expo Center, Waterford, MI - https://www.thevee.org/

• Vintage Computer Festival SoCal - February 14-15, 2026 - Hotel Fera Events Center, Orange, CA - vcfsocal.com

• Indy Classic Computer and Video Game Expo - March 20-22 - Wyndham Indianapolis Airport Hotel, Indianapolis, IN - https://indyclassic.org/

• VCF East - April 17-19 2026 - InfoAge Science and History Museums, Wall, NJ - https://vcfed.org/events/vintage-computer-festival-east/

• Midwest Gaming Classic - April 24-26 - Baird Center, Milwaukee, WI - https://www.midwestgamingclassic.com/

• The Annual "Last" Chicago CoCoFEST! - April 24-25, 2026 - Holiday Inn & Suites Chicago-Carol Stream (Wheaton), Carol Stream, Illinois - https://www.glensideccc.com/cocofest/

• Schedule Published on Floppy Days Website - https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vSeLsg4hf5KZKtpxwUQgacCIsqeIdQeZniq3yE881wOCCYskpLVs5OO1PZLqRRF2t5fUUiaKByqQrgA/pub

Interview

• Paul's general Website - https://www.schindler.org

• Paul Website about the Computer Chronicles - http://compchron.com/

• S.M. Oliva's Computer Chronicles Revisited

• Paul's long-running blog

• Paul's podcast, PS A Podcast on Things

• Paul recounts some tales from his Chronicles days

• Paul's YouTube channel

• Computer Chronicles at archive.org

• Computer Chronicles episodes on YouTube

Floppy Days 155 - Interview with Karl Hornell - C64 Game Developer, Cartoonist, Author

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

Sponsors:

• 8-Bit Classics

• Arcade Shopper

• FutureVision Research

Hello, and welcome to episode 155 of the Floppy Days Podcast for September, 2025! I'm Randy Kindig, your host for this podcast, where we talk about the computers that got many of us started in our careers and which still hold a lot of interest for us today.

This month, I'm bringing you another interesting interview with someone who at an early age started developing commercial-grade software for the Commodore 64, which started him on an amazing trajectory with his career in software development, cartoonist, and more. His latest efforts include branching out into writing science fiction, which we will also discuss today.

The person I'm referring to is Karl Hornell (Her-NELL).

It's also an interesting story around how this interview opportunity came to me. I'm not used to getting contacted by an ad agency. This one indicated that their client, Karl, had just recently published a book and was looking for ways to advertise the book. They suggested that Floppy Days would be a great fit based on Karl's background and could be beneficial for both. I was skeptical at first, as I always am when I receive unsolicited, possibly spam email. However, once I researched Karl's background it became clear that he was an accomplished Swedish developer for the C64 back in the day, with some notariety. I felt his background might indeed be of interest to you, the listeners, and so happily agreed to interviewing Karl for the podcast. I hope you enjoy Karl's story and will consider taking a look at his new book.

New Acquisitions and What I've Been Up To

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

• VCFMW - https://vcfmw.org/

• Atari TT030 at Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_TT030

• David Anderson's Timex Sinclair sites:

• https://andertone.com/

• https://www.timexsinclair.com/

News

• Stan Veit's History of the Personal Computer - https://archive.org/details/stan-veits-history-of-the-personal-computer/mode/2up

• David Greelish's YouTube channel - https://www.youtube.com/@TheComputerHistorian

• Early chapters (1-9) of Stan Veit's book via audio - https://www.classiccomputing.com/CCPodcasts/Stan_Veit/Stan_Veit.html

• Floppy Days YouTube channel - https://www.youtube.com/@floppydayspodcast

Upcoming Vintage Computer Shows

• Tandy Assembly - September 26-28 - Courtyard by Marriott Springfield - Springfield, OH - http://www.tandyassembly.com/

• Portland Retro Gaming Expo - October 17-19 - Oregon Convention Center, Portland, OR - https://retrogamingexpo.com/

• Chicago TI International World Faire - October 25 - Evanston Public Library, Evanston, IL - https://www.chicagotiug.org/home

• Ami West - November 1-2, Sacramento, CA - https://www.amiwest.net

• World of Commodore 2025 - December 6-7 - Admiral Inn, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada - https://www.tpug.ca/world-of-commodore/world-of-commodore-2025/

• Vintage Computer Festival Montreal - Jan. 24-25, 2026 - Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, QC - https://vcfed.org/vcf-montreal/

• Vintage Computer Festival SoCal - February 14-15, 2025 - Hotel Fera Events Center, Orange, CA - vcfsocal.com

• Indy Classic Computer and Video Game Expo - March 20-22 - Wyndham Indianapolis Airport Hotel, Indianapolis, IN - https://indyclassic.org/

• Schedule Published on Floppy Days Website - https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vSeLsg4hf5KZKtpxwUdQgacCIsqeIdQeZniq3yE881wOCCYskpLVs5OO1PZLqRRF2t5fUUiaKByqQrgA/pub

Interview Links

• Karl at Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_H%C3%B6rnell

• Vic-Rapport Magazine (Wikipedia) - https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/VIC-rapport

• "Generation 64 - How the Commodore 64 Inspired a Generation of Swedish Gamers" by Bitmap Books - https://amzn.to/3YUUlQ5 (affiliate link)

• Karl Hornell's Applet Center - http://www.javaonthebrain.com/

• Retro Gamer Magazine #130 with Karl interview - https://archive.org/details/retro-gamer-raspberry-pi-buenos-aires/Retro%20Gamer%20130/page/92/mode/2up

• "Singularity Minus Twelve" book - https://amzn.to/3S8Yr3r (affiliate link)

• Savage Dragonbert - https://wiki.savagedragon.com/comics/savage_dragonbert_full_frontal_nerdity_01/

Floppy Days 154 - Interview with Chuck Mauro, Part 2

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

Sponsors:

• 8-Bit Classics

• Arcade Shopper

• FutureVision Research

New Acquisitions and What I've Been Up To

• TI-55 9-Volt Battery Mod

• 9V Battery Clip Connectors from Amazon - https://www.amazon.com/Battery-Clip-Hard-Electronics-I-Type/dp/B0DRZWN3BN

• YouTube video that talks about and shows the modification - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0G-OucjNgTk

• New Compute's Gazette - https://www.computesgazette.com/

• C64 Ultimate - https://www.commodore.net/

• Chroma81 - http://www.fruitcake.plus.com/Sinclair/ZX81/Chroma/ChromaInterface_Availability.htm

Upcoming Vintage Computer Shows

• VCF Midwest - September 13-14, 2025 - Renaissance Schaumburg Convention Center in Schaumburg, IL - http://vcfmw.org/

• Tandy Assembly - September 26-28 - Courtyard by Marriott Springfield - Springfield, OH - http://www.tandyassembly.com/

• Portland Retro Gaming Expo - October 17-19 - Oregon Convention Center, Portland, OR - https://retrogamingexpo.com/

• Chicago TI International World Faire - October 25 - Evanston Public Library, Evanston, IL - https://www.chicagotiug.org/home

• Ami West - November 1-2, Sacramento, CA - https://www.amiwest.net

• World of Commodore 2025 - December 6-7 - Admiral Inn, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada - https://www.tpug.ca/world-of-commodore/world-of-commodore-2025/

• Schedule Published on Floppy Days Website - https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vSeLsg4hf5KZKtpxwUQgacCIsqeIdQeZniq3yE881wOCCYskpLVs5OO1PZLqRRF2t5fUUiaKByqQrgA/pub

Order Chuck's book - https://books.by/Chuck-Mauro

Floppy Days 153 - Interview with Chuck Mauro, Part 1

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

Sponsors:

• 8-Bit Classics

• Arcade Shopper

• FutureVision Research

New Acquisitions and What I've Been Up To

• KFest - https://www.kansasfest.org

• CoCo 5V USB adapter - Tim Halloran:

• Tryout Cable at GitHub - https://github.com/hallorant/bigmit/tree/master/coco2usb#trying-out-the-usb-mod-with-the-tryout-cable

• Tim did a talk at Tandy Assembly 2021. You can find the slides here - https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/19PG-rJjY0_h8iO4LEgI_-lZHJsW6ekmSQ-hHDLxJ2CU/edit?usp=sharing

• Video of USB Conversion by Tim - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfa4Db2OwE8

Upcoming Vintage Computer Shows

• VCF West - August 1-2 - Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA - https://vcfed.org/2025/03/05/vcf-west-2025-save-the-date/

• VCF Midwest - September 13-14, 2025 - Renaissance Schaumburg Convention Center in Schaumburg, IL - http://vcfmw.org/

• Tandy Assembly - September 26-28 - Courtyard by Marriott Springfield - Springfield, OH - http://www.tandyassembly.com/

• Portland Retro Gaming Expo - October 17-19 - Oregon Convention Center, Portland, OR - https://retrogamingexpo.com/

• Chicago TI International World Faire - October 25 - Evanston Public Library, Evanston, IL - https://www.chicagotiug.org/home

• Schedule Published on Floppy Days Website - https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vSeLsg4hf5KZKtpxwUQgacCIsqeIdQeZniq3yE881wOCCYskpLVs5OO1PZLqRRF2t5fUUiaKByqQrgA/pub

Order Chuck's book - https://books.by/Chuck-Mauro

HP-97/67 Programmable Calculator, Part 3 With Wlodek Mier-Jedrzejowicz

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

Sponsors:

• 8-Bit Classics

• Arcade Shopper

• FutureVision Research

Videos of this and other episodes at the YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6DQ3cyp8h373H0lXSJ8yqQ

Hello, and welcome to episode 152 of the Floppy Days Podcast for June, 2025. My name is Randy Kindig and I'm the host for this lovefest for vintage computers and programmable calculators from the late 70's thru the 80's. If you love old computers, you've found the right place!

This month, I'm completing the ongoing series of episodes about the HP 97/67 programmable calculators. This is the third and final in the series that provides us with a terrific co-host who is able to provide a lot of color about these machines: that being HP calculator historian Wlodek Mier-Jedrzejowicz ("Vwahdek Meer-Yeng SHAY of itch"). No one knows more about HP calculators than Wlodek and all of us are honored to get his insight into these HP calculator gems.

New Acquisitions

• HP History Book by Wlodek - "A Guide to HP Handheld Calculators and Computers" - https://amzn.to/4hl1Yq1 (affiliate link)

• PalmPilot Personal - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PalmPilot

Upcoming Shows

• KansasFest - July 18-20 - Virtual only - https://www.kansasfest.org/

• INIT HELLO Apple II Conference - July 26-27 - System Source Computer Museum in Hunt Valley, MD - https://init-hello.org/

• VCF West - August 1-2 - Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA - https://vcfed.org/2025/03/05/vcf-west-2025-save-the-date/

• Fujiama - August 11-17 - Lengenfeld, Germany - http://atarixle.ddns.net/fuji/2025/

• VCF Midwest - September 13-14, 2025 - Renaissance Schaumburg Convention Center in Schaumburg, IL - http://vcfmw.org/

• Tandy Assembly - September 26-28 - Courtyard by Marriott Springfield - Springfield, OH - http://www.tandyassembly.com/

• Portland Retro Gaming Expo - October 17-19 - Oregon Convention Center, Portland, OR - https://retrogamingexpo.com/

• Chicago TI International World Faire - October 25 - Evanston Public Library, Evanston, IL - https://www.chicagotiug.org/home

• Schedule Published on Floppy Days Website - https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vSeLsg4hf5KZKtpxwUQgacCIsqeIdQeZniq3yE881wOCCYskpLVs5OO1PZLqRRF2t5fUUiaKByqQrgA/pub

Feedback (videos)

• "A 67 or 97 is a good deal" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0z8UiZz2Bm0

• "Coca cola" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FN5eCvkoPM

• Season's greetings - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=libGuLCyikY

• Some examples of words you could show - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jXGb-CR1Tg

• HP Poem expressing sadness the early HP's had been discontinued - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMuMz623ub4

Books

• manuals - Can purchase document set on USB stick - https://www.hpmuseum.org/cd/cddesc.htm

• Better Programming on the HP-67 & 97 by Richard Nelson, Kolb, Kennedy - http://www.hp41.org/LibView.cfm?Command=Image&ItemID=94&FileID=2325

• Wlodek's book - A Guide to HP Handheld Calculators and Computers - https://amzn.to/4hl1Yq1 (affiliate link)

• RCL40: Recollection, Reinvention and HP Calculators - RCL40: Recollection, Reinvention and HP Calculators

Software

• Software available from collection at Museum of HP Calculators - https://www.hpmuseum.org/cd/cddesc.htm

Emulators

• HP Calculator Simulators - https://www.cuveesoft.ch/

• RPN-67/97 Pro - Apple App Store - (iOS) itms://itunes.apple.com/app/rpn-97-pro/id816249055

• HP-97 Emulator by Michael O'Shea (Windows):

• HP-97 - https://www.limpidfox.com/hp97.htm

• HP-67 - https://www.limpidfox.com/hp67.htm

• HP-97 Emulator by Michael O'Shea (Android, iOS) - https://www.limpidfox.com

Buying One Today

• Getting one repaired:

• waterhosko (Mark Hoskins) - https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?item=324196333178&rt=nc&_trksid=p4429486.m3561.l161211&_ssn=waterhosko

• Mainely Calculators (Adam Jones) - https://www.ebay.com/str/mainelycalculator?_trksid=p4429486.m145687.l149267

Modern Upgrades

• Replacement CPU Boards for HP-67 and HP-97 - https://www.Teenix.org

Community

• Facebook

• HP Calculator Fan Club - https://www.facebook.com/groups/hpcalculatorclub

• Real Engineers Use HP Handheld Calculators - https://www.facebook.com/groups/hpcalc

• Forums

• The Museum of HP Calculators - https://hpmuseum.org/forum/index.php

• Reddit

• HPCalc - https://www.reddit.com/r/hpcalc/

Current Web Sites and Videos

• Article in Byte Magazine, Vol. 3 No. 6 - https://archive.org/details/byte-magazine-1978-06/page/n113/mode/1up

• Article in HP Journal on the HP-67/97 - http://hparchive.com/Journals/HPJ-1976-11.pdf

• HHC 2015 in Nashville, Tennessee, showing off RPN-97 Pro - https://www.cuveesoft.ch/rpn67/img/RPN-97HHC.mp4

• HP - https://www.hp.com/hpinfo/abouthp/histnfacts/museum/personalsystems/0041/index.html

• Eric Rechlin's hpcalc.org - http://www.hpcalc.org

• Craig Finseth's HPDATABase - http://www.finseth.com/hpdata/

• The Hewlett Packard Calculator Page by Rick Furr - http://www.vcalc.net/hp.htm

• The Calculators of HP poster - https://www.vcalc.net/poster.htm#hp

• series of articles by Wlodek Mier-Jedrzejowicz. They were published in DATAFILE - https://www.vcalc.net/hp-jhi.htm

• Old HP and TI Calculators by Gene Wright - http://www.rskey.org/gene/hpgene/

• HP Calculator Internals - http://www.brouhaha.com/~eric/hpcalc/

• HP-97 at rskey.org - https://www.rskey.org/hp97

References

• Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HP-67/97#67

• Museum of HP Calculators (David Hicks) - https://www.hpmuseum.org/hp6797.htm

Interview with James Nagle, Reboot of Compute's Gazette Magazine

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

Sponsors:

• 8-Bit Classics

• Arcade Shopper

• FutureVision Research

Hello, and welcome to episode 151 of the Floppy Days Podcast for May, 2025. My name is Randy Kindig and I'm the host for this ode to computers that only survive in our memories and our collections.

This month, I'm continuing to step aside from the ongoing series of episodes about the HP 97/67 programmable calculators to bring you a timely interview that basically constitutes current news. I don't often do this, but this news was so exciting to me that I wanted to bring this to all my listeners as soon as possible. The interviewee is James Nagle and the topic is the sudden and welcome news that James is planning to revive the iconic Compute! magazine under the equally-iconic name Compute's Gazette. I hope you'll stick around to hear about James' plans and are as excited as I am to find out where this goes.

For upcoming shows, we do have one more episode in the series on the HP97 with HP calculator historian Wlodek Mier-Jedrzejowicz ("Vwahdek Meer-Yeng SHAY of itch"). I will air that episode very soon.

New Acquisitions and What I've Been Up To

• C64OS - https://c64os.com/

• PiStorm:

• https://www.hackster.io/news/hands-on-with-the-pistorm-the-ultimate-raspberry-pi-powered-accelerator-for-your-commodore-amiga-449ef0634f3e

• https://www.amigastore.com/pistorm-edition-amiga-p-91328.html

• Quick Reference Book - https://floppydaysqr.my.canva.site/

Upcoming Vintage Computer Shows

• Retrofest 2025 - May 31-June1 - Steam Museum of the Great Western Railway, Swindon, UK - https://retrofest.uk/

• Vancouver Retro Gaming Expo - June 14 - New Westminster, BC, Canada - https://www.vancouvergamingexpo.com/index.html

• VCF Southwest - June 20-22, 2025 - Davidson-Gundy Alumni Center at UT Dallas - https://www.vcfsw.org/

• Southern Fried Gaming Expo and VCF Southeast - June 20-22, 2025 - Atlanta, GA - https://gameatl.com/

• Pacific Commodore Expo NW v4 - June 21-22 - Old Rainier Brewery Intraspace, Seattle, WA - https://www.portcommodore.com/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=pacommex:start

• KansasFest - July 18-20 - Virtual only - https://www.kansasfest.org/

• INIT HELLO Apple II Conference - July 26-27 - System Source Computer Museum in Hunt Valley, MD - https://init-hello.org/

• Silly Venture SE (Summer Edition) - July 31-Aug. 3 - Gdansk, Poland - https://www.demoparty.net/silly-venture/silly-venture-2025-se

• VCF West - August 1-2 - Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA - https://vcfed.org/2025/03/05/vcf-west-2025-save-the-date/

• Fujiama - August 11-17 - Lengenfeld, Germany - http://atarixle.ddns.net/fuji/2025/

• VCF Midwest - September 13-14, 2025 - Renaissance Schaumburg Convention Center in Schaumburg, IL - http://vcfmw.org/

• Tandy Assembly - September 26-28 - Courtyard by Marriott Springfield - Springfield, OH - http://www.tandyassembly.com/

• Portland Retro Gaming Expo - October 17-19 - Oregon Convention Center, Portland, OR - https://retrogamingexpo.com/

• Chicago TI International World Faire - October 25 - Evanston Public Library, Evanston, IL - https://www.chicagotiug.org/home

• Schedule Published on Floppy Days Website - https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vSeLsg4hf5KZKtpxwUQgacCIsqeIdQeZniq3yE881wOCCYskpLVs5OO1PZLqRRF2t5fUUiaKByqQrgA/pub

Feedback

• HP-97S:

• https://www.hpmuseum.org/hp97s.htm

• https://www.johnwolff.id.au/calculators/laboratory/laboratory.htm

Interview Links

• New Compute's Gazette Website - https://www.computesgazette.com/

• Compute's Gazette collection at archive.org - https://archive.org/details/computes.gazette

Interview with David Greelish, Apple Lisa Documentary

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

Sponsors:

• 8-Bit Classics

• Arcade Shopper

• FutureVision Research

Hello, and welcome to episode 150 of the Floppy Days Podcast for April, 2025. My name is Randy Kindig and I'm the host for this journey through the annals of home computer history.

This month, I'm going to step aside from the ongoing series of episodes about the HP 97/67 programmable calculators to bring you a timely interview with a good friend about an interesting topic. That friend is David Greelish, a computer historian, and the topic is his recent publication of a film documentary about the Apple Lisa, called "Before Macintosh: The Apple Lisa". David tells us all about the film, why he produced it, why the Apple Lisa was an important part of home computer history, who he interviewed for the film (he had some amazing guests) and much more. It's a great film and should interest a lot of the listeners, so please consider going out and purchasing the film in order to support David's efforts.

For upcoming shows, we do have one more episode in the series on the HP97 with HP calculator historian Wlodek Mier-Jedrzejowicz. I will air that episode very soon.

New Acquisitions/What I've Been Up To

• Indy Classic Expo - https://www.indyclassic.org

• Vintage Computer Center - https://www.vintagecomputercenter.com

• OmniView 80 card for Atari 800 - https://archive.org/details/Atari_OMNIVIEW_manual

• Commodore 16 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodore_16

• 6502 Plus 4 upgrade for C16 from Lotharek - (https://lotharek.pl/productdetail.php?id=257

News

• Reboot of Compute's Gazette Magazine - https://www.computesgazette.com/iconic-computes-gazette-magazine-returns-after-35-years-expanding-focus-to-entire-retro-computing-community/

Upcoming Shows

• The 32nd Annual "Last" Chicago CoCoFEST! - May 2-3, 2025 - Holiday Inn & Suites Chicago-Carol Stream (Wheaton), Carol Stream, Illinois - https://www.glensideccc.com/cocofest/

• VCF Europe - May 3-4 - Munich, Germany - https://vcfe.org/E/

• Retrofest 2025 - May 31-June1 - Steam Museum of the Great Western Railway, Swindon, UK - https://retrofest.uk/

• Vancouver Retro Gaming Expo - June 14 - New Westminster, BC, Canada - https://www.vancouvergamingexpo.com/index.html

• VCF Southwest - June 20-22, 2025 - Davidson-Gundy Alumni Center at UT Dallas - https://www.vcfsw.org/

• Southern Fried Gaming Expo and VCF Southeast - June 20-22, 2025 - Atlanta, GA - https://gameatl.com/

• Pacific Commodore Expo NW v4 - June 21-22 - Old Rainier Brewery Intraspace, Seattle, WA - https://www.portcommodore.com/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=pacommex:start

• KansasFest - July 18-20 - Virtual only - https://www.kansasfest.org/

• VCF West - August 1-2 - Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA - https://vcfed.org/2025/03/05/vcf-west-2025-save-the-date/

• VCF Midwest - September 13-14, 2025 - Renaissance Schaumburg Convention Center in Schaumburg, IL - http://vcfmw.org/

• Tandy Assembly - September 26-28 - Courtyard by Marriott Springfield - Springfield, OH - http://www.tandyassembly.com/

• Portland Retro Gaming Expo - October 17-19 - Oregon Convention Center, Portland, OR - https://retrogamingexpo.com/

• Chicago TI International World Faire - October 25 - Evanston Public Library, Evanston, IL - https://www.chicagotiug.org/home

• Schedule Published on Floppy Days Website - https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vSeLsg4hf5KZKtpxwUQgacCIsqeIdQeZniq3yE881wOCCYskpLVs5OO1PZLqRRF2t5fUUiaKByqQrgA/pub

Documentary and Classic Computing Links

• Classic Computing Website - https://www.classiccomputing.com/Classic_Computing/Blog/Blog.html

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psAeTDYezdo - "Before Macintosh: The Apple Lisa" Full Documentary Film

• Exidy Sorcerer at VCFSE 2 - https://floppydays.libsyn.com/floppy-days-episode-17-the-exidy-sorcerer-live-from-vcfse-20

• Stan Veit podcast - https://www.classiccomputing.com/CCPodcasts/Stan_Veit/Stan_Veit.html

• Classic Computing - the book! - https://www.classiccomputing.com/Classic_Computing/My_Book.html

• Documentary link at IMDB - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt31122934/