Floppy Days Vintage Computing Podcast

Paul Terrell - Exidy Part 2

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

Sponsors:

• 8-Bit Classics

• Arcade Shopper

Hello, and welcome to episode 129 for August, 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 store chains 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.

The first episode with Paul (June 2023's episode) was a sort of overview before Paul's time being involved with Exidy and the Exidy Sorcerer computer. Last month was segment 1 of 2 focusing directly on Exidy and the Sorcerer. And, this month is segment 2 of 2; again focusing on Exidy and the Sorcerer. You'll hear more about 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. As a reminder, 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 decided he would really like to be able to talk about his incredible career in its entirety, including an amazing number of industry-impacting contributions, 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. What that means for the listener, is that you can expect an even broader series of continued podcasts with Paul in the near future, interspersed with other computer-based and interview episodes along the way.

I really hope you enjoy the Paul Terrel series in general, and this episode should give you a nice wrap-up on his involvement with Exidy and the Sorcerer!

New Acquisitions

• Console5 - http://www.console5.com

• Okimate 10 printer - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Okimate_10

• ATR8000 - https://www.atarimagazines.com/v3n4/ATR8000.html

• Happy 1050 - https://www.8bitclassics.com/product/happy-1050-upgrade-for-atari-1050-disk-drive/?ref=Floppydays

• Atari Joystick USB Adapter (JAKAdapter) - http://kair.us/projects/jakadapter/index.html

Upcoming Shows

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

• World of Retrocomputing - September 16-17 - Kitchener, Ontario, Canada - https://www.worldofretrocomputing.com/2023-worc-expo

• 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

• Dragon MeetUp - October 7-8 - The Centre for Computing History in Cambridge - https://www.facebook.com/events/225011523831254/?ref=newsfeed

• 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

Floppy Days Episode 128 - Paul Terrell - Exidy Part 1

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

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

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

Floppy Days 126 - Interview with Bob Frankston, Co-developer of Visicalc

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

Sponsors:

• 8-Bit Classics

• Arcade Shopper

Hello, everyone! Welcome to episode 126 of the Floppy Days Podcast, with yours truly, Randy Kindig, as the host.

Everyone, and I mean everyone, listening to this podcast has surely heard of the ground-breaking application (for its time) Visicalc. Visicalc was the first spreadsheet computer program for personal computers, originally released for the Apple II by VisiCorp on October 17, 1979. It is considered the killer application for the Apple II, turning the microcomputer from a hobby for computer enthusiasts into a serious business tool, and then prompting IBM to introduce the IBM PC two years later. More than 700,000 copies were sold in six years, and up to 1 million copies over its history.

Initially developed for the Apple II computer, VisiCalc was ported to numerous platforms, both 8-bit and some of the early 16-bit systems, such as the Commodore PET, Atari 8-bit, TRS-80 (TRSDOS), CP/M, MS-DOS, and even the HP Series 80.

VisiCalc was later replaced in the market by Lotus 1-2-3 and eventually by Microsoft's Excel, which is the dominant spreadsheet today. Spreadsheets, along with word processors, and presentation tools are still today considered one of the key applications for computing.

Bob Frankston, along with Dan Bricklin, are the co-inventors of VisiCalc. This month, we have an interview with the aforementioned Bob Frankston. Bob was kind enough to take time to talk with me about what it was like to create such a ground-breaking tool.

Before doing that, I have a few new acquisitions to discuss and I'll tell you about upcoming computer shows.

New Acquisitions/What I've Been Up To

• Retro Innovations

• Lige and the YouTube show "The Commodore Room" - https://www.youtube.com/@thecommodoreroom4554

• Console5 (cap kits)

Upcoming Shows

• The 64 bits or less Retro Gaming Festival - June 3-4 - Benton County Fairgrounds in Corvallis, Oregon (sponsored by the Portland Retro Gaming Expo) - https://www.64bitsorless.com/

• Boatfest Vintage Computer Exposition - June 23-25 - Hurricane, WV - http://boatfest.info

• VCF Southwest - June 23-25 - Davidson-Gundy Alumni Center at University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, TX - http://vcfsw.org

• Pacific Commodore Expo NW v4 - June 24-25 - "Interim" Computer Museum, Seattle, WA - https://www.portcommodore.com/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=pacommex:start

• 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/

• 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/

• 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 listings - https://www.facebook.com/VintageComputerShows/

Interview

• Bob's Website - https://www.frankston.com/

• New York Times article on Bricklin and Frankston joining Lotus (acquisition) - https://www.nytimes.com/1985/04/10/business/business-people-former-friendly-rivals-joining-forces-at-lotus.html

• Bob interview on TwitTV - https://twit.tv/shows/triangulation/episodes/4

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

• 8-Bit Classics

• Arcade Shopper

Welcome to Floppy Days #125 for April, 2023. And I'm your host, Randy Kindig.

We are currently in the year 1982 for home computers. This episode is the continuation of a multi-episode arc that covers the Sinclair ZX Spectrum through all the usual topics. This is the seventh of those, with the first having been the interview with John Grant of Nine Tiles, the second and third being coverage of the history of the Spectrum with Alessandro Grussu, the fourth being the interview with the author of the terrific book "The ZX Spectrum Ula: How to Design a Microcomputer", Mr. Chris Smith, the fifth covering tech specs for the Speccy with Chris, and the sixth covering the topics peripherals, using the machine, and magazines with PJ Evans, Tour Guide and Sinclair curator at The National Museum of Computing on Bletchley Park in the U.K.

The topics covered in this episode include books, software, ads, modern upgrades, emulation, buying one today, community, and Web sites. Once again, my co-host will be PJ Evans, who did a wonderful job last episode. This will be the final episode covering the ZX Spectrum, after setting the record in terms of number of episodes on Floppy Days about a single machine.

As usual, I will also talk a bit about what I have been up to, including an update on any new acquisitions that have come my way. In addition, I'll briefly tell you about upcoming shows of which I'm aware.

Before we get started I want to mention the show sponsors for Floppy Days.

https://www.8bitclassics.com, run by my friend Corey Koltz, is a great place to get vintage computer items. This includes video cables, power supplies, PC boards, cartridges, upgrades and more for a wide variety of vintage computer platforms. In the New Acquisitions section I cover each month on this show, often one of the items I talk about has been ordered from 8-Bit Classics. Corey has been a friend of the show for some time and I really appreciate his support of the podcast. Check out the site… he has some great stuff.

https://www.arcadeshopper.com, run by my friend Greg McGill, is another terrific site to get vintage computer items. Greg has a wide variety of hard-to-find items for a large number of platforms. This is another site that I do and have done a lot of shopping at and have mentioned numerous times on Floppy Days. If anything shows out of stock, just ping Greg through the contact form and he can check whether he has or can get more of the item for you.

I also wanted to mention those listeners who appreciate the show enough to donate through patreon.com. This includes Chris Petzel, Tony Cappellini, laurens, Richard Goulstone, Josh Malone, Andy Collins, Simon McCullough, Jason Moore, Quentin Barnes. I really appreciate you guys and it helps offset the cost of running the podcast.

Links Mentioned in the Show:

New Acquisitions and What I've Been Up To

• Amiga 500 Parceiro - [email protected]

• Atari XEP80-II Case - https://thebrewingacademy.com/collections/atari-800-xl-xe-xel-xld/products/xep80-ii-by-mytek

• FD sign and shirt - http://www.vistaprint.com

• book - Over the Spectrum - https://amzn.to/3AmFaSZ

• ZXPand+ Case - http://www.sellmyretro.com

Upcoming Shows

• Indy Classic Computer and Video Game Expo - April 29 & 30 - Crowne Plaza Airport Hotel, Indianapolis, IN - https://indyclassic.org/

• The 64 bits or less Retro Gaming Festival - June 3-4 - Benton County Fairgrounds in Corvallis, Oregon (sponsored by the PortlandRetro Gaming Expo) - https://www.64bitsorless.com/

• Boatfest Vintage Computer Exposition - June 23-25 - Hurricane, WV - http://boatfest.info

• VCF Southwest - June 23-25 - Davidson-Gundy Alumni Center at University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, TX - http://vcfsw.org

• Pacific Commodore Expo NW v4 - June 24-25 - "Interim" Computer Museum, Seattle, WA - https://www.portcommodore.com/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=pacommex:start j

• KansasFest, the largest and longest running annual Apple II conference - July 18-23, 2023 - 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/

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

• 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/

• 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/

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

Books

• books listed at World of Spectrum - https://worldofspectrum.org/archive/books

• Spectrum Machine Language For The Absolute Beginner by William Tang 2020 - https://amzn.to/3Ix6mn3 (Retro Reproductions)

• Over the Spectrum by Philip Williams 2020 - https://amzn.to/3YFsbGu (Retro Reproductions)

• Spectrum Games Bible 1982-1984 Paperback – June 11, 2008 by P Johns - https://amzn.to/3KfL0vy

• ZX Spectrum Games Code Club: Twenty fun games to code and learn Paperback – November 23, 2015 by Gary Plowman (Author) - https://amzn.to/3EgSFGk

• Spectrumpedia by Alessandro Grussu (2 volumes) - https://www.alessandrogrussu.it/sp.html

• Volume I (English) - https://amzn.to/3Ek9boX

• Volume II (English) - https://amzn.to/3IGVwet

• The Micro Kids: An 80s Adventure with ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64 and more Paperback – Illustrated, December 8, 2018 by Gary Plowman - https://amzn.to/3Klsan7

• The ZX Spectrum Ula: How to Design a Microcomputer Illustrated Edition by Christopher David Smith - https://amzn.to/3IwGgjU

• Sinclair ZX Spectrum : A Visual Compendium - https://www.bitmapbooks.com/collections/by-system/products/sinclair-zx-spectrum-a-visual-compendium

Software

• archive at World of Spectrum - https://worldofspectrum.org/archive

• TOSEC at archive.org by Lady Eklipse - https://archive.org/details/zx-spectrum-tosec-set-v-2020-02-18-lady-eklipse

• Top 10 games - https://www.techradar.com/news/gaming/30-best-zx-spectrum-games-594151

• 1. Elite – Firebird Games

• 2. R-Type – Electric Dreams Software

• 3. Chuckie Egg - A'n'F Software

• 4. Manic Miner - Bug-Byte Software Ltd

• 5. Knight Lore - Ultimate Play The Game

• 6. Back to Skool - Microsphere

• 7. Football Manager - Addictive Games Ltd

• 8. Lunar Jetman - Ultimate Play The Game

• 9. Horace Goes Skiing – Beam Software

• 10. Boulder Dash – Front Runner

• Productivity and Education Software from Sinclair Catalog (all cassette) - https://archive.org/details/sinclair-research/ZX%20Spectrum%20Software%20Catalog/mode/2up

Ads and Appearances

• Starring the Computer - http://www.starringthecomputer.com/

• Ad - http://www.retro8bitcomputers.co.uk/Sinclair/ZXSpectrum

Modern Upgrades

• ZX-AY external stereo audio interface for all ZX Spectrum models - https://www.bytedelight.com/?product=zx-ay-external-stereo-audio-interface-for-all-zx-spectrum-models

• ZX-HD HDMI Interface - https://www.bytedelight.com/?product=zx-hd-hdmi-interface-with-ulaplus

• DIVMMC - https://www.thefuturewas8bit.com/shop/sinclair/divmmcfuture.html

• SpectraNet - https://www.bytedelight.com/?product=spectranet-internet-interface-with-closed-case

Emulation

• Emulator list at World of Spectrum - https://worldofspectrum.net/emulators/

• Spectaculator (paid) https://www.spectaculator.com/

• Fuse:

• Windows - https://sourceforge.net/projects/fuse-emulator/files/fuse-utils/1.4.3/fuse-utils-1.4.3-win32.zip/download

• macOS - https://fuse-for-macosx.sourceforge.io/

• Linux - http://fuse-emulator.sourceforge.net/

• Speccy - https://fms.komkon.org/Speccy/

• Eighty One - https://www.aptanet.org/eightyone/

• Retro Virtual Machine (RVM) - https://www.retrovirtualmachine.org/

• ZEsarUX - https://github.com/chernandezba/zesarux/

• ZX Spectrum 4 Android - https://www.zxspectrum4.net/android/

• QAOP (browser-based) - http://torinak.com/qaop

• JSSpeccy (browser-based) - https://jsspeccy.zxdemo.org/

Community

• Facebook

• Spectrum Forever - https://www.facebook.com/groups/491247224287188

• Spectrum for Everyone - https://www.facebook.com/groups/400461880300289

• World of Spectrum - https://www.facebook.com/groups/1571053279836005

• ZX Spectrum - https://www.facebook.com/groups/164156683632183

• Twitter

• ZX Spectrum Code Club - https://twitter.com/zxspectrum_club

• Mastodon

• Sinclair ZX Spectrum Bot - https://oldbytes.space/@[email protected]

• Spectrum User - https://oldbytes.space/@[email protected]

• Forums

• AtariAge - https://www.atariage.com

• https://worldofspectrum.org/forums/

• https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/forums/index.php

• https://www.sinclairzxworld.com/viewforum.php

• Podcasts

• Our Sinclair: A ZX Spectrum Podcast by Amigos Retro Gaming - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/our-sinclair-a-zx-spectrum-podcast/id1454120857

• Reddit

• https://www.reddit.com/r/zxspectrum/

Web Sites

• Byte Delight shop - https://www.bytedelight.com

• The Future Was 8bit shop - https://www.thefuturewas8bit.com/

• Power supplies for Spectrum machines at Retro Games Supply - https://en.retrogamesupply.com/collections/other

• Dr. Steve Vickers at YouTube - https://www.cs.bham.ac.uk/~sjv/

• "The first ZX Spectrum prototype laid bare" article about John Grant - https://www.theregister.com/2019/03/05/the_first_zx_spectrum_prototype_laid_bare/

• The official world archive for the Sinclair ZX Spectrum - https://worldofspectrum.org/

• The Spectrum Show by Paul Jenkinson - https://m.youtube.com/user/BuckingTheTrend2008

• The MagPi - https://magpi.raspberrypi.com/issues/67

• Interview with Steve Vickers & Richard Altwasser - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLnuY3EKnWE

References

• Retro 8-bit Computers - http://www.retro8bitcomputers.co.uk/

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

• Old-Computers.com museum - https://www.old-computers.com/museum/default.asp

• https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/

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

• 8-Bit Classics

• Arcade Shopper

Welcome to Floppy Days #124 for March, 2023. And I'm your host, Randy Kindig.

We are currently covering the very productive year for home computers of 1982. This episode is the continuation of a multi-episode arc that covers the Spectrum through all the usual topics. This is the sixth of those, with the first having been the interview with John Grant of Nine Tiles, the second and third being coverage of the history of the Spectrum with Alessandro Grussu, the fourth being the interview with the author of the terrific book "The ZX Spectrum Ula: How to Design a Microcomputer", Mr. Chris Smith, and the sixth covering tech specs for the Speccy with Chris.

The topics covered in this episode include peripherals, using the machine, and magazines. Next episode we will complete the ZX Spectrum coverage, by talking about books, software, ads, modern upgrades, emulation, buying one today, community, and Web sites.

As usual, I will also talk a bit about what I have been up to, including an update on any new acquisitions that have come my way. In addition, I'll briefly tell you about upcoming shows of which I'm aware and share any feedback I've gotten.

Before we get started I want to mention that I now have some show sponsors for Floppy Days.

https://www.8bitclassics.com, run by my friend Corey Koltz, is a great place to get vintage computer items. This includes video cables, power supplies, PC boards, cartridges, upgrades and more for a wide variety of vintage computer platforms. In the New Acquisitions section I cover each month on this show, often one of the items I talk about has been ordered from 8-Bit Classics. Corey has been a friend of the show for some time and I really appreciate his support of the podcast. Check out the site… he has some great stuff.

https://www.arcadeshopper.com, run by my friend Greg McGill, is another terrific site to get vintage computer items. Greg has a wide variety of hard-to-find items for a large number of platforms. This is another site that I do and have done a lot of shopping at and have mentioned numerous times on Floppy Days. If anything shows out of stock, just ping Greg through the contact form and he can check whether he has or can get more of the item for you.

I also wanted to mention those listeners who appreciate the show enough to donate through patreon.com. This includes Chris Petzel, Tony Cappellini, laurens, Richard Goulstone, Josh Malone, Andy Collins, Simon McCullough, Jason Moore, Quentin Barnes. I really appreciate you guys and it helps offset the cost of running the podcast.

Links Mentioned in the Show:

New Acquisitions and What I've Been Up To

• Amiga 1000 - [email protected]

• Commodore SX-64 repair video by The Commodore Room - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Flsn_FD2zpA

Upcoming Shows

• Midwest Gaming Classic - March 31-April 2 - Wisconsin Center, Milwaukee, WI - https://www.midwestgamingclassic.com/

• VCF East 2023 - Apr 14-16, 2023 - InfoAge Science and History Museums, Wall, NJ - https://vcfed.org/events/vintage-computer-festival-east/

• The Commodore Los Angeles Super Show - April 15-16, 2023 - Burbank VFW Hall, Burbank, CA - https://www.portcommodore.com/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=class:start

• 31st Annual "Last" CocoFest - April 22-23, 2023 - Holiday Inn & Suites Chicago, Carol Stream, IL - https://www.glensideccc.com/cocofest/

• Indy Classic Computer and Video Game Expo - April 29 & 30 - Crowne Plaza Airport Hotel, Indianapolis, IN - https://indyclassic.org/

• The 64 bits or less Retro Gaming Festival - June 3-4 - Benton County Fairgrounds in Corvallis, Oregon (sponsored by the PortlandRetro Gaming Expo) - https://www.64bitsorless.com/

• Boatfest Vintage Computer Exposition - June 23-25 - Hurricane, WV - http://boatfest.info

• VCF Southwest - June 23-25 - Davidson-Gundy Alumni Center at University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, TX - http://vcfsw.org

• Pacific Commodore Expo NW v4 - June 24-25 - "Interim" Computer Museum, Seattle, WA - https://www.portcommodore.com/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=pacommex:start j

• KansasFest, the largest and longest running annual Apple II conference - July 18-23, 2023 - 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/

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

• 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/

• 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/

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

Feedback

• Claus, webmaster at www.mtxworld.dk

Using the Machine

• http://www.retro8bitcomputers.co.uk/Sinclair/ZXSpectrum

Popular Magazines/Newsletters

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:ZX_Spectrum_magazines

• https://www.old-computers.com/museum/default.asp

• Crash

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crash_(magazine)

• Modern Crash - https://fusionretrobooks.com/collections/crash-magazine

• articles for Crash written by Paul Evans - https://www.google.com/search?domains=www.crashonline.org.uk&sitesearch=www.crashonline.org.uk&q=paul%20evans

• Your Sinclair

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Your_Sinclair

• Current blog - https://www.ys3.org/

• Sinclair User

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinclair_User

• https://archive.org/details/sinclair-user-magazine?&sort=-week&page=2

• Spectrofon

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spectrofon

• Sinclair Programs

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinclair_Programs

• https://archive.org/search?query=Sinclair+Programs&and%5B%5D=mediatype%3A%22texts%22

• ZX Magazin

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZX_Magaz%C3%ADn

References

• Retro 8-bit Computers - http://www.retro8bitcomputers.co.uk/

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

• Old-Computers.com museum - https://www.old-computers.com/museum/default.asp

• https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/

Floppy Days 123 - Amiga 1000, Parceiro and Podcast Tenth Anniversary!

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

• 8-Bit Classics

• Arcade Shopper

Welcome to episode 123 of Floppy Days for February, 2023, where classic computers are all the rage and we lovingly take you back to the days when computers were simpler and we were younger.

This is a special show for me, because this month (Feb. 17 was the publish date) marks the 10th anniversary of publishing this podcast! Man, oh, man, where has the time gone?! This podcast itself has become vintage, depending on your definition of vintage.

My original intent was to continue the coverage of the ZX Spectrum this month, but my special co-host for that show was unable to record this month. I decided this was the perfect opportunity to have a special show to in some way commemorate the 10-year anniversary. My co-host and I have scheduled the recording for the Spectrum show for early March, so I'll publish that as early in March as I can. In the meantime, for this show I wanted to talk about how the show has changed and grown over the years and what my plans are for the future.

I apologize for not having one of my two typical formats (machine coverage or interview) for this show. Not to worry though, I've got what I think is an interesting story around my recent work to test and set up some Amiga 1000s that have come my way; including some information about a great upgrade for the A1000 called Parceiro II.

I do also want to mention that I now have some show sponsors for Floppy Days.

https://www.8bitclassics.com, run by my friend Corey Koltz, is a great place to get vintage computer items. This includes video cables, power supplies, PC boards, cartridges, upgrades and more for a wide variety of vintage computer platforms. In the New Acquisitions section I cover each month on this show, often one of the items I talk about has been ordered from 8-Bit Classics. Corey has been a friend of the show for some time and I really appreciate his support of the podcast. Check out the site… he has some great stuff.

https://www.arcadeshopper.com, run by my friend Greg McGill, is another terrific site to get vintage computer items. Greg has a wide variety of hard-to-find items for a large number of platforms. This is another site that I do and have done a lot of shopping at and have mentioned numerous times on Floppy Days. If anything shows out of stock, just ping Greg through the contact form and he can check whether he has or can get more of the item for you.

I also wanted to mention those listeners who appreciate the show enough to donate through patreon.com. This includes Chris Petzel, Tony Cappellini, laurens, Richard Goulstone, Josh Malone, Andy Collins, Simon McCullough, Jason Moore, Quentin Barnes. I really appreciate you guys and it helps offset the cost of running the podcast.

On a sad note, one other thing I wanted to talk about was the passing of a good friend in the community, James Shackel (aka Airshack). James passed from this earth in January of this year due to illness, and it was a shock to me to realize I would no longer have James to talk to. James came from the TI community, but was interested in a lot of the vintage machines. Over the years, I traded a Sinclair ZX Spectrum +2A to him for a TIPI network card for the TI99 and James sent me things numerous times, such as books or software. Most recently, just 3 months ago, I traded a Commodore 128 to him for an Atari 1200XL he had. He also had been a patreon donator for Floppy Days for some time. He pinged me all the time to discuss ANTIC or Floppy Days or just to let me know about some new vintage computer thing he came across. I saw James at Tandy Assembly in October last year, just the second time I had ever seen him in person, but he never told me he was ill.

James had a singular sense of humor and I will miss it, and him, very much. It reminds me that we need to appreciate the people around us while we can, as we don't know how long they will be around. James, I will truly miss you.

Ok, let's get on with the show. I hope you find something interesting out of this episode. Here's to 10 more years of Floppy Days!

Intro

• James Shackel passed away - https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/legacyremembers/james-shackel-obituary?id=39585348

New Acquisitions

• computer trading cards - https://www.8bitkick.cc/home-computers.html

• Yamaha MSX AX-150 Computer - https://www.msx.org/wiki/Sakhr_AX-150

• memory mapper + SD card interface - Arcade Shopper

• Amiga 1000 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amiga_1000

• Parceiro II by David Dunklee:

• https://bytecellar.com/2021/12/13/parceiro-an-extraordinary-upgrade-for-amiga-1000-users/

• [email protected] to order one

Upcoming Shows

• Midwest Gaming Classic - March 31-April 2 - The Wisconsin Center, Milwaukee, WI - https://www.midwestgamingclassic.com/

• VCF East 2023 - Apr 14-16, 2023 - InfoAge Science and History Museums, Wall, NJ - https://vcfed.org/events/vintage-computer-festival-east/

• The Commodore Los Angeles Super Show - April 15-16, 2023 - Burbank VFW Hall, Burbank, CA - https://www.portcommodore.com/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=class:start

• 31st Annual "Last" CocoFest - April 22-23, 2023 - Holiday Inn & Suites Chicago, Carol Stream, IL - https://www.glensideccc.com/cocofest/

• Indy Classic Computer and Video Game Expo - April 29 & 30 - Crowne Plaza Airport Hotel, Indianapolis, IN - https://indyclassic.org/

• Pacific Commodore Expo NW v4 - June 24-25 - "Interim" Computer Museum, Seattle, WA - https://www.portcommodore.com/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=pacommex:start

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

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

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

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

10th Anniversary Special Content

• OldComputers.net timeline - http://oldcomputers.net

NEC TREK PC-6001, Part II

Please donate at: https://www.patreon.com/FloppyDays.

Welcome to Floppy Days #122 for January, 2023. And I'm your host, Randy Kindig.

We are currently covering the very productive year for home computers of 1982. As regular listeners will know, we've been covering the ZX Spectrum and the myriad of information about that machine. While we still have more information to cover, such as emulation, Web sites, and a lot more, we are currently taking a tiny step back to pick up coverage of a machine that I recently acquired and wanted to talk about, but which came out in very late 1981. That machine is the Nippon Electric Company (NEC) PC-6001 and its US variation, the PC-6001A, or NEC-TREK. It actually was released in November, 1981 in Japan. Thus, you can see that this is really a very tiny detour to go back and pick up this machine. It's one I didn't know about, honestly, and when I acquired a very clean, boxed version in the Great Barn Find of 2022, not only did I decide to keep the machine but also to cover it on Floppy Days. I hope you can forgive me this minor detour off the path of covering the machines in the approx. order they were released. I think you'll find this machine interesting, as I did, and enjoy hearing about it.

This is the second episode of a 2-part arc on this machine, due to the amount of material we were able to pull together and length of time it took to go through it. Last episode we covered history and tech specs (as well as a brief interview with my co-host), and this month we will cover the remaining usual topics.

With me this month again to provide the co-hosting duties will be Carlos Camacho. Carlos lived in Japan for a while and has a great perspective on this line of computers, as well as a lot of experience and knowledge around Japanese computers in general, which I think you'll find interesting. The research he did on the PC-6000 line a few years ago was a tremendous help in pulling together information for this show. At the end of the day, if you have an interest in acquiring anything for this platform, you'll need the information that Carlos provides on how to navigate the Japanese vintage computer market. I know I learned a ton from Carlos.

Very soon we'll return to ZX Spectrum coverage.

As usual, I will also talk a bit about a few new acquisitions (beyond the barn find) that have come my way. In addition, I'll briefly tell you about upcoming shows of which I'm aware and share any feedback I've gotten.

I hope you enjoy the show!

Links Mentioned in the Show:

New Acquisitions

• IBM PC5140 Display Adapter - http://ohlandl.ipv7.net/5140/5140.html#CRT_Display
• Spectrum Machine Language for the Absolute Beginner by William Tang - https://amzn.to/3Y1p8rq
• C128D JiffyDOS - https://store.go4retro.com/jiffydos-kernal-rom-overlay-ic/
• Atari Fast BASIC - https://github.com/dmsc/fastbasic

Upcoming Computer Shows

• VCF East 2023 - Apr 14-16, 2023 - InfoAge Science and History Museums, Wall, NJ - https://vcfed.org/events/vintage-computer-festival-east/
• The Commodore Los Angeles Super Show - April 15-16, 2023 - Burbank VFW Hall, Burbank, CA - https://www.portcommodore.com/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=class:start
• 31st Annual "Last" CocoFest - April 22-23, 2023 - Holiday Inn & Suites Chicago, Carol Stream, IL - https://www.glensideccc.com/cocofest/
• Indy Classic Computer and Video Game Expo - April 29 & 30 - Crowne Plaza Airport Hotel, Indianapolis, IN - https://indyclassic.org/
• Pacific Commodore Expo NW v4 - June 24-25 - "Interim" Computer Museum, Seattle, WA - https://www.portcommodore.com/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=pacommex:start j
• KansasFest, the largest and longest running annual Apple II conference - July 18-23, 2023 - Rockhurst University in Kansas City, Missouri - https://www.kansasfest.org/
• Southern Fried Gaming Expo - July 28-30 2023 - Atlanta, GA - https://gameatl.com/
• Portland Retro Gaming Expo - October 13-15, 2023 - Oregon Convention Center - https://retrogamingexpo.com/

Feedback

• Khalid Yousif
• NEC PC-6001 MkII SR FM synth music capability - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvVq8MHoybA
• Khalid's website to document and archive findings on the Iraqi Warkaas - https://warkaa.org/
• YouTube Playlist by Todd Geiger - Computers - In Their Own Words
• Byte High No Limit Podcast - https://sunspotstories.podbean.com/

Popular Magazines/Newsletters

• PC-6000, 6600 information magazine SAVE, produced by Hokuten (owner of pc-6001.net) - http://www.pc-6001.net/p6/save/index.html
• Oh, PC! - all NEC models - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:First_Issue_of_Oh!PC.jpg
• I/O Magazine - https://archive.org/details/iomagazine
• PIO Magazine - https://archive.org/details/PioVol.1

Books

• PC-6000,6600 related book list - http://www.pc-6001.net/p6/syoseki/index.html
• Amazon Japan - to get books in Japanese

Software

• TOSEC: NEC PC 6001 (archive.org) - https://archive.org/details/NEC_PC_6001_TOSEC_2012_04_23
• Software Compilation Neo Kobe - NEC PC-6001 (archive.org) - https://archive.org/details/Neo_Kobe_NEC_PC-6001_2016-02-25

Ads and Appearances

• https://oldcomputers.net/nec-pc-6001.html
• video ad - (Japanese with English subtitles)
• https://archive.org/details/necpapikonpc6001acomputercommercial1981subsvtcdvplemfm
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTCdVPlemFM

Emulators

• https://retrocomputing.stackexchange.com/questions/12241/how-do-i-use-nec-pc-6001-p6-or-cas-files
• PC6001V - http://papicom.net/p6v/
• PC6001VW - http://p6ers.net/bernie/develop/pc6001vw3.html
• iP6 and iP6 Plus
• Windy's Room - http://www.eonet.ne.jp/~windy/index.html
• iP6 home page - http://www.retropc.net/isio/ip6/
• VNECTREK - October 27, 2009 in the Wayback Machine - https://web.archive.org/web/20091027114600/http://www.geocities.com/emucompboy/
• MAME/MESS - https://www.mamedev.org/

Buying One Today

• freight forwarding companies
• buyee
• zenmarket
• Jauce

Community

• Facebook - Japanese Vintage Computer Users - https://www.facebook.com/groups/japanesevintagecomputers
• Forums
• AtariAge - https://forums.atariage.com/forum/116-classic-computing-discussion/
• VC Federation - https://forum.vcfed.org/index.php?forums/other/
• PC-6000,6600 information bulletin board at pc-6001.net - http://www.pc-6001.net/cgi/p6bbs/imgbbs.cgi
• Reddit - https://www.reddit.com/r/pc6001/

Current Web Sites

• Purchasing today at The Beep Shop - https://www.beep-shop.com/list/pc60_c.html
• Write-up of the PC-6001 at the 1982 Consumer Electronics Show in the May, 1982 Byte Magazine (archive.org)
• Write-up of the PC-6001 in the March, 1983 Byte Magazine (archive.org) https://archive.org/details/byte-magazine-1983-03-rescan/page/n503/mode/2up?view=theater&q=6000
• NEC PC-6001 search at archive.org - https://archive.org/search.php?query=nec+pc-6001&sin=
• Obscure Systems Showcase: 10 Games For The NEC PC6001 by Sharopolis (YouTube) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jREmdyXXLhE
• The PC-6001: NEC's home challenger by Re:Enthused (YouTube) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYfC3YwvGLA
• PC-6001 series portal site - http://p6ers.net/
• some PC-6001 software (WAV for real machine and .P6 for emulator) - http://inufuto.web.fc2.com/8bit/
• iP6 information and links at retropc.net - http://www.retropc.net/isio/2ndindex.html
• PC-6001 World - http://www.pc-6001.net/p6/index.html
• http://vector.co.jp - download site

References

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PC-6000_series
• NEC Retro - https://necretro.org/
• https://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=177&st=1
• GiantBomb.com - https://www.giantbomb.com/nec-pc-6001/3045-115/
• OldComputers.net - https://oldcomputers.net/nec-pc-6001.html
• https://www.wikiwand.com/en/PC-6000_series
• https://forums.atariage.com/topic/233915-i-now-own-and-am-baffled-by-a-japanese-nec-pc-6001/

Co-host

• The Color Computer Store - https://twitter.com/trs80cocostore, @TRS80CocoStore, https://www.ebay.com/usr/colorcomputerstore

Please donate at: https://www.patreon.com/FloppyDays.

Welcome to Floppy Days #121 for December, 2022. And I'm your host, Randy Kindig. Happy holidays to all!

We are currently covering the very productive year for home computers of 1982. As regular listeners will know, we've been covering the ZX Spectrum and the myriad of information about that machine. While we still have more information to cover, such as emulation, Web sites, and a lot more, we're going to take a tiny step back and pick up coverage of a machine that I recently acquired and wanted to talk about, but which came out in very late 1981. That machine is the Nippon Electric Company (NEC) PC-6001 and its US variation, the PC-6001A, or NEC-TREK. It actually was released in November, 1981 in Japan. So, you can see that this is really a very tiny detour to go back and pick up this machine. It's one I didn't know about, honestly, and when I acquired a very clean, boxed version in the Great Barn Find of 2022, not only did I decide to keep the machine but also to cover it on Floppy Days. I hope you can forgive me this minor detour off the path of covering the machines in the approx. order they were released. I think you'll find this machine interesting, as I did, and enjoy hearing about it.

With me this month to provide the co-hosting duties will be Carlos Camacho. Carlos lived in Japan for a while and has a great perspective on this line of computers, as well as a lot of experience and knowledge around Japanese computers in general, which I think you'll find interesting. The research he did on the PC-6000 line a few years ago was a tremendous help in pulling together information for this show.

This will be a 2-part episode, due to the amount of material we were able to pull together and length of time it took to go through it.

After that, we'll return to ZX Spectrum coverage.

As usual, I will also talk a bit about what I have been up to, including an update on the The Great Barn Find of 2022, as well as a few new acquisitions (beyond the barn find) that have come my way. In addition, I'll briefly tell you about upcoming shows of which I'm aware and share any feedback I've gotten.

Finally, while I usually abstain from talking about monetary support for this podcast, I do want to mention that I have a way for you to help if you have the inclination. I have a page set up at https://www.patreon.com/FloppyDays where you can donate. Any funds will be used to defray the cost of managing the podcast as well as acquiring new hardware to talk about. On that topic, I do intend to beef up the various Floppy Days offerings, including some additional content depending on the donation level at Patreon. Look for that as soon as I've figured out what I want to offer and how to manage it. I do want to send out a heart-felt thank you for everyone who has already contributed and continues to contribute!

I hope you enjoy the show!

Links Mentioned in the Show:

New Acquisitions

• Tandy M100/T102 items from http://www.ArcadeShopper.com
• Inside Commodore DOS by Richard Immers and Gerald G. Neufeld
• The Personal Computer BASIC S Reference Manual by Donald A. Sordillo
• An Introduction to Electronic Data Processing by Roger Nett and Stanley A Hetzler
• Principles of Compiler Design by Alfred V. Aho and Jeffrey D. Ullman
• A Comparative Study of Programming Languages by Bryan Higman
• Assembly Language Programming for the IBM Personal Computer by David J. Bradley

Upcoming Computer Shows

• VCF East 2023 - Apr 14-16, 2023 - InfoAge Science and History Museums, Wall, NJ - https://vcfed.org/events/vintage-computer-festival-east/
• 31st Annual "Last" CocoFest - April 22-23, 2023 - Holiday Inn & Suites Chicago, Carol Stream, IL - https://www.glensideccc.com/cocofest/
• Indy Classics presented by Indy Vintage Computer Club - late April - near Indy airport - TBA

Feedback

• Byte High No Limit Podcast episode - https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/byte-high-no-limit/id1649091845?i=1000590462992
• You can play the Elite game yourself here - https://www.bbcelite.com/hacks/teletext_elite.html

Co-host Interview

• The Color Computer Store - https://twitter.com/trs80cocostore, @TRS80CocoStore, https://www.ebay.com/usr/colorcomputerstore

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

Welcome to Floppy Days #120 for November, 2022. And I'm your host, Randy Kindig. I hope everyone is well.

We are currently covering the very productive year for home computers of 1982. This episode is the continuation of a multi-episode arc that covers the Spectrum through all the usual topics. I'm still unsure how many episodes we're going to end up with in this arc. There's so much to talk about and so many knowledgeable people on the subject, that the Spectrum is probably going to set the illustrious Floppy Days record for the number of episodes about a single machine. This is the fifth of those, with the first having been the interview with John Grant of Nine Tiles, the second and third being coverage of the history of the Spectrum with Alessandro Grussu, and the fourth being the interview with the author of the terrific book "The ZX Spectrum Ula: How to Design a Microcomputer"; Mr. Chris Smith.

As I don't know of anyone who knows more about the internals of this machine than Chris, as evidenced by his book, other than maybe the original designers, Chris continues to help me with this episode and we cover the tech specs of the Spectrum.

As usual, I will also talk a bit about what I have been up to, including an update on the The Great Barn Find of 2022, as well as a few new acquisitions (beyond the barn find) that have come my way. In addition, I'll briefly tell you about upcoming shows of which I'm aware and share any feedback I've gotten.

Finally, while I usually abstain from talking about monetary support for this podcast, I do want to mention that I have a way for you to help if you have the inclination. I have a page set up at https://www.patreon.com/FloppyDays where you can donate. Any funds will be used to defray the cost of managing the podcast as well as acquiring new hardware to talk about. On that topic, I do intend to beef up the various Floppy Days offerings, including some additional content depending on the donation level at Patreon. Look for that as soon as I've figured out what I want to offer and how to manage it. I do want to send out a heart-felt thank you for everyone who has already contributed and continues to contribute!

Before we get started, I want to apologize for the lateness of this episode. It's being published a couple days into December due to my son having been in the hospital the past week. However, I'm happy to report that he's home now and I'm delighted to be able to get this to you now. I hope you enjoy it.

Links Mentioned in the Show:

Upcoming Shows

• World of Commodore = Dec. 3-4. - Mississauga, Ontario, Canada - https://www.tpug.ca/world-of-commodore/world-of-commodore-2022 - Virtual and Physical!
• VCF East 2023 - Apr 14-16, 2023 - InfoAge Science and History Museums, Wall, NJ - https://vcfed.org/events/vintage-computer-festival-east/
• Indy Classics presented by Indy Vintage Computer Club - late April - near Indy airport

Feedback

• Josh Renaud blog - https://breakintochat.com/blog/2022/11/26/bringing-dry-bones-back-to-life-the-kirschen-software-collection/

Tech Specs

• The ZX Spectrum Ula: How to Design a Microcomputer (ZX Design Retro Computer) Illustrated Edition by Christopher David Smith (Author) - https://www.amazon.com/ZX-Spectrum-Ula-Microcomputer-Computer/dp/0956507107