The Retrobits Podcast

Welcome to Show 027! This week's Topic: The Beginner's All-Purpose Symbolic Instruction Code (or BASIC, for short...)

Topics and links discussed in the podcast...

More Commodore news - here's an interview with Bil Herd on the Commodore Plus/4 World website! Check out the Vintage Computing and Gaming website for "adventures in collecting, playing, and hacking vintage computing and gaming devices." If you're in the US and interested in products from Individual Computers (e.g., the Retro Replay), then have a look at the C64 Reloaded Store. As always, it's all there on Wikipedia - articles on the BASIC programming language, Dartmouth BASIC, and the Dartmouth Timesharing System! Want to program in BASIC on modern day systems? Have a look at FreeBASIC, DarkBASIC, BlitzBASIC, or Visual BASIC.NET 2005.

Be sure to send any comments, questions or feedback to [email protected].

For online discussions on Retrobits Podcast topics, check out the Retrobits Podcast forum on the PETSCII Forums page!

Our Theme Song is "Sweet" from the "Re-Think" album by Galigan.

Thanks for listening!

- Earl

Welcome to Show 026! This week's Topic: A Book Review: On The Edge - The Spectacular Rise And Fall Of Commodore!

Topics and links discussed in the podcast...

Check this out - an Atari Paddle Controller with 13 Built-in Games from Jakks Pacific! The galleries of GUIs, have a look at various GUIs in all their point and click glory, here, and here. Classic Computers Of The Past 2006 Calendar, your time may be running out to grab one of these beauties! The web site for the main show topic, On The Edge...

Be sure to send any comments, questions or feedback to [email protected].

For online discussions on Retrobits Podcast topics, check out the Retrobits Podcast forum on the PETSCII Forums page!

Our Theme Song is "Sweet" from the "Re-Think" album by Galigan.

Thanks for listening!

- Earl

Just a reminder that I'm on vacation this week, and I wanted to wish you and yours the happiest of holidays, and a safe and prosperous 2006! See you next year with more retrocomputing fun!

Earl and the Evans Family

Welcome to Show 025! This week is a variety show!

Topics and links discussed in the podcast...

Commodore Returns? Not quite, but the brand name and logo live on! Check it out at the Commodore web site. Have a look at the Space-Time Productions Single Board Computer, a Z80 single board system from 1982! (Link revised Feb 2006) Need a multitasking OS with windowing UI for your Amstrad CPC? Well, you are in luck, check out the SymbOS web site for more details! Ars Technica has a neat multi-page article on the history of microcomputers and their associated market share. You can see it here. The inventor of the mouse and many other key components of modern computing, Doug Englebart, is the guest for the current episode of NerdTV. Very interesting episode. Wonder how retro games were made? Read the diary of a game developer from the mid 80s during the creation of a very popular game, Paradroid! You can find this at the most excellent ZZAP 64 web site.

Be sure to send any comments, questions or feedback to [email protected].

For online discussions on Retrobits Podcast topics, check out the Retrobits Podcast forum on the PETSCII Forums page!

Our Theme Song is "Sweet" from the "Re-Think" album by Galigan.

Thanks for listening!

- Earl

Welcome to Show 024! This week we cover the Tandy MC-10 Micro Color Computer!

Topics and links discussed in the podcast...

See photos from the World Of Commodore show here and here! Wikipedia has a page on the MC-10. I love that site! And old-computers.com has a great MC-10 page also! Charlie's TRS-80 MC-10 web page has software and links for the MC-10. The trs80mc10club can be found on Yahoo! Groups (membership is free, but requires registration). Lots of techy specs on the MC-10 can be found at the "Inside the Radio Shack MC-10" page! Don't have a MC-10? No problem! Visit the "James the Animal Tamer's Emulators" page, and pick up Virtual MC-10! For cool software, extended BASIC, other software mods and info, check out The MC10 Archive.

Be sure to send any comments, questions or feedback to [email protected].

For online discussions on Retrobits Podcast topics, check out the Retrobits Podcast forum on the PETSCII Forums page!

Our Theme Song is "Sweet" from the "Re-Think" album by Galigan.

Thanks for listening!

- Earl

Welcome to Show 023! This week's topic: Recollections Of Big Iron.

Topics and links discussed in the podcast...

The IBM 1130 site has great information about this older system, including an emulator and some MP3s of a fun presentation. Check it out! Have a look at a Teletype ASR33. Wish you could hear the sound they made! With the SIMH emulator, you can visit many systems of the past, including a PDP-11 running RSTS!

Be sure to send any comments, questions or feedback to [email protected].

For online discussions on Retrobits Podcast topics, check out the Retrobits Podcast forum on the PETSCII Forums page!

Our Theme Song is "Sweet" from the "Re-Think" album by Galigan.

Thanks for listening!

- Earl

Welcome to Show 022! This week's topic: VisiCalc - The Killer Application

Topics and links discussed in the podcast...

An Atari 800 laptop? Believe it! Brought to you by the hardware genius of Benjamin Heckendorn. Check out Dan Bricklin's own web site, with info on VisiCalc, and a host of other information! Thanks to NerdTV for interviewing Dan Bricklin, and for making their show available under a Creative Commons license.

Be sure to send any comments, questions or feedback to [email protected].

For online discussions on Retrobits Podcast topics, check out the Retrobits Podcast forum on the PETSCII Forums page!

Our Theme Song is "Sweet" from the "Re-Think" album by Galigan.

Thanks for listening!

- Earl

Welcome to Show 021! This week we cover Assembly Language, the Happy Place for many 8-bit programmers.

Topics and links discussed in the podcast...

More episodes of the C64 Take Away Podcast! Excellent!

Be sure to send any comments, questions or feedback to [email protected].

For online discussions on Retrobits Podcast topics, check out the Retrobits Podcast forum on the PETSCII Forums page!

Our Theme Song is "Sweet" from the "Re-Think" album by Galigan.

Thanks for listening!

- Earl

Welcome to Show 020! This week: The Bad, The Worse, And The Ugly...

Topics and links discussed in the podcast...

Cyber1.org is a group of people dedicated to the preservation of the world's first computer-based community, PLATO. Check out this episode of Computer Chronicles: First of a two-part series on on-line services such as CompuServe, the Source and DowJones, featuring Steve Case, at the time VP of Marketing at QuantumLink, and eventual head of AOL. Ira Goldklang's TRS-80 Revived Site is a great resource for all things TRS-80! Have a look at MindCandy for a taste of the PC demo scene, and also, coming soon, the Amiga Demo Scene. RetroGaming Radio is a FREE monthly MP3 radio show spotlighting the greatest era of video gaming. The Classic Computers of the Past Calendar is a 12 month 2006 wall calendar packed with popular computers from the 1980's! Sweet! Makes a great gift for the holidays... More pictures from the Vintage Computer Festival 8.0 are up! Retro computing fun and frivolity at it's best.

Be sure to send any comments, questions or feedback to [email protected].

For online discussions on Retrobits Podcast topics, check out the Retrobits Podcast forum on the PETSCII Forums page!

Our Theme Song is "Sweet" from the "Re-Think" album by Galigan.

Thanks for listening!

- Earl

Welcome to Show 019! This week's topic: The ZX Spectrum +3!

Topics and links discussed in the podcast...

QuantumLink Reloaded was on display at the Vintage Computer Festival 8.0! There is now a Retrobits Podcast Discussion Forum, courtesy of Jeff Ledger and the PETSCII Forum! Thanks Jeff! The World Of Spectrum has a file archive, technical docs, links, and more! If you want to run a Spectrum emulator straight from your Java-enabled web browser, then Jasper may be just the thing for you. Have a look at the ZX Spectrum page on Wikipedia. While you're there, check out links from that page for info on Sinclair Research, and Amstrad. Planet Sinclair, a site all about Sir Clive Sinclair and his inventions, has a page on the ZX Spectrum +3. You can always trust Old Computers dot com to have a page on the retro computer you're researching! The "Your Sinclair Rock'n'Roll" page has the issues of "Your Sinclair" for your online reading enjoyment.

Be sure to send any comments, questions or feedback to [email protected].

For online discussions on Retrobits Podcast topics, check out the Retrobits Podcast forum on the PETSCII Forums page!

Our Theme Song is "Sweet" from the "Re-Think" album by Galigan.

Thanks for listening!

- Earl