The Retrobits Podcast

All Hail the Chickenhead!

Welcome to Show #101! This week's topic: An Interview with Bil Herd, former Commodore Engineer (Part II)!

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

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.5 License.

Long live the Chickenhead!

Welcome to Show 100! Thanks for another great year!

This week's topic: An Interview with Bil Herd, former Commodore Engineer (Part I)!

Links discussed on today's show:Two entertaining videos on YouTube - witness PDP 11 programming along with some campy acting! Also, check out this British computer history documentary, with the tagline GIGO - we all know that acronym...

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

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.5 License.

Remember, wherever you went, there you were.

Welcome to Show 099! This week's topic: The 2007 State Of The Podcast!

Links discussed on today's show:z80pack 1.14 is released - a Z80 cross-development / simulator package with simulation of many virtual CP/M machine components!Missed the Vintage Computer Festival East 4.0? Videos clips are on YouTube...Gamasutra has a nice article on Star Raiders, "Video Game's First Space Opera"!

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

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.5 License.

We're BACK!!!

Welcome to Show 098! This week's topic: My Koala Pad Adventure!

Links discussed on today's show:Check out the nicely scanned 1984 review of the Epson PX-8 on the Byte Cellar blog site!Happy 30th birthday, Atari 2600! Here's an article at Retro Thing commemorating the occasion...Vintage Computer Festival 10.0? Really? Yep, have a look!

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

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.5 License.

I pressed the End key, and it was all over.

Welcome to Show 097! This week's topic: Ethernet!

Direct link to the Retrobits Podcast Forum (until the URL is repaired)...Have a look at the site for the Dick Smith System 80 (a TRS-80 clone, but with a style of its own!)

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

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.5 License.

Beauty is only case-deep.

Welcome to Show 096! This week's topic: Retro Computer Style!

Direct link to the Retrobits Podcast Forum (until the URL is repaired)...There's a new Commodore free online magazine - Commodore Free! Have a look - downloadable PDF, text, or D64 (disk image) versions available.

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

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.5 License.

Relax...it's only 1s and 0s...

Welcome to Show 095! This week's topic: Retro Computer Restoration!

Direct link to the Retrobits Podcast Forum (until the URL is repaired)...These Sharp pocket computers sure are fun - like the Sharp Pocket Computer PC-1211...An Amiga cooked up in an FPGA circuit? Cool! Check out the Minimig!Writing games for a retro computer is good for you. Entering a contest is even better, like the Minigame Compo...The VAXMAN has an awesome museum of large systems - wow, the dedication. You should see it!Restorations of big or rare systems isn't for everyone, but the Computer History Museum has some nice work in this area...

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

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.5 License.

Programmer - an organism that turns coffee into software.

Welcome to Show 094! This week's topic: The Sharp PC-1500 Pocket Computer!

Direct link to the Retrobits Podcast Forum (until the URL is repaired)...Want to learn about the Mattel Aquarius? Here's a page that could get you started...Have a look at Emma's GameIntro video blog, video game intros with many retro/vintage titles!Sites with info on the PC-1500: the Pocket Computer Museum site, the Sharp PC-1500 computer (TRS-80 PC-2) resource page, Old computers dot com, and the Vintage Computers web site.PC-1500 emulators include Pock'Emul, and the Sharp PC-1500A emulator!

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

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.5 License.

When you get to the point where you really understand your computer, it's probably obsolete.

Welcome to Show 093! This week's topic: The IBM System/360!

Direct link to the Retrobits Podcast Forum (until the URL is repaired)...Check out what's happening at KansasFest, and all the other great stuff, at the A2Central.com portal!A very interesting piece of history - an article describing the design motivations behind one of the most successful computer architectures ever - the System/360. (PDF format...)Want to convert from your old system to the System/360? Of course you do! And this IBM color flip book from the 1960s will show you how...link courtesy of the Computer History Museum (PDF format...)Why did some mainframes use a 36-bit word length? Wikipedia will tell you!Want to emulate a mainframe on your PC? No, I'm not kidding. Have a look at Hercules...If you want to be in the System/360 "in crowd", you're going to need a IBM System/360 reference card (a.k.a. the "green card")!Want to just read about the IBM System/360? Here's the Wikipedia page, and here's a history page with other info...

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

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.5 License.

Hi there...

The Retrobits Podcast is taking a break this week. Be sure to tune in next week for more retrocomputing goodness! And thanks for listening!

- Earl