Floppy Days Vintage Computing Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Floppy Days 52 - TI99 Software,Books,Magazines with Chris Schneider and Rich Polivka Feb 21, 2016

Show notes

Welcome to episode 52 of the Floppy Days Podcast where we talk about our beloved old computers like some guys talk about their old cars. I’m Randy Kindig. I want to thank Michael Glaser for providing his thoughts and memories of the TI-99 computer. No, this hasn’t suddenly turned into a TI-99 podcast. However, this IS the fourth in a series of what now will be 5 episodes on the TI-99/4A home computer. There just turned out to be so much material on this very interesting machine and so much interest in the community, that this turned out to be quite an extended series. Having already covered history and technical topics on previous episodes, I had originally intended this episode to cover everything from software and magazines to Web sites, but by the time my co-hosts and I had gotten through the material it turned out to be over 2 hours of audio and I decided to break it into 2 parts. This episode will cover TI-99 software, books, magazines, ads and user groups while the next one will cover emulation and Web sites. My very special co-hosts for this episode are two more luminaries in the TI-99 community: Chris Schneider, who produces the SHIFT838 newsletter and Rich Polivka, who manages the popular 99er.net Web site. They provide a very interesting perspective on the TI-99 and I think you will enjoy this show.

One final thought. It was 3 years ago this month, on Sunday, Feb. 17, that I posted the very first episode of Floppy Days. It’s incredible to think that here we are 51 episodes later, still going strong. I was new to the podcasting game at that time, unsure how well the show would be received or if anyone would care, but determined to do this because it seemed like a tremendous amount of fun to learn about all the old computers from the 70’s and 80’s. I’ve been blown away by the interest and support from the community and have made an awful lot of friends along the way. I honestly and deeply want to thank everyone who helped me produce this show, provided an interview, or simply provided words of encouragement. Who would have thought that there would be 1,000 or so geeks like me out there who would care enough about old computers to listen to me ramble on month after month. All I can say, is thank you so much, and please keep listening because I have a lot of ideas for interesting shows for some time to come.

Links Mentioned in the Show:

New Acquisitions

“The Atari Book Volume 2” - http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01BKS5SHU/?tag=flodaypod-20
“Kids and the Commodore 64” by Edward H. Carlson - http://www.amazon.com/dp/0942386779/?tag=flodaypod-20

News

Bill Degnan’s “History of Commodore Computers” Poster - http://www.vintagecomputer.net/poster_detail.cfm
Floppy Days Logo Contest Poll - https://www.facebook.com/groups/floppydays/permalink/1699121653679601/?qa_ref=qd
VCF Southeast 4.0 - April 2 & 3 2016, Roswell, GA - http://vcfed.org/wp/festivals/vintage-computer-festival-southeast-4-0/
VCF East - April 15-17, 2016 - InfoAge Science Center, 2201 Marconi Rd., Wall, NJ, 07719 - http://vcfed.org/wp/festivals/vintage-computer-festival-southeast-4-0/
25th Annual Last Chicago CoCoFest - http://www.glensideccc.com/cocofest/ - April 23 & 24, 2016, Heron Point Convention Center, Lombard, IL, Sat. 9-5, Sun. 9-3
TI Fest West 2016 - http://atariage.com/forums/topic/248617-pnw-ti-994a-fest-west-2016-april-30th/ - April 30, Centralia WA
KansasFest, 28th edition - https://www.kansasfest.org/ - Rockhurst University in Kansas City, Missouri, from Tuesday, July 19, through Sunday, July 24
Vintage Computer Festival West - August 6-7 at the Computer History Museum, in Mountain View, California. - http://vcfed.org/wp/festivals/vintage-computer-festival-west-xi/
VCF MIDWEST 11 September 10-11, 2016, Elk Grove Village, IL - http://www.vcfmw.org/
Portland Retro Gaming Expo - 11th annual Expo at the Oregon Convention Center on October 21-23, 2016 - http://www.retrogamingexpo.com/

Feedback

F18A Video Upgrade by Matthew Hagerty - http://codehackcreate.com/store#!/F18A-V1-7-Video-Board/p/14022176/category=0
ArcadeShopper.com by Gregory McGill - http://www.arcadeshopper.com/

Interview With Co-Hosts

SHIFT838 newsletter by Chris Schneider - http://shift838.wix.com/shift838
Rich Polivka’s 99er.net - webmaster@99er.net

Magazine/Newsletters

Repository of newsletters, magazines, books, software - ftp://ftp.whtech.com

Books

Bill Gaskill’s “Cartridge Collection Kit” - http://www.99er.net/cartkitreview.html

Software

Turbo Forth for the TI-99/4A by Mark Wills - http://turboforth.net
Extended BASIC 2.7 Suite Cartridge by Tony Knerr - http://www.arcadeshopper.com/wp/?page_id=11#!/Extended-Basic-2-7-Suite/p/44354005/category=15846004

Floppy Days 51 - TI99 Tech Specs, Modern Upgrades with Tursi Jan 25, 2016

Show notes

The TI-99/4A - Tech Specs, Peripherals, Modern Upgrades with Tursi

This show is a continuation of the on-going series about the TI-99/4A computer. In the last couple of episodes, I had TI-99 fans Jim Fetzner and Mark Wills on the show and interviewed them about their experiences with the TI-99 and then we covered the history of the machine. In this show, I have a new co-host, Mike Brent, better known as Tursi or Harmless Lion, the creator of the Classic 99 emulator and so much more. After a short interview with Tursi, we discuss the technical aspects of the TI-99, including the tech specs, peripherals, modern upgrades, and connectivity to modern computers. It’s an information-filled show, so I hope you enjoy it.

Before we get into that, I’ll discuss a few new vintage computer-related acquisitions that have come my way, give you the scoop on upcoming shows, and share with you a few pieces of feedback I’ve received about the show from listeners.

Links Mentioned in the Show:

Intro

Bill Degnan’s VintageComputer.net - http://www.vintagecomputer.net
Bill Degnan’s “History of Commodore Computers” Poster - http://www.vintagecomputer.net/poster_detail.cfm

New Acquisitions

“The Future Was Here: The Commodore Amiga (Platform Studies)” - Jimmy Maher, The MIT Press - http://www.amazon.com/dp/0262017202/?tag=flodaypod-20
Tiny Pascal for the TRS-80 Model I - https://archive.org/details/Tiny_Pascal_1982_Tandy

News

Amigospodcast - http://www.amigospodcast.com/
TRS-Box - Dropbox client for MISE/M3SE equipped TRS-80 - http://pski.net/trs-box/

Upcoming Shows

VCF Southeast 4.0 - April 2 & 3 2016, Roswell, GA
VCF East - April 15-17, 2016 - InfoAge Science Center, 2201 Marconi Rd., Wall, NJ, 07719 - http://www.vintagecomputerfederation.org/festivals/vintage-computer-festival-east/
25th Annual Last Chicago CoCoFest - http://www.glensideccc.com/cocofest/ - April 23 & 24, 2016, Heron Point Convention Center, Lombard, IL, Sat. 9-5, Sun. 9-3
VCF Midwest 11 September 10-11, 2016, Elk Grove Village, IL - http://www.vcfmw.org/

Feedback

TI-99 Beginner’s Video by Roland - https://youtu.be/I-S-BmJCV_c
Roland’s YouTube Channel - https://www.youtube.com/user/VectrexRoli/

Interview with Co-host

Tursi’s Web Site - http://www.harmlesslion.com
Classic 99 Emulator by Tursi - http://www.harmlesslion.com/cgi-bin/showprog.cgi?search=Classic99
PS/2 Keyboard Adapter for the TI-99 by Tursi - http://atariage.com/forums/blog/567/entry-11851-a-ps2-keyboard-on-a-ti-994a/
UberGROM Simulator by Tursi - http://www.harmlesslion.com/cgi-bin/showprog.cgi?search=uber

Modern Upgrades/Connectivity

F18A Video Upgrade by Matthew Hagerty - http://codehackcreate.com/store#!/F18A-V1-7-Video-Board/p/14022176/category=0
Extended BASIC 2.7 Suite Cartridge by Tony Knerr - http://www.arcadeshopper.com/wp/?page_id=11#!/Extended-Basic-2-7-Suite/p/44354005/category=15846004
Turbo Forth for the TI-99/4A by Mark Wills - http://turboforth.net
FBForth by Lee Stewart - http://atariage.com/forums/topic/210660-fbforthti-forth-with-file-based-block-io-post-1-updated-12082015/
NanoPEB and CF7+ - http://webpages.charter.net/nanopeb/
HDX update for the RS232 card by Fred Kaal - http://www.ti99-geek.nl/

Reference

Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_Instruments_TI-99/4A

Floppy Days 50 - TI-99 History Dec 20, 2015

Show notes

The TI-99/4A - History, with Jim Fetzner and Mark Wills

This is the second in a multi-part series on the TI-99/4A computer. For this history segment, I was lucky enough to find a couple of people who have an incredible history with the TI-99, Jim Fetzner and Mark Wills. Jim has an extensive, multilingual library of all things TI and possesses some very interesting hardware items related to the TI-99. Mark is the author of TurboForth for the TI-99/4A and has been involved in the TI-99/4A scene pretty much since 1983. He’s also English, living in the UK, so he has a rather British take on the home computer wars. I will cover TI-99 history with the help of these two gentlemen. I think you will find this very interesting!

Links Mentioned in the Show:

Intro

Bill Degnan’s VintageComputer.net - http://www.vintagecomputer.net
Bill Degnan’s “History of Commodore Computers” Poster - http://www.vintagecomputer.net/poster_detail.cfm

New Acquisitions

Tricky Tutorial #5 (Player/Missile Graphics for the Atari - http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-400-800-xl-xe-tricky-tutorial-no--5-player-missile-graphics_28271.html
Tricky Tutorial #6 (Sound and Music) for the Atari - http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-400-800-xl-xe-tricky-tutorial-no--6-sound-and-music_28278.html
Tricky Tutorial #11 (Memory Map) for the Atari - http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-400-800-xl-xe-tricky-tutorial-no-11-memory-map-tutorial_28283.html
Atari Logo - http://www.atarimagazines.com/v2n6/logo.html
Atari 130XE Package from Ron Luks - https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10208571288938997&set=gm.1662349070709066&type=3&theater
REX for M100 - http://bitchin100.com/wiki/index.php?title=REX
Club 100 - Club for the TRS-80 Model 100 - http://www.club100.org/
TRS-80 Model 100 Mailing List Subscription Page - http://lists.bitchin100.com/listinfo.cgi/m100-bitchin100.com
HP-85B Owner’s Guide and Programming Manual - http://www.greendyk.nl/hp85/

News

Stan Veit Audiobook Podcast, published by David Greelish - http://www.classiccomputing.com/CCPodcasts/Stan_Veit/Stan_Veit.html
RetroChallenge 2016/01 - http://www.retrochallenge.org/
The M3SE Project by Peter Bartlett - http://bartlettlabs.com/M3SE/
Vintage is the New Old - http://vintageisthenewold.com
VCF Southeast 4.0 - April 2 & 3 2016, Roswell, GA
VCF East - April 15-17, 2016 - InfoAge Science Center, Wall, NJ - http://www.vintagecomputerfederation.org/festivals/vintage-computer-festival-east/
25th Annual Last Chicago CoCoFest - http://www.glensideccc.com/cocofest/ - April 23 & 24, 2016, Heron Point Convention Center, Lombard, IL

Feedback

Quantum Link - https://www.tinytickle.co.uk/quantum-link/

History

Bill Gaskill’s TI-99 Timeline - http://www.ti99ers.org/timeline/timeline.htm
Ron Albright’s “Orphan Chronicles” - https://archive.org/details/tibook_the-orphan-chronicles
Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_Instruments_TI-99/4A

Floppy Days 49 - TI99, Interview with Jim Fetzner and Mark Wills Nov 16, 2015

Show notes

The TI-99/4A - History, Interview with Jim Fetzner and Mark Wills

In the home computer timeline, I’m currently covering computers released in the era from 1979 to 1980. Next up is the TI-99/4A. When I went to research the TI-99 I found an incredible amount of information about the machine and an involved, vibrant community surrounding it. As a result, I pulled in as many experts as I could find to be involved in providing information about this very interesting machine. I got so much involvement, and found so much information, that I will be covering the TI-99 for the next several shows. That will include the typical topics, such as history, tech specs, modern upgrades, emulation, Web sites and much more, as well as interviews with some TI luminaries. As I typically like to cover the history of the machine first, that will be the topic of the first couple of shows. For the history segment, I was lucky enough to find a couple of people who have an incredible history with the TI-99, Jim Fetzner and Mark Wills. Jim has an extensive, multilingual library of all things TI and possesses some very interesting hardware items related to the TI-99, as you will hear. Mark is the author of TurboForth for the TI-99/4A and has been involved in the TI-99/4A scene pretty much since 1983. He’s also English, living in the UK, so he has a rather British take on the home computer wars. Since the interview piece I typically do with the co-hosts before covering the main topic took so long and turned out to be so interesting in it’s own right, I decided to break out the interview into its own show and the next show will then cover just the TI-99 history with the help of these two gentlemen.

Links Mentioned in the Show:

Mark’s Forth for the TI-99/4A - http://turboforth.net

Tursi’s (Mike Brent) Website - http://harmlesslion.com

Classic99 TI-99 Emulator - http://www.harmlesslion.com/cgi-bin/showprog.cgi?search=classic99

F18A video upgrade - http://codehackcreate.com

SID Master 99 Card - Marc Hull - http://www.dsapsc.com/what-is-sid.html

ForTI - Forth-driven sound card - http://www.unige.ch/medecine/nouspikel/ti99/forti.htm

ninerpedia - http://ninerpedia.org/index.php/Main_Page

FTP Site at whtech.com - ftp://whtech.com/

Chicago TI International World Faire - http://www.chicagotiug.com/tiki-index.php?page=Faire

Floppy Days 48 - Kevin Savetz Interviews Wayne Green Oct 24, 2015

Show notes

Welcome to a special interview-only episode of the Floppy Days Podcast. For this show, we have an interview conducted by Kevin Savetz, interviewer-extraordinaire from the Antic Podcast. Kevin conducted this interview 2 years ago. Since the interviewee and topic are not Atari-related, but are very much vintage computer related, Kevin and I thought perhaps Floppy Days would be a good medium for publishing this interview.

Wayne Green, Computer Magazine Publisher

Wayne Green was founder of 73 magazine; Byte magazine; Kilobyte, which became Kilobaud, then Kilobaud Microcomputing; 80 Micro magazine for the TRS-80; Hot Coco for the TRS-80 Color Computer; Run for the Commodore 64, inCider magazine for the Apple II; and several other computer magazines.

This interview took place over Skype on January 29, 2013, when I was doing research for a book about the very first personal computer magazines — Byte, Kilobyte, and Creative Computing. Although I've decided not to write the book, I am publishing the interviews that I did for them.

Wayne Green died on September 13, 2013, eight months after we did this interview.

Teaser quotes:

"Sharing is the big deal for me. When I find something fun, interesting, I have to share it."

"Steve Jobs ... I heard about the Apple computer so my wife and I stopped by to visit him. ... He took me out to the garage and showed it to me. He says, 'What do you think?' I said 'I think you've got a winner. There's a first computer conference is going to be in Atlantic City in two weeks. Be there.' He says 'Oh, I can't afford to fly.' I said, 'Take a bus. Be there.'"

"Amelia Earhart kept her plane at my dad's airport. ... I used to play in that when I was a kid. ... I'm one of the few people who knows exactly what happened to her."

Links:

Obituary: http://www.arrl.org/news/ham-radio-publications-pioneer-visionary-iconoclast-wayne-green-w2nsd-sk

An article remembering Wayne: http://www.computerworld.com/article/2474900/windows-pcs/goodbye-wayne-green--and-thanks-for-the-memories.html

Wayne Green FBI file: https://archive.org/details/Wanye_Green_FBI_FOIA_Request_Response

Kilobaud Microcomputing issues: https://archive.org/details/kilobaudmagazine

Floppy Days 47 - Tandy CoCo, Part 3 Oct 19, 2015

Show notes

This episode is part 3 of a 3-part series on the Tandy Color Computer, also known as the CoCo. I have special guest hosts to help me again this month: John Linville and Neil Blanchard of the “CoCo Crew Podcast”. Join us as we discuss Coco magazines, books, software, modern upgrades, emulation, Web sites and much more. I also go over my new acquisitions, tell you about upcoming vintage computer shows and cover some podcast feedback. Finally, we also have audio segments from no less than 4 different CoCo fans who share with us their memories and thoughts about the Tandy Color Computer. Thank you to Michael Moore, Rick Adams, Jon Day, and Tony Cappellini for your contributions. Note that Floppy Days now has a Facebook page where you can discuss the show or vintage computers in general. Search for “Floppy Days” on Facebook. Links Mentioned in the Show: Intro Bill Degnan’s Historical Computers and Vintage Computer Restoration - http://www.vintagecomputer.net “History of Commodore Computers” poster by Bill Degnan - http://vintagecomputer.net/poster_detail.cfm New Acquisitions/What I’ve been Up To Floppy Days Podcast Facebook Page - https://www.facebook.com/groups/1556099237981844/ Floppy Days Discussion Thread on AtariAge - http://atariage.com/forums/topic/238436-floppy-days-podcast-discussion-thread/ Upcoming Floppy Days Show Schedule - http://floppydays.libsyn.com/webpage/category/Upcoming%20Show%20Schedule Intellivision Entertainment Computer System (ECS) - http://www.intellivisionlives.com/bluesky/games/credits/ecs.shtml Upcoming Shows AmiWest 2015 - http://www.amiwest.net/ Oct. 14-18, Sacramento, CA Chicago TI International World Faire - http://www.chicagotiug.com/tiki-index.php?page=Faire October 31, 2015, Evanston, IL World of Commodore - http://www.tpug.ca/category/woc/ Dec. 4-6, 2015, Toronto, Ontario, Canada VCF SE 4.0 - April 2nd and 3rd, 2016, Roswell, GA Feedback Bill Degnan’s GE television for vintage computers - http://vintagecomputer.net/ge/GE_Computer-Monitor-Television.jpg George Phillips’ Doctor Who Video done on a TRS-80 4P - http://members.shaw.ca/gp2000/drwho.html Vintage Computer Forum for the TRS-80 - http://www.vintage-computer.com/vcforum/forumdisplay.php?46-Tandy-Radio-Shack Magazines/Newsletters Chromasette - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chromasette Compute! - http://www.atarimagazines.com/compute/ Hot CoCo - http://www.colorcomputerarchive.com/coco/Documents/Magazines/Hot%20CoCo%20(Searchable%20image)/ Micro 80 - http://www.classic-computers.org.nz/system-80/literature_magazines_micro-80_archive.htm TRS-80 Microcomputer News - http://www.os9projects.com/MAGAZINES/MicroNews/MicroNews.html 80 Micro - https://archive.org/details/80-microcomputing-magazine The Color Computer News The Color Computer Magazine - https://archive.org/details/color-computer-magazine CoCo Nutz! Magazine - http://www.os9projects.com/MAGAZINES/NUTZ/Nutz.html Rainbow Magazine - https://archive.org/details/rainbowmagazine Books book archive with a lot of the mentioned books - https://sites.google.com/a/aaronwolfe.com/cococoding/home/docs Getting Started with Color BASIC (Tandy) Going Ahead with Extended Color BASIC (Tandy) TRS-80 Color Computer Assembly Language Programming by William Barden, Jr. Color Computer Graphics by William Barden, Jr. TRS-80 Color Computer Graphics by Don Inman “Unravelled” series by Spectral Associates: Color BASIC Disk BASIC Extended BASIC Super Extended BASIC The Complete Rainbow Guide to OS-9 by Dale L. Puckett and Peter Dibble The Complete Rainbow Guide to OS-9 Level II by Dale L. Puckett and Peter Dibble Tandy’s Little Wonder by F.G. Swygert - http://www.cocopedia.com/wiki/index.php/Tandy's_Little_Wonder “CoCo: The Colorful History of Tandy's Underdog Computer” by Boisy G Pitre, Bill Loguidice - http://www.amazon.com/dp/1466592478/?tag=flodaypod-20 Software Dungeons of Daggorath - https://www.facebook.com/DungeonsOfDaggorathForum Castle of Tharoggad - http://www.cocopedia.com/wiki/index.php/Castle_of_Tharoggad Downland - http://www.cocopedia.com/wiki/index.php/Downland Cave Walker - http://www.mobygames.com/game/cave-walker Rescue on Fractalis! - http://www.cocopedia.com/wiki/index.php/Rescue_on_Fractalus Koronis Rift - http://www.cocopedia.com/wiki/index.php/Koronis_Rift FahrFall - https://archive.org/details/softwarelibrary_coco_fahrfall Editor/Assembler - http://www.cocopedia.com/wiki/index.php/EDTASM%2B Logo - http://www.colorcomputerarchive.com/coco/Documents/Manuals/Programming/TRS-80%20Color%20Logo%20(Tandy).pdf Super Logo - http://www.colorcomputerarchive.com/coco/Disks/Programming/Super%20Logo%20(Tandy).zip eForth - http://www.colorcomputerarchive.com/coco/Disks/Programming/eFORTH%20(Frank%20Hogg%20Laboratory).zip Color File - https://archive.org/details/Color_File_1981_Tandy Color Scripsit - http://www.colorcomputerarchive.com/coco/Documents/Manuals/Applications/Color%20Scripsit%20(Tandy).pdf Spectaculator - https://archive.org/details/coco2cart_Spectaculator_1983_26-3104_Tandy Robot Odyssey - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robot_Odyssey Deskmate - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptiEv_Sh-NI Ads Isaac Asimov - “Get an out of this world deal on my favorite color computer” - http://www.vintagecomputing.com/index.php/archives/300/retro-scan-of-the-week-isaac-asimovs-favorite-color-computer User Groups and Shows RainbowFest - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEnPg1qPegI Glenside CoCo Club - http://www.glensideccc.com/ Last Chicago CoCoFest - April 23 & 24, 2016, Lombard, IL - http://www.glensideccc.com/cocofest/index.shtml Modern Upgrades Triad 512K RAM Upgrade - http://www.cloud9tech.com/ CoCo SDC - http://cocosdc.blogspot.com/ 6309 upgrade - http://richg42.blogspot.com/2014/02/coco-3-upgrades-hitachi-6309-cpu-512kb.html NitrOS9 - http://sourceforge.net/projects/nitros9/ Donkey Kong modified for the 6309 and 512K (Sock Master) - http://users.axess.com/twilight/sock/dk/ PS/2 keyboard adapter - http://www.cloud9tech.com/ mini-Flash - 4 16K banks of Flash - http://www.cloud9tech.com/ CoCo3FPGA - https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/CoCo3FPGA/info Connectivity to Modern Computers Drivewire - https://sites.google.com/site/drivewire4/ Emulation MESS (Mac/Windows) - Multi-Emulator Super System - http://www.mess.org/ Jeff Vavasour’s CoCo 2 and CoCo 3 emulators (DOS) - http://www.vavasour.ca/jeff/trs80.html#coco3 XROAR (Dragon and CoCo 1/2) - http://www.6809.org.uk/xroar/ VCC (Windows) - http://www.coco4.com/vcc/index.shtml by Joseph Forgione VCC at SourceForge - http://sourceforge.net/projects/vcce/ Version 2.0 8/26/15 Mocha - http://www.haplessgenius.com/mocha/mocha_original.html Community Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/2359462640/ Mailing List - Coco@maltedmedia.com , https://pairlist5.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/coco AtariAge CoCo Forum - http://atariage.com/forums/forum/174-tandy-computers/ Forum at tandycoco.com - http://www.tandycoco.com/forum/index.php The CoCo Crew Podcast - http://cococrew.org/ Coordinated CoCo Conference - http://www.coco4.com/podcasts/cococo.shtml Google+ (with links to YouTube videos) - https://plus.google.com/+Tandycoco6809/videos Current Web Sites TandyCoCo.com - http://www.tandycoco.com/ The TRS-80/Tandy Color Computer COCO SuperSite! - http://www.coco3.com/community/ CoCoCoding Website (Aaron Wolfe) - https://sites.google.com/a/aaronwolfe.com/cococoding/home/ The NitrOS9 Project - http://sourceforge.net/projects/nitros9/ OpenCoCo.net - http://opencoco.net/gf/ A set of Coco 1/2/3 web pages by L. Curtis Boyle - http://www.lcurtisboyle.com/nitros9/index.html CoCo4 Website (Steve Bjork) - http://www.coco4.com/index.shtml CoCo/OS9 Archive - http://os9projects.com/index.html Cocopedia - http://www.cocopedia.com/wiki/index.php/Main_Page Tandy Color Computer Games - http://www.lcurtisboyle.com/nitros9/coco_game_list.html Ira Goldklang's TRS-80 Revived Site - http://www.trs-80.com/wordpress/ TRS-80 Color Computer Archive - http://www.colorcomputerarchive.com/ TOSEC (The Old School Emulation Center) software collection at archive.org - https://archive.org/details/Tandy_TRS80_Color_Computer_TOSEC_2012_04_23 CoCo Central - http://coco-central.com/ Sock Master - http://users.axess.com/twilight/sock/ Cloud9 - http://www.cloud9tech.com/ Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TRS-80_Color_Computer

Full show notes at the publisher

"History of Commodore Computers" Poster Now Available Oct 10, 2015

Show notes

History of Commodore Computers poster

I want to mention a special sponsor for this show: Bill Degnan and his vintagecomputer.net Web site. Vintagecomputer.net is the place to go for information about Historical Computers and Vintage Computer Restoration. Bill has a blog where he discusses various vintage computer topics and projects and it’s a great reference site.

Bill also has put together a poster he calls “the History of Commodore Computers” which is the culmination of three years of work and research. The Commodore systems have been professionally photographed specifically for this poster and the photos appear nowhere else. This poster is ideal for any vintage computer fan, Commodore Computer collector, classic or vintage memorabilia display. This is a limited edition poster and will not be re-printed. Poster Dimensions are 24" x 36" and it includes hi-resolution images of common AND rare and hard-to-find systems including the KIM 1, PET 2001, PET 4016, PET 8032, VIC-20, C-64, C-64C, SX-64, C-128, C-128D, B-128, Plus/4, C-16, Amiga 500 and more plus selected diskette drives. The cost is $19.99 + shipping, depending on where you’re located. Check it out. It really is a great poster whether you’re a huge Commodore fan, or whether like me, you just like vintage computers in general.

Bill also donated one of these posters to the show to use for a contest of my choosing, so by the next show I will announce how that will work. Stay tuned for more information about that and thanks, Bill, for the donation of the poster.

Floppy Days 46 - Tandy CoCo, Part 2 Sep 20, 2015

Show notes

This episode is part 2 of a 3-part series on the Tandy Color Computer, also known as the CoCo. I have special guest hosts to help me this month: John Linville and Neil Blanchard of the “CoCo Crew Podcast”. Join us as we discuss Coco tech specs, peripherals and pulling it out of the box.

I also go over my new acquisitions, a short overview of VCF Midwest 10 that occurred on August 29 & 30, tell you about upcoming vintage computer shows and cover some podcast feedback.

Links Mentioned in the Show:

Intro

“CoCo: The Colorful History of Tandy's Underdog Computer” by Boisy G Pitre, Bill Loguidice - http://www.amazon.com/dp/1466592478/?tag=flodaypod-20

New Acquisitions

Atlanta Historical Computing Society (AHCS) - http://atlhcs.org/
HP-85B - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HP_series_80
VCF Midwest 10 - http://vcfmw.org/
Peter Bartlett’s Model I System Expander (MISE) - http://bartlettlabs.com/
Ian Mavric’s FreHD Hard Drive Emulator - http://ianmav.customer.netspace.net.au/trs80/emulator

News - Upcoming Shows

AmiWest 2015 - http://www.amiwest.net/ 10/14 - 10/18, 2015, Holiday Inn Express, Sacramento, CA
Chicago TI International World Faire - http://www.chicagotiug.com/tiki-index.php?page=Faire October 31, 2015, Evanston, IL
World of Commodore - http://www.tpug.ca/category/woc/ 12/4 - 12/6, 2015
VCF SE 4.0 - April 2-3, 2016

Interview

CoCo Crew Podcast - http://www.cyberears.com/index.php/Show/audio/6139

Floppy Days 45 - Evan Koblentz, Book-Abacus to Smartphone Sep 07, 2015

Show notes

Hello, welcome to a bonus interview-only edition of the Floppy Days Podcast, the podcast about the obsolete computers of the late 70’s through the 80’s, but which we love anyway. I’m Randy Kindig, the person who brings you this nostalgia on a monthly basis. I’ve had many vintage computer authors on Floppy Days in the past and I like to discuss new books when they come out, one: because books on vintage computing are rare and two: I like to help and encourage new books on my favorite hobby. My special guest today is Evan Koblentz. Evan’s here to discuss his new book, “From the abacus to smartphone: The evolution of mobile and portable computers.” Evan will tell you all about why you should run, not walk, and go get this interesting book. Enjoy!

Links

Evan’s Web Site - http://www.snarc.net/

Book Web Site - http://abacustosmartphone.com

Floppy Days 44 - Tandy CoCo, Part 1, History with Boisy Pitre Aug 23, 2015

Show notes

Hello, everyone, and welcome to another episode of Floppy Days, the show about home computers of the late 70’s through the 80’s. The next machine up to cover on the timeline is the Tandy TRS-80 Color Computer, affectionately known as the CoCo. Since there’s SOO much information to cover about this interesting machine, it will be a multi-parter, with the first episode covering the history of the CoCo. I was lucky enough to get one of the authors of THE CoCo history book, my good friend Boisy Pitre, to come on the show and co-host this with me. We’re going to cover the history of the CoCo from before its inception, through its introduction, until its eventual cancellation. Boisy provides a fantastic perspective on the life and career of this machine and I think you’ll enjoy it.

Before delving into the main part of the show, I’ll cover a little bit of news, new acquisitions and feedback.

Links Mentioned in the Show:

New Acquisitions

FreHD - http://ianmav.customer.netspace.net.au/trs80/emulator
BEST Electronics - http://www.best-electronics-ca.com/

News

Uthernet II Order Page - http://www.a2retrosystems.com/order.htm
Uthernet II FAQ - http://www.a2retrosystems.com/support.htm#faq
Video from Terry Stewart on the Amstrad CPC 464 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOuPuE194fo&feature=em-subs_digest
VCF Midwest 10 - August 29-30, 2015, Elk Grove Village, IL - http://vcfmw.org/
Chicago TI International World Faire - http://www.chicagotiug.com/tiki-index.php?page=Faire October 31, 2015, Evanston, IL

Feedback

WinUAE - http://www.winuae.net/
picture of Brent Santin’s Vic-20 setup - http://sleepingelephant.com/denial/wiki/images/d/d4/VIC-20_80_column_setup.jpg
VIC-20 information Wiki - http://sleepingelephant.com/denial/wiki/index.php?title=DenialWIKI_Home
VIC-20 Mega-Cart - http://mega-cart.com
Doug Crawford’s blog for vintage activities: https://abitoutofplace.wordpress.com/
Tomy Tutor Information - http://www.floodgap.com/retrobits/tomy/
The Trash Compactor - http://www.trs-80.org/norcom-tc-iii/

Interview with Co-host Boisy Pitre

CoCoRx - https://github.com/boisy/CoCoRX
“Swift for Beginners: Develop and Design” by Boisy Pitre - http://www.amazon.com/dp/0134044703/?tag=flodaypod-20
Twitter - @boisypitre
Email - coco@toughmac.com
“CoCo: The Colorful History of Tandy's Underdog Computer” by Boisy G Pitre, Bill Loguidice - http://www.amazon.com/dp/1466592478/?tag=flodaypod-20
Boisy’s Blog - http://latenightcoco.blogspot.com

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