Hi there everybody!

Show #4 - We're on a roll...

This episode of the Retrobits Podcast is a grab bag.  There are several things I wanted to talk about, none of which would make up a central theme, so this show is "potpourri".  Here are the URLs referenced in the show:

The Denial website/forum focuses on the VIC-20.  Missed this one during the VIC-20 show (#001).  Thanks to folks for pointing out this great resource!
Computer Chronicles, a television program that ran from the 80s until the late nineties, is available for download and/or viewing at the archive.org website.  It is really fun to watch these shows in our modern day context...
BBSMates is a website dedicated to online bulletin board systems (BBSes).  It has a searchable database of over 75,000 systems, from the 80s to modern day!
Classic Gaming Expo is an event dedicated to "the people, systems and games of yesteryear".
DigitalPress covers a wide spectrum of retro gaming.
The UCSD P-System is a computing environment from days gone by.  It's most famous component was the Pascal compiler.  There was a reunion of some of the original folks that developed it, and they made videos, which are available for download and viewing.
Fire In the Valley is a must-read book for those interested in the history of personal computing.  I will do a full book review in a subsequent podcast.  For now, if you've got some reading time to kill, run, don't walk, to buy this book.  I have read it twice, and will be reading it again soon.  You can get it on Amazon, among other places.
Also coming soon, a book on the rise and fall of Commodore.  I've noticed this book actively promoted in vintage computer settings, like the USENET groups.  It's not out yet, expected to go to press pretty soon.  Some impromptu reviews from some famous names in the Commodore fan realm have seen chapters, and they stated they like what they saw.  Even though it's kind of pricey for a casual read, I'll probably get it, given my long-term interest in Commodore, and the lack of historical information about the company.

Be sure to send us any comments, questions or feedback to retrobits@gmail.com

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

Thanks for listening!

- Earl

Greetings, Retrocomputing Fans!

Happy to have you here for show #3!

This episode of the Retrobits Podcast focuses on a couple of popular languages from the 80s, and open-source languages in active development that carry on and extend the legacy of those languages.  Here are some of the URLs referenced in the show:

The magazine New Scientist had a great article on vintage computing.
Blake Patterson scribes the Byte Cellar Blog on retro computing.  Interesting stuff, and a very well-decorated retro room!
The Vintage Computer Festival is an international event that celebrates the history of computing. It's a show for retrocomputing! I'm hoping to go to the 8.0 event in November 2005.
The Computer History Museum is home to one of the largest collections of computing artifacts in the world.
Borland maintains a Museum where old version of the Turbo languages can be downloaded.
The Free Pascal project carries on Turbo Pascal and Delphi compatible legacy today.
The xHarbour project provides an extended xBase compiler.

Be sure to send us any comments, questions or feedback to retrobits@gmail.com

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

Thanks for listening!

- Earl

Hello again!

Glad to have you back for show #2!

This episode of the Retrobits Podcast centers on the high-level view of vintage computing.  We talk about why people like retrocomputing, and how folks participate in the hobby.  Some specific websites and resources are discussed, and here is some follow-up information:

The Contiki OS is a full-fledged operating system, TCP/IP stack, and web browser designed for memory-constrained systems. It's an interesting look at the way people are stretching smaller/older technology.
Google Groups is a cool place to become familiar with USENET, or Internet News. comp.sys.cbm, comp.sys.apple2, and comp.sys.atari.8bit are some of the groups I have been reading recently. Watch out - conversations can get a little, shall we say, colorful? But the info is truly great.
The Vintage Computer Festival is an international event that celebrates the history of computing. It's a show for retrocomputing! I'm hoping to go to the 8.0 event in November 2005.
The Atari Archives site is one of the places archiving and making available reference material from the vintage days. Mostly Atari, but some general purpose reading. It's a great site.
You can Telnet to thecafe.dtdns.net, on port 8888, for Internet-based access to a real BBS! Many other such systems exist.

Be sure to send us any comments, questions or feedback to retrobits@gmail.com

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

Thanks for listening!

- Earl

Hi there!

Glad to have you aboard.  This is the Blog entry for Show #001, our first effort!  I hope you find the show interesting.

Here are some show notes:

This episode of the Retrobits Podcast focuses on the VIC-20 computer.  The history, technology, and cultural backdrop of the computer is covered.  In addition, several programs and websites are discussed.  Here's a list of the websites referenced in the show:

The VIC-20 site at Old Computers dot Com (Site Home Page)
Rick Melick's VIC-20 Tribute Page
The VIC-20 site at Wikipedia (Site Home Page)
The VIC Tracker Synthesizer
The Star Commander software package
Commodore Key Dot Com (hardware)
VICE (Commodore Emulator)

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

Please leave comments on this blog entry if you have any suggestions for the show, or if there's anything at all you'd like to let me know!

Thanks for reading, and listening...

- Earl