RCR Episode 214: As Seen on TV

Panelists: Paul Hagstrom (hosting), Earl Evans, Jack Nutting, Blake Patterson, and Carrington Vanston

Topic: As Seen on TV

Retro computers, as featured in TV and movies. What shows at the time had computers in them? What shows of today has yesterday's computers in them?

Topic/Feedback links:

Rebuilding James Bond’s Apple IIc - A Software Forgery
Blake mentions: War Games, The Fantastic World of D.C. Collins, Whiz Kids, 2010: The Year We Make Contact, Electric Dreams, Cloak and Dagger, Weird Science, Knight Rider, Kindergarden Cop, City Slickers, Wayne's World
The War Games IMSAI 8080
Earl mentions: Terminator - Rise Of The Machines, Star Wreck - In The Pirkinning, UFO, Colossus: The Forbin Project
Jack mentions: Manhunt: Unabomber
Carrington mentions: Desk Set, Alphaville, World on a Wire, Crosstalk, The Rachel Papers, Evilspeak, Takeover, The KGB, The Computer, and Me, Triumph of the Nerds, Pirates of Silicon Valley, Computer Chess, John Wick series, Magic 2.0: Off to Be the Wizard (Scott Meyer).
Paul mentions: Halt & Catch Fire, Stranger Things, The Americans, The Goldbergs, Young Sheldon, Schooled, Blindspot, Devs, The IT Crowd, Lost, Preacher, Timeless, Mr. Robot
Spectrum Next unboxing video
New C64 printed circuit boards
Camelot dungeon game, on Cyber1 (PLATO)

Retro Computing News:

Bill Metcalfe, BBS game developer, passed away
Apple and Steve Jobs' Biggest Mistakes Ep 1 - The Macintosh
GraphicConverter now opens Apple II formats
ATR Image Explorer
The Long View - Macintosh Y2020
Moritz & Alexander (2019). Vintage electronics for trusted radiation measurements and verified dismantlement of nuclear weapons. PLOS ONE.
Bubbles Whiting—Using Punch Cards
1970s Unbuilt Kit Computers
Sylvain Lefebvre made a DooM-chip
Brief Engadget write-up of DooM-chip

Upcoming shows

VCF Southeast 8.0. July 10-12. Atlanta, GA.
KansasFest. July 24-25. Online.
WozFest SWEET 16. Sat Jul 25. Online.
VCF West. August 1-2. Mountain View, CA (Computer History Museum).
VCF East. October 10-12, 2020 (rescheduled). InfoAge. Wall, NJ.

Vintage Computer-related Commercials:

Are you keeping up with the Commodore?

Retro Computing Gift Idea:

UpCart Plus for C64

Auction Picks:

Blake: Mindset Computer System

See also: Mindset Computer (Bytecellar)
Exatron Stringy Floppy Disk Drive Wafer media


Carrington: AOL t-shirt

My Other Computer Is An Apple II (sticker)
My Other Computer Is A Commodore 64 (sticker)
My Other Tablet Is A Newton (sticker)
Radio Shack CGP-115 4-pen printer
Spare paper rolls for CGP-115


Earl: MAINDEC-11-DZMMC-A-PB (PDP-8 paper tape)

Commodore Computer Gold Rim Shot Glass
NeXT shot glass


Paul: Applesurance diagnostic disk controller

See also: Apple II The Review, Spring 1986 (p. 18)
See also: Stephen Buggie presentation (KansasFest 1996)
Personal Software VisiStuff
Tandy 1000 EX
DEC PDP etc. stuff
Martek Electronics Apple II external keyboard
See also: Compute! (Feb 1989)
See also: Computist (#74)

Closing words links:

Clipper Summer 87 unboxing
Home Computers: 100 Icons that Defined a Digital Generation (book, CNN Style)

Feedback/Discussion:

@rcrpodcast on Twitter
Vintage Computer Forum
RCR Podcast on Facebook
Throwback Network
Throwback Network on Facebook

Intro / Closing Song: Back to Oz by John X - link

Show audio files hosted by CyberEars

Listen/Download: