Panelists: Michael Mulhern (hosting), Ken Gagne, Paul Hagstrom, and Jack Nutting Host’s Topic: Old computers de-composing Dr. Peter Thorne stopped by TNMOC and talked about CSIRAC, Australia’s oldest computer, and indeed the world’s oldest existing computer—and also explained that it will almost certainly not be restored, but kept instead in original, but non-working, condition. Discuss. […]

Panelists: Jack Nutting (hosting), Paul Hagstrom, and Michael Mulhern Host’s Topic: 35 years since there wasn’t yet an IBM PC The IBM PC launched into a world of many personal computer brands, types, operating systems, and eventually took the label and became the ubiquitous and standard PC (and PC-compatible), leaving most other systems fallen by […]

Panelists: The regular “How To Retro History of Open Chicken Missile Antics Roundtable” crew. Host’s Topic: Chicken Missile? At KansasFest 2016, on July 22, 2016, a crowd of retrocomputing podcasters sat around a table in a room and spoke about KansasFest itself and about our computing histories. There was one microphone in a big room, […]

Panelists: Paul Hagstrom (hosting), Ken Gagne, Michael Mulhern, and Carrington Vanston Host’s Topic: I’ve a feeling we’re not in Missouri anymore All of us are now back in our respective countries after KansasFest and. Retro Computing News: Margaret Hamilton’s introduction (July 2001, AGC conference 1) Don Eyles walks through AGC source code The Code that […]

Panelists: Kevin Savetz (hosting), Mark Pilgrim, Kate Szkotnicki, Lisa Allyn, and Jeff Blakeney (contestants) Host’s Topic: Kevin Loves Apples After one too many repetitions of his name, Kevin Savetz materialized at KansasFest 2016 and wrested control of the Retrocomputing Roundtable. A panel of four attendees compete in Apple-II-related games, recorded live at KansasFest. KansasFest Intro […]

Panelists: Earl Evans and Randy Kindig (hosting), and Evan Koblentz (expert witness) Host’s Topic: Vintage Computer Festival West Randy and Earl wonder about VCF West, and Evan comes to the rescue, in this Very Special Episode of the Retrocomputing Roundtable (recorded jointly with Floppy Days). Also, the first of two consecutive episodes crossing over with […]

Panelists: Paul Hagstrom (hosting), Earl Evans, Jack Nutting, and Carrington Vanston Host’s Topic: What good is source code? As more original source code becomes available (we’ll talk about a couple [Apollo Guidance Computer and LucasArts’ Habitat] later this episode—but before that fairly high profile source code from Apple II DOS, Xerox Alto, Microsoft BASIC, CP/M, […]

Panelists: Michael Mulhern (hosting), Paul Hagstrom, Jack Nutting, and Carrington Vanston Host’s Topic: Was the tech in the 80’s better than today? Was the 80’s tech better, or do you prefer today’s offerings? What did you love about the 80’s tech, and what do you miss? Retro Computing News: Dean Yergens’ collection, including Microsoft disks […]

Panelists: Michael Mulhern (hosting), Earl Evans, Paul Hagstrom, Jack Nutting, and Carrington Vanston Host’s Topic: Surprises A volunteer at TNMOC found a Lorenz cipher machine keyboard on eBay for £9.50. What has been your most unexpected find on eBay, at garage sale, or even at a flea market? Retro Computing News: Writing a Game in […]

Panelists: Earl Evans (hosting), Ken Gagne, Paul Hagstrom, and Jack Nutting Host’s Topic: Tragic: The Gathering of dust Most of us have vintage computers that we have purchased, used, but then ignored. In the early days, they were so easy to get, often for free, or cheap. Of your collection, which system do you most […]