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Floppy Days Vintage Computing Podcast

Randy Kindig

Floppy Days Vintage Computing Podcast

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  • 20 episodes
  • monthly
  • Avg 1 hr 15 min
  • English

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  • August 29 · 1 hr 10 min

    Floppy Days 166 - Interview with David Pogue, Tech Journalist and Author

    Interview with David Pogue, Tech Journalist and Author Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/FloppyDays Sponsors: 8-Bit Classics - https://www.8bitclassics.com/?ref=Floppydays Arcade Shopper - https://www.arcadeshopper.com/ FutureVision Research - https://www.fvresearch.com/ Tuc's Workbench - https://shop.tucs-workbench.com/ Hello and welcome to Floppy Days #166 for August, 2026. My name is Randy Kindig and I'm your host for this glimpse of what life was like in the 70's and 80's with home computers. This episode is an interview-only show with a guest that I'm betting most of you have heard of and have admired his contributions to mainstream technology learning. David Pogue is a seven-time Emmy-winning correspondent for CBS Sunday Morning. He's also a New York Times bestselling author; he has written or co-written more than 120 books. He's also a five-time TED speaker and host of 20 NOVA science specials on PBS. He was The New York Times weekly tech columnist. He recently released his latest book that is getting rave reviews: "Apple: The First 50 Years." I must admit some early trepidation in speaking with David for the podcast. Not because of any qualms about David himself; David is actually a terrific guy and that was obvious from his mountainous and amazing set of work. It was more of some intimidation based on his many appearances on TV and the large number of interviews HE personally has done over the years. However, as the interview progressed, David made me feel completely at ease and I'm honored to have been able to talk with him 1-on-1. I think you'll enjoy hearing about his career, his many stories, his musical parodies, and details about his latest book about the first 50 years of Apple. This interview took place June 25, 2026. Upcoming Shows ABBUC Summer Camp - August 26-30 - Winterberg-Elkeringhausen, Germany - https://abbuc.de/summercamp Vintage Computer Festival GB 2026 - September 11-13 - Aintree Racecourse, near Liverpool, United Kingdom - https://www.facebook.com/events/25457837877216829/ Vintage Computer Festival Midwest - September 12-13 - Schaumburg Convention Center in Schaumburg, IL - https://vcfmw.org/ Tandy Assembly 2026 - October 2-4, 2026 - Cincinnati, Ohio - https://www.tandyassembly.com/ Portland Retro Gaming Expo - October 9-11 - Oregon Convention Center, Portland, OR - https://retrogamingexpo.com/ Chicago TI International World Faire - October 24 - Evanston Public Library, Evanston, IL - https://www.chicagotiug.org/home VCF Montreal - November 7-8 - Champlain College Saint-Lambert, Saint-Lambert, QC - https://cvcfed.org/vcf-montreal-2-0/ Schedule Published on Floppy Days Website - https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vSeLsg4hf5KZKtpxwUQgacCIsqeIdQeZniq3yE881wOCCYskpLVs5OO1PZLqRRF2t5fUUiaKByqQrgA/pub Interview Links https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Pogue https://davidpogue.com/ Apple: The First 50 Years - https://amzn.to/3QiMpHr substack blog - https://pogueman.substack.com/ "Clap Along" - Pogue's parody song for Apple's 50th - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyXbvtnhOIk "I Write the Code" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWgMAMiiahY "I Got an iPhone" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vniMR6Ez9cE&list=RDvniMR6Ez9cE&start_radio=1

  • July 31 · 1 hr 30 min

    Floppy Days 165 - The Sphere, Part 2, with Ben Zotto

    Floppy Days 165 - The Sphere Computer, Part 2 with Ben Zotto Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/FloppyDays Sponsors: 8-Bit Classics - https://www.8bitclassics.com/?ref=Floppydays Arcade Shopper - https://www.arcadeshopper.com and https://thekeep.net FutureVision Research - https://www.fvresearch.com/ Tuc's Workbench - https://shop.tucs-workbench.com Hello and welcome to episode 165 of the Floppy Days Podcast, for July, 2026. My name is Randy Kindig and I'm your host for this audio and video tribute to vintage computers and computer history. For those of you listening to these podcasts in order, this month's episode is the second part of the 2-part series on the Sphere, which was introduced in 1975; the same year as the Altair and even before the Apple 1. Once again, I want to reiterate what the Sphere was and why do we care? The Sphere was the first "personal computer," defined as such by Byte Magazine due to its consumer focus and built-in keyboard and monitor. Many computers can claim the moniker of first "personal computer", and rightly so, but this one has the endorsement of an early, well-respected, long-running computer magazine and they have good reason for feeling this way about the Sphere. Once you hear the details, you'll see just how ground-breaking this machine was at a very early period of computer history. Not only that, some of the personal stories behind the machine are simply downright fascinating. Ben Zotto is the undisputed expert on the Sphere in these times, after finding an abandoned machine sitting on the sidewalk and deciding to adopt it and learn more about it. He recently wrote a comprehensive book on the Sphere called "Go Computer Now!" that Ben and I spent a lot of time talking about in the last episode -- which again was the first episode on the Sphere. This episode series actually serves two purposes: first as an interview with Ben to learn more about him and his book, and secondly as an overview of a computer I didn't cover back when I started this podcast back in 2013 with the Altair 8800 and the Apple 1. So, as I said earlier, this will be the second part of a 2-part journey on the Sphere. Last month we talked in great detail with Ben Zotto about how he ended up going down the Sphere rabbit hole and all the great things he's done to promote an important machine that was forgotten in the annals of history. This month, Ben and I go through all the usual topics about the Sphere: history, tech specs, using the machine, current Web sites and a great deal more. I really hope you enjoy hearing more about the Sphere and all the things that Ben has done to fill in the gap in history that used to be occupied by the Sphere! Vintage Computer Shows Silly Venture SE (Summer Edition) - July 30-Aug. 2 - Gdansk, Poland - https://www.demoparty.net/silly-venture/silly-venture-2026-se Southern Fried Gaming Expo and VCF Southeast - July 31-Aug 2, 2026 - Atlanta, GA - https://gameatl.com/ VCF West - August 1-2 - Computer History Museum, Mountain View, CA - https://vcfed.org/events/vintage-computer-festival-west/ Long Island Retro Gaming Expo - August 7-9, 2026 - Cradle of Aviation, Garden City, NY - https://liretro.com/ ABBUC Summer Camp - August 26-30 - Winterberg-Elkeringhausen, Germany - https://abbuc.de/summercamp Vintage Computer Festival GB 2026 - September 11-13 - Aintree Racecourse, near Liverpool, United Kingdom - https://www.facebook.com/events/25457837877216829/ Vintage Computer Festival Midwest - September 12-13 - Schaumburg Convention Center in Schaumburg, IL - https://vcfmw.org/ Tandy Assembly 2026 - October 2-4, 2026 - Cincinnati, Ohio - https://www.tandyassembly.com/ Portland Retro Gaming Expo - October 9-11 - Oregon Convention Center, Portland, OR - https://retrogamingexpo.com/ Chicago TI International World Faire - October 24 - Evanston Public Library, Evanston, IL - https://www.chicagotiug.org/home VCF Montreal - November 7-8 - Champlain College Saint-Lambert, Saint-Lambert, QC - https://cvcfed.org/vcf-montreal-2-0/ Schedule Published on Floppy Days Website - https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vSeLsg4hf5KZKtpxwUQgacCIsqeIdQeZniq3yE881wOCCYskpLVs5OO1PZLqRRF2t5fUUiaKByqQrgA/pub Tech Specs BASIC - https://sphere.computer/news/2026-03-28-the-secret-minicomputer-inside-your-sphere.html Using the Machine/Tips https://sphere.computer/articles/sphere-bringup-guide.html https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFOKQoWlpGk Popular Magazines/Newsletters Byte Magazine - https://archive.org/details/1982-10-byte-magazine-october-1-byte-magazine-21533/1975%2009%20BYTE%2000-01%20The%20Worlds%20-%20Byte%20Magazine_21693/ Sphere Global News newsletter; put out by Sphere Corp. - https://archive.org/details/bitsavers_spherenews_1063041 Sphere Microcomputer Users' Newsletter - August 1977 - letter from Programma - https://archive.org/details/bitsavers_spherenews7_5204616 Books Stan Veit's book - https://archive.org/details/stan-veits-history-of-the-personal-computer Stan Veit Podcast: https://www.classiccomputing.com/CCPodcasts/Stan_Veit/Stan_Veit.html https://www.youtube.com/playlist?app=desktop&list=PLUOGYbuIdClP9KoaDfHXqLvqOeaqTATQK Fire in the Valley - https://www.amazon.com/Fire-in-Valley-audiobook/dp/B071YYZJG5 Bill Gates' memoir "Source Code: My Beginnings" - https://www.amazon.com/Audible-Source-Code-My-Beginnings/dp/B0D5KHFN6C Digital Deli - https://archive.org/details/digitaldelicompr0000unse Ben's book - https://gocomputernow.com/ Software Games & Cassettes! on the 1975 Sphere computer - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AISsrGfb9n0 Ads "Why not go computer now?" - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sphere_Personal_Computer_Ad_January_1976.jpg Modern Upgrades https://sphere.computer/shop.html Emulation https://sphere.computer/emulator/ Community Forums AtariAge - https://www.atariage.com VCFEd - https://forum.vcfed.org/index.php Current Web Sites and Videos Very old SPHERE computer doing very silly tricks, for SPHERETEMBER!!! - Ben Zotto - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHALstVxdPI Sphere repository at bitsavers.org - https://bitsavers.org/pdf/sphere/ Home repository for the Sphere-1 reconstruction by Andrew Shapton - https://github.com/Sphere-Corporation https://hackaday.com/2023/03/11/a-love-letter-to-the-sphere-computer/ VCF West: Sphere 1: The First Modern Microcomputer — Ben Zotto - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GilFixu4KY References Ben's site - https://sphere.computer/ Ben's book "Go Computer Now!!!" - https://shop.gocomputernow.com/products/go-computer-now Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sphere_1

  • June 29 · 1 hr 17 min

    Floppy Days 164 - The Sphere, Part 1 with Ben Zotto

    Floppy Days 164 - The Sphere, Part 1 with Ben Zotto Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/FloppyDays Sponsors: 8-Bit Classics Arcade Shopper and https://thekeep.net FutureVision Research Tuc's Workbench Hello!!! and welcome to episode 164 of the Floppy Days Podcast, for June, 2026. My name is Randy Kindig and I'm your host for this joy ride through the rewarding hobby of vintage computers and computer history. I have to start off by apologizing, as I'll actually be stepping back in the computer timeline for this episode. Sometimes it happens. My goal from the beginning of this podcast was to go through computers in the approximate order they were released (at least by year). And, I've largely done that with this podcast. However, sometimes a machine comes up that I didn't know about or didn't recognize its importance at the time I put together the list of computers to cover. This month that computer is the Sphere, which was introduced in 1975. That's right, I said 1975. That was the same year as the Altair and even before the Apple 1. What was the Sphere and why do we care? The Sphere was the first "personal computer," defined as such by Byte Magazine due to its consumer focus and built-in keyboard and monitor. Now, I know that many computers can claim the moniker of first "personal computer", and rightly so, but this one has the endorsement of an early, well-respected, long-running computer magazine and they have good reason for feeling this way about the Sphere. Once you hear the details, you'll see just how ground-breaking this machine was at a very early period of computer history. Not only that, some of the personal stories behind the machine are simply downright fascinating. Ben Zotto is the undisputed expert on the Sphere in these times, after finding an abandoned machine sitting on the sidewalk and deciding to adopt it and learn more about it. He recently wrote a comprehensive book on the Sphere called "Go Computer Now!" that I mentioned the last episode I had acquired. Well, I ended up reading that book cover-to-cover and really enjoying it. So much so that I decided to contact Ben and see if he would be willing to come onto the podcast to talk about his book and the Sphere Computer. Thankfully, he was. This podcast actually serves two purposes: first as an interview with Ben to learn more about him and his book, and secondly as an overview of a computer I didn't cover back when I started this podcast back in 2013 with the Altair 8800 and the Apple 1. So, this will be a 2-part journey on the Sphere. This month we talk in great detail with Ben Zotto about how he ended up going down the Sphere rabbit hole and all the great things he's done to promote an important machine that was forgotten in the annals of history. Next month, Ben and I go through all the usual topics about the Sphere: history, tech specs, using the machine, current Web sites and a great deal more. I really hope you enjoy hearing about the Sphere and meeting Ben Zotto! New Acquisitions/What I've Been Up To/News VCFSW - https://www.vcfsw.org REU Grande - https://www.go4retro.com National Videogame Museum (NVM) - https://nvmusa.org/) article/cover for May, 2026 Call-A.P.P.L.E. Magazine with Floppy Days Woz interview - https://www.callapple.org/ passing of Howell Ivy: audio interview from 2022 - https://floppydays.libsyn.com/floppy-days-114-howell-ivy-exidy-sorcerer-and-exidy video interview from 2022 - https://youtu.be/QojU9ty4q_U audio interview for Byte Shop 50th - https://floppydays.libsyn.com/floppy-days-161-byte-shop-interviews video interview for Byte Shop 50th - https://youtu.be/QlmkvVSuNbs Upcoming Vintage Computer Shows KansasFest 2026 - July 14-19 - University of Illinois Springfield (in person) - July 31-Aug. 1 (virtual) - https://www.kansasfest.org/ Silly Venture SE (Summer Edition) - July 30-Aug. 2 - Gdansk, Poland - https://www.demoparty.net/silly-venture/silly-venture-2026-se Southern Fried Gaming Expo and VCF Southeast - July 31-Aug 2, 2026 - Atlanta, GA - https://gameatl.com/ Long Island Retro Gaming Expo - August 7-9, 2026 - Cradle of Aviation, Garden City, NY - https://liretro.com/ Fujiama - August 26-30 - Lengenfeld, Germany - http://atarixle.ddns.net/fuji/2026 Vintage Computer Festival GB 2026 - September 11-13 - Aintree Racecourse, near Liverpool, United Kingdom - https://www.facebook.com/events/25457837877216829/ Vintage Computer Festival Midwest - September 12-13 - Schaumburg Convention Center in Schaumburg, IL - https://vcfmw.org/ Tandy Assembly 2026 - October 2-4, 2026 - Cincinnati, Ohio - https://www.tandyassembly.com/ Portland Retro Gaming Expo - October 9-11 - Oregon Convention Center, Portland, OR - https://retrogamingexpo.com/ Chicago TI International World Faire - October 24 - Evanston Public Library, Evanston, IL - https://www.chicagotiug.org/home VCF Montreal - November 7-8 - Champlain College Saint-Lambert, Saint-Lambert, QC - https://cvcfed.org/vcf-montreal-2-0/ Schedule Published on Floppy Days Website - https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vSeLsg4hf5KZKtpxwUQgacCIsqeIdQeZniq3yE881wOCCYskpLVs5OO1PZLqRRF2t5fUUiaKByqQrgA/pub Interview Links Ben's site - https://sphere.computer/ Ben's book "Go Computer Now!!!" - https://shop.gocomputernow.com/products/go-computer-now Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sphere_1

  • May 26 · 1 hr 51 min

    Floppy Days 163 - Interview with Charles Pfister, Apple 1 Case Designer

    Floppy Days 163 - Interview with Charles Pfister, Apple 1 Case Designer Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/FloppyDays Sponsors: 8-Bit Classics Arcade Shopper and https://thekeep.net FutureVision Research Tuc's Workbench New Acquisitions Chalkboard PowerPad - https://www.atarimagazines.com/creative/v9n10/52_The_legend_of_the_pad_of_.php "Go Computer Now!!!" by Ben Zotto - https://shop.gocomputernow.com/products/go-computer-now "Apple The First 50 Years" by David Pogue - https://amzn.to/4f6XJjU (sponsored link) FujiNet RS-232 - https://www.fvresearch.com/product/fujinet-rs232/ Upcoming Shows (thru AUGUST, 2026) VCF Southwest - May 29-31, 2026 - Westin Dallas Ft. Worth Airport - https://www.vcfsw.org/ Retrofest 2026 - May 30-31 - Steam Museum of the Great Western Railway, Swindon, UK - https://retrofest.uk/ CORGSCON - Columbus Ohio Retro Gaming Society - June 6-7 - Ohio Expo Center, Columbus, OH - https://www.corgscon.com/ INIT HELLO (Apple II) - June 19-21 - System Source Computer Museum, Hunt Valley, MD - https://init-hello.org/ Chilliwack & Vancouver Retro Gaming Expo - June 20 - New Westminster, BC, Canada - https://www.vancouvergamingexpo.com/index.html Pacific Commodore Expo NW 2026 - June 20-21 - Old Rainier Brewery Intraspace, Seattle, WA - http://www.portcommodore.com/pacommex KansasFest 2026 - July 14-19 - University of Illinois Springfield (in person) - July 31-Aug. 1 (virtual) - https://www.kansasfest.org/ Silly Venture SE (Summer Edition) - July 30-Aug. 2 - Gdansk, Poland - https://www.demoparty.net/silly-venture/silly-venture-2026-se Southern Fried Gaming Expo and VCF Southeast - July 31-Aug 2, 2026 - Atlanta, GA - https://gameatl.com/ Long Island Retro Gaming Expo - August 7-9, 2026 - Cradle of Aviation, Garden City, NY - https://liretro.com/ Fujiama - August 26-30 - Lengenfeld, Germany - http://atarixle.ddns.net/fuji/2026 Schedule Published on Floppy Days Website - https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vSeLsg4hf5KZKtpxwUQgacCIsqeIdQeZniq3yE881wOCCYskpLVs5OO1PZLqRRF2t5fUUiaKByqQrgA/pub Interview Links EDI Insights (YouTube) - https://www.youtube.com/@EliteoneDesigns Elite Designs (Facebook) - https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100046369452863 Computer History Museum - https://computerhistory.org/

  • April 29 · 1 hr

    Floppy Days 162 - Interview with Steve Wozniak, Apple Legend

    Floppy Days 162 - Interview with Apple Legend, Steve Wozniak Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/FloppyDays Sponsors: 8-Bit Classics Arcade Shopper and https://thekeep.net FutureVision Research Tuc's Workbench New Acquisitions The WOZPAK Special Edition: Steve Wozniak's Apple-1 & Apple II Computers - https://www.callapple.org/documentation/books/a-p-p-l-e-announces-the-wozpak-special-edition/ Assembly Lines: The Complete Book by Roger Wagner (Author), Chris Torrence (Editor) - https://amzn.to/4eU23ma (sponsored link) What's Where in the Apple – Enhanced Edition: A Complete Guide to the Apple II Computer - https://www.callapple.org/call-apple/callapple-production/whats-where-in-the-apple-enhanced-edition-released-by-a-p-p-l-e/ Upcoming Computer Shows (thru July, 2026) VCF Europe - May 1-3 - Munich, Germany - https://vcfe.org/E/ Vintage Computer Festival Pacific Northwest 2026 - May 2-3 - Tukwila Community Center, South Tukwila, WA - https://vcfpnw.org VCF Southwest - May 29-31, 2026 - Westin Dallas Ft. Worth Airport - https://www.vcfsw.org/ Retrofest 2026 - May 30-31 - Steam Museum of the Great Western Railway, Swindon, UK - https://retrofest.uk/ CORGSCON - Columbus Ohio Retro Gaming Society - June 6-7 - Ohio Expo Center, Columbus, OH - https://www.corgscon.com/ INIT HELLO (Apple II) - June 19-21 - System Source Computer Museum, Hunt Valley, MD - https://init-hello.org/ Vintage Computer Festival GB 2026 - June 19-21 - Leigh, Wigan, United Kingdom - https://www.facebook.com/events/25457837877216829/ Chilliwack & Vancouver Retro Gaming Expo - June 20 - New Westminster, BC, Canada - https://www.vancouvergamingexpo.com/index.html Pacific Commodore Expo NW 2026 - June 20-21 - Old Rainier Brewery Intraspace, Seattle, WA - http://www.portcommodore.com/pacommex KansasFest 2026 - July 14-19 - University of Illinois Springfield - https://www.kansasfest.org/ Silly Venture SE (Summer Edition) - July 30-Aug. 2 - Gdansk, Poland - https://www.demoparty.net/silly-venture/silly-venture-2026-se Southern Fried Gaming Expo and VCF Southeast - July 31-Aug 2, 2026 - Atlanta, GA - https://gameatl.com/ Schedule Published on Floppy Days Website - https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vSeLsg4hf5KZKtpxwUQgacCIsqeIdQeZniq3yE881wOCCYskpLVs5OO1PZLqRRF2t5fUUiaKByqQrgA/pub Interview Links video file created for Byte Shop 50th Anniversary event - https://youtu.be/ANR1fYicwxI https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Wozniak

  • March 26 · 1 hr 46 min

    Floppy Days 161 - Byte Shop Interviews

    Floppy Days 161 - Byte Shop Interviews Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/FloppyDays Sponsors: 8-Bit Classics Arcade Shopper and https://thekeep.net FutureVision Research Tuc's Workbench Hello, and welcome to episode 161 of the Floppy Days Podcast for March, 2026. I am Randy Kindig, your host for this wild ride through vintage computing. This month I have a special episode prepared. For the 50th Anniversary event of the opening of the Byte Shop that occurred in California in December, 2025, I interviewed 11 different people with some sort of ties to Paul Terrell and the Byte Shop. Prior to the event itself, I published an approximately 30-minute-long video with just sound bites from those interviews to help get the word out (https://youtu.be/ANR1fYicwxI). This month, I've taken the complete interviews (except for one) and created a longer episode out of it so you can hear the entirety of the interviews. To be clear, each of the interviews has as its main topic the Byte Shop and Paul Terrell. However, at the same time, we're able to learn a bit about each of the people who have ties to the Byte Shop and Paul. For this month's show, the 9 total interviews include the following people: Rick Kahn, who worked at the Byte Shop of Placentia Michael Tomczyk, Vic-20 Czar at Commodore Rob Terrell, Paul's nephew and frequent visitor to the Byte Shop Chuck Mauro, worked at Apple and Byte Shop #2 Lee Felsenstein, developer of the SOL and Osborne computers Scott Shekels, frequent visitor to the Byte Shop Teryl & Gloria Burt, Northstar distributor to the Byte Shop Howell Ivy, developer of the Exidy Sorcerer and worked with Paul Terrell at Exidy Paul Freiberger, computer historian Intro 30-minute video of sound bites for Byte Shop 50th Anniversary Event - https://youtu.be/ANR1fYicwxI New Acquisitions and What I've Been Up To Indy Vintage Computer Club - https://www.indyvcc.org Midwest Computer Museum - https://www.midwestcomputermuseum.com Power of Vintage - https://www.youtube.com/@powerofvintage9442 Tech Dungeon - https://www.techdungeon.xyz 8bitdevices - https://www.8bitdevices.com/ lightboxes: https://www.etsy.com/listing/4306784729/lightbox-for-retro-computer-video-games https://www.ebay.com/str/techdungeon https://www.ebay.com/itm/335958112556 Upcoming Shows (thru June, 2026) VCF East - April 17-19 2026 - InfoAge Science and History Museums, Wall, NJ - https://vcfed.org/events/vintage-computer-festival-east/ Midwest Gaming Classic - April 24-26 - Baird Center, Milwaukee, WI - https://www.midwestgamingclassic.com/ The Annual "Last" Chicago CoCoFEST! - April 24-25, 2026 - Holiday Inn & Suites Chicago-Carol Stream (Wheaton), Carol Stream, Illinois - https://www.glensideccc.com/cocofest/ Commodore Los Angeles Super Show 2026 - April 25-26 - Burbank, CA - http://www.portcommodore.com/class VCF Europe - May 1-3 - Munich, Germany - https://vcfe.org/E/ Vintage Computer Festival Pacific Northwest 2026 - May 2-3 - Tukwila Community Center, South Tukwila, WA - https://vcfpnw.org VCF Southwest - May 29-31, 2026 - Westin Dallas Ft. Worth Airport - https://www.vcfsw.org/ Retrofest 2026 - May 30-31 - Steam Museum of the Great Western Railway, Swindon, UK - https://retrofest.uk/ INIT HELLO (Apple II) - June 19-21 - System Source Computer Museum, Hunt Valley, MD - https://init-hello.org/ Vintage Computer Festival GB 2026 - June 19-21 - Leigh, Wigan, United Kingdom - https://www.facebook.com/events/25457837877216829/ Vancouver Retro Gaming Expo - June 20 - New Westminster, BC, Canada - https://www.vancouvergamingexpo.com/index.html Pacific Commodore Expo NW 2026 - June 20-21 - Old Rainier Brewery Intraspace, Seattle, WA - http://www.portcommodore.com/pacommex Schedule Published on Floppy Days Website - https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vSeLsg4hf5KZKtpxwUQgacCIsqeIdQeZniq3yE881wOCCYskpLVs5OO1PZLqRRF2t5fUUiaKByqQrgA/pub Feedback Stewart Cheifet tribute from S.M. Oliva - https://www.computerchronicles.blog/podcast/chronicles-revisited-podcast-018-the-publics-broadcaster/

  • February 25 · 1 hr

    Floppy Days 160 - The KayPro, Part 4 with Matthew Jones

    Floppy Days 160 - The KayPro, Part 4, with Matt Jones Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/FloppyDays Sponsors: 8-Bit Classics Arcade Shopper FutureVision Research Tuc's Workbench YouTube Channel: https://www.YouTube.com/@floppydayspodcast Hello, and welcome to episode 160 of the Floppy Days Podcast for February, 2026. I'm Randy Kindig, your host. We are currently covering computers introduced in the year 1982 and, to that end, we are at the tail end of a series of podcasts about the Kaypro line of computers. Kaypro had a rich and varied family of computers; certainly much more so than I ever realized. I was able to interview David Kay, son of the founder of KayPro, and president of the company for some time, in the first two episodes. Last month, Matthew Jones, an aficionado of the KayPro computers and owner of many of the models, helped me talk about KayPro history, tech specs, and more, through the topic of using the machine. This month Matt and I complete the KayPro series by starting with books and magazines and ending with current Web sites and a lot more content in between. I will have a video version of this episode posted to the Floppy Days Podcast channel on YouTube (https://www.YouTube.com/@floppydayspodcast ) that will be available for everyone soon (after the early access period for Patreon supporters has expired). So, please consider becoming a subscriber on YouTube. Doing so helps support the podcast. You will hear ads from some great vintage computer stores, themselves vintage computer fans, throughout the early part of this podcast. For all of these storefronts, when you place an order, please mention Floppy Days in the notes or comments of the order. Doing so will help support the podcast. Many thanks!! New Acquisitions Atari XF551 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_XF551 Upcoming Shows Schedule Published on Floppy Days Website - https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vSeLsg4hf5KZKtpxwUQgacCIsqeIdQeZniq3yE881wOCCYskpLVs5OO1PZLqRRF2t5fUUiaKByqQrgA/pub Indy Classic Computer and Video Game Expo - March 20-22 - Wyndham Indianapolis Airport Hotel, Indianapolis, IN - https://indyclassic.org/ Atari Invasion 2k26 (10th Anniversary) - March 21 - Maarssen, Netherlands - https://www.atari-invasion.nl VCF East - April 17-19 2026 - InfoAge Science and History Museums, Wall, NJ - https://vcfed.org/events/vintage-computer-festival-east/ Midwest Gaming Classic - April 24-26 - Baird Center, Milwaukee, WI - https://www.midwestgamingclassic.com/ The Annual "Last" Chicago CoCoFEST! - April 24-25, 2026 - Holiday Inn & Suites Chicago-Carol Stream (Wheaton), Carol Stream, Illinois - https://www.glensideccc.com/cocofest/ Commodore Los Angeles Super Show 2026 - April 25-26 - Burbank, CA - http://www.portcommodore.com/class VCF Europe - May 1-3 - Munich, Germany - https://vcfe.org/E/ Vintage Computer Festival Pacific Northwest 2026 - May 2-3 - Tukwila Community Center, South Tukwila, WA - https://vcfpnw.org VCF Southwest - May 29-31, 2026 - Westin Dallas Ft. Worth Airport - https://www.vcfsw.org/ Retrofest 2026 - May 30-31 - Steam Museum of the Great Western Railway, Swindon, UK - https://retrofest.uk/ Popular Magazines/Newsletters Major September 1983 review in Byte - https://retrocmp.de/kaypro/1983_09_BYTE_08-09_Kaypro-II.pdf Heavily featured in Micro Cornucopia; curated Kaypro index here - https://retrocmp.de/kaypro/kay-p13_micro-c.htm First Osborne Group (FOG) - https://archive.org/details/foghornnewsletter Non-Linear Systems published Pro-Files, a Kaypro users magazine - https://archive.org/search?query=collection%3Akayproprofiles&sort=-publicdate Books Chilton's Guide to Kaypro Repair and Maintenance by Gene Williams - https://amzn.to/4nQj6XV Basic Kaypro for Kids Paperback by W. H. Darnell (Author), P. J. Barton (Author) - https://amzn.to/465ofFs KayPro books at Amazon - https://amzn.to/4goRQgy Kaypro II User's Guide (getting started, bundled software) - https://messui.polygonal-moogle.com/comp/kaypro_um.pdf Dealer Quick Reference Manual - https://archive.org/details/bitsavers_kayproKaypManual1982_1562045/page/n2/mode/1up Using the Kaypro II personal computer by Lord, Kenniston W - https://archive.org/details/usingkayproiiper0000lord The instant expert's guide to the Kaypro II by Bennett, M. D - https://archive.org/details/instantexpertsgu0000benn KayPro Documentation, including KayPro Technical Manual - https://archive.org/details/the-kaypro-II-users-guide/1484-D_KayproTechnicalManual_Dec84/ Software ROMs for KayPro - https://archive.org/details/KayproII_201809 TOSEC (The Old School Emulation Center) software collection at archive.org - https://archive.org/details/bitsavers_kayproKaypManual1982_1562045/page/n2/mode/1up Software images - https://mame.spludlow.co.uk/SoftwareLists.aspx?Exact=true&List=kaypro Ads and Appearances Starring the Computer - https://www.starringthecomputer.com/computer.html?c=185 Modern Upgrades Floppy emulation: Gotek/FlashFloppy widely used on Kaypros - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yF0L6XpRugo Hard drive emulation (FreHD): - https://www.google.com/search?q=FreHD+for+kaypro Replacement ROMs: Advent TurboROM and KayPLUS: ROM for emulators - https://mame.spludlow.co.uk/Machine.aspx?name=kayproii buying TurboROM (eBay) - https://www.ebay.com/itm/326275234269 Emulation MAME (Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsFw9VejeS8&pp=ygUGa2F5cHJv https://forums.bannister.org/ubbthreads.php?Main=8530&Number=107854&ubb=showflat izkaypro - https://github.com/ivanizag/izkaypro kobolt/kaytil - https://github.com/kobolt/kaytil Virtual KayPro Computer - http://sims.durgadas.com/kaypro/kaypro.html Buying One Today replacement power supply - https://bonuslifecomputers.com/products/kaypro-meanwell-power-supply-mount?pr_prod_strat=e5_desc&pr_rec_id=8d24492dc&pr_rec_pid=8108848349374&pr_ref_pid=7736195809470&pr_seq=uniform&variant=44048046653630 Community Facebook - Kaypro Computer Users group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/580355602847013/ Forums: AtariAge - https://forums.atariage.com/search/?q=kaypro&quick=1&type=forums_topic&nodes=116 VCFed Kaypro discussions (active repair/usage help) - http://vcfed.com Current Web Sites and Videos Byte Magazine Sep. 1983 KayPro II Review - https://retrocmp.de/kaypro/1983_09_BYTE_08-09_Kaypro-II.pdf Bitsavers: Service guides, user/dealer manuals - https://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/kaypro/1484-E_KayproTechnicalManual_Ch1-15_Jun85.pdf retrocmp (Kaypro portal): Model/board variations, flyers, notes - https://retrocmp.de/kaypro/ OldSilicon - Overviews & photos - https://www.oldsilicon.com/kaypro-ii RetroArchive — disk images, TurboROMs, utilities and preservation images - http://www.retroarchive.org/ MESSUI (documented user manual scans) - http://messui.polygonal-moogle.com books, magazines, software - https://www.archive.org Kaypro Computer Ad (1983) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uStyBfC1pYE KayPro II Tour - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eoK0J69C80I by Scott Lawrence I Hope My Modded Kaypro Doesn't Explode by Action Retro - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsFw9VejeS8&pp=ygUGa2F5cHJv Lazy Game Reviews - CP/M Vintage Goodies - Osborne 1 Computer & Kaypro IV - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLnTAYMMLOc Many videos at YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=kaypro&sp=CAM%253D References Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaypro KayPro (CP/M) information at retrocmp.de - https://retrocmp.de/kaypro KayPro Journal - http://kayprojournal.com

  • January 22 · 1 hr 9 min

    Floppy Days 159 - The KayPro, Part 3 with Matt Jones

    FLOPPY DAYS 159 - The KayPro - Part 3 With Matt Jones Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/FloppyDays Sponsors: 8-Bit Classics Arcade Shopper and https://thekeep.net FutureVision Research Tuc's Workbench Hello, and welcome to episode 159 of the Floppy Days Podcast for January, 2026. I'm Randy Kindig, your host. We are currently covering computers introduced in the year 1982 and, to that end, we are currently in the middle of a series of podcasts about the Kaypro line of computers. Kaypro had a rich and varied family of computers; certainly much more so than I ever realized. I was able to interview David Kay, son of the founder of KayPro, and president of the company for some time, in the previous two episodes. This month we'll delve into history, tech specs, and more, through the topic of using the machine. Next month we'll complete the series by starting with books and magazines and ending with current Web sites and a lot more content in between. I will have a video version of this episode posted to the Floppy Days Podcast channel on YouTube. You will hear ads from some great vintage computer stores, themselves vintage computer fans, throughout the early part of this podcast. For all of these storefronts, when you place an order, please mention Floppy Days in the notes or comments of the order. Doing so will help support the podcast. Many thanks!! I also wanted to mention those listeners who appreciate the show enough to donate through patreon.com. I really appreciate you guys and it helps offset the cost of running the podcast. Regarding that, I've created some tiers for paid members and have come up with some ways to reward those who are generous enough to monetarily support the Floppy Days Podcast on Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/FloppyDays ), such as early access to videos of interviews like the one being brought to you in audio form in this episode. Visit Patreon to see more details concerning the rewards for supporters . I just want to say that it is my intention to always make all content available to everyone at no cost, while at the same time providing some benefits for those generous enough to support the podcast. I hope you agree I've come up with a good compromise Please let me know your thoughts. Enjoy!! New Acquisitions C64 Ultimate - https://www.commodore.net Smith Corona Ultrasonic 450 Typewriter and Messenger Module - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTcWEU2UPgM News Interview with Stewart Cheifet for Floppy Days back in 2017 - https://floppydays.libsyn.com/floppy-days-78-interview-with-stewart-chefeit-computer-chronicles Upcoming Vintage Computer Shows Vintage Computer Festival Montreal - Jan. 24-25, 2026 - Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, QC - https://vcfed.org/vcf-montreal/ Tandy Retro Show 2026 - Jan. 24-25 - virtual - tandyretroshow.com Vintage Electronics Expo - Jan. 31, 2026 - Oakland Expo Center, Waterford, MI - https://www.thevee.org/ Vintage Computer Festival SoCal - February 14-15, 2026 - Hotel Fera Events Center, Orange, CA - vcfsocal.com Indy Classic Computer and Video Game Expo - March 20-22 - Wyndham Indianapolis Airport Hotel, Indianapolis, IN - https://indyclassic.org/ VCF East - April 17-19 2026 - InfoAge Science and History Museums, Wall, NJ - https://vcfed.org/events/vintage-computer-festival-east/ Midwest Gaming Classic - April 24-26 - Baird Center, Milwaukee, WI - https://www.midwestgamingclassic.com/ The Annual "Last" Chicago CoCoFEST! - April 24-25, 2026 - Holiday Inn & Suites Chicago-Carol Stream (Wheaton), Carol Stream, Illinois - https://www.glensideccc.com/cocofest/ Commodore Los Angeles Super Show 2026 - April 25-26 - Burbank, CA - http://www.portcommodore.com/class VCF Europe - May 1-3 - Munich, Germany - https://vcfe.org/E/ Vintage Computer Festival Pacific Northwest 2026 - May 2-3 - Tukwila Community Center, South Tukwila, WA - https://vcfpnw.org VCF Southwest - May 29-31, 2026 - Westin Dallas Ft. Worth Airport - https://www.vcfsw.org/ Retrofest 2026 - May 30-31 - Steam Museum of the Great Western Railway, Swindon, UK - https://retrofest.uk/ Schedule Published on Floppy Days Website - https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vSeLsg4hf5KZKtpxwUQgacCIsqeIdQeZniq3yE881wOCCYskpLVs5OO1PZLqRRF2t5fUUiaKByqQrgA/pub References Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaypro KayPro (CP/M) information at retrocmp.de - https://retrocmp.de/kaypro KayPro Journal - http://kayprojournal.com

  • Dec 21, 2025 · 1 hr 2 min

    Floppy Days 158 - Interview with David Kay, Kaypro - Part 2

    FLOPPY DAYS 158 - Interview with David Kay, KayPro - Part 2 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/FloppyDays Sponsors: 8-Bit Classics Arcade Shopper and https://thekeep.net FutureVision Research Tuc's Workbench Hello, and welcome to episode 158 of the Floppy Days Podcast for December, 2025. I'm Randy Kindig, your host. We are currently covering computers introduced in the year 1982 and, to that end, this month I'm beginning a series of podcasts about the Kaypro line of computers. Kaypro had a rich and varied family of computers; certainly much more so than I ever realized. In researching Kaypro, I discovered that while Andrew Kay, the founder of the computer company, was no longer around, it turns out his son David, who ran the company for some time, was still around. I was able to contact David and he graciously agreed to talk with us for the podcast. Kaypro has a very interesting storyline and I hope you enjoy this. We talked so long that I decided to break the interview into 2 parts, so you'll hear part 2 this month, and part 1 was last month. Following that, we'll delve into episodes covering history, tech specs, etc. on the Kaypro. All the usual topics. It looks as though I'll have 2 episodes covering those topics. I will have a video for this posted to the Floppy Days Podcast on YouTube. One note here. This is one of the last videos where I used a videoconferencing tool that just didn't do a great job. It has a tendency to not keep up with video and you may note that the mouth doesn't stay in sync with the audio sometimes during the interview. In addition, audio-wise, you may hear some low clicks throughout the interview. I've since switched to Zoom and it seems to do a better job of audio and video quality, albeit more expensive. In the meantime, friend of the show Brian Cox offered to improve the audio quality using some high-end tools he had, and thanks to him, you benefit from his work. Hopefully, the clicks are gone and the sound from both David Kay and myself is better for the interview section. Thanks, Brian! You will hear ads from some great vintage computer stores, themselves vintage computer fans, throughout the early part of this podcast. For all of these storefronts, when you place an order, please mention Floppy Days in the notes or comments of the order. Doing so will help support the podcast. Many thanks!! I also wanted to mention those listeners who appreciate the show enough to donate through patreon.com. I really appreciate you guys and it helps offset the cost of running the podcast. Regarding that, I've created some tiers for paid members and have come up with some ways to reward those who are generous enough to monetarily support the Floppy Days Podcast on Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/FloppyDays ), such as early access to videos of interviews like the being brought to you in audio form in this episode. Visit Patreon to see more details concerning the rewards for supporters . I just want to say that it is my intention to always make all content available to everyone at no cost, while at the same time providing some benefits for those generous enough to support the podcast. I hope you agree I've come up with a good compromise Please let me know your thoughts. Enjoy!! What I've Been Up To Byte 50th Anniversary Event - https://www.facebook.com/events/853596483843378 Byte 50th Anniversary tribute mini-podcast on the Floppy Days YouTube channel - ​​https://youtu.be/ANR1fYicwxI New Acquisitions Porta MC-10 - https://portacoco.com/ TRS-80 MODEL 4P GOTEK VERTICAL SLED - https://www.ebay.com/itm/157418076045 Upcoming Shows Vintage Computer Festival Montreal - Jan. 24-25, 2026 - Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, QC - https://vcfed.org/vcf-montreal/ Tandy Retro Show 2026 - Jan. 24-25 - virtual - tandyretroshow.com Vintage Electronics Expo - Jan. 31, 2026 - Oakland Expo Center, Waterford, MI - https://www.thevee.org/ Vintage Computer Festival SoCal - February 14-15, 2026 - Hotel Fera Events Center, Orange, CA - vcfsocal.com Indy Classic Computer and Video Game Expo - March 20-22 - Wyndham Indianapolis Airport Hotel, Indianapolis, IN - https://indyclassic.org/ VCF East - April 17-19 2026 - InfoAge Science and History Museums, Wall, NJ - https://vcfed.org/events/vintage-computer-festival-east/ Midwest Gaming Classic - April 24-26 - Baird Center, Milwaukee, WI - https://www.midwestgamingclassic.com/ The Annual "Last" Chicago CoCoFEST! - April 24-25, 2026 - Holiday Inn & Suites Chicago-Carol Stream (Wheaton), Carol Stream, Illinois - https://www.glensideccc.com/cocofest/ Schedule Published on Floppy Days Website - https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vSeLsg4hf5KZKtpxwUQgacCIsqeIdQeZniq3yE881wOCCYskpLVs5OO1PZLqRRF2t5fUUiaKByqQrgA/pub Interview Links "The Word Processing Book" by Peter McWilliams - https://amzn.to/3M6zJks Andrew Kay at Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Kay KayPro at Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaypro

  • Nov 30, 2025 · 1 hr 1 min

    Floppy Days 157 - Interview with David Kay, Kaypro - Part 1

    FLOPPY DAYS 157 - Interview with David Kay, KayPro - Part 1 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/FloppyDays Sponsors: 8-Bit Classics Arcade Shopper and https://thekeep.net FutureVision Research Tuc's Workbench Hello, and welcome to episode 157 of the Floppy Days Podcast for November, 2025. I am Randy Kindig, your host. We are currently covering computers introduced in the year 1982 and, to that end, this month I'm beginning a series of podcasts about the Kaypro line of computers. Kaypro had a rich and varied family of computers; certainly much more so than I ever realized. In researching Kaypro, I discovered that while Andrew Kay, the founder of the computer company, was no longer around, it turns out his son David, who ran the company for some time, was still around. I was able to contact David and he graciously agreed to talk with us for the podcast. Kaypro has a very interesting storyline and I hope you enjoy this. We talked so long that I decided to break the interview into 2 parts, so you'll hear part 1 this month, and part 2 next month. Following that, we'll delve into episodes covering history, tech specs, etc. on the Kaypro. All the usual topics. It looks as though I'll have 2 episodes covering those topics. I will have a video for this posted to the Floppy Days Podcast on YouTube. One note here. This is one of the last videos where I used a videoconferencing tool that just didn't do a great job. It has a tendency to not keep up with video and you may note that the mouth doesn't stay in sync with the audio sometimes during the interview. In addition, audio-wise, you may hear some low clicks throughout the interview. I've since switched to Zoom and it seems to do a better job of audio and video quality, albeit more expensive. You will hear ads from some great vintage computer stores, themselves vintage computer fans, throughout the early part of this podcast. For all of these storefronts, when you place an order, please mention Floppy Days in the notes or comments of the order. Doing so will help support the podcast. Many thanks!! Please let me know your thoughts. Enjoy!! What I've Been Up To Byte 50th Anniversary Event - https://www.facebook.com/events/853596483843378 New Acquisitions A2Pico - https://jcm-1.com/product/a2pico/ PicoMicroMac - https://jcm-1.com/product/picomicromac/ Upcoming Shows World of Commodore 2025 - December 6-7 - Admiral Inn, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada - https://www.tpug.ca/world-of-commodore/world-of-commodore-2025/ Vintage Computer Festival Montreal - Jan. 24-25, 2026 - Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, QC - https://vcfed.org/vcf-montreal/ Tandy Retro Show 2026 - Jan. 24-25 - virtual - tandyretroshow.com Vintage Electronics Expo - Jan. 31, 2026 - Oakland Expo Center, Waterford, MI - https://www.thevee.org/ Vintage Computer Festival SoCal - February 14-15, 2026 - Hotel Fera Events Center, Orange, CA - vcfsocal.com Indy Classic Computer and Video Game Expo - March 20-22 - Wyndham Indianapolis Airport Hotel, Indianapolis, IN - https://indyclassic.org/ VCF East - April 17-19 2026 - InfoAge Science and History Museums, Wall, NJ - https://vcfed.org/events/vintage-computer-festival-east/ Midwest Gaming Classic - April 24-26 - Baird Center, Milwaukee, WI - https://www.midwestgamingclassic.com/ The Annual "Last" Chicago CoCoFEST! - April 24-25, 2026 - Holiday Inn & Suites Chicago-Carol Stream (Wheaton), Carol Stream, Illinois - https://www.glensideccc.com/cocofest/ Schedule Published on Floppy Days Website - https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vSeLsg4hf5KZKtpxwUQgacCIsqeIdQeZniq3yE881wOCCYskpLVs5OO1PZLqRRF2t5fUUiaKByqQrgA/pub Interview Links "The Word Processing Book" by Peter McWilliams - https://amzn.to/3M6zJks Andrew Kay at Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Kay KayPro at Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaypro

  • Oct 30, 2025 · 1 hr 38 min

    Floppy Days 156 - Interview with Paul Schindler, Computer Chronicles

    Floppy Days 156 - Interview with Paul Schindler, Computer Chronicles Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/FloppyDays Sponsors: 8-Bit Classics Arcade Shopper and https://thekeep.net FutureVision Research Tuc's Workbench Hello, and welcome to episode 156 of the Floppy Days Podcast for October, 2025. I'm Randy Kindig, your host for this "retro"spective covering vintage computers of the late 70's through the 80's and the people who were on the forefront of that incredible revolution. This month, I'm bringing you another interview episode with a tech media personality that was involved with the Computer Chronicles TV show (among many other things): Mr. Paul Schindler. Paul has a big personality and has a lot of great stories about Computer Chronicles and about the tech industry in general in those days. I really enjoyed talking with Paul and he made me laugh a lot! As you know, if you're a regular listener, I was able to interview Stewart Cheifet some ago about Computer Chronicles. Computer Chronicles was a great way to get information about computers in those early days and I've always wanted to do some follow-up. Thanks to S.M. Oliva, who is mentioned in the resulting interview, and who runs a blog called "Computer Chronicles Revisited", I was able to get in contact with Paul. Next up for Floppy Days will be a series of podcasts on the KayPro line of computers, for which I was able to line up an interview with a key figure from that company and was also able to find someone who knows a lot about the computer line to help me discuss the technical topics. Stay tuned for that series. As usual, I will begin this podcast going through new acquisitions and what I've been up to, upcoming vintage computer shows and more. Video version of the episode at YouTube: New Acquisitions/What I've Been Up To Tandy Assembly - https://www.tandyassembly.com TRS-80 LED sign - https://techdungeon.xyz TS2068 mailing list - https://ts2068.groups.io/g/main/topics Compute!'s Gazette - https://www.computesgazette.com Atari Tricky Tutorial #7 Disk Utilities by Jerry White - https://www.atarimania.com/documents/Tricky-Tutorial-7-Disk-Utilities.pdf TenoxVGA for Atari TT - https://www.legacypixels.com Call-A.P.P.L.E. - https://www.callapple.org/ News Compute's Gazette article from the October, 2025 issue about Floppy Days written by Brian Cox of FutureVision Research - https://shop.computesgazette.com/product/computes-gazette-issue-4-digital-edition-october-2025/ Upcoming Shows Ami West - November 1-2, Sacramento, CA - https://www.amiwest.net Atari Party 2025 - Nov. 22, 2025 (noon to 4) - Quakertown, PA Train Station - http://atariparty.org/ World of Commodore 2025 - December 6-7 - Admiral Inn, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada - https://www.tpug.ca/world-of-commodore/world-of-commodore-2025/ Vintage Computer Festival Montreal - Jan. 24-25, 2026 - Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, QC - https://vcfed.org/vcf-montreal/ Tandy Retro Show 2026 - Jan. 24-25 - virtual - tandyretroshow.com Vintage Electronics Expo - Jan. 31, 2026 - Oakland Expo Center, Waterford, MI - https://www.thevee.org/ Vintage Computer Festival SoCal - February 14-15, 2026 - Hotel Fera Events Center, Orange, CA - vcfsocal.com Indy Classic Computer and Video Game Expo - March 20-22 - Wyndham Indianapolis Airport Hotel, Indianapolis, IN - https://indyclassic.org/ VCF East - April 17-19 2026 - InfoAge Science and History Museums, Wall, NJ - https://vcfed.org/events/vintage-computer-festival-east/ Midwest Gaming Classic - April 24-26 - Baird Center, Milwaukee, WI - https://www.midwestgamingclassic.com/ The Annual "Last" Chicago CoCoFEST! - April 24-25, 2026 - Holiday Inn & Suites Chicago-Carol Stream (Wheaton), Carol Stream, Illinois - https://www.glensideccc.com/cocofest/ Schedule Published on Floppy Days Website - https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vSeLsg4hf5KZKtpxwUQgacCIsqeIdQeZniq3yE881wOCCYskpLVs5OO1PZLqRRF2t5fUUiaKByqQrgA/pub Interview Paul's general Website - https://www.schindler.org Paul Website about the Computer Chronicles - http://compchron.com/ S.M. Oliva's Computer Chronicles Revisited Paul's long-running blog Paul's podcast, PS A Podcast on Things Paul recounts some tales from his Chronicles days Paul's YouTube channel Computer Chronicles at archive.org Computer Chronicles episodes on YouTube

  • Sep 24, 2025 · 1 hr 15 min

    Floppy Days 155 - Interview with Karl Hornell, C64 Developer, cartoonist, author

    Floppy Days 155 - Interview with Karl Hornell - C64 Game Developer, Cartoonist, Author Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/FloppyDays Sponsors: 8-Bit Classics Arcade Shopper FutureVision Research Hello, and welcome to episode 155 of the Floppy Days Podcast for September, 2025! I'm Randy Kindig, your host for this podcast, where we talk about the computers that got many of us started in our careers and which still hold a lot of interest for us today. This month, I'm bringing you another interesting interview with someone who at an early age started developing commercial-grade software for the Commodore 64, which started him on an amazing trajectory with his career in software development, cartoonist, and more. His latest efforts include branching out into writing science fiction, which we will also discuss today. The person I'm referring to is Karl Hornell (Her-NELL). It's also an interesting story around how this interview opportunity came to me. I'm not used to getting contacted by an ad agency. This one indicated that their client, Karl, had just recently published a book and was looking for ways to advertise the book. They suggested that Floppy Days would be a great fit based on Karl's background and could be beneficial for both. I was skeptical at first, as I always am when I receive unsolicited, possibly spam email. However, once I researched Karl's background it became clear that he was an accomplished Swedish developer for the C64 back in the day, with some notariety. I felt his background might indeed be of interest to you, the listeners, and so happily agreed to interviewing Karl for the podcast. I hope you enjoy Karl's story and will consider taking a look at his new book. New Acquisitions and What I've Been Up To Atari Bit Byter User Club (ABBUC) - https://www.abbuc.de VCFMW - https://vcfmw.org/ Atari TT030 at Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_TT030 David Anderson's Timex Sinclair sites: https://andertone.com/ https://www.timexsinclair.com/ News Stan Veit's History of the Personal Computer - https://archive.org/details/stan-veits-history-of-the-personal-computer/mode/2up David Greelish's YouTube channel - https://www.youtube.com/@TheComputerHistorian Early chapters (1-9) of Stan Veit's book via audio - https://www.classiccomputing.com/CCPodcasts/Stan_Veit/Stan_Veit.html Floppy Days YouTube channel - https://www.youtube.com/@floppydayspodcast Upcoming Vintage Computer Shows Tandy Assembly - September 26-28 - Courtyard by Marriott Springfield - Springfield, OH - http://www.tandyassembly.com/ Portland Retro Gaming Expo - October 17-19 - Oregon Convention Center, Portland, OR - https://retrogamingexpo.com/ Chicago TI International World Faire - October 25 - Evanston Public Library, Evanston, IL - https://www.chicagotiug.org/home Ami West - November 1-2, Sacramento, CA - https://www.amiwest.net World of Commodore 2025 - December 6-7 - Admiral Inn, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada - https://www.tpug.ca/world-of-commodore/world-of-commodore-2025/ Vintage Computer Festival Montreal - Jan. 24-25, 2026 - Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, QC - https://vcfed.org/vcf-montreal/ Vintage Computer Festival SoCal - February 14-15, 2025 - Hotel Fera Events Center, Orange, CA - vcfsocal.com Indy Classic Computer and Video Game Expo - March 20-22 - Wyndham Indianapolis Airport Hotel, Indianapolis, IN - https://indyclassic.org/ Schedule Published on Floppy Days Website - https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vSeLsg4hf5KZKtpxwUdQgacCIsqeIdQeZniq3yE881wOCCYskpLVs5OO1PZLqRRF2t5fUUiaKByqQrgA/pub Interview Links Karl at Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_H%C3%B6rnell Vic-Rapport Magazine (Wikipedia) - https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/VIC-rapport "Generation 64 - How the Commodore 64 Inspired a Generation of Swedish Gamers" by Bitmap Books - https://amzn.to/3YUUlQ5 (affiliate link) Karl Hornell's Applet Center - http://www.javaonthebrain.com/ Retro Gamer Magazine #130 with Karl interview - https://archive.org/details/retro-gamer-raspberry-pi-buenos-aires/Retro%20Gamer%20130/page/92/mode/2up "Singularity Minus Twelve" book - https://amzn.to/3S8Yr3r (affiliate link) Savage Dragonbert - https://wiki.savagedragon.com/comics/savage_dragonbert_full_frontal_nerdity_01/

  • Aug 28, 2025 · 1 hr 8 min

    Floppy Days 154 - Interview with Chuck Mauro Part 2

    Floppy Days 154 - Interview with Chuck Mauro, Part 2 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/FloppyDays Sponsors: 8-Bit Classics Arcade Shopper FutureVision Research New Acquisitions and What I've Been Up To TI-55 9-Volt Battery Mod 9V Battery Clip Connectors from Amazon - https://www.amazon.com/Battery-Clip-Hard-Electronics-I-Type/dp/B0DRZWN3BN YouTube video that talks about and shows the modification - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0G-OucjNgTk New Compute's Gazette - https://www.computesgazette.com/ C64 Ultimate - https://www.commodore.net/ Chroma81 - http://www.fruitcake.plus.com/Sinclair/ZX81/Chroma/ChromaInterface_Availability.htm Upcoming Vintage Computer Shows VCF Midwest - September 13-14, 2025 - Renaissance Schaumburg Convention Center in Schaumburg, IL - http://vcfmw.org/ Tandy Assembly - September 26-28 - Courtyard by Marriott Springfield - Springfield, OH - http://www.tandyassembly.com/ Portland Retro Gaming Expo - October 17-19 - Oregon Convention Center, Portland, OR - https://retrogamingexpo.com/ Chicago TI International World Faire - October 25 - Evanston Public Library, Evanston, IL - https://www.chicagotiug.org/home Ami West - November 1-2, Sacramento, CA - https://www.amiwest.net World of Commodore 2025 - December 6-7 - Admiral Inn, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada - https://www.tpug.ca/world-of-commodore/world-of-commodore-2025/ Schedule Published on Floppy Days Website - https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vSeLsg4hf5KZKtpxwUQgacCIsqeIdQeZniq3yE881wOCCYskpLVs5OO1PZLqRRF2t5fUUiaKByqQrgA/pub Order Chuck's book - https://books.by/Chuck-Mauro

  • Jul 29, 2025 · 1 hr 3 min

    Floppy Days 153 - Interview with Chuck Mauro, Apple Employee 57, Entrepreneur and Author

    Floppy Days 153 - Interview with Chuck Mauro, Part 1 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/FloppyDays Sponsors: 8-Bit Classics Arcade Shopper FutureVision Research New Acquisitions and What I've Been Up To KFest - https://www.kansasfest.org CoCo 5V USB adapter - Tim Halloran: Tryout Cable at GitHub - https://github.com/hallorant/bigmit/tree/master/coco2usb#trying-out-the-usb-mod-with-the-tryout-cable Tim did a talk at Tandy Assembly 2021. You can find the slides here - https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/19PG-rJjY0_h8iO4LEgI_-lZHJsW6ekmSQ-hHDLxJ2CU/edit?usp=sharing Video of USB Conversion by Tim - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfa4Db2OwE8 Upcoming Vintage Computer Shows VCF West - August 1-2 - Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA - https://vcfed.org/2025/03/05/vcf-west-2025-save-the-date/ VCF Midwest - September 13-14, 2025 - Renaissance Schaumburg Convention Center in Schaumburg, IL - http://vcfmw.org/ Tandy Assembly - September 26-28 - Courtyard by Marriott Springfield - Springfield, OH - http://www.tandyassembly.com/ Portland Retro Gaming Expo - October 17-19 - Oregon Convention Center, Portland, OR - https://retrogamingexpo.com/ Chicago TI International World Faire - October 25 - Evanston Public Library, Evanston, IL - https://www.chicagotiug.org/home Schedule Published on Floppy Days Website - https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vSeLsg4hf5KZKtpxwUQgacCIsqeIdQeZniq3yE881wOCCYskpLVs5OO1PZLqRRF2t5fUUiaKByqQrgA/pub Order Chuck's book - https://books.by/Chuck-Mauro

  • Jun 26, 2025 · 1 hr 8 min

    Floppy Days 152 - The HP97 Programmable Calculator - Part 3 - With Wlodek Mier-Jedrzejowicz

    HP-97/67 Programmable Calculator, Part 3 With Wlodek Mier-Jedrzejowicz Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/FloppyDays Sponsors: 8-Bit Classics Arcade Shopper FutureVision Research Videos of this and other episodes at the YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6DQ3cyp8h373H0lXSJ8yqQ Hello, and welcome to episode 152 of the Floppy Days Podcast for June, 2025. My name is Randy Kindig and I'm the host for this lovefest for vintage computers and programmable calculators from the late 70's thru the 80's. If you love old computers, you've found the right place! This month, I'm completing the ongoing series of episodes about the HP 97/67 programmable calculators. This is the third and final in the series that provides us with a terrific co-host who is able to provide a lot of color about these machines: that being HP calculator historian Wlodek Mier-Jedrzejowicz ("Vwahdek Meer-Yeng SHAY of itch"). No one knows more about HP calculators than Wlodek and all of us are honored to get his insight into these HP calculator gems. New Acquisitions HP History Book by Wlodek - "A Guide to HP Handheld Calculators and Computers" - https://amzn.to/4hl1Yq1 (affiliate link) PalmPilot Personal - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PalmPilot Upcoming Shows KansasFest - July 18-20 - Virtual only - https://www.kansasfest.org/ INIT HELLO Apple II Conference - July 26-27 - System Source Computer Museum in Hunt Valley, MD - https://init-hello.org/ VCF West - August 1-2 - Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA - https://vcfed.org/2025/03/05/vcf-west-2025-save-the-date/ Fujiama - August 11-17 - Lengenfeld, Germany - http://atarixle.ddns.net/fuji/2025/ VCF Midwest - September 13-14, 2025 - Renaissance Schaumburg Convention Center in Schaumburg, IL - http://vcfmw.org/ Tandy Assembly - September 26-28 - Courtyard by Marriott Springfield - Springfield, OH - http://www.tandyassembly.com/ Portland Retro Gaming Expo - October 17-19 - Oregon Convention Center, Portland, OR - https://retrogamingexpo.com/ Chicago TI International World Faire - October 25 - Evanston Public Library, Evanston, IL - https://www.chicagotiug.org/home Schedule Published on Floppy Days Website - https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vSeLsg4hf5KZKtpxwUQgacCIsqeIdQeZniq3yE881wOCCYskpLVs5OO1PZLqRRF2t5fUUiaKByqQrgA/pub Feedback (videos) "A 67 or 97 is a good deal" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0z8UiZz2Bm0 "Coca cola" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FN5eCvkoPM Season's greetings - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=libGuLCyikY Some examples of words you could show - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jXGb-CR1Tg HP Poem expressing sadness the early HP's had been discontinued - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMuMz623ub4 Books manuals - Can purchase document set on USB stick - https://www.hpmuseum.org/cd/cddesc.htm Better Programming on the HP-67 & 97 by Richard Nelson, Kolb, Kennedy - http://www.hp41.org/LibView.cfm?Command=Image&ItemID=94&FileID=2325 Wlodek's book - A Guide to HP Handheld Calculators and Computers - https://amzn.to/4hl1Yq1 (affiliate link) RCL40: Recollection, Reinvention and HP Calculators - RCL40: Recollection, Reinvention and HP Calculators Software Software available from collection at Museum of HP Calculators - https://www.hpmuseum.org/cd/cddesc.htm Emulators HP Calculator Simulators - https://www.cuveesoft.ch/ RPN-67/97 Pro - Apple App Store - (iOS) itms://itunes.apple.com/app/rpn-97-pro/id816249055 HP-97 Emulator by Michael O'Shea (Windows): HP-97 - https://www.limpidfox.com/hp97.htm HP-67 - https://www.limpidfox.com/hp67.htm HP-97 Emulator by Michael O'Shea (Android, iOS) - https://www.limpidfox.com Buying One Today Getting one repaired: waterhosko (Mark Hoskins) - https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?item=324196333178&rt=nc&_trksid=p4429486.m3561.l161211&_ssn=waterhosko Mainely Calculators (Adam Jones) - https://www.ebay.com/str/mainelycalculator?_trksid=p4429486.m145687.l149267 Modern Upgrades Replacement CPU Boards for HP-67 and HP-97 - https://www.Teenix.org Community Facebook HP Calculator Fan Club - https://www.facebook.com/groups/hpcalculatorclub Real Engineers Use HP Handheld Calculators - https://www.facebook.com/groups/hpcalc Forums The Museum of HP Calculators - https://hpmuseum.org/forum/index.php Reddit HPCalc - https://www.reddit.com/r/hpcalc/ Current Web Sites and Videos Article in Byte Magazine, Vol. 3 No. 6 - https://archive.org/details/byte-magazine-1978-06/page/n113/mode/1up Article in HP Journal on the HP-67/97 - http://hparchive.com/Journals/HPJ-1976-11.pdf HHC 2015 in Nashville, Tennessee, showing off RPN-97 Pro - https://www.cuveesoft.ch/rpn67/img/RPN-97HHC.mp4 HP - https://www.hp.com/hpinfo/abouthp/histnfacts/museum/personalsystems/0041/index.html Eric Rechlin's hpcalc.org - http://www.hpcalc.org Craig Finseth's HPDATABase - http://www.finseth.com/hpdata/ The Hewlett Packard Calculator Page by Rick Furr - http://www.vcalc.net/hp.htm The Calculators of HP poster - https://www.vcalc.net/poster.htm#hp series of articles by Wlodek Mier-Jedrzejowicz. They were published in DATAFILE - https://www.vcalc.net/hp-jhi.htm Old HP and TI Calculators by Gene Wright - http://www.rskey.org/gene/hpgene/ HP Calculator Internals - http://www.brouhaha.com/~eric/hpcalc/ HP-97 at rskey.org - https://www.rskey.org/hp97 References Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HP-67/97#67 Museum of HP Calculators (David Hicks) - https://www.hpmuseum.org/hp6797.htm

  • May 28, 2025 · 56 min

    Floppy Days 151 - Interview with James Nagle, Reboot of Computes Gazette

    Interview with James Nagle, Reboot of Compute's Gazette Magazine Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/FloppyDays Sponsors: 8-Bit Classics Arcade Shopper FutureVision Research Hello, and welcome to episode 151 of the Floppy Days Podcast for May, 2025. My name is Randy Kindig and I'm the host for this ode to computers that only survive in our memories and our collections. This month, I'm continuing to step aside from the ongoing series of episodes about the HP 97/67 programmable calculators to bring you a timely interview that basically constitutes current news. I don't often do this, but this news was so exciting to me that I wanted to bring this to all my listeners as soon as possible. The interviewee is James Nagle and the topic is the sudden and welcome news that James is planning to revive the iconic Compute! magazine under the equally-iconic name Compute's Gazette. I hope you'll stick around to hear about James' plans and are as excited as I am to find out where this goes. For upcoming shows, we do have one more episode in the series on the HP97 with HP calculator historian Wlodek Mier-Jedrzejowicz ("Vwahdek Meer-Yeng SHAY of itch"). I will air that episode very soon. New Acquisitions and What I've Been Up To C64OS - https://c64os.com/ PiStorm: https://www.hackster.io/news/hands-on-with-the-pistorm-the-ultimate-raspberry-pi-powered-accelerator-for-your-commodore-amiga-449ef0634f3e https://www.amigastore.com/pistorm-edition-amiga-p-91328.html Quick Reference Book - https://floppydaysqr.my.canva.site/ Upcoming Vintage Computer Shows Retrofest 2025 - May 31-June1 - Steam Museum of the Great Western Railway, Swindon, UK - https://retrofest.uk/ Vancouver Retro Gaming Expo - June 14 - New Westminster, BC, Canada - https://www.vancouvergamingexpo.com/index.html VCF Southwest - June 20-22, 2025 - Davidson-Gundy Alumni Center at UT Dallas - https://www.vcfsw.org/ Southern Fried Gaming Expo and VCF Southeast - June 20-22, 2025 - Atlanta, GA - https://gameatl.com/ Pacific Commodore Expo NW v4 - June 21-22 - Old Rainier Brewery Intraspace, Seattle, WA - https://www.portcommodore.com/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=pacommex:start KansasFest - July 18-20 - Virtual only - https://www.kansasfest.org/ INIT HELLO Apple II Conference - July 26-27 - System Source Computer Museum in Hunt Valley, MD - https://init-hello.org/ Silly Venture SE (Summer Edition) - July 31-Aug. 3 - Gdansk, Poland - https://www.demoparty.net/silly-venture/silly-venture-2025-se VCF West - August 1-2 - Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA - https://vcfed.org/2025/03/05/vcf-west-2025-save-the-date/ Fujiama - August 11-17 - Lengenfeld, Germany - http://atarixle.ddns.net/fuji/2025/ VCF Midwest - September 13-14, 2025 - Renaissance Schaumburg Convention Center in Schaumburg, IL - http://vcfmw.org/ Tandy Assembly - September 26-28 - Courtyard by Marriott Springfield - Springfield, OH - http://www.tandyassembly.com/ Portland Retro Gaming Expo - October 17-19 - Oregon Convention Center, Portland, OR - https://retrogamingexpo.com/ Chicago TI International World Faire - October 25 - Evanston Public Library, Evanston, IL - https://www.chicagotiug.org/home Schedule Published on Floppy Days Website - https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vSeLsg4hf5KZKtpxwUQgacCIsqeIdQeZniq3yE881wOCCYskpLVs5OO1PZLqRRF2t5fUUiaKByqQrgA/pub Feedback HP-97S: https://www.hpmuseum.org/hp97s.htm https://www.johnwolff.id.au/calculators/laboratory/laboratory.htm Interview Links New Compute's Gazette Website - https://www.computesgazette.com/ Compute's Gazette collection at archive.org - https://archive.org/details/computes.gazette

  • Apr 28, 2025 · 1 hr 8 min

    Floppy Days 150 - Interview with David Greelish, Apple Lisa Documentary

    Interview with David Greelish, Apple Lisa Documentary Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/FloppyDays Sponsors: 8-Bit Classics Arcade Shopper FutureVision Research Hello, and welcome to episode 150 of the Floppy Days Podcast for April, 2025. My name is Randy Kindig and I'm the host for this journey through the annals of home computer history. This month, I'm going to step aside from the ongoing series of episodes about the HP 97/67 programmable calculators to bring you a timely interview with a good friend about an interesting topic. That friend is David Greelish, a computer historian, and the topic is his recent publication of a film documentary about the Apple Lisa, called "Before Macintosh: The Apple Lisa". David tells us all about the film, why he produced it, why the Apple Lisa was an important part of home computer history, who he interviewed for the film (he had some amazing guests) and much more. It's a great film and should interest a lot of the listeners, so please consider going out and purchasing the film in order to support David's efforts. For upcoming shows, we do have one more episode in the series on the HP97 with HP calculator historian Wlodek Mier-Jedrzejowicz. I will air that episode very soon. New Acquisitions/What I've Been Up To Indy Classic Expo - https://www.indyclassic.org Vintage Computer Center - https://www.vintagecomputercenter.com OmniView 80 card for Atari 800 - https://archive.org/details/Atari_OMNIVIEW_manual Commodore 16 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodore_16 6502 Plus 4 upgrade for C16 from Lotharek - (https://lotharek.pl/productdetail.php?id=257 News Reboot of Compute's Gazette Magazine - https://www.computesgazette.com/iconic-computes-gazette-magazine-returns-after-35-years-expanding-focus-to-entire-retro-computing-community/ Upcoming Shows The 32nd Annual "Last" Chicago CoCoFEST! - May 2-3, 2025 - Holiday Inn & Suites Chicago-Carol Stream (Wheaton), Carol Stream, Illinois - https://www.glensideccc.com/cocofest/ VCF Europe - May 3-4 - Munich, Germany - https://vcfe.org/E/ Retrofest 2025 - May 31-June1 - Steam Museum of the Great Western Railway, Swindon, UK - https://retrofest.uk/ Vancouver Retro Gaming Expo - June 14 - New Westminster, BC, Canada - https://www.vancouvergamingexpo.com/index.html VCF Southwest - June 20-22, 2025 - Davidson-Gundy Alumni Center at UT Dallas - https://www.vcfsw.org/ Southern Fried Gaming Expo and VCF Southeast - June 20-22, 2025 - Atlanta, GA - https://gameatl.com/ Pacific Commodore Expo NW v4 - June 21-22 - Old Rainier Brewery Intraspace, Seattle, WA - https://www.portcommodore.com/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=pacommex:start KansasFest - July 18-20 - Virtual only - https://www.kansasfest.org/ VCF West - August 1-2 - Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA - https://vcfed.org/2025/03/05/vcf-west-2025-save-the-date/ VCF Midwest - September 13-14, 2025 - Renaissance Schaumburg Convention Center in Schaumburg, IL - http://vcfmw.org/ Tandy Assembly - September 26-28 - Courtyard by Marriott Springfield - Springfield, OH - http://www.tandyassembly.com/ Portland Retro Gaming Expo - October 17-19 - Oregon Convention Center, Portland, OR - https://retrogamingexpo.com/ Chicago TI International World Faire - October 25 - Evanston Public Library, Evanston, IL - https://www.chicagotiug.org/home Schedule Published on Floppy Days Website - https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vSeLsg4hf5KZKtpxwUQgacCIsqeIdQeZniq3yE881wOCCYskpLVs5OO1PZLqRRF2t5fUUiaKByqQrgA/pub Documentary and Classic Computing Links Classic Computing Website - https://www.classiccomputing.com/Classic_Computing/Blog/Blog.html https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psAeTDYezdo - "Before Macintosh: The Apple Lisa" Full Documentary Film Exidy Sorcerer at VCFSE 2 - https://floppydays.libsyn.com/floppy-days-episode-17-the-exidy-sorcerer-live-from-vcfse-20 Stan Veit podcast - https://www.classiccomputing.com/CCPodcasts/Stan_Veit/Stan_Veit.html Classic Computing - the book! - https://www.classiccomputing.com/Classic_Computing/My_Book.html Documentary link at IMDB - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt31122934/

  • Mar 29, 2025 · 1 hr 14 min

    Floppy Days 149 - The HP97 Programmable Calculator - Part 2 - With Wlodek Mier-Jedrzejowicz

    The HP97 Programmable Calculator - Part 2 - With Wlodek Mier-Jedrzejowicz Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/FloppyDays Video version of the episode at YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6DQ3cyp8h373H0lXSJ8yqQ Sponsors: 8-Bit Classics Arcade Shopper FutureVision Research New Acquisitions 1027 print heads - https://forums.atariage.com/topic/271589-revive1027-order-thread/ ABBUC (Atari Bit-Byter Users Club) - https://www.abbuc.de Best Electronics - https://www.best-electronics-ca.com/ inexpensive keyboard available on Amazon (for domes) - https://amzn.to/3FU9ASx "Atari 400/800 Student Pilot Reference Guide" by Atari - https://archive.org/details/atari_pilot-student-guide PortaCoCo - https://portacoco.com/ Tim Halloran video on making an adapter that allows you to run much of your CoCo off of battery - https://youtu.be/6UN1XvJG-bs Ian Mavric's TRS-80 store - https://www.ebay.com/str/trs80universe Upcoming Shows Midwest Gaming Classic - April 4-6 - Baird Center, Milwaukee, WI - https://www.midwestgamingclassic.com/ VCF East - April 4-6, 2025 - Wall, NJ - http://www.vcfed.org Indy Classic Computer and Video Game Expo - April 12-13 - Crowne Plaza Airport Hotel, Indianapolis, IN - https://indyclassic.org/ The Commodore Los Angeles Super Show - April 26-27 - Burbank VFW Hall, Burbank, CA - https://www.portcommodore.com/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=class:start The 32nd Annual "Last" Chicago CoCoFEST! - May 2-3, 2025 - Holiday Inn & Suites Chicago-Carol Stream (Wheaton), Carol Stream, Illinois - https://www.glensideccc.com/cocofest/ VCF Europe - May 3-4 - Munich, Germany - https://vcfe.org/E/ Retrofest 2025 - May 31-June1 - Steam Museum of the Great Western Railway, Swindon, UK - https://retrofest.uk/ Vancouver Retro Gaming Expo - June 14 - New Westminster, BC, Canada - https://www.vancouvergamingexpo.com/index.html VCF Southwest - June 20-22, 2025 - Davidson-Gundy Alumni Center at UT Dallas - https://www.vcfsw.org/ Southern Fried Gaming Expo and VCF Southeast - June 20-22, 2025 - Atlanta, GA - https://gameatl.com/ Pacific Commodore Expo NW v4 - June 21-22 - Old Rainier Brewery Intraspace, Seattle, WA - https://www.portcommodore.com/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=pacommex:start KansasFest - July 18-20 - Virtual only - https://www.kansasfest.org/ VCF Midwest - September 13-14, 2025 - Renaissance Schaumburg Convention Center in Schaumburg, IL - http://vcfmw.org/ Tandy Assembly - September 26-28 - Courtyard by Marriott Springfield - Springfield, OH - http://www.tandyassembly.com/ Portland Retro Gaming Expo - October 17-19 - Oregon Convention Center, Portland, OR - https://retrogamingexpo.com/ Chicago TI International World Faire - October 25 - Evanston Public Library, Evanston, IL - https://www.chicagotiug.org/home Schedule Published on Floppy Days Website - https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vSeLsg4hf5KZKtpxwUQgacCIsqeIdQeZniq3yE881wOCCYskpLVs5OO1PZLqRRF2t5fUUiaKByqQrgA/pub User Groups HP Handheld Conference - annual conference in the US: Website - https://hhuc.us/ YouTube channel - https://www.youtube.com/@hpcalc HHC 2024 USB Drive - https://commerce.hpcalc.org/hhcusb.php Handheld and Portable Computer Club - https://www.hpcc.org/ Magazines/Newsletters HPX Exchange - http://www.hp41.org/LibView.cfm?Command=List&CategoryID=9 Hewlett Packard Journal: journals - http://www.hp41.org/LibView.cfm?Command=List&CategoryID=7 contents - https://www.vcalc.net/hp-jrnl.htm#JOURNAL Hewlett Packard Personal Calculator Digest Vol. 1, 1976 - (contents) - https://www.vcalc.net/hp-jrnl.htm#DIGEST HP KEYNOTES - https://www.vcalc.net/hp-jrnl.htm#KEY PPC Journal - produced by the PPC group: http://www.hp41.org/LibView.cfm?Command=List&CategoryID=14 available on USB drive from Jake Schwartz' PPC Archive - http://www.pahhc.org/ppccdrom.htm Datafile, the HPCC club journal: https://www.hpcc.org/datafile/index.html Back issues, excluding the current volume, are available on USB drive from Jake Schwartz - http://www.pahhc.org/ppccdrom.htm References Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HP-67/97#67 Museum of HP Calculators (David Hicks) - https://www.hpmuseum.org/hp6797.htm

  • Feb 27, 2025 · 1 hr 15 min

    Floppy Days 148 - HP97 History and Memories with Wlodek Mier-Jedrzejowicz and Everett Kaser

    HP-97 Programmable Calculator History and Memories with Wlodek Mier-Jedrzejowicz and Everett Kaser Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/FloppyDays Sponsors: 8-Bit Classics Arcade Shopper FutureVision Research Hello, and welcome to episode 148 of the Floppy Days Podcast for February, 2025, where computers of the late 70's through the 80's are the Apple of our eye! (If you got that pun, then you're in the right place 🙂) First off, I wanted to mention that this month is the 12th anniversary of the publication of the very first episode of Floppy Days way back in 2013. That's right: 12 YEARS! A very small percentage of podcasts ever reach that sort of longevity. I can only think of one other podcast that's in my sphere of listening that has been regularly produced for that long or longer (Retro MacCast). I should be so lucky to produce a podcast as long as the 18 years that James and John have done. There are several reasons I keep doing this. I love talking about old computers, I love being able to interview incredible people that were actively part of the microcomputer revolution, I love feedback from listeners, and it keeps me out of trouble now that I'm retired from the daily grind of the workforce. This podcast wouldn't still be going if you weren't listening. The listenership actually has been pretty stable for the past several years, and I'm humbled and honored that so many continue to listen and provide feedback. Thanks to you and your support, what do you say let's keep this thing going till you and I both are tired of it?! 🙂 Okay, now onto details about this particular episode. I've been very focused recently on producing interviews with some amazing guests. Frankly, this will always remain an important part of this podcast, as the individuals who were the main drivers in microcomputers will unfortunately only be around for an increasingly shorter period of time. However, the main focus is, and always will be, covering the vast array of unique machines that existed in the late 70's through the 80's. I will admit that the amount of research and work to publish the microcomputer-specific shows is a lot; considerably more than the interview episodes. However, as I said, covering vintage computers and programmable calculators is the main impetus for this podcast. It has been a full year since we covered a vintage machine, so it's time to remedy that. To that end, in this episode we will be covering a vintage machine: the HP-97 and 67 programmable calculator. I speak of them as one, because, as we will cover in great detail, they are internally the same machine, with the main difference being the built-in printer for the HP-97. I was very fortunate to get a fantastic co-host for this episode: HP calculator historian Wlodek Mier-Jedrzejowicz ("Vwahdek Meer-Yeng SHAY of itch") . Wlodek has a tremendous amount of knowledge and experience with the HP calculators and I think you'll find his stories and background extremely interesting and helpful as we go through the history of the HP-97/67. In this episode, we'll be spending a few minutes to get to know Wlodek, then together we will cover the history of the 97/67. As another bonus, I also was able to catch up with another gentleman who has a lot of history with HP: Everett Kaser. Long-time listeners will recall that Everett worked for HP for many years on several of their calculators and desktop computers and helped with co-hosting the Floppy Days series of episodes on the HP Series 80. It turns out that Everett had spent some time at HP repairing the HP97 and he shares his memories of those times. Based on the amount of material that was generated about this calculator, it looks as though we're going to have 3 episodes on the 97/67, with the first being this one on history and memories, the second covering tech specs and several other topics, and a third episode to finish off coverage. I should mention that the HP97 episodes do veer from the timeline a bit. Whereas I've been covering the machines that were introduced in 1982 (with the last being the Grundy NewBrain), the HP-97/67 were introduced in 1976. By rights, the HP97 should have been covered in a very early episode, just after the MITS Altair 8800 and in the same general time frame as the Apple I. However, I felt it was important to go back and pick up this machine, so I hope you will forgive me for departing from the timeline order for this. Intro Retro MacCast Floppy Days Episode on the HP Series 80 with Everett Kaser - https://floppydays.libsyn.com/floppy-days-62-the-hp85b-computer-with-everett-kaser-and-vassilis-prevelakis New Acquisitions ABBUC - Atari Bit Byters User Club Atari ST SidecarTridge - https://store.sidecartridge.com/products/sidecartridge-multi-device Upcoming Shows Midwest Gaming Classic - April 4-6 - Baird Center, Milwaukee, WI - https://www.midwestgamingclassic.com/ VCF East - April 4-6, 2025 - Wall, NJ - http://www.vcfed.org Indy Classic Computer and Video Game Expo - April 12-13 - Crowne Plaza Airport Hotel, Indianapolis, IN - https://indyclassic.org/ The Commodore Los Angeles Super Show - April 26-27 - Burbank VFW Hall, Burbank, CA - https://www.portcommodore.com/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=class:start The 32nd Annual "Last" Chicago CoCoFEST! - May 2-3, 2025 - Holiday Inn & Suites Chicago-Carol Stream (Wheaton), Carol Stream, Illinois - https://www.glensideccc.com/cocofest/ VCF Europe - May 3-4 - Munich, Germany - https://vcfe.org/E/ Vancouver Retro Gaming Expo - June 14 - New Westminster, BC, Canada - https://www.vancouvergamingexpo.com/index.html VCF Southwest - June 20-22, 2025 - Davidson-Gundy Alumni Center at UT Dallas - https://www.vcfsw.org/ Southern Fried Gaming Expo and VCF Southeast - June 20-22, 2025 - Atlanta, GA - https://gameatl.com/ Pacific Commodore Expo NW v4 - June 21-22 - Old Rainier Brewery Intraspace, Seattle, WA - https://www.portcommodore.com/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=pacommex:start Silly Venture SE (Summer Edition) - July 31-Aug. 3 - Gdansk, Poland - https://www.demoparty.net/silly-venture/silly-venture-2025-se Fujiama - August 11-17 - Lengenfeld, Germany - http://atarixle.ddns.net/fuji/2025/ VCF Midwest - September 13-14, 2025 - Renaissance Schaumburg Convention Center in Schaumburg, IL - http://vcfmw.org/ Tandy Assembly - September 26-28 - Courtyard by Marriott Springfield - Springfield, OH - http://www.tandyassembly.com/ Portland Retro Gaming Expo - October 17-19 - Oregon Convention Center, Portland, OR - https://retrogamingexpo.com/ Chicago TI International World Faire - October 25 - Evanston Public Library, Evanston, IL - https://www.chicagotiug.org/home Schedule Published on Floppy Days Website - https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vSeLsg4hf5KZKtpxwUQgacCIsqeIdQeZniq3yE881wOCCYskpLVs5OO1PZLqRRF2t5fUUiaKByqQrgA/pub Interview with Wlodek Mier-Jedrzejowicz Wlodek's book - A Guide to HP Handheld Calculators and Computers - https://amzn.to/4hl1Yq1 (affiliate link) References Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HP-67/97#67 Museum of HP Calculators (David Hicks) - https://www.hpmuseum.org/hp6797.htm

  • Jan 29, 2025 · 1 hr 19 min

    Floppy Days 147 - Lorenzo Hagerty, Dynasty Computers

    Interview with Lorenzo Hagerty, Dynasty Computers Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/FloppyDays Sponsors: 8-Bit Classics Arcade Shopper FutureVision Research New Acquisitions Juiced.GS - https://juiced.gs/ Call-A.P.P.L.E. - https://www.callapple.org/ TRS-80 M1 keyboard remake - http://shop.retrostack.org/ NEC PC-8201A Dial-A-ROM - https://www.soigeneris.com/dial-a-rom-for-vintage-computers TI-74/95 RAM/Flash cart - https://www.soigeneris.com/ti-74-ti-95-mem-cart TI CC-40 RAM/ROM module - https://www.soigeneris.com/ti-cc-40-ramrom-card Upcoming Shows Vintage Computer Festival SoCal - February 15-17, 2025 - Hotel Fera Events Center, Orange, CA - vcfsocal.com Midwest Gaming Classic - April 4-6 - Baird Center, Milwaukee, WI - https://www.midwestgamingclassic.com/ VCF East - April 4-6, 2025 - Wall, NJ - http://www.vcfed.org Indy Classic Computer and Video Game Expo - April 12-13 - Crowne Plaza Airport Hotel, Indianapolis, IN - https://indyclassic.org/ The Commodore Los Angeles Super Show - April 26-27 - Burbank VFW Hall, Burbank, CA - https://www.portcommodore.com/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=class:start The 32nd Annual "Last" Chicago CoCoFEST! - May 2-3, 2025 - Holiday Inn & Suites Chicago-Carol Stream (Wheaton), Carol Stream, Illinois - https://www.glensideccc.com/cocofest/ VCF Europe - May 3-4 - Munich, Germany - https://vcfe.org/E/ Vancouver Retro Gaming Expo - June 14 - New Westminster, BC, Canada - https://www.vancouvergamingexpo.com/index.html VCF Southwest - June 20-22, 2025 - Davidson-Gundy Alumni Center at UT Dallas - https://www.vcfsw.org/ Southern Fried Gaming Expo and VCF Southeast - June 20-22, 2025 - Atlanta, GA - https://gameatl.com/ Pacific Commodore Expo NW v4 - June 21-22 - Old Rainier Brewery Intraspace, Seattle, WA - https://www.portcommodore.com/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=pacommex:start Silly Venture SE (Summer Edition) - July 31-Aug. 3 - Gdansk, Poland - https://www.demoparty.net/silly-venture/silly-venture-2025-se Fujiama - August 11-17 - Lengenfeld, Germany - http://atarixle.ddns.net/fuji/2025/ VCF Midwest - September 13-14, 2025 - Renaissance Schaumburg Convention Center in Schaumburg, IL - http://vcfmw.org/ Tandy Assembly - September 26-28 - Courtyard by Marriott Springfield - Springfield, OH - http://www.tandyassembly.com/ Portland Retro Gaming Expo - October 17-19 - Oregon Convention Center, Portland, OR - https://retrogamingexpo.com/ Chicago TI International World Faire - October 25 - Evanston Public Library, Evanston, IL - https://www.chicagotiug.org/home Schedule Published on Floppy Days Website - https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vSeLsg4hf5KZKtpxwUQgacCIsqeIdQeZniq3yE881wOCCYskpLVs5OO1PZLqRRF2t5fUUiaKByqQrgA/pub Meet the Listeners - Carlos Byte High No Limit Podcast - https://sunspotstories.podbean.com/ Interview Volume 1 of Lorenzo's chronicles. On page 121, it mentions Dynasty - https://ia601007.us.archive.org/12/items/chroniclesoflorenzovolume1a/ChroniclesOfLorenzoVolume1a.pdf Lorenzo's Website - https://www.lorenzohagerty.com Lorenzo's Books - https://www.amazon.com/Books-Lorenzo-Hagerty/s?rh=n%3A283155%2Cp_27%3ALorenzo+Hagerty podcast - Psychedelic Salon (https://psychedelicsalon.com/ )

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