HTTP. FTP. SMTP. NNTP. Many letters, one heritage... Welcome to Show 037! This week's Topic: The ARPANET! Topics and links discussed in the podcast... Electronics that act like a physical disk drive - awesome idea. Check it out at the Semi-Virtual Diskette site ! It's Vegas, Baby! And Commodore fun! The Commodore Vegas Expo (CommVex) 2.0 will be held on July 29 and 30, 2006... An Internet Pioneer Ponders the Next Revolution - an interview with Robert Taylor on nytimes.com! Here's a tribute to J ...
Mar 27, 2006•30 min
I keep hitting the Control key, but I'm still not in control. Welcome to Show 036! This week's Topic: The Dot Matrix Printer! Topics and links discussed in the podcast... Old Skool Arcade, Modern Day Fun - In Portland, my home town! Check out the Ground Kontrol site... Need to fix up your Commodore computer? Have a look at Ray Carlsen's homepage ! More TI 99/4A links - a Yahoo! group , and the TI 99ers online User's Group ! A Wikipedia article on the Dot Matrix Printer ... Be sure to send any co...
Mar 20, 2006•29 min
It's not 8 bits, but it's retro. And it talks... Welcome to Show 035! This week's Topic: The Texas Instruments 99/4A Microcomputer! Topics and links discussed in the podcast... Use your old DOS PC as a Commodore hard drive. How? With 64HDD ... A 21st century recreation of a 1960s educational computer toy? Now, that's retro! Check out the DigiComp I v 2.0 from Minds-On Toys. If you're like me, and you think an Altair looked cooler than your modern-day LAN party case, have a look at the AltairPC p...
Mar 13, 2006•31 min
One retro computer, over easy. Would you like some chips with that? Welcome to Show 034! This week's Topic: Retro Du Jour! Topics and links discussed in the podcast... Have a look at The Giant List of Classic Game Programmers , The Source for Video and Computer Game History since 1997! Peter Naur wins ACM'S Turing Award for his work on ALGOL 60 (Wikipedia Link). If you've got time, they've got videos - extensive Computer History Museum footage at Google Video! Lots of topics, great information. ...
Mar 06, 2006•20 min
SID! VIC-II! 6510! 64K! It's demo writer heaven...part II... Welcome to Show 033! This week's topic: The Commodore 64 Demo Scene Part II! Topics and links discussed in the podcast... The Music Animation Machine , software originally produced on an Atari 800! Lots of Atari info this week - have a look at the website for the documentary, Once Upon Atari . And, check out the Tech Roundup episode with a look at the Game On video game exhibit! Bo Zimmerman's site has an extensive archive of NTSC demo...
Feb 27, 2006•29 min
SID! VIC-II! 6510! 64K! It's demo writer heaven... Welcome to Show 032! This week's topic: The Commodore 64 Demo Scene Part I! Topics and links discussed in the podcast... PDP-10 lives! Of course, we had no doubt. Check out PDP Planet, the portal into Paul Allen's collection of DEC systems! If you get an account on the PDP-10, you'll need documentation, which you can find at the Manuals for DEC 36-bit Computers site. This site links to bitsavers.org , an extensive and impressive preservation sit...
Feb 20, 2006•42 min
01001000 01001001 ! Welcome to Show 031! This week's Topic: A book review - Fire In The Valley, The Collector's Edition Topics and links discussed in the podcast... 8 bit parallel processing? Leave it to the Apple II enthusiasts! Have a look at the AppleCrate ! Yes, you can build your own computer. And I mean from scratch. Check out the Magic-1 Homebrew CPU , and be sure to look at the "my other projects" page as well. It's The Woz! In person, on video, at an event hosted by the Computer History...
Feb 13, 2006•24 min
(A)bort, (R)etry, (I)gnore? Welcome to Show 030! This week's Topic: The IBM Personal Computer, Part II! Topics and links discussed in the podcast... A binary wristwatch, eh ? That's a "bit" unique! Here's an article on SID music and music makers from Cyclic Defrost. Want to see a video of an original IBM 5150 rendering full screen video with color graphics and sound ? And they said it couldn't be done... Here are Wikipedia articles on the IBM PC , and the CGA color graphics adapter . Be sure to ...
Feb 06, 2006•41 min
640KB. RAM heaven. Welcome to Show 029! This week's Topic: The IBM Personal Computer, Part I. Thanks to my son, Joshua, for helping me out with this week's podcast! Topics and links discussed in the podcast... Digital Retro - a book with info and pictures about a wide variety of retro computers. Check it out! Is your favorite in there? Some of mine are... A non retro link? Sure, why not? The BoltTalk podcast and blog covers the San Diego Chargers, a US professional football team. And, the host l...
Jan 30, 2006•35 min
Just flew in from LA, and boy are my arms tired... Welcome to Show 028! This week's Topic: Random Bits and Bytes! Topics and links discussed in the podcast... Always wanted to use a Cray? Give it a try! Check out the Commodore Article Index - lots of interesting reading! The NorthWest Classic Games Enthusiasts Expo 2006 - how about that, a retro event up my way! (Seattle, WA) Ads from old computers - they're fun to look at! Have a look at some at the Computer History site. GameBase 64 - an onlin...
Jan 24, 2006•14 min
10 PRINT "Hello, Retrobits Listeners!" 20 GOTO 10 Welcome to Show 027! This week's Topic: The Beginner's All-Purpose Symbolic Instruction Code (or BASIC, for short...) Topics and links discussed in the podcast... More Commodore news - here's an interview with Bil Herd on the Commodore Plus/4 World website! Check out the Vintage Computing and Gaming website for "adventures in collecting, playing, and hacking vintage computing and gaming devices." If you're in the US and interested in products fro...
Jan 15, 2006•36 min
Happy New Year! Welcome to Show 026! This week's Topic: A Book Review: On The Edge - The Spectacular Rise And Fall Of Commodore! Topics and links discussed in the podcast... Check this out - an Atari Paddle Controller with 13 Built-in Games from Jakks Pacific! The galleries of GUIs, have a look at various GUIs in all their point and click glory, here , and here . Classic Computers Of The Past 2006 Calendar , your time may be running out to grab one of these beauties! The web site for the main sh...
Jan 09, 2006•32 min
Happy Holidays! Just a reminder that I'm on vacation this week, and I wanted to wish you and yours the happiest of holidays, and a safe and prosperous 2006! See you next year with more retrocomputing fun! Earl and the Evans Family
Dec 26, 2005•53 sec
Happy Holidays and a Wonderful New Year! Welcome to Show 025! This week is a variety show! Topics and links discussed in the podcast... Commodore Returns? Not quite, but the brand name and logo live on! Check it out at the Commodore web site. Have a look at the Space-Time Productions Single Board Computer , a Z80 single board system from 1982! (Link revised Feb 2006) Need a multitasking OS with windowing UI for your Amstrad CPC? Well, you are in luck, check out the SymbOS web site for more detai...
Dec 20, 2005•28 min
Four thousand and ninety-six bytes of RAM. Don't spend it all in one place! Welcome to Show 024! This week we cover the Tandy MC-10 Micro Color Computer! Topics and links discussed in the podcast... See photos from the World Of Commodore show here and here ! Wikipedia has a page on the MC-10 . I love that site! And old-computers.com has a great MC-10 page also! Charlie’s TRS-80 MC-10 web page has software and links for the MC-10. The trs80mc10club can be found on Yahoo! Groups (membership is fre...
Dec 12, 2005•30 min
Big Iron and Small Iron, living together in peace. It's a wonderful world. Welcome to Show 023! This week's topic: Recollections Of Big Iron. Topics and links discussed in the podcast... The IBM 1130 site has great information about this older system, including an emulator and some MP3s of a fun presentation. Check it out! Have a look at a Teletype ASR33 . Wish you could hear the sound they made! With the SIMH emulator , you can visit many systems of the past, including a PDP-11 running RSTS! Be...
Dec 05, 2005•29 min
VisiCalc was great! That sums it up. Welcome to Show 022! This week's topic: VisiCalc - The Killer Application Topics and links discussed in the podcast... An Atari 800 laptop ? Believe it! Brought to you by the hardware genius of Benjamin Heckendorn . Check out Dan Bricklin's own web site , with info on VisiCalc, and a host of other information! Thanks to NerdTV for interviewing Dan Bricklin, and for making their show available under a Creative Commons license. Be sure to send any comments, que...
Nov 28, 2005•28 min
Retro is in! News at 11! Welcome to Show 021! This week we cover Assembly Language, the Happy Place for many 8-bit programmers. Topics and links discussed in the podcast... More episodes of the C64 Take Away Podcast! Excellent! Be sure to send any comments, questions or feedback to retrobits@gmail.com . For online discussions on Retrobits Podcast topics, check out the Retrobits Podcast forum on the PETSCII Forums page ! Our Theme Song is "Sweet" from the "Re-Think" album by Galigan . Thanks for ...
Nov 21, 2005•41 min
These show notes brought to you by the mighty Atari 800. Welcome to Show 020! This week: The Bad, The Worse, And The Ugly... Topics and links discussed in the podcast... Cyber1.org is a group of people dedicated to the preservation of the world's first computer-based community, PLATO. Check out this episode of Computer Chronicles : First of a two-part series on on-line services such as CompuServe, the Source and DowJones, featuring Steve Case, at the time VP of Marketing at QuantumLink, and even...
Nov 14, 2005•32 min
Is it "Zee", or "Zed"? I am having letter anxiety. Welcome to Show 019! This week's topic: The ZX Spectrum +3! Topics and links discussed in the podcast... QuantumLink Reloaded was on display at the Vintage Computer Festival 8.0! There is now a Retrobits Podcast Discussion Forum , courtesy of Jeff Ledger and the PETSCII Forum! Thanks Jeff! The World Of Spectrum has a file archive, technical docs, links, and more! If you want to run a Spectrum emulator straight from your Java-enabled web browser,...
Nov 07, 2005•27 min
[Insert witty retro reference here.] Welcome to Show 018! This week's topic: Retro Books and Movies! Topics and links discussed in the podcast... Computer Collector Newsletter , a weekly newsletter for vintage computer collectors! Interesting in buying a ZX81 kit, a ready to build retro computer? Zebra Systems might just have what you need! Ah, the sounds of music from 8-bit chips... Check out Chiptunes on the flat four site! The Spectacular Rise and Fall of Commodore ...I'm picking up my copy t...
Oct 31, 2005•29 min
Formatting is such sweet sorrow... Welcome to Show 017! This week is a Mix and Match - various topics covered, including a sound byte [sic] from Nerd TV! Topics and links discussed in the podcast... Some links from Computer Chronicles , the long-running technology show now available on archive.org, including... The Apple II The Commodore 64 , and BBSing A VIC-20 music composition contest using VIC Tracker ? Excellent, I've gotta try to do this... Here's a nice website for the KIM-1 , the first 6...
Oct 24, 2005•25 min
No - attaching floppy disks to the filing cabinet with a magnet is not - I repeat, not - a good way to store them. Welcome to Show 016! This week we cover Abandonware. Topics and links discussed in the podcast... The Retroputing site - preventing the fossilization of classic computers! Features the Particles BBS. Wikipedia to the rescue again, with a great article on Abandonware . Check out the text, and their links. Check out the official world archive for the Sinclair ZX Spectrum and the large...
Oct 17, 2005•29 min
Double Sided. Double Density. Guaranteed. Welcome to Show 015! This week's topic: The Bulletin Board System, Part II! Topics and links discussed in the podcast... I got my Atari Peripheral Emulator software and CD archive from Atarimax! Yee hah, Atari madness for me. I'm learning Atari Player/Missile Graphics in BASIC from the book archive on AtariArchives.org . Phillip was able to attend the Classic Gaming Expo UK recently - looks like fun! At that Classic Gaming Expo, a lucky person had a Comm...
Oct 10, 2005•33 min
8 bit computers aren't slower. They're just more relaxed. Welcome to Show 014! This week we go "behind the scenes" at Retrobits! Topics and links discussed in the podcast... Syndicomm Online members get access to exclusive forums, which include bulletin boards, chat rooms, and file libraries. Membership also includes an email address, personal web site, and optional business features such as DNS service and full-service hosting. http://www.syndicomm.com Not much by way of links this week! Stay t...
Oct 02, 2005•45 min
My Commodore 64 boots faster than your P4 @ 3 GHz. No contest. Welcome to Show 013! This week's topic - QuantumLink Reloaded! Topics and links discussed in the podcast... Syndicomm Online members get access to exclusive forums, which include bulletin boards, chat rooms, and file libraries. Membership also includes an email address, personal web site, and optional business features such as DNS service and full-service hosting. http://www.syndicomm.com Also check out the A2Central website for grea...
Sep 26, 2005•37 min
MMMMM MMMMM MMMMM MMMMM MMMMM M M M M M M M M MMMMM MMM M MMMMM M M M M M M M M M M M M MMMMM M M MM MMMMM MMMM MMMMM MMMMM MMMMM M M M M M MMMM M M MMMMM M M M M M MMMM MMMMM M MMMMM ====================================== ====================================== ====================================== Welcome to show #012! This week's topic: Emulators versus The Real Thing - The Ultimate Face-off! Topics and links discussed in the podcast... Program your 6502 machine in C with the CC65 Compiler! h...
Sep 19, 2005•34 min
Welcome to show #011, featuring the Atari 800 Home Computer! Topics and links discussed in the podcast... Demo Scene, including NTSC stuff for us North American folks... at the Driven site. The full text of all 88 issues of ANTIC is available at Atari Magazines site. The Analog project is in progress at Digital Analog archive. See the Obsolete Technology Website , and make sure to check out the Atari 400/800 page! As I've come to expect, Wikipedia has a great page on the Atari 8 bit systems . Th...
Sep 12, 2005•33 min
Almost to level 5 on Jumpman...what? I've gotta do my podcast? Where's that pause button? Welcome to show #010! Double digits! This show is a variety program, followed by a brief recollection of my career as a teenage computer salesperson. Topics and links discussed in the podcast... Here's the correct link to Jeff Ledger's Guide to TelBBS ! Thanks Jeff! E-mails came in from Alan, Thurston, Brian, Mike and Jeff! Excellent, thanks! You made my day. This episode contains a promo for The C64 Take A...
Sep 05, 2005•35 min
Aren't you glad you don't have to download this show at 300 baud? Welcome to show #009! Today we're focusing on computerized Bulletin Board Systems! Topics and links discussed in the podcast... Jeff Ledger's Guide to TelBBS will get you back in the BBS game in no time. Miss the old BBS days? They're back... Be sure to check out the various links from this web page. The BBS Documentary is one of the finest historical accounts of a computing phenomenon that I've ever seen. Hats off to Jason Scott,...
Aug 29, 2005•45 min
