We'll be recording Retrocomputing Roundtable episode #290 here at 4pm eastern North American time: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zvp0... โ that's a little over an hour from this posting. (And, yes, episode 289 should make it to the audio feed... soon.)
RCR Episode #288: NeXT, Sound Blaster, and IRC. Indulge your nostalgia for the weather from October. We cover 1988, Amstrad, Akalabeth, Altos, Apple IIc Plus, Adventure International, and also additional areas. Possibly we misunderstood what "bring your A-game" meant. rcrpodcast.com/2026/01/25/r...
RCR Episode #287: Eureka! Things from 1987 included the IBM PS/2, VGA, Perl, GIF. Acorn introduced ARM2 in the Acorn Archimedes. And more discussion of the Commodore Colt than on any other leading brands! rcrpodcast.com/2026/01/09/r...
RCR Episode #286: Somehow all Myst. We try to talk about the things of 1986 (IIGS, IDE, IMAP, and also some other stuff that does not begin with I), but everything keeps coming back to Myst. rcrpodcast.com/2025/11/25/r...
Also, episode 286 should be hitting the audio feed later tonight.
Retrocomputing Roundtable #289 will be recorded at 4pm eastern North American time (an hour from when this was posted) here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwNA... โ join us as we gather round the table to feast on the bounties of 1989.
Retrocomputing Roundtable #288 will be recorded at 4pm eastern North American time (a little over a half hour from when this was posted) here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3HW... โ hear the tablers discuss approximately the same amount of 1988-related stuff as you can shake a stick at.
Retrocomputing Roundtable #287 will be recorded here at 4pm eastern North American time. Like an hour from this posting. www.youtube.com/watch?v=qt7u... โ 1987!
Retrocomputing Roundtable #286 will be recorded here at 4pm eastern North American time: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Utxt... โ join us as we try to think of something momentous that happened in 1986.
INIT HELLO at System Source Computer Museum, as discussed in episode 285.
Commodore4ever VertiPort, gift idea from episode 285. www.commodore-4ever.com/products/ver...
Olympia EX 100, front view, drive is lit.
Olympia EX 100, rear three-quarter view
Olympia EX 100, close-up of badge corner.
For posterity, images from the Olympia EX 100 auction discussed in episode 285. www.ebay.com/itm/39645331...
PC-8001 atop box
PC-8001 decorative box
PC-8001 shipping-style box
PC-8001 with USB cables for scale
For posterity, the images from the PC-8001 auction discussed in episode 285. www.ebay.com/itm/38817173...
RCR episode #285: You'll Have Mail. In 1985, the Amiga arrived, NeXT was founded, Quantum Computer Services began its journey to becoming AOL. We also talk INIT HELLO and System Source, ZX-Spectrum clones, MIDI, and more! rcrpodcast.com/2025/06/04/r...
Hmm. Bandwidth on lo-fi.rcrpodcast.com spiked in April and it's not relenting. (Over 1TB a month now, was under the 100GB free threshold before April). Must be some rogue auto-downloader, but these bandwidth costs are unsustainable. Will need to turn off lofi/a2stream downloads and assess options.
Disk drive front panel, front. Badge on the bottom reads "ANDATACO"
Disk drive front panel, back
Screenshot of archived anDATAco.com page (as of Nov 2016)
Photos from Paul's auction pick from episode 284, for posterity. Front panel from a disk drive. www.ebay.com/itm/19723481...
device with sticky note "Speech synthesizer?"
Device with sticker reading "This product is protected by patents pending to: The Microperipheral Corporation, Redmond, WA"
Underside of device
Photos from Kay's auction pick from episode 284, for posterity. Almost certainly a Sofcast Shuttle Communicator. www.ebay.com/itm/20530979...
RCR episode #284: Hammer time. In 1984, Apple introduced the Macintosh and the Apple //c, IBM introduced the PCjr, HP introduced the LaserJet, FidoNet began distributing mail. ๐ฎ rcrpodcast.com/2025/05/26/r...
TEC Micro-Tec Model 70X terminal, three-quarter view
TEC Micro-Tec Model 70X terminal, side view
TEC Micro-Tec Model 70X terminal rear view
To record for posterity photos of Kay's auction pick in episode 283, here are a couple of shots of the TEC Micro-Tec Model 70X terminal. www.ebay.com/itm/35620110...
RCR episode #283: A STRANGE GAME. In 1983, the era of it being always DNS began. From Atari, the XL; from Apple, the Lisa, ImageWriter, and //e; from Radio Shack, the Model 100; from Lotus, 1-2-3; from David Lightman, wardialing. rcrpodcast.com/2025/05/23/r...
![๐ง๐ถ๐บ๐ฒ๐
๐ฆ๐ถ๐ป๐ฐ๐น๐ฎ๐ถ๐ฟ ๐ญ๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ฌ (Timex Sinclair, USA 1983) [Commercial/Advert]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:gimndnma3one6aw7n22inooj/bafkreigigwjsttxpfq4g4jlybh53x4lutxbckppeptbonnkfk5wceofdq4@jpeg)
Go for the cheap computer, just in case it turns out that you hate computing. And, to maximize the chances that you will. (One of the ads in episode 282.) www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XiV...
The number of people who understand why this is funny is by now quite small. The Sketch Show, series 1 episode 2. Also as mentioned in episode 282. www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_On...
As mentioned in episode 282.
RCR episode #282: End of Line. Kick back and relaaax with us as we toast the highlights of 1982, including Tron, WarGames, C64, Vectrex, Choplifter, Pitfall!, The Computer Programme. rcrpodcast.com/2025/05/23/r...
Episode 285 will be recorded here in a little over an hour, 4pm eastern NA time: www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIWr... โ Amiga, NeXT, Windows 1.0, Brazil. Join us, (still) preoccupied with 1985.
David Greelish talked with Allan Pincus, one of the creators of the Computer Junkyard game, available here: youtu.be/qCrPH-vh3ds...
Computer Junkyard, a board game soon to launch as a Kickstarter. Seems cool, seems like I'm in the target audience. Seems... a little like escaping everyday concerns by playing The Game Of Life. www.kickstarter.com/projects/com...
Front of a ZX-81
Back of a ZX-81
Close-up of back reads: FCC IDENTIFICATION DATA. Model No. ZX81 USA. Personal Computer. Made in Engliand. No user serviceable parts inside. Use only Sinclair approved AC adapter.
Sinclair ZX-81, but the US model. Not a Timex-Sinclair 1000. Still has a ยฃ in the lower right of the keyboard though.
New episode of Next Without For Podcast!
The History of BASIC
www.nextwithoutfor.org/2025/02/show...
We'll be recording episode 284 here in about 20 minutes: www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUrw...
