RCR Episode 281: The IBM PC and its sticks of ennui

Panelists: Paul Hagstrom (hosting), Quinn Dunki, and Blake Patterson

Topic: 1981

In 1981, we started communicating with AT commands and Kermit. Timex/Sinclair released the 1000/ZX-81. We got the BBC Micro and the ABC 800. IBM introduced the PC, for business, no fun allowed. And MS-DOS. And more.

Topic/Feedback links:

Sony 3.5 drive Quick, hide in this closet! (folklore.org) IBM PC“Atari” design MS-DOS Osborne 1 Xerox Star IPv4 Kermit kermitproject.org C-Kermit 10.0 beta 11 released in early August Hayes Smartmodem 300 Hayes AT command set Sinclair ZX81 Timex/Sinclair 1000 BBC Micro ABC 800 Donkey Kong E-mu Emulator

Retro Computing News:

Thomas Kurtz obituary (Legacy.com) Dartmouth BASIC at 50 CHM in memoriam Thomas Kurtz San Francisco Muni will stop using floppy disks Any Day Now Atari ST Notebook (it was real) The Pentium as a Navajo weaving (Nat Gallery of Art) Ward Christensen passed away CBBS for winter contact in the Chicago computer hobbyists’ group. Feb 1978, written up in Byte Nov 1978 Ward Christensen obituary (NYT)

Vintage Computer(-related) commercials:

Magnavox TV with built-in Odyssey Super Pong HayesStack

Retro Computing Gift Idea:

Floppy disk cookie cutters.

Auction Picks:

Blake:RARE DCS Industries Slot Box for Tandy EX HX 1000 A SX TX SL TL SL/2 TL/2 RL RLX Paul:3D printed TI cartridge tray. Warez wear. Omnitronix cassette interface NeXT Cube. Programma 101 (sold at $4000, 2 bids)

Closing notes:

Estate Sale (wound up with Super Pong, not much else).

Streams:

a2stream file for this episode: http://lo-fi.rcrpodcast.com/rcr281.a2stream Behind-the-scenes livestream recording of this episode (YouTube)

Feedback/Discussion:

feedback@rcrpodcast.com rcrpodcast@podcast.social on Mastodon rcrpodcast.com on bluesky Vintage Computer Forum RCR Podcast on Facebook RCR Podcast on YouTube

Intro / Closing Song: Back to Oz by John X

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