In this episode, we cover two computers from two coasts. One is American, and though important, we wouldn’t really say groundbreaking, while the other (other two really) were British, and were in fact very groundbreaking in the English market. Today we are boldly, fully entering the 1980s with discussions of the TI-99/4A and the Acorn Atom computer, which led to the BBC Micro.
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Now that the paper cuts have healed from flipping through pages of magazines we covered in the previous episode, come back in time with David and Jeff as they discuss the popular passive resource for early home computing enthusiasts, the “computer magazine.”
In this episode, they remark and reminisce about four more publications; ROM, The Transactor, Compute! and Dr. Dobbs Journal. Learn a bit about the creation, content, continuum, and culmination of these magazines, along with their various disciplines in computer information coverage.
Creative Computing’s April 1980 (April Fool’s) parody cover
Put on your reading glasses folks and come back in time with David and Jeff as they discuss the popular passive resource for early home computing enthusiasts, the “computer magazine.”
In this episode, they remark and reminisce about four specific publications; Creative Computing, Byte, Kilobaud and Interface Age. Learn a bit about the creation, content, continuum, and culmination of these magazines, along with their various disciplines in computer information coverage.
After a last minute scramble by me, Jeff, to get a solid Internet connection established for my part of the recording, we were able to bring Episode 11 to you on time. David did his usual outstanding job with editing to maintain continuity of the show and working around my technical mishaps.
Joining us this time is a special guest host, Randy Kindig, host of the Floppy Days podcast, and co-host of the ANTIC podcast.
The topic of this episode: The Atari 400 and 800 home computers!
After a small hiccup in our release schedule, we are back on track to tell you about two different computers, one that will make a great prop in a 1970’s style Sci-Fi movie remake, and another that would do well to hold open that door that keeps swinging shut on its own. We are talking about the Sharp MZ-80K and Sinclair ZX80, respectively. These are two international systems, and our first featured Japanese computer. We’re actually skipping another significant computer system that was released before the ZX80, but our next show will be fully dedicated to that American computer series released in 1979, the Atari 400 & 800.
