Episode 189 - The IBM 701
At the end of the 1940s IBM stood at a crossroads. The punch card company had yet to enter the electronic computer market. Forces within and without were pushing them in that direction, but many man i...
27 Syys 1h 5min
Usagi Electric and the LGP-21 Restoration
Who can't resist Librascope hardware? Well, me, for one. And David from Usagi Electric is in the same boat. In this episode we sit down to talk about his LGP-21, how he got it, how he got it working, ...
13 Syys 1h 3min
Episode 188 - Training and Teaching with the Bi-Tran Six
How did you learn about computers? And how in depth was your education? For some the answer is the Bi-Tran Six: an educational machine released in 1965. This was one of the first computer trainers, an...
1 Syys 52min
Episode 187 - What's Better Than Binary?
Binary is synonymous with digital computing. But is it the only way to crunch numbers? The short answer is no. The long answer, well, that's today's topic. Today we are talking about ternary, aka base...
17 Elo 1h 5min
LIVE from VCF West - Wait, Is That Really UNIX?
It's no secret that I've been fascinated by odd UNIX clones for a while. When I got invited back to speak at VCF West this year I decided to share that fascination with a captive audience. In this tal...
3 Elo 48min
Episode 186 - MADDIDA
In 1950 Northrup unveiled their MAgnetic Drum DIgital Differential Analyser. The machine is a wild piece of technology; a rendering of an analog computer in digital encoding. But how did we get here? ...
19 Heinä 1h 7min
Episode 185 - Is EMUL-8ion a Form of Flattery?
EMUL-8 is a fascinating programming language. It's described in just one paper from 1977. It's a mix of features from APL, LISP, ALGOL, and SNOBOL. And, I think, it's a wonderful window into how count...
6 Heinä 1h 1min
Episode 184 - What Is A Programming Language?
I mean that both in the specific and the abstract. This episode we are looking at APL, which stands for A Programming Language. APL was developed in the mid 50s, but didn't see a working implementatio...
21 Kesä 1h 9min
