Episode 28 - Applesoft BASIC, Microsoft and Apple's First Collaboration

I've been browsing old compur surveys and trying to build up a comprehensive data set. What I've found is a little surprising: between late 1945 and 1949 only 10 new computers entered service. Once we...

31 Mai 54min

What connects IBM, the NSA, the Third Reich, and high fidelity recordings of symphonies? The answer is: magnetic drum memory. Join me as I lose all track of scope and plot to discovery just how and wh...

18 Mai 58min

In 1947 Raytheon signed a contract to make their first computer. It would be their last... at least for many many years. The fruits of this contract was RAYDAC. Early digital computers were odd, to sa...

3 Mai 1h 12min

The image of a mainframe is almost always accompanied by it's companion: the magnetic tape drive. For decades magnetic tape served as the medium of choice for computing. It was faster than punch cards...

19 Apr 1h 6min

In which we discuss GPSS: the General Purpose Simulation Language. As for as languages go, this is a unique one. It's designed for certain types of simulations. It's code is just a handy way to feed a...

4 Apr 1h 1min

The Olivetti Programma 101 isn't quite like any other machine. On first glance it looks like a big desktop calculator. Inside, it's a purebred computer... but strange one. It uses twisted spring steel...

22 Mar 1h 2min

Dan Temkin has been a long time friend of the show. I finally got the chance to sit down and talk with him about one of his latest projects. Forty-Four Esolangs is a "The first artist's monograph of p...

9 Mar 51min

Who wants to hear me make incorrect assumptions about old software? RSX is a system that, from the outside, can sound like it has a similar story to that of UNIX. First developed for the PDP-15 in 196...

23 Feb 57min