Episode 183 - A Digital Gap?
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 Maj 54min
Episode 182 - Spinning Memories
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 Maj 58min
Episode 181 - RAYDAC
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 Maj 1h 12min
Episode 180 - You Wouldn't Magnetize a Tape!
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
Episode 179 - Programming Block by Block
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
Episode 178 - The Programma 101
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 Mars 1h 2min
Dan Temkin - Forty-Four Esolangs
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 Mars 51min
Episode 177 - Getting Real with RSX
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
