In Memoriam: Jack Tramiel (1928-2012)
Founder of Commodore, ex-CEO of Atari Corp.

Twenty years ago this month, Microsoft released version 3.1 of its famous Windows operating system. At the time, however, Windows could not stand alone as a true OS by itself. Instead, it served as a sophisticated graphical shell that ran on top of command line MS-DOS.

Windows 3.1 introduced many innovations to the Windows product line, including TrueType fonts, baked-in multimedia support, and even the first appearance of the dreaded Windows Registry (really!).

In celebration of this anniversary, I produced a slideshow outlining some of Windows 3.1’s most important improvements and features for PC World. If nothing else, the custom screenshots should serve as a trip down memory lane for many folks. I hope you enjoy it.

You can’t tell from the photo, but this table is actually 200 feet wide.

Since I bought my first Model 100 over a decade ago, I’ve always wanted the TRS-80 Model 100 Disk/Video Interface (a device we see here in this 1984 advertisement) to go with it. The interface not only allows you to hook your Model 100 to a TV set or monitor (80 x 25 text display!) but it also provides two floppy disk drives on which you can store your data.

In other words, that’s quite an expansion for a computer with an 8 x 40 character display and minimal RAM-based user storage that loses its contents with battery failure. It essentially converts the Model 100 — which is a light, portable machine — into a desktop PC.

Discussion Topic of the Week: Have you ever set up a desktop computer on your kitchen table? Tell us about it.

That must be one heck of a spreadsheet you’re working on.

Discussion Topic of the Week: Do you prefer playing classic PC games (say, pre-Doom) using a keyboard, a mouse, or a joystick?

It’s the MICRO EXECUTIVE WORKSTATION, people!

iPad, schmyepad. In the 1980s, we had hair on our chests, far fewer seat belts, and we walked backwards downhill halfway from school every day in the monsoon season. AND WE LIKED IT. We also used the TRS-80 Model 100 — a sleek 3.9-pound, 2-inch thick machine that could run 20 hours on a single set of four AA batteries — for all of our mobile computing needs.

Imagine 8 kilobytes of RAM. Imagine a full travel keyboard and a 240×64 display that could fit in your lap. Imagine downloading stock prices at $12/hour from CompuServe at 300 bits per second over two acoustic couplers. It’s not a fantasy — it’s life in 1983.

Below, I present for your perusal a stat-by-stat comparison between the mighty Radio Shack wonder and today’s iPad, then I ask you: which is truly superior?

[ Continue reading [ Retro Scan of the Week ] The iPad of the 1980s » ]

Over the weekend, PCMag.com published a slideshow I put together covering 10 classic computer RPGs of the 1980s. Here is a passage from the introduction that excited Slashdot recently:

Throughout our story, we’ll cover 10 classic computer games that both defined and extended the definition of the RPG in the 1980s. You’ll see names like Ultima, The Bard’s Tale, and Might and Magic, which may seem familiar, but you’ll also find a few surprising titles that you may never have heard of.

It’s funny — I was going to try to sneak this one past the Internet populace with a modest, unassuming title instead of something like “THE TEN MOST IMPORTANT RPGS OF THE 1980S.” But nooo, someone found it anyway, dug out the interesting kernel of truth buried in the introduction, and put it on Slashdot for all to see.

I bet if I had titled it something like “10 Games,” we would be hearing about it on the CBS Evening News tonight.

All that being said, I hope you enjoy it.

The Amaray Corporation DiskBank Media Mate

It’s not every day that I stop and think about floppy diskette storage boxes. I never had a favorite brand of them, but I did find fault with many of the designs I encountered over the years. My least favorite thing about the DiskBank-stye box is if you pick it up by its “handle” (as illustrated here) without locking or properly latching the lid, the lid flops open and you end up with a pile of floppies on the floor.

It would be interesting to catalog and put together a historical timeline of floppy disk box brands…but then again, I don’t see myself doing that any time soon.

Discussion Topic of the Week: What kind of containers do (or did) you use to store your floppy disks?

Every once and a while, I receive emails from people looking for a certain game, electronic toy, or computer from their distant past. I then pass it on to intrepid VC&G readers to crack the case.

The Clues

Jakdin writes:

Hi there,

I have been trying to remember the name of a C64 (possibly C128) text adventure game that I played in 1989 or 1990. I don’t remember the game containing any visuals, but there might have been… Regardless, here’s what I remember, and it’s not much, of the game content:

You are a detective (I believe) and are at a seaside or lakeside resort during it’s off-season time. I remember that I could “see” an abandoned row boat and closed/locked market along the water.

That’s all I vividly remember. Not so clear is the possibility of other shut or closed down stores and buildings in the vicinity of where the game starts the player.

Any help at all in finding the title of this game from my vague memory would be MUCH appreciated!

Thanks!
jakdin

The Search Begins

It’s up to you to find the object of Jakdin’s fuzzy memory. Post any thoughts or suggestions in the comments section below. Jakdin will be monitoring the comments, so if you need to clarify something with him, ask away. Good luck!

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Have a memory of a computer, video game, computer software, or electronic toy you need help identifying? Send me an email describing your memories in detail. Hopefully, the collective genius of the VC&G readership can help solve your mystery.

Kevin Huffman and his trusty Apple IIe.

The unrelenting pace of computer technology boggles the mind. For some individuals, businesses, and governments, it boggles the wallet as well. That’s one of the reasons a surprising number of organizations refuse to continuously upgrade their computer systems — even though every salesman in the industry tells them it’s the right thing to do.

I have often wondered how many of these vintage machines are still in use around the world. In the course of crafting history pieces for various publications, I encounter some entertaining stories of digital dinosaurs here and there (and I ask for them), but they are mostly light fare about a cousin who uses a Pentium I for word processing or a hacker buddy who won’t let go of his VT100 terminal.

I decided to dig a little deeper and found some individuals and organizations that truly depend on vintage computers, day in and day out, and I compiled the resulting stories into a new piece just published over at PC World.com.

You’ll read about one video game programmer’s reliance on a Tandy Color Computer 3, a company that uses a circa-1948 IBM machine for accounting, an Apple IIe that organizes a warehouse, and an entire national military/industrial complex so dependent on 1970s DEC minicomputers that it will still be using them halfway through the 21st century.

[ Continue reading Ancient Computers in Use Today » ]

More color. More sound. More overwrought plastic and aluminum enclosures.

If you haven’t noticed by now, I love the Atari 800. It was my first computer platform. And the Atari 400, interestingly enough, was the first computer I ever “owned” — my father let me have a cast off 400 because my brother claimed the 800 as his domain. I couldn’t do much but play Galaxian on it — hooked up to a fuzzy 10″ black and white TV — but I cherished it anyway.

So I’ve written about Atari’s 8-bit computers a lot. I took an 800 apart for PC World a few years ago, and the platform has been the subject of numerous Retro Scans of the Week. But I just realized that I had never posted a scan of an original Atari 400 or Atari 800 advertisement. So here you go. This is an early ad that hails from the launch of the system in November 1979.

I thought an Atari scan would be appropriate since I am celebrating the 40th anniversary of Atari a little early.

Discussion Topic of the Week: Have you ever used an Atari 8-bit computer for anything other than games? Tell us about it.