Panelists: Paul Hagstrom (hosting), Quinn Dunki, and Carrington Vanston Topic: 1977 In 1977, XMODEM, VAX, and FAT arrived. And the Atari VCS (2600). And the TRS-80 Model 1, Commodore PET, and Apple II. Topic/Feedback links: Atari 2600 (Wikipedia) Atari 2600 Pac-Man (Wikipedia) Tod Frye discusses Pac-Man 8K homebrew (YouTube) TRS-80 Model 1 (Wikiped…

Panelists: Paul Hagstrom (hosting), Blake Patterson, and Carrington Vanston Topic: 1976 In 1976, Bill Gates wrote a letter, and the Queen sent an e-mail. Two 1s (Apple- and Cray-) appeared on the scene. Topic/Feedback links: Zilog Z80 (Wikipedia) CP/M (Wikipedia) Incidental mention: Kaypro 2000 An Open Letter to Hobbyists (Wikipedia) Apple-1 (WIkip…

Panelists: Paul Hagstrom (hosting), Quinn Dunki, Michael Mulhern, and Blake Patterson Topic: 1975 In 1975 we got the Altair 8800, Micro-Soft. Topic/Feedback links: MITS Altair 8800 (Wikipedia) History of Microsoft (Wikipedia) 6502 (Wikipedia) Retro Computing News: A1222+ “Tabor” Now Available for Purchase KansasFest 2024 registration opens Z80 EOL …

Panelists: Paul Hagstrom (hosting), Quinn Dunki, Earl Evans, and Carrington Vanston Topic: 1974 1974 brought us the SCELBI 8H, SQL, and the Captain Crunch whistle. Topic/Feedback links: SCELBI (Wikipedia) The SCELBI-8H, Probably the First Advertised Personal Computer Sold in Kit Form The SCELBI Mini-Computer (Mike Willegal) Build your own SCELBI 8H…

Panelists: Paul Hagstrom (hosting), Quinn Dunki, and Earl Evans Topic: 1973 1973 brought us Ethernet and the TV Typewriter, and more. Topic/Feedback links: Ethernet (Wikipedia) TV Typewriter (deramp.com) Retro Computing News: Greaseweazle v4 Apple II pendulum clock (GitHub) Chips to Lode Runner (Eric Badger, YouTube) Ben Eater 6502 kits Vintage Com…

Panelists: Paul Hagstrom (hosting), Quinn Dunki, Blake Patterson, and Carrington Vanston Topic: 1972 1972 brought us C (good enough for us), Pong, Magnavox Odyssey, and more. Topic/Feedback links: Dennis Ritchie on the development of C (ACM SIGPLAN Notices, March 1993) Pong released (Wikipedia) Atari founded (Wikipeda) A history of Syzygy/Atari (Mi…

Panelists: Paul Hagstrom (hosting), Quinn Dunki, and Carrington Vanston Topic: 1971 1971 brought us Computer Space, the Intel 4004, the Kenbak-1, and Email. Topic/Feedback links: Computer Space It’s the year 2022, let’s play Computer Space (YouTube) Intel 4004 Kenbak-1 (“arguably the first personal computer”) Ray Tomlinson of BBN sent the first ema…

Panelists: Paul Hagstrom (hosting), Quinn Dunki, Earl Evans, and Carrington Vanston Topic: 1970 In 1970, (Unix) time and Life began. Also, Pascal was “published,” Forth was first used by other programmers, Shakey the robot shook, DRAM appeared. Topic/Feedback links: Recollections about the development of Pascal (Niklaus Wirth) The evolution of Fort…

Panelists: Paul Hagstrom (hosting), Quinn Dunki, and Carrington Vanston Topic: 1968-1969 In 1968 and 1969, we had SHRDLU, the Mother of All Demos, Go To being considered harmful, and Unix. Topic/Feedback links: SHRDLU SHRDLU in action (YouTube) Terry Winograd’s PhD thesis. How SHRDLU got its name. Douglas Englebart’s Mother of All Demos (YouTube) D…

Various podcasters who attended the KansasFest 2023 or virtual A24eVR event relate their experiences and thoughts, in the annual “megapodcast” tradition. Participants: Paul Hagstrom Retrocomputing Roundtable Drop /// Inches Ron Ron’s Computer Videos Kat (LadyAiluros) Retro Metal Javier Rivera Retro Repair Roundtable Chris Torrence Assembly Lines Jo…

Panelists: Paul Hagstrom (hosting), Quinn Dunki, Earl Evans, and Blake Patterson Topic: 1967 1967 gave us Logo and the floppy disk, so we talk about that, and then many other things. Topic/Feedback links: Logo (Wikipedia) LogoWriter tape 1 (The Daily Papert) LogoWriter tape 1 (Vimeo) Logo Week (ByteCellar) TurtleSpaces JSLogo History of the Floppy …

Panelists: Paul Hagstrom (hosting), Quinn Dunki, Blake Patterson, with guest Laine Nooney Topics: 1966, and The Apple II Age Two topics this time: First, some things from 1966, and then, a discussion with Laine Nooney on their newly published book The Apple II Age: How the Computer Became Personal. Topic/Feedback links: The Apple II Age: How the Co…

Panelists: Paul Hagstrom (hosting), Quinn Dunki, Blake Patterson, and Carrington Vanston Topic: Poolside computing arrives We look back on a few highlights of 1965, including the Programma 101, the PDP-8, Moore’s Law. We talk analog computers, Visual BASIC, sticky mice, and more. Topic/Feedback links: Moore’s Law (Wikipedia) Moore’s Law (NYT) PDP-8…

Panelists: Paul Hagstrom (hosting), Quinn Dunki, and Carrington Vanston Topic: Double bucky, you’re the one We look back on a few highlights of 1964, including the double bucky, SABRE, and BASIC. Topic/Feedback links: The term “double bucky” is coined The double bucky song BASIC is introduced (successor to DARSIMCO and DOPE) IBM introduces SABRE CD…

Panelists: Paul Hagstrom (hosting), Quinn Dunki, Earl Evans, Michael Mulhern, and Carrington Vanston Topic: The year of the gopher We begin 2023 with a shift to new hosting providers, that require encrypted communication. How/should we access the modern web from old computers? Topic/Feedback links: Building a new C64 (Retro Recipes) LinuxJedi’s GoF…

Panelists: Paul Hagstrom (hosting), Quinn Dunki, Earl Evans, and Michael Mulhern Topic: 60 years between Bell 103 and today” s InterNet In 1962, the world gained Spacewar! and the Bell 103 modem. Topic/Feedback links: Spacewar at masswerk.at Spacewar! History of Spacewar! Computer Space Bell 103 NCR CRAM NCR CRAM product brochure. BBC archive, spea…

Panelists: Paul Hagstrom (hosting), Quinn Dunki, and Carrington Vanston Topic: Cause the Commodordian Is Keeping Up With You 1961 was all fine and good, but someone has made an accordion out of two Commodore 64s and a bunch of floppy disks. Topic/Feedback links: Neural net on a C64. Minus zero at fourmilab OS 2200 Unisys 2200 Series architecture BB…

Panelists: Paul Hagstrom (hosting), Quinn Dunki, Earl Evans, and Blake Patterson Topic: Recommended Standard 232 and Programmed Data Processor-1 1960 brought us RS-232 and the PDP-1, more COBOL, and curly braces. Topic/Feedback links: Recommended Standard 232 A proposal for character code compatibility. The great curly brace trace Demo of the Digir…

Panelists: Paul Hagstrom (hosting), Quinn Dunki, and Carrington Vanston Topic: Little bit taller, COBOLler We consider 1959, and mostly come up with COBOL, then spend some time in an engagement-generating excercise, not quite remembering a remarkable number of things. Topic/Feedback links: COBOL at Britannica.com COBOL at Smithsonian. Grace Hopper …

Panelists: Paul Hagstrom (hosting), Quinn Dunki, and Carrington Vanston Topic: Tron and Perceptron In 1958, the Perceptron arrived and Lisp was defined. We talk a bit about things we came across that were associated with 1958. Topic/Feedback links: Setting up Genera in Linux Bell Labs 101 modem Tennis For Two Perceptron Open Worm Deviant Oliam on o…

Panelists: Paul Hagstrom (hosting), Earl Evans, and Carrington Vanston Topic: The dot matrix impact Spending some time revisiting the calmer, quieter days when our printing was done by forcefully slamming pins through an ink ribbon onto perforated paper, pushed along by rotating spikes. Topic/Feedback links: Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration. T…

Panelists: Paul Hagstrom (hosting), Quinn Dunki, Earl Evans, and Carrington Vanston Topic: Keep calm and carry on Episode 0 has arrived. Topic/Feedback links: The 6502 overflow flag explained The 6502 overflow flag explained mathematically The 6502 overflow flag explained at the silicon level ZX80 8K BASIC ROM upgrade Floppy Days 114: Howell Ivy, E…

Panelists: Paul Hagstrom (hosting), Quinn Dunki, Earl Evans, and Blake Patterson Topic: The One With All The Ones The Retrocomputing Roundtable has reached the end of its 8-bit run. Topic/Feedback links: Byte 8-bit computing Nibble Big boxes history video Traveler (Wikipedia) Traveler (Imperial Encyclopedia) Traveler (Mongoose Publishing) Mayday 20…

Panelists: Paul Hagstrom (hosting), Quinn Dunki, Earl Evans, and Carrington Vanston Topic: Fortran, for better or for worse The year 1954 brought us Fortran (not named after the year though) to help us with our math, and development of SAGE to scan the skies for threats. Topic/Feedback links: IBM 650 Drum memory Wurlizter SideMan (not 1954, but rel…

Panelists: Paul Hagstrom (hosting), Earl Evans, Michael Mulhern, and Carrington Vanston Topic: Prebricked drives Episode 253 relates to 1953. Core memory begins its long dominance of the RAM space, the IBM 701 is introduced. A year that was kind of between things, so as one might expect the conversation keeps sliding into a discussion of beverages.…

Panelists: Paul Hagstrom (hosting), Quinn Dunki, and Carrington Vanston Topic: UNIVAC liked Ike Episode 252 relates to 1952. The year when UNIVAC correctly called the election early and nobody believed it. The year the paper introducing the Huffman code compression algorithm was published. And the 50th anniversary of all the things that happened in…

Panelists: Paul Hagstrom (hosting), Charles Mangin, and Carrington Vanston Topic: Memories of Whirlwind I It’s been 71 years since 1951. So, we talk about some things kind of loosely related to 1951, including computer music, the Whirlwind I, and memory technology. Topic/Feedback links: Whirlwind I Jim Butterfield C64 training tape David Ahl’s BASI…

Panelists: Paul Hagstrom (hosting), Earl Evans, and Carrington Vanston Topic: Computing Machinery and Intelligence It’s been 72 years since the year Turing published the paper that outlined the Turing test. So: Let’s talk about interactions we’ve had relating to artificial intelligence in some form or another. Topic/Feedback links: RetroMagazine is…

Panelists: Paul Hagstrom (hosting), Earl Evans, Michael Mulhern, and Blake Patterson Topic: 2020 also We enter the third year of 2020. Yet another New Year’s, yet another opportunity to make the New Year’s resolution joke. Topic/Feedback links: Mega II project (single chip Apple II) Mega II project progress Acorn – a world in pixels (extended editi…

Panelists: Paul Hagstrom (hosting), Earl Evans, and Carrington Vanston Topic: So long, 2021 At the tail end of 2021, we talk about our retrocomputing-based adventures during the year, with a little bit of a look ahead at what might come after. Topic/Feedback links: Drop /// Inches, episode #11 (re: visiting Stanford archives) Mac networks game spre…

On July 18, 2007, David Szetela, founding editor of Nibble Magazine, delivered the keynote speech at KansasFest, an annual celebration of the Apple II. In this segment, he discusses the impact and legacy of John Sculley and Mike Harvey. Video by Ken Gagne. Recorded on 7/18/2007 by Ken Gagne and made available by KansasFest, Inc., under an Attributi…

On July 18, 2007, David Szetela, founding editor of Nibble Magazine, delivered the keynote speech at KansasFest, an annual celebration of the Apple II. In this segment, he discusses the departmental politics at Apple Computer Inc. Recorded on 7/18/2007 by Ken Gagne and made available by KansasFest, Inc., under an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs …

Jason Scott — digital archivist, proprietor of textfiles.com, and producer of the BBS and Get Lamp documentaries — delivered this keynote speech at KansasFest 2009 on July 21. This 20th annual Apple II convention was attended by retrocomputing enthusiasts from across North America, celebrating their favorite creation of Steve Wozniak. Recorded on 7…

In this session, Dagen Brock deals with using modern development tools and languages to create code and assets for use in Apple II software, including definitions and comparisons of off-platform and cross-platform development; creating build pipelines; using modern tools to create audio and visual assets; and tying it all together, as well as conje…

Bite the Bag is a party game that is also a KansasFest tradition. Long absent from our convention, Geoff Weiss gave this game its Rockhurst debut when he put it on the KansasFest 2010 schedule. Many dared and many fell in this battle of balance. Recorded on 7/21/2010 by Ken Gagne and made available by KansasFest, Inc., under an Attribution-NonComme…

GNO/ME is an open source UNIX-like extension for the Apple IIgs. Version 2.0.6 was released in 1999 (presented at KFest for the very first time in 2020) and has been often described as a central component to what would be included if GS/OS would have advanced. Topics covered by Geoff Weiss include how it compares with modern UNIX operating systems …

If you’ve programmed in Applesoft, then you know that its INPUT command is not very capable. But now you don’t need it! NuInput, by Ivan Drucker, is a powerful and flexible replacement for INPUT which makes it easy for any Applesoft programmer to specify maximum entry length and permitted keys, automatically convert lowercase, refuse blank entry, p…

Wouldn’t it be great if you could put whatever machine language you wanted into a standard Applesoft program with practically no performance, dependency, or stability issues? With Ivan Drucker’s Slammer, you can! Slammer is a new method for installing and executing machine language routines, at machine language speed, using 100% legal Applesoft. Th…

The incredibly open nature of the Apple II for development, down to the inclusion of schematics in every box, encouraged a generation of users who were also programmers. By contrast, today we have the walled garden of iPhone OS, where Apple judges all. Between these polar positions is the Macintosh. How have Apple – and Apple users – evolved over t…

This montage of highlights from KansasFest 1995 is a tour de force of one of the earliest conventions to celebrate the Apple II personal computer. Features include the keynote address by Roger Wagner; the party game Bite the Bag; the roast of Steve Disbrow; sessions by Tony Diaz and Mike Westerfield; and a cavalcade of cameos by Margaret Anderson, …

The Apple II was a fantastic gaming machine. You may not have daily access to this vintage hardware, but many of its best entertainment titles have been remade for the Macintosh. Ken Gagne revisits classics like Arkanoid, Ultima, and Dark Castle in this session that showcases the best of new and old. Find links to the games and YouTube videos shown…

Thanks to the Internet and social media, cultural artifacts can be disseminated in a distributed fashion faster than ever before. When something attains phenomenon status via viral means, it becomes a meme. But, just like a real virus, memes can quickly die off. What’s everyone talking about today that will be gone tomorrow? Ken Gagne demonstrates …

HackFest is an annual programming competition in which KansasFest attendees are challenged to write the coolest program possible for the Apple II while at KansasFest. Contestants Peter Neubauer, Martin Haye, Scott Miller, and Jeff Blakeney present their entries before Ivan Drucker announces the winners, as determined by Drucker, Ken Gagne, and Sean…

Martin Haye’s NakedOS is a new Disk II operating system for the entire Apple II line of computers. In this session, its creator covers the project’s rationale, design goals, API, disk format, Super-Mon integration and finally a few decision points and caveats for programmers considering NakedOS for their projects. Find it online at bitbucket.org/ma…

Martin Haye’s Super-Mon is a set of fancy extensions to the Apple II system monitor. This fairly technical session follows the creation of a small but interesting assembly language program that demonstrates the concepts and capabilities of Super-Mon. Recorded on 7/23/2010 by Ken Gagne and made available by KansasFest, Inc., under an Attribution 3.0…

Through custom coding and modification, Melissa Barron has modified the classic Oregon Trail to use in-game text that’s a blend of l337, chatspeak, and LOLcats syntax. Learn about the process of hacking this game and see it in action on an Apple IIc. Learn more at http://melissabarron.net/ or see her similar presentation at Notacon 7 at http://nota…

Once upon a time, only advanced programmers could achieve machine language speed. Learn how to use Macrosoft, a programming language from the same folks who brought us Nibble Magazine, to write Applesoft-like programs that achieve machine language speed, in this introduction to obtaining, using, and setting up Macrosoft and the companion Assembler.…

Mike Maginnis provides an overview of the Apple III and a look at all those nasty rumors about its allegedly poor design and engineering. Download the slides at https://www.kansasfest.org/downloads/ and read clarifications from the presenter at http://wp.me/pJsxq-43 Recorded on 7/22/2010 by Ken Gagne and made available by KansasFest, Inc., under an…

In April, Apple released the iPad, a tablet computer compatible with the iPhone’s App Store. In June, the iPhone and iPod Touch received the iOS 4 firmware upgrade. Rob Walch of the Today in iOS (formerly Today in iPhone) podcast, brings us both these devices with tips, tricks, and critiques of Apple’s new mobile hardware and software. The slides R…

Creator of the popular ‘FishNDA’, Ryan Suenaga proves that he doesn’t suck by delivering this precorded video to KansasFest 2010, in which he announces the development of a send-only email NDA for the Apple IIGS, codenamed Melissa and officially named Emily II. This video was Ryan’s last KansasFest appearance. Recorded on 7/24/2010 by Ken Gagne. Th…