Episode 154 - ACTing Up
Advent of Computing
The LGP-30 is one of my favorite computers. It's small, scrappy, strange, and wonderous. Among its many wonders are two obscure languages: ACT-I and ACT-III. In this episode we are exploring the ACTS, how the LGP-30 was programmed in practice, and why I've been losing sleep for the last few weeks.
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Episode 153 - The Keypact Mystery
Advent of Computing
When I was down at VCF SoCal I ran into a strange machine: the Keypact Micro-VIP. It's a terminal without a keyboard, covered in dials, with a speaker and a switch labeled "voice". This chance encounter with the unknown sent me down a wild path. It involved the creeping spread of computing, chicken feed, door to door life insurance salesmen, and at least one early hacker.
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Episode 152 - LIVE at VCF - Reviving Retro Panel
Advent of Computing
A special treat from VCF SoCal. While visiting I had the chance to host a panel on restoration and preservation. I was joined by: David from Usagi Electric ( Rob from Souther Amis ( Jim, Former Executive Director Computer Museum of America (
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Episode 151 - The Friden Flexowriter
Advent of Computing
Have you ever looked at an old computer and seen a weird typewriter thing tacked on? In most cases that's a device called a Flexowriter. It's half electric typewriter, half teleprinter, half tape reader, and all business! This episode we are chronicling the rise, fall, and weird business dealings of the Flexowriter.
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Episode 150 - Starting Windows Up
Advent of Computing
In the modern day Windows is a power house, but that wasn't always the case. In this episode we are looking at the fraught development of Windows 1.0. During development it was called vaporware, it was panned in the press, roasted at at least one trade show, and even called... "eclectic". Through it all a vision in lime green would take form.
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Episode 149 - IDRIS Is Not UNIX
Advent of Computing
This episode we are taking a trip back to UNIX world. We're looking at IDRIS, the first clone of UNIX. It was supposed to be highly compatible, but use no code from Bell Labs. IDRIS ran on everything from the Intel 8080 up to the IBM System/370. There was even a version that could run MS-DOS programs. Sound too good to be true? Well, that may be the case. Selected Sources: - A Quarter Century of UNIX - Co-Idris disk images and executables
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Episode 148 - Is BLISS Ignorance?
Advent of Computing
In 1970 a little language called BLISS emerged from Carnegie Mellon University. It was a systems language, meant for operating systems and compilers. It was designed, in part, as a response to Dijkstra's famous Go To Considered Harmful paper. It had no data types. It used the most bizzare form of the pointer I've ever seen. And it was a direct competitor to C. Sound interesting, yet? Selected Sources: - Readings on BLISS - A History of BLISS
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Episode 147 - Molecular Electronic Computer
Advent of Computing
In 1961 Texas Instruments unveiled the Molecular Electronic Computer, aka: Mol-E-Com. It was a machine that fit in the palm of your hand, but had all the power of a much larger computer. This was in an age of hefty machines, which made the achievement all the more marvelous. How was this even possible? It was all thanks to the wonders of molecular electronics, and a boat load of funding from the US Air Force. Selected Sources: - Invention of the Integrated Circuit, Kilby - Investigation of Silicon Functional Blocks, TI - Silicon Semiconductor Networks, TI
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Episode 146 - The Z4
Advent of Computing
The Z4, completed by Konrad Zuse in 1945, is a computer with a wild story. It was made from scrounged parts, survived years of bombing raids, moved all around Berlin, and eventually took refuge in basements and stables. In this episode we will follow the Z4's early days, and look at how it fits into the larger picture of Zuse's work. Along the way there is looting, rumors, and even... IBM! Selected Sources: The Computer, My Life - Konrad Zuse's autobiography - Plankalkul, F.L. Bauer and H. Wossner - Architecture of the Z4, Rojas
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Episode 145 - Zuse's Mysterious Machines
Advent of Computing
In 1933 Konrad Zuse, a German civil engineer, caught the computing bug. It would consume the rest of his life. According Zuse he invented the world's first digital computer during WWII, working in near total isolation within the Third Reich. How true is this claim? Today we are looking at Zuse's early machines, the Z1, Z2, and Z3. Selected Sources: The Computer -- My Life, by Konrad Zuse - Z1 Architecture paper by Rojas - Z3... Turing Complete? also by Rojas
info_outlineThis is a hefty one. I usually try to keep things as accessible as possible, but this time we have to get a little more technical than usual. We are picking up in 1964, with the first proposals for a new version of ALGOL. From there we sail through the fraught waters of ALGOL X, Y, W, and finally 68. Along the way we see how a language evolves over time, and how people and politics mesh with technical issues.
Selected Sources:
https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.5555/1061112.1061118 - Successes and Failures of the ALGOL Effort
https://sci-hub.se/10.1109/MAHC.2010.8 - Cold War Origins of IFIP
https://archive.computerhistory.org/resources/text/algol/algol_bulletin/ - The ALGOL Bulletin