COMPUTER CHRONICLES REVISITED 37 — THE EQUALIZER, COMPUTER COLORWORKS DIGITAL PAINTBRUSH SYSTEM, AT&T UNIX PC, AND GRID COMPASS 1101
In the early 1980s, there were two major antitrust settlements that significantly impacted the evolution of the computer industry.
CCR SPECIAL 3 — HERBERT LECHNER ON SOFTWARE ENGINEERING
In my posts covering the first season of Computer Chronicles, I noted that some of the episode recordings included interstitial segments presented by Herbert Lechner, who also occasionally guest hosted for Gary Kildall during this 1983-84 period.
COMPUTER CHRONICLES REVISITED 36 — TOPVIEW AND CONCURRENT PC DOS
One late night in the summer of 1972, an electrical engineering graduate student at the University of Washington named Tom Rolander was working in the school’s computer science lab when he saw a “fellow who looked like a student” sporting red hair and wearing cutoffs enter the room.
COMPUTER CHRONICLES REVISITED 35 — MACPROJECT, FILEVISION, GEM, AND LOTUS JAZZ
David Bunnell, a previous guest of Computer Chronicles, was well known in the mid-1980s as the publisher of PC World and Macworld magazines.
CCR SPECIAL 2 — JIM WARREN
Although Stewart Cheifet is long remembered as the host and executive producer of Computer Chronicles, he was actually not the first person to host the program.
COMPUTER CHRONICLES REVISITED 34 — DOLLARS AND SENSE, BANK OF AMERICA'S HOMEBANKING, AND TAX PREPARER BY HOWARDSOFT
The debut of VisiCalc in 1979 is often considered the first “killer app” for the personal computer.
CCR SPECIAL 1 — THE ELIZABETH ARDEN BEAUTY COMPUTER
From time to time, I’ll be posting these “Special” blogs, which only indirectly relate back to a Computer Chronicles episode.
COMPUTER CHRONICLES REVISITED 33 — STEVE BOROS, SPORTSPAK, COMPUTENNIS CT120, AND THE CONVERSE BIOMECHANICS LAB
Michael Lewis’ 2003 book Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game described Oakland Athletics general manager Billy Beane’s use of advanced statistical analysis–known as sabermetrics–to build his team.
COMPUTER CHRONICLES REVISITED 32 — UNIX SYSTEM V SVR 2, BSD 4.2, AND THE HP INTEGRAL PC
In 1969, a computer scientist at Bell Labs named Ken Thompson wrote an operating system for a Digital Equipment Corporation PDP-7 minicomputer that he initially dubbed Unics.
COMPUTER CHRONICLES REVISITED 31 — THE ADAPTIVE FIRMWARE CARD, EXPRESS 3, AND KURZWEIL READING MACHINE
Up to this point on Computer Chronicles–we’re now at February 1985 in terms of broadcast dates–the featured computers have largely relied on typewriter-style keyboards as input devices and cathode-ray tube monitors for output.