RetroPC

The Verge: Paul leaves the internet Paul’s endeavor has...

Tue, 22 May 2012 12:36:41 -0400

The Verge: Paul leaves the internet

Paul’s endeavor has been very inspiring to me. I hope that others will watch this video and read his “offline” posts at futurepaul on The Verge.

I have been reading his posts and seeing things in a new light. As one might think by my tumblr page, I’ve been on quite the nostalgic kick for the last few months. I feel that much of that has prepared me to make some changes to my daily use of technology. Maybe not in the fullest extent that he has done, but what I can practically do. Unfortunately, my job does require me to use the Internet on a regular basis.

I am now considering doing what I can to maybe not eliminate all usage of the Internet but to trim out much of my casual usage especially on social networks and sites where I consume media for entertainment. I still have to think about this some more.

A history of Windows: highlights from 25 years

Mon, 21 May 2012 08:24:39 -0400

A history of Windows: highlights from 25 years:

maverickuk:

heck-yeah-old-tech:

Wonder what Windows 1.0 (1985) or 2.0 (1987) looked like?
This is a complete history of Microsoft’s most used product with plenty of screenshots and information, not surprisingly found on Microsoft’s website.

We’ve come a long way thanks to Microsoft, but will they remain a leader going forwards? They’ve stumbled a few times in recent years

Indie Game: The Movie Trailer I can’t wait to see...

Tue, 01 May 2012 10:49:00 -0400

Indie Game: The Movie

Trailer

I can’t wait to see this

drmanitoba:

If you love video games, you need to see Indie Game: the Movie. It’s an incredible story of what it really takes to make the games we love to play. I can’t even put it into words how inspiring and incredible it was to see this film. The movie is currently touring theaters across America right now. If it’s coming to a city near you, I highly encourage you to check this one out. You will not be disappointed.

Paul Miller of theverge.com leaving the internet for a year

Tue, 01 May 2012 09:19:32 -0400

Paul Miller of theverge.com leaving the internet for a year:

Tons of respect for this guy. I wish him luck.

The Collapse of Moore’s Law: Physicist Says It’s Already...

Tue, 01 May 2012 08:13:00 -0400

The Collapse of Moore’s Law: Physicist Says It’s Already Happening (2012)

According to Kaku:

“…in about ten years or so, we will see the collapse of Moore’s Law. In fact, already, already we see a slowing down of Moore’s Law. Computer power simply cannot maintain its rapid exponential rise using standard silicon technology. Intel Corporation has admitted this.”

DOT MATRIX REVOLUTION v BOW BEFORE THE CLOUD Just for...

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 13:26:00 -0400

DOT MATRIX REVOLUTION v BOW BEFORE THE CLOUD

Just for fun

“Following an early morning status check of their vintage electronic equipment, two computer engineers “throw down” in an awkward dance-off that innacurately echoes the development of information technolgy and the internet from 1951 up to the present day. The film features a catchy jingle by pop impresario Jim Guthrie.
*: The point at which a given species cedes planetary control to robots or machines.
Production notes: This film was produced by Superbrothers in 2006 before the establishment of Superbrothers Inc., but it was not until after incorporation that the film was eventually released. Critical reception of the film was positive, although most felt that the aim of the film was less lofty than its acclaimed predecessor THE CHILDREN OF THE CLONE, and that its creators had gone soft, already drifting from their revolutionary roots.
Interestingly, the film caught the attention of a number of internet web logs, leading to criticism by the notoriously tech savvy internet web log users, who responded harshly to home viewings of the film with comments like these: “Lame. Stupid. Fail. The depiction of Computer Systems of each period are so innacurate as to be totally misleading.” or worse, “Lame on SOOOO many levels. Not even deinterlaced properly, which is amazing considering it’s trying to look 8-bit. I was wondering how this crap got voted up, then saw, of course, Mr.BabyMan’s fan army voted it up”.
- Vimeo

Pirates of Silicon Valley (1999) “Pirates of Silicon...

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 12:47:54 -0400

Pirates of Silicon Valley (1999)

“Pirates of Silicon Valley is a 1999 made-for-television film directed by Martyn Burke and based on the book Fire in the Valley: The Making of The Personal Computer by Paul Freiberger and Michael Swaine. The film documents the impact on the development of the personal computer of the rivalry between Apple Computer and Microsoft. It spans the time period of the early 1970s to 1997, when Steve Jobs (Noah Wyle) and Bill Gates (Anthony Michael Hall) develop a partnership after Jobs returns to Apple Computer. It aired on Turner Network Television on April 6 & 7, 1999.”

- Wikipedia

Steve Jobs Lost Interview (1990) Uncut interview from 1990 with...

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 12:18:06 -0400

Steve Jobs Lost Interview (1990)

Uncut interview from 1990 with Steve Jobs

Classic arcade game 'Star Castle' finally ported to Atari 2600 three decades later

Sat, 28 Apr 2012 22:15:43 -0400

Classic arcade game 'Star Castle' finally ported to Atari 2600 three decades later:

But it needs donations on Kickstarter to happen.

Netscape Mozilla Documentary (1998-2000) boutboulman: Netscape...

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 12:07:00 -0400

Netscape Mozilla Documentary (1998-2000)

boutboulman:

Netscape Mozilla Documentary 1998 - 2000 ProJect Code Rush - creative common licence (by znoopy2k)

A documentary on Netscape, Mozilla, programmers and the dot-com era. Interesting stuff; and on a personal note: as much as they make being a programmer sound quite depressing, it does make me want to code.

Then again, this film is 10 years old… Who knows what the life of a programmer is like now.

- Project Code Rush

Video: "Download: The True Story of the Internet" (2008)

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 11:41:00 -0400

Video: "Download: The True Story of the Internet" (2008):

Stream It

“Download: The True Story of the Internet is documentary television series about Internet history. It is aired on Science Channel at US and Discovery Channel for other countries. It originally aired on March 3, 2008. The show was hosted by John Heilemann.

There are 4 parts to the documentary. These are

Part 1: Browser Wars
The rise and fall of Netscape and its battle against Microsoft

Part 2: Search
The rise of Google and Yahoo

Part 3: Bubble
The dot.com crash of 2000 and the mainstays of the internet — Amazon.com and Ebay

Part 4: People Power
Peer to peer technology, web2.0, and social networking”

- Wikipedia

Before Netscape: the forgotten Web browsers of the early 1990s

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 11:31:00 -0400

Before Netscape: the forgotten Web browsers of the early 1990s:

A good history lesson on early browsers. Remember Mosaic?

C|NET Central - Hackers (1997) “A look at hackers and how...

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 11:09:00 -0400

C|NET Central - Hackers (1997)

“A look at hackers and how they are prosecuted for the hacking they commit.”

- TTVRewind

ReBoot (1994-2001) I was hooked on this as a...

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 09:28:00 -0400

ReBoot (1994-2001)

I was hooked on this as a kid!

“ReBoot is a Canadian CGI-animated action-adventure cartoon series that originally aired from 1994 to 2001. It was produced by Vancouver-based production company Mainframe Entertainment, Alliance Communications, BLT Productions and created by Gavin Blair, Ian Pearson, Phil Mitchell and John Grace, with the visuals designed by Brendan McCarthy after an initial attempt by Ian Gibson.

It was the first half-hour, completely computer-animated TV series. Reruns of the first three seasons can be seen in Canada on Teletoon Retro, and the first two seasons are available on Netflix’s streaming service in the US.”

- Wikipedia

The 90’s: Printers Always failed on the night before an...

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 08:07:55 -0400

The 90’s: Printers

Always failed on the night before an assignment was due…

The 90’s: Scanners If you’ve never used one of...

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 07:10:00 -0400

The 90’s: Scanners

If you’ve never used one of these consider yourself lucky.

If you have… then I feel your pain. :P

Midwest Gaming Classic This looks like a good time! Might have...

Thu, 26 Apr 2012 16:20:49 -0400

Midwest Gaming Classic

This looks like a good time! Might have to take another road trip…

Flickr Collection for 2012

www.midwestgamingclassic.com

Midwest Gaming Classic 2011 on Flickr

On Wikipedia

Midwest Gaming Classic 2011 Walkthrough & Commentary on YouTube

On Facebook

Computer Chronicles: Gary Kildall Special (1995) “A...

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 16:13:00 -0400

Computer Chronicles: Gary Kildall Special (1995)

“A profile on computer pioneer Gary Kildall and the important contributions he made to the PC industry including the true story on how IBM ended up using MS-DOS rather than CP/M. Kildall developed CP/M, the first personal computer operating system. He was also a co-host on the early Computer Chronicles series. Includes comments by Gordon Eubanks, Symantec; Tom Rolander, DRI; Tim Bajarin, Creative Strategies; Lee Lorenzen, DRI; Jacqui Morby, TA Associates; Alan Cooper, CP/M applications developer. Originally broadcast in 1995.”
- Archive.org

Part 1 of 2 above

Part 2 of 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67p3WBv2mOY

Read more about Gary Kildall on Wikipedia

People Play Games (Chicago, IL) I want to go to this store so...

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 14:37:00 -0400

People Play Games (Chicago, IL)

I want to go to this store so bad! It’s about 2 hours from my house. Time for a road trip!

Here’s a Flickr post from 2008 from the same store.

Details:

“Retro video game store - we buy, sell and trade all video games & consoles
People Play Games is all about video games, past and present. We carry all things Atari, Odyssey, Intellivison, Colecovision, Vectrex, Nintendo, Sega, 3DO, Turbografx, Neo Geo, Playstation & Xbox. We also carry handheld games & tabletop games.”
- People Play Games Facebook Page

Retro Game: Heretic (1994) This was one of the games that I...

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 11:51:40 -0400

Retro Game: Heretic (1994)

This was one of the games that I spent hours and hours on after Doom. I remember traveling to CompUSA (Chicago) to buy this with my best friend and his family which was a big deal because we didn’t have big box computer stores like that within an hours drive where we lived. The days before Best Buy.

“Using a modified Doom engine, Heretic was one of the first first-person games to feature inventory manipulation and the ability to look up and down. It also introduced multiple gib objects spawned when a character suffered a death by extreme force or heat. Previously, the character would simply crumple into a heap. The game used randomized ambient sounds and noises, such as evil laughter, chains rattling, distantly ringing bells and water dripping in addition to the background music to further enhance the atmosphere.”
- Wikipedia