Episode 136 - Getting On TRAC

The early history of computer games is messy, weird, and surprising. This episode we are looking at HUTSPIEL, perhaps one of the oldest games ever played on a computer. It's a wargame developed to simulate nuclear conflict... and it's 100% analog. Join us as we find out just what tax dollars were being used for in 1955. Selected Sources: https://archive.org/details/hutspiel-a-theater-war-game - The HUTSPIEL paper  

I'm finally back to my usual programming! This time we are taking one of my patent pending rambles through a topics. Today's victim: the humble type-in program. Along the way we will see how traditions formed around early type-in software, and how the practice shifted over time. Was this just a handy way to distribute code? Was this just an educational trick? The answers are more complex than you may first imagine. Selected Sources: https://s3data.computerhistory.org/pdp-1/DEC.pdp_1.1964.102650371.pdf - LISP for the PDP-1 https://archive.org/details/DigiBarnPeoplesComputerCompanyVol1No1Oct1972 - PCC Issue #1 https://archive.org/details/Whattodoafteryouhitreturn - What To Do After You Hit Return  

LIVE from VCF West 2024, my talk on edge notched cards! Since this is a live recording from an auditorium the audio is a little boomy, so be warned. Actually, I'm pretty sure this is the same space that CHM uses for some of their oral histories. What I have today is just the audio component. VCF will be posting a full video eventually, which I'll be sure to pass around.

I've gotten busy preparing for VCF West, so this time you get a short one! In this byte-sized episode we are looking at a short and strange story: that time a plane struck a software company, and the company turned around and used the crash in their own ads.

Have you ever formed a bad first impression? Way back when I formed a hasty impression of this language called TRAC. It's been called a proto-esoteric language, and for good reason. It's outlandish, complex, and confounding. But, after the urging of some listeners, I've decided to give TRAC a second look. What I've found is, perhaps, more confusing than I ever imagined. This episode we are looking at the wild history of TRAC, how it actually pioneered some good ideas, and why it feels so alien. Selected Sources: https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/800197.806048 - 1965 TRAC paper https://github.com/gmilmei/trac64 - TRAC64 processor in "modern" C https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/365230.365270 - 1966 TRAC paper, with more code!

In 1984 SCO released PC XENIX, a port of UNIX that ran on an IBM PC. To understand why that's such a technical feat, and how we even got here, we have to go back to the late 1970s. In this episode we are taking a look at how Microsoft got into the UNIX game, and how they repeatedly struggled to make micro-UNIX work for them. Along the way we run into vaporware, conspiracy, and the expected missing sources!

This episode I'm opening up my research vault to present some interesting pre-digital technology. Back before computers us humans used to write everything down on paper. Over time that lead to some organizational issues. By 1890 punch cards show up to solve one aspect of this problem, but that technology had it's limitations. We will be looking at other paper-based approaches to data management, as I slowly try and explain a realization I've come to about the early history of hypertext.

I'm currently out traveling. Due to my poor planning I managed to score back to back trips, for both business and leisure. While I'm not able to get an episode out on time, I do have a replacement! In 2023 I was invited to speak at the Intelligent Speech conference. So, today, I present the audio of that talk. The topic is, of course, the wild path of the Intel 8086's creation and rise to power! If you prefer to watch, here's the video of the same talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ud8LK3-eAM

In 1959 the world bore witness to a new type of computer: the PDP-1. It was the first interactive computer to really make a dent in the market. Some say it was the first minicomputer: a totally new class of machine. But where did this computer come from, and what made it so different from the rest of the digital pack? Selected sources: https://americanhistory.si.edu/comphist/olsen.html - Smithsonian interview with Ken Olsen https://archive.computerhistory.org/resources/access/text/2019/03/102785079-05-01-acc.pdf - Computing in the Middle Ages https://archive.org/details/bitsavers_decBooksBeng_37322315 - Computer Egnineerling, Bell et al.

I've been feeling like rambling, so it's time for a classic ramble. This time we are looking at the origins of books about computers. More specifically, computer books targeted at a general audience. Along the way we stumble into the first public disclosure of digital computers, the first intentionally unimportant machine, and wild speculation about the future of mechanical brains. No sources listed this time, because I want the journey to be a surprise!