Retro Thing
 
Showing 1-10 of 367 records
 
Expand article

Dead End Job

The Article has images
2008-10-04 11:16:06 by james in Retro Thing
Apparently, all sixteen members of the accounting department were stuffed into a cramped broom closet in the basement. At least they had snazzy SWTPC serial terminals to pass the time. [Even weirder: Look carefully and you'll see that the image was inexplicably flipped horizontally - the text on the terminals is right justified and the...
 
Tags: ledger appears, broom closet, department, time, vinci, weirder, july, text, apparently
 
 
 
 
Expand article

Commodore 64: The Best Selling Personal Computer of All Time

The Article has images
2008-10-02 13:54:28 by Lisa Fritscher in Retro Thing
The Commodore 64 has earned its place in the annals of history as the computer that almost single-handedly brought about the personal computer revolution. In 1982, personal computers were certainly available but they were extremely expensive, difficult to program and generally used only in university and some business settings The Commodore 64...
 
Tags: commodore, commodore 64s, computer, price tag, price, personal computer revolution, popular, favorite c64 games, incredibly low price
 
 
 
 
Expand article

Retrospective(?): Lead 16k for the Atari 2600

The Article has images
2008-10-02 08:06:00 by TideGear Adam Milecki in Retro Thing
Ok, so this isn't technically much of a retrospective, but bear with me since the Atari 2600 is involved. There's a whole subculture of programmers who love programming for obsolete hardware. I'm sure anyone reading this blog can understand that there are several good reasons for such a hobby. Some do it for the challenge. Some do it out of love...
 
Tags: lead, lead 16k, lead youtube video, 16k, lead forum thread, hardware, obsolete hardware, sound hardware, shmup
 
 
 
 
Expand article

An Incomprehensibly Cool Analog Computer

The Article has images
2008-10-01 10:21:43 by james in Retro Thing
Analog computers are irresistibly technical. Take the recently discontinued Comdyna GP-6, for instance. Its front panel is strewn with a baffling array of summer integrators, coefficient potentiometers and even a couple of inverters. Perhaps the crew of the Starship Enterprise was right after all - a dash of well-timed phase inversion can work...
 
Tags: comdyna gp-6, gp-6, gp-6 recently, gp-6 analog computers, analog computers, analog computer, recently, non-linear systems, linear
 
 
 
 
Expand article

Banana Splits: Costumed Cartoon Hosts & Bubblegum Rockers Return!

The Article has images
2008-10-01 01:03:31 by bohus in Retro Thing
It's reassuring that in this age of soulless CG characters and pre-teen stars that are too school for school, there's room once again for crazy real-live costumed characters. I'm not talking today's scrubbed clean pre-school fare like Teletubbies, I'm talking the anarchic animals of indistinct origin; the Banana Splits In the 60's and 70's,...
 
Tags: banana splits, splits, puppet characters, characters, fare, clean pre-school fare, school, cartoon network, hour
 
 
 
 
Expand article

Timex Sinclair 1000: My First Computer

The Article has images
2008-09-30 15:52:31 by Lisa Fritscher in Retro Thing
I was fortunate enough to be raised by parents who fully embraced new technology. In the late 1970s and early 1980s computers were frighteningly expensive, however, and my parents never thought they would be able to afford one The Timex Sinclair 1000 [sold as the ZX81 in the UK -Ed.] , released in 1982, was priced for affordability and targeted...
 
Tags: computer, computer owners, computer revolution, timex sinclair, disposable computers, computers, 1980s computers, favorite oddball microcomputers, lifelong love affair
 
 
 
 
Expand article

photokina - Retro Camera Roundup

The Article has images
2008-09-30 12:04:05 by james in Retro Thing
...gadgets for the discerning wanna-be spy The star of at the espionage-themed Minox License to Shoot booth was the 199 ($280) Minox DSC, intended to evoke their classic Minox B model from decades past. It weighs a mere 60g and incorporates a 3.2 MP (interpolated to 5.0 MP) sensor. It looks cool, but who's going to buy it in a world where...
 
Tags: minox, minox booth, booth, minox license, medium format, medium format cameras, film, minox dsc, camera
 
 
 
 
Expand article

Pocket Adder - Save The Economy In Earth-Toned 70's Style

The Article has images
2008-09-30 01:16:29 by bohus in Retro Thing
The USA in the 1970's wasn't just joyous corduroy and the golden age of game shows. In those days the USA faced serious economic recession because of oil embargoes. That could never happen again, right? Thankfully someone was able to send the Shopping Calculator Pocket Adder through time to the present day to help us avoid a similar fate The...
 
Tags: pocket adder, cents, click cents, click, calculator pocket adder, click advances, nickel, single nickel, economic recession
 
 
 
 
Expand article

The Magic Stick, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Slide Rule

The Article has images
2008-09-29 10:18:11 by Lisa Fritscher in Retro Thing
Lisa Fritscher joins us this week as a guest author. I'll let her introduce herself... -Ed I have a confession to makeIm a geek. I have always been a geek. I got my first computer, a Timex Sinclair 1000, at the age of six. I used to play chess on that thing, although the whopping 2K memory meant that I could make my move in the morning, go to...
 
Tags: slide rule, slide rule lives, humble slide rule, love, math geek, math, geek, gamer geek, step