Category Archives: nostalgia

One moment please, while I arrange the galaxy

In 1977, the second computer I ever used was my dad’s Commodore PET 2001. This massive, sphinx-like machine of bent-steel with its terrible calculator keyboard, built-in cassette drive and ghostly white CRT monitor surrounded with a slightly IBM-ish shade of … Continue reading

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Cheap KIM-1 clone

I’ve written before about how the KIM-1 (my brother’s) was the first computer I ever used, and how the very first programming I did as a child was 6502 assembler rather than BASIC. This led to me to make little … Continue reading

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The Tower of Babel

Back in the 1990s, the BBC World Service had a newsroom computer system called EDiT. This was the World Service version of a system called BASYS which had a bit of an interesting past. It was widely used in TV … Continue reading

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10 most influential computers and programs

This tweet got me thinking… A work in progress: inspired by my recent trips to @tnmoc @sciencemuseum and #Apollo50th, I've decided to list 10 amazing tales that demonstrate remarkable achievements in the history of Computing. Have I omitted any obvious … Continue reading

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Nim and the Sinclair Cambridge Programmable calculator

The game of Nim comes in many forms, but the idea is same: players take turns to remove objects from a pile and the player left taking the last object loses. Or wins. You can play it so you win … Continue reading

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