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cfmcdonald

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Computer Lessons

technicshistory.com
24 points·by cfmcdonald·last month·0 comments

Computer Lessons

technicshistory.com
17 points·by cfmcdonald·last month·0 comments

An Apple (II) for Teacher

technicshistory.com
60 points·by cfmcdonald·2 months ago·24 comments

The home computer war

technicshistory.com
55 points·by cfmcdonald·4 months ago·25 comments

The Home Computer Hybrids: Atari, TI, and the FCC

technicshistory.com
28 points·by cfmcdonald·6 months ago·7 comments

The Home Computer Hybrids

technicshistory.com
56 points·by cfmcdonald·6 months ago·25 comments

The Rise of Computer Games, Part II: Digitizing Nerddom

technicshistory.com
13 points·by cfmcdonald·6 months ago·2 comments

The Rise of Computer Games, Part II: Digitizing Nerddom

technicshistory.com
4 points·by cfmcdonald·6 months ago·0 comments

The Rise of Computer Games, Part I: Adventure

technicshistory.com
136 points·by cfmcdonald·7 months ago·76 comments

The Useful Personal Computer

technicshistory.com
17 points·by cfmcdonald·8 months ago·3 comments

The Useful Personal Computer

technicshistory.com
2 points·by cfmcdonald·8 months ago·0 comments

The Useful Personal Computer

technicshistory.com
115 points·by cfmcdonald·8 months ago·42 comments

Microcomputers – The Second Wave: Toward a Mass Market

technicshistory.com
74 points·by cfmcdonald·9 months ago·40 comments

comments

cfmcdonald
·15 days ago·discuss
This seems like an opportunity to celebrate great children's books created with craft and care by humans.

I'll start: John Rocco, How We Got to the Moon. (http://www.howwegottothemoon.com/)
cfmcdonald
·4 months ago·discuss
While writing this post I actually got an itch to buy a Commodore 64 Ultimate, even though I never owned a Commodore 64 before. (I believe I used one once at friend's house.) Nostalgia by contagion.
cfmcdonald
·5 months ago·discuss
I think it's instructive to compare the U.S. and Soviet stances in Europe after WW2. To maintain a military presence in Eastern Europe, the Soviets had to rely on repression, coercion, and occupation. This was expensive and fragile and eventually fell apart. The U.S. was openly welcomed into Germany and other countries in Western Europe. This was the value of "soft power."
cfmcdonald
·5 months ago·discuss
This video [0] shows someone using Gopher (and other common pre-web Internet tools) in the early 90s.

I used Gopher when I did a high school summer science camp at Indiana University in 1994. It was a really interesting time of transition when the graphical Web was just coming on-line with Mosaic, but most tools were still textual/command line (FTP, pine/elm email/Usenet clients, MUDs, etc.)

[0]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDV4zrex18o
cfmcdonald
·5 months ago·discuss
Yes, I suck at titles. I'm glad you enjoy the blog.
cfmcdonald
·5 months ago·discuss
Author of the OP here. The "spray" technique was known in the early 80s, if not earlier. It's mentioned in Michael Tomczyk's "Home Computer Wars":

> The solution came in several forms. One way was to embed ferrite balls in the plastic case. Another way was to spray the inside of the case with a metal coating. But the best way was to encase the offending electronics in a small metal box inside the case, which is what was done with the VIC-20. [0]

Why a metal box is the best way, he doesn't say and I don't know. My best guess is that it was more effective/reliable at passing the tests.

[0]: https://archive.org/details/the-home-computer-wars/page/205/...
cfmcdonald
·9 months ago·discuss
I think the GP's point is there is no meaningful nutritional difference between a from-scratch cake and a box cake. Both are pretty unhealthy and should be eaten only as special treats. "Ultra-processed" is not a useful way of separating healthy from unhealthy foods.
cfmcdonald
·9 months ago·discuss
It looks like the trend started circa the 1920s in the U.S. Kotex (1920) [0], Kleenex (1924) [1], Kool-Aid (1927) [2], Kool (1933) [3], Krispy Kreme (1934) [4].

Kraft might look like one, but isn't, it's named after James Kraft [5], which presumably traces back to the german word Kraft.

I'm curious if there are older examples.

[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kotex [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kleenex [2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kool-Aid [3]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kool_(cigarette) [4]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krispy_Kreme [5]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_L._Kraft
cfmcdonald
·9 months ago·discuss
Author here. Yes I could be more accurate here. It was called just "Apple Computer" in some contexts, e.g. this ad [0]. This manual calls it "Apple-1" on the cover [1], but "Apple Computer" in the contents. But you are definitely right that it was often called the Apple-1 in 1976 and into 1977.

[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_I#/media/File:Apple_1_Ad... [1]: https://s3data.computerhistory.org/brochures/apple.applei.19...