1 00:00:04,160 --> 00:00:07,160 Speaker 1: Get in text with technology with tech Stuff from how 2 00:00:07,240 --> 00:00:13,800 Speaker 1: stuff Works dot com. Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. 3 00:00:13,840 --> 00:00:16,920 Speaker 1: I'm your host, Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer at 4 00:00:16,960 --> 00:00:19,880 Speaker 1: how Stuff Works and I love all things tech and 5 00:00:19,960 --> 00:00:23,200 Speaker 1: a few weeks ago a listener wrote in and asked 6 00:00:23,200 --> 00:00:26,360 Speaker 1: me to do an episode about a somewhat obscure personal 7 00:00:26,360 --> 00:00:28,920 Speaker 1: computer from the nineteen eighties, at least obscure if you're 8 00:00:29,240 --> 00:00:31,200 Speaker 1: from the United States, as I am. If you're from 9 00:00:31,240 --> 00:00:34,080 Speaker 1: the UK, you may be more familiar with it. But 10 00:00:34,159 --> 00:00:36,720 Speaker 1: after I looked into it, I realized there really wasn't 11 00:00:36,800 --> 00:00:39,920 Speaker 1: quite enough information for me to do a full episode 12 00:00:40,000 --> 00:00:43,520 Speaker 1: and and have something that actually feels like a full 13 00:00:43,520 --> 00:00:46,320 Speaker 1: tech Stuff episode, but didn't inspire me to dedicate a 14 00:00:46,360 --> 00:00:49,639 Speaker 1: few shows to some of the early personal computers out 15 00:00:49,680 --> 00:00:53,159 Speaker 1: there that competed directly with the big names that eventually 16 00:00:53,240 --> 00:00:56,880 Speaker 1: went out in the consumer market. So this episode is 17 00:00:56,920 --> 00:01:00,800 Speaker 1: going to be about those machines and the stories behind them. Now, today, 18 00:01:00,800 --> 00:01:04,960 Speaker 1: when you think about personal computers, you probably separate them 19 00:01:05,000 --> 00:01:10,680 Speaker 1: into two big categories Mac and Windows machines, or maybe 20 00:01:10,720 --> 00:01:15,880 Speaker 1: you say Max and PCs, but I usually say Windows 21 00:01:15,880 --> 00:01:18,480 Speaker 1: machines because Honestly, I think max are personal computers. To 22 00:01:19,080 --> 00:01:22,280 Speaker 1: PC is a term that IBM kind of coined, but 23 00:01:22,920 --> 00:01:25,200 Speaker 1: we really just talk about those being computers that you 24 00:01:25,240 --> 00:01:27,559 Speaker 1: would use at home, like one person at a time 25 00:01:27,680 --> 00:01:31,400 Speaker 1: uses it. We use a shorthand for the general form factor. 26 00:01:31,800 --> 00:01:34,839 Speaker 1: There are, of course, other operating systems out there besides 27 00:01:35,200 --> 00:01:39,000 Speaker 1: mac os and Windows. There are lots of different Linux 28 00:01:39,040 --> 00:01:43,000 Speaker 1: distributions obviously, but I'm talking about the broad categories that 29 00:01:43,080 --> 00:01:46,000 Speaker 1: the general public would identify in the market. So you 30 00:01:46,040 --> 00:01:50,559 Speaker 1: don't tend to run across anything apart from mac os 31 00:01:50,640 --> 00:01:55,120 Speaker 1: and Windows. For the general public, You power users out there, 32 00:01:55,120 --> 00:01:57,639 Speaker 1: I'm not I'm not including you in the general public. 33 00:01:57,680 --> 00:02:02,160 Speaker 1: Your your laked, okay, so just just just embrace your lateness. Now, 34 00:02:02,200 --> 00:02:04,720 Speaker 1: those two big names, Mac and PCs grew out of 35 00:02:04,720 --> 00:02:08,639 Speaker 1: the tumultuous early days of personal computing. The Mac is 36 00:02:08,680 --> 00:02:13,000 Speaker 1: a descendant of the Apple computer line, the Apple one 37 00:02:13,040 --> 00:02:16,240 Speaker 1: and then really the Apple too, uh, and then later 38 00:02:16,280 --> 00:02:20,120 Speaker 1: on of course the Macintosh computer. Windows machines trace their 39 00:02:20,160 --> 00:02:24,359 Speaker 1: history back to Doss based personal computers such as the 40 00:02:24,440 --> 00:02:27,760 Speaker 1: IBM PCs and their numerous clones. And in the next 41 00:02:27,760 --> 00:02:31,000 Speaker 1: couple of episodes, I'll dive further into the stories behind 42 00:02:31,560 --> 00:02:35,480 Speaker 1: how Apple struggled to stay relevant before it experienced a 43 00:02:35,520 --> 00:02:39,800 Speaker 1: real renaissance, and how IBM came about with their personal 44 00:02:39,800 --> 00:02:44,160 Speaker 1: computer and the clones that helped really define what PCs were. 45 00:02:44,440 --> 00:02:46,600 Speaker 1: That will be in the next couple of episodes. But 46 00:02:46,639 --> 00:02:49,760 Speaker 1: there were many other computers that companies introduced in the 47 00:02:49,840 --> 00:02:52,720 Speaker 1: late seventies and throughout the eighties, and some of them 48 00:02:52,720 --> 00:02:55,400 Speaker 1: you've probably heard of if you you may have owned 49 00:02:55,600 --> 00:02:57,560 Speaker 1: or have had a chance to play with. But I 50 00:02:57,600 --> 00:02:59,760 Speaker 1: hope you hear about at least a couple that are 51 00:02:59,800 --> 00:03:02,440 Speaker 1: new to you. So what was the first personal computer. 52 00:03:03,040 --> 00:03:06,239 Speaker 1: Well that's a matter of some debate, but you could 53 00:03:06,400 --> 00:03:10,119 Speaker 1: argue somewhat convincingly that it was the micro in computer, 54 00:03:10,440 --> 00:03:14,000 Speaker 1: which was created by friend Sui Garnell. It became available 55 00:03:14,040 --> 00:03:17,880 Speaker 1: in nineteen seventy three. They used an Intel eight zero 56 00:03:17,960 --> 00:03:22,080 Speaker 1: zero eight microchip as its processor. Now, this chip was 57 00:03:22,160 --> 00:03:27,480 Speaker 1: an eight bit CPU that could address sixteen kilobytes of memory. Now, 58 00:03:27,520 --> 00:03:31,079 Speaker 1: this was certainly the first non kit computer that ran 59 00:03:31,120 --> 00:03:35,200 Speaker 1: off a microprocessor that anyone could buy if you happen 60 00:03:35,280 --> 00:03:38,840 Speaker 1: to have the one thousand, seven hundred fifty dollars or 61 00:03:38,880 --> 00:03:43,680 Speaker 1: so that it cost, and remember that's nineteen seventy three dollars. Well, 62 00:03:43,720 --> 00:03:46,120 Speaker 1: there was a computer that actually preceded the micro in 63 00:03:46,280 --> 00:03:48,560 Speaker 1: that some might put forth as a contender for the 64 00:03:48,600 --> 00:03:53,160 Speaker 1: first personal computer. But it did not run off a microprocessor. 65 00:03:53,520 --> 00:03:56,200 Speaker 1: It had several chips that served the purpose of a 66 00:03:56,240 --> 00:04:00,520 Speaker 1: processing unit, and it debuted in nineteen seventy one. However, 67 00:04:00,920 --> 00:04:04,720 Speaker 1: only fifty of those were ever made, and without a microprocessor, 68 00:04:04,720 --> 00:04:06,560 Speaker 1: it's hard to compare it against the computers that would 69 00:04:06,560 --> 00:04:08,760 Speaker 1: follow it. So I really look at the micro in 70 00:04:08,920 --> 00:04:11,960 Speaker 1: as maybe the first. Many of the earliest personal computers 71 00:04:11,960 --> 00:04:15,680 Speaker 1: weren't sold in electronics stores or even as prebuilt machines. 72 00:04:15,720 --> 00:04:18,279 Speaker 1: You would order a kit. You would get all the 73 00:04:18,360 --> 00:04:21,000 Speaker 1: parts and some instructions, and then you'd busy yourself in 74 00:04:21,040 --> 00:04:23,760 Speaker 1: your workspace with various tools and lights to put everything 75 00:04:23,800 --> 00:04:26,080 Speaker 1: together in the hopes that you got it right. The 76 00:04:26,200 --> 00:04:30,840 Speaker 1: Altare eight hundred was such a kit. Micro Instrumentation and 77 00:04:30,920 --> 00:04:34,800 Speaker 1: Telemetry Systems or m I t S MITS was the 78 00:04:34,839 --> 00:04:37,960 Speaker 1: company responsible for the design and marketing of this early 79 00:04:38,040 --> 00:04:42,560 Speaker 1: personal computer. MITS had made calculators in the nineteen seventies. 80 00:04:42,839 --> 00:04:46,600 Speaker 1: The Altar eight eight hundred gave hobbyoists their first real 81 00:04:46,720 --> 00:04:50,160 Speaker 1: chance to own an actual computer. Up to that point, 82 00:04:50,640 --> 00:04:54,560 Speaker 1: computers were big and expensive machines that mostly belonged to 83 00:04:54,600 --> 00:04:59,880 Speaker 1: research organizations or universities or corporations, not individuals. The Altar 84 00:05:00,080 --> 00:05:02,760 Speaker 1: kit came with a power supply. It came with a 85 00:05:02,800 --> 00:05:06,479 Speaker 1: back plane that served as a motherboard, and five cards 86 00:05:06,520 --> 00:05:09,840 Speaker 1: that would plug into that backplane, including the CPU, which 87 00:05:09,920 --> 00:05:13,400 Speaker 1: was an Intel eight eight microchip, and there was also 88 00:05:13,440 --> 00:05:16,359 Speaker 1: a card containing RAM to the tune of two fifty 89 00:05:16,440 --> 00:05:20,760 Speaker 1: six bytes, not kill a bytes or megabytes, just just bites. 90 00:05:21,200 --> 00:05:23,400 Speaker 1: And it had a lid that covered the sides and 91 00:05:23,520 --> 00:05:25,960 Speaker 1: the top of the computer with a front panel that 92 00:05:26,000 --> 00:05:29,679 Speaker 1: had switches and lights on it. Those switches were input 93 00:05:29,720 --> 00:05:33,800 Speaker 1: devices and the light was the output device, as in 94 00:05:34,080 --> 00:05:37,720 Speaker 1: no display, no printer, little lights that would light up 95 00:05:37,720 --> 00:05:40,240 Speaker 1: on the front to indicate the results of whatever it 96 00:05:40,320 --> 00:05:43,160 Speaker 1: was you were programming. So if you wanted to program 97 00:05:43,200 --> 00:05:47,919 Speaker 1: the earliest version of the ALTA hundred, you'd use the 98 00:05:48,000 --> 00:05:52,120 Speaker 1: switches to code in binary. Now, remember a computers read 99 00:05:52,200 --> 00:05:55,240 Speaker 1: information in zeros and ones, So each switch had a 100 00:05:55,279 --> 00:05:59,640 Speaker 1: position that represented zero and a second position that represented one, 101 00:06:00,200 --> 00:06:03,800 Speaker 1: and you'd have to move them into whichever position to 102 00:06:03,839 --> 00:06:07,479 Speaker 1: represent the value you wanted, then hit another switch to 103 00:06:07,640 --> 00:06:11,880 Speaker 1: load that set of instructions into the outear's memory before 104 00:06:11,960 --> 00:06:14,680 Speaker 1: going on to the next line of code. This was, 105 00:06:14,720 --> 00:06:19,320 Speaker 1: as you could probably imagine, a somewhat laborious process. I mean, 106 00:06:19,520 --> 00:06:23,400 Speaker 1: you have to remember that a single character could take 107 00:06:23,400 --> 00:06:27,240 Speaker 1: an entire byte of information as eight bits, so just 108 00:06:27,320 --> 00:06:31,280 Speaker 1: to do one character it gets pretty tiresome to do 109 00:06:31,320 --> 00:06:34,920 Speaker 1: this bit by bit literally, and when you were done, 110 00:06:34,960 --> 00:06:36,599 Speaker 1: the output you would get would be in the form 111 00:06:36,640 --> 00:06:39,840 Speaker 1: of those lights flashing up on the panel. And later 112 00:06:40,279 --> 00:06:44,440 Speaker 1: mits offered kits that included paper tape readers, allowing you 113 00:06:44,520 --> 00:06:47,320 Speaker 1: to code on tape first and then feed it into 114 00:06:47,360 --> 00:06:51,720 Speaker 1: the ALTE hundred rather than moving switches manually. Later still 115 00:06:51,920 --> 00:06:54,520 Speaker 1: there were kits capable of sending information to a very 116 00:06:54,640 --> 00:06:58,880 Speaker 1: low resolution screen capable of showing twenty four lines of 117 00:06:58,960 --> 00:07:03,400 Speaker 1: eight characters, all an upper case, so it was always 118 00:07:03,400 --> 00:07:06,719 Speaker 1: shouting at you. If you had the patients and the knowledge, 119 00:07:06,800 --> 00:07:10,040 Speaker 1: you could program these machines to carry out certain tasks, 120 00:07:10,520 --> 00:07:13,200 Speaker 1: but they fall far short of what we think of 121 00:07:13,320 --> 00:07:17,960 Speaker 1: when we consider personal computers today. So rather than go 122 00:07:18,080 --> 00:07:21,520 Speaker 1: through all of the early machines that relied on switches 123 00:07:21,600 --> 00:07:24,400 Speaker 1: and lights for input and output. How about we skip 124 00:07:24,440 --> 00:07:26,520 Speaker 1: ahead of bit and get to a form factor. We 125 00:07:26,600 --> 00:07:30,000 Speaker 1: tend to associate with personal computers, and by that I 126 00:07:30,040 --> 00:07:33,360 Speaker 1: mean a computational device that uses a keyboard for input 127 00:07:33,720 --> 00:07:36,880 Speaker 1: and a display for its primary output. Just know that 128 00:07:36,960 --> 00:07:39,680 Speaker 1: there were other computers out there that did not have 129 00:07:39,720 --> 00:07:42,760 Speaker 1: those luxuries that you could go out and buy or order. 130 00:07:43,320 --> 00:07:45,720 Speaker 1: Usually it was a mail order that you would do, 131 00:07:46,400 --> 00:07:49,040 Speaker 1: and you might get a readout from a panel of lights, 132 00:07:49,040 --> 00:07:53,400 Speaker 1: are printed page from paper tape instead of having a display. 133 00:07:54,080 --> 00:07:56,040 Speaker 1: Just know that those did exist. I'm not going to 134 00:07:56,120 --> 00:07:58,320 Speaker 1: go through all of them because it would just sound 135 00:07:58,360 --> 00:08:01,880 Speaker 1: like a weird catalog from Night teen seventy six. The 136 00:08:01,920 --> 00:08:05,960 Speaker 1: computers that incorporate keyboards and displays had a much wider appeal. 137 00:08:06,480 --> 00:08:10,200 Speaker 1: They seemed less intimidating than their predecessors, more accessible. In 138 00:08:10,240 --> 00:08:13,320 Speaker 1: other words, the early personal computers were still very much 139 00:08:13,360 --> 00:08:16,680 Speaker 1: in the world of hobbyists, as very few average consumers 140 00:08:16,680 --> 00:08:19,800 Speaker 1: had much experience with computers or any idea of what 141 00:08:19,840 --> 00:08:22,040 Speaker 1: they would do with one if they got one. I 142 00:08:22,080 --> 00:08:24,200 Speaker 1: do have to mention one thing that Altaire did end 143 00:08:24,280 --> 00:08:28,520 Speaker 1: up doing. It was the launchpad for a multibillion dollar 144 00:08:28,680 --> 00:08:32,880 Speaker 1: company because the Altaire inspired two guys named Paul Allen 145 00:08:33,080 --> 00:08:37,760 Speaker 1: and Bill Gates to write a basic compiler. It's to 146 00:08:37,880 --> 00:08:42,120 Speaker 1: compile code for this computer for the Altaire. They founded 147 00:08:42,160 --> 00:08:46,160 Speaker 1: a company called micro Soft had a hyphen in the 148 00:08:46,200 --> 00:08:48,880 Speaker 1: middle back in those days, and it was called that 149 00:08:48,920 --> 00:08:51,920 Speaker 1: because it was micro for micro computers. That was the 150 00:08:52,080 --> 00:08:56,240 Speaker 1: class of computers. These sort of things were considered, and 151 00:08:56,280 --> 00:09:00,720 Speaker 1: then Soft obviously for software. In nineteen seventy six, another 152 00:09:00,800 --> 00:09:04,600 Speaker 1: famous pair of people, this time Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs, 153 00:09:04,640 --> 00:09:08,440 Speaker 1: introduced a kit based computer called the Apple one. The 154 00:09:08,559 --> 00:09:10,560 Speaker 1: kit was pretty much on mother board and you had 155 00:09:10,600 --> 00:09:13,280 Speaker 1: to go out and purchase this power supply and a keyboard. 156 00:09:13,280 --> 00:09:16,920 Speaker 1: Not to mention you had to build or or find 157 00:09:16,960 --> 00:09:18,920 Speaker 1: a case for the thing. You just had sort of 158 00:09:18,960 --> 00:09:22,680 Speaker 1: the guts of the Apple one. Otherwise, it didn't take 159 00:09:22,720 --> 00:09:25,679 Speaker 1: the world by storm, but its successor, the Apple two, 160 00:09:26,040 --> 00:09:29,080 Speaker 1: definitely did. And then when we were off to the 161 00:09:29,200 --> 00:09:33,280 Speaker 1: races for home computers, and in the next episode, I 162 00:09:33,320 --> 00:09:36,840 Speaker 1: will definitely talk more about the Apple two and its 163 00:09:36,840 --> 00:09:41,720 Speaker 1: effect on personal computers and the marketplace. That same year, 164 00:09:42,120 --> 00:09:46,880 Speaker 1: at the Altaire convention, engineers demonstrated the very first video 165 00:09:47,000 --> 00:09:51,320 Speaker 1: display module. This was a memory mapped alpha numeric video 166 00:09:51,360 --> 00:09:54,679 Speaker 1: display for personal computers. This component is what made it 167 00:09:54,720 --> 00:09:57,960 Speaker 1: possible to create interactive games and other types of software 168 00:09:58,000 --> 00:10:01,320 Speaker 1: for home computers. Short after the debut of the Apple 169 00:10:01,320 --> 00:10:05,200 Speaker 1: two came the t r S a d TRS stood 170 00:10:05,240 --> 00:10:09,839 Speaker 1: for Tandy Radio Shack. The Tandy Corporation started off as 171 00:10:09,880 --> 00:10:12,800 Speaker 1: a leather goods company. In fact, there still is a 172 00:10:12,840 --> 00:10:17,000 Speaker 1: Tandy leather company. But the Tandy Corporation expanded well beyond 173 00:10:17,160 --> 00:10:21,040 Speaker 1: leather goods, diversifying as it grew, and one of the 174 00:10:21,080 --> 00:10:25,120 Speaker 1: companies it purchased in nineteen sixty three was Radio Shack. 175 00:10:25,679 --> 00:10:29,160 Speaker 1: These days, the company that was the Tandy Corporation is 176 00:10:29,200 --> 00:10:33,200 Speaker 1: now the Radio Shack Corporation. This, by the way, was 177 00:10:33,240 --> 00:10:36,959 Speaker 1: not completely unheard of. There was another company that started 178 00:10:37,000 --> 00:10:40,760 Speaker 1: off doing something that uh it is now is no 179 00:10:40,880 --> 00:10:43,880 Speaker 1: longer known for. So that would be Nintendo, that started 180 00:10:43,880 --> 00:10:46,360 Speaker 1: off as a playing card company and of course now 181 00:10:46,480 --> 00:10:50,800 Speaker 1: is known as a video game console and title company. Anyway, 182 00:10:51,080 --> 00:10:55,079 Speaker 1: the Tandy Corporation introduced the TRS eight and nineteen seventy 183 00:10:55,200 --> 00:10:58,720 Speaker 1: seven the keyboard How's the actual computer, and this would 184 00:10:58,760 --> 00:11:02,040 Speaker 1: become a form factor common among those early computers where 185 00:11:02,600 --> 00:11:06,200 Speaker 1: rather than having a separate keyboard and like a CPU 186 00:11:06,320 --> 00:11:10,440 Speaker 1: tower the way desktops today typically have, the whole thing 187 00:11:10,520 --> 00:11:13,640 Speaker 1: was in one big case. You had a keyboard and 188 00:11:13,800 --> 00:11:18,520 Speaker 1: it was attached physically to a case that that contained 189 00:11:18,520 --> 00:11:22,199 Speaker 1: the CPU, the memory, the motherboard, all of those components 190 00:11:22,200 --> 00:11:24,560 Speaker 1: would be inside it, so you would look like just 191 00:11:24,600 --> 00:11:28,760 Speaker 1: a giant, clunky keyboard. Uh. The t R S A 192 00:11:28,840 --> 00:11:32,760 Speaker 1: D also came with a separate monochromatic monitor, meaning only 193 00:11:32,800 --> 00:11:35,240 Speaker 1: one color on their you know, it's just black and white. 194 00:11:35,559 --> 00:11:38,240 Speaker 1: He also came with a cassette drive. The cassette drivee 195 00:11:38,240 --> 00:11:41,360 Speaker 1: was your data storage device. So you would put a 196 00:11:41,360 --> 00:11:44,360 Speaker 1: cassette into the drive and you could save data to 197 00:11:44,480 --> 00:11:47,120 Speaker 1: it or read data from it. And when I say 198 00:11:47,160 --> 00:11:49,880 Speaker 1: a cassette drive, I mean very much like an audio cassette, 199 00:11:49,960 --> 00:11:52,400 Speaker 1: you know, if you had an old tape player. The 200 00:11:52,480 --> 00:11:56,360 Speaker 1: cassette drives for these old computers were essentially the same thing. 201 00:11:56,440 --> 00:12:00,000 Speaker 1: They were just storing the information magnetically on the tape 202 00:12:00,240 --> 00:12:03,640 Speaker 1: inside the cassette, and the drive would read from it 203 00:12:03,720 --> 00:12:09,280 Speaker 1: as if it were the same as a music based cassette. 204 00:12:09,320 --> 00:12:12,319 Speaker 1: Now you may think, well, that sounds like it might 205 00:12:12,360 --> 00:12:16,160 Speaker 1: be really hard to locate a specific piece of code 206 00:12:16,520 --> 00:12:19,440 Speaker 1: that you've saved to that particular cassette, and you'd be right. 207 00:12:20,160 --> 00:12:23,120 Speaker 1: It's doing it all sequentially, So that takes quite some 208 00:12:23,200 --> 00:12:25,640 Speaker 1: time to track down a specific bit of code. But 209 00:12:25,720 --> 00:12:30,520 Speaker 1: that was a relatively inexpensive solution to figure out how 210 00:12:30,559 --> 00:12:35,160 Speaker 1: you could save media from a computer onto something that's physical. 211 00:12:35,640 --> 00:12:39,480 Speaker 1: The computer's microprocessor was from a company called Zilog z 212 00:12:39,920 --> 00:12:44,360 Speaker 1: I l O G. That company launched in ninety six, 213 00:12:44,880 --> 00:12:49,080 Speaker 1: and the processor was called the z A D CPU. 214 00:12:49,240 --> 00:12:51,840 Speaker 1: That's what powered the TRS A D. It was Zlog's 215 00:12:51,920 --> 00:12:55,800 Speaker 1: first commercial product. It was based off the Intel A 216 00:12:55,920 --> 00:12:58,680 Speaker 1: D E D processor. One of the co founders of 217 00:12:58,760 --> 00:13:04,400 Speaker 1: Zilog was at Rico Fagen, who had previously worked for Intel. 218 00:13:04,920 --> 00:13:08,360 Speaker 1: The company developed not only the CPU, but also an 219 00:13:08,360 --> 00:13:12,120 Speaker 1: assimilar based development system for the chip and the chips 220 00:13:12,120 --> 00:13:14,480 Speaker 1: clock speed, which is the speed that a processor can 221 00:13:14,600 --> 00:13:18,600 Speaker 1: run operations at, was one point seven seven mega hurts. 222 00:13:19,000 --> 00:13:22,480 Speaker 1: That then it could essentially run one point seven seven 223 00:13:22,520 --> 00:13:27,280 Speaker 1: million operations per second. That's oversimplifying, but generally speaking, that's 224 00:13:27,280 --> 00:13:30,720 Speaker 1: all you can understand it. It had four kilobytes of RAM, 225 00:13:31,040 --> 00:13:34,400 Speaker 1: which a later version of that computer would boast up 226 00:13:34,440 --> 00:13:38,400 Speaker 1: to sixteen kilobytes of RAM, and the operating system for 227 00:13:38,440 --> 00:13:43,400 Speaker 1: the computer was basic. As in the actual operating system 228 00:13:43,440 --> 00:13:47,240 Speaker 1: all caps be a S I C Basic. The whole 229 00:13:47,240 --> 00:13:52,439 Speaker 1: thing cost five and nine cents, and that included the monitor. 230 00:13:52,800 --> 00:13:56,280 Speaker 1: A year after Tandy debut the home computer, it launched 231 00:13:56,280 --> 00:13:59,959 Speaker 1: a disk drive for four hundred dollars. At that point, 232 00:14:00,240 --> 00:14:03,360 Speaker 1: the disk drive costs more than the basic computer system 233 00:14:03,400 --> 00:14:05,960 Speaker 1: that that you could buy without the monitors. So if 234 00:14:06,000 --> 00:14:08,160 Speaker 1: you just went out and bought a computer and you 235 00:14:08,200 --> 00:14:11,000 Speaker 1: didn't need a monitor, that would cost you four hundred dollars. 236 00:14:11,040 --> 00:14:14,440 Speaker 1: The disk drive would cost you four dollars. That tells 237 00:14:14,440 --> 00:14:17,480 Speaker 1: you how expensive those peripherals were in those early days. 238 00:14:18,080 --> 00:14:21,880 Speaker 1: Tandy also offered an expansion interface for two d ninety 239 00:14:21,960 --> 00:14:25,240 Speaker 1: nine dollars. It had a printer port to tape drive 240 00:14:25,280 --> 00:14:28,520 Speaker 1: connectors up to thirty two kilobytes of additional RAM, a 241 00:14:28,640 --> 00:14:33,640 Speaker 1: serial port, and more. Tandy reportedly didn't have high hopes 242 00:14:33,920 --> 00:14:37,200 Speaker 1: for the sales of the TRS eighty. They thought, well, 243 00:14:37,240 --> 00:14:39,760 Speaker 1: this is an interesting product, but we don't know if 244 00:14:39,760 --> 00:14:42,640 Speaker 1: there's a market there. The company was surprised when in 245 00:14:42,680 --> 00:14:47,280 Speaker 1: the first month alone, they sold ten thousand units. Within 246 00:14:47,320 --> 00:14:49,560 Speaker 1: a year or two, the company offered a slightly more 247 00:14:49,640 --> 00:14:53,800 Speaker 1: advanced model. Not everything was smooth sailing for Tandy, however, 248 00:14:53,920 --> 00:14:58,960 Speaker 1: In nineteen eighty Tandy discontinued the Model one TRS eighty, 249 00:14:59,320 --> 00:15:01,600 Speaker 1: and it's not the as of sales or because the 250 00:15:01,600 --> 00:15:04,560 Speaker 1: computer was obsolete at that point. They could have technically 251 00:15:04,720 --> 00:15:07,320 Speaker 1: kept selling it except for the fact that the f 252 00:15:07,480 --> 00:15:10,880 Speaker 1: c C had some words for Tandy. They had formed 253 00:15:10,920 --> 00:15:14,160 Speaker 1: some new rules about computers, and the old design that 254 00:15:14,200 --> 00:15:18,680 Speaker 1: Tandy had with the Model one violated those rules. Specifically, 255 00:15:19,040 --> 00:15:22,720 Speaker 1: the Model one generated a radio frequency emissions in excess 256 00:15:22,840 --> 00:15:25,440 Speaker 1: of f c C guidelines, meaning if you had a 257 00:15:25,480 --> 00:15:27,800 Speaker 1: Model one and it happened to be near a radio 258 00:15:27,880 --> 00:15:29,920 Speaker 1: or a TV set, it could actually cause all sorts 259 00:15:29,920 --> 00:15:33,960 Speaker 1: of interference. Tandy would make several other computers, including the 260 00:15:33,960 --> 00:15:37,520 Speaker 1: Model to, the Model three, the Model sixteen, and the 261 00:15:37,560 --> 00:15:40,960 Speaker 1: Model one hundred. Later it would introduce the Model For 262 00:15:41,680 --> 00:15:44,200 Speaker 1: another reason the numbers jump around is that the Model 263 00:15:44,240 --> 00:15:46,880 Speaker 1: six team in the Model one were departures from the 264 00:15:46,920 --> 00:15:51,160 Speaker 1: design of the earlier tr S A D computers, but 265 00:15:51,280 --> 00:15:54,000 Speaker 1: it does show that the conceit of creating a numbering 266 00:15:54,160 --> 00:15:57,800 Speaker 1: or naming system for your computers and then abandoning it 267 00:15:58,120 --> 00:16:00,280 Speaker 1: dates all the way back to the earliest day of 268 00:16:00,360 --> 00:16:04,480 Speaker 1: personal computers. So while I often will joke about Windows 269 00:16:04,520 --> 00:16:07,800 Speaker 1: eight jumping straight to Windows ten and skipping Windows nine 270 00:16:07,880 --> 00:16:11,280 Speaker 1: and all these other sort of like iPhone eight going 271 00:16:11,320 --> 00:16:14,200 Speaker 1: to iPhone ten, these kind of ideas, it turns out 272 00:16:14,400 --> 00:16:16,760 Speaker 1: this is not a new thing. It's been around sense 273 00:16:16,840 --> 00:16:20,920 Speaker 1: the earliest days of personal computers. Eventually, Tandy would produce 274 00:16:20,960 --> 00:16:24,880 Speaker 1: an IBM compatible computer called the Tandy one thousand. More 275 00:16:24,880 --> 00:16:28,080 Speaker 1: on that in our IBM clone episode that will be 276 00:16:28,120 --> 00:16:32,280 Speaker 1: coming up not too long from now. Tandy would produce 277 00:16:32,360 --> 00:16:35,960 Speaker 1: more computers in that IBM compatible line and sell them 278 00:16:36,000 --> 00:16:39,560 Speaker 1: through radio shack stores. But eventually the company sold off 279 00:16:39,600 --> 00:16:43,840 Speaker 1: its computer division to another entity, a st Computers in 280 00:16:43,920 --> 00:16:47,560 Speaker 1: the nineteen nineties, and that was that for Tandy. Now, 281 00:16:47,560 --> 00:16:49,560 Speaker 1: I've got a lot more to say about some of 282 00:16:49,560 --> 00:16:52,840 Speaker 1: those early computers from various companies, but before I jump 283 00:16:52,880 --> 00:16:55,680 Speaker 1: into it, let's take a quick break to thank our sponsor. 284 00:17:03,120 --> 00:17:06,160 Speaker 1: Getting back to nineteen seventy seven, that was the same 285 00:17:06,280 --> 00:17:10,399 Speaker 1: year that the TRS eight Model one came out. Another 286 00:17:10,440 --> 00:17:13,159 Speaker 1: company was getting into the home computer business at that 287 00:17:13,280 --> 00:17:17,240 Speaker 1: same time, and that company was Commodore. Now, Commodore had 288 00:17:17,280 --> 00:17:21,639 Speaker 1: started back in the nineteen fifties as a portable typewriter company. 289 00:17:21,880 --> 00:17:25,560 Speaker 1: In the nineteen sixties they began to produce adding machines 290 00:17:25,600 --> 00:17:29,040 Speaker 1: and later on calculators. And in the nineteen seventies there 291 00:17:29,080 --> 00:17:31,880 Speaker 1: was an engineer named Chuck Pedal who had worked for 292 00:17:31,960 --> 00:17:36,600 Speaker 1: a company Commodore had acquired, who convinced the founder of Commodore, 293 00:17:36,800 --> 00:17:40,199 Speaker 1: Jack Tramiel, that home computers were the next big market, 294 00:17:40,520 --> 00:17:42,760 Speaker 1: and he even had a design in mind for what 295 00:17:42,840 --> 00:17:47,600 Speaker 1: would become Commodore's first personal computer. That computer was called 296 00:17:47,640 --> 00:17:51,600 Speaker 1: the PET two thousand one. According to Commodore, the letters 297 00:17:51,720 --> 00:17:58,239 Speaker 1: PET stood for Personal Electronic Transactor. There are those who 298 00:17:58,320 --> 00:18:00,639 Speaker 1: believe that that's a bit of a fab racation, and 299 00:18:00,680 --> 00:18:03,480 Speaker 1: that the company came up with the name PET first 300 00:18:03,640 --> 00:18:06,440 Speaker 1: and then just went back and made it an acronym later. 301 00:18:06,920 --> 00:18:10,800 Speaker 1: This particular computer had a microprocessor that was designed by 302 00:18:11,119 --> 00:18:16,200 Speaker 1: MS Technologies or Most Technologies if you prefer. Commodore had 303 00:18:16,240 --> 00:18:21,080 Speaker 1: purchased this company, and Pedal, the guy who proposed this 304 00:18:21,119 --> 00:18:25,840 Speaker 1: whole idea, had been an engineer for Most Technologies, So 305 00:18:25,920 --> 00:18:31,160 Speaker 1: the chips designation was the six five zero two CPU. 306 00:18:31,240 --> 00:18:35,719 Speaker 1: This is an incredibly important microprocessor because it was the 307 00:18:35,720 --> 00:18:40,199 Speaker 1: one that powered lots of early computers, not just the 308 00:18:40,240 --> 00:18:44,960 Speaker 1: Commodore machines, but then other devices like the Apple two computer, 309 00:18:45,520 --> 00:18:48,040 Speaker 1: so it was a big deal. The six five O 310 00:18:48,200 --> 00:18:51,560 Speaker 1: two CPU, however, was not a superpowerhouse. It was a 311 00:18:51,600 --> 00:18:56,520 Speaker 1: one mega Hurts processor. Uh. The PET computer had four 312 00:18:56,840 --> 00:18:59,960 Speaker 1: kilobytes of RAM. Later models would knock that up to 313 00:19:00,119 --> 00:19:03,720 Speaker 1: eight kilobytes, and it also had a built in screen. 314 00:19:04,359 --> 00:19:07,040 Speaker 1: So at a casual glance, the PET look like it 315 00:19:07,119 --> 00:19:09,400 Speaker 1: was one of those big, clunky keyboards I was talking 316 00:19:09,440 --> 00:19:13,000 Speaker 1: about just a minute ago, with a small monitor perched 317 00:19:13,040 --> 00:19:15,040 Speaker 1: on top of the case. But in fact it was 318 00:19:15,119 --> 00:19:18,240 Speaker 1: all a single unit and you didn't wouldn't remove the 319 00:19:18,280 --> 00:19:21,720 Speaker 1: monitor from the case. It was all molded together. It 320 00:19:21,760 --> 00:19:24,080 Speaker 1: also had a built in cassette drive for loading and 321 00:19:24,119 --> 00:19:27,160 Speaker 1: reading data, and like the TRS e D, it used 322 00:19:27,200 --> 00:19:31,520 Speaker 1: the Basic operating system. The keyboard for the PET was small, 323 00:19:31,920 --> 00:19:35,240 Speaker 1: Some would call it a chick lit type of keyboard, 324 00:19:35,320 --> 00:19:38,840 Speaker 1: so tiny little keys. It made typing on the device 325 00:19:38,880 --> 00:19:43,040 Speaker 1: really challenging and uncomfortable, and this is typical of some 326 00:19:43,080 --> 00:19:45,560 Speaker 1: of those early computers, especially the ones that came from 327 00:19:45,560 --> 00:19:48,960 Speaker 1: companies that were making calculators. The buttons look more like 328 00:19:49,040 --> 00:19:53,560 Speaker 1: calculator buttons than keyboard buttons. The PET also had four 329 00:19:53,600 --> 00:19:57,400 Speaker 1: external expansion ports, allowing users to plug in peripherals, including 330 00:19:57,480 --> 00:20:01,960 Speaker 1: a disk drive. The PET cost sears, which meant it 331 00:20:02,000 --> 00:20:05,480 Speaker 1: was more expensive than the TRS eight, and technically the 332 00:20:05,560 --> 00:20:09,720 Speaker 1: PETS microprocessor was a little less powerful than Tandy's computer. 333 00:20:10,080 --> 00:20:13,080 Speaker 1: Commodore first showed off the PET of the nineteen seventy 334 00:20:13,119 --> 00:20:17,440 Speaker 1: seven Winter Consumer Electronics Show, but this was just one 335 00:20:17,760 --> 00:20:21,200 Speaker 1: of the computers Commodore would introduce. Another big one was 336 00:20:21,280 --> 00:20:24,760 Speaker 1: the VIC twenty computer, known as the VIC one thousand 337 00:20:24,880 --> 00:20:29,119 Speaker 1: one in Japan, VIC stood for Video Interface Chip. It 338 00:20:29,160 --> 00:20:33,520 Speaker 1: was the first inexpensive color computer available on the consumer market. 339 00:20:33,920 --> 00:20:37,480 Speaker 1: It cost two d dollars when it was released in January, 340 00:20:38,720 --> 00:20:41,600 Speaker 1: and it also became the first home computer to sell 341 00:20:41,760 --> 00:20:45,840 Speaker 1: one million units. Like the PET, it relied on the 342 00:20:45,880 --> 00:20:49,560 Speaker 1: most six five zero two processor and it operated at 343 00:20:49,600 --> 00:20:53,240 Speaker 1: one mega hurts. It had five kilobytes of RAM, which 344 00:20:53,480 --> 00:20:56,719 Speaker 1: sounds pretty weird because you typically see RAM and units 345 00:20:56,760 --> 00:21:00,320 Speaker 1: divisible by four, and not all of that RAM was 346 00:21:00,359 --> 00:21:02,800 Speaker 1: available to the user. The computer reserved one and a 347 00:21:02,880 --> 00:21:06,439 Speaker 1: half kilobytes of RAM for its routine operations, leaving you 348 00:21:06,560 --> 00:21:09,480 Speaker 1: three and a half to play with. The computer consisted 349 00:21:09,560 --> 00:21:13,159 Speaker 1: of a chunky keyboard case that housed all the computer bits, 350 00:21:13,520 --> 00:21:16,159 Speaker 1: and you would connect this to a Commodore seventeen O 351 00:21:16,359 --> 00:21:20,800 Speaker 1: one monitor via a five pen composite video cable. The 352 00:21:20,880 --> 00:21:24,639 Speaker 1: display could generate sixteen different colors. In addition to the 353 00:21:24,640 --> 00:21:27,320 Speaker 1: display port, the VIC twenty had ports for an Atari 354 00:21:27,359 --> 00:21:31,600 Speaker 1: twenty joystick, a rom cartridge port in the back, and 355 00:21:31,640 --> 00:21:34,920 Speaker 1: a few other ports for peripherals. Like other computers I've 356 00:21:34,920 --> 00:21:37,120 Speaker 1: mentioned in this episode, you could get a cassette drive 357 00:21:37,160 --> 00:21:40,160 Speaker 1: for the VIC twenty. They also offered a floppy drive 358 00:21:40,200 --> 00:21:43,520 Speaker 1: starting in nineteen eighty two. Commodore was able to keep 359 00:21:43,520 --> 00:21:46,080 Speaker 1: the price down for the VIC twenty largely because the 360 00:21:46,080 --> 00:21:50,960 Speaker 1: company had its own microprocessor manufacturing division. Because it acquired 361 00:21:51,000 --> 00:21:54,919 Speaker 1: that Most Technologies company I mentioned back in the nineteen seventies, 362 00:21:55,119 --> 00:21:58,560 Speaker 1: it didn't have to purchase components from other companies, so 363 00:21:58,680 --> 00:22:01,480 Speaker 1: that helped Commodore set the price point at an extremely 364 00:22:01,520 --> 00:22:05,160 Speaker 1: attractive competitive figure for those who wanted a personal computer 365 00:22:05,520 --> 00:22:08,080 Speaker 1: but felt the other options in the market were too expensive. 366 00:22:08,320 --> 00:22:11,360 Speaker 1: So while Apple had to go and buy their chips 367 00:22:11,680 --> 00:22:15,879 Speaker 1: from Commodore, Commodore was producing their own chips. So that 368 00:22:16,000 --> 00:22:18,440 Speaker 1: was how they were able to keep costs down. And 369 00:22:18,480 --> 00:22:21,440 Speaker 1: we're not done with Commodore yet. Their next big product 370 00:22:21,520 --> 00:22:23,520 Speaker 1: was the one that a lot of people fondly remember 371 00:22:23,560 --> 00:22:25,480 Speaker 1: to this very day, and that would be the Commodore 372 00:22:25,600 --> 00:22:28,600 Speaker 1: sixty four. It was called the sixty four because it 373 00:22:28,680 --> 00:22:32,360 Speaker 1: sported sixty four hole kilobytes of RAM. Like the other 374 00:22:32,400 --> 00:22:35,719 Speaker 1: computers Commodore release, this one relied on the most sixty 375 00:22:36,080 --> 00:22:40,840 Speaker 1: ten as at CPU, so slightly better CPU than what 376 00:22:40,920 --> 00:22:44,040 Speaker 1: it had been using, but still from most technologies, and 377 00:22:44,119 --> 00:22:46,879 Speaker 1: this one still operated at around one mega hurts of 378 00:22:46,960 --> 00:22:50,320 Speaker 1: clock speed. The Commodore sixty four had a similar form 379 00:22:50,400 --> 00:22:53,040 Speaker 1: factor to the VIC twenty. It looked like a chunky 380 00:22:53,160 --> 00:22:56,159 Speaker 1: keyboard that you plugged directly into a display, though this 381 00:22:56,240 --> 00:22:59,360 Speaker 1: time you could actually use a color television as your monitor. 382 00:22:59,800 --> 00:23:01,840 Speaker 1: The Commodore sixty four would go on to become the 383 00:23:01,880 --> 00:23:06,160 Speaker 1: best selling computer model of all time, selling more than 384 00:23:06,320 --> 00:23:10,520 Speaker 1: seventeen million units during its life cycle. The Commodore sixty 385 00:23:10,520 --> 00:23:14,000 Speaker 1: four is operating system was wrong basic like the VIC twenty, 386 00:23:14,119 --> 00:23:16,960 Speaker 1: it also had a joystick port. Actually technically it had 387 00:23:17,000 --> 00:23:20,480 Speaker 1: to joystick ports. It had a cartridge port and a 388 00:23:20,560 --> 00:23:24,720 Speaker 1: serial peripheral port. Originally, the external media storage device was 389 00:23:24,760 --> 00:23:28,760 Speaker 1: the Commodore Data set. That's a cassette based media transfer device, 390 00:23:28,800 --> 00:23:31,840 Speaker 1: which was known to be very slow. Later Commodore would 391 00:23:31,880 --> 00:23:34,600 Speaker 1: offer a disk drive system, which was also known for 392 00:23:34,640 --> 00:23:37,359 Speaker 1: being very slow. Not to mention noisy, and I should 393 00:23:37,359 --> 00:23:42,040 Speaker 1: mention about those cartridges. So the cartridges are rom based cartridges. 394 00:23:42,119 --> 00:23:45,800 Speaker 1: That means that everything that's on the cartridge is permanently 395 00:23:46,200 --> 00:23:49,080 Speaker 1: part of that cartridge. You can't alter it. If you 396 00:23:49,160 --> 00:23:52,199 Speaker 1: have a program on that cartridge, you can't overwrite it, 397 00:23:52,240 --> 00:23:54,600 Speaker 1: you can't change it. All you can do is load 398 00:23:54,640 --> 00:23:58,480 Speaker 1: the program onto the computer, and then the computer's memory 399 00:23:58,720 --> 00:24:02,960 Speaker 1: could save certain results, and you could even save information 400 00:24:03,080 --> 00:24:05,960 Speaker 1: to an external drive like a cassette drive or a 401 00:24:06,000 --> 00:24:09,200 Speaker 1: disk drive. But the cartridge will always remain the cartridge. 402 00:24:09,640 --> 00:24:12,960 Speaker 1: It is physically programmed onto the circuit board of the 403 00:24:13,000 --> 00:24:16,359 Speaker 1: cartridge itself. This is the same as for cartridge based 404 00:24:16,560 --> 00:24:20,399 Speaker 1: video game systems like the twenty or the Intellivision or 405 00:24:20,440 --> 00:24:23,879 Speaker 1: the Clico Vision. Now, the thing about these cartridges is 406 00:24:23,960 --> 00:24:27,040 Speaker 1: that they take a lot of time and effort to 407 00:24:27,119 --> 00:24:31,000 Speaker 1: produce it. I mentioned this in the Naughty Dog episodes 408 00:24:31,080 --> 00:24:34,120 Speaker 1: where Naughty Dog actually encountered a problem with this where 409 00:24:34,160 --> 00:24:37,880 Speaker 1: they were launching one of their games, but the company 410 00:24:37,920 --> 00:24:41,159 Speaker 1: that was manufacturing the cartridges had to give preference to 411 00:24:41,640 --> 00:24:45,040 Speaker 1: Madden because Madden was definitely going to sell out and 412 00:24:45,200 --> 00:24:48,560 Speaker 1: Naughty Dog felt like they got burned in the process. Well, 413 00:24:49,200 --> 00:24:51,000 Speaker 1: that's part of the problem with the cartridges is that 414 00:24:51,119 --> 00:24:55,000 Speaker 1: it's an actual manufacturing process. You can't just do it anywhere. 415 00:24:55,080 --> 00:24:56,560 Speaker 1: You have to do it in a plant where you've 416 00:24:56,560 --> 00:24:59,320 Speaker 1: set it up to make cartridges and you only have 417 00:24:59,359 --> 00:25:02,240 Speaker 1: a limited amoun of capacity. You can only produce so 418 00:25:02,320 --> 00:25:05,919 Speaker 1: many cartridges within x amount of time. So it definitely 419 00:25:05,920 --> 00:25:09,160 Speaker 1: has its downsides. The upside is that it's pretty fast 420 00:25:09,160 --> 00:25:12,359 Speaker 1: to load the information if you have designed your computer 421 00:25:12,400 --> 00:25:16,080 Speaker 1: system properly, and once you have a cartridge, as long 422 00:25:16,119 --> 00:25:19,440 Speaker 1: as the cartridge remains undamaged and the computer remains undamaged, 423 00:25:19,680 --> 00:25:21,320 Speaker 1: you're good to go. You just plug it in, you're 424 00:25:21,320 --> 00:25:24,320 Speaker 1: ready to launch that program. Getting back to the Commodore 425 00:25:24,400 --> 00:25:28,480 Speaker 1: sixty four, it also had a sound interface device. It 426 00:25:28,560 --> 00:25:31,600 Speaker 1: was called the six eight one. You gotta love these 427 00:25:31,640 --> 00:25:34,959 Speaker 1: different devices that are named by numbers. This three channel 428 00:25:35,000 --> 00:25:39,560 Speaker 1: component would allow digital mozarts the chance to create computer 429 00:25:39,600 --> 00:25:42,080 Speaker 1: generated music. The Commodore sixty four was one of the 430 00:25:42,160 --> 00:25:44,840 Speaker 1: first home computers to offer such an opportunity where you 431 00:25:44,880 --> 00:25:48,960 Speaker 1: could create computer generated music using a proper program, because 432 00:25:48,960 --> 00:25:50,720 Speaker 1: it had the chip in it that would allow you 433 00:25:50,760 --> 00:25:52,960 Speaker 1: to play it. When the computer went on sale in 434 00:25:53,680 --> 00:25:58,600 Speaker 1: two it was priced at five dollars. Eventually Commodore was 435 00:25:58,640 --> 00:26:02,720 Speaker 1: able to drop that to about one. By that time, 436 00:26:02,720 --> 00:26:06,240 Speaker 1: the company had streamline manufacturing, so it cost about twenty 437 00:26:06,280 --> 00:26:10,240 Speaker 1: five dollars to make a Commodore sixty four, so bucks 438 00:26:10,240 --> 00:26:14,439 Speaker 1: to make one sold for two hundred bucks. Not bad. Technically, 439 00:26:14,920 --> 00:26:19,120 Speaker 1: Commodore was competing with itself a little bit here, because 440 00:26:19,160 --> 00:26:23,320 Speaker 1: the VIC twenty computer hit one million sales a few 441 00:26:23,359 --> 00:26:26,880 Speaker 1: months after the Commodore sixty four launched, so you had 442 00:26:26,880 --> 00:26:29,480 Speaker 1: two different computer systems on the market at the same time. 443 00:26:29,960 --> 00:26:33,199 Speaker 1: Commodore would continue to introduce a few other computers in 444 00:26:33,359 --> 00:26:36,320 Speaker 1: this line, but also made a move in nineteen four 445 00:26:36,440 --> 00:26:40,720 Speaker 1: to expand its home computing division by acquiring another company 446 00:26:40,800 --> 00:26:44,080 Speaker 1: called Amiga. We'll get back to Amiga a little bit 447 00:26:44,160 --> 00:26:47,320 Speaker 1: later in this episode, but here's a spoiler alert. While 448 00:26:47,359 --> 00:26:50,359 Speaker 1: Commodore was the number one computer company in the early 449 00:26:50,440 --> 00:26:55,080 Speaker 1: nineteen eighties, outperforming all others, and the Amiga line became 450 00:26:55,119 --> 00:26:58,960 Speaker 1: known for their advanced graphics and sound capabilities, none of 451 00:26:59,000 --> 00:27:01,640 Speaker 1: that really would ultimately matter. None of it would allow 452 00:27:01,680 --> 00:27:05,600 Speaker 1: the company to remain competitive against IBM, Compatibles and Apple. 453 00:27:05,760 --> 00:27:09,400 Speaker 1: The Commodore home computer divisions were either acquired by other 454 00:27:09,440 --> 00:27:14,200 Speaker 1: companies or were liquidated by the mid nineteen nineties. Okay, 455 00:27:14,200 --> 00:27:16,760 Speaker 1: now we need to jump back in our timeline a bit. 456 00:27:16,800 --> 00:27:19,680 Speaker 1: We followed Commodore for a while, and I know this 457 00:27:19,720 --> 00:27:22,159 Speaker 1: is a lot of hopping around, but it makes sense 458 00:27:22,160 --> 00:27:26,640 Speaker 1: to trace certain families of computers while we concentrate on them, 459 00:27:26,640 --> 00:27:28,720 Speaker 1: as opposed to saying, let's go back to Commodore and 460 00:27:28,720 --> 00:27:30,880 Speaker 1: now let's go to Tandy, now let's go to etcetera. 461 00:27:31,040 --> 00:27:33,560 Speaker 1: So we're gonna jump back to nineteen seventy eight. That's 462 00:27:33,560 --> 00:27:36,560 Speaker 1: when another company announced that it was going to wade 463 00:27:36,640 --> 00:27:39,639 Speaker 1: into the personal computer space, and that company had just 464 00:27:39,760 --> 00:27:43,359 Speaker 1: released a home video game system called the VCS Game 465 00:27:43,440 --> 00:27:47,040 Speaker 1: Console but better known as the Atari twenty six hundred. 466 00:27:47,640 --> 00:27:51,159 Speaker 1: Atari introduced to computer models at the same time the 467 00:27:51,240 --> 00:27:54,919 Speaker 1: four hundred and the eight hundred. The Atari four hundred 468 00:27:54,960 --> 00:27:58,480 Speaker 1: was another example of a computer that had a keyboard 469 00:27:58,480 --> 00:28:01,439 Speaker 1: built into the form fact or. You could connect the 470 00:28:01,480 --> 00:28:05,000 Speaker 1: computer to a television using an r FTV video output 471 00:28:05,160 --> 00:28:08,320 Speaker 1: port and cable. There was also a monitor r GB 472 00:28:08,480 --> 00:28:11,280 Speaker 1: output port if you prefer to use a computer monitor 473 00:28:11,320 --> 00:28:14,800 Speaker 1: instead of a television. It had a single cartridge slot 474 00:28:15,280 --> 00:28:17,760 Speaker 1: under a cover on the top of the computer, so 475 00:28:17,800 --> 00:28:20,480 Speaker 1: he would flip up the top cover. It was on 476 00:28:20,520 --> 00:28:23,439 Speaker 1: a little hinge and that's where the cartridge port was. 477 00:28:23,960 --> 00:28:27,919 Speaker 1: It ran on the proprietary Atari operating system, though you 478 00:28:27,960 --> 00:28:30,080 Speaker 1: could buy a cartridge that would allow you to run 479 00:28:30,160 --> 00:28:32,359 Speaker 1: Basic on the computer so that you could do some 480 00:28:32,480 --> 00:28:35,880 Speaker 1: programming directly onto the Atari four hundred. Now, the four 481 00:28:35,960 --> 00:28:38,840 Speaker 1: hundred was the low end entry computer that was best 482 00:28:38,840 --> 00:28:41,440 Speaker 1: suited for playing cartridge based games. In fact, that was 483 00:28:41,480 --> 00:28:45,120 Speaker 1: the primary purpose for the four hundred. It was more 484 00:28:45,240 --> 00:28:48,960 Speaker 1: robust than the AT twenty video game system, and the 485 00:28:49,000 --> 00:28:52,200 Speaker 1: four hundred shiped originally with eight kilobytes of memory, though 486 00:28:52,280 --> 00:28:55,520 Speaker 1: later models would upgrade that to sixteen kilobytes. The four 487 00:28:55,560 --> 00:28:59,120 Speaker 1: hundred was technically expandable because it used the same motherboard 488 00:28:59,240 --> 00:29:01,880 Speaker 1: as its big brother the eight hundred, but you would 489 00:29:01,880 --> 00:29:03,920 Speaker 1: need to open up the case to do it, and 490 00:29:03,960 --> 00:29:06,640 Speaker 1: that was supposed to only be done by a licensed 491 00:29:06,640 --> 00:29:11,040 Speaker 1: Atari dealer or repair service. The Yahoo's out there who 492 00:29:11,080 --> 00:29:15,080 Speaker 1: like to mess with your own computers hands off, said Atari. 493 00:29:15,400 --> 00:29:18,400 Speaker 1: Not that that ever stops anyone who actually has really 494 00:29:18,440 --> 00:29:22,000 Speaker 1: determined to make modifications to their machine. The Atari four 495 00:29:22,040 --> 00:29:25,040 Speaker 1: hundred used the popular six five oh two CPU, the 496 00:29:25,080 --> 00:29:28,600 Speaker 1: one I mentioned before from most technologies that went into 497 00:29:28,680 --> 00:29:31,440 Speaker 1: tons of different computers in those early days, and it 498 00:29:31,480 --> 00:29:34,400 Speaker 1: had a processor speed of one point seven nine Mega hurts. 499 00:29:34,600 --> 00:29:37,719 Speaker 1: The keyboard was a membrane style input device that a 500 00:29:37,720 --> 00:29:41,840 Speaker 1: lot of Atari enthusiasts absolutely hated because they said it 501 00:29:41,880 --> 00:29:44,960 Speaker 1: was really hard to type on the thing. It cost 502 00:29:45,040 --> 00:29:48,160 Speaker 1: five hundred dollars on launch. The eight hundred, as you 503 00:29:48,160 --> 00:29:51,640 Speaker 1: would expect, was more powerful than the four hundred, and 504 00:29:51,680 --> 00:29:54,760 Speaker 1: it shipped with eight kilobytes of RAM, expandable up to 505 00:29:54,840 --> 00:29:58,040 Speaker 1: forty eight kilobytes. It also had an r GB and 506 00:29:58,200 --> 00:30:01,920 Speaker 1: TV video outports, and like the four hundred, it ran 507 00:30:02,000 --> 00:30:05,880 Speaker 1: on the Atari operating system. It had two cartridge ports 508 00:30:05,960 --> 00:30:08,840 Speaker 1: under the top cover, and unlike the four hundred, you 509 00:30:08,880 --> 00:30:11,840 Speaker 1: could even remove the top cover to get at four 510 00:30:11,880 --> 00:30:16,000 Speaker 1: expansion slots inside the machine. Both the four hundred and 511 00:30:16,080 --> 00:30:19,880 Speaker 1: the eight hundred used special purpose coprocessors or sound and 512 00:30:20,000 --> 00:30:23,760 Speaker 1: graphics that allowed the CPU to focus on other operations, 513 00:30:24,040 --> 00:30:27,000 Speaker 1: and it boosted the power of both machines, making them 514 00:30:27,040 --> 00:30:30,239 Speaker 1: some of the most sophisticated home computers in graphics and 515 00:30:30,400 --> 00:30:34,120 Speaker 1: sound at that time. Peripherals for the eight hundred included 516 00:30:34,160 --> 00:30:37,800 Speaker 1: optional floppy disk drives, a dot matrix printer that could 517 00:30:37,800 --> 00:30:42,280 Speaker 1: print text characters forty wide forty columns wide at about 518 00:30:42,320 --> 00:30:46,360 Speaker 1: forty characters per second, so it was not the fastest. Uh. 519 00:30:46,440 --> 00:30:50,280 Speaker 1: There were also additional chips that had onboard processors and 520 00:30:50,320 --> 00:30:52,480 Speaker 1: you could plug those right into the eight hundred, which 521 00:30:52,520 --> 00:30:55,840 Speaker 1: would further enhance its processing capabilities. It's kind of like 522 00:30:55,840 --> 00:30:59,360 Speaker 1: giving it a temporary brain boost. One thing the Atari 523 00:30:59,400 --> 00:31:03,080 Speaker 1: eight hundred didn't have was standard ports for peripherals made 524 00:31:03,080 --> 00:31:07,520 Speaker 1: by companies not called Atari. That changed when Atari introduced 525 00:31:07,560 --> 00:31:11,720 Speaker 1: the Atari eight fifty interface module, which included standardized cereal 526 00:31:11,760 --> 00:31:15,920 Speaker 1: ports and a printer port compatible with Centronics printers. Atari 527 00:31:16,000 --> 00:31:19,160 Speaker 1: would also offer up a modem peripheral. To use it, 528 00:31:19,240 --> 00:31:22,959 Speaker 1: you would actually lift a phone off its cradle and 529 00:31:22,960 --> 00:31:25,200 Speaker 1: I'm just gonna pretend that Tari is going to understand 530 00:31:25,240 --> 00:31:27,240 Speaker 1: what I'm talking about here, but she's too young to 531 00:31:27,280 --> 00:31:30,880 Speaker 1: remember these. I'm talking about those wired handsets from the 532 00:31:30,920 --> 00:31:34,760 Speaker 1: old days, folks, so no cordless phones or anything like that. 533 00:31:34,800 --> 00:31:38,960 Speaker 1: You would lift the handset off the cradle, you would 534 00:31:39,000 --> 00:31:43,040 Speaker 1: stretch it over, and you would lay the headset onto 535 00:31:43,080 --> 00:31:46,160 Speaker 1: the modem itself. It had a pair of cups that 536 00:31:46,240 --> 00:31:49,760 Speaker 1: the handsets receiver would slide into, so you would have 537 00:31:49,840 --> 00:31:52,960 Speaker 1: the the microphone on one side and the speaker on 538 00:31:52,960 --> 00:31:55,960 Speaker 1: the other side plugged into these cups, and then you 539 00:31:55,960 --> 00:31:59,640 Speaker 1: would use a cartridge called the Telelink one to operate it. 540 00:32:00,640 --> 00:32:04,680 Speaker 1: That's that was cutting edge technology back in the early eighties, 541 00:32:04,720 --> 00:32:08,920 Speaker 1: late seventies early eighties. Later, Atari would introduce another modem 542 00:32:08,960 --> 00:32:11,520 Speaker 1: that could plug directly into a phone line and didn't 543 00:32:11,560 --> 00:32:13,880 Speaker 1: require you to take an existing phone off the hook. 544 00:32:14,480 --> 00:32:17,120 Speaker 1: You could use either a cassette based drive or a 545 00:32:17,200 --> 00:32:20,240 Speaker 1: disk drive with the Atari eight hundred. The cassette drive, 546 00:32:20,280 --> 00:32:23,560 Speaker 1: while less reliable, was also less expensive, and so a 547 00:32:23,640 --> 00:32:26,160 Speaker 1: lot of folks would opt for that choice. The eight 548 00:32:26,240 --> 00:32:30,680 Speaker 1: hundred sold for nine dollars and nine five cents when 549 00:32:30,720 --> 00:32:33,880 Speaker 1: it first hit store shelves. Atari would go on to 550 00:32:33,920 --> 00:32:37,680 Speaker 1: produce more computers throughout its history before the company hit 551 00:32:37,920 --> 00:32:41,440 Speaker 1: real hard times in ninety three, as I have talked 552 00:32:41,480 --> 00:32:45,000 Speaker 1: about in this show, before the home video game market 553 00:32:45,480 --> 00:32:48,959 Speaker 1: was collapsing in on itself. It was a terrible crash 554 00:32:49,160 --> 00:32:54,000 Speaker 1: due to an over saturation. Among other things, Atari introduced 555 00:32:54,000 --> 00:32:57,600 Speaker 1: computers called the twelve hundred, six hundred XCEL, the fourteen 556 00:32:57,640 --> 00:33:00,120 Speaker 1: fifty XL, and the fourteen fifty x L d E, 557 00:33:00,800 --> 00:33:04,320 Speaker 1: but before three was over, the company had to cancel 558 00:33:04,400 --> 00:33:06,880 Speaker 1: some of those, including the twelve hundred, due to production 559 00:33:06,920 --> 00:33:11,520 Speaker 1: and design problems. In four, Jack Tramiel, the guy who 560 00:33:11,560 --> 00:33:16,040 Speaker 1: had founded Commodore, left Commodore, or some would say was 561 00:33:16,080 --> 00:33:20,480 Speaker 1: ousted from Commodore, and bought Atari. He would redirect the 562 00:33:20,480 --> 00:33:23,960 Speaker 1: company to sort of abandon their higher end systems that 563 00:33:24,000 --> 00:33:27,120 Speaker 1: they were planning on releasing and concentrate more on the 564 00:33:27,200 --> 00:33:31,920 Speaker 1: less expensive computer designs intended for the average consumer. Eventually, 565 00:33:32,120 --> 00:33:35,320 Speaker 1: Atari transition from an eight bit based system to a 566 00:33:35,400 --> 00:33:39,480 Speaker 1: sixteen bit based computer system, but those machines couldn't really 567 00:33:39,480 --> 00:33:42,640 Speaker 1: compete with Apple or the IBM clones that were coming 568 00:33:42,680 --> 00:33:45,680 Speaker 1: onto the market at that time. Atari did release a 569 00:33:45,760 --> 00:33:48,600 Speaker 1: line of their own IBM clones, but by then it 570 00:33:48,680 --> 00:33:50,959 Speaker 1: was a little too too little, too late, and it 571 00:33:51,040 --> 00:33:53,480 Speaker 1: wasn't enough to save the company. If you want to 572 00:33:53,560 --> 00:33:56,280 Speaker 1: learn more about that, you should go listen to the 573 00:33:56,320 --> 00:34:00,040 Speaker 1: episodes that Chuck Bryant and I recorded about Atari a 574 00:34:00,040 --> 00:34:03,160 Speaker 1: couple of years ago. We dove into great detail about 575 00:34:03,160 --> 00:34:07,640 Speaker 1: the company and the woes that they suffered. Ultimately, Atari's 576 00:34:07,680 --> 00:34:10,600 Speaker 1: shine wore off. The four hundred and eight hundred were 577 00:34:10,640 --> 00:34:14,680 Speaker 1: successful systems with decent sales, but after those early successes, 578 00:34:14,719 --> 00:34:18,400 Speaker 1: the machines Atari design began to see lower sales figures. 579 00:34:18,600 --> 00:34:21,160 Speaker 1: By the nine nineties, the company had become little more 580 00:34:21,360 --> 00:34:24,959 Speaker 1: than just a brand name and getting back to ninety 581 00:34:25,040 --> 00:34:27,719 Speaker 1: nine again. The same year of the debut of the 582 00:34:27,760 --> 00:34:31,080 Speaker 1: A four hundred and the hundred systems was when a 583 00:34:31,280 --> 00:34:35,359 Speaker 1: company called Texas Instruments introduced its first home computer, which 584 00:34:35,400 --> 00:34:41,440 Speaker 1: was the t I slash four. Great names these computers. 585 00:34:41,600 --> 00:34:45,680 Speaker 1: Texas Instruments had made a name for itself originally as 586 00:34:45,680 --> 00:34:50,280 Speaker 1: the first producer of commercial silicon transistors. The company also 587 00:34:50,400 --> 00:34:53,880 Speaker 1: made the first transistor radio in the nineteen fifties, so 588 00:34:54,040 --> 00:34:57,480 Speaker 1: by the nineteen seventies it was producing scientific calculators. The 589 00:34:57,600 --> 00:35:01,040 Speaker 1: T I N nine Slash four would become one of 590 00:35:01,080 --> 00:35:04,600 Speaker 1: the other big contenders in the early home PC space 591 00:35:04,640 --> 00:35:06,440 Speaker 1: in the United States. So I'm going to talk all 592 00:35:06,480 --> 00:35:10,160 Speaker 1: about that in just a second, but first let's take 593 00:35:10,200 --> 00:35:20,120 Speaker 1: another quick break to thank our sponsor. All right, So 594 00:35:20,200 --> 00:35:24,200 Speaker 1: let's talk about the original T I Slash four. And 595 00:35:24,480 --> 00:35:26,840 Speaker 1: for those of you who love this computer, you're probably thinking, 596 00:35:27,040 --> 00:35:29,000 Speaker 1: why are you saying it like that over and over again? 597 00:35:29,480 --> 00:35:32,000 Speaker 1: Just because I want to. It was a powerful computer 598 00:35:32,080 --> 00:35:35,360 Speaker 1: for its time. While other computers were relying on the 599 00:35:35,400 --> 00:35:39,279 Speaker 1: most microchip from Commodore UH, the T I nine had 600 00:35:39,320 --> 00:35:42,719 Speaker 1: its own proprietary CPU. It was called the t M 601 00:35:43,080 --> 00:35:47,520 Speaker 1: sred and it ran at three mega hurts, nearly twice 602 00:35:47,640 --> 00:35:50,279 Speaker 1: as fast as some of the other more powerful home 603 00:35:50,320 --> 00:35:53,960 Speaker 1: computers on the market at that time. The form factor 604 00:35:54,160 --> 00:35:57,400 Speaker 1: was similar to those other other early home computers I 605 00:35:57,440 --> 00:35:59,720 Speaker 1: talked about, so it looked like a big, clunky keyboard. 606 00:36:00,280 --> 00:36:02,760 Speaker 1: This one had a cartridge port built onto the front 607 00:36:02,800 --> 00:36:05,560 Speaker 1: of it where you could slide rom cartridges into the 608 00:36:05,600 --> 00:36:09,440 Speaker 1: machine to run your programs. Texas Instruments also sold a 609 00:36:09,480 --> 00:36:13,200 Speaker 1: monitor that was in fact a thirteen inch Zenith color 610 00:36:13,320 --> 00:36:17,799 Speaker 1: TV that Texas Instruments had modified slightly to make it 611 00:36:17,880 --> 00:36:20,839 Speaker 1: a working computer monitor, so it wasn't like an off 612 00:36:20,880 --> 00:36:24,200 Speaker 1: the shelf Zeno of TV. It was slightly changed. When 613 00:36:24,239 --> 00:36:27,120 Speaker 1: the t I nine launched, you had to buy a 614 00:36:27,160 --> 00:36:30,000 Speaker 1: monitor with it because there was no way at that 615 00:36:30,080 --> 00:36:34,280 Speaker 1: moment to connect it to a regular TV. Texas Instruments 616 00:36:34,320 --> 00:36:37,239 Speaker 1: was working on an RF adapter, so then you would 617 00:36:37,280 --> 00:36:39,480 Speaker 1: be able to connect it to a television, but the 618 00:36:39,520 --> 00:36:42,200 Speaker 1: adapter had not yet received approval from the f c 619 00:36:42,440 --> 00:36:46,040 Speaker 1: C for those radio frequency emissions. Like some of the 620 00:36:46,080 --> 00:36:48,520 Speaker 1: other personal computers of the era, the keyboard on the 621 00:36:48,560 --> 00:36:52,479 Speaker 1: t I nine was in that tiny key chick lit 622 00:36:52,560 --> 00:36:55,400 Speaker 1: style that made it kind of difficult to type on. Again, 623 00:36:55,520 --> 00:37:00,279 Speaker 1: more clearly some influence from the Texas Instrument calcul later 624 00:37:00,400 --> 00:37:03,640 Speaker 1: days that were you know in that keyboard. It used 625 00:37:03,640 --> 00:37:08,000 Speaker 1: a Texas Instruments flavor of Basic as its operating system, 626 00:37:08,040 --> 00:37:10,520 Speaker 1: and booting the computer would allow you to run either 627 00:37:10,640 --> 00:37:14,680 Speaker 1: an equation calculator whatever program was on the ROM cartridge, 628 00:37:15,280 --> 00:37:18,239 Speaker 1: or you could load right into Basic programming on the 629 00:37:18,280 --> 00:37:21,880 Speaker 1: t I was a bit of a frustrating experience. You 630 00:37:21,920 --> 00:37:26,120 Speaker 1: could program in the Basic computer programming language, which was good, 631 00:37:26,120 --> 00:37:28,880 Speaker 1: since that was more or less the standard programming language 632 00:37:28,880 --> 00:37:31,960 Speaker 1: and home computers at that time. But those programs would 633 00:37:32,000 --> 00:37:36,440 Speaker 1: run much more slowly on the Texas Instruments computer compared 634 00:37:36,480 --> 00:37:40,360 Speaker 1: to other computers even with that processor I was talking about. 635 00:37:40,400 --> 00:37:43,120 Speaker 1: So why is that, Well, it was because the computer 636 00:37:43,239 --> 00:37:47,160 Speaker 1: also had a proprietary graphics programming language coded onto it, 637 00:37:47,480 --> 00:37:50,920 Speaker 1: so every program made on the t I nine had 638 00:37:50,920 --> 00:37:55,120 Speaker 1: to be interpreted by the computer twice, which slowed things down. 639 00:37:55,800 --> 00:37:58,880 Speaker 1: You could get a cassette tape external drive, but most 640 00:37:58,880 --> 00:38:01,920 Speaker 1: of the computers popular our programs were just on cartridges. 641 00:38:02,400 --> 00:38:04,640 Speaker 1: On the right side of the computer was a system bus, 642 00:38:04,880 --> 00:38:09,279 Speaker 1: and you could plug different expansion units directly into that 643 00:38:09,320 --> 00:38:13,879 Speaker 1: system bus. Those expansions include some cool stuff like a 644 00:38:13,920 --> 00:38:18,760 Speaker 1: speech synthesizer, a thermal printer port, a memory expansion card, 645 00:38:18,880 --> 00:38:23,200 Speaker 1: and more. The expansion units were called side cars, and 646 00:38:23,239 --> 00:38:25,960 Speaker 1: they also had ports on their sides where you could 647 00:38:26,000 --> 00:38:29,319 Speaker 1: attach additional side cars, So you could attach up to 648 00:38:29,520 --> 00:38:33,200 Speaker 1: six side cars to the basic computer this way, daisy 649 00:38:33,320 --> 00:38:37,160 Speaker 1: chaining them together, except each one was a physical device, 650 00:38:37,520 --> 00:38:39,440 Speaker 1: and most of them were about the width of an 651 00:38:39,440 --> 00:38:42,799 Speaker 1: external disk drive. So once you've got six of these 652 00:38:42,840 --> 00:38:45,600 Speaker 1: attached off the side of your computer, you found yourself 653 00:38:45,640 --> 00:38:49,319 Speaker 1: with an incredibly wide machine. Also, the way the side 654 00:38:49,360 --> 00:38:51,640 Speaker 1: cars worked meant that you always had to plug the 655 00:38:51,680 --> 00:38:56,200 Speaker 1: speech synthesizer into the tin, and then you would plug 656 00:38:56,239 --> 00:39:00,279 Speaker 1: the memory expansion side car into the speech synthesizer part 657 00:39:00,360 --> 00:39:03,000 Speaker 1: on its side, and then you could add anything else 658 00:39:03,040 --> 00:39:06,000 Speaker 1: on to the rest of the chain. Texas Instruments also 659 00:39:06,040 --> 00:39:10,000 Speaker 1: created a special keyboard overlay system, and that would indicate 660 00:39:10,239 --> 00:39:13,120 Speaker 1: what the alternate functions for certain keys were when you 661 00:39:13,200 --> 00:39:17,640 Speaker 1: ran specific programs. So you could buy a game that 662 00:39:17,719 --> 00:39:20,640 Speaker 1: would come with an overlay, and you put the overlay 663 00:39:20,680 --> 00:39:22,960 Speaker 1: on top of your keyboard, and that would let you 664 00:39:23,000 --> 00:39:26,960 Speaker 1: know which keys would execute specific tasks within the game 665 00:39:27,040 --> 00:39:29,440 Speaker 1: that you bought. But this was true for any program. 666 00:39:29,440 --> 00:39:33,320 Speaker 1: If you had a program that wanted to repurpose certain 667 00:39:33,400 --> 00:39:36,880 Speaker 1: keys for very specific functions, the overlay would help you 668 00:39:36,880 --> 00:39:41,000 Speaker 1: remember which keys were the ones mapped to those functions. 669 00:39:41,680 --> 00:39:45,360 Speaker 1: The Basic computer with monitor cost one thousand, one fifty 670 00:39:45,400 --> 00:39:47,680 Speaker 1: dollars in nineteen seventy nine, which made it one of 671 00:39:47,719 --> 00:39:51,480 Speaker 1: the more expensive computers on the market. It achieved modest success, 672 00:39:51,840 --> 00:39:56,239 Speaker 1: prompting Texas Instruments to revise the approach, and they discontinued 673 00:39:56,280 --> 00:39:59,880 Speaker 1: the original computer by one and introduced the T I 674 00:40:00,120 --> 00:40:04,640 Speaker 1: nine slash for a This new version had a brand 675 00:40:04,640 --> 00:40:08,279 Speaker 1: new graphics chip and an improved full sized keyboard. It 676 00:40:08,360 --> 00:40:11,400 Speaker 1: also got rid of the sidecar solution for expansion, so 677 00:40:11,440 --> 00:40:15,720 Speaker 1: instead you could purchase what was called the peripheral expansion box, 678 00:40:16,160 --> 00:40:18,440 Speaker 1: which looked like what we would think of as a 679 00:40:18,520 --> 00:40:20,879 Speaker 1: CPU tower today. It looks like, you know, a big 680 00:40:20,920 --> 00:40:24,160 Speaker 1: computer case, only its purpose was to house the various 681 00:40:24,239 --> 00:40:28,279 Speaker 1: expansions you could connect to this computer. The case could 682 00:40:28,280 --> 00:40:31,400 Speaker 1: hold up to seven expansion cards. Well technically you can 683 00:40:31,440 --> 00:40:33,719 Speaker 1: hold eight, but one of those slots was needed for 684 00:40:33,760 --> 00:40:36,400 Speaker 1: the interface card that allowed the case to communicate with 685 00:40:36,440 --> 00:40:39,879 Speaker 1: the computer in the first place. The peripheral expansion case 686 00:40:40,000 --> 00:40:44,680 Speaker 1: cost one thousand, four hundred seventy five dollars, which made 687 00:40:44,680 --> 00:40:48,160 Speaker 1: it pretty darn expensive because the computer itself, if you 688 00:40:48,280 --> 00:40:52,480 Speaker 1: got it without a monitor, cost only five dollars. So 689 00:40:52,560 --> 00:40:56,319 Speaker 1: this expansion set cost almost three times as much as 690 00:40:56,320 --> 00:40:59,759 Speaker 1: the actual computer it was expanding. Now, I had one 691 00:40:59,760 --> 00:41:02,200 Speaker 1: of the computers, not the expansion set, but I had 692 00:41:02,239 --> 00:41:04,439 Speaker 1: the computer when I was growing up, but I only 693 00:41:04,480 --> 00:41:06,960 Speaker 1: have some vague memories of it as I was a 694 00:41:07,000 --> 00:41:10,640 Speaker 1: little tyke at the time when we had the t A, 695 00:41:10,800 --> 00:41:12,760 Speaker 1: but I do remember seeing down to play a rousing 696 00:41:12,800 --> 00:41:15,640 Speaker 1: game of Hunt the Wumpus. And yes, that was a 697 00:41:15,680 --> 00:41:18,120 Speaker 1: real game. If you remember it, give me a shout, 698 00:41:18,239 --> 00:41:20,560 Speaker 1: because I love to find other people who played it. 699 00:41:20,800 --> 00:41:23,520 Speaker 1: The version that was for Texas Instruments was different than 700 00:41:23,560 --> 00:41:26,400 Speaker 1: the version that you could find on other platforms. On 701 00:41:26,480 --> 00:41:28,880 Speaker 1: most platforms, it was a text based game, but on 702 00:41:28,960 --> 00:41:33,239 Speaker 1: the Texas Instruments computer it was actually a graphic based game. 703 00:41:33,760 --> 00:41:36,600 Speaker 1: So there you go, Hunt the wump Us. Some real 704 00:41:36,960 --> 00:41:40,719 Speaker 1: computer history, right there. Texas Instruments sold about two and 705 00:41:40,760 --> 00:41:44,120 Speaker 1: a half million units of this revised home computer, and 706 00:41:44,239 --> 00:41:48,480 Speaker 1: ultimately they felt that the market for home computers was 707 00:41:48,680 --> 00:41:51,759 Speaker 1: far too saturated by competitors and that was gonna be 708 00:41:51,840 --> 00:41:55,760 Speaker 1: really hard to carve out a profitable space. So Texas 709 00:41:55,800 --> 00:41:59,799 Speaker 1: Instruments decided that they were gonna end this grand experiment. 710 00:42:00,000 --> 00:42:01,960 Speaker 1: Now I just have a few more computers to mention. 711 00:42:02,320 --> 00:42:04,400 Speaker 1: I should point out there were a lot of others 712 00:42:04,960 --> 00:42:07,239 Speaker 1: that came out around this time, not just the ones 713 00:42:07,280 --> 00:42:10,080 Speaker 1: I'm going to cover next, but honestly, to cover every 714 00:42:10,080 --> 00:42:12,600 Speaker 1: single computer that came out, whether it was a one 715 00:42:12,640 --> 00:42:15,680 Speaker 1: off or the beginning of a small chain of computers 716 00:42:15,960 --> 00:42:18,600 Speaker 1: would take several episodes. One of the ones I do 717 00:42:18,640 --> 00:42:21,600 Speaker 1: want to mention is the one that was requested at 718 00:42:21,600 --> 00:42:24,600 Speaker 1: the top of this episode. The request was specifically for 719 00:42:24,680 --> 00:42:28,800 Speaker 1: the Sinclair z x e D also known as the Spectrum, 720 00:42:28,840 --> 00:42:31,960 Speaker 1: and had a z e D a microprocessor with a 721 00:42:32,040 --> 00:42:34,840 Speaker 1: three point to five mega hurts clock speed, and it 722 00:42:35,000 --> 00:42:37,840 Speaker 1: was it used an adapter to send video signals to 723 00:42:37,880 --> 00:42:41,600 Speaker 1: a user's television. The original model had sixteen kilobytes of RAM. 724 00:42:42,040 --> 00:42:45,680 Speaker 1: A more advanced version shipped with forty eight kilobytes of RAM. 725 00:42:45,719 --> 00:42:49,160 Speaker 1: The operating system was ROM basic and the keyboard computer 726 00:42:49,320 --> 00:42:52,879 Speaker 1: was very very small. In fact, it didn't have all 727 00:42:52,920 --> 00:42:56,080 Speaker 1: the standard keys on the keyboard for this first model. 728 00:42:56,120 --> 00:42:59,439 Speaker 1: You had to use function buttons to designate anything beyond 729 00:42:59,520 --> 00:43:02,200 Speaker 1: the base a numbers and letters on the keyboard. The 730 00:43:02,239 --> 00:43:05,560 Speaker 1: computer system could connect to a cassette drive or additional 731 00:43:05,600 --> 00:43:09,160 Speaker 1: memory modules, and it was originally sold only in the UK, 732 00:43:09,560 --> 00:43:11,680 Speaker 1: though it did make its way to the United States eventually. 733 00:43:11,920 --> 00:43:14,200 Speaker 1: It's very compact. It was a very small computer. It 734 00:43:14,239 --> 00:43:16,719 Speaker 1: costs just two hundred dollars in the United States when 735 00:43:16,719 --> 00:43:20,600 Speaker 1: it first became available here. However, there were some concessions 736 00:43:20,600 --> 00:43:22,920 Speaker 1: that had to be made. You know, you got an 737 00:43:23,000 --> 00:43:25,359 Speaker 1: inexpensive computer. It was small, didn't take up a lot 738 00:43:25,360 --> 00:43:27,960 Speaker 1: of space, but it also didn't have any support for 739 00:43:28,000 --> 00:43:31,359 Speaker 1: color graphics, it didn't have any support for sound, and 740 00:43:31,400 --> 00:43:34,200 Speaker 1: the keyboard was a membrane style keyboard that was not 741 00:43:34,280 --> 00:43:37,200 Speaker 1: easy to use and it would wear out relatively quickly. 742 00:43:37,719 --> 00:43:40,640 Speaker 1: Sinclair would follow this up with the z X eighty one, 743 00:43:40,760 --> 00:43:43,600 Speaker 1: which in the US was sold by time X under 744 00:43:43,640 --> 00:43:47,600 Speaker 1: the name Timex Sinclair one thousand. Time X would go 745 00:43:47,600 --> 00:43:51,160 Speaker 1: on to release a couple of other computers, mostly Sinclair clones, 746 00:43:51,640 --> 00:43:55,080 Speaker 1: but would get out of the home computer business by 747 00:43:54,440 --> 00:43:58,040 Speaker 1: four In two thousand seventeen, a recreated version of the 748 00:43:58,080 --> 00:44:02,600 Speaker 1: Sinclair z X Spectrum came available after some initial missteps 749 00:44:02,840 --> 00:44:07,000 Speaker 1: happened not due to technology, but rather over arguments about 750 00:44:07,040 --> 00:44:10,400 Speaker 1: who owned the intellectual property. Once those arguments were settled, 751 00:44:10,600 --> 00:44:13,600 Speaker 1: the initial run of ten thousand recreations of the classic 752 00:44:13,640 --> 00:44:17,680 Speaker 1: system sold out right away. And this system looks pretty nifty. 753 00:44:17,719 --> 00:44:20,360 Speaker 1: It's a kind of a black keyboard with a rainbow 754 00:44:21,120 --> 00:44:23,960 Speaker 1: across part of it. And uh, you know, there's a 755 00:44:23,960 --> 00:44:25,640 Speaker 1: lot of people with a lot of fond memories of it, 756 00:44:25,719 --> 00:44:27,400 Speaker 1: just like there are people who have fond memories of 757 00:44:27,440 --> 00:44:30,839 Speaker 1: the Commodore sixty four. Some people really love those old 758 00:44:30,880 --> 00:44:33,600 Speaker 1: spectrum computers. Now. Not too long ago, I did a 759 00:44:33,680 --> 00:44:37,600 Speaker 1: multiple episode series about the company Xerox, and in that 760 00:44:37,680 --> 00:44:40,840 Speaker 1: series I talked about the Xerox eight twenty, which was 761 00:44:40,840 --> 00:44:43,800 Speaker 1: the company's attempt to get into the personal computer business, 762 00:44:43,880 --> 00:44:48,200 Speaker 1: although they were looking really at office computers, not home computers. 763 00:44:48,680 --> 00:44:53,160 Speaker 1: Xerox's Park facility had already created a computer in nineteen 764 00:44:53,239 --> 00:44:56,560 Speaker 1: seventy three that boasted many of the features consumers would 765 00:44:56,560 --> 00:44:59,719 Speaker 1: find in state of the art PCs a decade later, 766 00:45:00,200 --> 00:45:04,240 Speaker 1: like a graphic user interface or gooey and a computer mouse. 767 00:45:04,640 --> 00:45:07,840 Speaker 1: But Xerox had no plans to market that computer, called 768 00:45:07,840 --> 00:45:10,879 Speaker 1: the Alto, to the public. They used it pretty much 769 00:45:10,960 --> 00:45:14,960 Speaker 1: exclusively internally. The Xerox eight twenty was meant to be 770 00:45:15,000 --> 00:45:18,400 Speaker 1: the next big thing in small businesses and offices. It 771 00:45:18,520 --> 00:45:23,240 Speaker 1: sold for the princely sum of two thousand nine dollars. 772 00:45:23,640 --> 00:45:26,279 Speaker 1: This put it out of reach for most average consumers, 773 00:45:26,280 --> 00:45:29,040 Speaker 1: but Xerox had high hopes that would become the desktop 774 00:45:29,080 --> 00:45:31,720 Speaker 1: machine and offices around the world, and that the company 775 00:45:31,719 --> 00:45:35,080 Speaker 1: would be able to lay claim to that very fertile ground. 776 00:45:35,200 --> 00:45:39,319 Speaker 1: But unfortunately, the high price, the relatively slow speed of 777 00:45:39,360 --> 00:45:42,400 Speaker 1: the machines at two and a half mega hurts processing speed, 778 00:45:42,760 --> 00:45:46,600 Speaker 1: and the uninspired design of the hardware were all strikes 779 00:45:46,760 --> 00:45:50,040 Speaker 1: against the eight twenty. Xerox tried again with the eight 780 00:45:50,080 --> 00:45:53,799 Speaker 1: twenty two, but couldn't really make a dent in what 781 00:45:53,960 --> 00:45:57,400 Speaker 1: was then IBM's domain. So Xerox got out of the 782 00:45:57,400 --> 00:46:02,360 Speaker 1: office computer business by five Before I sign off earlier, 783 00:46:02,400 --> 00:46:05,600 Speaker 1: I said I'd talked more about Omega computers. Back in 784 00:46:05,640 --> 00:46:09,640 Speaker 1: the nineteen seventies, a guy named j Minor joined Atari 785 00:46:09,680 --> 00:46:12,719 Speaker 1: as a developer for the twenty six hundred game console. 786 00:46:13,080 --> 00:46:15,160 Speaker 1: He also got to work designing the chip set that 787 00:46:15,200 --> 00:46:17,520 Speaker 1: would find its way into the Atari four hundred and 788 00:46:17,600 --> 00:46:21,360 Speaker 1: eight hundred line of home computers. Minor left Atari in 789 00:46:21,440 --> 00:46:25,239 Speaker 1: nineteen seventy nine after having disagreements with the company's new management. 790 00:46:25,760 --> 00:46:28,440 Speaker 1: In nineteen eighty two, he joined a project that had 791 00:46:28,440 --> 00:46:31,760 Speaker 1: been launched by Larry Kaplan, who was another former Atari 792 00:46:31,880 --> 00:46:35,359 Speaker 1: employee and he was also the founder of Activision. This 793 00:46:35,520 --> 00:46:39,280 Speaker 1: project was meant to create a new game platform. Kaplan 794 00:46:39,440 --> 00:46:42,400 Speaker 1: wouldn't stick with it. He would actually leave this project 795 00:46:42,440 --> 00:46:45,759 Speaker 1: in nineteen eighty two, but it found new life as 796 00:46:45,760 --> 00:46:48,520 Speaker 1: it became the centerpiece for a company that was calling 797 00:46:48,560 --> 00:46:54,400 Speaker 1: itself the Amiga Corporation, and uh J. Minor would become 798 00:46:54,440 --> 00:46:57,839 Speaker 1: the head engineer of the Amiga Corporation. Then we get 799 00:46:57,880 --> 00:47:00,520 Speaker 1: into some soap opera level stuff going on, all right, 800 00:47:00,640 --> 00:47:05,160 Speaker 1: So in nine you had the video game Crash. Atari 801 00:47:05,280 --> 00:47:09,279 Speaker 1: found itself in a bad way. The company was floundering. Meanwhile, 802 00:47:09,480 --> 00:47:13,080 Speaker 1: over at Commodore, Jack Tramiel, who was again the founder 803 00:47:13,280 --> 00:47:16,600 Speaker 1: of Commodore, was effectively ousted from his own company by 804 00:47:16,640 --> 00:47:20,239 Speaker 1: the board of directors. Tremuel left Commodore and he went 805 00:47:20,280 --> 00:47:23,520 Speaker 1: on and decided to purchase Atari because Atari was kind 806 00:47:23,520 --> 00:47:26,799 Speaker 1: of reeling at that time. Atari, by the way, had 807 00:47:26,880 --> 00:47:30,880 Speaker 1: loaned half a million dollars to Amiga, and Amiga was 808 00:47:30,920 --> 00:47:34,799 Speaker 1: in danger of going bankrupt. Amiga had developed some technology 809 00:47:34,840 --> 00:47:37,880 Speaker 1: that had promised. They had shown off some demonstrations at 810 00:47:38,000 --> 00:47:42,200 Speaker 1: various conferences, but they weren't getting any investors. No companies 811 00:47:42,239 --> 00:47:48,040 Speaker 1: had actually stepped up to buy Amiga's technology, largely because 812 00:47:48,080 --> 00:47:52,480 Speaker 1: Amiga was sort of positioning this as a gaming platform 813 00:47:52,680 --> 00:47:55,080 Speaker 1: and the collapse of the video game industry had everyone 814 00:47:55,200 --> 00:47:59,640 Speaker 1: very nervous, So in order to stay afloat, Amiga took 815 00:47:59,680 --> 00:48:05,000 Speaker 1: a own from Atari. So Tramiel leaves Commodore, he goes 816 00:48:05,080 --> 00:48:09,719 Speaker 1: and purchases Atari. Several of his engineers and developers over 817 00:48:09,760 --> 00:48:13,240 Speaker 1: at Commodore leave the company and go to joint Tramiel 818 00:48:13,360 --> 00:48:16,840 Speaker 1: over at Aitari, and that left Commodore without a solid 819 00:48:16,880 --> 00:48:20,840 Speaker 1: plan for its computer business. So you had this company, Commodore, 820 00:48:20,960 --> 00:48:26,600 Speaker 1: that had previously been the most powerful home computer company 821 00:48:26,640 --> 00:48:29,520 Speaker 1: in the world. In fact, only a couple of years previously, 822 00:48:29,680 --> 00:48:32,880 Speaker 1: the Commodore sixty four was the top selling computer in 823 00:48:32,960 --> 00:48:37,239 Speaker 1: the world seventeen million units. That's amazing. But now they 824 00:48:37,320 --> 00:48:41,560 Speaker 1: just had their talent rated. Effectively, they all defected, so 825 00:48:42,120 --> 00:48:44,120 Speaker 1: they didn't really have a game plan for where they 826 00:48:44,120 --> 00:48:47,799 Speaker 1: were going to go next. They decided that maybe what 827 00:48:47,880 --> 00:48:52,719 Speaker 1: they should do is acquire Amiga. So this is a 828 00:48:52,880 --> 00:48:57,160 Speaker 1: weird shuffling that you've you've got here, You've got Atari 829 00:48:57,280 --> 00:49:01,480 Speaker 1: that lends Amiga five thousand dollars. Atari starts to wobble. 830 00:49:01,800 --> 00:49:05,840 Speaker 1: The founder of Commodore leaves Commodore, sweeps in buys Atari, 831 00:49:06,239 --> 00:49:09,560 Speaker 1: bringing along some top talent with him. Commodore reaches out 832 00:49:09,560 --> 00:49:12,440 Speaker 1: to buy Amiga and as part of this transaction pays 833 00:49:12,440 --> 00:49:15,719 Speaker 1: off the Atari loan. J Minor got to work on 834 00:49:15,760 --> 00:49:18,640 Speaker 1: the first Amiga computer now that the company was safely 835 00:49:18,680 --> 00:49:21,719 Speaker 1: in the embrace of Commodore and the computer would not 836 00:49:21,760 --> 00:49:26,120 Speaker 1: be ready until when it launched. It was called the 837 00:49:26,120 --> 00:49:29,680 Speaker 1: Amigo one thousand. It had a Motorola sixty eight thousand 838 00:49:29,760 --> 00:49:33,120 Speaker 1: CPU that ran at seven point one four mega hurts. 839 00:49:33,480 --> 00:49:36,520 Speaker 1: It shipped with two hundred fifty six kilobytes of data, 840 00:49:36,640 --> 00:49:40,160 Speaker 1: expandable up to eight megabytes. It could show up to 841 00:49:40,320 --> 00:49:43,879 Speaker 1: four thousand, ninety six colors, granted you had to set 842 00:49:43,880 --> 00:49:46,760 Speaker 1: the resolution of the display to three twenty by two hundred. 843 00:49:47,160 --> 00:49:50,600 Speaker 1: It had a thirty two bit multitasking graphic user interface. 844 00:49:50,880 --> 00:49:54,760 Speaker 1: It had four channel stereo sound. You could even show 845 00:49:54,840 --> 00:49:59,160 Speaker 1: multiple screens at different resolutions on the same monitor at 846 00:49:59,200 --> 00:50:02,680 Speaker 1: the same time. It was a killer computer if you 847 00:50:02,719 --> 00:50:06,320 Speaker 1: wanted to play games. It's tex specs left other machines 848 00:50:06,320 --> 00:50:10,840 Speaker 1: in the dust, specifically when gaming was considered. It was 849 00:50:10,880 --> 00:50:14,280 Speaker 1: also a little expensive. The Amiga one thousand with monitor 850 00:50:14,560 --> 00:50:18,560 Speaker 1: would set you back one thousand, seven nine dollars. The 851 00:50:18,600 --> 00:50:21,960 Speaker 1: Amiga had no internal expansion slots, but you could plug 852 00:50:22,040 --> 00:50:25,919 Speaker 1: expansions into various ports on the system bus. Commodore would 853 00:50:25,960 --> 00:50:30,040 Speaker 1: release multiple computers in the Amiga line, but the problem 854 00:50:30,080 --> 00:50:33,279 Speaker 1: was they weren't compatible with MS DOSS, which meant they 855 00:50:33,400 --> 00:50:37,760 Speaker 1: just weren't readily adopted. IBM had already managed to really 856 00:50:38,320 --> 00:50:42,000 Speaker 1: insinuate itself into that world and people were starting to 857 00:50:42,080 --> 00:50:46,000 Speaker 1: kind of solidify behind IBM and MS DOSS, So Amiga 858 00:50:46,080 --> 00:50:48,720 Speaker 1: was left out from that. Even though you could argue 859 00:50:48,880 --> 00:50:52,120 Speaker 1: that the technical specs and the performance of the Amiga 860 00:50:52,400 --> 00:50:54,560 Speaker 1: was far better than what you would get with any 861 00:50:54,640 --> 00:50:59,920 Speaker 1: comparable IBM machine or IBM clone, it wasn't compatible with 862 00:51:00,080 --> 00:51:03,160 Speaker 1: all the software and customers were kind of going where 863 00:51:03,160 --> 00:51:08,120 Speaker 1: the software was, so for Amiga it just would eventually 864 00:51:08,200 --> 00:51:11,440 Speaker 1: kind of fizzle out. It was sold off during the 865 00:51:11,480 --> 00:51:13,839 Speaker 1: time where a Commodore was going out of business back 866 00:51:13,880 --> 00:51:17,560 Speaker 1: in the mid nineteen nineties. So what was it about 867 00:51:17,600 --> 00:51:22,280 Speaker 1: Apple and IBM computers that allowed those versions to survive 868 00:51:22,640 --> 00:51:25,520 Speaker 1: when all these other computers eventually faded away. Well, I'm 869 00:51:25,560 --> 00:51:27,520 Speaker 1: going to cover that in the next couple of episodes. 870 00:51:27,520 --> 00:51:30,400 Speaker 1: With Apple first, we're going to talk about them and 871 00:51:30,520 --> 00:51:34,240 Speaker 1: how they were able to weather the storms of the 872 00:51:34,320 --> 00:51:37,719 Speaker 1: late seventies early eighties home computer boom and how they 873 00:51:37,760 --> 00:51:40,799 Speaker 1: survived to the company that they are today. And we'll 874 00:51:40,840 --> 00:51:44,720 Speaker 1: also talk about IBM and the decision that IBM made 875 00:51:45,160 --> 00:51:48,200 Speaker 1: that ended up costing the company quite a bit because 876 00:51:49,080 --> 00:51:53,000 Speaker 1: they were being very nice and that niceness ended up 877 00:51:53,640 --> 00:51:57,719 Speaker 1: costing them. The home PC market, it gets pretty complicated, 878 00:51:57,760 --> 00:52:00,200 Speaker 1: but it has all to do with clones. Will talk 879 00:52:00,239 --> 00:52:02,640 Speaker 1: about clones a lot in the next two episodes, so 880 00:52:02,719 --> 00:52:05,239 Speaker 1: tune in to hear about that and hear about how 881 00:52:05,280 --> 00:52:09,520 Speaker 1: the home PC market turned into what it is today. Uh. 882 00:52:09,600 --> 00:52:12,120 Speaker 1: If you have suggestions for future episodes of tech Stuff, 883 00:52:12,120 --> 00:52:16,040 Speaker 1: whether it is a specific technology, a company, a personality 884 00:52:16,040 --> 00:52:18,880 Speaker 1: and tech anything like that, let me know. Send me 885 00:52:18,920 --> 00:52:22,120 Speaker 1: a message, Send it to me via email. The addresses 886 00:52:22,160 --> 00:52:24,840 Speaker 1: tech Stuff at how stuff Works dot com, or you 887 00:52:24,840 --> 00:52:26,800 Speaker 1: can drop me a line on Facebook or Twitter. The 888 00:52:26,880 --> 00:52:29,560 Speaker 1: handle of both of those is tech Stuff at hs W. 889 00:52:30,160 --> 00:52:33,440 Speaker 1: Remember we've got an Instagram account you can follow, so 890 00:52:33,560 --> 00:52:37,360 Speaker 1: go follow that. You can also tune in on Wednesdays 891 00:52:37,360 --> 00:52:41,080 Speaker 1: and Fridays you can actually see me record these shows live. Uh. 892 00:52:41,239 --> 00:52:45,200 Speaker 1: The place to go is twitch dot tv slash tech Stuff. 893 00:52:45,480 --> 00:52:47,719 Speaker 1: Just visit there. You'll see where the schedule is, and 894 00:52:47,760 --> 00:52:49,440 Speaker 1: you can. You can tune in, you can be part 895 00:52:49,440 --> 00:52:51,480 Speaker 1: of the chat room. You can join in with all 896 00:52:51,520 --> 00:52:55,520 Speaker 1: the regulars, and I will talk to you again really soon. 897 00:53:01,320 --> 00:53:04,040 Speaker 1: For moralness and thousands of other topics. Is a how 898 00:53:04,080 --> 00:53:14,840 Speaker 1: stuff Works dot com