Episode 138 - Interview with Hans Franke, VCF Europe and Computeum

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/FloppyDays

Sponsors:

• 8-Bit Classics 

• Arcade Shopper  

What I’ve Been Up To

• Indy Classic Expo - http://www.indyclassic.org 

• 8-Bit Classics - http://www.8bitclassics.com 

• 80 column card for Atari 1090XL at Tindie from Brian Reifsnyder 

New Acquisitions

• Coco MPI mention on an earlier episode (Episode 131) 

• Cloud-9 - http://www.cloud9tech.com/ 

• Texas Instruments TI58 & TI59 calculators coverage on an earlier episode (Episode 3) 

• TI58/59 battery pack mod from Bob Wolfson 

• 2.4A power adapter for Atari XL/XE - https://www.8bitclassics.com/product/atari-xl-xe-2-4a-amp-power-adapter/ 

Upcoming Shows

• The 32nd Annual “Last” Chicago CoCoFEST! - May 4-5, 2024 - Holiday Inn & Suites Chicago-Carol Stream (Wheaton), Carol Stream, Illinois - https://www.glensideccc.com/cocofest/ 

• The Festival of Portable Computing - May 18-19 - Centre for Computing History, Cambridge, England - https://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/72231/The-Festival-of-Portable-Computing-18th-19th-May-2024/ 

• CorgsCon (Columbus Ohio Retro Gaming Society) - June 1 - Kasich Hall – Ohio Expo Center, Columbus, OH - https://www.corgscon.com/ 

• Game Not Over 2024 - June 8-9 - Dunstall Park Racecourse in Wolverhampton, U.K. - https://retro.directory/browse/events/326-game-not-over-2024 

• VCF Southwest - June 14-16, 2024 - Davidson-Gundy Alumni Center at UT Dallas - https://www.vcfsw.org/ 

• Boatfest Retro Computer Expo - June 14-16 - Hurricane, WV - http://boatfest.info 

• Vancouver Retro Gaming Expo - June 22 - New Westminster, BC, Canada - https://www.vancouvergamingexpo.com/index.html 

• Pacific Commodore Expo NW v4 - June 22-23 - Old Rainier Brewery Intraspace, Seattle, WA - https://www.portcommodore.com/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=pacommex:start 

• Kickstart Amiga UK Expo - June 29-30 - Nottingham, UK - https://www.amigashow.com/ 

• KansasFest, the largest and longest running annual Apple II conference - July 16-21 (in-person), July 27-28 (virtual) - University of Illinois in Springfield, IL - https://www.kansasfest.org/ 

• Southern Fried Gaming Expo and VCF Southeast - July 19-21,  2024 - Atlanta, GA - https://gameatl.com/ 

• Nottingham Video Game Expo - July 20-21 - The Belgrave Rooms, Nottingham, U.K. - https://www.nottsvge.com/ 

• Fujiama - July 23-28 - Lengenfeld, Germany - http://atarixle.ddns.net/fuji/2024/  

• Vintage Computer Festival West - August 2-3 - Computer History Museum, Mountain View, CA - https://vcfed.org/events/vintage-computer-festival-west/  

• VCF Midwest - September 7-8 - Renaissance Schaumburg Convention Center in Schaumburg, IL - http://vcfmw.org/ 

• VCF Europe - September 7-8 - Munich, Germany - https://vcfe.org/E/ 

• Portland Retro Gaming Expo - September 27-29 - Oregon Convention Center, Portland, OR - https://retrogamingexpo.com/ 

• Tandy Assembly - September 27-29 - Courtyard by Marriott Springfield - Springfield, OH - http://www.tandyassembly.com/ 

• AmiWest - October 25-27 - Sacramento, CA - https://amiwest.net/ 

• Chicago TI International World Faire - October 26 - Evanston Public Library (Falcon Room, 303), Evanston, IL - http://chicagotiug.sdf.org/faire/  

• Retro Computer Festival 2024 - November 9-10 - Centre for Computing History, Cambridge, England - https://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/72253/Retro-Computer-Festival-2024-Saturday-9th-November/ 

• Schedule Published on Floppy Days Website - https://floppydays.libsyn.com/current-year-vintage-computer-show-schedule 

Interview with Hans Franke 

• VCF Europe (VCFe.org)

• Computeum (Computeum ) 

Current Year Vintage Computer Show Schedule

Post-VCF SoCal 2024 with Paul Nurminen

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/FloppyDays

Sponsors:

• 8-Bit Classics 

• Arcade Shopper  

0 Floppy Days Tune 1 min 13 sec Vintage Computer Ads 1 min 43 sec Intro 2 min 53 sec bumper - Paul Nurminen 3 min 00 sec Discussion with Paul Nurminen 1 hr 20 min 00 sec Closing

Hello, and welcome to episode 137 of the Floppy Days Podcast.  I’m Randy Kindig, the host of this show.  This episode is an adjunct to and follow up to the last episode (#136) of Floppy Days.  In that episode, which covered the Grundy New Brain, I alluded to the fact that in the “What I’ve Been Up To” section of the podcast, I was going to publish a separate episode just for that.  I did that because I don’t like to have episodes over about 90 minutes, and having this segment in that show would have pushed it well beyond that.

So, for this episode I enlisted the aid of Paul Nurminen (aka Nurmix), who was also an attendee and exhibitor/vendor at the recent Vintage Computer Festival Southern California, to help me do a follow up discussion of that show.  We discuss our exhibits, other exhibits of note, our general thoughts about the show, and a whole lot more.

I hope you enjoy this.

Links

• VCF SoCal - https://www.vcfsocal.com/ 

•  Intellivisionaries Podcast - http://intellivisionaries.com/ 

• White Flag Computing - https://www.whiteflagcomputing.com 

• Episode 83 of Floppy Days about the Intellivision Keyboard Component with Paul Nurminen - https://floppydays.libsyn.com/floppy-days-83-the-intellivision-keyboard-component 

• 1090XL expansion unit and 320K RAM board - reifsnyderb 

  • Discussion - https://forums.atariage.com/topic/333084-swutils-simcheck-simtest-osdump/ 

  • Purchase - https://www.tindie.com/products/5cfab/1090xl-modernized-reproduction-main-board/ 

• The VintNerd - https://thevintnerd.com/index.html 

• Mega65 - https://mega65.org/ 

• 10-Minute Amiga Retro Cast - https://www.youtube.com/c/10MinuteAmigaRetroCast 

• Aquarius+ computer - https://forums.atariage.com/topic/352635-introducing-the-aquarius/ 

Grundy NewBrain Peripherals thru Web Sites with Chris Despoinidis

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/FloppyDays

Sponsors:

• 8-Bit Classics 

• Arcade Shopper  

0 Floppy Days Tune 1 min 13 sec Vintage Computer Ads 1 min 42 sec Intro 5 min 17 sec bumper - Chris Espoinidis 5 min 28 sec New Acquisitions 6 min 33 sec bumper - Gerald McMullon 7 min 16 sec Upcoming Computer Shows 12 min 01 sec bumper - Steve O’Hara-Smith 12 min 27 sec Peripherals 22 min 37 sec Using the Machine 33 min 14 sec User Groups/Newsletters 38 min 36 sec Books & Manuals 41 min 47 sec Software 44 min 11 sec Ads 46 min 45 sec Modern Upgrades 51 min 43 sec Emulation 59 min 07 sec Buying One Today 1 hr 02 min 52 sec Community 1 hr 04 min 50 sec Current Web Sites and Videos 1 hr 12 min 45 sec Closing

Hello, and welcome to episode 136 of the Floppy Days Podcast.  I’m Randy Kindig, the host of this show, and I’ll be your guide to a journey back to the year 1982, when a very interesting, low-cost machine entered the market in Great Britain.  This is the final episode on the Grundy New Brain, not a well-known machine, most particularly here in the United States where very few have even heard of it; let alone ever owned one.

If you want to know more, I’ve recently published interviews with John Grant, Steve O’Hara-Smith, and Gerald McMullon concerning their involvement with the New Brain back in the day.  I also, in the most recent episode, discussed tech specs around the machine with my co-host.

Regarding that, in that last episode, to help me talk about the machine, I enlisted Chris Espoinidis to co-host this episode.  Chris manages the New Brain Emulator site from his home in Greece.  Even though Chris created one of the premier New Brain emulators in existence, and that was the primary focus of his Web site initially, his site has become one of the best places (along with Gerald McMullon’s Website) to get any and all New Brain information (which quite honestly is quite sparse).

The focus of this last episode detailing the machine, Chris and I will cover things like peripherals, Web sites, books & magazines, software, using the machine, emulators and all of the topics that have become the standard for machine coverage on Floppy Days.  This episode will complete all the details we know on the New Brain, with the intent to impart every bit of information to you that I could find about this little-known machine.

Before we do that, I will talk about upcoming shows.

Upcoming Shows

• Interim Computer Festival SPRING - March 23rd and 24th, 2024 - Intraspace, Seattle, WA - https://sdf.org/icf/ 

• Midwest Gaming Classic - April 5-7 - Wisconsin Center, Milwaukee, WI - https://www.midwestgamingclassic.com/ 

• VCF East - April 12-14, 2024 - Wall, NJ - http://www.vcfed.org 

• Indy Classic Computer and Video Game Expo - April 13-14 - Crowne Plaza Airport Hotel, Indianapolis, IN - https://indyclassic.org/ 

• The Commodore Los Angeles Super Show - April 13-14 - Burbank VFW Hall, Burbank, CA - https://www.portcommodore.com/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=class:start  

• VCF Europa - April 27-28, 2024 - Munich, Germany - https://vcfe.org/E/ 

• The 32nd Annual “Last” Chicago CoCoFEST! - May 4-5, 2024 - Holiday Inn & Suites Chicago-Carol Stream (Wheaton), Carol Stream, Illinois - https://www.glensideccc.com/cocofest/ 

• VCF Southwest - June 14-16, 2024 - Davidson-Gundy Alumni Center at UT Dallas - https://www.vcfsw.org/ 

• Boatfest Retro Computer Expo - June 14-16 - Hurricane, WV - http://boatfest.info 

• Pacific Commodore Expo NW v4 - June 22-23 - Old Rainier Brewery Intraspace, Seattle, WA - https://www.portcommodore.com/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=pacommex:start 

• Kickstart Amiga UK Expo - June 29-30 - Nottingham, UK - https://www.amigashow.com/ 

• Southern Fried Gaming Expo and VCF Southeast - July 19-21,  2024 - Atlanta, GA - https://gameatl.com/ 

• VCF Midwest - September 7-8 - NEW VENUE TBD - http://vcfmw.org/ 

• Portland Retro Gaming Expo - September 27-29, 2024 - Oregon Convention Center, Portland, OR - https://retrogamingexpo.com/ 

• Tandy Assembly - September 27-29, 2024 - Courtyard by Marriott Springfield - Springfield, OH - http://www.tandyassembly.com/ 

• Chicago TI International World Faire - October 26, 2024 - Evanston Public Library (Falcon Room, 303), Evanston, IL - http://chicagotiug.sdf.org/faire/  

• http://chiclassiccomp.org/events.html 

• Facebook show schedule - https://www.facebook.com/VintageComputerShows/ 

Newsletters

• NewBrain Online (Dutch/Netherlands) - https://retro.hcc.nl/newbrain/newbrain-online.html 

Books and Manuals

• books/manuals at archive.org - https://archive.org/search?query=grundy+newbrain 

Modern Upgrades

• NewBrain SD-Box

  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3G5fARz7HnM 

  • https://newbrainemu.eu/new/download/nb-sd-card-box-v-2-circuit-diagram/ 

Emulation

• NewBrain Emulator by Chris

  • https://newbrainemu.eu/new/download/newbrain-emulator-beta-4/ 

  • https://github.com/cdesp/NB-Emulator-V.3 

Buying One Today

• https://www.ebay.com/itm/325473049117 - $999 BIN (from Greece)

• Grundy NewBrain Model AD.Complete with PSU, Manual, AZERTY !! Tested & Working!! - https://www.ebay.com/itm/334406491114 - 995 euro (from Netherlands)

• untested, no power supply - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/256162599251 - 449 pounds BIN (from UK)

Community

• Forums

  • AtariAge - https://forums.atariage.com/search/?q=grundy&quick=1&type=forums_topic&nodes=116 

  • Stardot - https://www.stardot.org.uk/forums/search.php?keywords=grundy&fid%5B0%5D=45 

Current Web Sites/Videos

• https://www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk/Museum/Grundy/ 

• https://www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk/Museum/Grundy/gerald.php 

• https://web.archive.org/web/20160303192051/http://newbrain.hcc.nl/ 

• https://www.newbrainemu.eu/ 

• Article on NewBrain in Popular Computing Weekly (PCW) - https://newbrainemu.eu/component/option,com_docman/task,doc_download/gid,99/Itemid,52/ 

• Grundy NewBrain Model A repair

  • http://www.8bit-homecomputermuseum.at/repair/newbrain/newbrain.html 

  • http://www.8bit-homecomputermuseum.at/repair/newbrain/newbrain_ad_repair.html 

• Series of videos on fixing the NewBrain from the Clueless Engineer - https://www.youtube.com/@Brfff/search?query=grundy 

• Several videos by Chris on using the emulator and many other videos - https://www.youtube.com/@CDESP072 

• NewBrain Robot Car - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2T6mNi2ula4 

References

• history article by Gerald McMullen - https://newbrainemu.eu/component/option,com_docman/task,doc_download/gid,96/Itemid,52/ 

• https://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/5291/Grundy-NewBrain-AD/ 

• https://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/8265/Grundy-Business-Systems/ 

• https://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=176 

• https://www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk/Museum/Grundy/index.php

• https://www.theregister.com/2012/07/02/newbury_labs_grundy_business_systems_newbrain_is_30_years_old/

Grundy NewBrain Tech Specs with Chris Despoinidis

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/FloppyDays

Sponsors:

• 8-Bit Classics 

• Arcade Shopper  

0 Floppy Days Tune 1 min 14 sec Vintage Computer Ads 1 min 43 sec Intro 5 min 38 sec bumper - Chris Espoinidis 5 min 51 sec New Acquisitions 16 min 32 sec bumper - Gerald McMullon 17 min 15 sec Upcoming Computer Shows 21 min 26 sec bumper - Steve O’Hara-Smith 21 min 45 sec Interview with Chris Espoinidis 36 min 23 sec Tech Specs 1 hr 12 min 07 sec Closing

Hello, and welcome to episode 135 of the Floppy Days Podcast.  I’m Randy Kindig, the host of this show, and I’ll be your guide to a journey back to the year 1982, when a very interesting, low-cost machine entered the market in Great Britain.  This machine, if you've been following the show, was the Grundy New Brain.  This is not a well-known machine, most particularly here in the United States where very few have even heard of it; let alone ever owned one.

As you know, I’ve been hot on the trail of pioneers who were involved with development of this machine.  I’ve recently published interviews with John Grant, Steve O’Hara-Smith, and Gerald McMullon concerning their involvement with the New Brain back in the day.

In this episode I move more into discussing details of the machine and its impact on the home and small business market in the 1980’s.  To help me talk about the machine, I was able to track down Chris Espoinidis and convince him to co-host this episode.  Chris manages the New Brain Emulator site from his home in Greece.  Even though Chris created one of the premier New Brain emulators in existence, and that was the primary focus of his Web site initially, his site has become one of the best places (along with Gerald McMullon’s Website) to get any and all New Brain information (which quite honestly is quite sparse).

The focus of this episode, and the next, is to cover things like tech specs, Web sites, emulators and all of the topics that have become the standard for machine coverage on Floppy Days.  This particular episode contains an interview with Chris, and then goes into great detail concerning the technical specifications of the New Brain.  The next episode will cover all the other details, with the intent to impart every bit of information to you that I could find about this little-known machine.

Before we do that, I will talk about new acquisitions and upcoming shows.

VCF SoCal 2024 Preview with Organizing Team

Hello, and welcome to this bonus, interview-only episode of the Floppy Days Podcast.  My name is Randy Kindig; your host.  This episode is a discussion with most of the organizing team around the very first Vintage Computer Festival 2024 that is coming up February 17 & 18 in Orange, CA.  You’ll hear how the show came about, why the particular location and time were selected, and what you can expect to see at the show.  I’m excited to have a new VCF available in an area and time that should be fantastic to visit and be a part of.

Note that this interview occurred on Dec. 5, 2023, and you’ll hear several references to the show being “2 and a half months” away.

Links

• VCF SoCal Website - https://www.vcfsocal.com/ 

• VCF SoCal Organizers - https://www.vcfsocal.com/faq#organizers 

• The VintNerd Website (Steve and Micki) - https://thevintnerd.com/index.html 

• The VintNerd YouTube Channel - https://www.youtube.com/thevintnerd 

• Matt’s YouTube Channel - https://www.youtube.com/@polymatt 

• Pathways to Invention Film (Levi) - https://pathwaystoinvention.org/ 

• Southern AMIS Projects (Rob) - https://www.southernamis.com/ 

• Video version of this interview - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_y2zfRP8kyE&t=9s 

Grundy NewBrain History with Gerald McMullon

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/FloppyDays

Sponsors:

• 8-Bit Classics 

• Arcade Shopper  

0 Floppy Days Tune

1 min 14 sec Vintage Computer Ads

1 min 43 sec Intro

6 min 33 sec bumper - Gerald McMullon 

7 min 15 sec New Acquisitions

13 min 55 sec bumper - Steve O'Hara-Smith 

14 min 13 sec Upcoming Computer Shows

17 min 26 sec Interview with Gerald McMullon

57 min 51 sec Closing

Hello, and welcome to episode 133 of the Floppy Days Podcast for December, 2023.  I’m Randy Kindig, your host on this vintage computer retrospective.

Hard to believe we’re coming up on the end of 2023.  It was Feb. 2013 when I took the first halting steps in producing a podcast, so we’re coming up on 11 years of Floppy Days very soon.

We are currently covering computers that were released in the year 1982.  We are very early in that year, with lots of other computers to be covered.

This episode is about a machine that was developed in the UK.  It was pretty much unknown in the United States and even in the UK didn’t get much traction.  The machine I’m talking about is the Grundy NewBrain.  There are a lot of unique things about this machine that you’ll discover through the history episode, these interviews and the episodes that cover the details.

I’ve been fortunate enough to be able to contact a few people who were involved in the development of the machine.  I’ve published interviews so far with John Grant and Steve O’Hara-Smith.  This episode is also an interview episode, but this time with another key member in its development: Gerald McMullon.  Gerald has a lot of interesting information to share about the NewBrain, including information about its development and support of the machine after its release.

I have been able to contact some other principals in the development of the NewBrain: Basil Smith and Mike Wakefield.  Unfortunately, Basil has had a lot of recent requests for interviews, so I’m waiting in line for that.  However, should I be able to talk with Basil and/or Mike, I will of course bring all of that to Floppy Days in future episodes.

This current episode is the end of the interview episodes around the NewBrain at this point in time.  Next month, and actually likely the next 2 months, we will be covering the details of the machine such as tech specs, emulators, software, newsletters, peripherals, web sites, etc.  That will happen with a special co-host that I’m going to leave as a surprise for right now.  

New Acquisitions

• TI95 cassette interface - https://github.com/molleraj/ti95interface 

• AquariCart + 32K RAM - https://www.ebay.com/itm/124471439128 

• MC-10 3-button joystick pad - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzsGst8HAiI 

Upcoming Computer Shows

• Vintage Computer Festival SoCal - February 17-18, 2024 - Hotel Fera Events Center, Orange, CA - vcfsocal.com 

• Interim Computer Festival SPRING - March 23rd and 24th, 2024 - Intraspace, Seattle, WA - https://sdf.org/icf/ 

• Midwest Gaming Classic - April 5-7 - Wisconsin Center, Milwaukee, WI - https://www.midwestgamingclassic.com/ 

• VCF East - April 12-14, 2024 - Wall, NJ - http://www.vcfed.org 

• Indy Classic Computer and Video Game Expo - April 13-14 - Crowne Plaza Airport Hotel, Indianapolis, IN - https://indyclassic.org/ 

• VCF Europa - April 27-28, 2024 - Munich, Germany - https://vcfe.org/E/ 

• The 32nd Annual “Last” Chicago CoCoFEST! - May 4-5, 2024 - Holiday Inn & Suites Chicago-Carol Stream (Wheaton), Carol Stream, Illinois - https://www.glensideccc.com/cocofest/ 

• VCF Southwest - June 14-16, 2024 - Davidson-Gundy Alumni Center at UT Dallas - https://www.vcfsw.org/ 

• Boatfest Retro Computer Expo - June 14-16 - Hurricane, WV - http://boatfest.info 

• Pacific Commodore Expo NW v4 - June 14-15 - Old Rainier Brewery Intraspace, Seattle, WA - https://www.portcommodore.com/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=pacommex:start 

• Kickstart Amiga UK Expo - June 29-30 - Nottingham, UK - https://www.amigashow.com/ 

• Southern Fried Gaming Expo and VCF Southeast - July 19-21,  2024 - Atlanta, GA - https://gameatl.com/ 

• Fujiama - July 23-28 - Lengenfeld, Germany - http://atarixle.ddns.net/fuji/2024/  

• Silly Venture SE (Summer Edition) - Aug. 15-28 - Gdansk, Poland - https://www.demoparty.net/silly-venture/silly-venture-2024-se  

• Portland Retro Gaming Expo - September 27-29, 2024 - Oregon Convention Center, Portland, OR - https://retrogamingexpo.com/ 

• Silly Venture WE (Winter Edition) - Dec. 5-8 - Gdansk, Poland - https://www.demoparty.net/silly-venture/silly-venture-2024-we  

• http://chiclassiccomp.org/events.html 

• Facebook show schedule - https://www.facebook.com/VintageComputerShows/ 

Interview

• Gerald’s Website - http://www.mcmullen.com 

• NewBrain Nutshell History by Gerald at Binary Dinosaurs - https://www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk/Museum/Grundy/gerald.php 

• NewBrain history article by Gerald in Micro Computer Mart newsletter - https://newbrainemu.eu/component/option,com_docman/task,doc_download/gid,96/Itemid,52/ 

Grundy NewBrain History with Steve O’Hara-Smith

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/FloppyDays

Sponsors:

• 8-Bit Classics 

• Arcade Shopper  

0 Floppy Days Tune

1 min 14 sec Vintage Computer Ads

1 min 43 sec Intro

6 min 14 sec bumper - Steve O'Hara-Smith

6 min 32 sec New Acquisitions

22 min 53 sec bumper - Gerald McMullon

23 min 36 sec Upcoming Computer Shows

26 min 51 sec Feedback

30 min 19 sec Interview with Steve O'Hara-Smith

71 min 46 sec Closing

Hello, and welcome to episode 132 of the Floppy Days Podcast; a podcast about home computers in the magical years of the late 70’s through the 80’s.  I’m Randy Kindig, your host on this voyage.

We are currently covering computers that were released in the year 1982; a banner year for personal computers.  It’s actually going to take quite some time to get through this year in history.

This is the second episode about a computer that few in the United States know much about.  It was released in the UK and even there didn’t get much traction.  It was a unique beast, with its own personality and quirks; before it went quietly into the annals of history.  The machine I’m talking about is the Grundy NewBrain.

As it was so relatively unknown, I’m going to be spending a lot of air time talking about its history:

1. in the last episode (Episode 131) I summarized its history, including a short interview with John Grant of Nine Tiles, whose company did some work on the machine

2. This episode contains an very informative interview with Steve O’Hara Smith, who was involved with development of the machine

3. The next episode will have an interview with Gerald McMullon, also having done some work on the early NewBrain, as well as support after its release

4. Finally, there will be 1 or more episodes to cover the usual topics of tech specs, Web sites, emulators, etc.  I will have a special guest co-host for that.

So, as you can see, there’s a ton of upcoming information about the NewBrain.  Please join me in learning more about this unusual machine.

Before we get into this interview, I’ll let you know what I’ve been up to and have been able to acquire lately; which continues to grow seemingly beyond my control.

That brings me to some administrative news.  In order to provide maximum flexibility for my listeners, I’m going to start publishing a timeline in the show notes.  It will have a time marker for each section of the podcast, so that, for instance, if you want to jump straight to an interview and re-listen to just that section, you can do so.  This is an easy thing to provide, with the audio editing software I use, so from now on expect to see that information in the show notes.

New Acquisitions

• TS2068/Spectrum group - https://groups.io/g/TS2068 

• Wafadrive - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotronics_Wafadrive 

• mini-bus expansion board - https://www.andertone.com/product/ts1000-expansion-extender/ 

• composite mod for TS1000/ZX81 - https://www.ebay.com/itm/175512970894 

• 64K RAM pack (Memopak) - https://www.andertone.com/product/memopak-64k-ram-pack/ 

• TS1500 keyboard membrane - https://www.ebay.com/itm/304824623956 

Upcoming Computer Shows

• Atari Party 2023! - Saturday, December 2, 2023, 1pm to 4pm - Quakertown Train Station, Quakertown, PA - https://quakertowntrainstation.org - organized by Peter Fletcher

• World of Commodore - Dec. 2-3, 2023 - Admiral Inn Mississauga, Mississauga, ON - http://www.worldofcommodore.ca/ 

• Vintage Computer Festival SoCal - February 17-18, 2024 - Hotel Fera Events Center, Orange, CA - vcfsocal.com 

• Interim Computer Festival SPRING - March 23-24, 2024 - Intraspace, Seattle, WA - https://sdf.org/icf/ 

• Midwest Gaming Classic - April 5-7 - Wisconsin Center, Milwaukee, WI - https://www.midwestgamingclassic.com/ 

• VCF East - April 5-7, 2024 - Wall, NJ - http://www.vcfed.org 

• Indy Classic Computer and Video Game Expo - April 13-14 - Crowne Plaza Airport Hotel, Indianapolis, IN - https://indyclassic.org/ 

• The 32nd Annual “Last” Chicago CoCoFEST! - May 4-5, 2024 - Holiday Inn & Suites Chicago-Carol Stream (Wheaton), Carol Stream, Illinois - https://www.glensideccc.com/cocofest/ 

• VCF Southwest - June 14-16, 2024 - Davidson-Gundy Alumni Center at UT Dallas - https://www.vcfsw.org/ 

• Boatfest Retro Computer Expo - June 14-16 - Hurricane, WV - http://boatfest.info 

• Southern Fried Gaming Expo and VCF Southeast - July 19-21, 2024 - Atlanta, GA - https://gameatl.com/ 

• Fujiama - July 23-28 - Lengenfeld, Germany - http://atarixle.ddns.net/fuji/2024/  

• Silly Venture SE (Summer Edition) - Aug. 15-28 - Gdansk, Poland - https://www.demoparty.net/silly-venture/silly-venture-2024-se  

• Portland Retro Gaming Expo - September 27-29, 2024 - Oregon Convention Center, Portland, OR - https://retrogamingexpo.com/ 

• Silly Venture WE (Winter Edition) - Dec. 5-8 - Gdansk, Poland - https://www.demoparty.net/silly-venture/silly-venture-2024-we  

• http://chiclassiccomp.org/events.html 

• Facebook show schedule - https://www.facebook.com/VintageComputerShows/ 

The Grundy NewBrain History with John Grant

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/FloppyDays

Sponsors:

• 8-Bit Classics 

• Arcade Shopper  

Hello, and welcome to episode 131 of the Floppy Days Podcast; where old computers get a new lease on life and have a purpose once again!  I’m Randy Kindig, your host on this journey to the late 70’s through the 80’s.

We are currently covering computers that were released in the year 1982; a banner year for personal computers.

Next up is a computer that few in the United States know much about.  It was released in the UK and even there didn’t get much traction.  It was a unique beast, with its own personality and quirks; before it went quietly into the annals of history.  The machine I’m talking about is the Grundy NewBrain.  Certainly a bold and pretentious name for a computer, but memorable nonetheless.

As it was so relatively unknown, I’m going to be spending a lot of air time talking about its history.  Here’s how I’m planning to cover this unique machine:

1. in this episode I’ll be summarizing its history, including a short interview with John Grant of Nine Tiles, whose company did some work on the machine

2. a later episode will have an interview with Steve O’Hara Smith, who was involved with development of the machine

3. yet another episode will have an interview with Gerald McMullon, also having done some work on the early NewBrain, as well as support after its release

4. Finally, there will be 1 or more episodes to cover the usual topics of tech specs, Web sites, emulators, etc.  I will have a special guest co-host for that.

So, as you can see, there’s a ton of upcoming information about the NewBrain.  Please join me in learning more about this unusual machine.

Before we get into the history of the machine, I’ll let you know what I’ve been up to and have been able to acquire lately, computer and modern upgrade-wise.

New Acquisitions

• the Commodore Room - https://www.youtube.com/@thecommodoreroom4554 

• Tandy Assembly - http://www.tandyassembly.com 

• PiKey-10 upgrade - http://www.pikey.tech/ 

• NewSoft - (https://jaynewirth.wixsite.com/newsoft 

• CoCo3 512K RAM upgrade - http://www.cloud9tech.com 

• CoCo Multi-pak PAL upgrade - http://www.cloud9tech.com 

• ChromaTRS - https://www.ebay.com/str/trs80universe 

• Vintage computer printed items - https://techdungeon.xyz/ 

• 48KRAM (Josh Malone) Twitch channel - https://twitch.tv/48kRAM 

Vintage Computer Shows

• Atari Party 2023! - Saturday, December 2, 2023, 1pm to 4pm - Quakertown Train Station, Quakertown, PA - https://quakertowntrainstation.org - organized by Peter Fletcher

• World of Commodore - Dec. 2-3, 2023 - Admiral Inn Mississauga, Mississauga, ON - http://www.worldofcommodore.ca/ 

• Vintage Computer Festival SoCal - February 17-18, 2024 - Hotel Fera Events Center, Orange, CA - vcfsocal.com 

• Midwest Gaming Classic - April 5-7 - Wisconsin Center, Milwaukee, WI - https://www.midwestgamingclassic.com/ 

• VCF East - April 5-7, 2024 - Wall, NJ - http://www.vcfed.org 

• Indy Classic Computer & Video Game Expo - April 13-14 - Indianapolis, IN - http://www.indyclassic.org 

• The 32nd Annual “Last” Chicago CoCoFEST! - May 4-5, 2024 - Holiday Inn & Suites Chicago-Carol Stream (Wheaton), Carol Stream, Illinois - https://www.glensideccc.com/cocofest/ 

• VCF Southwest - June 14-16, 2024 - Davidson-Gundy Alumni Center at UT Dallas - https://www.vcfsw.org/ 

• http://chiclassiccomp.org/events.html 

• Facebook show schedule - https://www.facebook.com/VintageComputerShows/ 

References

• history article by Gerald McMullen - https://newbrainemu.eu/component/option,com_docman/task,doc_download/gid,96/Itemid,52/ 

• Grundy NewBrain history at Centre for Computing History - https://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/5291/Grundy-NewBrain-AD/ 

• Grundy articles at Centre for Computing History - https://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/8265/Grundy-Business-Systems/ 

• Grundy NewBrain at old-computers.com - https://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=176 

• Grundy NewBrain at Binary Dinosaurs - https://www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk/Museum/Grundy/index.php 

• 2012 Article on the Grundy NewBrain at The Register - https://www.theregister.com/2012/07/02/newbury_labs_grundy_business_systems_newbrain_is_30_years_old/ 

• NewBrain at Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grundy_NewBrain 

Interview with Forrest Mims III, Electronics Author

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/FloppyDays

Sponsors:

• 8-Bit Classics 

• Arcade Shopper  

Books:

• Forrest's first memoir "Siliconnections: Coming of Age in the Electronic Era" - https://amzn.to/48wmIao 
• Forrest's best-selling book "Getting Started in Electronics" - https://amzn.to/3LDExdY 
• Forrest's upcoming book "Maverick Scientist: My Adventures as an Amateur Scientist" - https://amzn.to/3PAgP3k 

Hello, and welcome to episode 130 of the Floppy Days Podcast for September 2023.  I’m your host, Randy Kindig, and I’ll be bringing you this podcast as the beautiful fall weather and foliage descends on central Indiana.  I love the podcast, and I love the computer shows that start popping up in the fall, which you’ll hear more about on this show.

I feel like I’ve been EXTREMELY lucky lately, in being able to get interviews with some outstanding contributors to the early home computer era of the late 70’s and early 80’s.  As you know, I’ve had interviews recently published with Paul Terrell, who jump-started the early Apple Computer with his purchase of their first 50 Apple I’s.  Those interviews will continue as Paul and I continue to talk.  Additionally, I also recently was able to talk with one of the most prolific, impactful authors of electronics books and kits on the planet, Mr. Forrest Mims III.  I would be surprised if just about every listener of this podcast hasn’t heard of Forrest and wasn’t impacted in some positive manner by his terrific tutorials on electronics.  In this episode, Forrest and I talk about his early involvement with the creation of MITS and the Altair, how he got into publishing numerous books for Radio Shack, and much, much more.  Forrest is still extremely busy and involved with the scientific community today and was happy to share his story.  Almost as happy as we are to have been able to talk with him.

Before we talk with Forrest, I will give a short run-down of what I’ve been up to and new acquisitions (that’s where the computer show discussion comes in).

New Acquisitions/What I’ve Been Up To

• TS2068 Twister/HDMI board - https://www.andertone.com/product/the-twist/ 

• TS2068 OS64 board - https://www.andertone.com/product/zebra-os-64-cartridge-for-timex-sinclair-2068/ 

• HDMI cable - https://www.amazon.com/Genesis-Original-Master-System-Console/dp/B07Z5W7QS7/ 

• 2068 Personal Color Computer User Manual - https://www.andertone.com/product/timex-sinclair-2068-personal-color-computer-user-manual/ 

• T/S 2068 Basics and Beyond by Sharon Zardetto Aker - https://www.andertone.com/product/t-s-2068-basics-and-beyond/ 

• The Essential Guide to Timex/Sinclair Home Computers - https://www.andertone.com/product/the-essential-guide-to-timex-sinclair-home-computers/ 

• TS2068 group on groups.io - https://groups.io/g/TS2068 

• “Back Into the Storm” by Bil Herd and Margaret Morabito (autographed) - https://www.8bitclassics.com/product/back-into-the-storm-a-design-engineers-story-of-commodore-computers-in-the-1980s/ 

• modern power supply for TS2068 - https://www.andertone.com/product/ts-2068-power-supply/ 

• M100/T102/T200 TPDD1 boot disk - https://www.arcadeshopper.com/wp/store/#!/TPDD1-disk-26-3808/p/141211027 

• TI99 CF7+ case - https://www.arcadeshopper.com/wp/store/#!/3D-printed-case-for-CF7/p/80201708 

Upcoming Shows

• Tandy Assembly - Sep. 29-Oct. 1 - Courtyard by Marriott in Springfield, Ohio - http://www.tandyassembly.com/ 

• Amiga38 Germany - Oct. 6-7 - Das Rote Krokodil - Kunstwerk Mönchengladbach - https://amigaevent.de/WB.html 

• The Interim Computer Festival - Oct. 7-8 - Seattle, WA - https://sdf.org/icf/ 

• AmiWest - October 14-15 - Sacramento, CA - https://retro.directory/browse/events/4/AmiWest.net 

• Dragon MeetUp - October 7-8 - The Centre for Computing History in Cambridge -  https://www.facebook.com/events/225011523831254/?ref=newsfeed 

• Portland Retro Gaming Expo - October 13-15, 2023 - Oregon Convention Center, Portland, OR - https://retrogamingexpo.com/ 

• Chicago TI International World Faire - October 14, 2023 - Evanston Public Library, Evanston, IL - http://chicagotiug.sdf.org/faire/  

• Mactoberfest Bay Area Meetup - October 14, 2023 - Belmont, CA - https://www.bigmessowires.com/2023/09/03/mactoberfest-bay-area-meetup-is-october-14/ 

• World of Commodore - Dec. 2-3, 2023 - Admiral Inn Mississauga, Mississauga, ON - http://www.worldofcommodore.ca/ 

• http://chiclassiccomp.org/events.html 

• Facebook show schedule - https://www.facebook.com/VintageComputerShows/ 

Interview

• Web site operated by Forrest - http://www.forrestmims.org/biography.html 

• History of MITS - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micro_Instrumentation_and_Telemetry_Systems 

• Forrest at Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forrest_Mims 

• “The Altair story; early days at MITS.”, CREATIVE COMPUTING VOL. 10, NO. 11 / NOVEMBER 1984 / PAGE 17, Forrest M. Mims III - https://www.atarimagazines.com/creative/v10n11/17_The_Altair_story_early_d.php 

• Easy-to-understand guide to home computers by Forrest Mims III - https://archive.org/details/easy-to-understand-guide-to-home-computers 

• Digital computer book by Paul Malvino - https://www.amazon.com/Digital-computer-electronics-introduction-microcomputers/dp/0070399018/ 

• Understanding Digital Computers by Forrest Mims III - https://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Digital-Computers-Self-learning-Microcomputer/dp/B002E6HIAI/ 

• Forrest’s articles in Popular Electronics Magazine - https://worldradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-Consumer/Archive-Poptronics-IDX/search.cgi?zoom_query=forrest+mims&zoom_page=2&zoom_per_page=10&zoom_and=1&zoom_sort=0&zoom_xml=0 

Paul Terrell - Exidy Part 2

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/FloppyDays

Sponsors:

• 8-Bit Classics 

• Arcade Shopper  

Hello, and welcome to episode 129 for August, 2023 of the Floppy Days Podcast, with your host, Randy Kindig!

If you’re a regular listener, you’ll know that we’re in the middle of a series of episodes where we talk with Paul Terrell.  Paul has been credited with essentially jump-starting the personal computer industry in many ways, not the least of which was by buying the original Apple I computer from the just-getting-started Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak and selling it in his equally-famous computer store, The Byte Shop.  This was one of the first personal computer retail store chains in existence.  Paul was also a member of the legendary Homebrew Computer Club and attended the West Coast Computer Faire.  He was involved in the development of both the Exidy Sorcerer and BYT-8 computers and he later went on to start ComputerMania Inc. which was a chain of computer stores created with the purpose of renting computers and software.

The first episode with Paul (June 2023’s episode) was a sort of overview before Paul’s time being involved with Exidy and the Exidy Sorcerer computer.  Last month was segment 1 of 2 focusing directly on Exidy and the Sorcerer.  And, this month is segment 2 of 2; again focusing on Exidy and the Sorcerer.  You’ll hear more about how the Sorcerer came about, hear Paul’s insight into why certain design decisions were made, and what mistakes were made.  The Sorcerer was truly an early, important machine, and had impressive features for the timeframe that it came out.  As a reminder, if you want to hear additional information about the Sorcerer and about Exidy, there are 2 other Floppy Days Podcasts you’ll want to listen to:

• Episode 17, where the Sorcerer is covered in detail - https://floppydays.libsyn.com/floppy-days-episode-17-the-exidy-sorcerer-live-from-vcfse-20 

• Episode 114, which features an interview with Howell Ivy.  Howell was the principal designer of the Sorcerer and recollects his time at Exidy. - https://floppydays.libsyn.com/floppy-days-114-howell-ivy-exidy-sorcerer-and-exidy 

Paul decided he would really like to be able to talk about his incredible career in its entirety, including an amazing number of industry-impacting contributions, more than just the time with Exidy, and I of course was ecstatic that he decided my humble podcast could be a good medium for that.  What that means for the listener, is that you can expect an even broader series of continued podcasts with Paul in the near future, interspersed with other computer-based and interview episodes along the way.

I really hope you enjoy the Paul Terrel series in general, and this episode should give you a nice wrap-up on his involvement with Exidy and the Sorcerer!

New Acquisitions

• Console5 - http://www.console5.com 

• Okimate 10 printer - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Okimate_10 

• ATR8000 - https://www.atarimagazines.com/v3n4/ATR8000.html 

• Happy 1050 - https://www.8bitclassics.com/product/happy-1050-upgrade-for-atari-1050-disk-drive/?ref=Floppydays 

• Atari Joystick USB Adapter (JAKAdapter) - http://kair.us/projects/jakadapter/index.html 

Upcoming Shows

• VCF Midwest - September 9-10 - Waterford Banquets and Conference Center, Elmhurst, IL - http://vcfmw.org/ 

• World of Retrocomputing - September 16-17 - Kitchener, Ontario, Canada - https://www.worldofretrocomputing.com/2023-worc-expo 

• Tandy Assembly - Sep. 29-Oct. 1 - Courtyard by Marriott in Springfield, Ohio - http://www.tandyassembly.com/ 

• Amiga38 Germany - Oct. 6-7 - Das Rote Krokodil - Kunstwerk Mönchengladbach - https://amigaevent.de/WB.html 

• The Interim Computer Festival - Oct. 7-8 - Seattle, WA - https://sdf.org/icf/ 

• AmiWest - October 14-15 - Sacramento, CA - https://retro.directory/browse/events/4/AmiWest.net 

• Dragon MeetUp - October 7-8 - The Centre for Computing History in Cambridge -  https://www.facebook.com/events/225011523831254/?ref=newsfeed 

• Portland Retro Gaming Expo - October 13-15, 2023 - Oregon Convention Center, Portland, OR - https://retrogamingexpo.com/ 

• Chicago TI International World Faire - October 14, 2023 - Evanston Public Library, Evanston, IL - http://chicagotiug.sdf.org/faire/  

• World of Commodore - Dec. 2-3, 2023 - Admiral Inn Mississauga, Mississauga, ON - http://www.worldofcommodore.ca/ 

• http://chiclassiccomp.org/events.html 

• Facebook show schedule - https://www.facebook.com/VintageComputerShows/ 

Paul Terrell Interview

• Paul on LinkedIN - https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-terrell-2441a17/details/experience/ 

• Paul on Facebook -  https://www.facebook.com/paul.terrell.92/ 

• Paul at WikiPedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Terrell 

• Interview with Paul at NextShark - https://nextshark.com/paul-terrell-apple 

• “Today in Apple history: The Byte Shop, Apple’s first retailer, opens” by Cult of Mac - https://www.cultofmac.com/457420/byte-shop-opens-tiah/ 

• “The Man Who Jump-Started Apple by Harry McCracken”, August 23, 2007, PC World - https://web.archive.org/web/20110511184229/http://blogs.pcworld.com/techlog/archives/005240.html