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Floppy Days Vintage Computing Podcast - Floppy Days 130 - Interview with Forrest Mims III

Floppy Days 130 - Interview with Forrest Mims III

09/25/23 • 91 min

Floppy Days Vintage Computing Podcast

Interview with Forrest Mims III, Electronics Author

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

Sponsors:

Books:

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

Upcoming Shows

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Interview with Forrest Mims III, Electronics Author

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

Sponsors:

Books:

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

Upcoming Shows

Previous Episode

undefined - Floppy Days 129 - Paul Terrell - Exidy Part 2

Floppy Days 129 - Paul Terrell - Exidy Part 2

Paul Terrell - Exidy Part 2

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

Sponsors:

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:

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

Upcoming Shows

Next Episode

undefined - Floppy Days 131 - Grundy NewBrain History with John Grant

Floppy Days 131 - Grundy NewBrain History with John Grant

The Grundy NewBrain History with John Grant

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

Sponsors:

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

Vintage Computer Shows

References

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