Hacker News with Generative AI: Computer History

Ask HN: Greatest books about the history of computing (ycombinator.com)
The Dream Machine is giving me a great appreciation of the time-sharing revolution and ARPANET. What else should I read? Any timeframe or topic is OK, so long as it's strongly related to the history of computing.

Computer History, Books, Recommendations

11 points by kaycebasques 5 days ago | 17 comments

The History of PC Audio (thejpster.org.uk)
This is a brief, abridged, and possibly inaccurate history of audio on the IBM PC compatible. It's based on an exhibition I prepared for Synthesised, a special event at the Centre for Computing History in Cambridge, England.

Computer History, Audio Technology, IBM PC, Retrocomputing

20 points by lapnect 12 days ago | 12 comments

Vintage computer forum: Bosch FGS 4000 (vcfed.org)
This is a stretch, but does anyone have any specs (especially CPU- curious) on this machines or pictures if they own one? The information on Google is lacking, and there's rather few pictures that aren't thumbnails or part of an advertisement.

Vintage Computers, Hardware, Computer History, Computer Forums

12 points by paulpauper 15 days ago | 0 comments

What should a logo for NeXT look like? (1986) (paulrand.design)
The Sign of the Next Generation of Computers for Education.

Logo Design, Computer History, Education

258 points by themantra514 17 days ago | 110 comments

Triple Density Floppy, Anyone? (vogons.org)
Everybody knows about 3.5 inch HD 1.44MB floppies, first introduced in 1985 by NEC inside PC-8801 mkII MR(MR was afaik first computer with HD floppy, but 5.25 1.2MB one). West first heard about them from 10 November 1986 InfoWorld "Vendor Introduces Ultra High-Density Floppy Disk Media" https://books.google.com/books?id=rDwEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA19 IBM followed in 1997 switching PS/2 to 2HD floppies, Apple in 1988. 80 tracks ~50KB/s speed.

Floppy Disks, Computer History, Technology, Hardware

63 points by zdw 21 days ago | 69 comments

How one engineer beat the ban on home computers in socialist Yugoslavia (theguardian.com)
Very few Yugoslavians had access to computers in the early 1980s: they were mostly the preserve of large institutions or companies.

Computer History, Yugoslavia, Cold War, Technology, History

88 points by sandebert 28 days ago | 47 comments

Oral history of Jim Keller - Computer History Museum [video] (youtube.com)

Oral history, Computer History, Interviews, Video, History

5 points by simon_acca 36 days ago | 0 comments

Ward Christensen (of BBS and XMODEM fame) has died (wikipedia.org)
Ward Christensen (born 1945 in West Bend, Wisconsin, United States) was the co-founder of the CBBS bulletin board, the first bulletin board system (BBS) ever brought online.[1] Christensen, along with partner Randy Suess,[2] members of the Chicago Area Computer Hobbyists' Exchange (CACHE), started development during a blizzard in Chicago, Illinois, and officially established CBBS four weeks later, on February 16, 1978.

Computer History, Technology, Software

323 points by DamonHD 39 days ago | 93 comments

Diode Matrix (cca.org)
A diode matrix is an extremely low-density form of read-only memory that was used in computers in the 50s through the 70s, before EEPROMs were invented.

Computer History, Memory, Electronics, Hardware

94 points by thunderbong 47 days ago | 30 comments

From Punch Cards to Python: Grace Hopper's A-0 compiler paved the way (ieee.org)
Grace Hopper’s A-0 compiler paved the way for modern programming languages

Programming Languages, Computer History, Software Development

7 points by gregalt 57 days ago | 0 comments

Alan Turing’s 1950 manual for the Mark I electronic computer [pdf] (computerhistory.org)

Computer History, Alan Turing, Computing, History, Technology

234 points by lisper 59 days ago | 57 comments

Second Reality Demo for Commander X16 [video] (youtube.com)

Retro Gaming, Video Games, Computer History

4 points by hggh 62 days ago | 0 comments

Steve Wozniak Reunites with the Historic Homebrew Computer Club (thenewstack.io)
Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple, reunited with members of the historic Homebrew Computer Club on Wednesday in a special ceremony at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California.

Steve Wozniak, Apple, Computer History

48 points by MilnerRoute 74 days ago | 1 comments

NuBus (wikipedia.org)

Hardware, Computer History, Apple

4 points by elsewhen 90 days ago | 0 comments

Archiving "The Famous Computer Cafe" (archive.org)

History, Archives, Technology, Computer History

164 points by savetz 94 days ago | 30 comments

The Apple IIGS Megahertz Myth (userlandia.com)

Computer History, Apple, Hardware, Myths

208 points by rbanffy 97 days ago | 109 comments

"I never said '640K should be enough for anybody'" (1996) (groups.google.com)