Advent of Computing

Now, as the name suggests this is the second part of a series on the history of UNIX. Part 1 mainly covers the background leading up to UNIX. If you haven't listened to it yet, I strongly suggest you go do that now. A lot of what was covered in part 1 provides needed context for our discussion today.   Just as a quick recap, last time I told you about CTSS and Multics, two of the earliest time-sharing operating systems. Today, we are going to be picking up where we left off: Bell Labs just left Project MAC and decided to start their own time-sharing project. What they didn't realize was that this new project, called UNIX, would soon outshine all of its predecessors. But when this all started, in 1969 on a spare mainframe at Bell Labs, there was no hint at it's amazing future.

In this mini-episode we talk about Space Travel, an obscure video game from 1969.

Many people have never even heard of Unix, an operating system first released in the early 1970s. But that doesn't change the fact that all of the internet, and nearly every computer or smart device you interact with is based on some variant of Unix. So, how was such an important project created, and how did it revolutionize computing? Today we will dive into the story leading up to Unix: time-sharing computers in the 1960s. This is really just the background for part 2 where we will discuss the creation and rise of Unix itself. However, the history of early multi-user computers is itself deeply interesting and impactful on the evolution of computing.

The original Apple Macintosh, later rebranded the Macintosh 128k, is inarguably one of the most recognizable vintage computers. Even it's design has become iconic: a single 3 ½ inch floppy drive and 9 inch black-and-white CRT built into one small rounded beige box. Even on its release in 1984 it was heralded as a visionary and groundbreaking machine that could even rival the success of the IBM PC. Today, we are going to look at the enduring legacy of the Macintosh and answer the questions: what did Apple invent and what did they borrow, and are all interfaces that follow clones of the Macintosh.

A lot of newer technology doesn't expressly say it's going to "revolutionize the human experience", but sometimes, that line may actually be closer to the truth than you would expect. Today, I am going to tell you about a time when that was very much the case. Today we go back to 1968 to look at Doug Engelbart's "The Mother of all Demos" You can watch the entite archve of the demo here: http://www.dougengelbart.org/content/view/209/448/

Today, I want to share with you a technology that shambles among us as a corpse that refuses to die. That is, of course, the punch card. In this episode, we will be talking about the storied history and influence from beyond the grave of the punch card.