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Floppy Days Vintage Computing Podcast

Floppy Days Vintage Computing Podcast

Written by: Randy Kindig
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About this listen

 Vintage computing podcast for all types of home computers from the late 70's through the 80's. Covers the Apple II, Commodore PET, and TRS-80 Model I to the Commodore 64, Atari 800, TI-99, Tandy CoCo, and a whole lot more! Covers the computers in great detail in the order they were released. Also includes interviews with many movers and shakers from that golden era of home computers. For example, Forrest Mims III, Stewart Cheifet, Paul Terrell, Leonard Tramiel, and many, many more. YouTube content at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6DQ3cyp8h373H0lXSJ8yqQ World
Episodes
  • Floppy Days 158 - Interview with David Kay, Kaypro - Part 2

    Floppy Days 158 - Interview with David Kay, Kaypro - Part 2
    Dec 21 2025
    FLOPPY DAYS 158 - Interview with David Kay, KayPro - Part 2 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/FloppyDays Sponsors: 8-Bit Classics Arcade Shopper and https://thekeep.net FutureVision Research Tuc's Workbench Hello, and welcome to episode 158 of the Floppy Days Podcast for November, 2025. I'm Randy Kindig, your host. We are currently covering computers introduced in the year 1982 and, to that end, this month I'm beginning a series of podcasts about the Kaypro line of computers. Kaypro had a rich and varied family of computers; certainly much more so than I ever realized. In researching Kaypro, I discovered that while Andrew Kay, the founder of the computer company, was no longer around, it turns out his son David, who ran the company for some time, was still around. I was able to contact David and he graciously agreed to talk with us for the podcast. Kaypro has a very interesting storyline and I hope you enjoy this. We talked so long that I decided to break the interview into 2 parts, so you'll hear part 2 this month, and part 1 was last month. Following that, we'll delve into episodes covering history, tech specs, etc. on the Kaypro. All the usual topics. It looks as though I'll have 2 episodes covering those topics. I will have a video for this posted to the Floppy Days Podcast on YouTube. One note here. This is one of the last videos where I used a videoconferencing tool that just didn't do a great job. It has a tendency to not keep up with video and you may note that the mouth doesn't stay in sync with the audio sometimes during the interview. In addition, audio-wise, you may hear some low clicks throughout the interview. I've since switched to Zoom and it seems to do a better job of audio and video quality, albeit more expensive. In the meantime, friend of the show Brian Cox offered to improve the audio quality using some high-end tools he had, and thanks to him, you benefit from his work. Hopefully, the clicks are gone and the sound from both David Kay and myself is better for the interview section. Thanks, Brian! You will hear ads from some great vintage computer stores, themselves vintage computer fans, throughout the early part of this podcast. For all of these storefronts, when you place an order, please mention Floppy Days in the notes or comments of the order. Doing so will help support the podcast. Many thanks!! I also wanted to mention those listeners who appreciate the show enough to donate through patreon.com. I really appreciate you guys and it helps offset the cost of running the podcast. Regarding that, I've created some tiers for paid members and have come up with some ways to reward those who are generous enough to monetarily support the Floppy Days Podcast on Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/FloppyDays ), such as early access to videos of interviews like the being brought to you in audio form in this episode. Visit Patreon to see more details concerning the rewards for supporters . I just want to say that it is my intention to always make all content available to everyone at no cost, while at the same time providing some benefits for those generous enough to support the podcast. I hope you agree I've come up with a good compromise Please let me know your thoughts. Enjoy!! What I've Been Up To Byte 50th Anniversary Event - https://www.facebook.com/events/853596483843378 Byte 50th Anniversary tribute mini-podcast on the Floppy Days YouTube channel - ​​https://youtu.be/ANR1fYicwxI New Acquisitions Porta MC-10 - https://portacoco.com/ TRS-80 MODEL 4P GOTEK VERTICAL SLED - https://www.ebay.com/itm/157418076045 Upcoming Shows Vintage Computer Festival Montreal - Jan. 24-25, 2026 - Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, QC - https://vcfed.org/vcf-montreal/ Tandy Retro Show 2026 - Jan. 24-25 - virtual - tandyretroshow.com Vintage Electronics Expo - Jan. 31, 2026 - Oakland Expo Center, Waterford, MI - https://www.thevee.org/ Vintage Computer Festival SoCal - February 14-15, 2026 - Hotel Fera Events Center, Orange, CA - vcfsocal.com Indy Classic Computer and Video Game Expo - March 20-22 - Wyndham Indianapolis Airport Hotel, Indianapolis, IN - https://indyclassic.org/ VCF East - April 17-19 2026 - InfoAge Science and History Museums, Wall, NJ - https://vcfed.org/events/vintage-computer-festival-east/ Midwest Gaming Classic - April 24-26 - Baird Center, Milwaukee, WI - https://www.midwestgamingclassic.com/ The Annual "Last" Chicago CoCoFEST! - April 24-25, 2026 - Holiday Inn & Suites Chicago-Carol Stream (Wheaton), Carol Stream, Illinois - https://www.glensideccc.com/cocofest/ Schedule Published on Floppy Days Website - https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vSeLsg4hf5KZKtpxwUQgacCIsqeIdQeZniq3yE881wOCCYskpLVs5OO1PZLqRRF2t5fUUiaKByqQrgA/pub Interview Links "The Word Processing Book" by Peter McWilliams - https://amzn.to/3M6zJks Andrew Kay at Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
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    1 hr and 2 mins
  • Floppy Days 157 - Interview with David Kay, Kaypro - Part 1

    Floppy Days 157 - Interview with David Kay, Kaypro - Part 1
    Nov 30 2025
    FLOPPY DAYS 157 - Interview with David Kay, KayPro - Part 1 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/FloppyDays Sponsors: 8-Bit Classics Arcade Shopper and https://thekeep.net FutureVision Research Tuc's Workbench Hello, and welcome to episode 157 of the Floppy Days Podcast for November, 2025. I am Randy Kindig, your host. We are currently covering computers introduced in the year 1982 and, to that end, this month I'm beginning a series of podcasts about the Kaypro line of computers. Kaypro had a rich and varied family of computers; certainly much more so than I ever realized. In researching Kaypro, I discovered that while Andrew Kay, the founder of the computer company, was no longer around, it turns out his son David, who ran the company for some time, was still around. I was able to contact David and he graciously agreed to talk with us for the podcast. Kaypro has a very interesting storyline and I hope you enjoy this. We talked so long that I decided to break the interview into 2 parts, so you'll hear part 1 this month, and part 2 next month. Following that, we'll delve into episodes covering history, tech specs, etc. on the Kaypro. All the usual topics. It looks as though I'll have 2 episodes covering those topics. I will have a video for this posted to the Floppy Days Podcast on YouTube. One note here. This is one of the last videos where I used a videoconferencing tool that just didn't do a great job. It has a tendency to not keep up with video and you may note that the mouth doesn't stay in sync with the audio sometimes during the interview. In addition, audio-wise, you may hear some low clicks throughout the interview. I've since switched to Zoom and it seems to do a better job of audio and video quality, albeit more expensive. You will hear ads from some great vintage computer stores, themselves vintage computer fans, throughout the early part of this podcast. For all of these storefronts, when you place an order, please mention Floppy Days in the notes or comments of the order. Doing so will help support the podcast. Many thanks!! Please let me know your thoughts. Enjoy!! What I've Been Up To Byte 50th Anniversary Event - https://www.facebook.com/events/853596483843378 New Acquisitions A2Pico - https://jcm-1.com/product/a2pico/ PicoMicroMac - https://jcm-1.com/product/picomicromac/ Upcoming Shows World of Commodore 2025 - December 6-7 - Admiral Inn, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada - https://www.tpug.ca/world-of-commodore/world-of-commodore-2025/ Vintage Computer Festival Montreal - Jan. 24-25, 2026 - Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, QC - https://vcfed.org/vcf-montreal/ Tandy Retro Show 2026 - Jan. 24-25 - virtual - tandyretroshow.com Vintage Electronics Expo - Jan. 31, 2026 - Oakland Expo Center, Waterford, MI - https://www.thevee.org/ Vintage Computer Festival SoCal - February 14-15, 2026 - Hotel Fera Events Center, Orange, CA - vcfsocal.com Indy Classic Computer and Video Game Expo - March 20-22 - Wyndham Indianapolis Airport Hotel, Indianapolis, IN - https://indyclassic.org/ VCF East - April 17-19 2026 - InfoAge Science and History Museums, Wall, NJ - https://vcfed.org/events/vintage-computer-festival-east/ Midwest Gaming Classic - April 24-26 - Baird Center, Milwaukee, WI - https://www.midwestgamingclassic.com/ The Annual "Last" Chicago CoCoFEST! - April 24-25, 2026 - Holiday Inn & Suites Chicago-Carol Stream (Wheaton), Carol Stream, Illinois - https://www.glensideccc.com/cocofest/ Schedule Published on Floppy Days Website - https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vSeLsg4hf5KZKtpxwUQgacCIsqeIdQeZniq3yE881wOCCYskpLVs5OO1PZLqRRF2t5fUUiaKByqQrgA/pub Interview Links "The Word Processing Book" by Peter McWilliams - https://amzn.to/3M6zJks Andrew Kay at Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Kay KayPro at Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaypro
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    1 hr and 2 mins
  • Floppy Days 156 - Interview with Paul Schindler, Computer Chronicles

    Floppy Days 156 - Interview with Paul Schindler, Computer Chronicles
    Oct 30 2025
    Floppy Days 156 - Interview with Paul Schindler, Computer Chronicles Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/FloppyDays Sponsors: 8-Bit Classics Arcade Shopper and https://thekeep.net FutureVision Research Tuc's Workbench Hello, and welcome to episode 156 of the Floppy Days Podcast for October, 2025. I'm Randy Kindig, your host for this "retro"spective covering vintage computers of the late 70's through the 80's and the people who were on the forefront of that incredible revolution. This month, I'm bringing you another interview episode with a tech media personality that was involved with the Computer Chronicles TV show (among many other things): Mr. Paul Schindler. Paul has a big personality and has a lot of great stories about Computer Chronicles and about the tech industry in general in those days. I really enjoyed talking with Paul and he made me laugh a lot! As you know, if you're a regular listener, I was able to interview Stewart Cheifet some ago about Computer Chronicles. Computer Chronicles was a great way to get information about computers in those early days and I've always wanted to do some follow-up. Thanks to S.M. Oliva, who is mentioned in the resulting interview, and who runs a blog called "Computer Chronicles Revisited", I was able to get in contact with Paul. Next up for Floppy Days will be a series of podcasts on the KayPro line of computers, for which I was able to line up an interview with a key figure from that company and was also able to find someone who knows a lot about the computer line to help me discuss the technical topics. Stay tuned for that series. As usual, I will begin this podcast going through new acquisitions and what I've been up to, upcoming vintage computer shows and more. Video version of the episode at YouTube: New Acquisitions/What I've Been Up To Tandy Assembly - https://www.tandyassembly.com TRS-80 LED sign - https://techdungeon.xyz TS2068 mailing list - https://ts2068.groups.io/g/main/topics Compute!'s Gazette - https://www.computesgazette.com Atari Tricky Tutorial #7 Disk Utilities by Jerry White - https://www.atarimania.com/documents/Tricky-Tutorial-7-Disk-Utilities.pdf TenoxVGA for Atari TT - https://www.legacypixels.com Call-A.P.P.L.E. - https://www.callapple.org/ News Compute's Gazette article from the October, 2025 issue about Floppy Days written by Brian Cox of FutureVision Research - https://shop.computesgazette.com/product/computes-gazette-issue-4-digital-edition-october-2025/ Upcoming Shows Ami West - November 1-2, Sacramento, CA - https://www.amiwest.net Atari Party 2025 - Nov. 22, 2025 (noon to 4) - Quakertown, PA Train Station - http://atariparty.org/ World of Commodore 2025 - December 6-7 - Admiral Inn, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada - https://www.tpug.ca/world-of-commodore/world-of-commodore-2025/ Vintage Computer Festival Montreal - Jan. 24-25, 2026 - Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, QC - https://vcfed.org/vcf-montreal/ Tandy Retro Show 2026 - Jan. 24-25 - virtual - tandyretroshow.com Vintage Electronics Expo - Jan. 31, 2026 - Oakland Expo Center, Waterford, MI - https://www.thevee.org/ Vintage Computer Festival SoCal - February 14-15, 2026 - Hotel Fera Events Center, Orange, CA - vcfsocal.com Indy Classic Computer and Video Game Expo - March 20-22 - Wyndham Indianapolis Airport Hotel, Indianapolis, IN - https://indyclassic.org/ VCF East - April 17-19 2026 - InfoAge Science and History Museums, Wall, NJ - https://vcfed.org/events/vintage-computer-festival-east/ Midwest Gaming Classic - April 24-26 - Baird Center, Milwaukee, WI - https://www.midwestgamingclassic.com/ The Annual "Last" Chicago CoCoFEST! - April 24-25, 2026 - Holiday Inn & Suites Chicago-Carol Stream (Wheaton), Carol Stream, Illinois - https://www.glensideccc.com/cocofest/ Schedule Published on Floppy Days Website - https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vSeLsg4hf5KZKtpxwUQgacCIsqeIdQeZniq3yE881wOCCYskpLVs5OO1PZLqRRF2t5fUUiaKByqQrgA/pub Interview Paul's general Website - https://www.schindler.org Paul Website about the Computer Chronicles - http://compchron.com/ S.M. Oliva's Computer Chronicles Revisited Paul's long-running blog Paul's podcast, PS A Podcast on Things Paul recounts some tales from his Chronicles days Paul's YouTube channel Computer Chronicles at archive.org Computer Chronicles episodes on YouTube
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    1 hr and 39 mins
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