Hosts: Bryan Cantrill , Jessie Frazelle , Steve Tuck
Recording Date: January 26, 2021
Transcript: oxide.computer/podcast/on-the-metal-13-ken-shirriff/#transcript
On this episode of On the Metal, we interview Ken Shirriff, long-time computer programmer, retro computer aficionado, analog computer programmer, and miner of bitcoin by hand. Join us as we talk about breaking down silicon wafers, restoring old computers, what computers Ken grew up with, and even mining bitcoin on an array of different computers.
This is the last episode from the pre-pandemic vault! Hope you enjoy!
Show notes and highlights
You can find Ken on Twitter at kenshirriff and his blog righto.com.
Soyuz blog post:
www.righto.com/2020/01/inside-digital-clock-from-soyuz.html
IBM System/370:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_System/370
Amdahl:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amdahl_Corporation
Build Your Own Z80 Computer:
books.google.com/books?id=mVQnFgWzX0AC&pg=PA1#v=onepage&q&f=false
Euler:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonhard_Euler
Commodore PET:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodore_PET
TRS-80 (Trash-80):
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TRS-80
techland.time.com/2012/08/03/trs-80/
Visual 6502:
www.visual6502.org/
MOS 6502:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MOS_Technology_6502
Metallurgy microscope:
www.amscope.com/compound-microscopes/metallurgical-microscopes.html
AM2900:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AMD_Am2900
MOS transistor:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MOSFET
Cray-1:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cray-1
Intel 4004:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_4004
Datapoint 2200:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datapoint_2200
Intel 8008:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_8008
Endianness:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endianness
TTL chips:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transistor-transistor_logic
Big Endian and Little Endian:
chortle.ccsu.edu/AssemblyTutorial/Chapter-15/ass15_3.html
Xerox Alto:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xerox_Alto
Charles Simonyi:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Simonyi
Punched cards:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punched_card
Why did line printers have 132 columns?:
retrocomputing.stackexchange.com/questions/7838/why-did-line-printers-have-132-columns
Teletype 33:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teletype_Model_33
Analogue computer:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analog_computer
Analogue computer thread:
kenshirriff/status/1223675683387265024
Differential analyser:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Differential_analyser
Bitcoin mining on a 1401:
www.righto.com/2015/05/bitcoin-mining-on-55-year-old-ibm-1401.html
Mining bitcoin with pencil and paper:
ua-cam.com/video/y3dqhixzGVo/v-deo.html
Bitcoin mining on a Xerox Alto:
www.righto.com/2017/07/bitcoin-mining-on-vintage-xerox-alto.html
Bitcoin mining on the Apollo Guidance computer:
www.righto.com/2019/07/bitcoin-mining-on-apollo-guidance.html
Colossus computer:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colossus_computer
Accounting machine:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accounting_machine
Memory phosphor:
www.britannica.com/science/memory-phosphor
Rowhammer:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Row_hammer
Core memory:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetic-core_memory
Williams tube:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Williams_tube
Core rope memory:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Core_rope_memory
Honeywell 800:
people.cs.clemson.edu/~mark/h800.html
Honeywell 1800:
www.computerhistory.org/brochures/doc-4372956da1170/
ed-thelen.org/comp-hist/BRL64-h.html#HONEYWELL-1800
SPARC delayed branching:
arcb.csc.ncsu.edu/~mueller/codeopt/codeopt00/notes/delaybra.html
IBM 360 Model 50:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_System/360_Model_50
RR Auction:
www.rrauction.com/