Another podcast appearance
Posted by Trixter on October 12, 2013
I’ve magically appeared on another podcast dedicated to vintage computing, this time episode #7 of Floppy Days talking about how I got into vintage computing, what I have, and what I do with it. You can hear my interview around the 38-minute mark.
I keep threatening to put on my own podcast dedicated to vintage IBM PC computing, specifically covering the first 1.5 decades of the IBM PC and compatibles. There are a few vintage computing podcasts dedicated to specific platforms, such as Antic for the Atari 8-bit series and Open Apple for the Apple II community. There are also a few people commenting on their own collections and experiences, such as Floppy Days mentioned above as well as You Don’t Know Flack which centers around C64 and arcade nostalgia. And one that rounds everything up is, appropriately, the Retro Computing Roundtable with news in the world of vintage computing and some light discussions.
But my podcast would differ from those somewhat significantly. I have a couple of ideas that I’d like to explore, such as:
- Mostly instructional (ie. no nostalgia talk) on how to get the most out of your collection/hobby. Different main topic each episode.
- Limiting every episode to 20 minutes or less.
- Quick coverage of uncommon/obscure games.
- Ending each episode with PC-generated music (with and without soundcards).
- Not scripted. (Planned and researched, sure, but no reading the entire episode from a script.)
Too nutty? The vintage computing hobby has a relatively small active audience; is there room for another podcast?
Oldskooler Ramblings 
Tomer Gabel said
There’s always room for another podcast. As someone who only recently started seriously listening to them (prolonged commute) I can honestly say that I thoroughly dislike scripted casts – they’re always slow and never natural or fluid.
Another thought: I often find myself wishing for podcasts that would include radio-like segments, e.g. seminal video game music with backing history, references and the like, but still allowing full-length tracks (not just as backdrop to the talkers). I’d happily collaborate on one.
Trixter said
What you’ve described is what I wanted to end each episode with: A small piece of setup (no more than a minute) and then end the show with the song played out, no interruptions.
If I ever run out of music ideas, I’ll let you know :)
BoDe said
Hello,
I saw a post where you link downloads for the audio of The President Is Missing (and, apparently, audio for other titles that came with cassette tapes). I am highly interested in those, but the links seem dead. Please tell me if you think you can put these up again. Thanks a lot in advance!
Trixter said
The posts (under the heading Stone Age Multimedia) are still on my blog; you can search for them. The audio download links are still valid so I’m not sure what trouble you’re having. For example, going to https://trixter.oldskool.org/2010/07/31/stone-age-multimedia-the-president-is-missing/ and clicking the links works for me.
BoDe said
Thanks for your reply.
Unfortunately, It doesn’t work for me, but maybe I’m doing something wrong. It opens this in Firefox:
ftp://ftp.oldskool.org/pub/GameAudioCassettes/ThePresidentIsMissing_Side2.mp3/
And then it’s a blank page written:
Index of ftp://ftp.oldskool.org/pub/GameAudioCassettes/ThePresidentIsMissing_Side2.mp3/
Up to higher level directory
Name Size Last Modified
Only the “up to higher level” is clickable but leads to nowhere.
Cool blog by the way! Thanks!
Trixter said
If you examine the URL, you can see it is a link to an FTP site and directory and file. The original link does not have a slash character at the end of it, so maybe some download helper in your firefox installation is doing that? In any case, use a web browser or FTP client to go to http://ftp.oldskool.org and then navigate to the /pub/GameAudioCassettes directory and you’ll see them there.
BoDe said
Hello,
First I must say that I’m able in Firefox and IE to reach other FTP sites (like http://ftp.mozilla.org). The couple ones I can’t open I will presume for now are just dead links.
So, when I try http://ftp.olfskool.org, I just reach a page with the words “It works!”. Then if I try to write the directory address I want to reach manually (/pub/GameAudioCassettes for example), I get a “Not Found The requested URL /pub/GameAudioCassettes was not found on this server.” message.
If I click directly on links from your site, it’s a Firefox “unable to connect” error.
In FileZilla, I get a ECONNREFUSED message. Is there a password required?
If other people are reading, can you tell me if it’s working for you? I know Firefox is said to have issues with FTP, but I can connect easily to some others.
Thanks!
BoDe said
I meant http://www.oldschool.org (that was a typo there).
BoDe said
Oh darn… I mean http://ftp.oldskool.org .. all the rest is true (I swear I didn’t miswrote the links when trying them).
Trixter said
You still have it wrong. It’s an FTP site, not a website, so don’t use “http”. ftp://ftp.oldskool.org/ is the correct base URL.
Start firefox with all extensions disabled and see if it works for you.
Update: I just now tried with firefox and it works, so one or more of your firefox extensions must be mangling URLs.
Randy Kindig said
Definitely, Jim, you should consider doing a retrocomputing-themed podcast. You have a great voice, a great on-air presence and lots of knowledge to share. I would definitely listen!
Thanks again for the interview for Floppy Days!
Randy Kindig
Host Floppy Days
BoDe said
I am SO SO sorry for having wasted your time. Yes, it’s a month later and am now able to connect to your ftp, though I never found out why it wasn’t working, or I couldn’t access to some other ftps (mostly ones that seemed abandoned, no probs with Asimov and other popular ones). I just reinstalled Firefox than a bunch of stuff, than gave up and reinstalled Windows and bingo!
Big mystery. Anyways, happy new year and I’ll follow your blog (which I didn’t know before looking for these audio tapes).
Trixter said
Glad you got it all sorted out. I still have a few of these tape dumps to post, but I’m not sure when I’ll get around to it, sorry. Too many projects, too little time…