Hang out with us for the news, and then our second section focuses on the progression of computer memory and processors. So much has changed over the decades.

Hosts: William Sikkens, Bill Snodgrass, and Gretchen Winkler

Welcome to

2

User Friendly 2.0 with host Bill Sikkens,

3

Technology architect.

4

And this is User Friendly 2.0.

5

Welcome to this week's show. Bill.

6

Gretchen, welcome. Hello.

7

Oh, we're going to be having

an interesting

8

conversation today in the second segment.

9

For those

that are interested in retro computing.

10

And from the feedback

we've been getting from you,

11

and please keep it coming at user

friendly show.

12

It seems like there's

been a lot of interest in this,

13

so it's going to be a fun topic

to talk about, basically where processor

14

started and memory

and that type of a thing.

15

And I promise

I will not do it in monotone.

16

I think really.

17

Buehler.

18

Buehler. Yes.

19

And if we get a copyright

match on that, well it happens.

20

So we have our show on YouTube

now as well.

21

We're going to be talking about

that towards the end of the month.

22

I want to get a little bit of content

up there first, but I see that

23

we have a few of you that have found it,

so let us know what you think.

24

But yes, I'm noticing

and starting to understand the whole

25

YouTube content creator

complain about copyright matches.

26

It is definitely a challenge.

27

It's one thing

I understand why they do it,

28

because you don't want people to just,

you know, steal intellectual property

29

and that kind of thing,

but it is extremely strict.

30

Your Buehler Buehler thing, Gretchen,

could possibly trigger a copyright strike.

31

And I don't think it will.

32

But, you know, that's

33

kind of how this comes down to so

but I don't have that actor's voice.

34

So I mean, it really shouldn't

it shouldn't.

35

But that doesn't mean it doesn't.

36

And, you know, boy,

I figured out one other thing, too.

37

On a different show I was working

on, I was a guest a while back

38

and we were live streaming and not me,

but one of the other guests

39

had a football game on in the background,

just running in the ambient thing.

40

Oh boy, you would.

41

I thought they were going to send

42

like, authorities to the guy's house

and arrest him or something.

43

I mean, the screen went red,

it stopped the streaming

44

and, you know, gave this warning

that you will be bestowed.

45

If you're German,

you'll know what that word means.

46

You know, it's kind of crazy.

47

So anyway, new platform for us.

48

You don't have to see our mugs, though.

49

It's a visualizer, but from the feedback

we're getting so far, it's been enjoyed

50

and it's kind of cool

to be on a new platform.

51

So we'll keep you up to date on

that as we get closer to it.

52

And we weren't going to talk about it

much, except that I have been seeing

53

you are already there,

so welcome to that platform.

54

What do we have in the news this week?

55

All right.

56

Star Wars costumes for Halloween are back.

57

You know, when I first saw this in here,

I'm like, well, okay, so what?

58

But there is a so what to this?

59

And, Gretchen, why don't you tell us

a little bit about why this is special?

60

Okay. Well.

61

All right.

62

Many years ago,

when we were doing cosplay and having fun,

63

we would sometimes run into situations

where,

64

oh, I don't have a piece for this costume,

especially Star Wars.

65

And sometimes you could go

to, like, the Halloween stores.

66

Like, in this case,

I think it's Spirit Halloween.

67

Yeah.

68

Where you could go

and get maybe find some pieces

69

that would enhance your costume

so that you could get it completed. So

70

this was

71

always a normal thing

that we could count on.

72

And then bam, disappeared.

73

No more Star Wars stuff.

74

And then the next year and the next year,

it was like Star Wars had died.

75

And it was kind of sad and depressing.

76

But this year we have Star Wars again

available.

77

I guess it was The Mandalorian and Grogu

and Dave Filoni

78

that's made Star Wars come back to life

and changes in leadership at Disney.

79

Yeah, well, that might be Dave Filoni.

80

Isn't he sort of now in charge

81

or is he sharing sharing control?

82

I have not seen an announcement

to that effect.

83

I hope that's where it goes, though.

84

And Dave Filoni

is brilliant in my opinion.

85

And you know, you do.

86

You are starting to see a difference

with all this.

87

I know some of the costume clubs

were also having problems

88

with some respect due

to they disappeared too.

89

Yeah.

90

Like you go to events and I was like,

where's the 501st?

91

They're gone.

92

Yeah.

93

You know,

94

it's like what happened to these people,

you know, it was like they were fun.

95

Yeah. And and so it feels like.

96

And the toys are coming back

and it's like, hey,

97

we have something to be excited

about again.

98

And I'm like, thinking, oh, cool, maybe,

99

maybe I can get my Star Wars

stories published.

100

And so it's like, there's a new hope.

101

I literally very well,

you know, they're not going.

102

Yeah,

103

they actually do have quite a selection

of costume spirit Halloween.

104

And they're not the only one you can.

105

I've seen him on Amazon

and other places like that too,

106

so they're definitely around

and some of them look pretty good.

107

The adult Grogu is a little weird

and weird.

108

Oh sure, some of them are weird,

but you know, it might

109

take them a little time to, you know,

get back into things back to normal.

110

There are some really good ones, too.

111

And I think,

112

you know, like you say, it's

nice to see it again.

113

I haven't seen a Palpatine,

so I don't know, maybe, maybe.

114

Or saving the best for last or something.

115

I don't think so.

116

So we're one step closer

117

to seeing Star Wars

unreleased TV show after ten years.

118

Yeah.

119

So on this topic and again,

you know, seeing what's going on

120

here, it's kind of cool

to see some of this stuff coming back.

121

So Star Wars under Disney's

leadership has put out a number of series

122

of Mandalorian, of course.

123

And, you know, there's

been some other things over the years,

124

like the rebels,

bad batch. Rebels bad, bad.

125

Yeah.

126

So I'm all shot, Lord, you know,

and so on.

127

And Andor.

128

Andor. Andor.

129

Yeah.

130

And and even acolyte.

131

But, you know, the thing of it is.

What was that?

132

Did you cough up a hairball?

133

I'm sorry.

134

This is a family show.

135

I don't dare repeat that, but.

136

But anyway, so,

you know, it's interesting.

137

One of the last projects that was created

by George Lucas and Lucasfilm Animation

138

was this non-canon animated parody

139

likened to something

like The Simpsons. And,

140

you know, it sounded very interesting.

141

Seth Green was involved,

so think about it.

142

Jeez. Yeah.

143

So and this is one of those things,

like you said, Bill OG.

144

So it's either going to be really good

or really bad, right?

145

So there's it's that kind of a thing.

146

But it never went further.

147

And it's looking like

this is being at least talked about again.

148

So a Star Wars detours and you know

149

Lucas Museum

is the one that's talking about this.

150

And this is a whole nother topic

I want to cover one of these weeks

151

because it would be something

very interesting to look at,

152

and it's something

that is also getting off

153

the ground we've talked about in the past.

154

But, you know,

we may need to do a pilgrimage to that.

155

I think that would be really cool

because I think it's important

156

if we're going to cover things,

we need to go see it in person.

157

Well,

if and if George Lucas and his family

158

are putting together

this museum, then you know what?

159

It might be worth going down there

to take a look.

160

You know, I think so, I think so

I led to understand this is in LA, right?

161

Or that area.

I think it's somewhere in LA.

162

Yeah. Okay.

163

Yeah. Yeah.

164

So anyway, they were actually having

165

public screenings of select Star Wars

Detours episodes there.

166

So this is a thing and you know,

167

and like you say, Keith Green confirmed

that at San Diego Comic-Con this year.

168

So yeah, it's something

kind of fun to check out.

169

I really I'm glad to see this coming back.

170

One of the biggest things about Star

Wars, a lot more than most other

171

cultures.

172

And, you know, things like that

is the fact that it is very fan oriented.

173

At least it always used to be

174

you had the costume clubs,

you had all kinds of things.

175

You had canon, you had non-canon,

you had, you know, a lot of involvement.

176

And it was a thing that really integrated

everybody.

177

There wasn't a limitation

178

to who could participate in what

and all of that kind of stuff.

179

Do you remember the really cool pictures

that they're all right?

180

This was about ten years ago

on like Twitter

181

and some of the other, I think, Facebook.

182

There were these artists

who were making these amazing photographs.

183

They would set up the, the,

the six inch figures

184

and make these amazing pictures of action

scenes.

185

Right?

186

And then bam, they just disappeared,

187

like, like a lawyer came and crush them.

188

I don't know

what happened to these people.

189

I'm sure there's a story.

190

And if somebody knows about it,

maybe they can share that with us.

191

Let us know in the comments on YouTube

or here at User Friendly Show,

192

because we'd love

to find out what happened.

193

But I would be

I was a betting man, and I am.

194

I would be willing to say

that you probably have hit the nail

195

right on the head there with lawyers

showing up or something akin to that,

196

you know? Yeah,

197

that seems to be what stifles creativity

in a lot of these cases.

198

Definitely.

199

Okay. So often a different direction.

200

Tiny and visible drones

have been developed.

201

Tell us about this.

202

This is one

that had an Instagram video attached.

203

And not that there's ever fake information

on the Instagram.

204

I did want to check it out

to see what was going on here, but,

205

I think we're taking a little bit

of artistic license with that headline.

206

There's, you know, giant asterisk

attached.

207

We're not dealing with anything

that's using,

208

you know, space age cloaking technology

or something like that.

209

However, that being said,

it is kind of cool and it is a real thing.

210

So what they've done is

they've made a drone and basically done

211

the engineering on it

so that it spins in a certain way,

212

that it will not allow your eye

to lock on a certain part of it.

213

So while you can see something

whirling around.

214

So it's not invisible in that respect,

215

but it is definitely really kind of unique

in the way that this is done.

216

So now, Gretchen, you saw the video.

217

What do you think of it?

218

I thought it was fascinating.

219

And I'm like, okay, is this real

or is this fake?

220

And, you know,

I could see how possibly something

221

moving in a certain fashion

could possibly make it.

222

So it was difficult to see.

223

So, you know, I just wanted your opinion

and I thought it was kind of a cool

224

get one of these.

225

So, Bill, in your opinion,

Full Metal Jacket or even Halo,

226

the direction we're going with warfare.

What do you think?

227

Do we need invisible drones?

228

I think it's just evolution of warfare.

229

Yeah,

I would I would have to agree with you.

230

And I will say one thing about it,

and this is a little bit of an aside

231

on this story, but we do get a lot of

comments in on this is a, you know, people

232

being concerned about the direction

that's going with technology.

233

But I will tell you one thing, it'd

be better if we didn't have to have war,

234

obviously,

but that doesn't seem to be an option.

235

So when you look at Modern Warfare,

the groups that are using technology

236

for front line with robotics and drones

and unmanned vehicles

237

and all the different things like that,

the casualties are so much lower

238

than what you would see in normal warfare,

especially with this kind of thing.

239

So it does have a positive

in that direction,

240

just as long as it's on a side

that, you know, I can support.

241

So there you are.

242

The TikTok

243

of Disney+ and concerns

about the future of animation.

244

All right.

245

So create a blog reporting on this.

246

How do I.

247

Where do I start with this?

248

They're firing their creators

and their animators

249

in favor of having TikTok creators

make shorts that they can put on Disney+.

250

That's essentially what's going on here.

251

Really?

252

Yeah.

253

So under the headline

of what could possibly go wrong with that?

254

Yeah.

255

It just seems like okay,

so we're going to allow

256

for intellectual property

rights for TikTok creators.

257

Like, I don't think I have a problem

with that, but we're getting rid

258

of the animators and writers

and things in the process of doing this.

259

So you're getting rid of the professionals

basically.

260

Yeah. Yeah, that seems kind of

I don't know, Bill.

261

What's your opinion?

262

I mean, in all honesty,

this seems I don't know.

263

Well it's dumb and if I recall correctly,

it also is that they're using a lot of AI

264

tools, tools, you know,

265

to allow for this to happen.

266

So so

267

official statement from Disney

is they're going to bring a thoughtfully

268

curated, Disney centric, fan

created content from TikTok to the Disney

269

Plus app, specifically to its new verts

verts

270

vertical mobile feed.

271

Yeah, okay.

272

Well,

273

you don't see me

getting excited about that.

274

No, I don't I don't think goes on to say

fans will enjoy a shared Disney experience

275

with TikTok videos that will be refreshed

regularly to engage subscribers

276

more deeply and timely fan conversations,

building stronger communities,

277

ultimately helping them engage

with more story formats.

278

No, that does not sound like corporate

speak at all.

279

Yeah, I think Disney has lost the plot.

280

This.

281

Oh, I think

I think they're kind of unwieldy and huge.

282

They need to divide themselves up

a little bit and get people focus,

283

you know, that, you know, like a leader

that's in charge of just one thing

284

and that they love it

and want to care for it.

285

You know, that's just my opinion.

286

Okay.

287

HBO alters Harry Potter series

288

footage following a backlash.

289

So the direct reporting on this.

290

David Thompson wrote this.

291

And what we're looking at here

is something

292

that we actually did cover earlier

in the year. Yep.

293

And HBO is reworking their upcoming

Harry Potter reboot.

294

At least the new streams

and different things that have been

295

put out on the trailers for this,

because people reacted in a way

296

that's saying it's gotten very dark,

and in my opinion, it did.

297

Yeah.

298

You know, it was to a point

of almost being, why bother with color?

299

What did the film film New York,

I think is how you are more.

300

Okay, I knew I was saying the word wrong,

301

but it was getting,

you know, to that point.

302

And that's not Harry Potter. No.

303

So the direct posted some before

and after shots from the original trailer

304

and what they're showing now, and

it actually does make a huge difference.

305

You can actually see details

in the background.

306

You can see,

307

you know, the faces of the people,

which is kind of important for television.

308

You know, there was

there was a scene where I think

309

Harry was in the

310

like the chemistry

lab, the potions lab, and

311

he's sitting there all alone in the dark.

312

And then when they cleaned it up,

oh, there's a kid behind him.

313

Yeah, that's about how the different

it was like, wow, you know,

314

why did she bother even being there

and being excited about having the job

315

if they were going to put her in a dark,

you know, cave.

316

Right. So and this is so much better.

317

I saw the pictures

and I think it's an improvement.

318

All right.

319

SpaceX's Falcon nine wasn't

the first rocket to crash into the moon.

320

So Space.com reporting this.

321

Robert Pearlman is the writer of this.

322

And what we're talking about here

is something that's been in the news.

323

It's been widely reported Falcon nine

upper stage collided with the moon

324

on Wednesday last week, Wednesday.

325

And it seems like

the way that this was going is

326

this was the first time

this has ever happened.

327

And it hasn't.

328

We've been seeing this a lot of times.

329

SpaceX just had a part

330

that was

331

unintentional in addition to this one.

332

And there's been a lot of other

things like this

333

where there's been some tests

that have been specifically done

334

on purpose to crash something into

the moon to kind of see what would happen.

335

So we see this going back

to the Apollo era.

336

So nothing new or anything like that.

337

And one of the more interesting comments,

somebody made the comment that

338

if you did this, it was going to either

sink into the moon or cause it

339

to shoot out a chunk

back to the earth or something.

340

I don't completely

341

remember what the comment was,

but none of these things happened.

342

Although it is actually actually,

if you watched the really,

343

really old video of something

hitting something hitting

344

the moon, it gets stuck in the moon's eye.

345

You guys remember that as I remember that?

346

Yeah, I remember that film.

347

Yeah, I do like long time ago. Yes.

348

Was it 1920s or something?

349

It would probably have been.

350

And that would have upset the moon God.

351

So, you know, it's. Yeah.

352

No, it doesn't happen.

353

Although it is a real thing

that when they first Apollo program

354

being about this and the studies for

355

that was there was a concern

that you were going to sink into the sand.

356

Oh yeah.

357

At the time we didn't know, you know,

but back then it was you wouldn't

358

want to like, get sucked into quicksand

or some equivalent of that on the moon.

359

That would make for a very bad day.

360

But know that obviously didn't happen.

361

And as we're going forward now,

some of these things are done

362

unintentionally, like the space stuff

or intentionally to see what would happen

363

and why and what the reaction of things

would be in that kind of stuff.

364

So, so was crashing into the moon

a bonus for them?

365

Because I know that was their big thing

about the last time

366

there's ships exploded.

367

Well, I mean, you know, actually

getting out of orbit would

368

have already been anyway. No.

369

Speaking of more space stuff,

370

want a chance to speak with the astronauts

371

while they are in space?

372

Yeah. So this is a cool thing.

373

So while they're sinking into the sand,

you can talk to them, right?

374

No, they're not on the moon.

375

There are around in the space station.

376

Just really quickly on this because

we've been covering some of the Stem stuff

377

from NASA and we've been asked

where to go for this at Stem gateway gov.

378

So that's the URL to get the NASA

Stem programs including this.

379

And this is a program

where you can sign up with priority

380

given to educational institutions

and that type of a thing.

381

There's a process of what you have to do

to get involved in this,

382

where you can actually get an uplink to

an astronaut while they're in space. And

383

questions about this

384

can go to JSC downlink at mail gov.

385

But go ahead and check out Gateway Gov

for all of the details on this

386

and a lot of other Stem programs

that NASA offers.

387

So after a very long run,

because this is the longest

388

running series,

I think The Simpsons might be ending.

389

It is.

390

And this is something, though,

that I've heard a couple of times

391

over the past few years

when people are going,

392

how much longer is

The Simpsons going to be around?

393

You know,

because now we're what millennials.

394

And when that started, it would have been

I don't know what generation was that?

395

89. Gretchen you know this stuff.

396

Yeah. Sometime in the late 80s. Yeah.

397

But what generation was the late 80s?

398

Know.

399

Yeah. Okay. That's not

400

anywhere on that topic. I'm Gen X.

401

All I care about is my group. Yeah.

There you go.

402

Oh, I'm sorry, that's

more of a baby boomer at a baby boomer.

403

Yeah. Okay.

404

As for everybody typing comments

about that, we are all right.

405

Create a blog. Reporting will follow.

406

You wrote this and this comes from

an interview with Nancy Cat right now.

407

She of course is the voice of art.

408

And she's been doing it for a long time.

409

Well, has been doing it

for going on 40 years.

410

And she's saying that

411

she doesn't know this for sure,

but they have the rights to produce

412

through the 40th season,

413

So that still would

give us a couple more years.

414

And they are coming out

with a second Simpsons movie,

415

which I did not know until I saw this

article.

416

So, you know, that'll be interesting

to see where that ends up going.

417

But the question then becomes, you know,

how far do you go with this?

418

Because it is something I've observed,

like the last I look,

419

I did a binge watch on The Simpsons,

and I've gotten towards

420

these more recent ones, and

421

they're not as

422

fun and as cheerful as they used to be.

423

Actually kind of ended watching some of it

going, wow, that was depressing.

424

So I'm not sure if if maybe they're tired.

425

You know, I kind of would be

I mean, you get to a point

426

where you run out of stuff to write about,

although it's exactly

427

you have a pretty open world, you know?

428

Yeah.

429

So just to look at the dates right now,

and this is where

430

this does get interesting

if you want to look at it in context.

431

Homer's current birth

date, in order to match up

432

with where the characters are

now would have to be the late 80s,

433

right? Oh, okay.

434

I think about that because if it's yours

and he was in his 30s,

435

that would put him at 77 or something.

436

Now, if you were actually doing this

in a chronological order,

437

which they're not, of course

it's a curtain and I know that. But,

438

you know, in the character Stone age.

439

But I notice there's a screenshot of Homer

with a selfie stick and a cell phone

440

and video self, and he's got a

they're changing their clothes around

441

sometimes to notice they've changed,

sometimes Marge's clothes,

442

and sometimes they change

Lisa and Bart's things,

443

which I thought was interesting, but

444

some of the storylines are just odd.

445

Maybe I'm just not relating

446

to, well, maybe changes in culture

and everything with that too.

447

So we'll see what happens.

448

Gladys West, mathematician

whose work paved the way

449

for GPS, dies at 95.

450

Yeah, scientist

who was absolutely amazing.

451

Bill,

you know, a little bit about about her.

452

Well, she was the one who came up

with mathematics that allow us to use GPS.

453

The thing that we use every day. And,

454

you know,

455

people use it on their phones

and logistics use it.

456

Ships use it.

457

Oh, yeah, NASA uses it.

458

That's a part of daily life, you know?

459

And really, if you get into it,

it was a very

460

a lot of calculations

just to figure out how to cover,

461

how to do a lot of different things

and how many satellites were required,

462

how to use those satellites

to coordinate all kinds of things now.

463

And it's amazing

what she came up with on this.

464

You know,

465

an interesting little sub note on that

before we close out the segment is the

466

speed of the passage of time is different

in orbit than it is on the ground.

467

And this was one of the things

that she was able to figure out. Wow.

468

To be able to keep these things

469

coordinated and what those formulas were

and that type of thing.

470

All right. Well,

this is user friendly. 2.0.

471

We'll be back after the break.

472

He's from the future.

473

He's got a really big computer

474

and he uses it uses it every day.

475

And he uses it uses it in every way.

476

What do you do for you?

477

No, I'm not that sure,

because he hears it here.

478

Welcome back. This is user friendly 2.0.

479

Check out our website at User Friendly

Show.

480

Send us your questions and your comments.

481

That is the way we program our show

and is what's

482

leading up to the topic of this segment.

483

We're going to be talking a little bit

about computer memory and where

484

that started, and computer processors

and where that started as well.

485

So I don't know, guys, 2026

sit down and use the computer,

486

our core processor,

which is pretty much what's in everything.

487

And I know the Max and stuff

488

have some of their own variations

on what they're using.

489

But the point of it is at the end

of the day, it's pretty much 64 bit.

490

You have a lot of memory.

491

You have,

you know, some various different things.

492

There's multiple cores in the processors

and all that kind of stuff,

493

and that's pretty standard.

494

You can go buy a cheap laptop or something

that's a couple hundred dollars,

495

and you're looking at processing

power of that, and it's a commodity.

496

But this certainly didn't start this way.

497

And when you start looking back

at the history of these things, it's

498

kind of cool.

499

So early computers

500

and that type of thing,

you didn't have memory.

501

So there certainly weren't memory chips,

502

but you also didn't have memory

in the context of what we do now.

503

So if you wanted your very large,

very expensive computer,

504

that usually was vacuum tubes

and size of a large room or more.

505

Yeah.

506

To do something different,

you couldn't program it.

507

To do that, you had to physically rewire

the circuits in it

508

to allow for it

to change what it was doing.

509

So this obviously was a limitation,

to put it mildly.

510

Yeah.

511

So the idea of having some way

where the computer could remember

512

something, bits of information, whatever,

you know, it would need to do

513

was something

that they started to experiment with.

514

And where this started

was something called a mercury delay line.

515

And you sent a pulse

516

through a tube

that was literally filled with mercury.

517

When the pulses reached

518

the other end, electronics detected them

and sent them back through the tube again.

519

And this had to keep going on

520

so that it didn't dissipate

so it would circulate it through Mercury.

521

I could see that as being somewhat

difficult in modern computers.

522

You consider each tube was one bit.

523

And so this would add up

to a lot of mercury, and definitely

524

a lot of equipment required to do that

in any kind of a reasonable thing.

525

But it was the first step.

526

And actually having the computer

be able to remember something

527

and you know,

528

so another early technology was called

529

the Williams tube,

which used the cathode ray tube similar to

530

what's in an old television picture

tube to store information electronically.

531

But again, while this worked,

both of these technologies worked.

532

I mean, there's no question about that.

533

But they weren't exactly ideal for

building smaller, more reliable computers.

534

So that led us into the first

really kind of industrial produced

535

memory called magnetic core.

536

And I'd love to get an example

of this somewhere out there.

537

These things were used from 50s and 60s.

538

And basically what you did is you had tiny

magnetic rings called cores.

539

Wires were threaded through the rings

540

in the direction of the magnet

could represent a binary 1 or 0.

541

So again, it worked.

542

But there was a caveat to this.

543

They had to be manufactured by hand.

544

Yeah.

545

And for my understanding,

there is not a viable process to do this

546

with a machine.

547

So you would end up in a situation here

548

where workers, frequently women,

because of the precision involved,

549

threaded incredibly fine wires

through the microscopic magnetic cause.

550

Some of these were used in spacecraft

like the Apollo guidance computer.

551

And again, it worked.

552

But as they were trying to get things

smaller, which made the course smaller,

553

you had the workers with microscopes

trying to see what they were doing.

554

And of course this became problematic

and you know it.

555

Yeah.

556

I'm envisioning people

in what they call clean

557

rooms, probably avoiding dust,

558

because if you're using something

really small,

559

you know, getting a lot of dust into

something is going to make it.

560

Well, yeah.

561

And, you know, and it's interesting

562

because the idea of a clean room

didn't really exist yet.

563

In fact, one of the first places

where they made memory,

564

which I believe was

Intel, was in an old factory

565

in the Silicon Valley area

that did fruit processing,

566

and they bought this building

and started using it.

567

And it's like, you know,

this wasn't exactly a clean room.

568

Yeah, okay.

569

It was more the opposite of a cleaner.

570

What we think of today,

it was a moldy room.

571

Well, you know, I just, you know,

you think about the differences in stuff.

572

Now, one thing about core memory, though,

very early on it was nonvolatile,

573

so it worked like a flash drive.

574

You could turn the computer off

and it wouldn't lose its magnetic charge.

575

Okay, so he turned it back on.

576

The information was still there.

577

So, you know, the information

is all stored because of magnetics.

578

Yeah, because of the charge

of the magnetic cause.

579

Okay, now you get a magnet near that.

580

I think it would cause some problems.

581

Yeah.

582

Remember, we used to be told,

don't put a magnet on your computer,

583

you know, and keep magnets

away from your computer.

584

During that era,

it was different technology.

585

Of course, it was the same basic ideas.

586

So in the 1960s, semiconductor technology

was thought

587

about as something

that could replace magnetic cores.

588

But there was a lot of from

the corporate world, a resistance to this,

589

because it's like, well, we have this

and it works, and it might not be great,

590

and it's not something

we want to invest in.

591

Another technology that may not work.

592

So in 1968, two

593

scientists, Robert Noyce and Gordon Moore.

594

The author of Moore's

595

Law later left Fairchild Semiconductor

and founded a new little company.

596

You might have heard of it.

597

It was called Intel

or Integrated Electronics.

598

I bet you didn't know that was an acronym.

599

So. But it sounds like a word,

so it works.

600

Yeah. There you are.

601

And the other thing

that's interesting about Intel is

602

they started out not manufacturing CPUs,

but memory.

603

That was the first stuff

that came out of Intel.

604

And one of their first products

605

Of course,

606

we all have to have numbers for everything

at least, you know, for a while.

607

And it was introduced in 1969,

608

and the 3101

led on to the next piece of equipment

609

called the 1103 Dram,

610

and it stored one byte or 100 or 100,

611

1024 bits or 128 bytes of memory.

612

So not kilobytes, not megabytes,

certainly not gigabytes, but bytes.

613

And just to give you

614

an idea, a modern photograph to store

615

it would require tens of thousands

of those chips for one picture.

616

You know, you put it in

617

that context, but

it was the start of what is modern memory,

618

and it put core memory out of the computer

industry within a couple of years.

619

So what exactly did they use

these machines for?

620

Was it mostly just high end mathematics?

621

Actually,

you know, that's an interesting question.

622

It actually leads into another part of

what we're going to be talking about here

623

in a little bit, Gretchen.

624

But I'm going to answer the question

because it does fit together very well.

625

And that was where

microprocessors started.

626

So your question is,

what did they use this type of thing for?

627

Well, early computers would have been

628

like your mainframes and supercomputer,

you know, these kind of things in the day.

629

Again,

the Apollo computers, stuff like that.

630

Right. What were they doing?

631

What was their job?

632

Well, in the case of

they just doing mathematics.

633

Well, yeah. Okay. Primarily.

634

And again, answer that question

because it gives you the idea of where

635

things were going with this. Intel

636

invented what's called the

637

4004, which was the first Programable

microprocessor a few years later.

638

And it was an accident

that this came from.

639

So what were they doing with it?

640

Well, there was a calculator company,

Asian calculator company

641

that hired until to make chips

for a calculator.

642

Now in that era, an electronic calculator

643

or really any device like that

did not use a microcontroller.

644

It used what was TTL logic.

645

And basically what it was

is they had chips

646

that were specifically designed to do

whatever that calculator was going to do.

647

So if later

they wanted a different version

648

of the calculator, they designed

specifically different chips for it.

649

So Intel came up with the idea, well,

what if we, instead of doing

650

this specific expensive

to develop, expensive to produce, design

651

a chip that could be told what to do.

652

And that's

where the first processor came from.

653

So yes, mathematics,

because they were used in

654

calculators, is the first really

consumer product that came out of this.

655

So this actually tells us where

656

the name of these devices came from.

657

I have a laptop computer. Yeah.

658

So to compute and that's,

that's the origin

659

of the name of these devices we use.

660

Right. Yeah.

661

Because we're doing things now

with them doing artwork and,

662

and sharing pictures

and writing novels or letters or whatever.

663

But their original purpose

was just to compute.

664

Yeah.

665

And in a sense,

it still is what it's doing,

666

although it can do a whole lot more,

but you're still computing binary bits.

667

Oh, yeah.

668

To this day, and,

669

you know, we're getting into quantum

computers now, which is different.

670

But for the what you see out

there uses the same technology.

671

It goes back to the 40s, 50s and 60s

and it's better.

672

And Moore's Law

and the number of transistors on a chip

673

will basically double every two years,

which has been held.

674

True is what drives

the fact that we can do so much more now.

675

But it's the same basic technology.

676

And then along the lines

of what you were talking about, Gretchen,

677

there is the circling back

to memory, the Dram, which is what we have

678

now, dynamic random access

memory is what that stands for.

679

Okay.

680

So unlike core memory, it was one that

when you turn the computer off you lost

681

what was in it.

682

So it's Ram instead of,

you know, non-viable memory dynamic Ram.

683

And again it has an enormous advantage.

684

And we're stepping up,

you know, in time as things are going on,

685

because you could pack more

and more onto the silicon.

686

So in other words,

the same number of ships were snowballing

687

into a thing where you had more

and more memory being available.

688

So kilobits

led to megabits, megabits led to gigabits.

689

And that's where we're at now.

690

So you take this and you start looking

at the idea of home computing.

691

Okay.

692

So memory was expensive

even in this format.

693

You go late 70s, that type of a thing,

and you start having things like home

694

video game consoles, the Atari VCs

695

early, early computers like the Apple

696

two as an example, or the Commodore Vic 20

all had very small amounts of memory

697

because it was so expensive

to put it in there.

698

You know, the

699

I should know this off the top of my head.

700

The Atari 2600 is like 4K,

I think, or something like that.

701

It might even be a little bit less.

702

And so what you're dealing with

703

is something that you do not have

a lot of room to work on.

704

And then that's when things

like the Commodore 64 came out and later

705

128 where you had 60 4K of Ram, 128 ERA.

706

These were just felt like

you had infinite space

707

to be able to do what you're doing.

708

An interesting little side note to it is

the amount of memory is so little that

709

most Atari 2600 games, the original ones

you can actually fit

710

on a QR code.

711

Which I thought was interesting.

712

But, you know,

you look at where all this came from

713

and where it's built out from there,

and that's where this came.

714

So anyway, so that's your memory.

715

And we started to talk about processors

because this obviously was

716

one was driving the other.

717

And the 4004 was, among other things,

718

a four bit processor. So

719

memory or

720

processor capability is expressed in bits

and it's a multiple.

721

So you had four bit, eight bit,

722

There is 128 bit.

723

Bit 64 is pretty much the standard

that's used these days.

724

So to give you an idea

of what we're talking about here,

725

the Intel 4004 had 2300 transistors

on the silicon.

726

Okay.

727

And the Apple M1 a modern thing.

728

Let's see how many zeros is that?

729

16 billion transistors. One.

730

Two. Three. Four.

731

Yeah 16 billion transistors okay.

732

So that's a difference.

733

You know I think about Moore's Law

and building out there

734

I'm getting a funny look build

I do my math wrong on that.

735

No I think you're right okay.

736

So anyway, you know I was hard sometimes.

737

Right.

738

But it didn't give you an idea of where

things are going with that kind of thing.

739

So what happens is

you can make things smaller,

740

the performance becomes better, the amount

of electrical consumption goes down.

741

You wouldn't know that

with some of the modern data centers

742

and some of the problems

that we're experiencing with that,

743

but that's because you have a lot of

silicon in these places.

744

Can you imagine?

745

I know it wouldn't

be possible mathematically,

746

but trying to build a modern data

center on a four bit CPU?

747

No. So so what does this actually play

into?

748

Well,

you've got a couple of different things.

749

The amount of memory

you can use on a given

750

processor is limited by how much memory

the processor can address.

751

So in the example of a four bit

752

4004 processor again

these were used for calculators.

753

And that processor

could handle your digits zero through

754

nine operands a few instruction sets.

755

But that was it.

756

So what drove going to an eight

757

bit processor was the need to be able

to have letters.

758

So company comes out and they're building

a terminal that needs to support

759

upper and lower case character sets,

symbols, control characters

760

for moving your cursor around that kind of

a thing on a four bit processor.

761

That simply wasn't possible.

762

There just wasn't enough

horsepower for it.

763

So that is what drove to an eight bit

processor and has continued to drive.

764

The development of technology

is the need to be able to do more.

765

And you had some other things

in there too.

766

Somebody that I've worked

on, some games for retro computers

767

and that type of a thing,

and being a modern programmer

768

and then going and programing

769

in a assembly language

instruction sets for a 60 4K computer,

770

you really learn to appreciate

what early programmers went through

771

well because, well, didn't

they weren't the letters assigned

772

binary a huge binary

773

name each each letter had a binary,

you know, like the ones and zeros.

774

Ultimately,

it's expressed by a binary value.

775

Now, most machines have a character set

776

that uses a numeric value.

777

Ascii is the one that PCs are based on.

778

Yeah, pesky is

what Commodore's were based on.

779

But anyway, what all these things are

is a way to get from the binary

780

to human readable characters,

and so they had to assign

781

these weird number combinations

to get the readable letters.

782

Yeah, yeah.

783

And it's, you know, and all of these type

of things take up memory, take up space.

784

So I know one of the tricks that I play

with and a lot of programmers

785

do on these older things, it's

something called bank switching.

786

So let's say you have your Commodore

64, your Atari XY, whatever,

787

eight bit computer like that, the maximum

amount of memory it can address

788

completely, even theoretically,

is not a lot hundred and 28 K on some.

789

Some go a little bit more.

790

So what happens is what happens

if you need more memory than that?

791

Well in some cases

you are just out of luck

792

or you come up with things

like bank switching.

793

So unknown to the processor

in your cartridge or something,

794

you have logic, but it's able

to swap the memory active memory out

795

and put different stuff in the memory

that the processor can access

796

and do this in real time.

797

So that's how you started

to get some better looking technologies.

798

One system that really did

this was the old Nintendo,

799

the Nintendo Entertainment System,

800

which is the same processor

that's in your Commodore,

801

Apple, Atari computers in the day.

802

And they got creative with the way

that they were able to do things,

803

and they had some instruction sets

and things like that in there

804

to be able

to make that function in real time.

805

So you could get some really impressive

output

806

from these machines,

even though the base technology

807

and what it was originally started

is probably couldn't really support that.

808

Memory upgrades were another thing.

809

The Atari 2600, which is a very

810

it's a retro video game machine,

but a lot of people

811

hold it in kind because that's what

a lot of people grew up with in that era.

812

By today's standard, is extremely basic.

813

I mean, you look at your building 4K,

your cartridges,

814

you could make the cartridges

bigger as the ROMs in them got bigger.

815

But, you know, at the end of the day,

it was very limited what you could do.

816

And some of these programmers

were amazing in

817

some of the tricks

they would use in that type of a thing.

818

But then I've seen on these same systems

something that looks as good

819

as an early Nintendo,

and one of them is a system

820

to where you could use a tape recorder

821

So the cartridge slot

822

had a thing that plugged into it,

and it plugged into the tape recorder

823

and digging into it.

824

Well, this add on also added

something like 20 times more

825

and more memory

than what was in the base unit.

826

So of course you could do something

that looked a lot better

827

and you ended up using the Atari console

828

basically as the video and audio controls

and the joysticks and that.

829

But the actual

830

horsepower

of it mostly was moved to the cartridge

831

that you plugged into it,

you know, and star cast star

832

something was the name of that,

and it was definitely something

833

that, you know,

834

you had these tricks that you could

really make things look a lot better.

835

So as those things built out,

you could do more, do more.

836

And yet to today where I have what's by

837

today's standards, about four year

old Dell Alienware machine.

838

And I have a love hate

relationship with it.

839

When it works, I do like it.

840

I just wish that was more often than not.

841

But the thing of it is, is in there.

842

I have 128 gigs of Ram now.

843

I'm not going to give anybody

the address for this computer is

844

and I do have armed guards at the house

to protect that memory at today's prices.

845

But at the end of the day,

that kind of a concept

846

and I was looking

this up would exceeded all of the memory

847

that was installed in all of the computers

that were sold in the early 80s.

848

Total,

you know, not including your mainframes or

849

other computers like that,

850

but just your general office

or home computing environments.

851

This one

machine would exceed all that by a lot.

852

So it is interesting to look at kind of

where the comparison of these things go,

853

you know, well, okay,

if you want to do the comparison,

854

the digital watches

that we had in high school.

855

This is the 1980s had more computing power

856

than they had to go to the moon in

that little wristwatch, the digital watch.

857

So things were rapidly changing.

858

And it's just

and we take it for granted today.

859

Can you imagine going back to the Jet

Propulsion Laboratory,

860

you know, in the days of the Apollo

missions and handling the engineer,

861

handing the engineers

there a very basic smartphone

862

like one of the cheap ones we don't keep,

and you buy them as a throwaway

863

phone now, and you look at something

like that going, what the.

864

Yeah.

865

They'd be thinking, oh my gosh,

you got the Star Trek stuff for real?

866

Or they think we visited the aliens

and we're getting them the technology

867

from them or something, you know,

because it flat screens,

868

which the idea of that has existed

since the 80s,

869

but they weren't able to manufacture them

at any kind of scale in the 70s.

870

He didn't have that yet.

It would have been CRT.

871

So you have this flat device

which is in full color.

872

So even with CRT is going into the late

80s, you had 16 colors, 64 colors, maybe,

873

you know, it's and you're looking at 16

million colors on a handheld device

874

that's able to compute all of the world's

information in your hand.

875

Yeah, that would have made a difference.

876

It would have been shocker.

877

So, you know, it really would have.

878

Yeah. And it's interesting.

879

And one of the other things I learned

880

about doing some research for this

that I didn't know is the whole idea

881

of a math coprocessor

or a floating point unit.

882

So in early, you know,

883

Until IBM,

884

you remember the gateways

885

they used to make a big deal

about having a math coprocessor.

886

And the gateways were an 8086

based system.

887

All of that was a piece of clones.

888

You know, your gateways, your Packard

Bell, your compact,

889

even core processors have their origin

and that type of technology

890

and the instruction set.

891

So a CPU has an instruction set where

you can tell it to do specific things.

892

And the instruction

sets on a lot of these,

893

including the 6502, did not have

the ability to multiply or divide.

894

So you could add or subtract.

895

If you wanted to multiply or divide,

you had to write software to do it, which

896

of course took up space in your memory and

processor cycles and that type of thing.

897

So you were like 20 clock cycles to

perform one operation to multiplication.

898

Well, if you had

899

a program like Visicalc,

which is an early version of something

900

like Excel

updating all these cells on a spreadsheet,

901

that kind of a thing

would take forever to run

902

because you did not have hardware

based implementation.

903

That's what a math coprocessor

basically is.

904

It adds the ability

905

to multiply or divide on an instruction

set level at the hardware.

906

Now, of course, all that's built

in the modern processors today,

907

but the cost of doing this required extra

pins, extra silicon, all of that

908

kind of a thing which turned into money,

which is why they didn't do it.

909

But it was just weird

because one of the games I was working

910

on, I needed multiplication capability

911

for something I was doing

didn't realize this. And going to wait.

912

There's no instruction to multiply.

913

No, there's no instruction to multiply.

914

And that's one of the things like your T

calculators were a big deal

915

because they had special hardware

that could do all of this.

916

So a scientific calculator

917

or early 80, 86 based technology,

just would

918

you could do it if you had enough memory,

but you would, you know,

919

some of the instructions for things

920

like Visicalc told you, okay,

when you're going to do this

921

calculation, go work on something else

for the next two hours.

922

And that was in the manual.

923

Yeah.

924

I remember when getting a T 35

925

I think is what what we needed

for our chemistry class.

926

And it was like, oh, you know,

that was like big fancy tech,

927

you know, so they were programable

some of them too, I know that.

928

Yeah.

929

I didn't have one of those

when I was, I was able to put formulas,

930

you know, into some of these things

and it would remember them.

931

And we had laptops and stuff at that point

and you could get a magical processor.

932

I just hadn't hit the lottery and was,

933

you know, trying to pay for college

as best as I could.

934

So affording something like

that was not really in the cards.

935

And I remember I went to a garage sale

and find this t calculator

936

that somebody had broken the screen on,

and this just goes to show was like $200

937

to repair the screen in it.

And it was worth every penny.

938

And I ended up with this thing

that was just so I still have it.

939

It just worked so well and it was amazing

and like just a real luxury.

940

I still have mine buried somewhere.

941

If I find it, we'll we'll talk about it.

942

Yeah, yeah, I'm one of those people.

943

I collect weird things and some of them

big, like arcade cabinets.

944

But I do love calculators

and I've got a collection,

945

and I don't think I have one of those,

but I definitely would love to see it.

946

If you find aggression,

you might find that it will have to be

947

taken by imminent domain

for this show or something.

948

Oh yeah,

949

it's got a red screen.

950

I'll live with that. I'll live with that.

951

That's actually something

just in our few seconds here

952

we've got left

that we're going to be reviewing.

953

A listener sent in a Virtual boy,

954

and after playing with this

a little bit, just, you know,

955

have your Excedrin Migraine on hand

956

and you can actually use the system

a little bit.

957

Oh, boy.

958

So we're going to be talking about some

consoles and stuff coming up here too.

959

And again

this is answering a lot of your questions.

960

Keep them coming in.

961

User friendly dot

show is the place to send them.

962

We'd love to hear from you.

963

And until next week this is User Friendly

2.0 keeping you safe on the cutting edge.

964

User Friendly 2.0.

965

Copyright 2013 to 2026

966

by User Friendly Media Group incorporated.

967

All rights reserved.

968

The content is the opinion

of the show's participants and does

969

not necessarily reflect this station

or platform.

970

Requests for material use, interviews,

disclosures,

971

and other correspondence may be viewed

972

and submitted at UserFriendly.Show