I have just finished listening to the first episode of Floppy Days and I'm pleased to report that it looks like this is going to be a good addition to the vintage computing landscape. The presenter, Randy Kindig, admits that he has been quite quiet within the retro community. However, he seems to have been busy collecting computers, software and books since his interest was re-kindled when he started collecting five years ago via ebay.
The first show began with a nice personal history about Randy's growing-up in the Sixties and how his interest and use of computers developed. He then went on to describe his collection which contains most of the popular North American vintage computers and finished by describing his plans for future episodes. Because of the time that he started using computers he should be able to add some interesting stories to give colour to the shows.
I found Randy personable, if a little dry to start with; it is only the first episode though, so he'll probably relax as he gains confidence and gets his teeth into the subject. He was obviously well prepared before doing the show, which kept the dialog flowing smoothly and well connected. Randy says that the podcast won't be about him very much, but I would encourage him to add his personal reflections and memories as they are a good way of keeping things lively and allow his enthusiasm to shine through. The sound quality was ok and his diction is fairly good, so he should be easy to understand for those whose first language isn't English.
Randy seems to have a fairly clear idea about what he wants to cover and expects the shows to be in the 30-60 minutes range. His intention is to work through the oldcomputers.net timeline and his main interest lies with the more common American computers from the late 70s to mid 80s with a particular fondness for the 8-bit computers. Beyond computer hardware, Randy is interested in programmable computers, vintage books and magazines, therefore the scope for the shows is broad enough to appeal to a wide range of listeners. Finally he'll be looking at resources available for people interested in retro computers, such as emulators, modern day hardware add-ons and websites which he has has found interesting and useful.
I wish Randy well with this endeavour and look forward to future episodes. At the moment he is awaiting iTunes approval, but as I don't use iTunes, I'm happy to say that the show has a page on libsyn, where you can download the episode directly. So now you've read about it, why not go ahead and listen to Floppy Days.
