New Zealand Vintage Computer Forums

Next Monday night I'm giving a short talk about the evolution of the human-computer relationship, and the major events which have formed and changed how we interact with computers.

"In the 60 or so years since the first electronic computers the role they have played, and our relationship with these remarkable machines, has changed as profoundly as the machines themselves. From huge, building sized computers that used enough electricity to power small villages, to pocket sized devices that run for days on a battery, these have inspired, augmented and frustrated humanity like no other invention in history"

See http://wellington.nerdnite.com/2012/01/ ... s-edition/
If you're on the Facebooks, you can RSVP for the event (venue undefined) at https://www.facebook.com/events/340942012602611/

The presentation material, and hopefully a video of the event, will be made public soon after.

Nerd Nite. LOL! What a great concept.

Hope the talk goes well Andrew. Looking forward to seeing the video.

Will do my best to attend

Well, I need to finish preparing my presentation tonight - I've still got two major eras I want to cover. There's way more than 20 minutes in this, so I've constructed it in such as way as to let me skip detail while still preaching the message.

The venue has just been announced:

St John Bar, Cable Street, downstairs from Trade Me and NZX, 6pm Monday 13th.

Nice, I work only a block away.

Venue Change

I've just been informed that thevenure has been shifted to HOTEL BRISTOL (Cuba St) from 6pm.

I hope to see you there - come over and say "Hi" - I'll be the fat guy in some random retro gaming t-shirt talking about old computers

The talk seemed to go well despite me running longer than the allotted 25 minutes. I had a great time, and enjoyed the other talks as well. Unfortuntely I had to run off soon after my talk to move the car before it got towed. I'll be sure to make it to next Ned Nite

I've posted the presentation and talk notes, there will be video to come (as long as my electroluminescent t-shirt didn't completely screw up the sound)

http://www.vintage8bit.com/content/nerd ... -computers

lizardb0y wrote: From huge, building sized computers that used enough electricity to power small villages, to pocket sized devices that run for days on a battery, these have inspired, augmented and frustrated humanity like no other invention in history"

Sorry missed this thread. I will look through your links for the talk which sounds really interesting after I finished looking through the ton of books on technology I got from the Dunedin Public Library annual sale this evening.

I like round circles for perspective, so from single computers the size of a room and handheld devices running for days, to thousands of computers in single buildings (google, nsa etc) and handheld devices running for hours (pretty much anything current in phones/tablets).

Did you demo any human/computer interaction with Virtual Valerie?

lizardb0y wrote:I've posted the presentation and talk notes, there will be video to come (as long as my electroluminescent t-shirt didn't completely screw up the sound)

http://www.vintage8bit.com/content/nerd ... -computers

Good one Andrew,

It was a huge area to cover in the time allocated. You must have moved it along at a good clip! Were there lots of questions from the audience? How well did you feel they already knew about the history of personal computers or was it all new stuff for them?

tezza wrote:

lizardb0y wrote:I've posted the presentation and talk notes, there will be video to come (as long as my electroluminescent t-shirt didn't completely screw up the sound)

http://www.vintage8bit.com/content/nerd ... -computers

Good one Andrew,

It was a huge area to cover in the time allocated. You must have moved it along at a good clip!

I asked people afterwards (including a couple of people who work in techincal communications) and they told me they throught it was well paced. I skipped over, or clipped, several of the embedded videos, but not so much as to mess up the flow.

tezza wrote:Were there lots of questions from the audience? How well did you feel they already knew about the history of personal computers or was it all new stuff for them?

It was a real mixture - there was one older guy who asked a few questions and came up afterwards to talk.

I've noticed at both retro computing talks that there's alweays someone who tries to trip me up, or test my knowledge by asking "trick questions." This guy was that guy. He asked a wierd question about a "universal operating system." Later, when I was talking to people in the break I mentioned CP/M and its platform independant architecture. It turned out that was what he was driving at.

He also asked what the first portable computer was - I answered that it is popularly thought to be the Osborne 1, but both IBM and HP had built portable computers earlier - thinking of the IBM 5100 and HP 9830. He seemed to be satisfied with that answer

YetiSeti wrote:

lizardb0y wrote: From huge, building sized computers that used enough electricity to power small villages, to pocket sized devices that run for days on a battery, these have inspired, augmented and frustrated humanity like no other invention in history"

[sip]
Did you demo any human/computer interaction with Virtual Valerie?

Judging by my search for "Virtual Valerie" being blocked as possibly containing "adult content" I'd have to say, no, that's not the human interaction I was referring to.