Blair Leduc
LightNews LightNews
banner
blairleduc.bsky.social
Blair Leduc
@blairleduc.bsky.social
26 followers 44 following 5 posts
I’m a terrible 8-bit vintage Tandy/Radio Shack and vintage Apple collector. Professional software engineer for far too long.
Posts Replies Media Videos
Reposted by Blair Leduc
retrocomps.bsky.social
Making your own computer chips in your garage - it takes a lot of really old-school photographic work, with the addition of a whole bunch of heat.
"Z2" - Upgraded Homemade Silicon Chips
Sam Zeloof (YouTube)
www.youtube.com
January 9, 2025 at 12:05 AM
Reposted by Blair Leduc
retrocomps.bsky.social
Microsoft BASIC for the Motorola 6809-based Dragon 32 was recently discovered... in an attic, printed out on 340 pages of fan-fold paper, now carefully scanned and OCR'd for posterity.
davidlinsley / DragonBasic
Github
github.com
December 30, 2024 at 12:05 PM
Reposted by Blair Leduc
retrocomps.bsky.social
Hunger (1974), one of the first computer-completed animations: humans drew the keyframes, while a custom assembly-language tweener running on the SEL840A linked them.
La Faim (Hunger) - Peter Foldès
um dois três quatro da Silva cinco (YouTube)
www.youtube.com
January 2, 2025 at 4:05 PM
Reposted by Blair Leduc
retrocomps.bsky.social
From 4K graphics down to only 4k of memory, Halo 2600 boils the Halo series down to it minimum and keeps cutting.
Halo 2600
Ed Fries (Internet Archive)
archive.org
January 3, 2025 at 12:05 AM
Reposted by Blair Leduc
retrocomps.bsky.social
The Coco Gallery
Results of a computer art contest from the July 1988 issue of The Rainbow. First place for the Coco 3 depicts a desert skyline; first place for the Coco 1&2 depicts firefighters saving people from a building; second place depicts a kid's bedroom with a Coco MAX setup; third place depicts King Tut; and an honorable mention depicts a woodpecker.
January 3, 2025 at 10:05 PM
Reposted by Blair Leduc
vintagecomputer.ca
The Burroughs/Unisys ICON was an educational computer in Ontario, Canada and almost none exist. I do have one of the earlier models but ICONs were client computers that ran off of a LexICON central server. I need to try to resurrect that, if possible.
Shown is the Burroughs ICON. Burroughs was later acquired by Unisys and the name changed to the Unisys ICON. This particular unit has a a CemCORP emblem. The wedge shape design was very iconic for the ICON (pardon the pun). The trackball was also a iconic. Boot up of the ICON shows it's looking for the LexICON server. The networking was done through ArcNet. I have seen pictures of standalone units with disk drives. The interesting part is that the LexICON server has the same main board but id more populated with components for the floppy/hard drive storage that was on the server.
January 5, 2025 at 2:27 AM
Reposted by Blair Leduc
retrocomps.bsky.social
I really *could* make a whole sub-bot based on just programming books with dragons on the cover. (Source.)
A blue book. Up top, pteradactors and the Interface Publications logo flirt through the sky. In red text, the words "Creating ADVENTURE GAMES on your DRAGON 32." Center, the main art - a muscular black-eyed green dragon reaches forwards with a great big paw, crushing a tiny thatched-roof cottage. The red text at bottom reads, "Clive Gifford."
December 27, 2024 at 10:05 AM
Reposted by Blair Leduc
retrocomps.bsky.social
"The Apple IIc: It's now a figment of reality."
Apple IIc (USA, 1984)
Internet Archive
archive.org
December 27, 2024 at 8:05 PM
Reposted by Blair Leduc
retrocomps.bsky.social
"This christmas, we got our son a Color Computer 3 from Radio Shack! It hooks right up to our TV, and was on sale for less than $130!"
Radio Shack Tandy CoCo 3 Commercial: Merry Christmas HQ
eware (YouTube)
www.youtube.com
December 25, 2024 at 9:05 PM
Reposted by Blair Leduc
retrocomps.bsky.social
The Tandy Color Computer 2: It's Neon Santa approved.
Tandy Christmas Ad
The Haunts of Adelaide
www.youtube.com
December 24, 2024 at 11:05 PM
Reposted by Blair Leduc
retrocomps.bsky.social
Make Christmas magic with your CoCo
Up top, the title, "Make Christmas magic with your CoCo" To the left, sale prices: Max-10, the dazzling Word Processor, $79.95, now only $34.95. CocoMax III, The Famous Graphics Creator, $79.96 now only: $39.95 Save $100 BOTH CocoMax II and Max-10 for $149.90 now only $49.95. Top right, in front of a sign reading "With every Christmas order you will receive FREE Desert Storm Game & Desert Storm Poster". Top right, image, a wizard fires off a spell that reads "School, Letters, Postcards, Home, Books, Newsletters, Reports, Pictures, Fonts, Schedules, Love Notes, Typestyles." Below, the images, it offers "The Works (CoCo Max III + Max-10 plus additional fonts)" for $79.95. Below that is dense ad copy describing the software, expansions, system requirements, and printer drivers (back when printer drivers were $14.95 and worked for one piece of software at a time). Down below are bells around the text, "Happy Holidays from all of us at Colorware," ordering information, and the Colorware logo (which is ironically black and white).
December 24, 2024 at 2:05 PM
Reposted by Blair Leduc
retrocomps.bsky.social
When Tandy cancelled the OS-9 line, fans in 1990 tried to step up. The MM/1 beat the Amiga, Mac, and most PCs on price, but with less than 500 units made - and only 8 ever sold, not including the giveaway mentioned in this ad - there was never going to be the software needed. (Source.)
A Utopian Scholastic style ad that shows a computer. The title: "For the first time, a community has banded together to design their next computer. A revolutionary new computer, conceived by you. The MM/1." Many dense articlets follow, including: Power, Support, Smart, Free, Compare, For $779, Systems, Extras, Giveaway. It's credited to Interactive Media Systems of Davidson, NC.
December 22, 2024 at 10:05 AM
Reposted by Blair Leduc
adriansdigitalbasement.com
This is the story about how the biggest CRT TV ever made was preserved and saved from destruction. A truly epic story for an absolutely epic product made by Sony during their glory years.

youtu.be/JfZxOuc9Qwk?...
What Happened to the World's Largest Tube TV?
YouTube video by Shank Mods
youtu.be
December 22, 2024 at 9:16 PM
Reposted by Blair Leduc
retrocomps.bsky.social
Getting emulation to work often takes deep dives into hardware - not just the intent, or the documentation, but the actual examination of sometimes rare and irreplacable chips. CocoTown describes this technique in DragonFire, a game for the TRS-80 that rode at the very limits of the system.
The game that broke MAME (and almost me)
Coco Town (YouTube)
www.youtube.com
December 23, 2024 at 8:05 AM
Reposted by Blair Leduc
retrocomps.bsky.social
"Another Christmas miracle..."
Apple IIc commercial (USA, 1985)
Internet Archive
archive.org
December 24, 2024 at 3:05 PM
Reposted by Blair Leduc
retrocomps.bsky.social
"This christmas, we got our son a Color Computer 3 from Radio Shack! It hooks right up to our TV, and was on sale for less than $130!"
Radio Shack Tandy CoCo 3 Commercial: Merry Christmas HQ
eware (YouTube)
www.youtube.com
December 24, 2024 at 9:05 AM
Reposted by Blair Leduc
retrocomps.bsky.social
"The Tandy 1000HX computer is a great family gift! It was sale priced - at only $499!"
Radio Shack Tandy 1000HX Christmas Commercial 1988
Grandma's VCR Tapes (YouTube)
www.youtube.com
December 25, 2024 at 7:05 PM