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What happened to Palm Pilots?

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing April 29, 2026April 29, 2026 3 Comments

Palm was a high-flying brand in the late 1990s, creating the first really popular personal data assistant. Then it seemed to vanish almost as quickly as it came. What happened to Palm Pilots, and the company who made them? On April 28, 2010, HP acquired Palm for $1.2 billion, with big plans to use its tech to compete directly with Apple. That didn’t go to plan, so you’re not reading this on a Palm-based phone or tablet. But the tech may be hiding in plain sight elsewhere in your home.

TRS-80 Model 100

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing April 28, 2026April 28, 2026 1 Comment

The TRS-80 Model 100 was an early laptop computer manufactured by Kyocera in Japan and marketed in North America by Radio Shack. Kyocera’s own version, the Kyotronic-85, didn’t set any sales records. But the TRS-80 Model 100 and the line it spawned proved widely successful in the United States.

How Xerox invented the GUI and lost it

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing April 27, 2026March 28, 2026 2 Comments

Xerox is a company that people who want to sound smart or to sound visionary should be familiar with. In the 1960s, Xerox was a company that seemed to own the future, in a position similar to the position Apple or Nvidia are in today. The Xerox name was synonymous with photocopying. In the days before digital document retrieval, every office had at least one photocopy machine. Xerox was in the enviable position of its trademark being a verb. If I said I was xeroxing, people knew exactly what I was doing. But Xerox famously invented the GUI and got very little for its invention.

Apple IIc: A smaller, sleeker Apple II from 1984

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing April 24, 2026April 24, 2026 3 Comments

The Apple IIc was the 4th computer in the Apple II line, introduced April 24, 1984. It was a bit of a departure from the earlier Apple II machines.

The Apple II, II+, and IIe were strictly desktop computers. The system unit was a large box with an integrated keyboard and, importantly, expansion slots. The expansion slots went a long way toward ensuring the Apple II’s longevity. When you ran short on hardware capability, there were seven expansion slots to plug more hardware in to solve your problem.

The first Youtube video

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing April 23, 2026April 23, 2026 0 Comment

The first Youtube video went live April 23, 2005. Titled “Me at the zoo,” it shows co-founder Jawed Karim at the San Diego Zoo. You can still view it on the site. The same day, Youtube launched a public beta. The domain had been live since February 15, 2005. This was the humble beginning of something that changed how we watch television and how content is created and delivered.

When Escom bought Commodore

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing April 22, 2026April 22, 2026 5 Comments

Escom acquired Commodore on April 22, 1995 for $14 million. At the time, it seemed like Commodore’s long nightmare might be over. The Amiga had a new owner. Sadly, it didn’t work out that way.

Timex Sinclair 1000 computer: Revisiting its legacy

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing April 21, 2026April 21, 2026 7 Comments

The Timex Sinclair 1000 was the U.S. version of the Sinclair ZX81. Timex announced it April 20, 1982, and released it in July. It was a real computer for $99 way back in 1982. It sold 500,000 units in 1982, but only 100,000 units in 1983, so it was only on the market for about 18 months.

The Timex Sinclair 1000 sold for $99, and was the first home computer to sell for under $100. It was a very limited machine with 2 KB of RAM, a membrane keyboard, and no color or sound, and was discontinued in 1983.

Gordon Moore and Moore’s Law

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing April 20, 2026April 20, 2026 1 Comment

Gordon Moore (January 3, 1929 – March 24, 2023) was a cofounder of chipmaker Intel Corporation. He proposed Moore’s law which makes the observation that the number of transistors in an integrated circuit, or computer chip, doubles about every two years. Moore’s Law was first published April 19, 1965.

The last MP3 patent

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing April 17, 2026April 17, 2026 5 Comments

Medieval Europeans believed that the divine right of sovereignty transferred instantly from one monarch to the next upon the death of the previous one. This led to a saying, first used in 1422 in France, that translates to “The king is dead. Long live the king!” And in that same spirit, when the last patent related to the MP3 file format expired April 16, 2017, a few people said MP3 is dead, long live Mp3. And some skipped the part about MP3 living long, and just declared it dead.

Apple II announced April 16, 1977

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing April 16, 2026April 16, 2026 4 Comments

On April 16, 1977, Apple launched the Apple II, one of the first pre-built desktop computers, although it wouldn’t ship until June of that year. It went on to sell about 6 million units over the course of the next 17 years, making it the longest lived and most successful of the three prebuilt micro computers that arrived on the market in 1977.

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