Retro Computing Archives - The Silicon Underground

Who bought Gateway computers?

Dave Farquhar — Mon, 19 Oct 2026 11:00:17 +0000

There are two ways to look at the question of who bought Gateway computers. Who bought the company, and who bought the computers. Gateway’s computers didn’t have the best reputation, but people loved the company until they didn’t. Gateway fell

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How many VICmodems Commodore sold

Dave Farquhar — Sun, 18 Oct 2026 11:00:03 +0000

When researching the 1600 VICmodem, I found an assertion that the 1600 was the first modem to sell a million units. And I’ve repeated that claim myself at least once. But I never felt quite right about that. I am

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Intel 386 released October 17, 1985

Dave Farquhar — Sat, 17 Oct 2026 11:00:24 +0000

On October 17, 1985, Intel released its 386 CPU, also known as the 80386, and later, as the 386DX. The 386 changed the direction of the computer industry like no chip before it, and maybe since. The phrase “disruptive product”

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Spyware invented October 16, 1995

Dave Farquhar — Fri, 16 Oct 2026 11:00:00 +0000

On October 16, 1995, Roland Vossen accidentally invented spyware in a Usenet post. Well, not exactly. He didn’t invent spyware so much as he invented the term. His Usenet post contained the first recorded use of the word “spyware.” For

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What was a Token Ring network?

Dave Farquhar — Thu, 15 Oct 2026 11:00:32 +0000

What was a Token Ring network? Token Ring is an obsolete networking technology that competed with Ethernet in the 1980s and 1990s. IBM first announced it October 15, 1985. It is more of a curiosity today, as the networking standard

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When SCO fired Darl McBride

Dave Farquhar — Wed, 14 Oct 2026 11:00:08 +0000

On October 14, 2009, SCO fired its CEO, Darl McBride. Very nearly 15 years later, McBride died at the age of 64 of complications from ALS. His termination from SCO ended his time as the most hated man in technology.

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What happened to Ashton-Tate and dBase

Dave Farquhar — Tue, 13 Oct 2026 11:00:24 +0000

Microsoft Access didn’t exist in the MS-DOS era. For that matter, Microsoft wasn’t even a player in databases until relatively late in the MS-DOS era. The dominant database during most of the DOS era was a company called Ashton-Tate. They

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Nvidia’s first GPU: GeForce 256

Dave Farquhar — Mon, 12 Oct 2026 11:00:31 +0000

On October 11, 1999, Nvidia released its GeForce 256, its first product that it described as a GPU. What made the Nvidia GeForce 256 the first GPU? I’m sure 3dfx fans would argue that 3dfx made GPUs, and it seems

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Ward Christensen, telecommunications pioneer

Dave Farquhar — Sun, 11 Oct 2026 11:00:35 +0000

Telecommunications pioneer Ward Christensen was born October 23, 1945 in West Bend, Wis. He died aged 78 October 11, 2024 in Rolling Meadows, Ill., a suburb of Chicago. Christensen invented the Xmodem file transfer protocol and co-invented the bulletin board

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Commodore’s knockoff Atari joystick from 1982

Dave Farquhar — Fri, 09 Oct 2026 11:00:47 +0000

When Commodore released its VIC-20 computer in 1981, it also released was a matching joystick and paddles. Cast in white plastic like the VIC-20, the Commodore VIC-1311 looked like a two-tone Atari joystick from the same time period. And the

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