Retro Computing Archives

AMD’s acquisition of NexGen

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing January 15, 2026January 15, 2026

On January 16, 1996, AMD closed on its acquisition of NexGen. It was a transformational purchase for AMD, as it gave them a way ahead after AMD’s own design team struggled to create a viable competitor for Intel’s Pentium CPU. NexGen had been the first company to produce a Pentium-class CPU outside of Intel.

Dave Farquhar

David Farquhar is a computer security professional, entrepreneur, and author. He has written professionally about computers since 1991, so he was writing about retro computers when they were still new. He has been working in IT professionally since 1994 and has specialized in vulnerability management since 2013. He holds Security+ and CISSP certifications. Today he blogs five times a week, mostly about retro computers and retro gaming covering the time period from 1975 to 2000.

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NCSA: The unsung hero of Internet history

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing January 14, 2026January 14, 2026

In my mind, the most overlooked contributor to the rise of the Internet as we know it today is the NCSA, the National Center for Supercomputing Applications. The NCSA is a computing research partnership at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Research at the NCSA is the missing link between what Tim Berners-Lee was doing at CERN and Netscape, the early dotcom darling. NCSA opened January 15, 1986.

Dave Farquhar

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When Gamestop stock surged 50% for inexplicable reasons

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing January 13, 2026November 6, 2025

On January 11, 2021, Gamestop stock surged 50% out of the blue. Yes, Gamestop, the brick and mortar video game store that once had about 7,500 locations globally at its peak in 2016, but closes hundreds of locations every year. And 2021 was no exception, with about 400 closures that year. Its closures get it mentioned in the same breath as struggling retailers like Joann, Forever 21, and Macy’s. So why did its stock suddenly jump 50 percent some random day in a year that it closed 400 stores?

Dave Farquhar

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Information Superhighway enters the chat, 1994

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing January 12, 2026January 12, 2026

Al Gore didn’t invent the Internet, although that was a running joke for a decade or more. But in January 1994, my parents didn’t know what the Internet was. Most other people didn’t at that point either. Al Gore helped bring it into the public consciousness by using the phrase Information Superhighway in a keynote he delivered January 11, 1994.

Dave Farquhar

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AOL-Time Warner merger of January 2000

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing January 9, 2026January 9, 2026

On January 10, 2000, AOL dropped a bomb on the Internet, announcing its intention to acquire Time Warner, an old-line media giant, for $162 billion. It was a radical transformation for the company. But the synergies it sought never came to fruition.

Dave Farquhar

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AST Computers and AST Research

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing January 9, 2026January 9, 2026

AST Research was a high-flying brand in the early 1990s, but faded in the second half, making it a somewhat obscure 1990s computer brand. AST computers had a good following in the first half of the decade and they were generally high quality. Samsung’s April 1997 acquisition of AST gave the brand hope, but financial problems sunk the venture in 1999 and an effort to revive the brand failed in 2001.

AST Research shifted from making add-on cards in the 1980s to making entire PCs in the 1990s, but as PCs shifted to commodity parts under price pressure, AST failed to adapt. This led to a rapid decline in market share and the once-popular mass market PC brand disappeared from store shelves.

Dave Farquhar

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Amiga 500 and Amiga 2000 introduction date

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing January 8, 2026January 8, 2026

January 8, 1987 was a good day for the Commodore Amiga. It was the day the Amiga came into its own, when Commodore introduced the Amiga 500 and Amiga 2000 models at CES.

Dave Farquhar

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Amiga’s debut demonstration at CES, 1984

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing January 7, 2026August 15, 2026

At the Consumer Electronics Show on January 7, 1984, a mysterious startup called Amiga showed signs of emerging from stealth mode. At the time, Amiga was known as a producer of controllers and games for Atari game consoles and 8-bit computers. But it was a front. Their long-term plan was a revolutionary new computer that it first demonstrated at that January show.

Dave Farquhar

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Commodore 128 introduced Jan 5, 1985

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing January 6, 2026September 3, 2026

Commodore introduced its final 8 bit computer, the Commodore 128, on January 5, 1985 at the Winter Consumer Electronics Show (CES). It was an unusual and and often misunderstood machine. I have never seen another product subject to so much armchair quarterbacking. On its birthday, let’s take a look at what this computer was and why it was built the way it was.

Dave Farquhar

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Microsoft Bob: Microsoft’s biggest flop of the 1990s

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing January 5, 2026January 5, 2026

It was January 1995. Microsoft was riding high. Windows 3.1 had sold well. The interim replacement, Windows 3.11, was selling well. The industry was abuzz for the upcoming Windows 95, expected sometime later in the year. Microsoft was in a golden era, a time when nothing could go wrong for them. And then they released Microsoft Bob. They should have named it Microsoft Bomb, because it bombed. But if you take one letter out of Bomb, you get Bob. So they almost got it right.

Dave Farquhar

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