Retro Computing Archives

First Commodore PET sold, June 5, 1977

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing June 5, 2026June 5, 2026 0 Comment

On June 5, 1977, at the summer Consumer Electronics Show, Commodore had its PET 2001 personal computer on display after showing a prototype at the January 1977 show. Chuck Peddle said Commodore took its first distributor order on that day, giving Commodore a case for being the first of the 1977 Trinity to sell a prebuilt personal computer, or at the very least, the first to demonstrate a working unit, having done so in January. It cost $495, quickly raised to $595.

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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AMD 486DX4 released June 4, 1995

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing June 4, 2026June 4, 2026 2 Comments

On June 4, 1995, AMD released its DX4 CPU, about six months after Intel released its DX4 CPUs. The AMD CPUs weren’t quite as fast as Intel’s DX4s, but they proved very popular because of their value for money. While I didn’t see AMD’s DX4 in many name-brand PCs, smaller manufacturers, especially local clone shops, sold them extensively. In the June 5, 1995 issue of Infoworld, an unnamed AMD spokesperson said they expected to sell 12 million 486-class chips by the end of 1995.

Dave Farquhar

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Cyrix 486DLC CPU: Introduced June 1992

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing June 2, 2026June 2, 2026 2 Comments

In the first week of June 1992, Cyrix debuted its 486DLC CPU. Cyrix didn’t have its own fabrication plants so they made arrangements with Texas Instruments to manufacture the chips in May 1992. Part of the agreement allowed TI to make its own derivatives of the chips. The 486DLC was really more a 386DX/486SX hybrid than a true Intel 486 clone. It plugged into a 386DX socket and had the 486 instruction set and 1K of L1 cache. Clock for clock the Intel 486 was faster, though the 486DLC had its uses.

Dave Farquhar

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Intel 8088s and non-Intel non-clones

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing June 1, 2026June 1, 2026 1 Comment

The Intel 8088 CPU made its debut June 1, 1978. It rose to fame as the CPU powering the IBM PC, PC/XT, and tens of millions of PC and XT clones from the 1980s. But did you know Intel wasn’t the only company that manufactured 8088 CPUs? No fewer than nine other companies produced exact copies of the Intel 8088, and they did it with Intel’s cooperation. In this blog post, I’ll explain why.

Dave Farquhar

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Why people say CRTs don’t have pixels

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing May 29, 2026June 14, 2026

I keep hearing people say that CRTs don’t have pixels. That is incorrect. We talked about pixels all the time in the 1980s when CRTs were all we had. In this blog post, I will try to clear up the confusion around pixels and the difference in the way CRTs and LCDs handle them.

Dave Farquhar

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DR DOS: Revenge of CP/M

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

DR DOS was a third party clone of MS DOS that developed a well-deserved niche following in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Even though it was first released May 28, 1988, its copyright date of 1976 suggests some historical significance. Indeed, it was more than just any clone of MS-DOS. Arguably it was both a clone and a predecessor. DR DOS was its own grandpa.

Dave Farquhar

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AMD K6-2 released May 28, 1998

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing May 27, 2026May 27, 2026 0 Comment

AMD launched its K6-2 microprocessor on May 28, 1998, a little over a year after its predecessor, the K6. The K6-2 built upon the K6, increasing performance to better compete with the Pentium II. Since it still used the Socket 7 architecture, a complete system based on the K6-2 could be quite a bit cheaper than an equivalent Pentium II system.

Dave Farquhar

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Bill Gates’ Internet Tidal Wave Microsoft memo

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing May 27, 2026May 27, 2026 1 Comment

30 years ago today, on May 26, 1995, Bill Gates wrote a company memo to Microsoft. It was something he did every few years, outlining the company’s top priority. But this one was different. It was a five-alarm fire titled “The Internet Tidal Wave,” warning that the Internet was going to change everything and had the potential to disrupt the current order, displacing Microsoft and other titans of the computer industry.

Dave Farquhar

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What happened to Tandy computers

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing May 26, 2026December 1, 2025 2 Comments

What happened to Tandy computers? Tandy was a pioneer in the personal computer industry, one of three companies that introduced pre-built, ready to run computers in 1977. And for about 12 years, they were a force to be reckoned with. But depending on how you count it, it came to an end in 1993 or 1995. Here’s what happened to Tandy computers and why they fell so quickly.

In 1989, the Tandy 1000 was still the best selling computer in the world but it was no longer profitable and sales were fading fast. Turnaround efforts failed and on May 26, 1993, Tandy sold its manufacturing operations to AST, another maker of PC clones.

Dave Farquhar

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Quantum Link: AOL before it was AOL

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing May 25, 2026May 25, 2026 3 Comments

I used AOL before it was AOL. And if you had a Commodore and a modem in the 1980s, you may have too. On May 24, 1985, Control Video reorganized and became Quantumlink, or Q-Link for short, on its way to reinventing itself as an online service for home computers. It opened for business November 5 of the same year.

Dave Farquhar

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