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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.

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.

Amiga’s debut demonstration at CES, 1984

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing January 7, 2026January 31, 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.

Commodore 128 introduced Jan 5, 1985

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing January 6, 2026January 19, 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 quarterback. On its birthday, let’s take a look at what this computer was and why it was built the way it was.

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.

The First Microsoft Product

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing January 2, 2026January 2, 2026

On January 2, 1975, Microsoft announced Altair Basic, their first product. It was a programming language for the MITS Altair 8800 computer, a product that let people write their own software for the new computer. The makers of the computer licensed Altair Basic on July 22, 1975, and sold $16,005 worth of product by the end of the year.

Al Alcorn born January 1, 1948

Dave Farquhar Retro Gaming January 1, 2026January 1, 2026

Al Alcorn was a New Year’s baby, born January 1, 1948. He was Atari’s first full-time engineer and an early casualty of Ray Kassar‘s management style after the Sock King took over as Atari CEO.

Arguably, Alcorn is famous for two things. He was the engineer who designed Pong, and he was also the engineer who hired a young Steve Jobs.

Windows for Workgroups 3.11

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing December 31, 2025December 31, 2025

Windows for Workgroups 3.11 was a minor-ish revision of Windows 3.1 released December 31, 1993. Windows 95 was still 20 months away and IBM was threatening to make a dent in the 32-bit OS market with OS/2, so Microsoft backported some of the Windows 95 code to Windows 3.1 to make it more 32-bit as a stopgap measure.

But the user experience overall was much more like Windows 3.1 than Windows 95. The enhancements were mostly under the hood.

What happened to Abit motherboards

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing December 30, 2025December 30, 2025

At the end of the year in 2008, one of the most legendary motherboard manufacturers of all time sadly went out of business. I am talking about Abit. What happened to Abit motherboards? A combination of factors took it down, including declining quality, loss of a key engineer, and a good old-fashioned scandal.

1984: The last perfect year for 8-bit home computers

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing December 29, 2025March 18, 2026

The Register published an article called Christmas 1984: the last hurrah for 8 bit home computers. The consensus on social media was it wasn’t the last hurrah and I agree with that. But something did change after 1984. Let’s explore why I think it’s better to call 1984 the last perfect year for 8-bit home computers.