August 19th, 2024

Archiving "The Famous Computer Cafe"

The Internet Archive has digitized 53 episodes of "The Famous Computer Cafe," featuring interviews with notable figures from the 1980s, after original tapes were discovered and funded through a GoFundMe campaign.

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Archiving "The Famous Computer Cafe"

The Internet Archive has successfully digitized and made available 53 episodes of "The Famous Computer Cafe," a radio show that aired from 1983 to 1986, focusing on the emerging world of home computers. The show featured interviews with notable figures in technology and culture, including Timothy Leary, Douglas Adams, and Bill Gates. The original recordings were saved on reel-to-reel tapes, which were lost over time until archivist Kay Savetz discovered them during a property sale. With the support of a GoFundMe campaign, the tapes were professionally transferred and are now accessible on the Internet Archive. The recovered episodes provide a unique glimpse into 1980s technology and culture, and there is hope that more lost recordings may still be found. The story of the show's creation and recovery is also discussed in a podcast episode featuring insights from co-creator Ellen Fields and Savetz.

- The Internet Archive has digitized 53 episodes of "The Famous Computer Cafe."

- The show featured interviews with prominent figures in technology and culture from the 1980s.

- The original tapes were discovered by archivist Kay Savetz and digitized through a crowdfunding campaign.

- The recovered episodes offer insights into the technology landscape of the 1980s.

- There is potential for more lost recordings to be found in the future.

Link Icon 9 comments
By @jetrink - 8 months
Tip: The Internet Archive's advanced search can return results as an RSS feed, ready to import into your podcast app! Here's a feed of The Famous Computer Cafe episodes. You will need to rename it after adding it.

1. https://archive.org/advancedsearch.php?q=creator%3A%22The+Fa...

By @Ciantic - 8 months
I started to listen to Bill Gates' interview [1], just to hear what he had in mind back then. Sounded almost topical in today's world. AI was mentioned, and predicting users' input in the distant future.

Side note, archive.org has two players. The first one doesn't have a timestamp where you currently are. The second player, the Winamp clone does have it, but I don't think one can link to specific parts.

[1] The Bill Gates interview starts at 10:10 https://archive.org/details/the-famous-computer-cafe-1984-11...

By @a1o - 8 months
> Interviews in the recovered recordings include Timothy Leary, Douglas Adams, Bill Gates, Atari’s Jack Tramiel, Apple’s Bill Atkinson, and dozens of others

That's some interesting people listed.

Here's the actual archive as a note to myself to listen to it later today: https://archive.org/details/famous-computer-cafe

By @myth_drannon - 8 months
In the episode with Joel Berez (Infocom) [1], he says people spent years trying to solve Zork. Imagine saying that about a modern game.

[1] at 24:00 mark https://archive.org/details/the-famous-computer-cafe-1985-07...

By @ricksunny - 8 months
Transcript of Gene Roddenberry interview (h/t slashdot) https://archive.org/details/Gene-Roddenberry-Interview-Trans...

What kind of database could one access from a PC in 1985 from which one could learn about saltwqter crocodiles?

By @dudeinjapan - 8 months
Timothy Leary said PCs are the LSD of the 1990s. If that’s true, then AI is definitely the LSD of the 2020s.
By @butterfi - 8 months
I can’t decide if I want to hear the Douglas Adams interview, his passing still makes me sad.
By @gsck - 8 months
On a slightly unrelated note, why is that webpage so slow to load? I'm used to the wayback machine being slow, thats fair enough, but their blog?

I've not seen images load a couple columns at a time in quite a while.

By @lasermike026 - 8 months
Don't forget The Computer Chronicles.