Computer Chronicles, Retro Tech-TV Available on BitTorrent
Written by Ernesto on January 12, 2008Software piracy in the 80s, the early days of the Internet, the war between Netscape Communicator 4.0 and Internet Explorer 4.0, it was all covered by the Computer Chronicles. Invaluable, and most of the time hilarious historical documents, are now available for free on BitTorrent.
The Computer Chronicles is a US tv-series dedicated to technology and the personal computer, broadcasted from the early eighties until 2002.
One of my favorite episodes is the computer chronicles episode about computer piracy in the eighties, featuring Frankie Mouse, the Computer Pirate. In this episode Frankie explains what being a software pirate in 1985 is all about, while showing off with his cracked version of Apple II software.
The famous hacker John T Draper, also known as “Captain Crunch” also makes an appearance in this episode. Draper started hacking telephone lines in the early seventies, something he later taught Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak even before they founded Apple.
The Computer Chronicles collection is available in Mininova’s featured content section. Different formats and direct download links are also available in the Internet archive.
The .torrent file for this episode can be found over here (fixed). Other highlights are:
The Hard Disk (1985)
During the mid eighties applications were getting more complicated and needed more disk space. This episode reviews some of the options, hard disk drives, Bernoulli boxes and tape streamers. (torrent)
Video Game Consoles (1990)
An episode featuring groundbreaking games such as: “Defender of the Crown” on an IBM PC, “SimEarth” on Mac IIci, “Michael Jackson Moonwalker” on a Sega Genesis and “The Legend of Zelda” on a Nintendo.(torrent)
The Internet (1993)
This episode includes a preview of the World Wide Web as used at NASA, an item about the first Internet radio station, and a visit to ARPA (Advanced Research Projects Agency) where it all began. (torrent)
The Battle of the Browsers (1997)
An in depth look at some of the most sophisticated browsers in the late nineties: Netscape Communicator 4.0, Internet Explorer 4.0, VRML 2.0 and RealSystem 5.0. We know how this war ended. (torrent)
Programming Languages
An episode showing off Microsoft’s Office 2000 Developer, LEGO Mindstorms RCX Code Developer, Macromedia Flash 3.0, and Metrowerks CodeWarrior. Also a special look inside Electronic Arts to see what they use to program their latest game WWII Fighters. (torrent)
Previously: Anti-Piracy Voice-Overs to Prevent CDs from Leaking
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old Skool
1st ^_^
Downloading it. :D
computer-chronicles_HardDisk1985_256kb.mp4 won’t play in VLC/mplayer :-(
Franky’s picture says it all :)
I can’t get any of these to play with VLC, ffdshow, or even QuickTime.
soem ftp link with working encodes of piracy vid
ftp://ia300141.us.archive.org/3/items/Software1985/
[quote comment="261612"]I can’t get any of these to play with VLC, ffdshow, or even QuickTime.[/quote]
Some of the .torrent files are corrupted, I’ve replaced them with a link to the archive.org download page.
Update: all the video files play fine with VLC now!
simple solution… get MPC
I am just really shocked that vlc can’t play it vlc can handle almost anything encluding other mp4 files
From the “Piracy”
Gary Kildall says “Well Stuart, It’s a very serious issue. The problem is as a software producer you can’t tell how much your going to sell versus how much is going to be stolen. As a result the prices just go up to take care of that difference. Now if we can control piracy, we can control the customer base we’re working with and we know how many we’ll sell and the industry will stabilize at probably a low price level much like the record industry.”
Yeah….Right. Because it worked out soooo well for them. :)
Oh god.. This brings back memories.
retro piracy
What the fuck is the internet?
[quote]What the fuck is the internet?[/quote]
Dunno, something that some guy named Al Gore invented.
All of this is available via http://www.archive.org as well. Using bittorrent will likely be nicer to their servers, but any TCP port in a storm. :)
I think the piracy episode shows how the issues we are dealing with today are nothing new. Hell, 1985 was 23 years ago and they bring up the same points and issues everyone talks about today: price, backups/fair use, etc. Great episode, thanks for pointing it out.
you can get all these legally from archive.org - doh
I found it the hair style pretty hillarious. The justification of theft was amazing, breaking the law for ‘review’ copies. Notice how Mr. Mouse didn’t tell them that they tossed the software. And how Mr. Mouse showed the source code as if it was cake on a wedding day present. There is no answer to morality, other than Man’s law. In the end it all fails, and we end up with pirated birthday presents to show for our hard day at work.
knicke ptiktura ryg axmzgngh pktrs.
dearest Matt
however will I ever endeavour to know when I am ever able to understand. will it e ver ?
a wish maybe, a whole, something I can feel something eh? did u hear that! ha! ! .
sounds like good stuff..started late with computers and internet around 95 -good to see some neards back in the 80s
1 the best posts iv seen for agess!! iv never seen any of them programmes and they look good! should keep me busy for a while…. thanks
Anybody up to the challenge of putting all the episodes in the right order and creating 1 big .torrent?
“I would buy the product if the manuals and the support is sufficiently good”
Frankie Mouse nails it 20 years before the free software business model (service fees) starts gaining traction.
[quote comment="261981"]I think the piracy episode shows how the issues we are dealing with today are nothing new. Hell, 1985 was 23 years ago and they bring up the same points and issues everyone talks about today: price, backups/fair use, etc. Great episode, thanks for pointing it out.[/quote]
Some of us have been at this a looong time… :P
Anyways, if y’all are nostalgic, check out The BBS Documentary by Jason Scott (probably also available by illegal torrent.. there is a single chapter from the thing available for free, but otherwise it’s a commerical product).
http://www.bbsdocumentary.com/
Hey! That’s me acting as spokesmodel for Netsape! I don’t know exactly why, but nobody from Netscape wanted to appear on Computer Chronicles, so they asked me. I was the author of the book “Special Edition: Using Netscape Communicator”.
Hey! That’s me acting as spokesmodel for Netscape! I don’t know exactly why, but nobody from Netscape wanted to appear on Computer Chronicles, so they asked me. I was the author of the book “Special Edition: Using Netscape Communicator”.[quote comment="263084"]Hey! That’s me acting as spokesmodel for Netsape! I don’t know exactly why, but nobody from Netscape wanted to appear on Computer Chronicles, so they asked me. I was the author of the book “Special Edition: Using Netscape Communicator”.[/quote]
Here’s a link to the Computer Chronicles Collection on http://www.archive.org
http://www.archive.org/search.php?query=collection%3A%22computerchronicles%22
I remember stumbling on Computer Chronicles at Archive.org a few years ago, and was instantly transported into a world of nostalgia and computer history. It’s a great series, and whenever someone mentions something about PC’s from the 80’s and 90’s I always refer to the archive.org page.
I think I’ve downloaded most of the episodes available, and do remember being amazed at even back in ‘82, they were able to do 256 color graphics (albeit with $20K machines). Retro Tech FTW (imagine d/l that through BBS @ 1400 baud :P)
What the hell is an al gore and who is this Internet guy.
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