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  2. Floppy Days 133 - Grundy NewBrain History with Gerald McMullon

Floppy Days 133 - Grundy NewBrain History with Gerald McMullon

Dec 31, 2023

Grundy NewBrain History with Gerald McMullon

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0 Floppy Days Tune

1 min 14 sec Vintage Computer Ads

1 min 43 sec Intro

6 min 33 sec bumper - Gerald McMullon 

7 min 15 sec New Acquisitions

13 min 55 sec bumper - Steve O'Hara-Smith 

14 min 13 sec Upcoming Computer Shows

17 min 26 sec Interview with Gerald McMullon

57 min 51 sec Closing

Hello, and welcome to episode 133 of the Floppy Days Podcast for December, 2023.  I’m Randy Kindig, your host on this vintage computer retrospective.

Hard to believe we’re coming up on the end of 2023.  It was Feb. 2013 when I took the first halting steps in producing a podcast, so we’re coming up on 11 years of Floppy Days very soon.

We are currently covering computers that were released in the year 1982.  We are very early in that year, with lots of other computers to be covered.

This episode is about a machine that was developed in the UK.  It was pretty much unknown in the United States and even in the UK didn’t get much traction.  The machine I’m talking about is the Grundy NewBrain.  There are a lot of unique things about this machine that you’ll discover through the history episode, these interviews and the episodes that cover the details.

I’ve been fortunate enough to be able to contact a few people who were involved in the development of the machine.  I’ve published interviews so far with John Grant and Steve O’Hara-Smith.  This episode is also an interview episode, but this time with another key member in its development: Gerald McMullon.  Gerald has a lot of interesting information to share about the NewBrain, including information about its development and support of the machine after its release.

I have been able to contact some other principals in the development of the NewBrain: Basil Smith and Mike Wakefield.  Unfortunately, Basil has had a lot of recent requests for interviews, so I’m waiting in line for that.  However, should I be able to talk with Basil and/or Mike, I will of course bring all of that to Floppy Days in future episodes.

This current episode is the end of the interview episodes around the NewBrain at this point in time.  Next month, and actually likely the next 2 months, we will be covering the details of the machine such as tech specs, emulators, software, newsletters, peripherals, web sites, etc.  That will happen with a special co-host that I’m going to leave as a surprise for right now.  

New Acquisitions

Upcoming Computer Shows

Interview