Retrocomputing

Presented at The Fifth HOPE (2004), July 11, 2004, noon (60 minutes).

The focus of the Retrocomputing panel will be computing technologies from the 1980s and even earlier. Experiences involving the Altair 8800, the Apple II, and other great machines, their software, and operating systems will be discussed.


Presenters:

  • Sam Nitzberg
    Sam Nitzberg is a computer security analyst who has presented and published on subjects relating to information security, information warfare, and technology and society. His papers and presentations have been conducted in both national and international venues, and he has attended or participated in each of the HOPE conferences since their inception. His website is http://www.iamsam.com.
  • Richard Cheshire / The Cheshire Catalyst as Richard Cheshire
    Richard Cheshire is known to the hacker and phone phreak community as "The Cheshire Catalyst." He was the last editor of the legendary TAP Newsletter which was published from 1971 to 1984. At that time he hacked his way into the world Telex network but had rested on his laurels since Telex was replaced by fax and e-mail. He came out of retirement, however, to get his own area code in 1998 (http://CheshireCatalyst.Com/321/).
  • Steve Wozniak
    Steve Wozniak has a long history in Silicon Valley and is respected worldwide as a visionary and philanthropist. He built the first Apple prototype himself and later started Apple Computers. He was also a major force behind the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Steve personifies what a true hacker is and his becoming incredibly successful has done nothing to negate that. (And yes, he did build Blue Boxes and take a keen interest in phone phreaking back in the 1970s after reading that infamous article in Esquire.) Steve currently runs Wheels of Zeus (wOz) and is on the board of directors of Jacent and Danger, Inc.

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