Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Halt and Catch Fire: The PC Wars Come to TV
Popular Mechanics ^ | June 3, 2014 | Alyson Sheppard

Posted on 06/10/2014 5:13:00 AM PDT by PJ-Comix

Oscilloscopes! Hexadecimal code! 1980s Porsches! This is the world of AMC’s newest period piece, Halt and Catch Fire, which debuted June 1 (watch the full pilot episode here). The network’s next great hope for another Mad Men or Breaking Bad, Halt dives deep into the nerdy early days of the PC, hoping Sunday night TV viewers will go as gaga for Big Blue as they did for Blue Sky.

The show transports us back to a fictional 1983, when personal computing was booming in Texas’ Silicon Prairie. We follow a slick visionary, a schmuck engineer, and a wonder-kid coder as they team up to infiltrate and subvert that world.

(Excerpt) Read more at popularmechanics.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: tv
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-43 next last
I've been watching this show but does anybody else think Cameron is incredibly annoying with her chip-on-the-shoulder "edginess?"
1 posted on 06/10/2014 5:13:01 AM PDT by PJ-Comix
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: PJ-Comix
Haha, actually I think all the characters are annoying but I thought the same of my co-workers at time.

I'm still on the fence on this one. Watching with interest but fighting the impression that it's simply Mad Men repackaged.

2 posted on 06/10/2014 5:20:14 AM PDT by Proud_texan (Strange how paranoia can link up with reality now and then. - PK Dick)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Proud_texan

Wasn’t the IBM bios code at that time written and owned by Microsoft?


3 posted on 06/10/2014 5:22:17 AM PDT by PJ-Comix (Boko Haram was enabled by Buku Huma)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: PJ-Comix
I don't think so. I looked at it pretty close and eventually the code was published in the IBM PC Tech Ref manual and it looked to be the part that IBM contributed.

On the other hand IBM got the operating system (DOS) from MS who had purchased the marketing rights from Seattle Computer Products.

4 posted on 06/10/2014 5:26:04 AM PDT by Proud_texan (Strange how paranoia can link up with reality now and then. - PK Dick)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Proud_texan
I looked at it pretty close and eventually the code was published in the IBM PC Tech Ref manual and it looked to be the part that IBM contributed.

So why would they need to "reverse engineer" it in the show?

5 posted on 06/10/2014 5:28:38 AM PDT by PJ-Comix (Boko Haram was enabled by Buku Huma)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: PJ-Comix
Copyright issues. A direct copy would have been illegal and IBM would have crushed them. If I recall correctly the clones did exactly what is described in the program; put programmers in a locked room and described a task and had them come up with a solution independent of the actual IBM solution.

And it's been a while but I seem to recall one of the more difficult parts was the section of the BIOS that read "COPYRIGHT IBM". I'm pretty sure the IBM version of DOS read the BIOS and looked for that string and if it wasn't there it wouldn't load.

But since IBM didn't have an exclusive on DOS from Microsoft it was possible for the clone makers to come out with their own versions with subtle differences thus you had Compaq DOS, etc. After a bit MS produced generic versions branded by them.

6 posted on 06/10/2014 5:35:10 AM PDT by Proud_texan (Strange how paranoia can link up with reality now and then. - PK Dick)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: PJ-Comix

If my memory serves Microsoft got it from some guy in New Mexico for peanuts.


7 posted on 06/10/2014 5:36:00 AM PDT by Portcall24 (aer)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Proud_texan
When negotiating with MS on MSDOS IBM's legal team didn't want to own MSDOS fearing liability issues so they agreed to let MS keep it and pay them a license fee for each unit.

Worse deal ever made until last week.

8 posted on 06/10/2014 5:46:50 AM PDT by AU72
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: PJ-Comix

The series is okay, not great.

It attracts those of us who had an interest in the technology of that era. My first computer experience was using a TRS-80, Model II at work. When the Dept. Head purchased the system, everyone else in the Dept was afraid to even touch it.


9 posted on 06/10/2014 5:49:34 AM PDT by TomGuy
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: TomGuy

bookmark bump


10 posted on 06/10/2014 5:53:15 AM PDT by Nowhere Man (Mom I miss you! (8-20-1938 to 11-18-2013) Cancer sucks)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: PJ-Comix
does anybody else think Cameron is incredibly annoying with her chip-on-the-shoulder "edginess?"

It's the standard in TV these days when a woman is part of the boys' club. Or law office, or precinct house, or platoon, or study group.

11 posted on 06/10/2014 5:53:58 AM PDT by Bloody Sam Roberts (Truth sounds like hate to those who hate truth.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: PJ-Comix
I'm trying to get my arms around the fact that Joe was a master Svengali in the first episode, but looked overwhelmed and directionless in the second. That really weakened the appeal of the show to me.

Cameron does come on a bit strong and irritating, but my understanding is that's a mark of a true visionary. Nothing else matters but the vision (including personal hygiene). The whole premise hinges on her, so she has to be an unpredictable wild card.

Gordon's intriguing to me. Being played as a guy who "had his shot" and lost and now relegated to performing mind-numbing work to earn a living, but there's still some gas left in his tank. I liked his transition from episode 1 to episode 2. Good to see him get his backbone back.

Still hanging in there for now, but I don't think it's ever going to rise to the level of replacing Mad Men for me.

12 posted on 06/10/2014 5:55:29 AM PDT by cincinnati65
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Proud_texan
I'm still on the fence on this one.

Me too, I haven't watched the second episode yet. I thought the pilot was decent, but not great.

Watching with interest but fighting the impression that it's simply Mad Men repackaged.

It damn sure isn't Mad Men. Mad Men had me hooked halfway through the first episode.

13 posted on 06/10/2014 5:57:00 AM PDT by wagglebee ("A political party cannot be all things to all people." -- Ronald Reagan, 3/1/75)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: PJ-Comix

In 1987 I was in a waiting for an interview. I picked up a technical news paper. One small article caught my eye. It basically said that, as soon as the South Koreans managed to reverse-engineer American desktop computers/components/software, the US prices would drop.

At the time, a complete desktop set up — computer, monitor, printer & peripherals — could easily cost over $6,000.

About 2 years later, the SK’s were importing desktop pcs and components. Prices dropped significantly. An entire system (computer, printer, monitor, peripherals) were around $3,000.


14 posted on 06/10/2014 5:57:17 AM PDT by TomGuy
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: AU72
Excellent detail, thanks.

Another bad deal is when Digital Research let the OS deal get away from them over a NDA.

It could have been a very different world.

15 posted on 06/10/2014 5:58:36 AM PDT by Proud_texan (Strange how paranoia can link up with reality now and then. - PK Dick)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: PJ-Comix

I watch the first episode and didn’t care for it, but I’m willing to give it a little longer because AMC shows start slowly. Reading hexadecimal codes from LEDs doesn’t make for thrilling TV, especially when one of the values they read was wrong (1101 is D not B).


16 posted on 06/10/2014 6:02:03 AM PDT by KarlInOhio (Republican amnesty supporters don't care whether their own homes are called mansions or haciendas.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: KarlInOhio

Watch -> watched. preview is there for a reason.


17 posted on 06/10/2014 6:07:33 AM PDT by KarlInOhio (Republican amnesty supporters don't care whether their own homes are called mansions or haciendas.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

To: PJ-Comix
IBM wrote the BIOS.

Bill Gates sold them MS-DOS, which he bought from Tim Paterson as QDOS.

IBM was originally going to license CP/M, but Gary Killdall played games with them too long and Bill stepped in.

18 posted on 06/10/2014 6:08:49 AM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum ("The more numerous the laws, the more corrupt the government." --Tacitus)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: KarlInOhio
"I watch the first episode and didn’t care for it, but I’m willing to give it a little longer because AMC shows start slowly"

"Halt and Catch Fire" isn't an area of interest for me, but I agree about some AMC shows. "TURN" started off slowly and then ramped up to become a no-miss program for me.

19 posted on 06/10/2014 6:22:36 AM PDT by CatherineofAragon ((Support Christian white males---the architects of the jewel known as Western Civilization).)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

To: PJ-Comix

I watched about 1 1/2 episodes and deleted it. I’ve had my fill of main characters who are sociopaths.

Yes the oh-so-hip Cameron was way too sure of herself and too dismissive of anything else; there was nothing I liked about her either.


20 posted on 06/10/2014 6:25:05 AM PDT by jiggyboy
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-43 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson