Monthly Archives: April 2011

My Father the NASA Engineer: A Year After His Passing

Posted on April 28, 2011 by Blake Patterson

My father, James Claude Patterson Jr., died on April 26, 2010 — almost exactly one year ago. He was just shy of 83 years old. Dad was a retired NASA engineer who worked for the government space agency for 35 … Continue reading →

Posted in Just Rambling, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | 14 Comments

Laser 128: The Apple II From My Past That Wasn’t

Posted on April 24, 2011 by Blake Patterson

My first Apple was an Apple //c that I got in early 1984, right after it launched. It began my still-quite-saucy love affair with the Apple II and was just the first of many different Apple II systems I’d come … Continue reading →

Posted in Apple II | 19 Comments

My SDCard HxC 2001 Floppy Emulator Adventure

Posted on April 17, 2011 by Blake Patterson

One of the problems (and hassles) of playing with certain vintage computers today is their dependence on floppy disk media. While floppies manufactured way back when keep their bits together far longer than you might think — around 95% of … Continue reading →

Posted in Amiga, Just Rambling | Tagged , , , | 16 Comments

A Trove of Apple Promo Videos from the ’80s and ’90s

Posted on April 13, 2011 by Blake Patterson

For a few years now I’ve been sitting on two DVDs full of Apple promotional videos that someone put together and auctioned on eBay. Happily, most of the content was new to me. The videos promote various Apple systems, primarily … Continue reading →

Posted in Apple II, Handhelds, Macintosh, Other Platform | 22 Comments

Engineer Dave Haynie Auctions Off Rare Commodore and Amiga Prototypes to Fight Breast Cancer

Posted on April 12, 2011 by Blake Patterson

Former Commodore engineer Dave Haynie is auctioning off some extremely rare Commodore and Amiga prototypes to help in the fight against cancer. From his “Haynie’s Garage” posts on eBay: I have collected up a bunch of items from my days … Continue reading →

Posted in Amiga, Commodore 64/128 | 3 Comments