The Computer Chronicles was an American television series, broadcast during 1981-2002 on Public Broadcasting Service public television, which documented the rise of the personal computer from its infancy to the immense market at the turn of the 21st century. The series was created in the Fall of 1981, by Stewart Cheifet, then the station manager of the College of San Mateo's KCSM-TV, initially broadcast as a local weekly series. Jim Warren was its founding host for its 1981-1982 season. It aired continuously from 1981 to 2002 with Cheifet co-hosting most of its later seasons. Gary Kildall served as co-host for six years providing insights and commentary on products as well as discussions on the future of the ever-expanding personal computer sphere.
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Air Date: 1984-02-05
Covers the history and ancestry of today's (1984) PC. Demos: HP 150 PC, Computer Museum, TX-1 Computer http://archive...
Air Date: 1984-02-12
The new breed of integrated software suites and the visual interface. Demos: Apple LisaVisiOn, DESQ http://archive.or...
Air Date: 1984-02-19
The computer as a creative tool used to make, display and store music. Guests: John Chowning, Stanford; Will Harvey, ...
Air Date: 1984-02-26
The use of computers to simulate various real-world environments for military, entertainment and architectural applic...
Air Date: 1984-03-04
A review of competing operating systems and their affect on software development. Guests: Gary Kildall, SRI; Tony Fan...
Air Date: 1984-03-05
A review of the new generation of word processors. Demos: Word, Vision, Writer's Work Bench Text Editor, Word Plus, P...
Air Date: 1984-03-12
Security issues related to the world's increasing dependence on information in computer networks. Demos: Digi-Link, A...
Air Date: 1984-03-19
Robotic hardware and software and robotics based applications. Demos: Hero I Robot, Teach Mover Robot http://archive....
Air Date: 1984-03-26
A look at speech synthesis and speech recognition technologies. Demos: Minolta Talking Camera, Texas Instruments Spea...
Air Date: 1984-04-02
Connecting computers, peripherals, broadband and baseband. Demos: Centralized Intelligence, Distributed Intelligence,...
Air Date: 1984-04-05
History and development of the microprocessor. Demos: AMD 2901 (4 bit), AMD 29116 (16 bit) http://archive.org/details...
Air Date: 1984-04-09
A look at the popular new software programs for business. Demos: Lotus 123, SuperCalc 3PC Talk, CrossTalk, IBM Profes...
Air Date: 1984-04-16
Floppy drives, hard drives, and bubble memory. Demos: 5 ¼ inch floppy drive, 3 ½ inch floppy drive, RCA CED videodisk...
Air Date: 1984-04-23
Printer technology from daisy wheel to dot matrix to laser. Demos: Diablo Daisy Wheel Printer, Diablo Thermal Printer...
Air Date: 1984-04-30
Mainframe and network databases for computer users. Demos: The Source, CompuServe, Dialog Information Services http:/...
Air Date: 1984-05-07
A review of computer art, graphics capabilities of computers and professional computer graphics systems. Guests: Herb...
Air Date: 1984-05-14
Expert systems software and artificial intelligence applications. Guests: Gary Kildall, DRI; Mike Thoma, Mgmt Decisn ...
Air Date: 1984-05-21
A look at health problems related to computer use such as video display radiation and repetitive stress injuries. Gue...
Air Date: 1984-06-25
A review of current popular programming languages. Guests: Gary Kildall, DRI; Paul Grady, Microfocus; Dave Eisenberg,...
Air Date: 1984-07-02
No episode overview available.
Air Date: 1984-09-28
Computers are creating an entirely new platform for playing games, between humans or between humans and computers. Gu...
Air Date: 1984-10-05
A look at the people who are driving the personal computer industry. Guests: Gary Kildall, Digital Research; Steve Wo...
Air Date: 1984-10-12
Japan's fifth generation computer project and a look at the next phase of PC platforms. Shot in Japan. Guests: Gary K...
Air Date: 1984-10-19
An early look at supercomputers in the United States and Japan. Featured guests include George Michael, head of compu...
Air Date: 1984-10-26
An early look at artificial Intelligence. Guests includes Edward Feigenbaum of Stanford University, Nils Nilsson of t...
Air Date: 1984-11-02
An early look at how computers are being used in formal education. Guests include Professor Patrick Suppes of Stanfor...