York Uni (Canada) Computer Museum Seminar - Jim Butterfield to speak March 18th

[redrumloa]

Date: Friday March 18, 2005

Time: 11am

Location: CSE 3033

Host: Stachniak

                 Computer Hobbyists of the 1970s and 80s
                           
                            Jim Butterfield

The advent of microcomputers produced an explosion of hobbyist "hackers"
who delighted in building or programming their own machines.  A little
of the history of this era is given from a personal standpoint.  A major
player was Commodore Business Machines, which had close ties to the
Toronto area. Emphasis is placed on the socialization among users;
before the popularization of the internet, this took place via
publications and user groups. Particular reference is given to TPUG, the
"Toronto PET Users Group", a central distribution point for information
and programs around the world.

Jim Butterfield is a journalist and a Toronto resident who was a prolific
author during this time. He produced a couple of technical books and a
large volume of magazine articles on the subject in question, and was
involved in a set of TVO television productions: Bits and Bytes, and
The Academy on Microcomputers.

Anyone who used Commodore computers in the 70's - 80's MUST know the name Jim Butterfield. It's amazing that Mr Butterfield is still active in the C= community. I wish this was closer, I'd go.



LINK

[TheMagicM]

yes.. how can one forget Supermon 64 and the dude that wrote it

[x56h34]

He looks like he came from the year 1900 (e.g. the sideburns and mustache). :-)

[amigaclyde]

Yes, I remember Jim, it was during my Commodore 64 years. :-)

[beller]

Good to see Jim still active in the Commodore community.  Besides being an excellent programmer and speaker, Jim is a really nice guy.  I had the pleasure of setting up a teleconference with Jim for GENIE...it was at a CBM show in SanFrancisco around '84-'85.  I lugged my trusty SX-64 to the hotel and patched thru the phone to GENIE.  I can still remember the roomful of folks we had watching the conference live in the hotel.  Luckily I didn't get stuck with the beer bill!!  

Good times! :lol:

[Ryu]

Hmm someone might want to add "CA" to the title of this thread.. I had built my hopes up in was York in the UK :-P

[redrumloa]

x56h34 wrote:
He looks like he came from the year 1900 (e.g. the sideburns and mustache). :-)

Hehe, I'd say a little earlier than that. Maybe 1880's? I think by 1900 it was more a look of the handlebar mustache :lol:

Anyhow, he seems like a great guy. You can go into comp.sys.cbm at any time and chat with him. He's still that involved in the community.