Floppy Days 165 - The Sphere Computer, Part 2 with Ben Zotto

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Tuc's Workbench - https://shop.tucs-workbench.com

Hello and welcome to episode 165 of the Floppy Days Podcast, for July, 2026. My name is Randy Kindig and I'm your host for this audio and video tribute to vintage computers and computer history.

For those of you listening to these podcasts in order, this month's episode is the second part of the 2-part series on the Sphere, which was introduced in 1975; the same year as the Altair and even before the Apple 1.

Once again, I want to reiterate what the Sphere was and why do we care? The Sphere was the first "personal computer," defined as such by Byte Magazine due to its consumer focus and built-in keyboard and monitor. Many computers can claim the moniker of first "personal computer", and rightly so, but this one has the endorsement of an early, well-respected, long-running computer magazine and they have good reason for feeling this way about the Sphere. Once you hear the details, you'll see just how ground-breaking this machine was at a very early period of computer history.

Not only that, some of the personal stories behind the machine are simply downright fascinating.

Ben Zotto is the undisputed expert on the Sphere in these times, after finding an abandoned machine sitting on the sidewalk and deciding to adopt it and learn more about it. He recently wrote a comprehensive book on the Sphere called "Go Computer Now!" that Ben and I spent a lot of time talking about in the last episode -- which again was the first episode on the Sphere. This episode series actually serves two purposes: first as an interview with Ben to learn more about him and his book, and secondly as an overview of a computer I didn't cover back when I started this podcast back in 2013 with the Altair 8800 and the Apple 1.

So, as I said earlier, this will be the second part of a 2-part journey on the Sphere. Last month we talked in great detail with Ben Zotto about how he ended up going down the Sphere rabbit hole and all the great things he's done to promote an important machine that was forgotten in the annals of history. This month, Ben and I go through all the usual topics about the Sphere: history, tech specs, using the machine, current Web sites and a great deal more.

I really hope you enjoy hearing more about the Sphere and all the things that Ben has done to fill in the gap in history that used to be occupied by the Sphere!

Vintage Computer Shows

Silly Venture SE (Summer Edition) - July 30-Aug. 2 - Gdansk, Poland - https://www.demoparty.net/silly-venture/silly-venture-2026-se
Southern Fried Gaming Expo and VCF Southeast - July 31-Aug 2, 2026 - Atlanta, GA - https://gameatl.com/
VCF West - August 1-2 - Computer History Museum, Mountain View, CA - https://vcfed.org/events/vintage-computer-festival-west/
Long Island Retro Gaming Expo - August 7-9, 2026 - Cradle of Aviation, Garden City, NY - https://liretro.com/
ABBUC Summer Camp - August 26-30 - Winterberg-Elkeringhausen, Germany - https://abbuc.de/summercamp
Vintage Computer Festival GB 2026 - September 11-13 - Aintree Racecourse, near Liverpool, United Kingdom - https://www.facebook.com/events/25457837877216829/
Vintage Computer Festival Midwest - September 12-13 - Schaumburg Convention Center in Schaumburg, IL - https://vcfmw.org/
Tandy Assembly 2026 - October 2-4, 2026 - Cincinnati, Ohio - https://www.tandyassembly.com/
Portland Retro Gaming Expo - October 9-11 - Oregon Convention Center, Portland, OR - https://retrogamingexpo.com/
Chicago TI International World Faire - October 24 - Evanston Public Library, Evanston, IL - https://www.chicagotiug.org/home
VCF Montreal - November 7-8 - Champlain College Saint-Lambert, Saint-Lambert, QC - https://cvcfed.org/vcf-montreal-2-0/
Schedule Published on Floppy Days Website - https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vSeLsg4hf5KZKtpxwUQgacCIsqeIdQeZniq3yE881wOCCYskpLVs5OO1PZLqRRF2t5fUUiaKByqQrgA/pub

Tech Specs

BASIC - https://sphere.computer/news/2026-03-28-the-secret-minicomputer-inside-your-sphere.html

Using the Machine/Tips

Popular Magazines/Newsletters

Byte Magazine - https://archive.org/details/1982-10-byte-magazine-october-1-byte-magazine-21533/1975%2009%20BYTE%2000-01%20The%20Worlds%20-%20Byte%20Magazine_21693/
Sphere Global News newsletter; put out by Sphere Corp. - https://archive.org/details/bitsavers_spherenews_1063041
Sphere Microcomputer Users' Newsletter - August 1977 - letter from Programma - https://archive.org/details/bitsavers_spherenews7_5204616

Books

Stan Veit's book - https://archive.org/details/stan-veits-history-of-the-personal-computer
Stan Veit Podcast:

Fire in the Valley - https://www.amazon.com/Fire-in-Valley-audiobook/dp/B071YYZJG5
Bill Gates' memoir "Source Code: My Beginnings" - https://www.amazon.com/Audible-Source-Code-My-Beginnings/dp/B0D5KHFN6C
Digital Deli -