Pocket Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum - This Week In Retro 267

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Sports sim pioneer Kevin Toms (Football Star* Manager) is in the guest chair as we talk about the incredible staying power of 1982's blockbuster computer launches, the Commodore 64 and Sinclair ZX Spectrum, soon to be released in handheld format. We also look at the incredible R&D legacy of Xerox PARC, the impact of the BBC Computer Literacy Project, the latest from Commodore and FujiNet, a surprising workstation on FPGA, and a great deal more!

Check out Kevin's website for the latest Football Star* Manager info: https://kevintoms.games/

00:00 - Show Opening

06:40 - 1982 In The Palm Of Your Hand
Story Link: https://www.timeextension.com/news/2026/04/the-c64-and-zx-spectrum-are-being-reimagined-as-nintendo-style-clamshell-handhelds
C64C Ultimate: https://commodore.net/c-you-soon-commodore-64-ultimate-line-up-expands-with-c64c-edition-later-this-year/

33:27 - Zero For Xerox
Story Link: https://dfarq.homeip.net/how-xerox-invented-the-gui-and-lost-it/
Dramatization: https://youtu.be/VpY2fBitQcw

43:16 - Housekeeping - News links found below

48:58 - The Trojan Mouse
Story Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZjNHnYFqOA

01:05:39 - Community Question of the Week

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This Week in Retro is a weekly roundup of the hottest stories from the world of retro gaming and computing, voted on by you, the listener! Hosted by Chris from 005 AGIMA, Jason from The Retro Adventurers and Dave. Edited by Duncan Styles.

News In Brief Links

Open source PC-DOS 1.0: https://www.zdnet.com/article/microsoft-open-sources-dos-1-0-much-more-than-the-code/

The end of Ask: https://mashable.com/article/ask-jeeves-shut-down

FujiNet firmware update:  https://fujinews.substack.com/p/major-firmware-update-from-the-fujinet

The 7th Guest remake trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwA5q-oDT3k

Windows 9x Subsystem For Linux: https://codeberg.org/hails/wsl9x

Apple Lisa on FPGA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jNQDcpHc68

Lego Sega Genesis: https://segabits.com/blog/2026/05/01/lego-sega-releasing-sega-genesis-console-on-june-1/

Galaxian3 emulator: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sH3uyB_WhEo

Episode Credits

"Commodore 16" by Marcin Wichary is licensed under CC BY 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/?ref=openverse.