Floppy Days 168 - Interview with Harry Garland, Cromemco, Part 1

Floppy Days 168 - Interview with Harry Garland, Cromemco - Part 1

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Hello, and welcome to episode 168 of the Floppy Days Podcast, for October, 2026. My name is Randy Kindig and I'm the host of this homage to the home computer stars of yesteryear.

This month is an interview-only show, coming to you with a gentleman who, through the company he cofounded, helped define personal computers in the mid-70's and beyond, when they were just becoming a thing and the Altair 8800 was at its heyday.

That gentleman is computer pioneer Harry Garland and the company was Cromemco.

Cromemco was a pioneer American microcomputer company founded in 1974 by Stanford University graduate students Harry Garland and Roger Melen. Cromemco pioneered many incredible technological advances:

• Cyclops: Released in 1975, it was the first commercially marketed all-digital microcomputer camera.

• Dazzler: Released in 1976, it was the first color graphics interface card for the S-100 bus.

• S-100 Computers: Known for rock-solid industrial build quality, systems included the Z-1, Z-2 series (certified for use aboard U.S. Navy ships and submarines), and the multi-user System 3.

• Software: Developed CDOS (a CP/M-compatible operating system) and CROMIX, a multi-user, Unix-like operating system.

Harry will bring you stories about all these things; and a lot more!

Cromemco has been mentioned by some, along with Apple Inc., as the two main Silicon Valley companies that created the personal computer industry.

Because Harry did have so many stories, the interview went on for a fairly long period of time - long enough that I decided to break it into 2 parts. So, you'll get to hear the first part this month and part 2 next month.

Upcoming Shows

• VCF Montreal - November 7-8, 2026 - Champlain College Saint-Lambert, Saint-Lambert, QC - https://cvcfed.org/vcf-montreal-2-0/

• Vintage Computer Festival SoCal - February 20-21, 2027 - OC Fair & Events Center, Costa Mesa, CA - vcfsocal.com

• Indy Classic Computer and Video Game Expo - March 20-21, 2027 - Wyndham Indianapolis Airport Hotel, Indianapolis, IN - https://indyclassic.org/

• VCF East - April 2-4, 2027 - InfoAge Science and History Museums, Wall, NJ - https://vcfed.org/events/vintage-computer-festival-east/

• Midwest Gaming Classic - April 23-25, 2027 - Baird Center, Milwaukee, WI - https://www.midwestgamingclassic.com/

• VCF Southwest - June 25-27, 2027 - Westin Dallas Ft. Worth Airport - https://www.vcfsw.org/

• Southern Fried Gaming Expo and VCF Southeast - July 16-18, 2027 - Atlanta - https://gameatl.com/

• Schedule Published on Floppy Days Website - https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vSeLsg4hf5KZKtpxwUQgacCIsqeIdQeZniq3yE881wOCCYskpLVs5OO1PZLqRRF2t5fUUiaKByqQrgA/pub

Interview Links

• YouTube channel - https://www.youtube.com/@hgarland

• Harry Garland at Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Garland

• Cromemco at Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cromemco

• Cromemco Cyclops Camera - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cromemco_Cyclops

• Dazzler - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cromemco_Dazzler