In my mid 20s, I ran the SF Hardware Meetup, and Lee came and just told me something like: "Oh yea, I've been into hardware for a long time.", and only later did I realize who he was haha.
Like others here, I was concerned seeing his name trending here, and I'm so glad he's still alive.
Lee represents the best of mentalities of the tech scene, and I hope we can get back to a more pro-social place and away from this profit-first bubble shit.
Lee will be speaking next month in San Jose at an event for the 50th anniversary of the Byte Shop computer store. Incredible opportunity to hear from the man himself. For computer designers of the 8-bit era, I’d say he ranks next to Woz in terms of importance: the Sol-80, Osborne, Homebrew Computer Club, member of the Berkeley free speech movement. Curious to hear his thoughts on the industry today.
> Felsenstein was influenced in his philosophy by the works of Ivan Illich, particularly Tools for Conviviality (Harper and Row, 1973). This book advocated a "convivial" approach to design which allowed users of technologies to learn about the technology by encouraging exploration, tinkering, and modification. Felsenstein had learned about electronics in much the same fashion, and summarized his conclusions in several aphorisms, to wit – "In order to survive in a public-access environment, a computer must grow a computer club around itself." Others were – "To change the rules, change the tools," and "If work is to become play, then tools must become toys."
If this guy is interesting to you, I recommend "What the Dormouse Said: How the Sixties Counterculture Shaped the Personal Computer Industry"[1]. Really good computing history book, and I've read a lot of them. Lee is a major character in the book.
This was an era before my time but the book "Hackers" by Steven Levy does a great job of painting an evocative picture of this era. It evokes a feeling of nostalgia (as in, we missed being in those times) but when you think properly, you see that you still have the same types of opportunities in a field where the frontiers are ever widening.
Just recently read his memoir, "Me and My Big Ideas," which gives a fascinating look at the meeting of modern computing and the counterculture. It feels more and more important to get these stories down while we still can.
Coding on an Osbourne Executive.. portable yes, but the screen was so small, the external monitor was essential. Pick green or orange monitor phospher (very different looking). Big floppy disks and CP/M, Wordstar and .. Visi-Calc? Basic language.. authors workstation and could dial in with a modem to a BBS.
Lee is so cool and humble.
In my mid 20s, I ran the SF Hardware Meetup, and Lee came and just told me something like: "Oh yea, I've been into hardware for a long time.", and only later did I realize who he was haha.
Like others here, I was concerned seeing his name trending here, and I'm so glad he's still alive.
Lee represents the best of mentalities of the tech scene, and I hope we can get back to a more pro-social place and away from this profit-first bubble shit.
Lee will be speaking next month in San Jose at an event for the 50th anniversary of the Byte Shop computer store. Incredible opportunity to hear from the man himself. For computer designers of the 8-bit era, I’d say he ranks next to Woz in terms of importance: the Sol-80, Osborne, Homebrew Computer Club, member of the Berkeley free speech movement. Curious to hear his thoughts on the industry today.
Are you related to Paul? I noticed the last name. :)
Yep! Paul is my uncle. My parents had a franchise Byte Shop in Greensboro, NC when I was a kid.
This is so cool. How lucky to have such a close experience to that scene. I'm jealous.
> Felsenstein was influenced in his philosophy by the works of Ivan Illich, particularly Tools for Conviviality (Harper and Row, 1973). This book advocated a "convivial" approach to design which allowed users of technologies to learn about the technology by encouraging exploration, tinkering, and modification. Felsenstein had learned about electronics in much the same fashion, and summarized his conclusions in several aphorisms, to wit – "In order to survive in a public-access environment, a computer must grow a computer club around itself." Others were – "To change the rules, change the tools," and "If work is to become play, then tools must become toys."
For someone whose claim to fame was during the onboarding of the personal computer, I wish Wikipedia would provide period-appropriate images.
For example, I found this one of a younger Lee: https://archive.computerhistory.org/resources/access/still-i...
Good idea! Anyone should be able to add it if it's in the public domain.
If this guy is interesting to you, I recommend "What the Dormouse Said: How the Sixties Counterculture Shaped the Personal Computer Industry"[1]. Really good computing history book, and I've read a lot of them. Lee is a major character in the book.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What_the_Dormouse_Said
This was an era before my time but the book "Hackers" by Steven Levy does a great job of painting an evocative picture of this era. It evokes a feeling of nostalgia (as in, we missed being in those times) but when you think properly, you see that you still have the same types of opportunities in a field where the frontiers are ever widening.
Jesus Christ you just scared me. Next time, post a title like "Lee Felsenstein (is fine)," please!
Could we maybe change the title to something like "Lee Felsenstein is still alive"? I was worried when I saw the title.
i'd suggest "Lee Felsenstein turned 80 this year" :)
Good call. I would feel extremely weird seeing "[my full name] is still alive" as a title somewhere...
especially on a website formatted like a todo list :)
Oh, yeah, my suggestion was pretty dumb.
Yeah, that’s a good one. I also thought that he had passed away because of his age and how the title was not very informative.
( ;^^)b
Please, this was my first thought too.
Brother of the famous (in phylogenetics circles) Joe Felsenstein: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Felsenstein
Just recently read his memoir, "Me and My Big Ideas," which gives a fascinating look at the meeting of modern computing and the counterculture. It feels more and more important to get these stories down while we still can.
I wanted an Osborne 1 so badly when I was a kid - all that power in a handy portable suitcase form factor!
8 bit guy on YouTube has a nice three part series on restoring and demoing the Osborne 1, I watched the last part this morning.
Looked like a neat little machine but (just a little) before my time, I’d have been in nursery when it released.
Coding on an Osbourne Executive.. portable yes, but the screen was so small, the external monitor was essential. Pick green or orange monitor phospher (very different looking). Big floppy disks and CP/M, Wordstar and .. Visi-Calc? Basic language.. authors workstation and could dial in with a modem to a BBS.