The Computer Vault Podcast
Talking about the history of computers, computing and IT.
Episodes

Apr 10, 2026
Apr 10, 2026
20 min
Welcome to The Computer Vault podcast where we discuss the history of computers, computing and IT.
In this episode, we're going back to the late 1980s - a period when the personal computer industry was in the middle of a major transition. DOS had dominated the PC world for years, but it was showing its limits, and a new era of graphical interfaces was beginning to take shape. The question wasn't just what the future would look like - it was who would build it.
To explore that, we're looking at two things that came out of that moment. The first is Windows/286 - a version of Microsoft Windows released in 1988 that was designed to get more out of the Intel 286 processor. We'll look at what it actually was, what problem it was trying to solve, and what it meant for the people using PCs at the time.
The second is Presentation Manager - the graphical interface that IBM and Microsoft co-developed together for their OS/2 operating system. Presentation Manager was, in many ways, intended to be the future of computing on IBM-compatible PCs. We'll get into how it was built, how it differed from Windows, and why that divergence ended up mattering so much.

Apr 10, 2026

Apr 3, 2026

Mar 27, 2026

Mar 24, 2026
Mar 24, 2026
9 min
Welcome to The Computer Vault podcast where we discuss the history of computers, computing and IT.
In this episode, we explore the Amstrad NC100 - a portable writing and productivity machine that tried to combine the simplicity of a typewriter with the flexibility of a computer from the 1990s.

Mar 21, 2026

Mar 15, 2026

Jul 9, 2025
Jul 9, 2025
22 min
Welcome to The Computer Vault podcast where we discuss the history of computers, computing and IT.
In this episode, we explore the history of the IBM Model 650 Computer - a machine whose technological innovations, design ingenuity, and historical impact continue to inspire and educate us to this day.

Jun 25, 2025
Jun 25, 2025
24 min
Welcome to The Computer Vault podcast where we discuss the history of computers, computing and IT.
In this episode, we explore how our home television sets have evolved into powerful devices that allow us not only to watch our favourite programs but also shop, bank, and browse the wide expanse of the World Wide Web.

Jun 12, 2025
Jun 12, 2025
6 min
Welcome to The Computer Vault short podcast series where we discuss the history of computers, computing and IT in 10 minutes or less. This episode examines Netscape's bold creation of Navio, announced on June 2, 1996, as a strategic move to take on the mighty Microsoft.







