VCF Nerd Trivia Challenge Questions & Answers

Here are the questions & answers that were used in Nerd Trivia Challenge at the VCF this year. The three contestants did a very good job of answering 90%+ of the questions correctly. The final question had the answer displayed along with it by accident, so we had to choose the second one, which none of the contestants got. Also, one of the questions here has an incorrect answer which one of the contestants (Kip Crosby of the Computer History Association of California) corrected on the spot. I forgot which one that was. Sorry. Otherwise, every question and answer was researched thoroughly, and the Nerd Trivia Challenge committee did a great job of coming up with a good mix of questions. The intent was to come up with challenging questions that would also serve to educate the audience on computer history. Think you have what it takes to win at next year's VCF? Start boning up on your computer history and come on out and give it a try! Note: NERD in Round 1 and SUPER NERD in Round 2 designate a wagering question (i.e. like Jeopardy and Double Jeopardy). Round 1 COMPUTING PIONEERS These two guys started their company in a Silicon Valley garage too, but way before Jobs & Wozniak. William Hewlett and David Packard started Hewlett-Packard in 1938 at 367 Addison Avenue in Palo Alto, California -- Before their operating system became the de facto standard for the PC, these two early pioneers of micro- computer software founded Traf-O-Data. Paul Allen and Bill Gates -- He wrote the technical manual for the Intel 4004 processor. His publishing company was later merged with McGraw Hill. Adam Osborne -- NERD Two of the three engineers who are credited with the invention of the transistor. Dr. John Bardeen, Dr. Walter Brattain, and Dr. William Shockley -- Which German is now recognized as having invented the first stored program computer in 1937. Konrad Zuse ----- PORTABLE COMPUTING Although not the first to market a portable IBM PC compatible computer, this company is best known for it. Compaq -- This portable computer, while not the first notebook, was very popular among members of the press. Tandy Model 100 -- The only portable computer ever sold by Commodore International. The Commodore SX-64 -- This relatively unknown portable computer, which integrated the display, keyboard and storage unit into one luggable case, beat the widely regarded "first" portable by almost 5 years. THINK! IBM 5100, released 1975, included a CRT, tape drive, and featured BASIC and APL interpreters -- This computer is regarded as the first notebook computer. Epson HX-20, released November 1981 ----- ACRONYMS The "TRS" in TRS-80 stands for this. Tandy-Radio Shack -- Xerox PARC is not a place where you go to have picnics, but actually stands for this. Palo Alto Research Center -- The Sun company name is derived from this college acronym. Stanford University Network -- What does the PDP in PDP-8 and PDP-11 stand for? Programmed Data Processor -- What the "KIM" of the MOS Technologies KIM-1 single board computer stands for. "Keyboard Input Monitor" ----- LANGUAGES COMPUTERS SPEAK This language is named after a great 16th century philosopher and mathematician. Pascal -- Dr. Grace Murray Hopper was involved in the development of this still widely utilized business programming language. COBOL -- The cursor in this graphically oriented language was replaced by a "turtle". LOGO -- This language is stack based. Its name does not designate what order it came in. FORTH -- APL stands simply for this. A Programming Language ----- COMPUTERS IN THE MOVIES What computer system did the character David Lightman use in the movie War Games? IMSAI 8080 -- What palm-top computer did John Conner in Terminator 2 use to hack the bank's ATM and then later the Skynet door locks? Atari Portfolio -- What computer did Flynn use to hack into Encom in the movie Tron? An Apple /// -- The computer that was used to render the graphics in The Last Star Fighter. Cray 1 -- The computer that was used to render the graphics in Tron. PDP-10 ----- Round 2 KILLER APPS Dan Bricklin and Bob Frankson invented this killer app. VisiCalc, released December 1979 -- It usurped VisiCalc's grip on the spreadsheet market by riding on the success of the IBM PC. Lotus 123 -- This was the first in Infocom's long line of text-based adventure games. Zork -- This popular program by Broderbund allowed you to print your own greeting cards, posters and banners. Print Shop -- SUPER NERD Broderbund means this in Norwegian. "Brother bond" (the company was founded by two brothers, Doug and Gary Carlston). ----- OLD IRON The computer game "Space War" was first programmed on this old iron. DEC PDP-1 -- When it was introduced in 1976, this legendary supercomputer was the fastest computer the world had ever seen. Cray 1 -- The first English computer to implement the stored program concept. The EDSAC, completed in 1949 [Note from Sam: This was the one. The correct answer was, um, er, uh, "BABY" in Manchester...right? :) ] -- After their involvement on the ENIAC project, J. Presper Eckert and John Mauchly went on to build this early dinosaur of computing. UNIVAC, 1951 -- This system developed by IBM and derived from the SAGE project was used by the airline industry to handle reservations. SABRE (Semi-Automatic Business-Related Environment), developed for American Airlines ----- HISTORICAL UNIX Korn, Bourne and C are all versions of this. Unix command shells -- Bill Joy authored this (in)famous Unix text editor. vi -- These two programmers developed Unix on a PDP-7. Dan Thompson and David Ritchie -- What does the "BSD" in the BSD flavor of Unix stand for? Berkeley Software Distribution -- This was the first computer not manufactured by DEC that Unix was ported to. Interdata 8/32 ----- OPERATING SYSTEMS This was the first computer to feature a graphical user interface. The Xerox Alto, created in 1973 at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center, or PARC. -- Before being acquired and modified by Microsoft for the then nascent IBM PC in 1980, MS-DOS was formerly known as this. QDOS (Quick and Dirty Operating System) by Seatle Computer Products. Also 86-DOS and SCP DOS -- Multiplexing Information and Computing Service is better known as this early operating system. Multics -- The policy of this operating system was "No advertising, no support, no bug fixes, payment in advance". Unix -- The first microprocessor-based computer to run Unix. The Z8000-based Onyx C8002 in 1980 ----- NERDPOURRI This first mass-marketed kit computer was named after the planet the crew of the starship Enterprise were visiting in that week's episode of Star Trek. Altair 8800 -- Apple's GUI-based predecessor to the Mac. While advanced for its time, it was extremely expensive, costing upwards of $10,000. Apple Lisa, released in 1982 -- Of the Apple ][, the Commdore PET and the TRS-80 Model 1, the computer which was not exhibited at the first West Coast Computer Faire. TRS-80 Model 1, introduced in August of 1977 -- This computer measured 12" wide by 12" high by 12" deep and was all black, except for the multi-colored logo. NeXT -- SUPER NERD The year and month the IBM PC was first introduced. August 1981 ----- FINAL QUESTION (voided due to technical foul-up :) COMPUTER INNOVATIONS Originally invented by IBM as a way to transfer microcode updates, this medium can be either hard-sectored or soft-sectored. Floppy disk - FINAL QUESTION (actual) SERIAL NUMBERS It was the serial number of the first Apple ][ off the assembly line. 2001 Sam Alternate e-mail: dastar(a)siconic.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ever onward. Coming in 1999: Vintage Computer Festival 3.0 See http://www.vintage.org/vcf for details! [Last web site update: 09/21/98]