VCF Nerd Trivia Challenge Questions & Answers

From: Sam Ismail <dastar_at_ncal.verio.com>
Date: Sat Oct 3 20:08:25 1998

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_at_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]
Received on Sat Oct 03 1998 - 20:08:25 BST

This archive was generated by hypermail 2.3.0 : Fri Oct 10 2014 - 23:31:23 BST