- vcf-midatlantic - lists.vcfed.org

Object Photography
by william degnan 28 Dec '17

28 Dec '17

Object photographs of old vintage cards and parts that you might like. http://vintagecomputer.net/browse_thread.cfm?id=711 (link at the bottom of the page to the complete set) I did not identify them. Some I know what they are, some I do not. I am most curious about the tube modules, where they came from. I will eventually figure it out, but tips/speculations are welcome. Bill

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looking for specific S-100 chassis
by Dave McGuire 28 Dec '17

28 Dec '17

Hey folks. I'm looking for an Electronic Control Technology (ECT) model TT-10 S-100 enclosure. I realize this is a long shot, as there aren't many of these around, but would anyone here happen to have one that they might be willing to turn loose of? Thanks, -Dave -- Dave McGuire, AK4HZ New Kensington, PA

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Zurich Vintage Computer Festival?
by Jeffrey Jonas 28 Dec '17

28 Dec '17

I wish I had a way to attend: Vintage Computer Festival Z\xc3\xbcrich, 18-19 Nov. 2017 It's VCF time again in Switzerland! https://vcfe.ch/doku.php https://www.facebook.com/vcfe.ch/

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Still needed: nice office chair, drafting stool
by Evan Koblentz 28 Dec '17

28 Dec '17

Someone's got to have these, or have spares which could be liberated from their job's office manager .... we need a modern desk chair (black/chrome), arms, adjustable height, etc. ...... and we need a drafting stool (for the workbench), also matching black/chrome. Currently our workshop has some beat-up ugly blue desk chairs which match nothing and are not comfortable.

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Correction -- Semi-OT: Annual post: what tech did ya get?
by Neil Cherry 28 Dec '17

28 Dec '17

I've gotten several DC-DC supplies, several V/I/P displays, a couple of I2C V/I/P measurement boards (for solar experitments) and an Einstein robot (combination of a RoboSapien and a Google Home). -- Linux Home Automation Neil Cherry ncherry(a)linuxha.com http://www.linuxha.com/ Main site http://linuxha.blogspot.com/ My HA Blog Author of: Linux Smart Homes For Dummies

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Long museum report
by Evan Koblentz 28 Dec '17

28 Dec '17

Very busy day! Jeff B. couldn't make it today, so Adam and I went to tackle as much as possible. We arrived around 11am and focused on cleaning up from yesterday. Then we test-fitted some things in the first of the two new display cases -- blue box, 6501, Pennywhistle modem with a desk phone, early-model USR modem, and the Popular Electronics "Digital Logic Microlab" kit from 1970. We need to get more clear plastic stands (in various sizes/shapes) to hold things at angles on shelves. Jim S. wasn't able to attend Festivus due to snow, but he visited today with his extended family for a full tour. I gave the tour for a solid hour. Tony arrived at the same time to make some repairs on our straight Apple II. We needed some things moved to the warehouse, so Adam and Tony did that (convenient due to Tony's cargo van!) while I gave the tour to Jim & family. There were a few other groups of visitors too. Visitors continued on-and-off until 5ish. Tony successfully revered the II to its default Integer BASIC. It had been set up to load Applesoft BASIC off a card, which is useful but hardly stock. Now it's stock, but we can still load Applesoft when needed.... so basically he reversed the default option. He also cleaned more parts of the computer inside and out. Adam and I test-fitted some things into the second new display case. The top shelf will have some handhelds, but for now it's empty -- we'll get to the handhelds on a warmer day with more sunlight in the warehouse. We decided to put some game consoles on the bottom three shelves -- Atari Pong, Magnavox Odyssey, and Fairchild Channel F. The VCFed collection includes both an Odyssey and F both practically new-in-box! No, they're not playable by the public ... these are in a locking display case. I snuck in a personal project. I wanted us to have a small microwave in case I ever get a craving for popcorn or whatever. :) I brought in a microwave from my former apartment; didn't need it anymore because my new place has one already. But my old microwave is too big to fit in our workshop. So I traded it to Roddy (art guy across the hallway from our museum) for his smaller one. And yes, I put in our rack -- I figure the once every few months we actually use the microwave for a few minutes won't hurt anything. Problem was, the smaller unit is silver which stuck out like a sort thumb through our dark-gray mesh rack door. And it turns out VCFed recently became the owner of a big roll of black duct tape... you all see where this is going, right? Turns out it worked VERY well! I covered all the exposed silver panels in black duct tape. It may look silly from a few inches away with the door open, but it camouflages perfectly from a few feet away with the door closed. Don't laugh until you see it! It worked out pretty well. Now it's a stealth microwave... Adam and I also put a second layer of black paint on the luan (thin wood) backings that Jeff and I made yesterday for the display cases, because we don't want people seeing the ugliness behind each cases (they're glass on all four sides). Yesterday we used cheap spray paint; today we used flat-black regular paint with a brush. Huge improvement! Left it there to dry and I'll attach the backings this Saturday. Bill I. also stopped by around lunchtime and hung out with us for a while. Bill, Adam, Tony, and I engaged in the VCF lunchtime ritual pizza, thus making it a sanctioned gathering (or something like that). About that desk we're seeking: Martin thinks there is one in an Infoage build that we cannot access, so I'm having someone else check for us. Sooooo...... very good and productive day.

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Correction -- Semi-OT: Annual post: what tech did ya get?
by Evan Koblentz 28 Dec '17

28 Dec '17

I hit 'send' too soon. Sorry. Corrected post: ----------------------- It's always fun to hear what tech toys (vintage computing or not) everyone got for the holidays, whatever you celebrate. For me it was just buying a box of NOS floppies from Glitch back at Festivus :) and a pair of running shoes (not technical, but expensive!) However I'm very excited about some new toys which may be museum-bound!!!! I can't announce them until January, sorry. :)

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Needed: gray metal teletype stand/table/desk
by Duane Craps 27 Dec '17

27 Dec '17

The third page of this document shows the original type desk http://bitsavers.trailing-edge.com/pdf/univac/military/1532/OA7984_CHAPTER_… Duane On 12/26/2017 9:03 PM, Evan Koblentz via vcf-midatlantic wrote: > Everyone, > > We're still looking for an appropriate desk, stand, table, etc. to use > with the Univac. It needs to be metal, and ideally painted gray but we > could always paint it by ourselves. Of course it needs to be strong > enough to hold the 1960s teletype, but it shouldn't be too large -- we > do not want a big desk there, just something maybe 2-3 ft. wide. We > need this relatively soon. It should be in good condition (nothing > rusted, in need of repair, etc.) and have a period 1960s look. > -- Duane Craps sdɐɹɔ ǝuɐnp

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another reason to appreciate vintage computers
by Jeffrey Jonas 27 Dec '17

27 Dec '17

I forgot how good or bad the Apple Lisa was for kybd-to-input response but it was slower than molasses in the winter for printing :-( This was just rediscovered by boingBoing: Latency: why typing on old computers just feels better https://boingboing.net/2017/12/26/latency-why-typing-on-old-com.html

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museum report
by Evan Koblentz 27 Dec '17

27 Dec '17

Jeff B. and I used Tony's van to pick up two new display cases this morning. Same brand/style as the larger UNIVAC display case that we bought last time, except these are each 18x18 (x72 tall) vs. 40x18. Then we spent all afternoon moving some things around in the microcomputer side of the museum. We're not done, but we called it a day around 7pm. When finished we will be able to display certain things that we couldn't safely display before, such as the blue box and 6501 kit. We'll be back at it tomorrow along with Adam. ________________________________ Evan Koblentz, director Vintage Computer Federation a 501(c)(3) educational non-profit evan(a)vcfed.org (646) 546-9999 www.vcfed.org facebook.com/vcfederation twitter.com/vcfederation instagram.com/vcfederation

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Correction -- Semi-OT: Annual post: what tech did ya get?
by Mike Loewen 26 Dec '17

26 Dec '17

> On Dec 25, 2017, at 9:25 PM, Mike Loewen via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic at lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> wrote: > >> On Mon, 25 Dec 2017, Evan Koblentz via vcf-midatlantic wrote: >> >> I hit 'send' too soon. Sorry. >> >> Corrected post: >> >> ----------------------- >> >> It's always fun to hear what tech toys (vintage computing or not) everyone got for the holidays, whatever you celebrate. >> >> For me it was just buying a box of NOS floppies from Glitch back at Festivus :) and a pair of running shoes (not technical, but expensive!) > > I just received a HP 82901M dual-floppy drive to go with my HP 87XM: > > http://www.hpmuseum.net/display_item.php?hw=287 > > Haven't had a chance to try it, yet. > Oh yeah, I also just received one of David Gesswein's MFM hard drive emulators. Looking forward to trying it out on my old Tandy 6000HD, and attempting to image the hard drive in my most recent 6000HD. Mike Loewen mloewen(a)cpumagic.scol.pa.us Old Technology http://q7.neurotica.com/Oldtech/

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Museum inventory database software
by Evan Koblentz 26 Dec '17

26 Dec '17

We're looking for recommendations for an inventory database system. Here are the requirements in no particular order. - Resides online so we can view/update it over the internet (awesome if we could view/make changes via smartphone browser, etc.) - Secure + password-protected from prying outsiders (we're not interested in telling the world what we have at this time) - Evan-usable GUI for when we need to customize the fields/hierarchy (we don't want to have to rely on anyone for this) - Not a kludged-together homebrew thing that only the builder can use (we know you can all make a LAMP stack, that alone isn't the solution) - Commercial "cloud" services are fine, but nothing too expensive (f it works and it's reasonably priced, then I don't care if they use Microsoft...) - Nothing hosted on the accounts/servers of individuals/other groups (VCF is a real organization, we need to keep things under control) - We need something relatively soon. This can't be a slow-moving project that gets 75% implemented in six months. - There are open-source museum applications, but they seem way too big/complicated for us. All constructive recommendations are welcome within these requirements. I saw a company called Airtable which might meet the requirements, but I didn't quite understand how to use it. Granted my only hands-on database experience was Appleworks back in the 7th grade. :)

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OT: need help upgrading Linux gadget firmware
by Evan Koblentz 26 Dec '17

26 Dec '17

This has nothing to do with vintage computing. I wear a Garmin GPW watch when I'm running. The model is Forerunner 15 with version 2.40 of their firmware. The latest firmware is version 2.70. Officially, they require Windows software Garmin Connect to download the firmware and synchronize it to your device. Garmin Connect in turn requires a late-model version of .NET Framework. I couldn't get .NET Framework to install in WINE, so I started Googling for manual upgrade methods. I found a few relevant posts: https://forums.garmin.com/forum/into-sports/running/forerunner-620-aa/70154… https://forums.garmin.com/forum/into-sports/cycling/edge-520-aa/125491- Both posts indicate a method of downloading the firmware file manually (done), changing it from (filename).rgn to gupdate.gcd, attaching the watch via its USB charging gadget to your computer, putting the file in the right directory, dismounting the device from Linux, and rebooting the device. Easy enough ... except nothing happens when I reboot the watch and its settings menu still shows version 2.40. There are posts about editing out part of the file using a hex editor, for example, post #6 in the first link that I put above. I downloaded a hex editor and can see the data but I have no clue how to use it. The file is on my personal site: http://www.snarc.net/forerunner15_270.rgn Lil' help?

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OT: give me your unwanted and unloved printer/scanner, your laser printer yearning to be free
by Jeffrey Jonas 25 Dec '17

25 Dec '17

'tis the season for upgrading your computers. My color printer/scanner is on its last legs. If anyone has a spare, please think of me. Similarly, my laser printer misfeeds despite cleaning the roller and pads. thanks, and see you on Sat at the workshop! -- Jeff Jonas

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museum report - Sat. 12/23
by Evan Koblentz 24 Dec '17

24 Dec '17

I went to the museum yesterday. There were three groups of visitors on campus. One group (a family of nine people spanning three generations) spent about 30 minutes in our section, seemed genuinely interested, asked good questions, etc., so that was good. Then I had some downtime, so I made an improvement to the Lego robot. :) The big front gears driving each tread kept spreading off their axles when the robot turned left/right. I installed a guard on each side to stop that problem. Closed and left at 3:30 because I had a family Chanukah party to attend. InfoAge is closed today and also closed next Sunday for new years. ________________________________ Evan Koblentz, director Vintage Computer Federation a 501(c)(3) educational non-profit evan(a)vcfed.org (646) 546-9999 www.vcfed.org facebook.com/vcfederation twitter.com/vcfederation instagram.com/vcfederation

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Reproduction IO-2 Prototypes In
by systems_glitch 24 Dec '17

24 Dec '17

pictures: https://imgur.com/a/MbmWO Three days late due to Christmas shipping madness! Assembled one this morning, works fine. I think the blue solder mask effect is decent. Probably put together a run with hard gold plated edge connector on the next paycheck. Thanks, Jonathan

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February workshop vote
by Jeffrey Brace 24 Dec '17

24 Dec '17

Vote for February 17 or March 3.

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ADM-3A repaired
by Paul Rickards 23 Dec '17

23 Dec '17

Hi Folks, I picked up a LSI ADM-3A from the lot that Jonathan brought to Festivus this year. I posted the repair progress as a thread on Twitter for all to see. https://twitter.com/paulrickards/status/941494883247968257 Hope it helps someone else in their repairs. Cheers, Paul

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Philly HP Handheld Club:their archive/library?
by Jeffrey Jonas 23 Dec '17

23 Dec '17

The Philadelphia Area HP Handheld Group were regularly at the TCF (Trenton Computer Fest) in the 80s. I have a few of their newsletters and a videotape about the HP 28C. Does anyone else have any? I found their web site http://www.pahhc.org/pahhc.htm I guess I ought to buy the PPC DVD!

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semi OT: looking for English manual for slide rule: A.W.Faber-Castell 152/81 Novo-Mentor
by Jeffrey Jonas 23 Dec '17

23 Dec '17

My A.W.Faber-Castell 152/81 Novo-Mentor slide rule came with a Swedish manual. (I bought it at a thrift shop) I'd love an English manual. Google keeps pointing me to a pay-site with no preview, so I'm unsure they really have the manual at all. Does anyone have one or know of a better source?

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] D-I-Y slide rule display case
by Jeffrey Jonas 23 Dec '17

23 Dec '17

Todd George noted > Cheap white LED strips in large quantities available via eBay! But there are several variables 1) how many emitters per inch. The more the merrier 2) what color? 2700K cool white is the most popular LED but perhaps a warm-white around 3500K would be better for those with the yellow slide rules. alternate sources: Ikea has clever LED lighting but not as many emitters per inch. Staples sometimes sells locker LED strips. Battery powered!

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Glitchwrks.com is down?
by Henry S. Courbis 23 Dec '17

23 Dec '17

Jonathan! Sites down I believe. http://www.glitchwrks.com PS - I have some proto card for you. :-) Henry S. Courbis Office Toll Free: (800) REACTIVE (732-2848) Office/Mobile Direct: (856) 779-1900 www.ReActiveMicro.com <http://www.ReactiveMicro.com> - Sales, Support, and News, Our Headquarters on the Internet ReActiveMicro.com/wiki - Support, Software, Manuals, and History. Create your own page today! Facebook.com/reactivemicrousa - Our Social Media Outlet and Support

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Need someone for InfoAge front desk
by Jeffrey Brace 23 Dec '17

23 Dec '17

All InfoAge groups are now required to cover the InfoAge front desk each Sunday in a rotation. It is VCF's turn. I need to be docent at VCF. I can't do both at the same time. It's a pretty simple job. I've tried for weeks to get someone to take this, but have been so far fruitless. If you are interested and available, then please e-mail me privately.

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VCF East -- May 18-20
by Evan Koblentz 23 Dec '17

23 Dec '17

VCF East will be May 18-20. Three reasons: Better weather, not too close calendar-wise to VCF SE, more planning time for us after VCF PNW. Off-campus lodging rates will likely be higher because of tourist season which official begins the following weekend, but I'd book now if I were you. Just like last year, on-campus lodging (barracks style) will be available for $25/night/person EXCLUSIVELY for exhibitors, authorized volunteers, speakers, etc. We considered adding a second day of classes (Thursday) but Infoage management said no. No other details available at this time. ________________________________ Evan Koblentz, director Vintage Computer Federation a 501(c)(3) educational non-profit evan(a)vcfed.org (646) 546-9999 www.vcfed.org facebook.com/vcfederation twitter.com/vcfederation instagram.com/vcfederation

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Byt-8
by Evan Koblentz 23 Dec '17

23 Dec '17

I know a few people on our list have Byte Shop Byt-8 computers. I happened to be emailing with store owner Paul Terrell recently. I asked him who did the system design, and thought some of you would be interested in his response: "My next door neighbor in San Jose was a design engineer for IBM at their Los Gatos Labs and he did the design work for the Byte 8 CPU card and front panel board with the led lights and switches and one uped the Altair front panel with some extra debug features. He transferred to their Tuscon office and I heard he had passed away." ________________________________ Evan Koblentz, director Vintage Computer Federation a 501(c)(3) educational non-profit evan(a)vcfed.org (646) 546-9999 www.vcfed.org facebook.com/vcfederation twitter.com/vcfederation instagram.com/vcfederation

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] D-I-Y slide rule display case
by VAXman＠tmesis.org 23 Dec '17

23 Dec '17

Jeffrey Jonas via vcf-midatlantic writes: >How to show off slide rules in style! > >http://www.stefanv.com/calculators/a-display-case-for-my-slide-rule-collect… FYI, those of you without wordworking tools or skills as described in Jeff's link, big chain hobby stores like Hobby Lobby do sell large shadow box frames should you wish to display your slide rules or any other 3D items in similar fashion.

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9000/300 available (fwd)
by Herb Johnson 22 Dec '17

22 Dec '17

J. Alexander Jacocks (Alex) did acquire those HP 9000's and brought a few to Festivus. I want to acknowledge and thank him for his efforts. I was one who acquired a 9000/300 and a hard/floppy drive. VCFed Museum got a set also, as did others. Not a big priority for me, but I used HP computing equipment in the era, I have a number of HP test equipment items, and so on. Alex particularly worked hard at my request, to try to generate a boot floppy during the event. I literally had to pry his fingers from his laptop, as he tried to get 21st century technology to generate 1980's 3.5" floppies. My "cave man" needs were simply to see the floppy drive acknowledged during boot-up. Since the event, I got the hard drive - old MFM 5.25 inch drive - to operate; the system comes up in BASIC. I have two 800K floppy drives working (a third has a broken head). I'm hampered in looking it over, by the lack of a proper monochrome monitor. It's a composite video, my guess 30Khz horizontal rate. I'd like to obtain a monitor, or futz with some other monitor. So I'd like to know the scan rate and other video-format data. Again, my thanks to Alex Jacocks. Herb Johnson Herbert R. Johnson, New Jersey in the USA http://www.retrotechnology.com OR .net

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BlockChain Filing / Akin to Bitsavers
by Herb Johnson 22 Dec '17

22 Dec '17

Bill Inderrieden's post was subject'ed by "digest" - he answered a digest email, not an individual email. So I chose to reply with a proper subject-line. HIs post was: Thu Dec 21 13:51:11 EST 2017 To The Guys: Degan, Jonas, Johnson and Oprysko. And all others listening and interested. In a non related search of other stuff, I came across this, which I had not seen originally on the [PBS] News Hour. https://www.pbs.org/video/an-archive-preserving-the-fragile-history-of-the-… It shows what is being done out in CA, concerning constructing a complete digital library archive of the human knowledge, formidable task to be sure, and addresses (not yet completely solved) how to access the knowledge base in "50 let alone 500 years". The technology we all play in is so fragile! Both hardware and software!!! Runs 10min with a intro advert for a Broadway production of Shakespeare's Farinelli and the King, that you have to sit through. Bill Inderrieden --------------------------------- The interview was aired 01/02/17, an interview including Brewster Kahle of the Internet Archive, Jeffrey Brown reporter. The video of Kahle shows a stack of servers in some former San Fransisco church. It's worth viewing to see the facility. One row of four hard drives, says Kahle, represents "all the words in the Library of Congress". The Web is fragile, says the narrator Brown, because links break, documents are edited or removed, owners shut down their sites. Others interviewed say, computers & storage break and become obsolete. Mr Peabody is cited as the inventor of "the Wayback Machine" (look it up, millennials). "what the archive saves, is based on popularity" (narrator). (sigh) A million flies...."why aren't all the books digitized?" (Kahle). (sigh, because we are capitalists). And by the way: in looking up Kahle, I came across the Internet Archive Blog, and his remarks of Feb 2 2017 on "micropayments". https://blog.archive.org/2017/02/02/micropayments-to-archive-org-by-using-t… which 1) goes to recovering costs by a mechanism of micropayments from certain Internet Archive readers and 2) goes to a reference to my old mentor, and former New Jersey resident, Project Xanadu's Ted Nelson. He's widely credited for associating micropayments with hypertext (he coined the term). also 3) it mentioned bitcoin which is akin to blockchain, a technology in discussion. Please note: this is what curation looks like. Herb Johnson -- Herbert R. Johnson, New Jersey in the USA http://www.retrotechnology.com OR .net

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Could a Blockchain based file system be the answer!
by Herb Johnson 22 Dec '17

22 Dec '17

First, responding to comments to my comments. Clearly I know nothing about bitchain and torrent, so I won't comment further on those technologies. "Herb is curmudgeonly about this" - acknowledged, I did call myself "stone-age" for a reason. "hammer looking for a nail" seems to be an acknowledged call. My comment on the Internet Archive was misread a bit. It collects the first few "layers" of Web content - not all of a site's files are preserved. Hence "wide not deep". If that changes, bless 'em and our good fortune. On the issues - which to me are about content and acquisition. The discussion is about technical methods and their merits. That's fine. A claimed motivation is "lost archives", which is or was an issue. Many online archives become replicated now, some people like doing that, they often claim "duplication is preservation". Replication solves the problem. As on-line technology is getting cheaper and faster and bigger - I'm just not worried about the technical details or costs; for others that's their interests, and that's fine. My worries, and Dave McGuire and others echos these, are motivating *people* - to preserve content in the first place, to contribute to those who ARE preserving and who need support ($$$, show-of-interest, provide more content). I also worry about archiving institutions; they have merits and issues, that's another discussion. And I worry about "curation" - how to represent a thing, give it a context, a history. As Dave McGuire said, short-attention and narrow interests are problems. Blockchain doesn't help us with block-heads, or about simple ignorance of the past, or with efforts to acquire and digitize. Or, with preserving artifacts and not just content. (shrug) but those are other discussions. Herb -- Herbert R. Johnson, New Jersey in the USA http://www.retrotechnology.com OR .net

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D-I-Y slide rule display case
by Jeffrey Jonas 22 Dec '17

22 Dec '17

How to show off slide rules in style! http://www.stefanv.com/calculators/a-display-case-for-my-slide-rule-collect…

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Re: Digest, Vol 26, Issue 19, BlockChain Filing / Akin to Bitsavers
by svcatitc＠aol.com 21 Dec '17

21 Dec '17

To The Guys: Degan, Jonas, Johnson and Oprysko. And all others listening and interested. In a non related search of other stuff, I came across this, which I had not seen originally on the News Hour. https://www.pbs.org/video/an-archive-preserving-the-fragile-history-of-the-… It shows what is being done out in CA, concerning constructing a complete digital library archive of the human knowledge, formidable task to be sure, and addresses (not yet completely solved) how to access the knowledge base in "50 let alone 500 years". The technology we all play in is so fragile! Both hardware and software!!! Runs 10min with a intro advert for a Broadway production of Shakespeare's Farinelli and the King that you have to sit through. Bill Inderrieden

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Could a Blockchain based file system be the answer!
by Herb Johnson 21 Dec '17

21 Dec '17

> Internet Archive and the like are great resources, > and I support their works, but they are still a "cathedral entity." If they > disappear, we lose a LOT! If for some unfortunate reason they collapse, > we're stuck with a lot of rebuilding of the archive as a community. > Volunteers keeping torrents would not only distribute many recoverable > duplicates of the overall content, but will also allow for a quick recovery > of the whole. I don't understand "torrents", and don't need to. They seem to amount to copying and Web distribution of archived content in an active real-time way. Seems to me, there's no shortage of people who are obsessed with copying vintage archives and making them available - their way. Whatever technology they choose to that end, is up to them. That said, others say "I won't bother to obtain this manual, someone else has preserved it". A problem of excess. And access to Web servers has never EVER been cheaper - skip some business lunches and pay for a year. (Funding was part of the original post.) Ask some users to donate some dollars - and we as users *should* make those contributions, to guard against the "fall of the Cathedral". Note: the Internet Archive "is a mile wide and an inch deep". It doesn't save enough, for the purposes of this discussion. Torrents, blockchain, distributed file systems - all "hammers" looking for a "nail", in my opinion as an engineer among other engineers. I'm scanning manuals and making them available, thank you, and I have my own tools. When my "cathedral" falls, the people who got my content, will resurrect it; and I may provide for other "cathedrals" too; and for what was in mine. Thanks for reminding me of this issue. Herb Johnson -- Herbert R. Johnson, New Jersey in the USA http://www.retrotechnology.com OR .net

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Strange 8" drive
by Herb Johnson 21 Dec '17

21 Dec '17

>>> Matt Patoray >>> I was looking at an issue of RCA "Broadcast News" from December 1975,... >>> picture of the main rack mount unit shows an 8" floppy drive,.... Page 52 of the PDF (50 of the magazine) shows a photo of a floppy drive with a simple lever for a drive-eject. Probably a hard-sectored drive, produced by one of any number of 8-inch drive manufacturers of the mid-1970's. I "cover" the oldest floppy drives and controllers on my Web site, because Dr Gary Kildall and Dr. John Torode produced a floppy controller running CP/M in early 1974. The natural question is, what other floppy controllers were around at that time? They were non-microprocessor based controllers, intended for minicomputers or the earliest microprocessors. http://www.retrotechnology.com/dri/first_floppy.html Sykes and ICOM and others produced drives and controllers in the era. A look through ComputerWorld or other computer-trade magazines of 1975 and earlier may find an identifying ad for the RCA-used floppy drive. Herb Johnson -- Herbert R. Johnson, New Jersey in the USA http://www.retrotechnology.com OR .net preserve, recover, restore 1970's computing email: hjohnson AT retrotechnology DOT com or try later herbjohnson AT retrotechnology DOT info

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Strange 8" drive
by Matt Patoray 21 Dec '17

21 Dec '17

I was looking at an issue of RCA "Broadcast News" from December 1975, in it they show the RCA Video IV CG system for broadcast television use. A picture of the main rack mount unit shows an 8" floppy drive, the likes of which I have never seen. I will try and attach a picture of the drive. Any help would be appreciated. [image: Inline image 1] -- Matt Patoray Owner, MSP Productions KD8AMG

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Could a Blockchain based file system be the answer!
by Joseph Oprysko 20 Dec '17

20 Dec '17

In regards to the old media that needs to be digitized and stored for posterity, if there was a blockchain based file system, in conjunction with a crypto-currency token, I’m thinking that something like that could create a permanent and immutable storage-space, where all software is archived, and available for all time (or as long as computers are still a thing). If anyone has ideas or experience in working with blockchain code and building upon it, I believe that something like this could ensure that software doesn’t “disappear” again. Because even if someone had a server with copies of all of the old software, it still ends up as a single point of failure, if that machine gets wiped/hacked/etc. But having that same data-store on a distributed blockchain based file system, there no longer is that single point of failure. Even more robust than storing it on Google’s or Amazon’s storage. Yes, I know there are literally thousands of various crypto currencies out there, and if not marketed right, it could potentially fall by the wayside. The way I see this working on the file system level is that people will allocate a portion of their hard drive storage to the project. The people who allocated storage would be compensated over time with the crypto currency of the project. It would be an encrypted and possibly sandboxed storage subsystem, to prevent malicious software from affecting their machines. There may also be compensation when that data is accessed, regardless of if it’s a read or write. There would be multiple, identical copies of the various data spread across all of the machines in the network. That way if a machine is down, there are other sources for the file. This is really a rough idea at this point and likely needs significant “polishing” before the project is even to the starting gate. If there’s interest in pursuing a project like this, email me off list, and we’ll coordinate and communicate on either a different email list or some other platform. Thanks, Joe O. -- Normal Person: Hey, it seems that you know a lot. Geek: To be honest, it's due to all the surfing I do. Normal Person: So you go surfing? Normal Person: But I don't think that has anything to do with knowing a lot... Geek: I think that's wrong on a fundamental level. Normal Person: Huh? Huh? What?

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Re:Digest, Vol 26, Issue 15 Message 2 "Adjunct to Bitsavers"
by svcatitc＠aol.com 20 Dec '17

20 Dec '17

This cannot be stressed enough to make today's data available, (AND READABLE) for the coming generations. This is continuing NEW news! PBS once had a (Frontline I think) piece on "Our Fading Past" in which the cameo presentation was on NOAA's 7 track tape data debacle. Nobody makes 7 track drives anymore and NOAA has had to resort to dredging (like we do) junkers from the boneyards, restoring them and getting them to read the old stored data. NOAA engineers devised a program to rewind the tape and reread the data if it found dropouts (of which there were many). The presentation showed rows of drives backing up and moving forward in the attempt at rescuing the "fading past". The back and forth movement of the drives trying to reread data was nicknamed "Maytagging" by NOAA engineers. THANK YOU Mr Jonas for reminding us of the importance. Bill Inderrieden Message: 2 Date: Fri, 15 Dec 2017 22:11:28 -0500 From: Jeffrey Jonas <jeffrey.scott.jonas(a)gmail.com> To: vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org Subject: [vcf-midatlantic] adjunct to bitsavers and Library of Congress? Message-ID: <CAOCNM4TAcwrYWO+ADceF6wt6w7yuFuOUZGT_QxNz9146ctOpzQ(a)mail.gmail.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8" old news to us but good to see it in the spotlight: https://boingboing.net/2017/12/15/back-up-back-up-back-up.html A deep dive into the race to preserve our digital heritage [copying up data from old media, using virtual machines to emulate the required legacy operating system, applications and such to access the data formats]

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Apple IIGS for sale
by Joseph Oprysko 19 Dec '17

19 Dec '17

I am posting this for another person, it is not my machine, but I did check it out. Comes with: Apple IIGS ROM 1 Rev. with 1.25 MB RAM 4MB Memory Expansion card w/1mb SIMM Apple IIGS Memory Expansion Cards Apple Image Writer 2 Apple 3.5" Drive Apple Color RGB Monitor Apple Keyboard 658-4081 AppleDesign Keyboard M2980 All Manuals and Papers All cables & cords Includes boot disks and other software Extra sealed ribbons and pin-fed paper for printer If you’re interested, please email George at gemwmp(a)msn.com I believe he is asking $250 for the complete system, but I’m sure it would be negotiable. Joe O. -- Normal Person: Hey, it seems that you know a lot. Geek: To be honest, it's due to all the surfing I do. Normal Person: So you go surfing? Normal Person: But I don't think that has anything to do with knowing a lot... Geek: I think that's wrong on a fundamental level. Normal Person: Huh? Huh? What?

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“Dial-Up” Lynx?
by Joseph Oprysko 19 Dec '17

19 Dec '17

I’m looking to setup a machine to use in conjunction with the WiFi232 modem, what I would like to be able to do is to dial/telnet into a local machine that will allow me to use a text web browser so I can browse websites from my vintage machines. I guess the other thing the machine I would dial into would need to do is to be able to cache on that machine then allow me to use xmodem/ymodem so I can download binary files. Anyone know what I would be able to use to do that? I know I could setup the telnetd on a Linux Box, but I don’t know how to transfer from a Linux box with modem protocols. Thanks, Joe O. (Never had to use my initials previously) -- Normal Person: Hey, it seems that you know a lot. Geek: To be honest, it's due to all the surfing I do. Normal Person: So you go surfing? Normal Person: But I don't think that has anything to do with knowing a lot... Geek: I think that's wrong on a fundamental level. Normal Person: Huh? Huh? What?

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Qualstar 3412S on Ebay
by Mike Loewen 19 Dec '17

19 Dec '17

There's a Qualstar 3412S 9-track tape drive on Ebay, in Rochester: 13243878889 The nice thing about this model is that it handles: 800bpi NRZI R/O 1600bpi PE 3200bpi DPE 6250bpi GCR However, 800bpi NRI is read-only. The seller indicates that the unit is untested, but maybe someone could convince them to at least power it on to see if it passes the self-test. Assuming it works, this would be a good unit for someone looking for a versatile 9-track drive. Mike Loewen mloewen(a)cpumagic.scol.pa.us Old Technology http://q7.neurotica.com/Oldtech/

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1 Adam 12, meet the man at IBM
by Jeffrey Jonas 19 Dec '17

19 Dec '17

Who is this mysterious "Adam" who helps in the warehouse? An item needs to be located. Please respond directly to me.

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Jason Scott talks about the recent Commodore discoveries
by Mark Whittington 19 Dec '17

19 Dec '17

For those that don't know, Jason Scott has recently started a Patreon funded weekly podcast project. I recommend checking it out and sponsoring it if you find it interesting and have the means. https://www.patreon.com/textfiles The Dec. 8 podcast talks about the recent discovery of the collection of Commodore stuff in PA. I've linked to it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLKd3B7TJE8

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FS: Early Processor Tech S-100 Extender
by systems_glitch 18 Dec '17

18 Dec '17

link: https://www.ebay.com/itm/272987996882 This one looks to be quite early, it carries a 1975 copyright and uses the older military style S-100 socket. The socket is VERY tight, like new Sullins connectors. If you have loose connectors in your motherboard, you'll likely have to remove the extender and separate the board and extender outside of the card cage. There's a small chip in the S-100 socket, as shown in the pictures. I've used this extender in my IMSAI and tested it at full speed with a RAM board, on a terminated backplane. Thanks, Jonathan

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FS: Newtech Computer Systems Model 6 rev B Music Board for S-100
by systems_glitch 18 Dec '17

18 Dec '17

link: https://www.ebay.com/itm/272987932493 Just finished checking it out by the manual, works fine! This little board is a 6-bit DAC, amplifier, and speaker on a little S-100 board, and allows your S-100 machine to make sounds. It's apparently pretty good for a 6-bit DAC, there are videos on YouTube of other hobbyists playing samples taken from various audio sources using the Model 6 -- at least, I was surprised that it sounded as good as it did. Set up for the default port of 0x24 and using the internal speaker. Don't really know what they're worth, so feel free to submit an offer! Thanks, Jonathan

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Festivus Pics
by Christian Liendo 18 Dec '17

18 Dec '17

Anyone have Festivus pics? I was not able to attend

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paging Joe Herdler
by Dave McGuire 18 Dec '17

18 Dec '17

Hey Joe, did you see my private email from several days ago? Everyone else...sorry for the noise. -Dave -- Dave McGuire, AK4HZ New Kensington, PA

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Museum report
by Evan Koblentz 18 Dec '17

18 Dec '17

Today was the last day of the Infoage holiday train show. Busy! Several families came through our museum all day long. We also have a group of about 20 college kids who are volunteering with the Sandy relief organization. Various member visitors today -- Corey/Jeremy, Tony, and Don all stopped by. ________________________________ Evan Koblentz, director Vintage Computer Federation a 501(c)(3) educational non-profit evan(a)vcfed.org (646) 546-9999 www.vcfed.org facebook.com/vcfederation twitter.com/vcfederation instagram.com/vcfederation

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FS: MITS 1K Static RAM Board, Fully Populated, Repaired/Tested/Working
by systems_glitch 17 Dec '17

17 Dec '17

link: https://www.ebay.com/itm/272986862278 Picked this one up in a larger lot of S-100 boards. The address jumper area was a mess, the soldered wire links were removed and replaced with machine pin socket pins. It's currently addressed to start at 0x0000. This one has a pretty low serial number, from what I've seen the earliest boards had no serial number at all, but this one is the lowest out of the handful of 1K boards I've personally seen, which were all in the 400-500 range. I have it listed starting at $1 as I have no idea what it's worth. If someone desperately needs this particular board (i.e. based on the serial number) for their system, send me an offer off-list and I can end the auction for you. Thanks, Jonathan

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adjunct to bitsavers and Library of Congress?
by Jeffrey Jonas 16 Dec '17

16 Dec '17

old news to us but good to see it in the spotlight: https://boingboing.net/2017/12/15/back-up-back-up-back-up.html A deep dive into the race to preserve our digital heritage [copying up data from old media, using virtual machines to emulate the required legacy operating system, applications and such to access the data formats]

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Lisa 2 for sale
by Adam Michlin 16 Dec '17

16 Dec '17

Hi Everyone, I had previously been asked by my friend to try to sell his Lisa 2 at $2,500 and have convinced him that $2,000 is a more reasonable price. Pictures: http://ceos.io/lisa/ In working condition and not recapped as far as we can tell. If interested, contact me privately and we'll go from there. I can likely to meet for pick up at the VCF museum (maybe even at the upcoming workshop!) or generally in the northern NJ area. Best wishes, -Adam

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Anyone awake?
by Evan Koblentz 14 Dec '17

14 Dec '17

I have an idea that I want to bounce off someone. Who can take a phone call now? It's 12:20am. ________________________________ Evan Koblentz, director Vintage Computer Federation a 501(c)(3) educational non-profit evan(a)vcfed.org (646) 546-9999 www.vcfed.org facebook.com/vcfederation twitter.com/vcfederation instagram.com/vcfederation

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