- vcf-midatlantic - lists.vcfed.org

Video of my Kfest lecture
by Evan Koblentz 05 Aug '17

05 Aug '17

Forgot if I posted this. Video taken by Jason Scott. https://archive.org/details/2017_Kfest_Lego_Programming_for_the_Apple_II_Ev… ________________________________ 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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OT: New York World Maker Faire Bus Trip
by Chris Fala 04 Aug '17

04 Aug '17

If you are interested in attending World Maker Faire but don’t want to drive into New York, here is an opportunity for you. My Makerspace, Make Lehigh Valley in Allentown, PA, is once again sponsoring a bus trip to World Maker Faire in New York on Saturday, September 23, 2017. It will be one day only, departing Allentown at 8:00am and returning that evening. We have chartered a full-size, commercial, air-conditioned bus (not a van or school bus!), so your comfort is assured. :-) Even if you don’t live in the Allentown area, it is worth a relaxing drive there to save the trouble of an aggravating drive into the city. For more information and to register, please visit https://www.eventbrite.com/e/world-maker-faire-2017-with-make-lehigh-valley… and share with all your friends. You can bundle your travel and admission, or select transportation only. Faire website: http://makerfaire.com/new-york/ Hope to see you there! Chris

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original adm3a box
by william degnan 04 Aug '17

04 Aug '17

I have the orig box for the Lear Siegler adm3a terminal...Will bring to next workshop if there is interest. Very large with padding inside, cannot be easily broken down. If you want to pick up, come and get it.. first come first served b

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TRS-80 Model IV on Long Island for decent $
by Douglas Crawford 03 Aug '17

03 Aug '17

https://longisland.craigslist.org/sys/d/radio-shack-trs-80-computer/6214426…

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semi OT: tiny Lego vintage computers
by Jeffrey Jonas 03 Aug '17

03 Aug '17

http://boingboing.net/2017/08/01/obsolete-technology-lego-kits.html Obsolete technology LEGO kits Chris McVeigh of Halifax, Nova Scotia builds all kinds of cool things with LEGO. Recently, he's been creating kits that showcase obsolete office technology. This particular kit, which he calls "My Old Desktop: DOS Edition 2.0," features a few reminders of the 1980s office, including a rotary-dial desk phone and a beige desk computer that can be partially fed one of the miniature 5.25" floppy disk replicas.

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] assembler is tedious (was WooHoo!) (Jeffrey Jonas)
by VAXman＠tmesis.org 03 Aug '17

03 Aug '17

Herb Johnson via vcf-midatlantic writes: >There's some irony in discussing the tedium of assembly language >programming, by using (excuse me) the tedium of emails as a learning and >describing tool. It's my bias, but the hardest way to learn something, >is by having several people explain it, post streams of details, argue >amongst each other in the process, get sidetracked, etc. I understand, >that's the 21st century way; no insult, it's just not my 20th century >way (or my textbook way, I was formally educated in computing). There was learning amidst all of misguided biases in this thread? I guess I missed it. :P

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Museum Report 2017-08-02 August 2, 2017
by Jeffrey Brace 03 Aug '17

03 Aug '17

About 3 dozen visitors today. Lots of families both big and small. From near (Lakewood) and far (California) as well as varying levels of interest. Definitely an uptick lately on the number of visitors. -- ======================================================== Jeff Brace ========================================================

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] assembler is tedious (was WooHoo!) (Jeffrey Jonas)
by Mike Willegal 03 Aug '17

03 Aug '17

Programming in any language can be tedious, depending upon the task, tools and library of existing routines that you can draw from. Like Jeff says, if you have been coding a certain type of application in assembler, or any other language, for a while, you will eventually build up a library of routines that make life a lot less tedious. Regarding Jeff's comment about the Apple 1 monitor being clever, the most ingenious little monitor I’ve seen is the 256 byte Creed monitor for the 8008 that was published in volume 1, number 7, of the Micro-8 newsletter. Just like the Apple 1 monitor, it can read, write and execute a program in memory, but it also squeezed a boot loader. It did all that with the very difficult to program, 8008. The user interface implemented by the Creed monitor is very, very nice to use. Here is a link to a web page of mine, that has a port of the Creed Monitor to the SCELBI. http://www.willegal.net/scelbi/MCMON.html <http://www.willegal.net/scelbi/MCMON.html> regards, Mike Willegal

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Museum Report 2017-07-27 July 27, 2017
by Jeffrey Brace 02 Aug '17

02 Aug '17

Sorry for the late report. There were about 2 dozen visitors this past Sunday of varying interest. There has been an increase in visitors since InfoAge started a new marketing campaign. It is really working. Many times more than the normal amount of visitors. -- ======================================================== Jeff Brace ========================================================

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Museum is open despite street work at Infoage in August
by Jeffrey Brace 02 Aug '17

02 Aug '17

Despite the sewer pipe operation to replace the pipes on Marconi road, InfoAge is open. Our museum is open too. I will be here Wednesday Aug. 2 & 9, and probably for the rest of the Wednesdays in August. We are usually not open on Wednesdays, but I'm a school teacher, so I can be docent in the summer on Wednesdays. Anyway, be aware that the front entrance is open today. Next Wednesday you may have to use the back entrance. As the road work goes down the road you may have to use an alternate route to get to InfoAge on weekdays. I believe that this would be via Brighton Ave and Watson Road to go through the back way. Weekends should be fine. They don't work on the road on the weekends. -- ======================================================== Jeff Brace ========================================================

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Book review
by Evan Koblentz 02 Aug '17

02 Aug '17

"IEEE Annals of the History of Computing" is the top academic journal covering computer history. The current issue has a review of my book, "Abacus to smartphone: The evolution of mobile and portable computers". The reviewer was fair in observing what I did well and what I could have done better. She concluded that it's an "accessible read ... recommended for historians of all stripes or those with an interest in wide-ranging narratives of computer technology". That was exactly my goal when I started researching it more than a decade ago: to make the book accessible to the public yet also credible to professional historians. Goal achieved! Happy camper tonight. I emailed the journal editor to ask about their rules for quoting/reprinting -- I do not intend to break them. Nobody should take it upon themselves to host the PDF. IEEE members can read it here: https://www.computer.org/…/an/2017/02/man2017020009-abs.html ________________________________ 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] assembler is tedious (was WooHoo!)
by Jeffrey Jonas 02 Aug '17

02 Aug '17

Not to fan the flames but I have experience and opinions on the subject: Glenn Roberts via vcf-midatlantic writes: >I hate to be the bearer of bad news but assembly language is probably >the most tedious of programming environments. VAXman: > That's not necessarily true. It depends upon the machine (CPU) > and its language (instructions, address modes, registers, conventions, etc.). Part of me wants to agree, having assembler programmed 8, 16, 32 bit machines. There's a deep satisfaction to optimizing a program with "green card" in hand (IBM 360 reference card - lists all instructions). But even I must concede that assembler programming the Z80 was dogmeat after having programmed IBM 360/370. Too few registers, weak instructions and other things that make assembler programmers happy. Even now, when considering microcontrollers, I look over the instruction set as some measure of goodness: is the architecture clean? Are the instructions flexible enough to do as much as possible in one cycle? But assembler programming is just the tip of the iceberg. There are programming "traditions" and conventions, particularly register usage, if you're to link to any libraries or supervisor calls. Assembler programmers depend a lot of macros and libraries to make their programming environment more pleasant. The joy of the IBM 1130 was seeing your program running on the front panel and understanding what it was doing on the lowest possible level! Lotsa libraries and shareware, even in the 70s. But that's all for CISC CPUs. RISC sapped out all the pleasure with too many details for humans to track: pipelining, delayed branch, instruction hazards, cache, etc. Concurrent Computer Corp converted from 360-like microcoded CPUs to the MIPS R3000. The internal courses were wonderful, covering all the aspects why RISC is the way to go, and all the trade-offs, particularly the need to rely on the compiler for optimization and bug fixes/workarounds. >Good assembly language programmers have libraries of frequently needed >routines (e.g. to print text or do = 16 bit manipulations). It helps a lot. The 68000 trainer I used for a lab course had a few functions in the ROM such as print character, print string. It sure accelerated my progress. But if there were no ROM, a simple workaround would've been to cut-and-paste just the functions I needed into the source file. Or learn the link-editor to link the main to libraries. > I/O routines, unless one is writing the I/O subsystem and device drivers, > should be part of the OS or, in lesser systems, ROM, Bios, etc. > Inventing the wheel everytime you want to roll is not very productive. Agreed. That's part of why 70s Development Boards were really USEFUL once ROMS/EPROMS were large enough to have some support. CP/M started the portable "BIOS" concept: a minimal set of foundation subroutines upon which everything else is built. I still marvel at how much functionality Woz squeezed into the Apple 1 with those TEENY ROMS (256 bytes?) -- jeff jonas

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GW-48T02-1 a Replacement for 48T02 RTC/NVRAM Batteries
by systems_glitch 01 Aug '17

01 Aug '17

All, I've got a pile of old Sun boxes I'm going through, dealing with dead NVRAMs of course. I ordered some ST 48T02 replacements from Mouser, only to find out they're not 100% compatible. So, since I was going to have to modify a whole bunch of old 48T02s, and there are space constraints on some of the systems, I designed a little module with a CR1225 and crystal to totally replace the CAPHAT on a 48T02. Here's the writeup: http://www.glitchwrks.com/2017/08/01/gw-48t02-1 I've got 100x on order, in panels of 10. If anyone is interested in some bare panels, assembled modules, or complete 48T02 replacements, let me know! I'll be doing other modules for the 48T08 and probably one to turn a DS12885 into a DS12887. Thanks, Jonathan

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Sym-1 craigslist
by william degnan 01 Aug '17

01 Aug '17

https://philadelphia.craigslist.org/sys/d/vintage-collectable-synertek/6228…

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LinApple
by Evan Koblentz 01 Aug '17

01 Aug '17

Anyone use LinApple? I'm using it on Linux Mint. It says to press F3 or F4 to load a disk image. But when I press either of those keys the program window closes. ________________________________ 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] OT: WTD Programmer with Experience in PDF Editing Programatically (Windows)
by VAXman＠tmesis.org 31 Jul '17

31 Jul '17

william degnan via vcf-midatlantic writes: >I am working on an application that edits PDF file text, I am tired of >banging my head on the desk ... so, I am looking for someone with >related experience who can help. > >In the simplest terms it's a business forms generator. The program >starts with a PDF template and then receives input from a web form. The >output is a copy of the PDF template with the form data, placed and >sized correctly. The file will be sent to the printer. > >Anyone done that before? The best I can do is replace text, but I can't >move it around. Yes I know editing PDFs is clunky, but *if you have >done this before* contact me if you're looking for a project. Postscript but not PDF. For the Postsript, the input collected was stored as|to a postscript variable. (eg. /Surname (the-input) def Then, the 'form' simply issued, at the appropriate place, a 'Surname show'. I'm pretty sure that the same approach would work with PDF.

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OT: WTD Programmer with Experience in PDF Editing Programatically (Windows)
by william degnan 31 Jul '17

31 Jul '17

I am working on an application that edits PDF file text, I am tired of banging my head on the desk ... so, I am looking for someone with related experience who can help. In the simplest terms it's a business forms generator. The program starts with a PDF template and then receives input from a web form. The output is a copy of the PDF template with the form data, placed and sized correctly. The file will be sent to the printer. Anyone done that before? The best I can do is replace text, but I can't move it around. Yes I know editing PDFs is clunky, but *if you have done this before* contact me if you're looking for a project. To reach me off list: my company site, degnanco.net --> click Contact. Bill

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$40 IBM 5150 in Parsippany
by Christian Liendo 31 Jul '17

31 Jul '17

I think this is a good deal. Hope it goes to a good home. https://newjersey.craigslist.org/sys/d/vintage-ibm-model/6242460762.html

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Woohoo!
by Duane 30 Jul '17

30 Jul '17

Evan, If there is any interest, Ill do a demonstration of my 1219 cross assembler at VCF ORG &O1000 ENTB TEXT_BUFF ; LOAD INDEX REGISTER WITH ADDRESS OF TEXT BUFFER RJP TYPEAS ; RETURN JUMP TO TYPE ASCII STRING ROUTINE STOP &O40 ; STOP PROGRAM >TEXT_BUFF AS HELLO WORLD FROM VCF ; BUILD ASCII BUFFER END ; PRODUCES: TEST.PRG ORG &O1000 001000 321003 ENTB TEXT_BUFF ; LOAD INDEX REGISTER WITH ADDRESS OF TEXT BUFFER 001001 761016 RJP TYPEAS ; RETURN JUMP TO TYPE ASCII STRING ROUTINE 001002 505640 STOP &O40 ; STOP PROGRAM TEXT_BUFF 001003 110105 AS HE HELLO WORLD FROM VCF 001004 114114 AS LL 001005 117040 AS O 001006 127117 AS WO 001007 122114 AS RL 001010 104040 AS D 001011 106122 AS FR 001012 117115 AS OM 001013 040126 AS V 001014 103106 AS CF 001015 440040 AS TYPEAS 001016 000000 DATA 0 ; TYPE OUT SUBROUTINE GOES HERE LABEL TABLE TEXT_BUFF 001003 TYPEAS 001016 The formatting got a screwed pasting into the email Its not pretty but it beats hand assembly. Duane -----Original Message----- From: Evan Koblentz via vcf-midatlantic Sent: Sunday, July 30, 2017 1:13 PM To: Dan Roganti via vcf-midatlantic Cc: Evan Koblentz Subject: Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Woohoo! > When you get more practice with this, > I would suggest using a 6502 cross-assembler Yup, that's the plan. > about printing Text on the screen, > There are many of these assemblers and cross-assemblers which have a > feature called Macro's > This is not specific to a computer platform, just the developer who wrote > the code for the assembler I understand what you're saying. However, as I learn, I want to be very careful to avoid confusing stuff that's part of Apple 6502 assembly vs. stuff that's part of any specific editor/assembler. I may not know the difference at first. > about what Mike said, definitely use comments I know.

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Woohoo!
by Evan Koblentz 30 Jul '17

30 Jul '17

Made my first assembly program just now. :) http://snarc.net/h.jpg I was nudged by Ragooman, inspired by attending Kfest, and grateful for the book "Apple Roots" (the previously recommended book "Assembly Lines" left my brain in a knot after 5 pages). I read chapters 1, 3, and 4 -- skipped chapter 2 about number systems because I already understand that well enough to fake it and it didn't seem pivotal to * jumping in and doing something *. I used ProDOS Assembly Tools which I downloaded from the Asimov site. (Adam convinced me to switch to a real program like Merlin soon.) Tried the sample program (ADDNRS) in chapters 3/4 and got it to work after Facebook user Katherine S. in the Apple II group noted that I was missing some spaces in the sample code. After that it assembled without errors. Our own list member Paul H. provided additional insight. Then, armed with sleep-deprived confidence, I went back and applied what I learned to the "HI" example in chapter 1. That worked too, so I looked up the number chart at the back of the book and changed it to HELLO WORLD. It worked but I had a typo in the output: it showed a hyphen instead of a space. That was a good thing because it forced me to download the manual and learn how to load and edit the listing. Corrected it and this time it showed HELLO WORL ... what happened to the D? Looked again and I'd forgotten the final $FDED to display what I LDA'd. Okay then! Now it works. I have absolutely no clue if this is the "correct" way to make a hello world in Apple II 6502 assembly. I understand there's probably a more efficient way to do it. But for now, I basically skimmed three of the first four chapters and wound up with this: 1 ORG $1000 2 LDA #200 3 JSR $FDED 4 LDA #197 5 JSR $FDED 6 LDA #204 7 JSR $FDED 8 LDA #204 9 JSR $FDED 10 LDA #207 11 JSR $FDED 12 LDA #160 13 JSR $FDED 14 LDA #215 15 JSR $FDED 16 LDA #207 17 JSR $FDED 18 LDA #210 19 JSR $FDED 20 LDA #204 21 JSR $FDED 22 LDA #196 23 JSR $FDED 24 RTS Efficient or not, it works! ________________________________ 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] Woohoo!
by Evan Koblentz 30 Jul '17

30 Jul '17

This popped into my mind: what if you want to display a large amount of text? I assume there's some better way than loading each individual character. The book I'm reading may explain it in a later chapter, and maybe it's counterproductive for me to ask at this point! Not looking for a code example right now. But someone please assure me assembly isn't always * this tedious *.

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Woohoo!
by VAXman＠tmesis.org 30 Jul '17

30 Jul '17

Evan Koblentz via vcf-midatlantic writes: >Made my first assembly program just now. :) > >http://snarc.net/h.jpg Your code would be more interesting.

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Woohoo!
by VAXman＠tmesis.org 30 Jul '17

30 Jul '17

Glenn Roberts via vcf-midatlantic writes: >I hate to be the bearer of bad news but assembly language is probably >the most tedious of programming environments. That's not necessarily true. It depends upon the machine (CPU) and its language (instructions, address modes, registers, conventions, etc.). >Good assembly language programmers have libraries of frequently needed >routines (e.g. to print text or do = 16 bit manipulations). Perhaps. >I have not programmed the Apple but on Heathkit machines there are many >such useful routines embedded in the machine's ROMs (I'm sure that's true >for Apple too). I/O routines, unless one is writing the I/O subsystem and device drivers, should be part of the OS or, in lesser systems, ROM, Bios, etc. Inventing the wheel everytime you want to roll is not very productive.

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Retrobrite instructions from the master
by Evan Koblentz 30 Jul '17

30 Jul '17

Javier Rivera is widely considered the master of Retrobrite. Here's a video (not mine) of him demonstrating the method at Kfest last week. DO try this at home. :) Be sure to FOLLOW THE DETAILS EXACTLY. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFGS9xaaO_M ________________________________ 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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Museum report
by Evan Koblentz 30 Jul '17

30 Jul '17

Short and solid: lots of visitors today. Afterward I went into the warehouse and cleared one more pallet of random items. Martin dropped off parts for connecting the new motor-generator to the Univac.

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] August 2017 Workshop Final Reminder August 12& 13
by Neil Cherry 29 Jul '17

29 Jul '17

On 07/29/2017 02:31 PM, William Dromgoole via vcf-midatlantic wrote: > I guess its more windows 10 magic. > > If I cut and paste it to the browser it works. > If I click on it it goes to some google type of page. Not Windows magic but rather line break in the link: Signup here: : https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1BJNQloAe-g_ ZtSvnkayNCCAy3SfYUMScgviOikcXnuY/edit?usp=sharing I see that as 2 lines (Thunderbird only gets half to click). <get off my lawn> When I was a kid, we'd have to run a script to filter that out and automatically run the browser from a shell ... </get off my lawn> ;-) -- 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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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] August 2017 Workshop Final Reminder August 12 & 13
by Evan Koblentz 29 Jul '17

29 Jul '17

>> Link doesn’t work for me. Works fine for me. ________________________ Evan Koblentz, director Vintage Computer Federation A 501(c)(3) educational non-profit Evan(a)vcfed.org +1 (646) 546-9999 www.vcfed.org facebook.com/vcfederation instagram.com/vcfederation twitter.com/vcfederation

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Warehouse shelving
by Evan Koblentz 29 Jul '17

29 Jul '17

Everyone, We need more warehouse shelving. Don and I used the last shelf yesterday. The good news is, our warehouse is looking GREAT now. It's the cleanest and safest we've ever seen in there. The bad news is some things are still piled onto pallets, or worse: on the floor. The units we get cost $100 each, however, first we'll buy individual parts to make complete units from our current supply of extra poles/wheels. Please click here if you can help: http://vcfed.org/wp/contribute/ As always, contributions to VCFed are tax-deductible. Thanks, Evan ________________________ Evan Koblentz, director Vintage Computer Federation A 501(c)(3) educational non-profit Evan(a)vcfed.org +1 (646) 546-9999 www.vcfed.org facebook.com/vcfederation instagram.com/vcfederation twitter.com/vcfederation

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August 2017 Workshop Final Reminder August 12 & 13
by Jeffrey Brace 29 Jul '17

29 Jul '17

Last reminder for August workshop. If we don't get enough signed up in a few days, then I'm moving it to the smaller room. The date is August 12 & 13. InfoAge fee is $10 per day for the workshop. Overnight stay is $25 per night. Please sign up now so that I can make sure there is enough room. Otherwise we will put late signups into the far corner of the big room away from everyone facing the wall. And you must wear an aluminum foil hat the whole weekend. Signup here: : https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1BJNQloAe-g_ ZtSvnkayNCCAy3SfYUMScgviOikcXnuY/edit?usp=sharing -- ======================================================== Jeff Brace ========================================================

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Re: Digest, Vol 21, Issue 26 Msg # 6 Motor Controller
by SVCatITC＠aol.com 29 Jul '17

29 Jul '17

Just one more note on motor controllers. Wikipedia has a nice discussion on these things ranging from the simple to the complex. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motor_controller If you click on the "contactor" link, there is a good representation pix of a common contactor, something similar to what Bill D. might have purchased. I'll shut up now unless others may want to continue the discussion on this topic. Bill Inderrieden In a message dated 7/29/2017 12:30:37 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time, SVCatITC(a)aol.com writes: A motor controller, above 1 hp, and usually used on a 3 ph line, is a glorified relay. It however has, added features of thermal cutouts on each of the phases on the load side of the relay. It's normal electrical name is a contactor. The actuating coil is usually 120 VAC, however it can be in special cases 24 VAC or 24 VDC. Some of the reasons it is used is: 1. To start all 3 phases at the same time to the motor. 2. Provide (in some cases) a local START / STOP pushbutton station. 3. Provide trip protection in case of overload or stall of the motor. 4. Allow remote START / STOP capabilities / facilities. They are usually big and bulky because the contacts are rated to handle the high horsepower inductive current ratings. They also must make and break the circuit quickly to quench the arc over so as not to weld the contacts together. More questions about this topic are welcome. Bill Inderrieden In a message dated 7/28/2017 12:16:23 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, vcf-midatlantic-request(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org writes: Message: 6 Date: Thu, 27 Jul 2017 19:14:27 -0400 From: Evan Koblentz <evan(a)vcfed.org> To: Vcf <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> Subject: Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Museum power / Running bigger machines Message-ID: <11095b74-0b91-4f41-9828-84e6b181650c(a)vcfed.org> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 >> Maybe Martin will provide one to us but I didn?t ask. I found one on Amazon for $142.00 https://www.amazon.com/Starter-definite-magnetic-Square-8911dpsg23v09/dp/B00 GGPZ9P4 Well you just posted on the public list which he reads, too. :) Anyway: what's a magnetic motor controller?

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Re: Digest, Vol 21, Issue 26 Msg # 6 Motor Controller
by SVCatITC＠aol.com 29 Jul '17

29 Jul '17

A motor controller, above 1 hp, and usually used on a 3 ph line, is a glorified relay. It however has, added features of thermal cutouts on each of the phases on the load side of the relay. It's normal electrical name is a contactor. The actuating coil is usually 120 VAC, however it can be in special cases 24 VAC or 24 VDC. Some of the reasons it is used is: 1. To start all 3 phases at the same time to the motor. 2. Provide (in some cases) a local START / STOP pushbutton station. 3. Provide trip protection in case of overload or stall of the motor. 4. Allow remote START / STOP capabilities / facilities. They are usually big and bulky because the contacts are rated to handle the high horsepower inductive current ratings. They also must make and break the circuit quickly to quench the arc over so as not to weld the contacts together. More questions about this topic are welcome. Bill Inderrieden In a message dated 7/28/2017 12:16:23 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, vcf-midatlantic-request(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org writes: Message: 6 Date: Thu, 27 Jul 2017 19:14:27 -0400 From: Evan Koblentz <evan(a)vcfed.org> To: Vcf <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> Subject: Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Museum power / Running bigger machines Message-ID: <11095b74-0b91-4f41-9828-84e6b181650c(a)vcfed.org> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 >> Maybe Martin will provide one to us but I didn?t ask. I found one on Amazon for $142.00 https://www.amazon.com/Starter-definite-magnetic-Square-8911dpsg23v09/dp/B00 GGPZ9P4 Well you just posted on the public list which he reads, too. :) Anyway: what's a magnetic motor controller?

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VCF West, Got my flight, Room and Car
by Christian Liendo 28 Jul '17

28 Jul '17

I got my flight, Room and Car. So I guess I will see who will be there.

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It's heeeeere
by Evan Koblentz 28 Jul '17

28 Jul '17

Generator is here and resting comfortably on a pallet in the warehouse.

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Museum power / Running bigger machines
by systems_glitch 28 Jul '17

28 Jul '17

The motor starter/protector keeps the 3-phase motor in the MG set from burning up if something goes wrong. Definitely go with a name-brand like the Square D you linked. The pin and sleeve connectors are a great idea, though there are also 3-phase specific twistlok connectors as well, which are much cheaper. If he's got the connectors anyway, they're the better solution. Thanks, Jonathan On Thu, Jul 27, 2017 at 8:10 PM, William Dromgoole via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> wrote: > Sorry everyone. > This was meant to be a private post to Duane. > I don’t understand windows 10 email apparently . > > Sorry again. It’s a new computer. > > Bill Dromgoole > > > > Sent from Mail for Windows 10 > > From: Evan Koblentz via vcf-midatlantic > Sent: Thursday, July 27, 2017 7:23 PM > To: Vcf > Cc: Evan Koblentz > Subject: Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Museum power / Running bigger machines > > >> I’ve been emailing with Martin Flynn who is a friend of Infoage. > > I'd like to add for everyone to know: Martin is very much a friend of VCF, > not just Infoage in general. Sometimes his contributions are > behind-the-scenes but he helps us in many useful ways. > ________________________ > Evan Koblentz, director > Vintage Computer Federation > A 501(c)(3) educational non-profit > > Evan(a)vcfed.org > +1 (646) 546-9999 > > www.vcfed.org > facebook.com/vcfederation > instagram.com/vcfederation > twitter.com/vcfederation > >

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Museum power / Running bigger machines
by Evan Koblentz 28 Jul '17

28 Jul '17

>> I’ve been emailing with Martin Flynn who is a friend of Infoage. I'd like to add for everyone to know: Martin is very much a friend of VCF, not just Infoage in general. Sometimes his contributions are behind-the-scenes but he helps us in many useful ways. ________________________ Evan Koblentz, director Vintage Computer Federation A 501(c)(3) educational non-profit Evan(a)vcfed.org +1 (646) 546-9999 www.vcfed.org facebook.com/vcfederation instagram.com/vcfederation twitter.com/vcfederation

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Museum power / Running bigger machines
by Evan Koblentz 27 Jul '17

27 Jul '17

>> Maybe Martin will provide one to us but I didn’t ask. I found one on Amazon for $142.00 https://www.amazon.com/Starter-definite-magnetic-Square-8911dpsg23v09/dp/B0… Well you just posted on the public list which he reads, too. :) Anyway: what's a magnetic motor controller?

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Museum power / Running bigger machines
by Duane 27 Jul '17

27 Jul '17

>>>the highlight of upcoming repair workshops may be a cage match between >>>Dromgoole, Loewen, and Primus, Need to get Evan a striped shirt and a whistle. -----Original Message----- From: Evan Koblentz via vcf-midatlantic Sent: Wednesday, July 26, 2017 12:25 AM To: vcf-midatlantic Cc: Evan Koblentz Subject: [vcf-midatlantic] Museum power / Running bigger machines There have been a few posts about our recent/ongoing museum power update. Here is the latest exciting information. - Last week, a local electrician installed a 30A circuit and 3-phase outlet. Before anyone asks, yes, there was a permit from the town. - We ordered a 50-ft. extension cord designed for that outlet and suitable power level. (Yikes those are expensive! But totally worthwhile.) - We ordered a motor-generator that can run the whole Univac. It'll be here in a few days. Big special thanks to the System Source Computer Museum for donating the funds to purchase this. They will borrow it on occasion to test/power their own big iron. - Bill Drom. built a wooden cart with casters specifically for the motor-generator. - The new circuit/outlet enables us to operate ONE minicomputer or mainframe at a time. As such, the highlight of upcoming repair workshops may be a cage match between Dromgoole, Loewen, and Primus, as they battle to power the Univac, HP-1000 system, and Prime 6550. :) X-factors: DEC VAX 785, Cray, Data General Nova, Commodore 128 (just kidding). ________________________________ 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] Chuck Peddle @ VCF-West
by Evan Koblentz 27 Jul '17

27 Jul '17

> I'm Chris, I live just outside Baltimore, work just outside Washington, > DC. I'm a SysAdmin who's been in love with computers since the very > first time I touched a keyboard as a child. Welcome to the group. There's already a Chris (L.) here, so I deem thee Chris H.; please sign messages that way to avoid confusion. Don't feel bad: there are four Bill D.'s! Several people here are in the Baltimore/DC region. Let me know off-list if you'd like to visit VCF headquarters aka the museum. Our next repair workshop is the weekend of Aug. 12-13 but you could visit anytime, given a couple of weeks' notice.

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Friday
by Evan Koblentz 27 Jul '17

27 Jul '17

Anyone available to do warehouse work this Friday? ________________________ Evan Koblentz, director Vintage Computer Federation A 501(c)(3) educational non-profit Evan(a)vcfed.org +1 (646) 546-9999 www.vcfed.org facebook.com/vcfederation instagram.com/vcfederation twitter.com/vcfederation

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Chuck Peddle @ VCF-West
by Evan Koblentz 27 Jul '17

27 Jul '17

> Will someone be recording/posting a video of it? Chris: looks like that was your first post to this list. Please introduce yourself... where you're from, what's your interest in vintage computing, etc.

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Museum power / Running bigger machines
by Evan Koblentz 26 Jul '17

26 Jul '17

There have been a few posts about our recent/ongoing museum power update. Here is the latest exciting information. - Last week, a local electrician installed a 30A circuit and 3-phase outlet. Before anyone asks, yes, there was a permit from the town. - We ordered a 50-ft. extension cord designed for that outlet and suitable power level. (Yikes those are expensive! But totally worthwhile.) - We ordered a motor-generator that can run the whole Univac. It'll be here in a few days. Big special thanks to the System Source Computer Museum for donating the funds to purchase this. They will borrow it on occasion to test/power their own big iron. - Bill Drom. built a wooden cart with casters specifically for the motor-generator. - The new circuit/outlet enables us to operate ONE minicomputer or mainframe at a time. As such, the highlight of upcoming repair workshops may be a cage match between Dromgoole, Loewen, and Primus, as they battle to power the Univac, HP-1000 system, and Prime 6550. :) X-factors: DEC VAX 785, Cray, Data General Nova, Commodore 128 (just kidding). ________________________________ 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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Anyone know of Amiga 2000 for sale around DC metro area?
by Ethan 25 Jul '17

25 Jul '17

Anyone know of a lower cost Amiga 2000 in the DC metro area for sale? CPU + Keyboard (maybe mouse but I have one from A500s/A600) Thanks

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Mystery code
by Jeffrey Jonas 25 Jul '17

25 Jul '17

There were many 'traditions' when cards were the primary input. Most languages allowed a comment/sequence number in columns 73-80. Before revision control systems, it was common to put the program/step/phase name and version on there, thus the few incremental numbers. Or number all the cards in increments of 10 - so a sorter could put a dropped deck back in order - the multiple of 10 was to allow for inserting cards later -- jeff jonas who still has a "numbering machine" stamper, just in case

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IDE drive list for Zenith Data Systems Z-386
by Matt Patoray 24 Jul '17

24 Jul '17

Does anyone out there have a table for the specs for the hard drive types in a Zenith Data Systems Z-386 PC? The bios has 64 different drive types. -- Matt Patoray Owner, MSP Productions KD8AMG

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Chuck Peddle @ VCF-West
by Christian Liendo 24 Jul '17

24 Jul '17

Will he actually be there or will be be a video feed? I'm seriously looking at flights.

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Museum Report 2017-07-23 July 23, 2017
by Jeffrey Brace 23 Jul '17

23 Jul '17

Bill Dromgoole was there today and it was a busy day with 20 to 25 people going through the museum. He also started work on the dolly for the new generator that we will be receiving soon. -- ======================================================== Jeff Brace ======================================================== <https://www.avast.com/en-us/lp-safe-emailing-3176-b?utm_medium=email&utm_so…> Virus-free. www.avast.com <https://www.avast.com/en-us/lp-safe-emailing-3176-b?utm_medium=email&utm_so…> <#DAB4FAD8-2DD7-40BB-A1B8-4E2AA1F9FDF2>

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Museum Report 2017-07-22 July 22, 2017
by Jeffrey Brace 23 Jul '17

23 Jul '17

I'm late with yesterday's museum report. About a dozen or so visitors, from casual interest to very interested. Some of them were still there from the Ham Radio event at InfoAge from 8am to 12pm. The flow of visitors was steady, so I kept busy throughout my time there. Bill Dromgoole is docent there, so I finally get a break from being docent. I'm like there every weekend. Thanks Bill! -- ======================================================== Jeff Brace ======================================================== <https://www.avast.com/en-us/lp-safe-emailing-3176-b?utm_medium=email&utm_so…> Virus-free. www.avast.com <https://www.avast.com/en-us/lp-safe-emailing-3176-b?utm_medium=email&utm_so…> <#DAB4FAD8-2DD7-40BB-A1B8-4E2AA1F9FDF2>

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Stranger Things season 2 trailer - Commodore 1702 monitors?
by Christopher Gioconda 23 Jul '17

23 Jul '17

Hi everyone, This evening I watched the new trailer for season 2 of Stranger Things (Netflix) , and I'm pretty confident that a bunch of Commodore 1702 monitors were used in a scene approx. 1:06 in: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgS2L7WPIO4 For those who may not know the show, it's set in the early 1980s and is extremely faithful to the time period in terms of plot and props. Let me know if I'm completely off, or if I just happened to recognize something. Thanks! Christopher Gioconda

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Free - DC-6150 Tape Factory Sealed
by John Heritage 23 Jul '17

23 Jul '17

Does anyone have a need for a Factory Sealed DC-6150 Tape (Maxwell Brand)? I held onto this for too long due to nostalgia (loved backing up my BBS do this size tape.. Although I think I mostly used the 250 MB models..) If you want it, just let me know. I'll ship free or if you feel like paying for the stamps after you get it, you can Paypal me after receiving. John

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Sperry Univac in Chicago...
by William Sudbrink 22 Jul '17

22 Jul '17

Wasn't sure if Dave McGuire would be close enough or interested enough. https://chicago.craigslist.org/chc/sys/d/vintage-new-dos-epson/6207271982.ht ml Bill S. --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus

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