- vcf-midatlantic - lists.vcfed.org

Commodore SX64 and 8050 in Newport Delaware
by william degnan 14 Jun '17

14 Jun '17

There is a thrift shop called Hippo Thrift that has a sx64 (no keyboard cable) and a 8050 IEEE drive (no IEEE cable) for sale. The SX64 comes with a lot of CBM carts and a carrier full of Commodore disks, no labels. I did not test these. If interested, you have to call them in advance, they're keeping these in the back, not a regular item to sell in the shop. What got my attention in the first place was the CBM 8096 that they were also selling. It has a keyboard issue but otherwise works. A CBM 8032 with a 64K memory expansion that is branded "CBM 8096" is very rare, worth taking time out the day to pick it up. I don't know if I have ever actually seen one before in person. Not as rare as a P500 or C65, but still a lucky find. The thrift shop is a mile or three from rte 95 just south of Wilmington, Delaware. Because I don't have enough room to store this one, if anyone wants a regular nice and clean CBM 8032 that works, I am selling it for $150, pickup only I live about 15 miles west of the shop. If you want it shipped the price is $300 + shipping (Ebay prices for my trouble) Bill

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Re: vcf-midatlantic Digest, Vol 20, Issue 13 Museum Pix
by SVCatITC＠aol.com 14 Jun '17

14 Jun '17

I'll chime in with my $0.02. I agree with Jim, Drew, Evan. We all have identified the problems. All it takes is time and money (the talent we have in spades). Evan mentioned my involvement with the TR20. We also, when that project is completed, will start thinking about restoration of "George", however, all these projects require the donated extended time, parts, specialized test equipment to get this (in some cases 50yrs old) stuff resurrected. We all have lives outside of this venue. Having said that, the obstacles should not deter us from pushing ahead. Here's my idea.... One of the projects I plan to have ready for East XIII exhibiting is an IBM, USA made '286 (640k soldered to the motherboard), under plexiglass, so that viewers, expert and novice, will see how we made things in that era. It is planned to have 2 ESDI drives and an Intel Above Board EMS memory card fitted. For a "hands on", I plan to have that machine running Win3.0. controlling a Z80 based materials testing machine. The OEM's DOS software (1987era) of the test machine will be running on Win3.0 . This testing machine has plenty of visuals (blinkin lights) and octal displays for the eye candy. We plan on crushing soda cans and showing the stress strain curves of the testing. Begrudgingly (LOL), Evan has given the nod to this display. Quoting "it's time to display 286 artifacts". After East is over, it is my hope that this display can be brought into the museum as a "computational device of the month" to show there were other things done with PC's in this era, other than games, and financial forecasts. The testing is safe and will be easy to demonstrate by the docents. Bill Degnan's year of the appliance computer, comes to mind with this project. The point of the droning on, is to show that other fresh ideas can be considered to bring more life into the museum (and hopefully more donations) while the main projects continue at the slow methodical pace they need to take. Feel free everyone to tell me I am way off base with my idea. I can take the hit, otherwise...... Let's start brainstorming ideas. Bill Inderrieden In a message dated 6/13/2017 12:04:38 P.M. EDT: Drew Notarnicola writes: Message: 1 Date: Mon, 12 Jun 2017 12:41:51 -0400 From: Drew Notarnicola <drew.notarnicola(a)gmail.com> To: vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> Subject: Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Museum pictures >If we are willing to enhance the experience from viewing lifeless >artifacts to showing operating equipment >and a good bit of hands on I think it would be some mighty strong gravity. >The problem is half our artifacts are lifeless because they either don't >run yet or they can't have monitors hooked up. And we don't have anything >yet that visitors can do that's hands on.

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RadioShack last stores closing?
by Jonathan Gevaryahu 13 Jun '17

13 Jun '17

The local radioshack here was one of the 72 stores (out of ~1500) which was not closing in May, but on Monday this week they announced they are closing as well. This is one of the combined sprint-radioshack stores, the sprint part is remaining open. I suspect all of the remaining 72 stores are closing; last day for the local store is the 28th. It was already pretty picked over when I checked today. -- Jonathan Gevaryahu jgevaryahu(a)gmail.com jgevaryahu(a)hotmail.com

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OT: T-Mobile Tuesdays
by Joseph Oprysko 13 Jun '17

13 Jun '17

This is very off topic. Today on the T-Mobile Tuesdays app, they're giving away a one month Xbox One game pass codes. If anyone has a T-Mobile phone and doesn't have an Xbox One, could you please send me the code in a private email. My son plays on the Xbox One a lot, and the game pass will let him play quite a few more games. Since it's summer break from school, it's something that will help him pass the time when we're at home. Thanks, Joe -- 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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Museum pictures
by Mike Loewen 13 Jun '17

13 Jun '17

I wanted to point someone to a site which has pictures from our Infoage museum, but have come to the conclusion that there is no official site like that. Is anyone working on a museum page? I suspect there are lots of pictures floating around in personal collections, but it would be nice to have an official (virtual) museum page. Mike Loewen mloewen(a)cpumagic.scol.pa.us Old Technology http://q7.neurotica.com/Oldtech/

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Stan Veit's History of the Personal Computer
by Glenn Roberts 12 Jun '17

12 Jun '17

I was cleaning out a closet and came across my copy of "Stan Veit's History of the Personal Computer". I realized it's almost 25 years ago this was published and perhaps some on this list haven't read it? I've been enjoying re-reading my copy. One thing that I realized in reading his bio is that it was rather late in life that he became part of the personal computer movement - he was 56 when he opened the Computer Mart in NYC. It's a great read. takes you back. In scanning Amazon I realize this book is now somewhat of a collectible - they seem to go for as much as $200! It looks like there's a podcast on line for those of you who might want to listen http://www.classiccomputing.com/CCPodcasts/Stan_Veit/Entries/2016/1/12_Stan_ Veit_7.html - Glenn

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Weekend workshop report
by Mike Loewen 12 Jun '17

12 Jun '17

I worked on two projects at the museum, this weekend: my recently acquired Eagle IIE micro and the museum's HP 2117F display system. The Eagle is a 4MHZ Z80 system (CP/M) with 64KB RAM and SS 5-1/4" drives. The display was out of adjustment, with a "doubled" presentation. A quick tweak by Ian on one of the video pots fixed that, and I resoldered the leads to the reset switch which had been inexplicably cut by a former owner. Nice bright and clear display (green CRT), passes internal diags. The HP 2117F is a circa 1983 mini, with a hardware floating point processor module. I pulled the power supply and checked the inside of the top cover for the infamous black form: yep. It hadn't quite started to disintegrate, but it was just a matter of time. I removed the foam and glued a plastic shield in its place. The power supply voltages were close, but I adjusted them to spec. The system wasn't completing its self-test, and didn't seem to be recognizing its RAM. It turned out to be a missing ribbon cable which is supposed to connect the RAM boards (3 boards of 256KW each) to the controller board. I pulled a donor cable from our ugly 2113E hangar queen and the memory tests now pass. I also replaced 3 broken plastic toggles on the front panel with parts from the 2113E. I showed Evan how to toggle in a short program from the front panel to make the lights dance, Cylon style. To paraphrase a line from the movie, "Firefox": you MUST think in octal. :-) The 2117F is missing a couple of crucial controller cards to connect to the peripherals in the cabinet: the HP-IB interface for the hard disc, the 7970B tape drive interface, and the interface for the 13037C disc controller. Fortunately, the 2113E has the requisite HP-IB card (12821A) so it may be possible to check out the HP-IB drive in the future. Mike Loewen mloewen(a)cpumagic.scol.pa.us Old Technology http://q7.neurotica.com/Oldtech/

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Found: VMS Hobbyist CDs
by VAXman＠tmesis.org 11 Jun '17

11 Jun '17

Neil Cherry via vcf-midatlantic writes: >On 06/03/2017 11:21 PM, Jim Scheef wrote: > Neil, > Could you pull ISOs >of a couple of the CDs before you take them to IA? > Jim > >I'm using my Linux box to see if I can copy the entire CD to an image. I >don't know how well this will work but it won't take much space. http://tmesis.net/OpenVMS_Hobbyist/

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Diner for Sunday AM
by Evan Koblentz 11 Jun '17

11 Jun '17

We're meeting at the Blue Swan Diner (I think it's in Ocean Township) at 9am tomorrow and will be back at the museum around 10:30ish. All are welcome. ------------------------- 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

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OT: Rasperry Pi Linux Malware
by Tony Bogan 10 Jun '17

10 Jun '17

http://www.zdnet.com/article/linux-malware-enslaves-raspberry-pi-to-mine-cr… Sent from my iPhone

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PowerPC upgrade card?
by David Hoelzer 09 Jun '17

09 Jun '17

I’ve recently come into possession of a Macintosh Quadra 610AV. I’ve replaced all of the SMD capacitors and the PRAM and it’s running beautifully… but it could really use a PPC upgrade card since it only has a 68040 in it. Does anyone have anything lying around, perchance, that they would be willing to part with? Thanks!

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June 10-11 workshop sign-up
by Evan Koblentz 09 Jun '17

09 Jun '17

Everyone, Here is the sign-up sheet for the next workshop. https://tinyurl.com/y76ns8my ________________________________ 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] Museum pictures
by VAXman＠tmesis.org 08 Jun '17

08 Jun '17

Douglas Crawford via vcf-midatlantic writes: >As a docent, I took some photos a ways back attempting decent coverage >and just put them on my imgur account. Its not official or complete, but >perhaps useful for now. http://imgur.com/a/tjYMm It would be great if we >did something like what I have here on the VCFed site that we could put >our official descriptions and let folks also ad personal accounts and >comments. How about a 4K video walk-through?

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Museum pictures
by VAXman＠tmesis.org 07 Jun '17

07 Jun '17

Martin A Flynn via vcf-midatlantic writes: >On 6/7/2017 1:36 PM, Brian Schenkenberger via vcf-midatlantic wrote: > >Douglas Crawford via vcf-midatlantic writes: > >> As a docent, I took >some photos a ways back attempting decent coverage >> and just put them >on my imgur account. Its not official or complete, but >> perhaps useful >for now. http://imgur.com/a/tjYMm It would be great if we >> did >something like what I have here on the VCFed site that we could put >> >our official descriptions and let folks also ad personal accounts and >> >comments. > How about a 4K video walk-through? Panoramic as an example: >https://www.isec.space/pano/9162/_html5/9162.html Save that that's not video, that'd be cool too. >

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Museum pictures
by VAXman＠tmesis.org 07 Jun '17

07 Jun '17

Evan Koblentz via vcf-midatlantic writes: >> How about a 4K video walk-through? > >We'll consider it. Again, there is the concern of "giving away" too much >if people can see the whole thing while laying in bed and using their >smartphones. LOL! No, just a video to serve as an advertisement of what's in store should they decide to get out of bed and or turn off their smartphones.

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Found: VMS Hobbyist CDs
by VAXman＠tmesis.org 06 Jun '17

06 Jun '17

Jonathan Gevaryahu via vcf-midatlantic writes: >AFAIK OSes which require drives with '512 byte blocks' is sort of a scsi >hack. The physical data on the cd surface is 2048 byte blocks (plus ECC >and subchannel data you don't normally see for 2532 bytes per sector, >plus headers and sync marks etc) The whole 512 byte thing is a special >mode certain cd drives have which sends each 2048 byte block to the host >computer as if it was four separate 512 byte blocks/sectors, but its >really just a translation layer. Not all drives do it. > >The actual CD contents for these VMS cds are 2048 byte blocks, the 512 >byte magic happens in the drive, AFAIK. > >I could be wrong about this. Pretty much, that's correct. However, if you want VMS to boot from the CD, it had better present the CD image in 512 byte blocks.

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Here's the COBOL article
by Evan Koblentz 05 Jun '17

05 Jun '17

http://www.techrepublic.com/article/cobol-programmers-know-old-is-not-bad/ ________________________________ 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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Found: VMS Hobbyist CDs
by Neil Cherry 05 Jun '17

05 Jun '17

I just found my CD of the VMS Hobbyist CD for 5.4, 5.5, 5.5-2, 6.0, 6.1 and 7.2. No licenses but I think folks can handle that. I expect to be At infoAge on Monday night. Is there somewhere I can leave them so VCF can pick them up? -- 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] Found: VMS Hobbyist CDs
by VAXman＠tmesis.org 05 Jun '17

05 Jun '17

Dave Wade via vcf-midatlantic writes: >The content might not be ISO but the file extension is.. Usable by SIMH >on the Pc.... The extension means nothing. You could call it .DOGFART and it'd still function.

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Found: VMS Hobbyist CDs
by Herb Johnson 05 Jun '17

05 Jun '17

> On 06/04/2017 08:49 PM, Neil Cherry wrote: Private to Neil Cherry: contact me on an unrelated matter. Seems you are not getting my private emails. Herb Johnson -- Herbert R. Johnson, New Jersey in the USA http://www.retrotechnology.com OR .net

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Found: VMS Hobbyist CDs
by VAXman＠tmesis.org 05 Jun '17

05 Jun '17

Dave Wade via vcf-midatlantic writes: >All the VMS Images I have, even the ones from Digital have ".iso" = >extensions so I assume some software "barfs" at other extensions. When I >= started playing with VMS images I assumed they were ISO but quickly = >found out they are not, they are just block dumps of the filing system, >= and I believe if you have a Linux system you can just DD them to a = >partition and then mount under VMS. There is a vast collection of VAX = >images at vaxhaven.com again all as ".iso" files... >From Digital, I'm assuming d|i|g|i|t|a|l as in Digital Equipment Corp? I don't recall DEC ever distributing anything with an ISO extension save for DECnet-ISO, later called 'phase V'.

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Found: VMS Hobbyist CDs
by VAXman＠tmesis.org 05 Jun '17

05 Jun '17

Jim Scheef via vcf-midatlantic writes: >Neil, Could you pull ISOs of a couple of the CDs before you take them to >IA? Jim Just to be pedantic, the VMS distribution kit CDs are not ISO-9660! One can make an image of the CD's contents -- call it an ISO if it makes you feel better -- but its contents are not ISO-9660. This image can then be burned to recordable CD media by an appropriate burner but then, they'll only be useable on VMS. Also note that some of the older hardware many of you may be playing with will have early generation CD-rom drives that may be onerous when trying to read newecordable CD media.

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Found: VMS Hobbyist CDs
by VAXman＠tmesis.org 05 Jun '17

05 Jun '17

Dave McGuire via vcf-midatlantic writes: >{...snip...} > I was first going to say .DOGBARF but that's a real product. > > .DOGFART is a real product too, unfortunately! sub/real/commercial/whole

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Found: VMS Hobbyist CDs
by VAXman＠tmesis.org 05 Jun '17

05 Jun '17

Dave McGuire via vcf-midatlantic writes: >On 06/04/2017 10:15 AM, Brian Schenkenberger via vcf-midatlantic wrote: >>> The content might not be ISO but the file extension is.. Usable by >SIMH >> on the Pc.... > > The extension means nothing. You could call >it .DOGFART and it'd still > function. > > Actually, .DOGFAR is the extension I use for all of my disk images. >How'd you know?! ROTFLMFAO! I was first going to say .DOGBARF but that's a real product.

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Warning: This thread involves game consoles
by william degnan 05 Jun '17

05 Jun '17

the biggest diappointment about the Retron 5 and similar game systems is that they don't play Atari games. Other than MAME, is there a system that plays all Atari carts in one system? b On Sat, Jun 3, 2017 at 12:00 AM, Alexander Pierson via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> wrote: > > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > From: Alexander Pierson <ajpierson1(a)yahoo.com> > To: vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> > Cc: > Bcc: > Date: Sat, 3 Jun 2017 04:00:54 +0000 (UTC) > Subject: Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Warning: This thread involves game consoles > I asked for an Atari 2600 from my parents... in 2005. I have to say that > it's one of the most memorable presents I've received from them. And now I > want to play Asteroids... > -Alexander 'Z' Pierson > > My dad bought us kids the original Atari 2600, my first game console. I > > preferred the planes over the tanks. Gen-X all the way. It is customary > > to reply to a thread such as this. > > > > > > > >

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Commodore 64 curb find, need power supply
by Jason Perkins 04 Jun '17

04 Jun '17

Thanks Alexander! That sounds ideal! -J On Wed, May 24, 2017 at 8:07 PM Alexander via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> wrote: > Nice score! > > I believe I have a spare C64 PSU from a bricked machine that won't be > needing it. You are welcomed to it. > > You're over in Springfield, right? I'm not far away, if you want to stop > by the Merrifield area, it's yours at your convenience. > > -Alexander 'Z' Pierson > > Sent from my pocket telephone. > > Jason Perkins via vcf-midatlantic < > vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> wrote: > > >Last week I was driving through my neighborhood and spied an electric lawn > >mower by the curb. When I walked back to nab it, by eye caught a Commodore > >logo on a box. I thought to myself "Surely there's not commodore equipment > >inside." Turns out it was a never opened MPS-801 dot matrix printer! > >Everything, even the original ribbon, was in its packing. > > > >Well, this warranted a closer look at the other curb items. Nearby was a > >long box lid, with 2 items in plastic bags. One bag contained 1541 drive, > >and the other an original style C64. Both with plastics in perfect > >condition! The C64 has an "A" revision motherboard. > > > >I've never had a C64, so I figure this is worth a play :) It didn't come > >with a power supply though. Does anyone have an extra they want to sell? > >I'm just outside DC if that makes a difference. > > > >Thanks! > > > >-- > >Jason Perkins > >313 355 0085 > -- Jason Perkins 313 355 0085 Sent from my iPhone

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List check. Please disregard.
by MailmanLists Support 04 Jun '17

04 Jun '17

22:48 AEST List check. Please disregard.

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Warning: This thread involves game consoles
by jaj＠totallyamused.com 03 Jun '17

03 Jun '17

We were an Intellivision family, playing Sea Battle, whenever possible, with my brothers is a fond memory. Before it was trendy I collected video game systems, in college my roommate and I stayed up all hours of the night playing Videocart-09 Drag Race/Drag Strip on the Fairchild Channel F. We were both car guys, and the controller for that particular game was awesome. The system was dated but the concept of the game was spot on. My roommate passed away a few years ago -- I occasionally drag the system out and play and recall how fun it was to waste away hours on that game. As a tween to teen I loved the Commodore 64. Up N' Down, Dr J and Larry Bird Go 1-on-1, and Epyx Summer Games...and then the single player turn games of the early BBS days (Empire)... Great memories, no warning required for this post!! > My dad bought us kids the original Atari 2600, my first game console. I > preferred the planes over the tanks. Gen-X all the way. It is customary > to reply to a thread such as this.

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Warning: This thread involves game consoles
by VAXman＠tmesis.org 02 Jun '17

02 Jun '17

Dave McGuire via vcf-midatlantic writes: >On 06/02/2017 02:12 PM, Tony Bogan via vcf-midatlantic wrote: >> My dad >bought us kids the original Atari 2600, my first game console. I >> >preferred the planes over the tanks. Gen-X all the way. It is >customary >> to reply to a thread such as this. > > Original Pong was my >first "console" in the mid 70s followed by Atari 2600 and intellivision >(5 kids in the family so one console didn't cut it!) > Apple II in 1978 >and it was more Apple II gaming than anything till the early 80s when >highschool and girls took precedence! > > BBS/AE line took over the >Apple II for years so it was mostly consoles for gaming and still is to >this day. > > My first game console was an Atari 2600. I bought it in 2013. I >haven't powered it up yet. Kudos!

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Warning: This thread involves game consoles
by william degnan 02 Jun '17

02 Jun '17

My dad bought us kids the original Atari 2600, my first game console. I preferred the planes over the tanks. Gen-X all the way. It is customary to reply to a thread such as this.

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Wifi232
by william degnan 02 Jun '17

02 Jun '17

Yesterday I got one of Paul Rickard ' s WIFI232 devices and I should say, Well Done! It's perfect for vintage computing. Plunk one on most any serial port and you're all set. Great documentation and features too. There is even a built-in wifi access server function. I tested on a vt240 last night to connect to telnet bbs and other telnet sites ATDT towel.blinkenlights.nl [enter] ATDT IP address of BBS Etc. http://biosrhythm.com/?page_id=1453 Bill Degnan twitter: billdeg vintagecomputer.net

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Thinning out my collection
by Jonathan Gevaryahu 02 Jun '17

02 Jun '17

I'm planning to thin out my vintage computer collection, I've accumulated just too much stuff in recent years and need to clear space. Currently I'm trying to get rid of some non-vintage stuff which people may or may not have an interest in: I have three Lexmark Optra S 16xx/1855 printers; of the three, two work and one is a parts donor for the other two. I don't need any of them anymore. Between them they have two envelope feeder modules, a duplexer, as well as a 2-drawer 500 sheet input tray option. I also have a large pile of loose spare parts harvested from a fourth printer. These are basically free to a good home, pickup only from 19066. Contact me off list if interested. In the future, I have some other truly vintage computer stuff to disperse, including some IBM PS/2 stuff I don't need, and at least one old-world Beige PowerPC mac I don't need either, and several 486/pentium pc clones, but I need to assess that stuff further and clean personal info off the hard drives etc before those can be offered. -- Jonathan Gevaryahu jgevaryahu(a)gmail.com jgevaryahu(a)hotmail.com

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COBOL
by Evan Koblentz 02 Jun '17

02 Jun '17

Relax: I don't intend to learn COBOL. :) Lots of tech reporters are writing stories about why COBOL is dead/obsolete. They're wrong. I am writing a story about COBOL's merits, roadmap, etc. -- already working on setting up some interviews with people in the ISO standards community, IBM, and so on. Here's a specific question for you guys. The page at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_compilers#COBOL_compilers lists lists nine COBOL compilers. Other than IBM and Gnu, which are the most common ones used in industry? (banks, federal agencies, etc.) ________________________________ 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] COBOL: vintage vs. legacy code
by VAXman＠tmesis.org 01 Jun '17

01 Jun '17

Bob Applegate <bob(a)corshamtech.com> writes: > On May 31, 2017, at 2:36 PM, Joseph S. Barrera III via vcf-midatlantic = <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> wrote: >=20 > On Wed, May 31, 2017 at 11:00 AM, Brian Schenkenberger via = vcf-midatlantic < > vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> wrote: >=20 >> I've been writing assembly for 40+ years and fully expect to be = writing it >> for another 10+. ;) >>=20 >=20 > Are you asserting that, say, VAX assembly and 6502 assembly are the = *same > language*? :-) Somehow I missed this comment. Funny you should mention VAX; it shows how out of touch you are with the VMS world. I have written my fair share and more of VAX assembly but I've written volumes of Alpha and Itanium too. I used to play on PDPs and the micro-computers (CP/M) in the physics lab in college writting assembly. One of my first year EE classes involved 6502 processors too. >Same concepts, even if the target processor is different. Pretty much. >FWIW, I was in a code review this week for a few hundred bytes of = >assembly code. The number of people fluent in assembly at the company = >is very small, but this product sells several hundred thousand units a = >year and is very important. The code was in C using a highly optimizing = >compiler but it couldn=E2=80=99t quite squeeze the code enough once a = >new feature was added, and going to a slightly larger processor with = >more RAM (32 bytes) was about four cents more per chip, so switching to = >assembly was the best approach. > >Not all computers have 2 TB disk and 32 GB RAM. When you need to save a = >few bytes, assembly is your friend. Yeah, like the specialized processors incorporated in to satellites which I coded for in my Astrospace days.

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] COBOL: vintage vs. legacy code
by Jeffrey Jonas 01 Jun '17

01 Jun '17

My dad's happily retired for about 25 years now. Some of his COBOL IBM mainframe code is STILL IN PRODUCTION. Why? Because of the investment of untold man-YEARS of effort, debugging and diligence to yield nearly bullet-proof code. Because the code implements algorithms and logic that's no longer documented or understood by anyone else. Porting code introduces new bugs, thus IBM's captive audience with all the new mainframes ALWAYS being "backwards compatible". > It's not obsolete as long as it's *not* too much trouble to maintain. There's a whole wild and wacky world of backwards compatible retrofits to "legacy systems". Screen scraping interfaces new apps to programs that still think they're talking to 3270 "green screen" terminals. Dave McGuire: > Organizations are using it for a reason: > It's the right tool for their job, > based on whatever criteria they've set forth. FORTH? Did somebody say FORTH :-) Most of my dad's career was writing COBOL programs. I'll never have that stability in today's "language of the month" club: Perl, Python, Go, Ruby on Rails, Java and all its variants and environments, ADA (before it was a fruit), FORTRAN/RATFOR/WATFIV, ... -- Jeff Jonas

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Sphere 1
by Evan Koblentz 29 May '17

29 May '17

Sellam Ismail is looking to sell his Sphere 1 (missing CPU card) for $4K OBO. He's at sellam.ismail(a)gmail.com. It would be wonderful if someone could buy this and donate it to the VCFed museum. Someone offered to replicate the CPU card for us if that happens. Anyone can send me a PM here or email to evan(a)vcfed.org if you're interested in helping us. Please note that we are not looking for donations to buy the computer ourselves. We have a policy prohibiting artifact purchases regardless of the source of funds. ________________________________ 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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testing ... ignore
by Evan Koblentz 29 May '17

29 May '17

________________________________ 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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Animated graphic needed
by Evan Koblentz 29 May '17

29 May '17

Some of our museum info kiosks, aka the cheapest Android tablets available, are showing signs of burn-in from the VCF logo screen saver. I don't know if this is literally old-fashioned "burn it" or some other technical issue. Quick search reveals un-burn apps that display many colors etc. to undo symptoms. Anyway, to prevent this from happening on all of our tablets, we should make a screensaver more elaborate than the current one (our "ectoplasm" logo on a black background). Please note that the screensaver is a web page with an image; the kiosk app requires this vs. loading an image directly. Can someone make a version of our logo that does things such as fade in/out, bounce around, spin, etc.? I don't think HTML5 video would work because some of the tablets use older Android 4.4. ------------------------- 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

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Museum closed today
by Evan Koblentz 28 May '17

28 May '17

Our museum is closed today and will reopen next weekend.

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Animated graphic needed
by Jonathan Sturges 28 May '17

28 May '17

So my understanding was that real burn-in required a display technology dependent on phosphor, like CRTs or plasma, so I have long understood that LCD was immune to this. What would give some handheld LCDs persistence? And would a motion GIF be sufficient? I didn't bother to check but that HAS to be compatible with Android 4.4... -Jonathan Date: Sun, 28 May 2017 04:05:15 -0400 From: Evan Koblentz <evan(a)vcfed.org> To: Vcf <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> Subject: [vcf-midatlantic] Animated graphic needed Message-ID: <79e1380f-e3ca-4638-82b9-27bfd4ab66bd(a)vcfed.org> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 > Some of our museum info kiosks, aka the cheapest Android tablets available, are showing signs of > burn-in from the VCF logo screen saver. > I don't know if this is literally old-fashioned "burn it" or some other technical issue.

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Radio Shack archives aution
by Evan Koblentz 28 May '17

28 May '17

Fyi: http://www.electronicdesign.com/communications/radio-shack-close-most-retai… ------------------------- 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

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ADM-3A display problem
by Garrett Nievin 26 May '17

26 May '17

I'm restoring a Lear Siegler ADM-3A, and I'm not the most CRT-savvy guy around (but I did really enjoy Ian's excellent class at the most recent VCF-E). Attached is a photo of the issue. If I crank the brightness to clearly see the raster, I can see that the text is actually displaying as dark instead of bright. Pointers? Cheers, Garrett

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sun SparcStation 2, video frequencies
by Herb Johnson 26 May '17

26 May '17

Someone asked me, about connecting modern monitors to a SparcStation 2 with a CG6 8-bit color framebuffer. If you acutally have a VGA-type or LCD type *modern* monitor hooked up and running, please send me details. Now - I know plenty about video and scan rates and fixed frequency monitors. I don't need lessons in wiring up 13W3 connectors, sync-on-green. I know about sense-pins or "ID pins" which tell these video cards, "I'm monitor X, change your video to Y". OK? I'm not asking to be "schooled" on the subject. What I'm asking is what an electrical engineer would ask (that's me). What are the damn actual, real, video signals this card puts out? As in mode X: (sense pins grounded) horizontal frequency ? vertical frequency ? frame rate ? if you want, "video frequency in Megahertz" which isn't useful And yes, I searched the Web, and it was uninformative on "cold" searching. Active users of Sun may know where to go. Lots of links are dead, or under-informative, or lessons in video. My site has such lessons already! What I did find, are references to Sony monitors sold by Sun for use, which are GDM-1662 and GDM-1962. I got what I *think* are Sony's fixed frequencies of use. I did not get the magic "sense pins grounded" on those monitors. I'll not quote here what I learned on those monitors, you can send that along if you wish, that will confirm what I found. Here's a more general question, related of course. Otherwise - people who ask me about monitors for old computers, ask for a magic box. It's variously called "a converter" or "frame buffer" or "adapter". they think it magically changes video frequencies, even stores a frame of video! But most don't; the simplest just rewire 13W3's to hook to HD-15 connectors, with some toggles for the sense pins. some may play with sync signals. But...this is the year 2017, not 1997 or even 2007. There may WELL be "magic boxes" now, that have whole computers in them, that DO capture a frame and resend it. If anyone knows of one of THESE, which costs less than $100 - and it *works*, that matters for some reason - I'd like to know. IF it costs $250, that doesn't help - these are hobbyists asking, not video engineers. Thanks. Sorry for the long post, but I'm not looking for history lessons or video-signal lessons. Herb Johnson -- Herbert R. Johnson, New Jersey in the USA http://www.retrotechnology.com OR .net

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Virginia guys...
by William Sudbrink 26 May '17

26 May '17

Did any of the Virginia crew see this: https://washingtondc.craigslist.org/nva/zip/6147194618.html There's a guy in Dale City emptying out a storage shed: I am a retired engineer and am in the process of moving back home (out of state) I am emptying a 12 X 22 garage storage shed of 50 years accumulation of hardware, tools, furniture, automotive parts-filters-accessories, electronic parts and accessories, Ham Radio parts and accessories and household items. All will be placed on the curb for free pick-up hour by hour until the shed is empty.( NO BROWSING IN SHED OR GARAGE) No saving or holding, first pick-up gets it some or all FODDER FOR FLEA MARKETS OR YARD SALES! --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus

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Results of Jason Scott collection rescue
by Evan Koblentz 26 May '17

26 May '17

Anthony S. and I took a Uhaul to Jason's house today and rescued most of his vintage computing collection. I'll never remember everything -- we filled the 9-foot cargo van three layers tall! Following are the highlights: - Large amount of common 8-bitters in mediocre condition. Half a dozen Apple ][ plus/e/c/GS/Laser; a few Vic/64 systems; one or two TRS-80; one or two TI-99/4A; etc. .... also some Sun systems and a pair of DEC Rainbows - Several DEC terminals in mediocre condition - A bunch of small tape drives etc. - Miscellaneous peripherals - Xerox-branded terminal that appears to be an ADM or similar - Commodore PET case with some other computer inside it (we didn't have a chance to open it but someone wrote "MM-1" in market on the back) - An awesome homemade videogame controller unit for a PC, might have to be installed in our workshop :) - NeXTstation and monitor, just like the one we got running in the museum a few weeks ago. Nice to have a backup! Funny story: we went an hour out of way to visit Sridhar and pick up something. We ended up visiting his father and picking up nothing, due to a fairly hilarious misunderstanding. ________________________________ 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] COBOL
by VAXman＠tmesis.org 26 May '17

26 May '17

Dave McGuire via vcf-midatlantic writes: >On 05/17/2017 07:33 PM, william degnan via vcf-midatlantic wrote: > ..I >used cobol when I worked at dupont tso/JCL (Damn autocorrect) > > Cobol >is obsolete though. My professional opinion > > Your bank statement would disagree with you. > > Cobol is *out of fashion*. Obsolete doesn't mean quite the same >thing. I still have customers actively developing their application with COBOL. With extensions in the compiler, they make extensive use of VMS RMS ISAM files. I stil can't make head-or-tails of those damn PIC statements.

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ADM-3A display problem
by Herb Johnson 25 May '17

25 May '17

I own and have repaired some ADM-3A terminals, and I have electronics experience from the era. I did not see the posted image, from the VCF Web archive of messages. I just walked through the ADM-3A Maintenance Manual, which is on Web online archives. I did not see any "invert video" DIP switch setting. I did not see any description about how to invert video. And - at a glance - I did not see anything on the schematic on the logic board, which suggested a simple means to invert video. Of course I may have missed something; or my manual may not match the actual terminal. But I'm confirming the owner's impression that there's not likely a "toggle switch" in play. I'm afraid, the apparent inverted video, may be a real issue and not just some inadvertent setting. So: it's either a deliberate "mod" for purpose, or some logic failure. I doubt it's a monitor failure - that can be diagnosed, by using an oscilloscope to look at the incoming CRT monitor signal, to see if it is standard NTSC type video. This calls for technical experience and use of an oscilloscope. An oscilloscope will show actual signals. If there is a mod, jumper or failure, "walking through" with schematic and oscilloscope will find it. The logic board should be inspected for any wiring modifications. The board can be removed and decabled for such inspections. Be VERY CAREFUL because 1) various pieces of insulating "cardboard" are EXTREMELY fragile, 2) there's risk of shock from the 15,000 volts on the CRT - a charge that the "tube" retains after power-off, and 3) of course any physical issues from handing old electronics, boards, cabinets. Standard disclaimer: I'm not responsible for loss, injury or damage. Use any information I provide at your own risk. I may be wrong, confirm anything I've suggested. 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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Computing time in BASIC
by Evan Koblentz 25 May '17

25 May '17

Suppose I want an Applesoft (Microsoft) BASIC program to do something for a certain amount of time as measured in seconds or minutes. FOR-NEXT loops don't align to any real increment -- they just count based on how fast the processor can go, right? If so, then how do you make something happen for a time amount? ------------------------- 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

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Film thing is resolved
by Evan Koblentz 25 May '17

25 May '17

Everyone, There was extensive discussion about the film issue on the private chapter admin list (me, Jeff B., Corey, Dean). We four jointly drafted a letter to IA management. Corey and I signed it. I met with IA management today and the matter is resolved. VCF is satisfied with the outcome. Please understand that I can't go into details, and that it would NOT help if any of our members post any further Facebook comments about it. ________________________________ 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] Commodore 64 curb find, need power supply
by Alexander 25 May '17

25 May '17

Nice score! I believe I have a spare C64 PSU from a bricked machine that won't be needing it. You are welcomed to it. You're over in Springfield, right? I'm not far away, if you want to stop by the Merrifield area, it's yours at your convenience. -Alexander 'Z' Pierson Sent from my pocket telephone. Jason Perkins via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> wrote: >Last week I was driving through my neighborhood and spied an electric lawn >mower by the curb. When I walked back to nab it, by eye caught a Commodore >logo on a box. I thought to myself "Surely there's not commodore equipment >inside." Turns out it was a never opened MPS-801 dot matrix printer! >Everything, even the original ribbon, was in its packing. > >Well, this warranted a closer look at the other curb items. Nearby was a >long box lid, with 2 items in plastic bags. One bag contained 1541 drive, >and the other an original style C64. Both with plastics in perfect >condition! The C64 has an "A" revision motherboard. > >I've never had a C64, so I figure this is worth a play :) It didn't come >with a power supply though. Does anyone have an extra they want to sell? >I'm just outside DC if that makes a difference. > >Thanks! > >-- >Jason Perkins >313 355 0085

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