- vcf-midatlantic - lists.vcfed.org

Sat. night VCF East dinner
by Evan Koblentz 24 Mar '17

24 Mar '17

Everyone, Tickets for the Saturday night VCF East dinner will be $33 (plus cash bar). Just so you all know, we are not making any money on that. The ticket price is exactly our cost. Last year we charged less and lost money. Dinner will be at the same place as last year: Clancy's Tavern, 25 South Main St., Neptune City, NJ 07753. Same menu too, including the (mmmm) VCFed logo ice cream cake. We will sell tickets at the show. First we'll go to exhibitors, vendors, speakers, etc., and then to everyone else. Cash, PayPal, credit cards are all accepted. ________________________________ 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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MARCHIAN invasion of Trenton
by Herb Johnson 23 Mar '17

23 Mar '17

I attended the TCF and saw talks by Frank OBrien (Apollo Guidance Computer), Neil Cherry (Home Automation / Internet of Things) and Evan and Jeff's robotics presentation. The TCF "flea market" was flea-sized to be sure. But good people brought vintage computing things, proportionally it was a large piece of a small pie. One of my friend bought an SGI Octane 2 (newer model) , a SGI Indigo 2 High Impact and a BeBox ($1000) were also offered. Ther were even a few 360K floppy drives and diskettes for sale. I bought, from another vendor of many things vintage, another TI 99/4A, with transformer and TV interface, to test the TI I bought not long ago - both worked by the way. A book vendor had many vintage computing books, some VERY vintage (my era); from his father's collection so he said. Neil's talk was most informative, despite his protests as posted here. The key concept from it, in my opinion, was "MQTT", which is a message-based protocol between sensors and controllers - "publishers and subscribers" in the lexicon. The widespread adoption of a messaging protocol is a signifigant step - akin to TCP/IP for networking, my impression. The rest of the talk was about things talking with things to do things. Neil, practice this phrase: "details of implementation or scope are beyond the limited time I have available today. Contact me afterwards and I can give you references. Thank you." Evan is correct, in his reportage that I said his and Jeff's robotics talk was more technically informative, than my discussion with a student and faculty-member of their $40K demonstration robot. I could not get those persons, to describe the programming interface to their tower of plastic and motors. Evan showed a BASIC program with peeks and pokes. The 20th century won that "battle of the 'bots". Am I a judge? I worked on robotic system interfaces to minicomputers in 1975. Frank always gives an entertaining talk, and he's a published expert on the Apollo Guidance Computer. He claims the DSKY human interface designed in the early 1960's, presaged personal and embedded-computer human interfaces to come. It may be fun to confirm that claim, the interface has a design history. But "success has many parents..." I have photos, to answer another post, which I'll put on a Web page in due course; a link will be posted here. I'll point to other photoed sites or sources, if their publishers give me Web links and permission for use of selected photos. Those who are photographed should contact me and name themselves. Herb Johnson retrotechnology.com -- Herbert R. Johnson, New Jersey in the USA http://www.retrotechnology.com OR .net

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Re: What limited the C64's CPU to ~ 1 MHz? , Vol 17, Issue 23
by SVCatITC＠aol.com 23 Mar '17

23 Mar '17

Hi Dan, John; Newbe here....... Thanks for the enlightenment on legacy high speed chip design. Boy does this bring back memories! Back in the early 80's, had a similar problem designing a quiet 5mHz main clock, with dividers, to run test fixture registers, on component hardware from production runs. (Working in the test fixture / model shop.) In a macro sense, like your 'micro' illustration, I had harmonic splash all over the fixture and DUT circuits..... Way too noisy for testing the low level analog circuits on the hybrid DUT PC board. I finally ended up taking the main clock components off the main breadboard (oscillator and the like), and enclosing them in a total metal capacitor enclosure (forget the alloy) with ceramic feedthroughs for power and clock out. With the total metal shield around the 'heartbeat'..... quieted everything down. We all, in the normal thoughts in our brains, think only digital when we are in front of such devices, however, when you are designing main 'heartbeats' in these things, you have to think 'analog' and design around the analog component of the rudimentary signals before moving on to 'clocking' signals and gate chasing around the PC board. In devices that have an analog component (Data Acquisition), have seen guard circuit PC traces totally circling around the 'heartbeat' circuits, for shielding. So like the 12 items you identified in rudimentary CPU design, when you are at that level, one must think basic analog and physics for high speed design and compensate for all the parasitic effects. As you noted, they all had trade-offs. It comes down to best bang for the buck! Thank you so much for the refresher course! Bill Inderrieden ----------- Original Message ------------- Message: 15 Date: Thu, 23 Mar 2017 11:01:04 -0400 From: Dan Roganti <ragooman(a)gmail.com> To: vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> Subject: Re: [vcf-midatlantic] What limited the C64's CPU to ~ 1 MHz? Message-ID: <CADo=F9Eai8W_OvDosnWSm1vq9tbF+yQHKcB179t5cEBg05HzLA(a)mail.gmail.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 On Thu, Mar 23, 2017 at 8:47 AM, John Heritage via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> wrote: >> Does anyone know the reason why the C64 only ran at ~1 MHz? Was it to >> keep RAM costs or system cost as low as possible or was there a different >> engineering reason? >> >> (The Atari and BBC machines managed higher clocks, but were very expensive >> compared to the C= devices, although the 1977 Atari 2600 managed ~1.19 MHz >> out of it's 6507 (6502 with low pin count/less addressing).. > The various clock circuits inside the different home computers was the > least of their problems. All of those different combinations used between > the various home computers were just methods they found to minimize their > Bill of Materials - because every penny was crucial to their bottom line > when making thousands of them in the consumer market. > There were still real and significant design challenges present in the > early VLSI designs of the 1970s to make these faster. But they slowly > marched on and made improvements every year to where we had the 8086 > running at 5mhz and 68000 running at 8mhz already by 1979. This list below > is just some of design problems and they are all interrelated. Making trade > offs between each of these was a constant battle. This list is mostly > ordered by significance, but some of this could be a matter of opinion. > 1. BJT, NMOS, PMOS, or CMOS logic families contribute to speed, > eg. depletion-load NMOS is faster than BJT > 2. Miller Effect [capacitance] prsent even on the silicon die > 3. VLSI design geometries were limited to about 5um > 4. Clock distribution across the silicon die [eg, too much clock skew] > 5. Higher Clock speed required more power dissipation > 6. Negative Bias voltage was a burden to compensate for Miller Effect > [eg. 8080 ] > 7. Lead Inductance present even on the silicon die > 8. Slew Rate, > eg, ECL being faster ran on smaller voltages, slew rate was less, > giving faster clock speed > 9. TTL signals are above the noise floor > eg, ECL being faster was below noise floor, ie power is negative voltage > 10. TTL operate in saturation for logic signals, [eg. ECL being faster > operate in Linear region] > 11. Square wave logic signals have more odd numbered harmonics > than a linear analog device, reducing the possible bandwidth > 12. Pin Capacitance limited not only the driver characteristics but also > the frequency bandwidth

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The Atlantic : How Aristotle Created the Computer
by Herb Johnson 23 Mar '17

23 Mar '17

The cited article is a surprisingly through and generally correct presentation of the formal history of logic, computation and computing theory. This article, is how academics and historians look at "computing", and doesn't really have much new from my glance. It's a good tutorial, I think. I'm not sure why The Atlantic published it in the recent issue, what event or circumstance prompted it - I read very quickly to scope out the article. The author apparently is an "angel investor" and former/current? computing financial whiz. Of course, the title argument is merely a draw to read the article, "success has many parents". Herb -- 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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Museum updates
by Evan Koblentz 23 Mar '17

23 Mar '17

Tony brought some of his employees to the museum today to replace our center door with a regular section of wall. They'll continue working on it tomorrow and finish Monday. Not having the unnecessary door there means they're won't be an ugly brown blob behind George, and also that we'll have more room for a timeline exhibit in the hallway (probably this summer). Adam and I are going to be at the museum all weekend to finish other projects in time for VCF East. Getting the tablets all done, completing the modern history exhibit, and a ton of minor things nobody will notice but will collectively be an improvement. Jeff B. and others are also expected.

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What limited the C64's CPU to ~ 1 MHz?
by John Heritage 23 Mar '17

23 Mar '17

Does anyone know the reason why the C64 only ran at ~1 MHz? Was it to keep RAM costs or system cost as low as possible or was there a different engineering reason? (The Atari and BBC machines managed higher clocks, but were very expensive compared to the C= devices, although the 1977 Atari 2600 managed ~1.19 MHz out of it's 6507 (6502 with low pin count/less addressing)..

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Me on WBAI in a few minutes
by Evan Koblentz 23 Mar '17

23 Mar '17

Being interviewed on WBAI (Long Island) "PC Radio Show" imminently, re: VCF East.

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Jason Scott is making a renewed push to image Apple ][ software...
by Mark Whittington 22 Mar '17

22 Mar '17

Jason (of archive.org and textfiles.com fame) is renewing efforts to track down and image as much of the existing original Apple ][ software as possible. More info here, summary below -- http://ascii.textfiles.com/archives/5180 In short, a lot of the software that's been archived so far was sourced from cracked versions that were often modified greatly from the original releases. There's now a team of very skilled folks who want to be sure that the pristine versions of these programs are archived and that so-called "silent crack" versions are available for future generations to enjoy. In this context, a "silent crack" is one that removes the copy protection and nothing more, and without adding crack screens or attributions. They're getting to the end of the collections that they already have and are putting out the call for more from people who may have collections sitting around gathering dust in boxes. <https://www.avast.com/sig-email?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campai…> Virus-free. www.avast.com <https://www.avast.com/sig-email?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campai…> <#DAB4FAD8-2DD7-40BB-A1B8-4E2AA1F9FDF2>

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Univac 1 memory
by Mike Loewen 22 Mar '17

22 Mar '17

> On Sun, 12 Mar 2017, Evan Koblentz wrote: >>> Mercury delay memory from a Univac 1. >> >> Do you know if it actually * is * from a U-1? > > http://www.computerhistory.org/revolution/early-computer-companies/5/100/14… > >> If so, then feel free to bid and then donate artifact. :) > > Hey, I'm just a retiree on a fixed income. The Univac memory sold for $18,701. Just a bit over my budget. Mike Loewen mloewen(a)cpumagic.scol.pa.us Old Technology http://q7.neurotica.com/Oldtech/

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Re: MARCHIAN Invasion of Trenton "Digest, Vol 17, Issue 20"
by SVCatITC＠aol.com 22 Mar '17

22 Mar '17

To Neil; Newbe here.... Don't kick yourself! You were way too polite in describing the inconsiderate guy dominating the Q&A. I felt bad for you having to deal with that guy. I attended your course and found it amazing that you were able to cover what you could, even when being HIGHJACKED by the boor you wouldn't let you finish at least one thought! It's a shame that you couldn't get through the presentation to your satisfaction. There was a lot of info to cram into one hour. Kudos to you for navigating around the potholes of cranky technology and the Gremlins residing therein. It is a brave man who can stand up there and fight such pitfalls in oratory. Thank You! and Congrats! Bill Inderrieden Original Message Message: 5 Date: Sun, 19 Mar 2017 22:33:48 -0400 From: Neil Cherry <ncherry(a)linuxha.com> To: vcf-midatlantic _vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org_ (mailto:vcf-midatlantic@lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org) >> "Finally I let one gentleman dominate the questioning >> and I might not have fully understood what he was asking."

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Help IDing card
by Support 20 Mar '17

20 Mar '17

>From what I remember back in those days - these Controllers changed almost weekly. It was a really crazy time with all the clone hardware. Every corner Tech Shop sold these Controllers, and who knows where they got them from. It was really the Wild West once the Clones took over (1989-90), and lasted most of that whole decade really. I would be really surprised if you find an actual manual. Most of the times my dealer would give me a photocopy page if there was even anything. The more 'standard' or mass produced Controllers came in boxes... but also cost 2-3x as much. If I had to guess it's MFM over RLL since RLL was much more rare. Shouldn't hurt to test on either drive - assuming you can find any that are still working. Anyway, good luck. $.02 Henry S. Courbis Office Toll Free: (800) REACTIVE (732-2848) Office/Mobile Direct: (856) 779-1900 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 On Mon, Mar 20, 2017 at 7:27 PM, Christopher Blackmon via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> wrote: > > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > From: Christopher Blackmon <ckblackm(a)yahoo.com> > To: Tony Bogan <thebogans(a)mac.com> > Cc: vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> > Bcc: > Date: Mon, 20 Mar 2017 23:27:14 +0000 (UTC) > Subject: Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Help IDing card > https://www.dropbox.com/sh/x15qpbmvvznsn8w/AAB37n56zJ4jBTWOGhYe_s8Ba?dl=0 > > I put 3 pictures at this location. > thanks,Christopher. > > >

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Help IDing card
by Jason Perkins 20 Mar '17

20 Mar '17

Looks like a ST506 type disk controller. Probably RLL. -J On Mon, Mar 20, 2017 at 7:39 PM Christopher Blackmon via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> wrote: > https://www.dropbox.com/sh/x15qpbmvvznsn8w/AAB37n56zJ4jBTWOGhYe_s8Ba?dl=0 > > I put 3 pictures at this location. > thanks,Christopher. > > -- Jason Perkins 313 355 0085 Sent from my iPhone

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Help IDing card
by Neil Cherry 20 Mar '17

20 Mar '17

On 03/20/2017 02:04 PM, Christopher Blackmon via vcf-midatlantic wrote: > I've got a full length 16-bit ISA card with the part # WD1006V-WA2 on it that I'm > trying to find the spec's for... I've found several that are close via google, but none > that are exact matches. Would anyone happento have some info on this card? A guess (for memory long time ago old): Western Digital Hard Drive interface card. ST-506 (?) insterface. Probably 2 drive interface, each drive needed 1 long and 1 short header cable. I don't know if it supports RLL but I kind of doubt it. I recall jumping into ROM on the card to format the drives. Sorry that's all I have. -- 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] Help IDing card
by Evan Koblentz 20 Mar '17

20 Mar '17

>> Does the list allow photo attachments or do I need to use dropbox? We prefer that you post them somewhere and then email the link.

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Help IDing card
by Christopher Blackmon 20 Mar '17

20 Mar '17

I've got a full length 16-bit ISA card with the part # WD1006V-WA2 on it that I'm trying to find the spec's for... I've found several that are close via google, but none that are exact matches. Would anyone happento have some info on this card? thanks,Christopher.

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The Atlantic : How Aristotle Created the Computer
by Christian Liendo 20 Mar '17

20 Mar '17

This is not off topic as it relates to how a publication is making a claim on the history of computing. I'm looking for opinions because my first response is no. https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2017/03/aristotle-computer/5…

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MARCHIAN invasion of Trenton
by Jeffrey Jonas 20 Mar '17

20 Mar '17

Michael Kato and Jeff Galinat were venders. I got to chat with Bill Inderrieden, Wm Dudley, Rebecca Mercuri, Neil Cherry, Herb, Dean & Drew and "the usual suspects". Despite being compressed into one day, I felt satisfied. I got some goodies in the dealer's den - displays from Galinat - books from Kato - bags of 1,000 leds and VFD modules from Ott Neil Cherry's home automation presentation had new things from last year. With 13 presentations at a time, everyone's sure to be disappointed and miss things. I missed the earlier C++ talk and the later one was cancelled. -- jeffj

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Museum report
by Evan Koblentz 20 Mar '17

20 Mar '17

Moderate amount of visitors today. About a dozen people in four or five groups of families. I continued setting up the tablets. Finished most of the physical installation. Ordered a few USB extension cables on Amazon so we can power everything without daisy-chaining regular extension cords or power strips. The USB extensions should be here later this week. Me, Adam, and possibly others will be there again next weekend. I have a long list of museum things to get done in time for VCF East. Next weekend will almost be a reality TV episode: can disorganized Evan lead a crew to finish a dozen overlapping projects by the deadline? We'll see! ------------------------- 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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DEC stuff available
by Richard Cini 19 Mar '17

19 Mar '17

All – I was contacted last week by a gentleman in Fitchburg, MA, who used to work for DEC and has a huge load of DEC hardware, manuals, print sets and other stuff. Based on his email, he worked on RSTS and RT-11 (checking to see if he knows Megan G.). Here’s a sample: · If you have a MicroVAX, i might have some extra memory boards for that. · i have a lot of manuals, the logic manual, the PDP-11 manuals, and unibus peripherals manuals... all handbooks · I have an 11/05 cpu, with box, backplane, power supply, front control panel. not sure about the memory, these had core · i have an 11/34 in the large box with the programmers keyboard and a 9-slot expansion bus and a full schematic set for it. · i have several sorts of LSI-11 backplanes including the ones that make a VT-100 into a VT-103. · and i have the kits to turn a VT-100 into a ReGis graphics terminal... VT125 · i have 11/23 boards, which do 22-bit addressing, and a bunch of 512K OEM memory boards (clearpoint or Camminton) · and the MXV-11 boards with the EPROM sockets, some RAM and 2 serial ports are in abundance. · also DLV-11J quad serial port boards, mostly OEM stuff, · some of these boards i have schematics for... · for the hard-core hackers, i have several wire-wrap-roll-your-own boards, dual height and quad. · i also have software... mostly RT-11 but i also have some Micro-RSX · also have some DECUS software, esp a cross-assembler for the 6502... I fixed some bugs and improved the functionality of this tool and used it myself extensively. He also said that he’s still into PDP projects. If anyone’s remotely interested, contact me off-list and I’ll pass his info on to you. Rich -- Rich Cini http://www.classiccmp.org/cini http://www.classiccmp.org/altair32

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Trenton report
by Evan Koblentz 19 Mar '17

19 Mar '17

All went well in Trenton yesterday. Jeff B.'s Commodore/Capsella robot and my Apple/Lego robot both worked perfectly and everyone who stopped at our booth seemed impressed. Herb pointed out that some college students were showing a modern $40,000 robot but were unable to explain how it works nor do much more than our designs. :) Group members spotted in addition to me, Jeff, and Herb: Jeff Galinat, Jeff Golas, Jeff Jonas, Neil, Dean, Drew, Brian Stuart, Bill I., and Steve ... sorry if I forgot anyone. Plus the usual groupies :) who attend Trenton, VCF East, etc. but aren't official members. Brace and I gave a successful lecture. The audience wasn't huge (about 10 people) but they seemed very interested and I think we did a good job presenting historical and technical information. They asked some smart questions afterward. A while ago Gini Mauchly offered us a desk fan that her father brought home from Eckert-Mauchly Computer Company. At the show yesterday we took delivery of it. Me, Brace, Dean, and Drew went to dinner. Burgers and beer.... om nom nom nom. ------------------------- 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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Commodore Inside Story Kickstarter Funded
by John Heritage 19 Mar '17

19 Mar '17

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/469255657/commodore-the-inside-story/d… Looks like the "Commodore: The Inside Story" told by David Pleasance is already fully funded :) I've watched a few of this guys interviews and he seems to be a no-BS kinda leader from Commodore.. I'm looking forward to the book..

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help dumping rom of rare coin-op arcade game
by Herb Johnson 18 Mar '17

18 Mar '17

> The CPU is a Signetics 2650 and the ROM > looks to be a Signetics N82S115N (it's the only socketed chip on the board > that I can see). Google tells me 82S115 is a 512 X 8 TTL bipolar PROM, by finding datasheets. Most ordinary and old PROM programmers don't support that whole class of PROMs to program. But reading it is a different matter. http://www.retrotechnology.com/restore/fuse_bipolar_prom.html Build a reader. Or fake a common 5V EPROM and read THAT. It's doable. You're welcome. Herb -- Herbert R. Johnson, New Jersey in the USA http://www.retrotechnology.com OR .net

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Seattle Gazelle question
by Richard Cini 18 Mar '17

18 Mar '17

All – Back in 2014, I posted a message to the group about the Seattle Gazelle. I don’t have one, but I was basically trying to re-create it using the boards I had in-stock. Jim Scheef sent me a reply back then, but I wanted to follow-up with the whole group on this since I only just located the needed support board (300F model). I think I have all the pieces now: SCP 8086 board, SCP 300F support board, CompuPro RAM22 (128k), and the Cromemco 16FDC controller. I’m using the 16FDC because the source code for the v1.5 SCP BIOS has a compilation switch for it (the other options are Tarbell, SCP and Northstar) and I didn’t have the others. All of the board jumpers are “default” per the manual, other than disabling the RDOS on the 16FDC. This week, I put everything together and the boards work individually but not together (the 16FDC tests OK with the built-in RDOS and a Z80 board). I’ve confirmed basic things like port locations and the like match the v1.5 ROM. I’ve also done some manual testing – I can turn the drive motor on and off by outputting port I/O commands from the monitor, for example, so I know that intra-board communications work. For drives, I have available to me TM100-2A (5.25” DSDD) and Qume QT242 (8” DSDD). The drives test good with a PC using the default jumpers (I use a floppy adapter board from DBIT for the 8”; I now have MSDOS 6.22 on an 8” disk ☺). Straight floppy cables; DS0 strapping. The TM100 (SSSD version) is mentioned specifically in the Cromemco manual, but the Qume is not. When issuing the “B” (boot) command in the SCP ROM, there is no drive activity at all. Controller-specific code is in two places – the monitor ROM (for the bootstrap) and in the DOSIO module. The ROM version I have is for the Cromemco board, so it should work. I also have disk images so eventually I can make a bootable 8” disk if I can fix the rest of it. So, maybe a few basic questions: · Have I missed anything in the above? · What drives were used in the Gazelle and did SCP really use a controller other than the SCP one? · In the system VCFMA has, what drives and controller are used? Thanks again for any help. Rich -- Rich Cini http://www.classiccmp.org/cini http://www.classiccmp.org/altair32

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Commodore Inside Story Kickstarter Funded
by Steven Michelsen 18 Mar '17

18 Mar '17

I am really looking forward to reading that. On the kickstarter page, I like how it's noted that the book "will be 236 pages in length." Sent from my Sprint Samsung Galaxy S7. -------- Original message --------From: John Heritage via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> Date: 3/18/17 9:21 AM (GMT-05:00) To: vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> Cc: John Heritage <john.heritage(a)gmail.com> Subject: [vcf-midatlantic] Commodore Inside Story Kickstarter Funded https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/469255657/commodore-the-inside-story/d… Looks like the "Commodore: The Inside Story" told by David Pleasance is already fully funded :) I've watched a few of this guys interviews and he seems to be a no-BS kinda leader from Commodore.. I'm looking forward to the book..

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OT: free ATAPI/IDE CD drives
by Jeffrey Jonas 18 Mar '17

18 Mar '17

I salvaged way too many ATAPI/IDE interface CD drives: read to 52x, read/write too. Free if you take them at VCF. I didn't think of it soon enough for Trenton :-/ -- jeff jonas

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a fellow's doing a 68030 homebrew board
by Jeffrey Jonas 18 Mar '17

18 Mar '17

just forwarding the reference, unsure if it has merit Newsgroups: comp.sys.m68k Subject: 68030 home brew computer From: xagdin(a)gmail.com Injection-Date: Wed, 15 Mar 2017 10:42:24 +0000 Looking for people interested in getting a 68030 board & build and test https://www.retrobrewcomputers.org/doku.php?id=boards:sbc:gryphon_68030:sta… https://www.retrobrewcomputers.org/forum/index.php?t=msg&th=64&start=0& 100% open source home brew 68030 project

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Where to find us at Trenton tomorrow
by Evan Koblentz 17 Mar '17

17 Mar '17

Trenton regulars know, but for any newcomers: we'll have a couple of tables in the second-floor lobby of the education building. All visitors welcome! You can pick up one of our shiny new brochures. ________________________________ 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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some Capsela for sale
by William Dudley 17 Mar '17

17 Mar '17

I found this Capsela Robot Discovery Toy (plus or minus some bits) and wish to sell it. It looks mostly complete (I assembed the robot from the instructions, I *think* it's all there but I'm not sure if there are missing spacers on the leg drives. Anyway, I know there are people on this list who are using Capsela. Here's a picture: http://www.dudley.nu/capsela.jpg Any interest? All offers entertained. Bill Dudley Jackson, NJ This email is free of malware because I run Linux.

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Wednesday helpers @ VCF East
by Evan Koblentz 17 Mar '17

17 Mar '17

Everyone, We will need helpers on Wednesday, March 29 to help set up for VCF East. To be clear: WEDNESDAY'S TASKS ARE PHYSICAL LABOR. We need to schlep and set up around 50 tables and a couple of hundred chairs. Obviously I cannot do it alone. I need people to commit to being there, bring your work gloves, be ready to sweat. Bounty is pizza and a snazzy VCF t-shirt. ________________________________ 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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help dumping rom of rare coin-op arcade game
by Andrew Molloy 17 Mar '17

17 Mar '17

I've got this rare bowling coin-op game from 1977 that isn't yet in MAME, and it seems there are no known dumps of the ROM. It's a cocktail cabinet by Mirco called Strikes & Spares. The CPU is a Signetics 2650 and the ROM looks to be a Signetics N82S115N (it's the only socketed chip on the board that I can see). Would a cheap eeprom reader such as this one do the job? https://www.amazon.com/Signstek-Universal-MiniPro-Programmer-Support/dp/B00… Here's some pictures of the game. I still have to remove and photograph a smaller circuit board that attaches via two ribbon cables to the mainboard. https://goo.gl/photos/4Kv2njjy18ZGxBpr5 Thanks, Andy

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VCF East -- Sunday night clean-up + beer
by Evan Koblentz 17 Mar '17

17 Mar '17

We'll need a hard-working, reliable crew of people to help clean up Sunday night when VCF East ends. There will be lots of hard work: don't volunteer if you're going to stand around and chat. VCFed will pick up the bar tab after. Email me off-list to volunteer. ________________________________ 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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I guess another Apple 1 is up for Sale
by mike willegal 16 Mar '17

16 Mar '17

When I first started the registry, remarkably few Apple 1s had been powered up in any recent timeframe. Since then, a lot more have been turned up, so to speak. I started just logging the most recent time each one had been known to be operated. Since replacement components are still available, I currently consider the number kind of meaningless, since with little to a lot of effort, any one of them could be operated. It's not like some vintage airplanes or cars, where some key components may not be available to repair a broken unit. regards, Mike Willegal

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Fwd: 10 times the donation, one-day only
by Evan Koblentz 16 Mar '17

16 Mar '17

Buy stuff on Amazon today: we get a bigger-than-usual small piece. :) -------- Forwarded Message -------- Subject: 10 times the donation, one-day only Date: Wed, 15 Mar 2017 10:09:13 +0000 From: Amazon.com <store_news(a)amazon.com> To: info(a)vcfed.org Amazon Celebrate Amazon's #1 ranking in customer satisfaction. <https://smile.amazon.com/gp/f.html?C=3BLXWMWSKGGS7&K=A3CY796Z8VGVDO&R=SEESE…> smile.amazon.com <https://smile.amazon.com/gp/f.html?C=3BLXWMWSKGGS7&K=A3CY796Z8VGVDO&R=SEESE…> Dear Vintage Computer Federation, Great news. We have an upcoming 1-day opportunity to drive additional AmazonSmile donations for Vintage Computer Federation Inc. The American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) surveyed over 10,000 customers to measure perceptions of quality and value across retailers nationwide, and Amazon ranked #1. In celebration of this recognition—and to say thank you to our customers for their support—on Thursday, March 16 only, Amazon will donate 5% (10 times our usual donation rate) of the price of eligible products customers purchase at smile.amazon.com <https://smile.amazon.com/gp/f.html?C=3BLXWMWSKGGS7&K=A3CY796Z8VGVDO&R=SEESE…>. This offer begins at 12:00 AM Pacific Time, and expires at 11:59 PM Pacific Time. On Thursday, March 16, share the message below on social media, your website, and in email to increase donations to Vintage Computer Federation Inc. (Please do not share this promotion outside your organization until Thursday, March 16.) /Amazon is celebrating its #1 ranking in customer satisfaction by the ACSI! Today, March 16, Amazon will donate 5% (10 times the usual donation rate) of the price of your eligible AmazonSmile purchases to Vintage Computer Federation Inc. Get started at smile.amazon.com/ch/47-4133714 <https://smile.amazon.com/gp/f.html?C=3BLXWMWSKGGS7&K=A3CY796Z8VGVDO&R=SEESE…>./ Today, your support goes 10 times further. <https://smile.amazon.com/gp/f.html?C=3BLXWMWSKGGS7&K=A3CY796Z8VGVDO&R=SEESE…> You received this e-mail because you are the registered contact of an organization enrolled in AmazonSmile. If you would like to view or change your organization's AmazonSmile account, please visit: org.amazon.com <https://smile.amazon.com/gp/f.html?C=3BLXWMWSKGGS7&K=A3CY796Z8VGVDO&R=SEESE…> © 2017 Amazon.com <https://smile.amazon.com/gp/r.html?C=3BLXWMWSKGGS7&K=A3CY796Z8VGVDO&R=SEESE…>, Inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Amazon, Amazon.com <https://smile.amazon.com/gp/r.html?C=3BLXWMWSKGGS7&K=A3CY796Z8VGVDO&R=SEESE…>, the Amazon.com <https://smile.amazon.com/gp/r.html?C=3BLXWMWSKGGS7&K=A3CY796Z8VGVDO&R=SEESE…> logo, Prime, Kindle Fire, and 1-Click are registered trademarks of Amazon.com <https://smile.amazon.com/gp/r.html?C=3BLXWMWSKGGS7&K=A3CY796Z8VGVDO&R=SEESE…>, Inc. or its affiliates. Amazon.com <https://smile.amazon.com/gp/r.html?C=3BLXWMWSKGGS7&K=A3CY796Z8VGVDO&R=SEESE…>, 410 Terry Avenue N., Seattle, WA 98109-5210. Reference: 230604120 Please note that this message was sent to the following e-mail address: info(a)vcfed.org

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this is CRAZY
by Evan Koblentz 15 Mar '17

15 Mar '17

Someone is selling a pair of untested twiggy drives. Bid is up to $20K. http://www.ebay.com/itm/122383386508 ________________________________ 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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EP385
by Mike Loewen 15 Mar '17

15 Mar '17

Although not as famous as the R.E.S.I.S.T.O.R.S. group in NJ, Explorer Post 385 in State College, PA was an early enabler of computer programming education to a large group of high school students from 1968 onwards. That is where I learned FORTRAN on an IBM 360/67, along with PL/1 and IBM 360 Basic Assembler Language. Here's a Town & Gown article from November, 1970 that talks about us: http://q7.neurotica.com/Town+Gown.pdf If you like, you can skip the cheesy science fiction short story and go directly to page 7. :-) Mike Loewen mloewen(a)cpumagic.scol.pa.us Old Technology http://q7.neurotica.com/Oldtech/

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check out the VCFed brochure
by Evan Koblentz 15 Mar '17

15 Mar '17

Drew N. designed a trifold brochure for us. We ordered a few zillion of 'em printed on glossy paper. Here are some pictures: http://vcfed.org/evan/brochure/front.jpg http://vcfed.org/evan/brochure/flap.jpg http://vcfed.org/evan/brochure/inside.jpg http://vcfed.org/evan/brochure/back.jpg We will distribute these everywhere the Federation goes: the museum, Festival(s), off-site demos, etc. .... thus we'll have some at Trenton this weekend. These brochures are Federation-wide, not just for our chapter. We'll send a big stack to our people our west and such. ________________________________ 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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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] this is CRAZY
by Jason Perkins 15 Mar '17

15 Mar '17

Lisa stuff has just gone up and up in value. If you want another shock, look up how much Lisa mice sell for. I've never seen a complete one go for less than $300. It took me over 10 years to find mine because I can't justify those prices. On a similar vein, the IR remote for the radio in my Mercedes gets an asking price of $200+ whenever one comes up. I know it's uncommon... but geeze! It's just a remote.... -J On Wed, Mar 15, 2017 at 5:20 AM Ben Greenfield via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> wrote: > I think the important thing is how to identify a twiggy drive from other > drives? > > > > On Mar 15, 2017, at 5:16 AM, Joseph Oprysko via vcf-midatlantic < > vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> wrote: > > > > OMG. That really is frigging ridiculous. > > On Wed, Mar 15, 2017 at 1:05 AM Evan Koblentz via vcf-midatlantic < > > vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> wrote: > > > >> The drives sold for $32,000. > >> > > -- > > 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? > > -- Jason Perkins 313 355 0085 Sent from my iPhone

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I guess another Apple 1 is up for Sale
by Christian Liendo 15 Mar '17

15 Mar '17

The Article mentions Mike Willegal http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-4311980/Working-Apple-1-auct…

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Off the Hook
by Evan Koblentz 15 Mar '17

15 Mar '17

I'll be on 2600's Off the Hook radio show on Wednesday, March 29 to talk about VCF East. The station is WBAI (Long Island). You can stream it at www.wbai.org. ________________________________ 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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8-Bit Generation - Jay Miner (and friends) devices
by John Heritage 14 Mar '17

14 Mar '17

I just watched the 8-bit generation video finally, narrated by the excellent Bil Herd :). Whoever here had a hand in putting that together, thank you so much! .. One take-away I have from this video I haven't seen/read elsewhere is that it seems like the only "Jay Miner engineered device" that was ever properly marketed by parent company was the Atari 2600? i.e. - Original Atari/Bushnell wanted to kill the 2600 kinda early - Warner Atari did a big marketing push in 1980-1981 and that made the 2600 super successful. - Neither Bushnell nor Warner seemed to know what to do with the Atari 400/800. You can see this in the initial high price, and also in locking out the system to developers early on (which imo is why it lost to the Apple II). - We all know the story of how Commodore didn't know what to do with the Amiga 1000.. And if you count the 3DO with RJ Mical and others as a descendant device, that too could have been handled better... Am I off the rocker here? There is some irony that the only Jay Miner device that was properly marketed was handled by "New York Blue Shirts"... I know the Amiga was a mis-managed device but I often feel like the Atari 400/800 deserves that award just as much as it was the first home computer to show the real benefit of custom chips, and at launch in 1979-1980 was way more powerful and capable than contemporaries.. John

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museum report
by Evan Koblentz 13 Mar '17

13 Mar '17

I started around 10 today. Dean couldn't make it, so I called Bill Dudley (he lives nearby). Fortunately he was able to come over for a few hours and help. Android itself and the kiosk app both had oddities which took us a while to understand. After emailing the app developer we finally got useful explanations. Now, all the tablets are running the kiosk app using a volume license key and they're all configured exactly the same (but I'll double-check that next weekend). Bill is going to come back one day this week and do some prep work on the steel mounting plates to prevent rusting. Next weekend, post-Trenton (Saturday afternoon), I'll bolt the plates to the shelf posts. Then we'll run the power cords, connect to the magic web page, and things will be golden. We kept busy with the tablet software all day; meanwhile there were some visitors. Two men in their 50-60s stopped by around 4pm and stayed until closing. They both did punch card processing in their college days. ________________________________ 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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Trenton update
by Evan Koblentz 12 Mar '17

12 Mar '17

Trenton Computer Fest is this Saturday at The College of New Jersey from 9am-5pm. Jeff B. and I are planning to arrive at 8am to set up the group table (or two) with our robot demos. Looking forward to seeing many of you there as we do every year. ________________________________ 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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Univac 1 memory
by Mike Loewen 12 Mar '17

12 Mar '17

We need this for the museum: www.ebay.com/itm/Univac-vintage-large-computer-Parts-only-AS-IS-/1624287669… Mercury delay memory from a Univac 1. Mike Loewen mloewen(a)cpumagic.scol.pa.us Old Technology http://q7.neurotica.com/Oldtech/

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Museum report
by Evan Koblentz 11 Mar '17

11 Mar '17

I arrived at the museum around 11 today. Tony stopped by to loan us his Laser 128 as a backup in case ours acts grumpy at Trenton next weekend. Martin also visited to give us the CNC'd mounting plates for our tablets. Jeff B. came over at noon. We made a plan for the outdoor VCF East signs. We also did recon around campus for tables/chairs to use at the show. Jeff brought over our new full-color trifold brochures. First time we ever had these. They look incredible. Huge thanks to Drew for designing them. Jeff then spent a few hours checking out some Commodore inventory in the warehouse. I stayed in the museum to clean the workbench area and play tour guide. There were three groups of visitors today: a couple with five or six kids, an older couple, and a father/son. The kids in the first group stopped to read every sign: I told them the signs will being replaced by tablets and they seemed excited about it. The husband in the second group said he was a Tektronox field technician for 20 years and that he'd met the founder Howard Vollum (who got his start at Camp Evans; for newer list members that's the Army base which now is the InfoAge Science Center, where our museum resides!). Father of the third group was a guy like many of us, mid-40s, who grew up on 8 bits and whose son learned Scratch. Naturally we showed him BASIC on the same computer his father hadn't seen in 30 years (C-64). Jeff and I went to Home Depot for sign materials and then to dinner. I spent another hour or two in the museum and began assembling the tablet mounting brackets. Each plate has two sets of brackets. Turns out a single set would have been plenty. Now we know. I'm staying over here at InfoAge tonight. Dean and Drew will be here tomorrow to help with tablet setup and stuff. ------------------------- 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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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Sick Laser 128
by Jeffrey Brace 11 Mar '17

11 Mar '17

tlhIngan Hol Dajatlh'a'? On Fri, Mar 10, 2017 at 7:08 PM Christopher Blackmon via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> wrote: > taH Pagh taHbe' > > > From: william degnan via vcf-midatlantic < > vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> > To: vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> > Cc: william degnan <billdegnan(a)gmail.com> > Sent: Friday, March 10, 2017 7:06 PM > Subject: Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Sick Laser 128 > > On Fri, Mar 10, 2017 at 5:48 PM, Evan Koblentz via vcf-midatlantic < > vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> wrote: > > > and so it begins. > >> > > > > What's that supposed to mean? > > > > Shakespere > > > > -- Jeff Brace - ark72axow(a)gmail.com Sent from my Commodore 64

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Sick Laser
by Evan Koblentz 11 Mar '17

11 Mar '17

Someone on VC Forum pointed out something so brilliant that I wish I'd thought of it! The computer worked when I reassembled it, and the only difference was a left-out screw, therefore we can conclude the problem the screw was defective. Makes perfect sense. :) "If she weighs the same as a duck..."

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Sick Laser 128
by william degnan 10 Mar '17

10 Mar '17

Evan, The plan is to start with the big stuff and work from there. Test the voltages, see if anything is way off and obvious, burned out or completely dead (0V). I have found that for me, I have to get the schematic and measure everything on the board, compare with the schematic. I am not an engineer, it takes me 4x as long to figure out what's wrong. Mostly I am persistent and I just keep at it. I get more work done at home than at the workshops, I guess because I have everything here as I like it. B

3 3

Sick Laser 128
by Evan Koblentz 10 Mar '17

10 Mar '17

I used the Laser 128 twice today. It worked fine. Now, there's no start-up beep and it displays junk text. Help! ________________________________ 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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Live auctions at VCF-East?
by Joseph Oprysko 09 Mar '17

09 Mar '17

Evan, I believe I suggested this idea last year, but I don't recall for sure. One ''event" I'd like to see at VCF-East would be a live auction event. There's often items that are either complete systems, or certain rare items that I know I would rather see performed as an auction as opposed to just 'for sale' in the normal sales room. I don't know if it would be too late to do that now for this year or not. I know I have a number of items I'd rather 'auction' off to either members or visitors to VCF-East. The specifics of the auction would likely be left up to the board to decide. (Lot size, percentage taken by VCF for facilitating the auction, etc.) I know there was times where I heard that 'someone will be selling X item' in the consignment room, only to get over there after getting my tables setup, etc, and see it's already been picked over like a corpse by a buzzard. But by setting a specific time, with a viewing of lots prior to the auction. It gives people a chance to purchase the specific item/lot. 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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Info Needed: DATARAM DR-111 PDP-11 Unibus 16KW Core Memory
by Systems Glitch 09 Mar '17

09 Mar '17

Looking for any information and/or documentation on DATARAM DR-111 (assembly 61101) 16Kx16 core memory boards for the Unibus. I've got four in unknown condition, one with a clearly destroyed 8T37. I have a large format scanner with ADF and can digitize print sets if necessary. Thanks, Jonathan

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