- vcf-midatlantic - lists.vcfed.org

things for saturday afternoon I could bring
by william degnan 15 Sep '16

15 Sep '16

I will be at the workshop saturday from about 11-6. I could bring a lot of stuff, but I have time only for one or two projects. I have been working on SGI lately, anyone interested in Workstations who might like to collaborate on something like that? If so advise. Does anyone have an SGI Octane hard drive sled? I plan to bring a free DEC printer to whomever wants it, from early 80's. I might instead bring a Sun or DEC 5000. Bill

2 2

Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Vintage Computer Federation at Lehigh Valley FAST 2016
by VAXman＠tmesis.org 14 Sep '16

14 Sep '16

Todd George via vcf-midatlantic writes: >(Full disclosure, some of the following is plagiarized and/or >paraphrased from e-mails that Chris and Doug sent to me. Figured I'd >throw it all together and touch it up a bit for the list's enjoyment.) > >As previously mentioned on the list, Doug Crawford, Chris Fala and I set >up a booth/exhibit on Sunday, September 11 (last weekend) at the Lehigh >Valley Festival of Art, Science and Technology at PPL Center in >Allentown, PA. The event was presented by the Da Vinci Science Center >and Make Lehigh Valley. > >The facility is awesome, it's a hockey arena that is normally the home >of the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. They had a ton of space for everyone to >get their science, art and technology on! The event was very high >quality, well organized and really cool, lots of freebies/handouts, kids >were painting things, dying coffee filters, launching bottle rockets, ---------------------------------------------^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Indoors?

4 3

Vintage Computer Federation at Lehigh Valley FAST 2016
by Todd George 14 Sep '16

14 Sep '16

(Full disclosure, some of the following is plagiarized and/or paraphrased from e-mails that Chris and Doug sent to me. Figured I'd throw it all together and touch it up a bit for the list's enjoyment.) As previously mentioned on the list, Doug Crawford, Chris Fala and I set up a booth/exhibit on Sunday, September 11 (last weekend) at the Lehigh Valley Festival of Art, Science and Technology at PPL Center in Allentown, PA. The event was presented by the Da Vinci Science Center and Make Lehigh Valley. The facility is awesome, it's a hockey arena that is normally the home of the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. They had a ton of space for everyone to get their science, art and technology on! The event was very high quality, well organized and really cool, lots of freebies/handouts, kids were painting things, dying coffee filters, launching bottle rockets, flying drones, etc. I actually didn't get as much of a chance to walk around and take it all in as I had wanted. Our booth was too busy! The vendors and exhibits were very well designed and gave the kids a lot of attention, a good experience and taught them something. The were not just pushing merchandise like seems to be a trend at some of the science events. Very refreshing. Make Lehigh Valley had tremendous participation in their solder classes. The event appeared to be a smashing success. It was free for attendees, and the final count was 4,236 visitors. There were over 50 exhibition booths staffed by over 100 people and there were an additional 100+ volunteers mostly from local high schools helping with the event. They also had roving Storm Troopers and other Star Wars characters, the Penn State Nittany Lion was there, and apparently there were a number of other mascots wandering around throughout the day. We set up our booth with a similar approach to what we used for our Commodore exhibit at last year's VCF. For those of you not familiar, we used metal shelving to convert our table tops into three-tiers where we could present retro computers. We had two 8-foot tables available for use at this FAST event. Our booth was busy from start to stop. Kudos to the team! We only had one stoppage when we blew a breaker. Too much retro fun condensed into a small area. Apparently our 30+ year old computers aren't power efficient enough. :-/ Hahah. We had two processor trainers/SBC's set up (An HP 5036A and a Lawrence Livermore Labs MST-80B), a Commodore VIC20 (running Space Invaders), SX64 (Running Chris' very cool power control program/hardware that switches AC outlets on and off via Joystick control), a Commodore 64 (Running Ms. Pac Man), a TRS-80 Model III (?) running Galaxy Invasion, a Commodore PET running an awesome Space Invaders clone and an Atari 800XL running Ms. Pac Man or Donkey Kong (depending on the time of day and what I booted on it). We also had a few things I threw together to let kids print out a souvenir on vintage dot matrix equipment. First was a Commodore 64 running a new program I wrote that prints banners on an old Epson dot matrix receipt printer (kids were writing messages, etc. and printing them out, letters print about 1" or slightly wider, about 2.5" tall, effectively unlimited message length (well, 255 bytes in a string), and it tagged each banner with "Vintage Computer Federation" and the web address. Fun, cheap and really fast. I had also configured The Print Shop on a Macintosh Classic and plugged it into an ImageWriter II. I also converted the VCFed logo to MacPaint format and The Print Shop format so we could have some fun printing the VCFed logo on a dot matrix printer in crazy low resolution. We printed quite a few signs as souvenirs as well. It takes time to create and print a sign with The Print Shop, if I were to do this type of presentation at another event, I'd definitely bring two (or more?) complete setups to decrease the wait time. Maybe run it on other vintage gear aside from a Macintosh? I think the biggest challenge here is ribbon availability, as some of the dot matrix printers are much easier to find ribbons for than others. The Epson receipt and ImageWriter printers that I had for this event are easy and cheap to find fresh ribbons for. I also had another Epson receipt printer set up with an Arduino and a big red button that printed a VCF "business card" when you hit the button. Had our group name, web address, Twitter and Facebook links. I gave these out when people asked for a way to contact us, or how to participate with the group. Virtually unlimited almost-free business cards. :-D In a future version of this Arduino program I want to have it print our logo and a QR code, but I ran out of time for this event. I already have a working QR code print routine (it doesn't calculate the QR code, just prints it from previously calculated hard-coded data). Sadly, the ImageWriter was a bit too quiet to hear over the noise in the facility, but the Epson printers were doing a good job of being absurdly loud and attracting people to our booth. :-D The printers got a lot of action. It might have been the noise and the uniqueness of dot matrix printing, but one adult observer theorized that kids simply really don't get to produce printouts at home. We definitely considered this a crowd pleaser. We had the trainer computers there to show people what prototyping and electronics/code experimentation was like 30 years ago, we compared and contrasted it with Arduino/Raspberry Pi for anyone who was interested. The kids at the event were probably largely in the 1st and 2nd grades, definitely elementary school ages. Some may have been a bit too young to grasp exactly what we were tyring to show off with certain portions of our booth, but they definitely had fun with the games. It was mentioned that this event attracted a lot of low income families and was an attempt to generate an interest in the sciences giving these kids access to people and things they might not normally have in their daily lives. Next time, we'll lower the shelf the monitors were on during setup and maybe get some step stools to have at the booth to assist with the shorties. A few of them couldn't properly see the keyboards the way we had things set up due to being vertically challenged. We heard a few things loud and clear, we need to bring an Apple II (tons of requests for this), Timex Sinclair (no lie, at least 3 people asked me alone), had two requests for a Commodore 128 and a few people even wanted Pong! One of our goals at these events is not so much to convey the computer history as it is to give a bit of fun mental break from the serious learning experiences, show off some technical curiosities, and to some extent walk down memory lane for the parents. Additionally, we hope to get the kids interested in programming and technology, and show off how far technology has come. The hope is that something they see will spark an interest in Code, Technology, Math, Science, etc. We also met quite a few adults who had interest in the "hobby". They took pics of our signage, grabbed a "business card" or chatted with us about how to find out more about the group. This is a tertiary reason we attend these events, but definitely one that is not to be ignored. Doug heard a story from a lady there who's husbands grandfather worked for the army and had commissioned decommissioned an ENIAC, apparently she has the Remington Rand Eniac name plate and a family member has some portion of the control panel. We made sure she has VCF's contact info. We invited them to get involved and perhaps exhibit the pieces and the grandfather's story. All-in-all it was a fun day! I had talked with one of the Da Vinci Science Center folks (I didn't catch her name/title) who was very impressed with what we had put together for the event. Unfortunately, we neglected to get a good picture of the table once it was all set up (and before we broke it all down at the end of the day), but I did throw some pictures we did take into an Imgur album for your enjoyment. http://imgur.com/a/MM46y Also, the event website has a video... http://www.davincisciencecenter.org/public-service/festival/ . There was another gentleman filming at the event, but I don't see his video online yet. Thanks! -Todd

1 0

New member, Intro
by W2HX 14 Sep '16

14 Sep '16

Hi folks, new to the list here. Evan suggested I send an intro email so here it is. Got involved with computing around 1979, 1980 at about 12 or 13 years old. I had access to a TRS-80 Model I (level 2) through a friend of my fathers. I read every issue of byte and popular electronics that I could get my hands on those days. I never could afford an S100 machine. Eventually I bought a TRS-80 Model III (or IV I can't remember) with some money I had saved. That was the machine I learned on for several years. I am just starting to get back into this stuff and wanting to get the machines I could never afford as a kid, I have acquired an IMSAI 8080 and a PDP-8e. One of these days I hope to find some time to get them running. Here are some pix. http://w2hx.com/x/VintageComp/IMSAI-8080/ http://w2hx.com/x/VintageComp/PDP-8e/ You might be able to tell by my domain name, my main hobby is amateur radio. Specifically, I enjoy collecting, repairing and operating older (tube) ham and military (army and navy) radios. I also have a "thing" for test equipment and precision frequency stuff. In addition to some GPSDO's I have a working cesium beam atomic clock. Just neat to tell people. I had been interested in getting some 8" drives to pair with my IMSAI just for the nostalgia of it all. While at the Dayton Hamvention this past year I saw a big blue enclosure containing three 8" disk drives and I had to go look. The guy said I could have them for $50 as long as I also took this other matching blue box. Well it ends up this was a Vector Graphics enclosure/backplane with the matching triple 8" drives. I really didn't want the backplane/enclosure since there were no boards and I really didn't have the room for all of this. But the price was right so I grabbed it all. Card cage looks unused. Here are some (poor) pictures. http://w2hx.com/x/VintageComp/Vector/ I am not really sure what to do with this stuff. I really don't want the card cage/enclosure. I would hate to separate them, but I might be convinced. I like the blue color that kinda matches my IMSAI. But I don't even know if my IMSAI could be made to work with the triple 8" drives. And quite frankly, the triple drives are very large because they are oriented vertically instead of what is often seen, two horizontally. Anyway, I was really hoping I could come down to InfoAge this weekend and seek out some help with my projects, but there is a military vehicle/radio show that happens every year at the fairgrounds in Gilbert, PA so I won't be able to meet and greet quite yet. In all, I have absolutely everything to learn about these machines to try to get them running. Electrically I am pretty handy. But when it comes to roms, bios's and getting things to boot and configured will be a challenge. I even have an 8 bit tape punch/reader from a CNC machine that I would love to use to bootstrap these machines. Well that about wraps it up. Glad to join the group. Now if I could only find some time to enjoy this hobby! Eugene PS. In case the radio stuff interests you, some photos of the shack and lab. http://w2hx.com/x/New%20Shack/

4 3

New member, Intro
by Herb Johnson 14 Sep '16

14 Sep '16

Thanks for your intro, and links to your Web site and vintage computers. I'll briefly make some comments (in my opinion) about the computers you have. But in general, if you do homework and identify the various cards and items in your computers, that info will tell you a lot about what you have and what you might do with it. "Homework" is my preference to "chat", speaking for myself. The IMSAI is filled with Cromemco cards, so essentially you have a Cromemco Z-80 S-100 system, with a 4FDC floppy controller. that 4FDC determines what you can do with that particular set of cards, and what you'll need to find to create a CP/M system around it. The PDP-8/e looks nice, and apparently you've powered it. Very old power supplies ought to have their caps "reconditioned", and you might check the DC ripple on both the 8 and the IMSAI to make sure the big caps are doing their job. http://www.retrotechnology.com/restore/8f_fixitmay13.html http://www.retrotechnology.com/restore/prob_solv.html A Web search will find more pages on my site, on S-100 or PDP-8s. There's lots of non-DEC cards in your 8; you might try to identify them by brand and model (ECRM?). You'll need (to identify) some kind of serial card, to talk to your 8. It would be convenient, to have an HTML document on your Web page which contains that information, linking to your photos. With that info on your Web page, others may find your 8 and cards, and contact you to your benefit. It would appear your 8 was an industrial controller, so those non-DEC cards ran something. The fun of 70's vintage computing, is to reverse-engineer items you don't have docs for - in my opinion. Chips and connectors, special function devices, connections back to the bus - those are clues as to function and operation. These days, the Web is informative. You'll find the PDP-8 world is very different from the S-100 world, a generational difference. Your post said you were not so interested in the industrial cabinets. The Vector Graphics motherboard, is in a commercial cabinet and is mounted in a commercial card cage; just as the 8-inch drives are mounted in a commercial cabinet. Neither cabinet was a product of Vector Graphics Inc; so the principle of vintage preservation would not be violated if you removed the drives or the chassis from those cabinets. But there is a decent card cage and it would be a challenge to replace that; maybe you'll find a smaller cabinet for it. Again, you have nice industrial cabinets; but such things are out of vogue these day - maybe some ham will need them for a base station or repeater. Modern folks are not fond of the old open-frame "brute force" S-100 power supplies, they use switchers, but my preference is to use traditional power supplies in S-100 systems. Beware that unregulated supplies like that 1) will run at higher-than-standard S-100 DC voltage if lightly loaded and 2) will retain most of their voltage for some time after power-down (I see bleeder resistors on your big caps). There's ways to deal with those issues, my S-100 Web pages talk about such things. All those statements are, of course, my opinions and views; you and others may think otherwise, or have other priorities, as can you. But the parts, caps and chips and such, function as designed and don't care about "opinions and priorities"; I hope my Web site represents the technology correctly. Good luck with the IMSAI/Cromemco and PDP-8/e. There's no shortage of Web pages where these are discussed and documented. And many people own either and will chat about them. What you do and how, is a matter of your time and interests and skills; you can learn a lot about the technology behind these systems, and/or meet others who have similar stuff. Herb Johnson retrotechnology.com -- Herbert R. Johnson, New Jersey USA http://www.retrotechnology.com OR .net

1 0

VCFMW
by Mike Loewen 14 Sep '16

14 Sep '16

This was my first time attending VCF Midwest, and I had a very enjoyable time. I exhibited a Tandy 6000HD running my Micro Magic BBS from 1986, with VT320 and H19 terminals for login, along with an Osborne Vixen running IMP. Lots of familiar faces in attendance, including Jeff Jonas, Ian Primus, Will Donzelli, Kyle Owen, Ethan Dicks, Jack Rubin, Connor Krukosky, Mike Lee and Josh Bensadon. I finally met Jason Timmons, Jay West, Paul Anderson, Earl Baugh and Lee Hart, along with several other exhibitors. I'll be back. Mike Loewen mloewen(a)cpumagic.scol.pa.us Old Technology http://q7.neurotica.com/Oldtech/

1 0

OT: tech support please
by Evan Koblentz 13 Sep '16

13 Sep '16

Girlfriend's computer is 15 years old, so I installed a brand new mobo, processor, RAM, and SSD. Only old parts are the case, power supply, and DVD. I triple-checked that all the mobo connectors are in the right places and enabled all SATA ports in the BIOS. First I tried booting with a live DVD to install Mint on her new SSD. I used a cheap IDE-SATA adapter to connect the DVD to her mobo -- the same adapter works fine on my computer. Doesn't work on hers. I get a message saying to insert boot media, the drive seeks, but it keeps returning to that message. I know the DVD that I burned is a good one. Checked the BIOS: it doesn't see the DVD at all. Then I tried it with a bootable USB stick. Nothing happens. Here's the really weird part. I disconnected the new SSD and put in her old HDD, which is also SATA, and I hear it spin up like it's booting normally (has Mint 18 on it), but I get nothing but a blank screen after the boot options menu. It * should * start right up like before. I'm stumped.

5 5

Workshop -- sleeping change
by Evan Koblentz 13 Sep '16

13 Sep '16

Per infoage management: the town has started to notice people sleeping over (not just us) and is clamping down on it since these buildings aren't zoned that way. We can no longer sleep in the museum. However, also starting now, we can stay in the part of the H-building that was professionally restored and re-zoned by the Hurricane Sandy relief teams. There are showers, a kitchen, bunk beds, and everything else -- much nicer than our concrete floor! Fred said IA decided to charge $25/person/night for this privilege. IA would also like a week or so of notice and an estimate on how many people will accept the offer each time we have overnight events. To cover ourselves, I told him it'll be about 10 people for next weekend. That is all the information I have now.

3 4

Workshop next weekend
by william degnan 13 Sep '16

13 Sep '16

I plan to come up to the workshop Sat 11-6. Remind me to bring an ascii char test papertape for the UNIVAC 1532 Bill

3 3

Upcoming workshops
by Jeffrey Brace 13 Sep '16

13 Sep '16

September will be the last workshop for the year. InfoAge has a lot of big events going so it would be hard to have workshops in October, November and December. Also on a personal note I need a break from all the work I have done during the year for VCF and other personal obligations, plus continuing docent duties. We will start up workshops again in January and February. Anyone else is free to have their own workshop in their homes. I know others have done this in the past. Don't forget we have Festivus on Dec 3/4 weekend! -- Jeff Brace - ark72axow(a)gmail.com

1 0

Connor made Adafruit Blog and Fast Company
by Neil Cherry 13 Sep '16

13 Sep '16

I don't like the title as it makes Connor sound like he bought his way into the job (we know better) : This Teenage IBM Employee Got His Job By Buying An Old Mainframe Computer https://www.fastcompany.com/3063265/how-to-be-a-success-at-everything/this-… https://blog.adafruit.com/2016/09/13/this-teenage-ibm-employee-got-his-job-… -- 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

1 0

Lego Logo 9767 Apple II Interface Build
by Systems Glitch 13 Sep '16

13 Sep '16

Full Writeup: http://www.glitchwrks.com/2016/09/12/lego-logo-interface Ian was going to build the interface, but since I ended up having to troubleshoot the suspected flakey hardware after The Eleventh HOPE, I went ahead and built one to have a known-good board to test with. This uses one of the new Apple II protoboards I laid out a few months ago. I may either reduce the hole size or increase the annular ring on the pads. Right now you can stuff two 24 AWG solid wires plus a socket pin in the holes, which is great for point-to-point prototyping. It'll also take a through-hole switch or 2 Watt resistor without drilling out. About to run out to the post office and send it on its way to Evan! Thanks, Jonathan

4 4

Free CRT
by Steven Toth 12 Sep '16

12 Sep '16

[Edited] Message to Ian Primus.... I have a widescreen Philips (?) CRT, maybe 28", that I bought in 2004. I used it until 2009 when I replaced it. I haven't powered it up for years, but it was working perfectly fine.... its been sitting in the garage (dry / clean), waiting for me to do something with it. ..... I'm never going to do anything with it. If you want it then let me know, I'll bring it to the next workshop. If not, no worries. - Steve

1 0

Museum report -- different than usual
by Evan Koblentz 12 Sep '16

12 Sep '16

I was at the museum Friday, Saturday, and today. Dean helped on Friday and Jeff B. helped yesterday/today. Dean picked up our new Univac display case and delivered it to the museum. It's the first truly * new * display case we ever bought. We always got used cases. The new one is 6 feet tall and has glass sides, glass front, adjustable glass shelves, halogen lights for each shelf, botton locking storage, and locking doors. It's one of the first things you see upon entering the museum. Dean and I also painted shelves for the modern history exhibit. Corey visited to measure for a clear plastic cover to put in front of the shelves. Jeff and I painted the 5-ft.-wide aisle around the exhibits. We used a different shade of gray than the rest of the floor. We did NO prep work :) because it only needs to last a few months until we can acquire something better. Regardless, its a big improvement vs. the old paint which was full of scuffs and spots that didn't come out by any cleaning methods. We are considering rubber garage-style flooring for the future. This is only for the aisles, not the whole room. We also touched up the shelves from Friday, installed an outdoor lockbox in a discrete location for museum docents, and showed our exhibits to visitors. InfoAge hosted a Fort Monmouth reunion so there were many people around. Meanwhile, some of InfoAge's Halloween volunteers helped me build a black backdrop for the display case, because the rear is also glass and we don't want visitors to see what is behind it. That needs some refinement which I'll do Saturday at the workshop. Jeff and I also did a bunch of other general clean-up tasks and discussed other museum improvements, such as where to put TVs on the walls, how to decorate various empty walls, and what content to put in slides / videos for the TVs / Android kiosks. We did not get to any warehouse work, but it was miserable weather for that anyhow.

1 0

Museum needs: chair, mini fridge
by Evan Koblentz 11 Sep '16

11 Sep '16

Everyone, We need two things for the museum. 1. An office chair, but not just any office chair. It should be black and/or silver, have wheels, and have adjustable height. 2. A mini fridge of 2-3 square feet. Prefer one with Energy Star certification and, of course, clean + in good working condition. :) Ps., the oscilloscope arrived today and now happily resides on our workbench.

2 3

3 dec rainbows central NJ avail
by william degnan 10 Sep '16

10 Sep '16

First come first served to express interest privately off list via: Http://Vintagecomputer.net/contact.cfm 3 dec rainbows ...unsure of details... avail for pickup only central NJ...I am waiting for more info. Don't know the guy. Just passing along a post that came through my website. Bill Degnan twitter: billdeg vintagecomputer.net

1 0

Working teletypes
by william degnan 10 Sep '16

10 Sep '16

Anyone have a working teletype in nyc area willing to rent? Bill Degnan twitter: billdeg vintagecomputer.net

2 2

Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Shirt color - early results!!
by VAXman＠tmesis.org 09 Sep '16

09 Sep '16

Evan Koblentz via vcf-midatlantic writes: >I erred with the survery closing time: it closed sometime between 2am >and 7am today. Sorry about that. SurveyMonkey doesn't let me re-open >it, but= ...... > >....Black wins in a landslide! > >Black - 29 votes Ectoplasm - 17 votes White - 7 votes (including mine) WTF is Ectoplasm?

7 8

Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Shirt color - early results!!
by VAXman＠tmesis.org 09 Sep '16

09 Sep '16

Dan Roganti via vcf-midatlantic writes: >{...snip...> >you mean, not even a Green Lantern t-shirt ?? ;) ESPECIALLY never something as ridiculous as a superhero shirt!

1 0

Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Shirt color - early results!!
by VAXman＠tmesis.org 09 Sep '16

09 Sep '16

Tom Hornberger via vcf-midatlantic writes: >From: Dan Roganti via vcf-midatlantic ><vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vintagecompute= rfederation.org> To: >vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> >Cc: Dan Roganti <ragooman(a)gmail.com> Sent: Fri, Sep 9, 2016 8:49 am >Subject: Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Shirt color - early results!! > >On Fri, Sep 9, 2016 at 8:46 AM, Brian Schenkenberger via vcf-midatlantic >< vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> wrote: > >> Evan Koblentz via vcf-midatlantic writes: > > >I erred with the >survery closing time: it closed sometime between 2am > >and 7am today. >Sorry about that. SurveyMonkey doesn't let me re-open > >it, but=3D >...... > > > >....Black wins in a landslide! > > > >Black - 29 votes >Ectoplasm - 17 votes White - 7 votes (including mine) > > WTF is >Ectoplasm? > > > >=E2=80=8BEctoplasm =3D [Battery] Acid Damage=E2=80=8B > >----------------------------------------------------------------- > >It's properly called "Puke Green", it's ghastly! I have one Polo from a >fo= rmer employer in that color. It's going into the clothing donation >box. :) OK. I refuse wear any collared shirts and, ex post Department of Defense, I refuse to cover any part of my body in green of any ANY shade save, perhaps, on St. Patrick's day; albeit, I'd probably wear my black Guinness shirt that day.

2 1

FS: Complete Unbuilt SDK-85 Kit
by Systems Glitch 09 Sep '16

09 Sep '16

All, I had someone contact me through my site with a complete, unbuilt, Intel SDK-85 kit still shrinkwrapped. I've got three at the moment, two of which are intended for when people email me asking if I've got one to sell, so I don't want to acquire yet another when I know people are looking for them. The owner is looking to sell it to someone who will *use* it, not just keep it around as an unopened kit to sit on a shelf. It looks like it's from a late 80's/early 90's run -- computer printed board and EPROM labels, and it uses a 8755 instead of a mask-programmed 8355 for the monitor ROM. I've advised him that $200 is probably a fair price. He says he's flexible on the price as long as the board goes to a good home. If you're interested, contact me off-list and I'll put you in contact with the owner. Thanks, Jonathan

1 0

Shirt color - early results!!
by Evan Koblentz 09 Sep '16

09 Sep '16

I erred with the survery closing time: it closed sometime between 2am and 7am today. Sorry about that. SurveyMonkey doesn't let me re-open it, but...... ....Black wins in a landslide! Black - 29 votes Ectoplasm - 17 votes White - 7 votes (including mine) Black had almost 55 percent of the 53 votes, so a few more hours today would not have mattered. Voting rate was slowing as week progressed anyhow. Sometime in the next few days I will get info about prices and will post ordering instructions.

2 4

oldest email address in the club
by william degnan 09 Sep '16

09 Sep '16

Hey, Anyone still operating actively an email address from before 1995 that one can send a message and receive a reply without turning on an old server, etc. In short, something more or less continuously in production daily with the same FQDN, etc? b

19 45

22 hours left to vote!
by Evan Koblentz 09 Sep '16

09 Sep '16

There are 52 responses for choosing the new polos shirt color. Voting closes at 8pm ET tomorrow. Vote now or don't complain about the color later. :) https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/2G5Q7XY

1 0

WTD: cable Digital VR 260 Terminal
by william degnan 08 Sep '16

08 Sep '16

WTD: cable Digital VR 260 Terminal If you have one for sale contact me off list vintagecomputer.net/contact.cfm

2 8

The Workshop of 9/17 & 9/18 - who will come? what will you do?
by Jeffrey Brace 08 Sep '16

08 Sep '16

1) Jeff Brace - Capsela and C64? 2) Evan Koblentz - Try to fix a computer, complain, give up and reorganize the warehouse. 3) Ian Primus - Fix everything 4) 5) 6) 7) 8) 9) 10) -- Jeff Brace - ark72axow(a)gmail.com

4 4

domain-template.txt
by Dave McGuire 08 Sep '16

08 Sep '16

Here's a copy of domain-template.txt, for any interested parties: -------------------------------- [ URL ftp://rs.internic.net/templates/domain-template.txt ] [ 07/95 ] ******************* Please DO NOT REMOVE Version Number ******************** Domain Version Number: 1.0 **************** Please see attached detailed instructions ***************** ******** Only for registrations under ROOT, EDU, GOV, COM, NET, ORG ******** 0. (N)ew (M)odify (D)elete.: 1. Purpose/Description.....: 2. Complete Domain Name....: 3a. Organization name.......: 3b. Organization address....: 4. Operational Date........: Administrative Contact 5a. NIC Handle (if known)...: 5b. Name (Last, First)......: 5c. Organization............: 5d. Postal Address..........: 5e. Phone Number............: 5f. E-Mailbox...............: Technical/Zone Contact 6a. NIC Handle (if known)...: 6b. Name (Last, First)......: 6c. Organization............: 6d. Postal Address..........: 6e. Phone Number............: 6f. E-Mailbox...............: Primary Name Server 7a. Prime Server Hostname...: 7b. Prime Server Netaddress.: 7c. Prime Server Hardware...: 7d. Prime Server Software...: Secondary Name Server(s) 8a. Second Server Hostname..: 8b. Second Server Netaddress: 8c. Second Server Hardware..: 8d. Second Server Software..: The party requesting registration of this name certifies that, to her/his knowledge, the use of this name does not violate trademark or other statutes. Registering a domain name does not confer any legal rights to that name and any disputes between parties over the rights to use a particular name are to be settled between the contending parties using normal legal methods. (See RFC 1591) By applying for the Domain Name and through the use or continued use of the Domain Name, the applicant agrees to be bound by the terms of NSI's then current domain name policy (the '"Policy Statement') which is available at ftp://rs.internic.net/policy/internic.domain.policy.txt. (If this application is made through an agent, such as an Internet service provider, that agent accepts the responsibility to notify the Applicant of the conditions on the registration of the Domain Name and to provide the Applicant a copy of the current version of the Policy Statement, if so requested by the Applicant.) The applicant acknowledge and agree that NSI may change the terms and conditions of the Policy Statement from time to time as provided in the Policy Statement. The applicant agrees that if the use of the Domain Name is challenged by any third party, or if any dispute arises under this Registration Agreement, as amended, the applicant will abide by the procedures specified in the Policy Statement. This Registration Agreement shall be governed in all respects by and construed in accordance with the laws of the United States of America and of the State of California, without respect to its conflict of law rules. This Registration Agreement is the complete and exclusive agreement of the the applicant and NSI ("parties") regarding domain names. It supersedes, and its terms govern, all prior proposals, agreements, or other communications between the parties. This Registration Agreement may only be amended as provided in the Policy Statement. --------------------------------- cut here --------------------------------- GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS Use the form above for registering new domain names, for making changes to existing domain name records and for removing a domain name from the InterNIC database and root servers. The form, and only the form, should be sent via e-mail to HOSTMASTER(a)INTERNIC.NET Please do not send hardcopy registrations to the InterNIC. Your provider will be able to send e-mail applications if you are not connected. In the Subject of the message, use the words, "NEW DOMAIN", "MODIFY DOMAIN", or "REMOVE DOMAIN" as appropriate, followed by the name of the domain to assist in sorting and locating incoming registration requests. In response to the submission of a form, you should receive an auto-reply with a ticket number. Use the ticket number in the Subject of any messages you send regarding that registration action. When the registration is completed you will receive a notification via e-mail. If you regularly submit domain applications, you will note two changes in the registration form. Section 0 has been added to indicate the nature of the registration action, and the Purpose section of the registration has been moved from the end of the form to Section 1. These changes were made to further automate the registration process and to allow the person reviewing the registration to more easily see the Purpose section. The goal of these changes is to improve the quality and responsiveness of service to you. Please do not modify the form nor remove the version number. The computer program that scans and parses the form is looking for section numbers, followed by a period, followed by a colon. Information following the colon is compared with and inserted into the database as appropriate. Please send only one form per message. When completing the form, make use of "whois" at rs.internic.net to check to see if domain names, organization names, people, and name servers have been registered. Use the information in the database where appropriate. This will minimize the number of registrations that are returned for incomplete or inaccurate information. The instructions for completing each field are in the following three sections - one each for NEW, MODIFY and DELETE. The interpretation of missing or blank fields can vary between the New and Modify registration actions. Please read the instructions carefully and make sure the form is properly completed to accomplish the action you desire. REGISTERING A NEW DOMAIN NAME Section 0 - Registration Action Type Following the colon, place the character "N" or the word "New" to indicate this is a NEW registration. The transfer of a name from one organization to another is considered a new registration. If the intent is to effect a transfer, clearly indicate this in Section 1 and include a statement from the current holder of the name that it is being transferred. Section 1 - Purpose of Registration Briefly describe the organization and/or the purpose for which this domain name is being registered. The description should support the choice of top-level domain in Section 2. If the domain name is for an organization that already has a domain name registered, describe the purpose of this domain and why the additional name is needed. Indicate why existing names cannot be used or why the proposed second- level name cannot be used as a third-level name under a domain name that is already registered. Section 2 - Complete Domain Name Top-level country domains may be registered by inserting the two-letter country code in this section. See RFC1591 for the duties and responsibilities of top-level domain administrators. For second-level domain names under EDU, GOV, COM, NET, or ORG, insert the two-part name of the domain you wish to register, for example, ABC.COM. The total length of the two-part name may be up to 24 characters. The only characters allowed in a domain name are letters, digits and the dash (-), (see RFC952.) Consult RFC1591 to determine the most appropriate top-level domain to join. Briefly: EDU is for 4-year, degree granting institutions. GOV is for United States federal government agencies. COM is for commercial, for-profit organizations. NET is for network infrastructure machines and organizations. ORG is for not-for-profit and non-profit organizations. US state and local government agencies, schools, libraries, museums, and individuals should register under the US domain. See RFC1480 for a complete description of the US domain and registration procedures. Section 3 - Organization Using the Domain Name The domain name is considered to be registered to an organization, even if the "organization" is an individual. It is important in this section to list the name and address of the end-user organization, not the provider organization. If the organization has the same name as one that is already registered, explain this in Section 1 above. When completing item 3b, place the city, state, and zip code on a separate line. Use a comma to separate the city and state. For example: Organization address.: Street or PO Box Herndon, VA 22070 If the organization is in a country other than the United States, please include the name of the country on the last line by itself. For example: Organization address.: Street or PO Box Montreal, QC H2S 2C8 Canada Section 4 - Operational Date Insert the date in YY/MM/DD format when you expect the domain name servers will be connected and responding to domain name system (DNS) queries for the requested domain name. The name servers should be operational at the time of registration and we may reject the registration if is not answering authoritatively for the domain submitted. Section 5 - Administrative Contact The administrative contact is the person who can speak on behalf of the organization listed in Section 3. This person should be able to answer non-technical questions about the organization's plans for the name, and procedures for establishing sub-domains, and should be able to represent the organization regarding use of the name. See RFC1032 for more detail on administrative contacts. Each person in the InterNIC database is assigned a "handle" - a unique tag consisting of the person's initials and a serial number. This tag is used on records in the database to indicate a point of contact for a domain name, network, name server or other entity. Each person should have only one handle. If the person's handle is known, insert just the handle in item 5a and leave the rest of Section 5 blank. If a person's handle is unknown or the person has never been registered, leave item 5a blank. The registration software will check for an existing user record. If a matching user record is found, the handle will be put into field 5a. The user's database record will be updated with any new information on the template. Use the same format for specifying the postal address as described in Section 3 above; placing city, state zip code or country name on the last line of the multi-line address. The two-letter country code may be used in lieu of the country name. Contacts must list phone numbers and have e-mail addresses. If an e-mail address is not given, Postmaster(a)domain.name (the domain name being registered) will be assigned. Please make an effort to determine what the person's e-mail address will be so that updates are not required shortly after registration. Section 6 - Technical and Zone Contact The domain technical/zone contact is the person who tends to the technical aspects of maintaining the domain's name server, resolver software, and database files. S/He keeps the name server running, and interacts with technical people in other domains to solve problems that affect the domain. The Internet Service Provider often performs this role. The procedures for completing Section 6 are the same as for Section 5. If Section 6 is left blank, the information from Section 5 will be assumed and vice-versa. Section 7 - Primary Name Server Domains must provide at least two independent servers for translating names to addresses for hosts in the domain. The servers should be in physically separate locations and on different networks if possible. The servers should be active and responsive to DNS queries BEFORE this application is submitted. Incomplete information in sections 7 and 8 or inactive servers will result in delay of the registration. As a minimum, complete 7a and 7b. The registration software makes a cross check between the host name given and the IP addresses given to see if there are matches with either in the database. If a match with an IP number in the database is found, the name in the database will be assumed. Neither the name nor number of a registered name server will be changed as a result of a new domain registration. A Modify registration request must be sent to change either of these values. Please provide the fully-qualified name of the machine that is to be the name server; for example: "machine.domainame.com" not just "machine" Section 8 - Secondary Name Server(s) The same procedures for specifying primary servers apply to secondary servers. If several secondary servers are required, copy Section 8 as many times as needed. Do not renumber or change the copied section. MODIFYING A DOMAIN NAME RECORD Changing an existing record is done by replacement. That is, the contents of various fields in the database are replaced with new information from the form. If the modification involves first registering a person or name server that is not in the database, the instructions for completing Sections 5-8 "REGISTERING A NEW DOMAIN NAME" apply. Use "whois" if you are unsure about the current information for a domain, name server, or individual. Changes will be made if it appears to the operator that the modification request has come from a "reasonable" source. This source could be from a listed contact for the domain, from others in the same organization, from the current provider, or from a new provider that is about to provide support for the domain. Notification of the change and the approximate time it will take effect will be sent to: the requester and, if contacts are changing, to both old and new contacts and, if name servers are changing, to both technical contacts for the domains in which the old and new primary name servers reside. This dissemination of change information is to assure that all parties involved are aware and concur with the change. Transfer of a name from one organization to another is considered a new registration. See, "REGISTERING A NEW DOMAIN NAME." Section 0 - Registration Action Type Following the colon, place the character "M" or the word "Modify" to indicate this is a change to an existing registration. Transfer of a name from one organization to another is considered a new registration. See, "REGISTERING A NEW DOMAIN NAME." Section 1 - Purpose of Registration Briefly describe the purpose of the modification. If the intent is to change either the name or the IP address of name servers, make this very clear, otherwise changes to name servers will not be made. If you wish to change the name of the domain itself, file a separate NEW registration and a DELETE registration when you are ready to have the old name removed. Make it clear in this section that you are changing from one domain name to another and estimate how long you will need the old domain name. Section 2 - Complete Domain Name Insert the two-part name of the domain name you wish to modify, for example, ABC.COM. This section must be completed, even if you are making minor changes, like the phone number of a point of contact, for example. Section 3 - Organization Using the Domain Name The domain name is considered to be registered to an organization, even if the "organization" is an individual. Therefore, a change in the organization name should be explained in Section 1. Transfer of a name from one organization to another is considered a new registration. See, "REGISTERING A NEW DOMAIN NAME." Section 4 - Operational Date This section may be left blank. Section 5 - Administrative Contact If a handle is given in item 5a, the database will be updated with any information on the form in items 5b through 5e. If any item is missing or blank, the corresponding information in the database will not be altered. If no handle is given, the database will be searched to see if the person is already registered. If so, the person's record will be updated with any new information on the form. If not registered, the person will be entered into the database and assigned a handle. The handle will be attached to the domain name record, thus replacing the old individual with the new. Section 6 - Technical and Zone Contact If it is desired to replace the technical/zone contact with another individual, both Sections 5 and 6 must be completed even if they are the same person. Section 7 - Primary Name Server If any changes in name servers are being made, provide a complete list of name servers (both primary and secondary). The list in the application will replace the list in the database. If the intention is to change the name or IP address of a name server, clearly state that in Section 1 above. The default is to NOT change either of these values unless so instructed in Section 1. Section 8 - Secondary Name Server(s) If any changes in name servers are being made, provide a complete list of name servers (both primary and secondary). The list in the application will replace the list in the database. DELETING A DOMAIN NAME RECORD A request to remove a registered domain name from the database may come from the administrative or technical contact for the domain, from a provider who is no longer supporting the name, or from an interested third party who has detected that the name is not active. In the latter case, the InterNIC will make further inquires before removing the name. When the name is removed, it will no longer be visible via whois, wais, gopher, or Web browsers that query the InterNIC database. It will also be removed from the root name servers on the subsequent update. Notification of the deletion and the approximate time it will take effect will be sent to the requestor, the contacts currently listed, and to the technical contact for the domain in which the primary name server resides, if different from the domain being deleted. When a name is transferred from one organization to another, the InterNIC will first delete the existing record and then process a new registration. Section 0 - Registration Action Type Following the colon, place the character "D" or the word "Delete" to indicate this is a deletion of an existing registration. Section 1 - Purpose of Registration Briefly state the reason for removing the name. If you are an interested third party, describe your attempts to reach the people in the domain and their response, or lack thereof. If you feel additional records, such as point(s) of contact or name servers should also be deleted, state that in this section. These will not be automatically removed. The InterNIC will check further to see if they are used on other domain, network, or autonomous system number records before removing them. Section 2 - Complete Domain Name Insert the two-part name of the domain name you wish to have removed. Section 3 - Section 8 These sections should be left blank or removed. RECOMMENDED READING Albitz, P., C. Liu, "DNS and Bind" Help for UNIX System Administrators, O'Reilly and Associates, Inc., October 1992. Postel, J., "Domain Name System Structure and Delegation". Marina del Rey, CA: University of Southern California, Information Sciences Inst.; 1994 March; RFC 1591. 7 p. <URL: ftp://rs.internic.net/policy/rfc1591.txt> Cooper, Postel, "The US Domain". Marina del Rey, CA: University of Southern California, Information Sciences Inst.; 1992 December; RFC 1480. 31 p. <URL: ftp://rs.internic.net/policy/rfc1480.txt> Stahl, M.K. Domain Administrators Guide. Menlo Park, CA: SRI International, DDN Network Information Center; 1987 November; RFC 1032. 14 p. <URL: ftp://rs.internic.net/policy/rfc1032.txt> Lottor, M. Domain Administrators Operations Guide. Menlo Park, CA: SRI International, DDN Network Information Center; 1987 November; RFC 1033. 22 p. <URL: ftp://rs.internic.net/policy/rfc1033.txt> Mockapetris, P. Domain Names - Concepts and Facilities. Marina del Rey, CA: University of Southern California, Information Sciences Inst.; 1987 November; RFC 1034. 55 p. <URL: ftp://rs.internic.net/policy/rfc1034.txt> Mockapetris, P. Domain names - Implementation and Specification. Marina del Rey, CA: University of Southern California, Information Sciences Inst.; 1987 November; RFC 1035. 55 p. <URL: ftp://rs.internic.net/policy/rfc1035.txt> Mockapetris, P. DNS Encoding of Network Names and Other Types. Marina del Rey, CA: University of Southern California, Information Sciences Inst.; 1989 April; RFC 1101. 14 p. <URL: ftp://rs.internic.net/policy/rfc1101.txt> -------------------------------- -Dave -- Dave McGuire, AK4HZ New Kensington, PA

1 0

Re: [vcf-midatlantic] oldest email address in the club
by Brian L. Stuart 08 Sep '16

08 Sep '16

On Thu, 9/8/16, David Riley via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> wrote: > b) What he DID claim, which was totally correct, was that he was responsible in large part for the > funding that brought the Internet to the public So he didn't create the Internet; he created Eternal September. If karmic reincarnation is real, he'll be reborn as a can of SPAM. BLS

1 0

Museum improvements
by Evan Koblentz 08 Sep '16

08 Sep '16

As mentioned, in part, a week or two ago: we're embarking on a museum improvement binge! Some improvements will be aesthetic (lighting, decorations), some will be interpretive (kiosks, circuit wall), and others will be infrastructure (electrical, safety). The improvements are underway and will happen a little at a time. For example, last weekend we resumed work on the modern history exhibit, and we had the electrician visit to prepare a quote for more power (minicomputers, start your engines!) and better lights. This weekend we're swapping out the Univac display case for a brand new one. We only ever bought or scrounged used display cases, so it's a pleasure to get something new and shiny. The new one is six feet tall, locks, and has lights for each shelf. It also has a smaller footprint than the old case (40" vs. 60") so we can display more Univac artifacts in a smaller space. In addition to our currently displayed Univac artifacts (half-adder, flip-flop, coincidence detector), we will add to the display a manual from a Univac 1 and a desk fan John Mauchly brought home from his office. Special thanks to the four VCFed members who jointly funded the new display case.

2 2

VCFed polo shirts -- choose the color
by Evan Koblentz 08 Sep '16

08 Sep '16

It's time to order VCFed polo shirts. They could be black, "ectoplasm" (greenish-blueish to match our logo), or white. Our logo will be on the breast pocket. We'll have sizes from S-3XL. Price TBD but it will be cheap/reasonable. Vote here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/2G5Q7XY. DO NOT VOTE THROUGH THIS EMAIL THREAD: IT WON'T COUNT. Voting ends Friday, Sept. 9 at 8pm ET.

8 19

ENIAC Simulator
by Brian L. Stuart 07 Sep '16

07 Sep '16

Unfortunately, I won't be able to make it to VCFMW this year. (Those of you who don't know me are probably thinking "So what?" Those who do are probably split between "Aww, that's too bad" and "Good; he's a pain in the...") In lieu of my "sparkling personality" I'm making available the ENIAC simulator I would have exhibited had I committed to coming early enough to reserve a table. If you attended VCFSE or VCFE this year, you may have seen an early version of the simulator. It's now at a beta testable level of operation. The files you'll want to download and some minimal instructions for use are at: http://cs.drexel.edu/~bls96/eniac/eniac.html It's written in Go, so you should be able to compile it on a variety of platforms. For those not wanting to compile it themselves, I've included binaries for several options including Linux/amd64, Linux/arm, FreeBSD/amd64, FreeBSD/i386, MacOS/amd64, and Win/amd64. The Windows version has not been tested at all, and only minimal testing has been done on the Mac version. You'll also need TCL/Tk installed to get the wish program available as used by the GUI. Suggestions, comments, criticisms, and questions are welcome, but it will probably be a few weeks before I'll be able to make time to do anything about them. Enjoy. BLS

1 0

Museum report + new shelves installed
by Evan Koblentz 07 Sep '16

07 Sep '16

I went to the museum today. Only a few visitors, but they were very interested in our displays so it was good. One person who's in NJARC said he worked for DEC. The other group was a family; the father was 49 and seemed ecstatic showing his teenage daughter the computer culture of his own childhood. Steve A. came by at 5pm. We made a plan to install wooden shelves in the modern history exhibit, which was left unfinished when we all ran out of time before VCF East XI followed by my leg surgery, etc. We went to Home Depot. They cut the wood to our specs -- 48x16 for the bottom shelf, then 48x14, 48x12, and 48x10 going up the wall. We also reduced the height between shelves -- 15 inches above the lowest shelf, then 13, then 11. The staggered depths/heights create a nice effect for the display overall. I'll be back at the museum on Friday. Dean and I are going to continue working on the exhibit. We paint the sides and bottoms of the shelves (and the brackets) green, same as the wall. We will paint the shelf tops white to highlight the artifacts. Many of the artifacts are small. When the shelves are complete, we will install plexi in front of the display so visitors cannot touch it.

2 1

Remember to vote! Re: shirt color
by Evan Koblentz 07 Sep '16

07 Sep '16

Voting is going well for the color of our new polo shirts: white, ectoplasm (greenish-blueish), or black. There are 32 votes and so far there is a clear first - second - third. I am not revealing further details so as not to influence anyone. Voting closes Friday at 8pm ET.

3 3

FS: Central Data Corp 64K Dynamic RAM S-100 Board TESTED/WORKING
by Systems Glitch 06 Sep '16

06 Sep '16

link: http://www.ebay.com/itm/272366924496 Just finished repairing and testing this one. There was a bad 74LS156 in the address decode section, which was replaced with a ceramic mil-spec device. The board is fully populated with nice gold capped purple ceramic 4116 DRAMs. The board provides for disabling 16K segments or 2K blocks within a segment to fit around ROM monitors and such -- it's currently set to leave a 4K hole from 0xD000 - 0xDFFF for my Dajen SCI's monitor. It'll work with a front panel, but I don't recommend it for front panel operation. Like many DRAM boards, you can deposit data just fine, but the data lights will show incorrect information until you EXAMINE the location again. It's frustrating to work with. Probably fine if you just use the front panel for debugging or to start the machine. Thanks, Jonathan

1 0

RCA HC/HCT Logic Cross Reference Project
by Systems Glitch 05 Sep '16

05 Sep '16

Many years ago, I bought a lot of miscellaneous logic ICs at a flea market or hamfest. These ICs were RCA HC/HCT devices, many marked as engineering samples, and some marked with either an RCA internal number or a house number. Some of them had little sticky labels on top. I've never been able to find a cross-reference for them, so today I typed up the numbers I've got: https://github.com/chapmajs/rca_cross_reference This is a typical sheet of the ICs: http://i.imgur.com/Fk59VNL.jpg Funny to see regular 74HC/HCT series logic in white ceramic packages! If anyone has more information, or a full cross-reference, please let me know. You can send a pull request on GitHub, or just email me off-list and I'll add them if you're not a GitHub user. There is probably some pattern to the numbering system. In typing this up, I noticed that the starting prefix (TA or P) doesn't seem to have any meaning w.r.t. the device function. The first two numbers of the code are 11 for HC or 13 for HCT. Thanks, Jonathan

1 0

Pinging Jeff Jonas
by Jack Rubin 05 Sep '16

05 Sep '16

Hi Jeff - I'm interested in some Calcomp plotter paper if you still have any left. Please reply off-list. Thanks, Jack j(a)ckrubin.us

1 0

Big eBay lot
by Evan Koblentz 05 Sep '16

05 Sep '16

http://m.ebay.com/itm/191960867958 The seller contacted me several months ago and wanted to work through us. We declined.

7 9

Re: [vcf-midatlantic] vintage email: the "at hack"
by Jeffrey Jonas 04 Sep '16

04 Sep '16

While looking up a chip, I found a USENET posting with a typical .signature UUCP bang path from "well known backbone site" ARPA has "at-hack" to forward to CSNET via the relay/gateway UUCP: ...!cbosgd!osu-cis!bgsuvax!kemp CSNET: kemp(a)andy.bgsu.edu ARPA : kemp%andy.bgsu.edu(a)relay.cs.net

2 1

FS: MITS 88-2 SIO Tested/Working
by Systems Glitch 03 Sep '16

03 Sep '16

link: http://www.ebay.com/itm/272363812201 Here's the MITS serial interface everyone wants, and this one is fully tested and working! I had to replace a 1488 and 1489. I installed wire wrap pins in the baud rate selection area so that a) pads won't get lifted when you need to change baud rates and b) you can jumper both ports to the same baud rate. Includes two nice ceramic Motorola 6850 ACIAs, original to the board. Currently jumpered for standard MITS port addressing (0x10 or 020 octal), RS-232 serial, and 9600 bps on both ports. Includes the original cable for Port 0. I've got the cable that came with it for Port 1, but it's in poor condition and not currently working. I can include it for free, if you want it. Thanks, Jonathan

1 0

InfoAge closed tomorrow
by Evan Koblentz 03 Sep '16

03 Sep '16

InfoAge is closed tomorrow due to the storm. But I am here today!

2 1

Re: [vcf-midatlantic] VCFed @ Lehigh Valley "FAST" event
by VAXman＠tmesis.org 03 Sep '16

03 Sep '16

Evan Koblentz via vcf-midatlantic writes: >Chris F., Doug, and Todd will represent VCFed at next Sunday's (9/11) >Festival of Art, Science, and Technology in Allentown PA. Details are >here: www.lehighvalleyfast.org :) A-town! That's home for me!

1 0

VCFed @ Lehigh Valley "FAST" event
by Evan Koblentz 03 Sep '16

03 Sep '16

Chris F., Doug, and Todd will represent VCFed at next Sunday's (9/11) Festival of Art, Science, and Technology in Allentown PA. Details are here: www.lehighvalleyfast.org

1 0

pickup and hold some NEXT/SGI monitors in SilverSpring off rte 97
by william degnan 02 Sep '16

02 Sep '16

Anyone able to hold a few Next and SGI monitors for the club temporarily? i have someone who has them, could probably deliver to you if you're nearby. Sorry to impose, hate to lose the opportunity for someone who might want these. if you're available *this weekend* especially...the guy has them loaded in his car already. Contact me off list. Thanks Bill

5 6

Volunteers needed for Infoage Base Of Terror
by Jeffrey Brace 02 Sep '16

02 Sep '16

Volunteers are need for InfoAge's Base of Terror Friday and Saturday nights in October from 7pm to 11pm. It goes a long way to show that VCF members are volunteering for InfoAge wide events. The more we volunteer, the more cooperative InfoAge is with us when we want or needs something. The jobs needed: Crowd control: letting 10 people go at a time. Front End: Parking lot, booth, tickets, etc. e-mail Gloria if interested: admsupport(a)infoage.org ============================ Jeff Brace - ark72axow(a)gmail.com

1 0

Dave... What are you doing Dave...
by Joseph Oprysko 02 Sep '16

02 Sep '16

Well, I was cleaning out my email, going through some of my auto-sort's etc, and in May and June of this year I got 2 "Digest" emails from the phantom MARCH group. Those MARCHer's are trying to come back I think..;) -- 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?

2 1

Re: [vcf-midatlantic] oldest email address in the club
by Jeffrey Jonas 02 Sep '16

02 Sep '16

Loewen: > Here's my entry from the NIXPUB list in 1992: > 04/92 814-353-0566 cpumagic Bellefonte PA 12/24/96/14 24 What a small world: friends still live in Bellefonte. The closest I have to that was my photo & entry in "Face Saver" at the 1989 Usenix conference. http://www.metron.com/FaceSaver/ From: Neil Cherry > If you were on bitnet you were probably using all sorts of symbols. > I recall mixing !, %, @, {}. Lots of fun with routing email. I donated my O'Reilly Nutshell book of manual e-mail routing to the VCF library. It documented all known email gateways and things like the "at-hack". The title looked like a cartoon character cursing: @!#%*-something.

7 6

Next /sgi displays
by william degnan 01 Sep '16

01 Sep '16

Avail in silver spring, md Bill Degnan twitter: billdeg vintagecomputer.net

1 0

Painting
by Evan Koblentz 01 Sep '16

01 Sep '16

Painting the top few feet of our walls (top of the door frame to the ceiling) would be easy, but painting the ceiling itself would be difficult detail-wise. Rollers on sticks wouldn't get the all the edges. There are many edges because the ceiling is WW2 style. I asked Tony for his opinion because he seems to know a lot about painting. He recommended getting professional estimates. He said if the cost is exorbitant then he can probably get some of his worker to come help, but he emphasized that the tall, large ceiling really should he done by pros to look halfway decent. I will get a few estimates.

7 13

Painting
by Herb Johnson 01 Sep '16

01 Sep '16

I also think Dan has been informative, about focusing on the content of the museum, rather than the walls and ceiling. I think it's a reasonable point, that the many computers and other objects in the museum space, provide plenty for the eye to examine and for the mind to consider. And of course, for the docents to explain. My impression of the space, is that it's full of equipment and shiny shelves, and is well-lit. My old-man eyes are very busy already, thank you. I'll let youngsters give their own impressions. As for the blandness of the ceiling and walls, Evan; You can't say they are bland AND that you need to keep people's eyes off of them AND you need to put objects up there (like LCD screens) to give them something to see. This is - no offense - contradictory. you might consider that the white paint covers all the various textures and structures on the ceiling; they reduce the contrast. also the white, well-reflects light around the room and reduces shadows. Dark paint would increase contrast, not reflect light. The point of the room is not the walls and ceiling, it's the content - I think Dan was working hard to make that point. These things said, it may be of some advantage to change the lighting - that is, use other color temperatures of fluorescent tubes or LED substitutes, as changing the fixtures is far too expensive for too little benefit. It's a subtle consideration, once made only requiring dollars and some simple labor. And it's reversible. It's far simpler to add some posters or other hanging items, than to paint. Items hung one day, can be removed and replaced another day. If one thing doesn't work, remove it and provide another thing. Items well above eye-level will not be examined in detail, that's human-factors. Again - the room is full already, with much to see and describe. Finally: The space is new and simple. It's just been established. the contents have just been established. Why not let them run their course, gather reactions from the visitors, and from the volunteers who respond to the visitors? Then in a few years, revise the space. They may be other exhibits to add at that point, other renovations. That seems prudent and considered. That's my response, to a public discussion, about changes to the museum exhibit space. What Evan and VCF Inc. do is their choice, and so I would not comment in this way except others have done so, presented their points. These are mine. Herb Johnson -- Herbert R. Johnson, New Jersey USA http://www.retrotechnology.com OR .net

1 0

Vintage computing art project
by Evan Koblentz 01 Sep '16

01 Sep '16

I'd like to try an experiment with painting an on-topic design onto a sheet of clear plexi and having light shine through it. Anyone done something like this? What kind of paint should we use?

6 9