- vcf-midatlantic - lists.vcfed.org

Re: [vcf-midatlantic] MARCH Workshop - Jan 10-11, 2026
by Jeffrey Brace 08 Jan '26

08 Jan '26

Hello Mike, Yes. There are a lot of items that need to be worked on. I'm not sure which you feel most comfortable with: NeXT Cube (I'm not sure the problem. Ask Doug Crawford) New Games for Commodore PET onto SD Card SGI monitor Mac Plus needs files put back on floppy. There are too many others on our Trello list. Consult with Doug Crawford or me when you arrive. Thanks! Jeff On Tue, Jan 6, 2026 at 9:24 AM Sentrytv via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > Jeff does the group ( warehouse) have anything they need worked on? (small > items of course!) > > Mike Rosen > > Sent from: > My extremely complicated, hand held electronic device. > > > On Jan 6, 2026, at 7:17 AM, Jeff Salzman via vcf-midatlantic < > vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > > > > Coming up in just a few days, the first MARCH Workshop of 2026. > > > > Signup sheet is here: > > > > > https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1wZfxlcyORhpSiPJso0Qc-MMWypN_m6muR7O… > > > > General Workshop details can be found here: > > > > Repair Workshops @ InfoAge – Vintage Computer Federation > > <https://vcfed.org/repair-workshops-at-infoage/> > > > > Note that the new location on the InfoAge campus for the Workshops is in > > Building 9010D, and details on that building location are on the Workshop > > details page above. > > > > See you there! > > > > Jeff Salzman > > VCF-MidAtlantic Steering Committee > > MARCH Workshop Manager > >

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] VAX stuff just listed on ebay
by Vince Besse 07 Jan '26

07 Jan '26

Is that the VAX 4000 and various accessories lot? On Wed, Jan 7, 2026, 11:41 AM Hopkins, Justin via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > Just an FYI. > I am not far from that ebay listing that just came up for sale and can > bring it to MARCH this weekend if someone from Central or South Jersey > doesn't want to drive up here to get it. > > This message and any attachments are intended only for the use of the > addressee and may contain information that is privileged and confidential. > If the reader of the message is not the intended recipient or an authorized > representative of the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any > dissemination of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you have > received this communication in error, please notify us immediately by > e-mail and delete the message and any attachments from your system. >

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RE: [vcf-midatlantic] VAX stuff just listed on ebay
by Hopkins, Justin 07 Jan '26

07 Jan '26

I also can bring one of my RS-232 terminals with me if someone wants to test it out Saturday. From: vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic-bounces(a)lists.vcfed.org> On Behalf Of Hopkins, Justin via vcf-midatlantic Sent: Wednesday, January 7, 2026 11:53 AM To: vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> Cc: Hopkins, Justin <Justin.Hopkins(a)broadridge.com> Subject: Re: [vcf-midatlantic] VAX stuff just listed on ebay This message and any attachments are intended only for the use of the addressee and may contain information that is privileged and confidential. If the reader of the message is not the intended recipient or an authorized representative of the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, please notify us immediately by e-mail and delete the message and any attachments from your system.

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VAX stuff just listed on ebay
by Hopkins, Justin 07 Jan '26

07 Jan '26

Just an FYI. I am not far from that ebay listing that just came up for sale and can bring it to MARCH this weekend if someone from Central or South Jersey doesn't want to drive up here to get it. This message and any attachments are intended only for the use of the addressee and may contain information that is privileged and confidential. If the reader of the message is not the intended recipient or an authorized representative of the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, please notify us immediately by e-mail and delete the message and any attachments from your system.

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[DC area] Urgent: Need 2 SGI Granite Keyboards + Mice for MagFest this Weekend
by Alexander Jacocks 07 Jan '26

07 Jan '26

Does anyone have a pair of SGI granite keyboards and mice that I could borrow or buy, in the DC area? I need them for an O2+ and an Indy that will be in the vintage computer area @ MagFest this weekend. Please contact me directly if so. Thanks! - Alex

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] OT I have some CRESTRON equipment that I am willing to get rid of
by Chris Fala 06 Jan '26

06 Jan '26

I wish I had a use for it, that stuff is very interesting and made well. On Tue, Jan 6, 2026 at 2:57 PM Sentrytv via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > I will be at the workshop this Saturday up until about 4 PM > If anybody is interested in some old CRESTRON equipment > Including touch panels, processors and accessories please let me know > immediately. > I will have to put these in a container so I can bring them with me if > there is any interest > No picking and choosing winner has to take all. > > Mike Rosen > > Sent from: > My extremely complicated, hand held electronic device. >

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OT I have some CRESTRON equipment that I am willing to get rid of
by Sentrytv 06 Jan '26

06 Jan '26

I will be at the workshop this Saturday up until about 4 PM If anybody is interested in some old CRESTRON equipment Including touch panels, processors and accessories please let me know immediately. I will have to put these in a container so I can bring them with me if there is any interest No picking and choosing winner has to take all. Mike Rosen Sent from: My extremely complicated, hand held electronic device.

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Kennett Classic @ the Computer Church Feb 7th
by Bill Degnan 06 Jan '26

06 Jan '26

For those of you who are interested in reconnecting with Kennett Classic people or visiting the computer museum in Parkesburg, PA ... here is a copy and paste from our latest emailer. Next Event - Kennet Classic at the PA Computer and Technology Museum Saturday February 7th 11:00 AM - 5:00 PM. The PA Computer Technology Museum, also known as the "Computer Church" is located in Parkesburg, PA. The museum will be open to the public for tours following a presentation of the 2026 museum agenda. This will be a great opportunity to see the collection and learn more about the museum and volunteer opportunities. Bill Degnan will run a "How to Troubleshoot a MITS Altair" workshop demonstration after the museum news keynote. Around 3PM or so we'll conclude at the nearby Victory Brewing Company Parkesburg to meet and socialize. Contact me if you're planning to go to the event. Kennett Classic 2026 Calendar https://www.kennettclassic.com/calendar-2026/ Have a nice day Bill

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] MARCH Workshop - Jan 10-11, 2026
by Sentrytv 06 Jan '26

06 Jan '26

Jeff does the group ( warehouse) have anything they need worked on? (small items of course!) Mike Rosen Sent from: My extremely complicated, hand held electronic device. > On Jan 6, 2026, at 7:17 AM, Jeff Salzman via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > > Coming up in just a few days, the first MARCH Workshop of 2026. > > Signup sheet is here: > > https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1wZfxlcyORhpSiPJso0Qc-MMWypN_m6muR7O… > > General Workshop details can be found here: > > Repair Workshops @ InfoAge – Vintage Computer Federation > <https://vcfed.org/repair-workshops-at-infoage/> > > Note that the new location on the InfoAge campus for the Workshops is in > Building 9010D, and details on that building location are on the Workshop > details page above. > > See you there! > > Jeff Salzman > VCF-MidAtlantic Steering Committee > MARCH Workshop Manager

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MARCH Workshop - Jan 10-11, 2026
by Jeff Salzman 06 Jan '26

06 Jan '26

Coming up in just a few days, the first MARCH Workshop of 2026. Signup sheet is here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1wZfxlcyORhpSiPJso0Qc-MMWypN_m6muR7O… General Workshop details can be found here: Repair Workshops @ InfoAge – Vintage Computer Federation <https://vcfed.org/repair-workshops-at-infoage/> Note that the new location on the InfoAge campus for the Workshops is in Building 9010D, and details on that building location are on the Workshop details page above. See you there! Jeff Salzman VCF-MidAtlantic Steering Committee MARCH Workshop Manager

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Request for Punchards with custom message
by Jeffrey Brace 06 Jan '26

06 Jan '26

Does anyone have the time, working machine and cards to print 250 cards with the words "UNPRODUCTIVE STRUGGLE" on them? They are needed by Jan. 15 in California. Before you ask: VCF's punch card machine is broken. Dave McGuire can't Mike Loewen can't System Source can't Take care! Jeff Brace <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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We want you to volunteer at VCF East 2026!
by Jeffrey Brace 05 Jan '26

05 Jan '26

Hey everyone! We are in great need of volunteers for VCF East. Sign up here: https://forms.gle/DK7Q2kT5XWBm8QKz5 In addition to general volunteers we also need managers for: Front Desk A/V Please let me know if you have any questions. Jeff Brace VCF East Showrunner

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Volunteer for VCF East 2026!
by Jeffrey Brace 03 Jan '26

03 Jan '26

Hey everyone! We are in great need of volunteers for VCF East. Sign up here: https://forms.gle/DK7Q2kT5XWBm8QKz5 In addition to general volunteers we also need managers for: Front Desk A/V Please let me know if you have any questions. Jeff Brace VCF East Showrunner

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who was first ...
by Jeffrey Jonas 02 Jan '26

02 Jan '26

An interesting article: https://computerhistory.org/blog/the-neverending-quest-for-firsts/ links to https://computerhistory.org/blog/programming-the-eniac-an-example-of-why-co… Visitors to the Computer History Museum frequently want to know: what was the first computer? The first personal computer? In his recent post, “Programming the ENIAC: An Example of Why Computer History is Hard <https://computerhistory.org/blog/programming-the-eniac-an-example-of-why-co…>,” Computer History Museum Board Chair Len Shustek notes that one of the difficulties of computer history, and indeed, history of technology in general, is the question of “firsts”: what was the “first” X, or in alternate form, “who [first] invented X?” The problem is that for many of these “firsts,” there is no simple answer, because as Len pointed out, “What ‘first’ means depends on precise definitions of fuzzy concepts.” What seem to be questions with easy, factual answers quickly devolve into debates over semantics ...

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MARCH Workshop - JAN 10-11, 2026
by Jeff Salzman 02 Jan '26

02 Jan '26

Coming up in a little over a week, the first MARCH Workshop of 2026. Signup sheet is here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1wZfxlcyORhpSiPJso0Qc-MMWypN_m6muR7O… General Workshop details can be found here: Repair Workshops @ InfoAge – Vintage Computer Federation <https://vcfed.org/repair-workshops-at-infoage/> Note that the new location on the InfoAge campus for the Workshops is in Building 9010D, and details on that building location are on the Workshop details page above. See you there! Jeff Salzman VCF-MidAtlantic Steering Committee MARCH Workshop Manager

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] AI Computer Museum Docent - BETA - DEMO
by Ralph Broom 02 Jan '26

02 Jan '26

Bob, impressive beta! I talked with it about a few things I know pretty well and have had to explain to others. I noticed it sometimes reads the markdown literally ("hash"). Other verbal tics will be more tricky. Some technical terms have slang pronunciation the speech engine wouldn't know about. It got SCSI correct about half the time, and started off with a great deconstruction of the term. C64 "SID" and "VIC" chips it always initialized. TRS-80 was "eight-zero", etc. Maybe a table? The voice and inflection are very good. I noticed that for longer responses it starts speaking slowly and sped up as it went until it was quite fast. Speaking of fast, the responses to questions began very quickly after my speech stopped. This is great, as many voice models have a noticeable processing delay before responding. This felt more naturally conversational. It handled interruptions well. A simple prompt injection failed, great! I didn't try hard. I asked for exhibit information responses in a few languages which it did well. The speech model had a noticeable American accent! Curiously it responded immediately in Spanish, but took about 20 seconds to start in Japanese. I asked a question in Dutch but it didn't understand so English inputs only at this time? I'm wondering if you've got the LLM to prefer local knowledge you've given it before going to its training or the web. A couple of times it stopped speaking in the middle of a sentence. I don't know if it thought it detected a speech interruption. Made me consider when this is used on a phone speaker in the museum with other unrelated speakers around it. I think this will be a great addition to the museum. Regards, Ralph Broom On 2026-01-02 07:00, vcf-midatlantic-request(a)lists.vcfed.org wrote: > Send vcf-midatlantic mailing list submissions to > vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org > > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit > https://lists.vcfed.org/mailman/listinfo/vcf-midatlantic > or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to > vcf-midatlantic-request(a)lists.vcfed.org > > You can reach the person managing the list at > vcf-midatlantic-owner(a)lists.vcfed.org > > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific > than "Re: Contents of vcf-midatlantic digest..." > > > Today's Topics: > > 1. AI Computer Museum Docent - BETA - DEMO (Bob Roswell) > 2. who was first ... (Jeffrey Jonas) > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Fri, 2 Jan 2026 02:28:06 +0000 > From: Bob Roswell <broswell(a)syssrc.com> > To: vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> > Subject: [vcf-midatlantic] AI Computer Museum Docent - BETA - DEMO > Message-ID: > <CY4PR0401MB3586D6F293D1175602B08EF7B0BBA(a)CY4PR0401MB3586.namprd04.prod.outlook.com> > > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" > > > I wrote a voice chatbot that is somewhat guided to be a knowledgeable docent at our computer museum. > This is available for testing for the next few days: (If it does not crash) > > https://museum.syssrc.com/docent > > Privacy - > You will need to give microphone and video permissions. The video is not in use, but I have not figured out how to make the WEBRTC component not ask for camera privileges. Your voice will NOT be saved, but I will have a speech to text transcript of your speaking, and the answers the AI gave. I won't know who you are except your IP address will show up in my logs. > > I'd love any feedback! So far, I am amazed at what it can do, but remember it is an AI, and can and does make stuff up. > > Tech Stack: > Pipecat (Framework) > DeepGram: Text To Speach > Cartesia: Speech To Text > OpenAI: Large Language Model > Python scripts that I wrote based on Pipecat examples > > I'll also be curious to see what my bills are! If it goes crazy, I will need to shut it off! > > > > Bob Roswell > broswell(a)syssrc.com > 410-771-5544 ext 4336 > > Computer Museum Highlights<http://museum.syssrc.com/> > > [cid:image001.png@01DC7B64.5C0834E0] > > > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 2 > Date: Fri, 2 Jan 2026 03:57:28 -0500 > From: Jeffrey Jonas <jeffrey.scott.jonas(a)gmail.com> > To: vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> > Subject: [vcf-midatlantic] who was first ... > Message-ID: > <CAOCNM4SVNENsYTk4+1vTDg32pKqc5Rg7cLkVoUAa-RXEV7vDkw(a)mail.gmail.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8" > > An interesting article: > https://computerhistory.org/blog/the-neverending-quest-for-firsts/ > links to > https://computerhistory.org/blog/programming-the-eniac-an-example-of-why-co… > > Visitors to the Computer History Museum frequently want to know: what was > the first computer? The first personal computer? In his recent post, > ?Programming > the ENIAC: An Example of Why Computer History is Hard > <https://computerhistory.org/blog/programming-the-eniac-an-example-of-why-co…>,? > Computer History Museum Board Chair Len Shustek notes that one of the > difficulties of computer history, and indeed, history of technology in > general, is the question of ?firsts?: what was the ?first? X, or in > alternate form, ?who [first] invented X?? The problem is that for many of > these ?firsts,? there is no simple answer, because as Len pointed out, > ?What ?first? means depends on precise definitions of fuzzy concepts.? What > seem to be questions with easy, factual answers quickly devolve into > debates over semantics ... > > > End of vcf-midatlantic Digest, Vol 92, Issue 2 > ********************************************** >

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AI Computer Museum Docent - BETA - DEMO
by Bob Roswell 02 Jan '26

02 Jan '26

I wrote a voice chatbot that is somewhat guided to be a knowledgeable docent at our computer museum. This is available for testing for the next few days: (If it does not crash) https://museum.syssrc.com/docent Privacy - You will need to give microphone and video permissions. The video is not in use, but I have not figured out how to make the WEBRTC component not ask for camera privileges. Your voice will NOT be saved, but I will have a speech to text transcript of your speaking, and the answers the AI gave. I won't know who you are except your IP address will show up in my logs. I'd love any feedback! So far, I am amazed at what it can do, but remember it is an AI, and can and does make stuff up. Tech Stack: Pipecat (Framework) DeepGram: Text To Speach Cartesia: Speech To Text OpenAI: Large Language Model Python scripts that I wrote based on Pipecat examples I'll also be curious to see what my bills are! If it goes crazy, I will need to shut it off! Bob Roswell broswell(a)syssrc.com 410-771-5544 ext 4336 Computer Museum Highlights<http://museum.syssrc.com/> [cid:image001.png@01DC7B64.5C0834E0]

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Stewart Cheifet died Dec. 28, 2025
by Jeffrey Brace 31 Dec '25

31 Dec '25

https://obits.goldsteinsfuneral.com/stewart-cheifet He came to VCF East years ago: https://youtu.be/Ncnje4DdRxE. I had tried to get in touch with him the last 5 years without success. I wonder if he was going through some illness. He will be missed! I know him best for his hosting of Computer Chronicles. Jeff Brace

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20 tables left for VCF East 2026!
by Jeffrey Brace 31 Dec '25

31 Dec '25

Tables are going fast! Register here for exhibitor tables: https://forms.gle/XZSjtMRjKMRTxFNn9 Register here for vendor tables: https://forms.gle/XmhAWvjN94r6jdVFA Jeff Brace VCF East Showrunner

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Looking for help on dealing with monitor cataracts on VR201 monitors.
by Herbert Johnson 31 Dec '25

31 Dec '25

> [Dave Shevett] I have 3-4 DEC VR201 monitors that have the dreaded cataracts problem. > I am extremely nervous working on CRTs > I'm happy to work with someone (supervised repairs) or give these to > whomever wants to fix them. Goal is to get my Pro-380 and my DECmates up > and running with a clean video again soon goo --> CRT face 0) Lots of people are scared of messing with CRTs. Lots of reasons, mostly around unfamiliarity. I'm scared to provide advice - "I did what you said and lost [anatomy, fluids] when the CRT [imploded, broke, shocked me]". So anything I say is full of "hold me harmless" statements, I'm scared of legal action. 1) Slightly confusing request from Dave. If you want clean video monitors, why would you "give these [away]" after some one fixes them while you watch and supervise? Maybe you mean "I will provide them locally to someone for (help with?) repair so I can get them back as repaired for use". Anyway, please clarify your terms of work and exchange. Would not hurt to give your general location, doesn't seem like shipping is part of the intentions. 2) As far as people who respond but don't know what Dave is talking about. Here's some reference info, but rather than lecture here, I'll point to lectures on my WEb pages: https://www.retrotechnology.com/restore/adm3a.html Look for "Comments about CRT repairs" for some discussion. This is a problem across many terminals of the era. Buried on the page is a link of one way to repair: https://www.retrotechnology.com/restore/adm3a_nick.html .. but do more homework than I have done. There's lots of way to remove the gooey faceplate from the CRT, research will find examples. Or, obtain another CRT without faceplace, but it has to be (mostly mechanically) compatible. Besides, if the old CRT is functional why obtain another? But it may not be, the screen brightness fades with use (homework). I'm not responsible for any of this information, hold me harmless from any consequences. But the subject interests me, and in fact I have a few of these DEC VR2XX moldy monitors myself. Regards Herb Johnson -- Herb Johnson, New Jersey USA http://www.retrotechnology.com or .net preserve and restore 1970's personal computing email: hjohnson @ retrotechnology dot com or try later at herbjohnson @ comcast dot net -- Herbert R. Johnson, New Jersey USA https://www.retrotechnology.com OR .net preserve, recover, restore 1970's computing email: hjohnson AT retrotechnology DOT com or try later herbjohnson AT comcast DOT net

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OrangePC Octopus Cable
by Andrew Mattera 30 Dec '25

30 Dec '25

Hi all, I am in possession of an OrangePC expansion card for Macintosh, basically a Pentium based PC on a card. however I believe I'm missing the octopus cable. If anyone out here knows what I'm talking about and has this cable, I would be very grateful if you would let me probe the connections for five minutes to possibly recreate these cables. There will be no damage done to the cable, and you won't even notice the procedure was done. it's completely non-invasive. Thanks, Andrew Mattera

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Looking for help on dealing with monitor cataracts on VR201 monitors.
by Dave Shevett 29 Dec '25

29 Dec '25

I have 3-4 DEC VR201 monitors that have the dreaded cataracts problem. In short the glue on the front of the crt has deteriorated, and the front of the screen is all blotchy and icky. The monitors work, it just looks terrible. I am extremely nervous working on CRTs (I did field repairs on Wang OIS and WPS terminals all through the late 80s, and absolutely hated doing the ole "ground the anode to the chassis" bit (scary), but in this case you also need to disassemble the tube frame and scrape / heatgun off all the goo, while still making sure the tube isn't going to implode. I'm happy to work with someone (supervised repairs) or give these to whomever wants to fix them. Goal is to get my Pro-380 and my DECmates up and running with a clean video again soon (hopefully before VCF-east). Thanks! -d

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Oregon Trail Hallmark ornament
by bernieS 28 Dec '25

28 Dec '25

Here's a link to a YouTube video of the Oregon Trail Hallmark ornament in operation. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPA2sWnrDmc (Start at 3:30 in the video if you want to skip the unboxing part.) The display appears to be a LED backlit lenticular image, which requires viewing from different lateral angles to switch between two surprisingly high-resolution images: the Oregon Trail menu screen, and the status message, "You Have Died from Dysentery". It's a clever design. Power consumption from the (3) 1.5V LR44 'button' batteries is kept to a minimum this way. Some people have hacked these Hallmark 'Keepsake' ornaments by instead attaching (3) AAA or AAA batteries hardwired to the battery terminals. Three such batteries--especially if they're long-life lithium cells--would likely keep the ornament illuminated for weeks or longer. Hallmark has long been innovatively incorporating electronics technology into its greeting cards, holiday ornaments, and other products. In the early 1990's they introduced the first greeting card with a digital audio recorder/playback device incorporated into a surprisingly thin greeting card for $7.95 retail. The idea was you could record ten-second audio message to your loved one in a greeting card, which when opened would play to them loud and clear. Clever! Phone phreaks and hackers quickly recognized this as a golden opportunity and removed the tiny electronics module from the card and used it to record Automated Coin Totalling System (ACTS) coin-deposit audio signals emanating from the handset earpiece on payphones of local exchange carriers--or better yet from the handset of a phone you called and then depositing more quarters because the ACTS tones were attenuated in the payphone earpiece but were loud and clear in the called party's phone which allowed better recording quality. Then the user could make payphone calls and play back the recorded coin-deposit tones into the handset's microphone by pressing the module's momentary switch to spoof the phone company's ACTS system after it verbally prompted them to "Please Deposit 25 Cents For The First 5 Minutes" (or much more money for Long-Distance calls) in lieu of depositing coins. Such a device, in its various incarnations spanning more than three decades while ACTS was in use, was called a Red Box by the phreak/hacker community. The so-called Hallmark Red Box was hands-down the least expensive and simplest way to create a Red Box, and was popularized by an article entitled "A Gift From Hallmark" that was published in 2600 Magazine back then. I'd read in an electronics trade publication that Hallmark bought millions of digital audio recording chips from Information Storage Devices, Inc. for use in a talking greeting card they planned to release on a certain date. On that day I bought one as soon as the Hallmark store nearest me opened. Phone company payphones by design never returned change for unused call minutes. Cheating callers out of their change was more profitable. With many millions of payphone calls made each day around the U.S. back then, these unearned profits quickly added up to millions of dollars per week for local phone companies and A&T. Some people would keep a running total of how much money the phone company stole from them this way and use their 'credits' to make payphone calls with their Red Box. This led to controversy about who was actually defrauding whom. Thanks for the memories, Hallmark! -bernieS

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Hello Computer? (Star Trek IV Scotty talking to Mac 512k)
by Jeffrey Brace 28 Dec '25

28 Dec '25

Apparently for 40 years people have been speculating how the creators of Star Trek IV (1986) put what was on the screen of the Mac 512k in the scene where Scotty talks to the computer to create transparent aluminum ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpWhugUmV5U) . Hint: It wasn't real Macintosh graphics. It seems that Ron's Computer Videos investigated and solved the mystery! Check it out here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHqiiPGPHFY Enjoy! Jeff Brace <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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Oregon Trail Hallmark ornament
by Jeffrey Jonas 27 Dec '25

27 Dec '25

It's just 2 screens alternating (probably projection, not LCD) https://www.hallmark.com/ornaments/keepsake-ornaments/the-oregon-trail-orna…

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InfoAge & VCF Museums Closed Dec. 27, 28, 31, 2025
by Jeffrey Brace 26 Dec '25

26 Dec '25

Due to the upcoming snowstorm InfoAge and VCF museums will be closed this coming weekend Sat & Sun, Dec. 27 & 28. They will also be closed on Dec. 31 for New Year's Eve. Reopening on January 3, 2026. Take care everyone and see you in the new year! Jeff Brace VCF National Board Member Chairman & Vice President VCF East Showrunner VCF Fundraising Manager VCF Evangelist Vintage Computer Federation is a 501c3 charity https://vcfed.org/ <http://www.vcfed.org/> <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] Merry Christmas Everyone
by Brian L 25 Dec '25

25 Dec '25

Merry Christmas! Passing along some brief appreciation.. Thank you to everyone who participated in VCFE this past year, and to all the familiar faces who showed up to Festivus a few weeks back. Wishing good health to everyone in the New Year!

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Merry Christmas Everyone
by Christian Liendo 25 Dec '25

25 Dec '25

I wasn't able to be there and I hope to be at VCFE. So I couldn't say be before. I hope you guys have a great day. It will be nice to see you all again.

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Early delivery from Santa's sleigh
by Bill Degnan 24 Dec '25

24 Dec '25

Thanks. I added a link to the ENAIC drawings here: https://vintagecomputer.net/browse_thread.cfm?id=147 This is my list of vintage computing-related links. On Sun, Dec 21, 2025 at 8:15 PM Brian L. Stuart via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > > So Santa had his sleigh out for some test drives tonight. For > ballast (the real gifts won't be loaded until Wed night), he used > a big stack of engineering drawings from the 1940s. Fortunately > for us, his "spirited" driving included one turn that was too > tight and out flew the drawings, where they landed on my lap. For > anyone who's as eager as I am to geek out over 1940s computer > design, I share them with you here: > > http://cs.drexel.edu/~bls96/eniac/drawings/ > > There are over 900 drawings in the set. Most of these images come > from scans of microfilm taken of the patent trial exhibits. There > are also about 100 copies that the Smithsonian had imaged and put > up on their web site. I've processed them all to approximate > something like we remember from our technical drawing classes in > college (well those of us old enough to have taken them). The > quality varies widely, but a large subset are readable down to > the measurements for the panels and the component values in the > circuits. > > If you've read Kathy Kleiman's excellent book (Proving Ground) > about the original ENIAC programmers, you may have found yourself > wondering what the block diagrams from which they figured out how > to program the machine looked like. Well, those are among the > drawings here. So feel free to try your hand at figuing out how > to program it from them. > > One subset of the drawings is conspicuous by its absence, the > PX-15 series. From what I can tell, those were drawings of a > delay line memory unit that was never built. Those drawings were > not part of the trial exhibits and were not microfilmed. However, > some physical copies do exist, and I am hoping to get back into > the archives to scan them at some point in the future. > > Beyond that, there are a number of drawing numbers that are > skipped, and I suspect that these are drawings that do (or did) > exist, but were not microfilmed for whatever reason. So if anyone > has or comes across any drawings that are not on this list, or > better copies of those that are, feel free to send scans my way. > > For anyone wanting to grab copies of the full set, it should be > pretty easy to extract a file name list from the index.html file. > I'll leave the sed command for extracting the list as an exercise > for the reader. > > For printing, all of them are sized in the PDF files for 8.5x11 > or 11x17 paper. Be warned, printing all of them without duplexing > and folding the 11x17s to fit into a normal binder, ends up > filling 2 4-inch binders. > > By the way, if anyone has access to the adapter shown in drawing > PX-4-119, I think there's an error in the drawing and I'd like to > check to see if either there really is or if I'm missing > something. > > Thanks and have fun, > BLS >

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Call for speakers - VCF East 2026
by Jeffrey Brace 22 Dec '25

22 Dec '25

Register to give a talk here: https://forms.gle/6BW1tayfcD5Wqfx96 Jeff Brace VCF East Showrunner

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OT: Return to the Moon: Artemis Update by Frank O'Brien
by Jeffrey Brace 22 Dec '25

22 Dec '25

I interviewed Frank O'Brien back in October about the Artemis mission to the moon: https://youtu.be/2NSAfLyIjVU Enjoy! Jeff Brace

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VCF East 2026 Hotel Block(s)
by Jeffrey Brace 22 Dec '25

22 Dec '25

The first block is ready for Residence Inn: https://vcfed.org/vcf-east-hotel-blocks/ The second block is pending. We are finding a third one as well. Take care! Jeff Brace VCF National Board Member Chairman & Vice President VCF East Showrunner VCF Fundraising Manager VCF Evangelist Vintage Computer Federation is a 501c3 charity https://vcfed.org/ <http://www.vcfed.org/>

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MARCH Workshop Dates for 2026
by Jeff Salzman 22 Dec '25

22 Dec '25

The MARCH Workshop event dates are listed below. You can get more details about the rules, location, and other pertinent information at the following link: https://vcfed.org/repair-workshops-at-infoage/ Jan 10 – 11, 2026 Feb 7 – 8 , 2026 Mar 21 – 22 , 2026 No Workshop in April due to VCF-East May 2 – 3 , 2026 June 13 – 14, 2026 (may coincide with the VCF Swapmeet) July 11 – 12 , 2026 Aug 8 – 9 , 2026 Sept 19 – 20 , 2026 Oct 17 – 18, 2026 (may coincide with the VCF Swapmeet) Nov 14 - 15 , 2026 No Workshop in December due to VCF Festivus Thanks, Jeff Salzman MARCH Workshop Manager VCF Steering Committee

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OT: Anyone working/playing with AI professionally?
by Neil Cherry 22 Dec '25

22 Dec '25

I've also posted this to the CDL mail list. Prereq: I'm not so much interested in failures, I've seen a lot. I'm interested in successes. I've been playing with AI to help me program (I haven't quite gotten to using things like LM Notebook). I've used it to quickly write data parsing scripts for testing (I do QA on software defined networks). For the quick and dirty script it usually gets me about 95% there, quickly. I've attempted to use AI to fix & improve a data tool (in browser JS). That went really badly as it would loose huge chunks of code and. When I needed to write a complex test suite (Robot Framework/Python) things got even worse as corporate security issues got in the way and the AI didn't seem to understand what was needed to fix them. This was just before my end of year vacation so I haven't been able to find the correct corp. chat to get help and none of my coworkers seem to understand (weird). Now, on to my hobby use. This gets even worse. I normally give the AI a set of requirements, something normal to anyone who does software engineering professional. I even cover the 'Business As Usual' parts that every SE fails to provide. So for my home project of C code to read, write, create, and modify Flex OS Gotek images under Linux, I gave it a nice set of requirements as assumed that the AI would not find the information on the internet. That went very badly as it had a lot of trouble with off by one errors. I've tried Python, C and 68000 asm and all come up quite short when I start testing. Has anyone created real applications with AI? I see tons of Youtube videos that claim they have. So either I'm the problem or the AI is not up to the marketing hype. And for anyone interested, I can share the requirements of my home project. I can't share my work related projects. -- 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 KD2ZRQ

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VCF Museum and InfoAge Closed Dec. 24, 31
by Jeffrey Brace 22 Dec '25

22 Dec '25

The VCF Museum and InfoAge Museums will be closed Wednesday Dec. 24 and Dec. 31. Take care! Jeff Brace VCF National Board Member Chairman & Vice President VCF East Showrunner VCF Fundraising Manager VCF Evangelist Vintage Computer Federation is a 501c3 charity https://vcfed.org/ <http://www.vcfed.org/> <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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Early delivery from Santa's sleigh
by Brian L. Stuart 22 Dec '25

22 Dec '25

So Santa had his sleigh out for some test drives tonight. For ballast (the real gifts won't be loaded until Wed night), he used a big stack of engineering drawings from the 1940s. Fortunately for us, his "spirited" driving included one turn that was too tight and out flew the drawings, where they landed on my lap. For anyone who's as eager as I am to geek out over 1940s computer design, I share them with you here: http://cs.drexel.edu/~bls96/eniac/drawings/ There are over 900 drawings in the set. Most of these images come from scans of microfilm taken of the patent trial exhibits. There are also about 100 copies that the Smithsonian had imaged and put up on their web site. I've processed them all to approximate something like we remember from our technical drawing classes in college (well those of us old enough to have taken them). The quality varies widely, but a large subset are readable down to the measurements for the panels and the component values in the circuits. If you've read Kathy Kleiman's excellent book (Proving Ground) about the original ENIAC programmers, you may have found yourself wondering what the block diagrams from which they figured out how to program the machine looked like. Well, those are among the drawings here. So feel free to try your hand at figuing out how to program it from them. One subset of the drawings is conspicuous by its absence, the PX-15 series. From what I can tell, those were drawings of a delay line memory unit that was never built. Those drawings were not part of the trial exhibits and were not microfilmed. However, some physical copies do exist, and I am hoping to get back into the archives to scan them at some point in the future. Beyond that, there are a number of drawing numbers that are skipped, and I suspect that these are drawings that do (or did) exist, but were not microfilmed for whatever reason. So if anyone has or comes across any drawings that are not on this list, or better copies of those that are, feel free to send scans my way. For anyone wanting to grab copies of the full set, it should be pretty easy to extract a file name list from the index.html file. I'll leave the sed command for extracting the list as an exercise for the reader. For printing, all of them are sized in the PDF files for 8.5x11 or 11x17 paper. Be warned, printing all of them without duplexing and folding the 11x17s to fit into a normal binder, ends up filling 2 4-inch binders. By the way, if anyone has access to the adapter shown in drawing PX-4-119, I think there's an error in the drawing and I'd like to check to see if either there really is or if I'm missing something. Thanks and have fun, BLS

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VCF 2.0 from 1998
by Jeffrey Brace 20 Dec '25

20 Dec '25

Someone posted a video from VCF 2.0: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhwSmAYnDTU Enjoy! Jeff Brace VCF National Board Member Chairman & Vice President VCF East Showrunner VCF Fundraising Manager VCF Evangelist Vintage Computer Federation is a 501c3 charity https://vcfed.org/ <http://www.vcfed.org/>

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How the RESISTORS Put Computing into 1960s Counter-culture
by Christian Liendo 20 Dec '25

20 Dec '25

I'm happy that Claude is still remembered. How the RESISTORS Put Computing into 1960s Counter-culture Teenage nerds in New Jersey were hacking before the PC and the Internet https://spectrum.ieee.org/teenage-hackers

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VCF MidAtlantic Steering Committee - Voting Results
by Jeff Salzman 18 Dec '25

18 Dec '25

The results of the VCF MidAtlantic Steering Committee were presented at the VCF Festivus event on Dec 13, 2025. The elected members are: Thomas Gilinsky August Culbert The voting breakdown was: Joe Giliberti: 19 votes August Culbert: 31 votes Thomas Gilinsky: 30 votes Please note that eight votes were invalid because they were rendered using email addresses that were NOT registered to this mailing list. It had been stated in the rules that only the mail addresses registered to this email list were eligible to vote. Please check your mailing list registration to find out what email address you used to sign up. vcf-midatlantic Info Page <https://lists.vcfed.org/mailman/listinfo/vcf-midatlantic> The invalid votes in this case DID NOT affect the results of the vote. Sincerely, Jeff Salzman VCF MidAtlantic Steering Committee

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VCF 2026 t-shirts Which two t-shirts colors do you like?
by Jeffrey Brace 17 Dec '25

17 Dec '25

Pick two: https://catalog.companycasuals.com/p/3480_HtSapphire Jeff Brace VCF East Showrunner

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VOLUNTEERS NEEDED FOR VCF MONTREAL JAN 24-25, 2026
by Jeffrey Brace 17 Dec '25

17 Dec '25

The Vintage Computer Federation is having its first show in Canada! I'm co-showrunner and am supporting the new showrunner Nicolas Mailloux. *DATE*: Jan 24-25 *LOCATION*: Royal Military College of Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu 15 Rue Jacques-Cartier N, Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, QC J3B 8R8 Look here for Volunteer information: https://vcfed.org/vcf-montreal/vcf-montreal-volunteers-faq-aide-et-benevola… Look here to register as a volunteer: https://forms.gle/ZshZerNbSD5og9cw6 General info: https://vcfed.org/vcf-montreal/ Take care! Jeff Brace VCF National Board Member Chairman & Vice President VCF East Showrunner VCF Fundraising Manager VCF Evangelist Vintage Computer Federation is a 501c3 charity https://vcfed.org/ <http://www.vcfed.org/>

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] VCF East 2026 Exhibit Registration
by Bill Degnan 17 Dec '25

17 Dec '25

Is “TRS-80” a typo? PET to Amiga would make more sense in the context of the other machines in the paragraph. “… >From the *Altair 8800*, *Apple I*, and *Commodore PET* to the *TRS-80*, *IBM PC*, and *Macintosh*, this theme gives us room to showcase the innovation and competition that defined the era …..” On Wed, Dec 17, 2025 at 7:52 AM Sentrytv via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > Just curious, what is the “theme “for VCF East 2026? > > > Sent from: > My extremely complicated, hand held electronic device. > > > On Dec 17, 2025, at 12:02 AM, Jeffrey Brace via vcf-midatlantic < > vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > > > > Fill out this form to register an exhibit at VCF East: > > https://forms.gle/cghQMPuh366pkdfD8 > > > > Take care! > > > > Jeff Brace > > VCF National Board Member Chairman & Vice President > > VCF East Showrunner > > VCF Fundraising Manager > > VCF Evangelist > > Vintage Computer Federation is a 501c3 charity > > https://vcfed.org/ <http://www.vcfed.org/> > >

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OT: InfoAge Holiday Train Show 2025
by Jeffrey Brace 17 Dec '25

17 Dec '25

Don't miss the annual InfoAge Holiday Model Train Show 2025! Last two days are this coming weekend Dec. 20 & 21. Here is a video preview: https://www.infoage.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Holiday_Train_Show_2025_… Enjoy! Jeff Brace VCF National Board Member Chairman & Vice President VCF East Showrunner VCF Fundraising Manager VCF Evangelist Vintage Computer Federation is a 501c3 charity https://vcfed.org/ <http://www.vcfed.org/>

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Apology
by Joseph Giliberti 17 Dec '25

17 Dec '25

Everyone, I just wanted to say I am sorry for my comments and how I acted on Sunday. I was running on little sleep after being at IA setting up for Festivus from 0400 on Saturday. I was under the impression that Sunday would be an easy going continuation of the and was kinda blindsided to find out that everyone had gone home and we had to clean up everything ourselves. It won't happen again. Regards, Joe Giliberti

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] VCF East 2026 Exhibit Registration
by David Gesswein 17 Dec '25

17 Dec '25

https://vcfed.org/2025/05/09/vcf-east-2026-mark-your-calendars/ On Wed, Dec 17, 2025 at 07:12:18AM -0500, Sentrytv via vcf-midatlantic wrote: > Date: Wed, 17 Dec 2025 07:12:18 -0500 > From: Sentrytv <sentrytv(a)yahoo.com> > To: vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> > Cc: vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org>, Jeffrey Brace > <jeffrey(a)vcfed.org> > Subject: Re: [vcf-midatlantic] VCF East 2026 Exhibit Registration > X-Mailer: iPhone Mail (22H124) > > Just curious, what is the “theme “for VCF East 2026? > > > Sent from: > My extremely complicated, hand held electronic device. > > > On Dec 17, 2025, at 12:02 AM, Jeffrey Brace via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > > > > Fill out this form to register an exhibit at VCF East: > > https://forms.gle/cghQMPuh366pkdfD8 > > > > Take care! > > > > Jeff Brace > > VCF National Board Member Chairman & Vice President > > VCF East Showrunner > > VCF Fundraising Manager > > VCF Evangelist > > Vintage Computer Federation is a 501c3 charity > > https://vcfed.org/ <http://www.vcfed.org/>

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] VCF East 2026 Exhibit Registration
by Benjamin Krein 17 Dec '25

17 Dec '25

It's on the registration page & the https://vcfed.org events page: *THEME:* The theme for VCF East 2026 is: *Dawn of the PC* Go here for an explanation of the theme: https://vcfed.org/2025/05/09/vcf-east-2026-mark-your-calendars/ On Wed, Dec 17, 2025 at 7:51 AM Sentrytv via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > Just curious, what is the “theme “for VCF East 2026? > > > Sent from: > My extremely complicated, hand held electronic device. > > > On Dec 17, 2025, at 12:02 AM, Jeffrey Brace via vcf-midatlantic < > vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > > > > Fill out this form to register an exhibit at VCF East: > > https://forms.gle/cghQMPuh366pkdfD8 > > > > Take care! > > > > Jeff Brace > > VCF National Board Member Chairman & Vice President > > VCF East Showrunner > > VCF Fundraising Manager > > VCF Evangelist > > Vintage Computer Federation is a 501c3 charity > > https://vcfed.org/ <http://www.vcfed.org/> > > -- - Benjamin Krein

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VCF East 2026 Exhibit Registration
by Jeffrey Brace 17 Dec '25

17 Dec '25

Fill out this form to register an exhibit at VCF East: https://forms.gle/cghQMPuh366pkdfD8 Take care! Jeff Brace VCF National Board Member Chairman & Vice President VCF East Showrunner VCF Fundraising Manager VCF Evangelist Vintage Computer Federation is a 501c3 charity https://vcfed.org/ <http://www.vcfed.org/>

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Vendor Registration VCF East 2026
by Jeffrey Brace 17 Dec '25

17 Dec '25

https://forms.gle/yZzi1FyVJV58ci7h6 Take care! Jeff Brace VCF National Board Member Chairman & Vice President VCF East Showrunner VCF Fundraising Manager VCF Evangelist Vintage Computer Federation is a 501c3 charity https://vcfed.org/ <http://www.vcfed.org/>

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VCF Montréal 2026 Tickets on sale
by Jeffrey Brace 17 Dec '25

17 Dec '25

VCF Montreal tickets on sale now! https://events.humanitix.com/vcfmontreal2026?c=marchlist More info: https://vcfed.org/vcf-montreal/ Jeff Brace

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BBS the documentary is free to download
by Jeffrey Jonas 16 Dec '25

16 Dec '25

BBS the documentary is free to download! The Wikipedia overview: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBS:_The_Documentary the web page: http://www.bbsdocumentary.com/ http://www.bbsdocumentary.com/order/ the 3 image files: https://archive.org/download/BBS_Documentary_DVD_Set/BBS%20Documentary%20Di… https://archive.org/download/BBS_Documentary_DVD_Set/BBS%20Documentary%20Di… https://archive.org/download/BBS_Documentary_DVD_Set/BBS%20Documentary%20Di…

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