- vcf-midatlantic - lists.vcfed.org

Re: September workshop
by Sentrytv 16 Aug '21

16 Aug '21

Jeff there must be a lag in email. I was looking forward to September’s workshop which I saw, when I looked back through my emails, that it was listed. I never saw an alert that it was canceled. I was going to make the September workshop because I was asked to loan my Columbia XT clone to someone to show at the VCF East and we were going to try and get it working. I didn’t make the August workshop because I thought there was one in September. But that’s not an issue I just thought I would Explain. So, second thing on my list is about the tapes that you were asking me about. I sent you an email about that but I want To make clear that I want keep that one tape that was in a plastic bag, un-opened. I do actually want to pick that up at some point when you’re available. So please let me know when I can pick it up. Thank you Sent from: My extremely complicated, hand held electronic device. > On Aug 16, 2021, at 6:08 PM, Jeffrey Brace <jeffrey(a)vcfed.org> wrote: > > >> On Sat, Aug 14, 2021 at 7:11 PM Sentrytv <sentrytv(a)yahoo.com> wrote: >> Jeff could you tell me when September’s workshop is please? > > Hello Mike, > > I'm sorry, but there is no September workshop. Kennett Classic is having their event and Bill Degnan asked for me not to do a repair workshop that weekend. There is also VCF MW on September 11 & 12. Also I will be too busy preparing for VCF East to take up my whole weekend with a repair workshop. > > Repair workshops resume in January because VCF East is in October, I need a rest in November. Festivus is in December and we will have a hybrid party/repair workshop/swap meet that weekend. > >> >> Sent from: >> My extremely complicated, hand held electronic device.

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] What does Al Kossow have against VCF?
by Michael Brutman 16 Aug '21

16 Aug '21

I don't think we're debating Al's contributions. It would be better if he wouldn't insult a large group of people gratuitously, especially since it is a bit hypocritical since he is also a user of that particular forum. It also reinforces the stereotype that the hobby is full of cranky people with few social skills.

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3D Printers for VCF Donation?
by John Heritage 15 Aug '21

15 Aug '21

Hey All, I have 2 (maybe 3) home-made Prusa i3 clones in mostly working condition that have been collecting dust for a few years and I was curious if VCF would take these as donations for workshops or others to use / learn from in some capacity? The 2 "for sure" printers are ~ 8" x 8" x ~ 6" high build areas. Electronics are RAMPS based on one, and Rambo based on the other. Heated beds work well. One of the printers has a finicky hot end (E3D v6) - it'll work for a while and then stop, and seems to require reassembly every time you change filament. It was quite reliable for a while then became too much work .. This printer uses 1.7mm filament. The other one is my father's he's no longer using -- his has an older hot end, is the RAMPs based model, but he's printed many things over the years. Uses 3.0mm filament. This one might have a larger than 8" x 8" bed - I need to get some more up to date info from Dad. Both are mechanically sound and have LED screens (1 attached, 1 not yet attached). Will of course throw in some filament with these printers. I still have all of the arduino settings/firmware handy for these printers. I also have spare parts for these -- some extra E3D hot end parts, another set or two of ramps electronics, wires, etc.. Thanks..

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wanted: Amiga 3000 front bezel and floppy
by Ethan O'Toole 14 Aug '21

14 Aug '21

Got an a3000 but front was cut out for a floppy drive replacement. looking for an undamaged front and floppy to make it original.

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Z80 single board computer needs a good home.
by William Dudley 13 Aug '21

13 Aug '21

In the late 70's I designed and produced a single board Z80 computer for my job, and I kept one for myself, and eventually used it in home automation projects. I don't need this anymore, so it wants to be adopted by somebody who wants to play with a Z80 without breaking anything expensive. Specs: approx size: 11.25 x 9 inches. double sided ceramic/gold Z80 with 2.4576 MHz crystal 6 2114 RAM installed, room for 2 more. So 3K bytes installed, upgradable to 4K bytes 2732 EPROM installed but socket designed to take bigger parts. EPROM is running a simple monitor that allows one to control the I/O ports. Footprints on the board for two more EPROMS. 2 Z80 DARTs, so 4 serial ports 1488 and 1489 RS232 line driver/rcvr installed. Three of the serial ports are brought out in DB25 connectors. 1 Z80 CTC installed, room for a 2nd one. Footprint on the board for a Z80 PIO 2 74LS374 8 bit latches for I/O installed. Footprints on the board for an analog mux and an A/D converter, both in 28 pin 600 mil wide packages. No idea what part they are. Input power should be 5v and +/- 12v (for the RS232 output) The board comes with almost no documentation, but it's a double sided board, so it should be easy-ish to reverse engineer it, especially since it's half populated and there are handwritten markings for some of the uninstalled parts. The board and I are in Jackson, NJ. I will be going to the repair workshop at the museum this weekend, though I realize this is short notice. I can ship this at your expense. Bill Dudley This email is free of malware because I run Linux.

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VCF museum machines in need of TLC
by Jeffrey Brace 13 Aug '21

13 Aug '21

Jeff Salzman will be working making a backup boot disk for the Zorba. One of them stopped working. He will also take a look at the H89. We also need good demos to run on the Amiga 1000. Some of the disks don't seem to work *and* apparently some disks have the SCA virus. Could someone bring a disinfectant? The museum also has an SD card reader for the Vic-20. I just haven’t had time to set it up yet. Maybe someone can help me figure it out and pick some good demos. Also the museum 1541 drive on the C64, has issues. I had swapped it out for another one, but haven't had the chance to try simple troubleshooting like a disk cleaner, etc. It has JiffyDOS and is cosmetically better than the one I swapped. Maybe someone can take a look at it. Jason Perkins will look at the Lisa as it doesn't boot now. I would like a better demo for the Atari 1040ST. If anyone has a better suggestion for a disk, please let me know. Also need someone to install the SD card read for the IBM PCjr. The Apple 2 seems to be having issues again. It might just need a card to be reseated. Does anyone have experience getting the TRS-80 working with a floppy drive? I'd like to get some demos working on that machine. I think that's all. ========================================= Jeff Brace Vice President & Board Member Vintage Computer Festival East Show-runner Vintage Computer Federation is a 501c3 charity http://www.vcfed.org/ jeffrey(a)vcfed.org

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Happy Birthday IBM-PC
by Ethan Dicks 13 Aug '21

13 Aug '21

On Thu, Aug 12, 2021 at 4:27 PM madodel via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > I don't think anyone had GB of anything back in the 80's. I remember back > then when our IBM mainframe was upgraded to 1mb of core memory and that was > serving 3 hospitals with 100's of terminals. When I first started working at Software Results in the Fall of 1984, me and one of the other student workers were marveling at the 32-bitness of the VAX-11/750 (with 8MB of physical RAM in a 4GB virtual address space) and trying to envision how expensive and how large *Four Gigabytes* of RAM would be, and it was *immense*. This same machine (8MB RAM) could handle 70 dumb terminal users, but to be fair, it did swap a bit over 40 users. The two fattest apps we had were were VMS MAIL and MASS-11 (word processing). -ethan

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Happy Birthday IBM-PC
by Chris Fala 13 Aug '21

13 Aug '21

I had a VIC back then. (I know I told this story before, but here it is again.) It was a gift from my sister who worked at Commodore at the time (she worked in sales under Kit Spencer, and often worked with Mike Tomczyk and Jack Tramiel). I used to think she got my computer with her employee discount, but it was more like the employee-walk-out-the-door-with-whatever-you-want discount (Bil Herd recently confirmed this was a thing that was done with approval). I only had a tape drive and maybe one cartridge (no floppy drive). I wrote several games in BASIC, plus other programs to do useful things. A few years ago, I found many of my programs on an old cassette tape, and yes, I transferred them to floppy. One game I am currently re-developing for the C64. I spent many hours programming on my VIC. I also built a couple simple circuits to interface with it. The 22 column screen was a challenge, but it forced you to be creative. Plus I didn't have a RAM expansion, so working within 3.5k was another challenge, a barrier that I slammed up against on one particular program. It was fun learning all the memory optimization techniques. I was spoiled in school in 8th, 9th, and 12th grades where I got to use TRS-80 Models 1 and III (taught myself BASIN on them before I got the VIC), but the VIC was all mine, and that made it better! Chris On Fri, Aug 13, 2021 at 9:34 AM Alexander Pierson via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > February '81, eh? Did anyone else have a VIC-20 when it was relatively > new? What was your experience like? > > Contrasting that, is there anyone here who actually got their hands on an > IBM 5150 within that first year? > > I find the VIC gets a bit of an unfair shake these days, seen as an > underpowered toy/game system. However, I see it as the little machine that > could. The VIC-20 is my favorite vintage computer, hands down. Don't > believe me? http://commodorez.com/img/vicportrait1000.jpg > > -Alexander 'Z' Pierson > _ > On Thursday, August 12, 2021, 4:56:59 PM EDT, Richard Cini < > rich.cini(a)gmail.com> wrote: > > I got my VIC in February 1981 (9th grade). Upgraded to a Fat Mac in 1985. > I didn’t get anything PC-ish until I was half-way through college (a > DeskPro 386/16 with 5 MB of RAM and a 42mb hard drive; still have that > machine too). My point was more that 40 years is a long time. > > On Thu, Aug 12, 2021 at 4:50 PM Alexander Pierson via vcf-midatlantic < > vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > > >I think I was still using my VIC-20 then. > > You make it sound like it was old in '81, however: Happy 40th birthday > Commodore VIC-20 too. Yes, technically it was released in Japan in '80, > but nobody here lived in Japan/had a VIC-1001. I've never heard a > concrete, verifiable answer on what month it was released in the US. Just > vaguely mid-summer. > > -Alexander 'Z' Pierson > _ > On Thursday, August 12, 2021, 7:45:02 AM EDT, Richard Cini via > vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > > August 12, 1981 at a news conference in NY, IBM introduced the PC. 40 > years ago. Holy cow. I think I was still using my VIC-20 then. > > Rich > > http://cini.classiccmp.org/ > Long Island S100 User’s Group > > Get Outlook<https://aka.ms/qtex0l> for iOS > > > > >

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Happy Birthday IBM-PC
by Ethan Dicks 13 Aug '21

13 Aug '21

On Fri, Aug 13, 2021 at 9:34 AM Alexander Pierson via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > February '81, eh? Did anyone else have a VIC-20 when it was relatively new? What was your experience like? I got one in late 1982 or early 1983 when the price dropped a little bit (I think I paid under $100). I got it from the department store that my high school girlfriend was working at the time. It was definitely an early 9VAC unit, not the later one with the DIN power connector. I already had a PET (2001N-32) and a C-64 and 1541 so I was able to immediately use the 1541 with it. I typed in a few games from magazines/books and I wrote some programs to play with the sound and color a bit (exploring the differences between the VIC-I and VIC-II chips). I also did a little hardware hacking because the expansion connector was standard 22-pin edge connector and, of course, the User Port connector had a lot of overlap with the pinouts of the PET and C-64. The most elaborate thing I made was a DEC FlipChip module tester by wiring a 6821 to the expansion bus and to a single DEC backplane connector. I did some small software exploration of that device but never worked out the massive wad of vector tables one would need to make it really useful. > Contrasting that, is there anyone here who actually got their hands on an IBM 5150 within that first year? I got my first job in March, 1982, at Bruce and James/Software Labs (two companies, same owners, one public-facing, one a captive development resource for the public-facing company). Their flagship product was "WordVision", a word processor for "PC-DOS 1.0 or higher, 256K required, at least 1 floppy drive required". My job was writing the demo for the never-produced C-64 "home version" of WordVision. We had 2-3 5150s at work that Spring/Summer. I didn't do a lot on them, but I did use them occasionally. I didn't form a very favorable opinion of them from my experience. All of the flaws and limitations stood out to me, and there wasn't much software at the time that really leveraged any of the positives (like way more RAM than a typical home computer of the day). My opinion was if you were going to spend that much, just get a loaded Apple II. One thing stuck with me from that job was when the boss kept saying "wait until the 'Peanut' (PCjr) comes out. It's going to change the world!" At the time, the 5150 was so expensive that it wasn't expected to make many inroads into the home market (which is why we were planning a C-64 version of the product), so IBM's home offering was going to clear the decks at that tier while maintaining dominance in the office. But then the clones happened... -ethan

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I would say don't buy this
by Bill Degnan 13 Aug '21

13 Aug '21

https://www.ebay.com/itm/133839458723 Nah. Missing a CPU board, looks like my definition of "dry storage" is different than this guy's.

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Apple I replics for sale
by Bill Degnan 13 Aug '21

13 Aug '21

thanks Mike. On Fri, Aug 13, 2021 at 10:54 AM MikeWillegal via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > Hi Bill, > > I don’t think there is a significant difference in functionality of > clones. I believe they all exhibit the faults of the original, although, > like the original, there are some board to board variations in scope of the > various problems. > > Replicas are a different matter, and it bothers me that most do not > support cassette tape input/output, which puts those sort of replicas into > a not really workalike category. I would argue that adding a Brain Board > to an Apple II gets you closer to a true work-alike functionality than > those replicas that lack cassette tape interfaces. > > Let me clear up a misconception. The only intentional difference between > a Mimeo and an original Apple 1, is the logo I put into the copper layer on > the back. > > There are some unintentional differences. > > 1) The modern PCB substrate and manufacturing process is different than > the original. The original type substrate isn’t made any more because it > is incompatible with modern PCB manufacturing processes. > 2) A lack of information due to the non-existence of bare board original > Apple 1s caused a few mistakes, most of which were corrected in later > batches, as the mistakes were discovered. > 3) The difficulty of reproducing a board that was laid out by hand taping > methods which despite the great skill of Howard Cantin lead to some > variation in the layout. Note that the Apple II was laid out digitally and > was somewhat easier to clone. > > I have found it somewhat amusing over the years how Apple 1 clone makers > have frequently copied mistakes made in various versions of the Mimeo. > > best regards, > Mike Willegal

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Happy Birthday IBM-PC
by Dean Notarnicola 13 Aug '21

13 Aug '21

Working or not, I’d love to borrow it for the upcoming VCF east PC exhibit! On Fri, Aug 13, 2021 at 9:52 AM Sentrytv via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > I picked up a while ago a > Columbia a MPC 1600 (dual floppy) or at least I believe that’s the model > I had read online that it is a clone of the IBM. > It does not work, but it will be a work in progress as soon as I get to it. > > Mike R. > > > Sent from: > My extremely complicated, hand held electronic device. > > > On Aug 13, 2021, at 9:34 AM, Alexander Pierson via vcf-midatlantic < > vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > > > > > > <mime-attachment> > >

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Re: Apple I replics for sale
by MikeWillegal 13 Aug '21

13 Aug '21

Hi Bill, I don’t think there is a significant difference in functionality of clones. I believe they all exhibit the faults of the original, although, like the original, there are some board to board variations in scope of the various problems. Replicas are a different matter, and it bothers me that most do not support cassette tape input/output, which puts those sort of replicas into a not really workalike category. I would argue that adding a Brain Board to an Apple II gets you closer to a true work-alike functionality than those replicas that lack cassette tape interfaces. Let me clear up a misconception. The only intentional difference between a Mimeo and an original Apple 1, is the logo I put into the copper layer on the back. There are some unintentional differences. 1) The modern PCB substrate and manufacturing process is different than the original. The original type substrate isn’t made any more because it is incompatible with modern PCB manufacturing processes. 2) A lack of information due to the non-existence of bare board original Apple 1s caused a few mistakes, most of which were corrected in later batches, as the mistakes were discovered. 3) The difficulty of reproducing a board that was laid out by hand taping methods which despite the great skill of Howard Cantin lead to some variation in the layout. Note that the Apple II was laid out digitally and was somewhat easier to clone. I have found it somewhat amusing over the years how Apple 1 clone makers have frequently copied mistakes made in various versions of the Mimeo. best regards, Mike Willegal

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Happy Birthday IBM-PC
by Sentrytv 13 Aug '21

13 Aug '21

I picked up a while ago a Columbia a MPC 1600 (dual floppy) or at least I believe that’s the model I had read online that it is a clone of the IBM. It does not work, but it will be a work in progress as soon as I get to it. Mike R. Sent from: My extremely complicated, hand held electronic device. > On Aug 13, 2021, at 9:34 AM, Alexander Pierson via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > > > <mime-attachment>

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Happy Birthday IBM-PC
by Richard Cini 13 Aug '21

13 Aug '21

I got my VIC in February 1981 (9th grade). Upgraded to a Fat Mac in 1985. I didn’t get anything PC-ish until I was half-way through college (a DeskPro 386/16 with 5 MB of RAM and a 42mb hard drive; still have that machine too). My point was more that 40 years is a long time. On Thu, Aug 12, 2021 at 4:50 PM Alexander Pierson via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > >I think I was still using my VIC-20 then. > > You make it sound like it was old in '81, however: Happy 40th birthday > Commodore VIC-20 too. Yes, technically it was released in Japan in '80, > but nobody here lived in Japan/had a VIC-1001. I've never heard a > concrete, verifiable answer on what month it was released in the US. Just > vaguely mid-summer. > > -Alexander 'Z' Pierson > _ > On Thursday, August 12, 2021, 7:45:02 AM EDT, Richard Cini via > vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > > August 12, 1981 at a news conference in NY, IBM introduced the PC. 40 > years ago. Holy cow. I think I was still using my VIC-20 then. > > Rich > > http://cini.classiccmp.org/ > Long Island S100 User’s Group > > Get Outlook<https://aka.ms/qtex0l> for iOS > > >

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Apple I replics for sale
by Bill Degnan 12 Aug '21

12 Aug '21

Saw this: https://www.ebay.com/itm/294039736399 I am curious what others think of this board. I own a different one already but I was curious, should anyone ask, what are the best replica Apple I motherboards 1) closest to original 2) best functionally I ask because the original board is not as good "functionally" as a modern board made to look like one, i.e. it may not be as reliable because of the manufacturing technique of the original board. I know Mikes has intentional differences put into his replica so it does not come off as an original board, some of these do try to reproduce everything. I am sure Mike and Corey have seen everything and I am curious what they and anyone into replicas of Apple I's think here. Bill

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Happy Birthday IBM-PC
by Alexander Pierson 12 Aug '21

12 Aug '21

>I think I was still using my VIC-20 then. You make it sound like it was old in '81, however: Happy 40th birthday Commodore VIC-20 too. Yes, technically it was released in Japan in '80, but nobody here lived in Japan/had a VIC-1001. I've never heard a concrete, verifiable answer on what month it was released in the US. Just vaguely mid-summer. -Alexander 'Z' Pierson _ On Thursday, August 12, 2021, 7:45:02 AM EDT, Richard Cini via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: August 12, 1981 at a news conference in NY, IBM introduced the PC. 40 years ago. Holy cow. I think I was still using my VIC-20 then. Rich http://cini.classiccmp.org/ Long Island S100 User’s Group Get Outlook<https://aka.ms/qtex0l> for iOS

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Happy Birthday IBM-PC
by Dave McGuire 12 Aug '21

12 Aug '21

On 8/12/21 4:26 PM, madodel via vcf-midatlantic wrote: > I don't think anyone had GB of anything back in the 80's. I remember > back then when our IBM mainframe was upgraded to 1mb of core > memory and that was serving 3 hospitals with 100's of terminals. > My phone has 4 GB of RAM and 256GB of flash storage. I don't > remember how much DASD storage the mainframe had but the disk > drives were huge. The IBM 3380 initially had a capacity of 2.5GB and was introduced in 1980. That was one of their most popular fixed disk drives for mainframes. They are...large. -Dave -- Dave McGuire, AK4HZ New Kensington, PA

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Happy Birthday IBM-PC
by Richard Cini 12 Aug '21

12 Aug '21

August 12, 1981 at a news conference in NY, IBM introduced the PC. 40 years ago. Holy cow. I think I was still using my VIC-20 then. Rich http://cini.classiccmp.org/ Long Island S100 User’s Group Get Outlook<https://aka.ms/qtex0l> for iOS

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Repair Workshop Info 2021-08-14 & 2021-08-15
by Jeffrey Brace 12 Aug '21

12 Aug '21

Signup for June 2021 Repair Workshop here: August 2021 Repair Workshop Signup Sheet <https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1J028DlSdvSUlh3BsrGfmalHQ9qbFfPSUQa9…> Spaces are first come first serve to the CDL space. Limited space available. Overflow space in 9032-A building. Sign up to guarantee a table!!! *DATES*: August 14 & 15, 2021 *LOCATIONS:* InfoAge: 2201 Marconi Road, Wall Township, NJ 1) Building 9059 (CDL Hackerspace - Formerly IXR) AND 2) Building 9032-A (Old workshop area in main building) TIME: Saturday START time == 10 A.M. END time == 11PM. Sunday START time == 10 A.M. and END == 5 P.M. *SIGNUP HERE!*: Signup sheet Click HERE! <https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1J028DlSdvSUlh3BsrGfmalHQ9qbFfPSUQa9…> Fask Masks are required for non vaccinated people. Vaccinated people have the option to wear masks or not. *COST:*- $15 per person, PER day. This money goes to InfoAge and CDL. - $25 per night for those wanting to stay overnight (Money goes to InfoAge). Please pay ME upon arrival. Cash or PayPal is acceptable as payment. Ask ahead of time if you need to use a credit card. *OVERNIGHT*: Bring your own pillow, blankets, soap etc. We provide a bed frame and an uncovered mattress. There are showers and a kitchen for your use. - You can pay via PayPal to paypal(a)vcfed.org. or to me via cash or credit card in person. *EQUIPMENT:* - VCF will provide a table and you can use any available electrical outlet. - Bring your own tools, power strips, power cords, and supplies etc. - If you need particular tools that you don't know or particular parts, please post to the list for those going. They may have what you need. Let them know ahead of time. - Let everyone know what project you are working on ahead of time to inspire collaboration. *DRINKS*: You should bring your own. We have a refrigerator in CDL to keep them cold. VCF will buy some water and soft drinks for member use. *FOOD*: *Saturday afternoon*: Pizza from Attilios (Tinton Falls) *Saturday Night Dinner at 7PM?*: Options: 1) MJs 2) Robinson Ale House 3) Brick House Tap and Tavern 4) Main Street Bar and Grill 5) Any recommendations? Signup here for Saturday Dinner <https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1vo2dSs8HOVaFYuGCPqh_QmYfqPUjCqbXnRz…> *Sunday Morning*: Bagel order from Delicious Bagels Sign-up HERE <https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Cd3sY7biD1NwmB3anTbCTI80D2QULKMYPvJ…> *Sunday Afternoon*: Wawa GATE: Please close the gate behind you at all times. We want to discourage random strangers from wandering the campus during museum hours. PARKING: Park in the main parking lot, unless you are unloading. Don't park on the lawn. QUESTIONS? Contact Jeff Brace PHONE: (7 3 2 ) 7 5 9 - 1 7 8 3 EMAIL: jeffrey AT vcfed.org Have fun everyone! ========================================= Jeff Brace Vice President & Board Member Vintage Computer Festival East Show-runner Vintage Computer Federation is a 501c3 charity http://www.vcfed.org/ jeffrey(a)vcfed.org

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Food thoughts for Repair Workshop 8/14 & 8/15
by Jeffrey Brace 12 Aug '21

12 Aug '21

DINNER: I've decided not to do a BBQ this time. It will be too hot and humid this weekend as well as scattered thunderstorms. I plan on trying to get a reservation at either of these two places : 1) MJs (Neptune City) 2) Robinsons Ale House ( Asbury Park - next to The Silverball Arcade https://www.therobinsonalehouseasburypark.com/) If I can't reserve then I can do either then: 3) Brickhouse Tap and Tavern (Neptune City) 4) Main Street Grill For those that are interested I will ask for preferences during the repair workshop. I should also mention that there is an Italian Festival in Ocean Township this weekend for those that want an alternative place to eat: https://iaato.com/festival/ BREAKFAST: How does everyone feel about keep doing the bagel order? Or we can try a diner this time? Think about it and let me know during the repair workshop. ========================================= Jeff Brace Vice President & Board Member Vintage Computer Festival East Show-runner Vintage Computer Federation is a 501c3 charity http://www.vcfed.org/ jeffrey(a)vcfed.org

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VCF East 2021 Exhibitors: Time is running out!
by Jeffrey Brace 11 Aug '21

11 Aug '21

If you haven't signed up to be an exhibitor for VCF East, then please do so as soon as possible. The deadline is coming up: September 1. We still have room for more exhibitors, and want to make sure that everyone has a chance to reserve a table. To register for an exhibit, please fill out this form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdtF7NsjLdJ9D7YAbNZiLywzYHhbZ8Cup9… Exhibits will run October 9 & 10. Please let me know if you have any questions. ========================================= Jeff Brace Vice President & Board Member Vintage Computer Festival East Show-runner Vintage Computer Federation is a 501c3 charity http://www.vcfed.org/ jeffrey(a)vcfed.org

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Free magazines: Lotus 1-2-3 Computer for Managers and Professionals
by Jeffrey Brace 10 Aug '21

10 Aug '21

Someone is looking to get rid of Lotus 1-2-3 magazines from 1987-1990. If anyone has any interest, then send me an e-mail. ========================================= Jeff Brace Vice President & Board Member Vintage Computer Festival East Show-runner Vintage Computer Federation is a 501c3 charity http://www.vcfed.org/ jeffrey(a)vcfed.org

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VCF Museum and Warehouse Update
by Herb Johnson 10 Aug '21

10 Aug '21

Two general questions or comments. Neither are anything I can do anything about. But they seem worth pointing out. Pardon the long explanations, if these were obvious no explanation would be needed. 1) Tony Bogan et al, most recently Martin Flynn, refer a lot to InfoAge building number designations. I'm sure, because of their weekly and daily activities at Infoage in Wall, NJ, they know which building is which and how they are laid out and connected and all that. Others, who visit sporadically, do not know what they are talking about. I barely know myself, despite 15 years of my visits to "the campus" of Infoage, because I have a dyslexia about "names". So building 9010 versus 9010B versus 9999 versus 9009 all. look. the same. names. to. me. It's not about me of course. What someone who reads this email list, knows about buildings, matters or it doesn't. But with repairs and moves announced weekly, daily - and now volunteers requested - it seems to matter *now*. It gets worse, if one wants to *find out* these numbers. infoage.org, has hidden maps on their Web site, of the facilities. Recent maps have no Army numbering. I looked days ago (when Martin was reporting on wiring), and I had to use Google to find a survey map of the site, from when Camp Evans was under review by the Army as some kind of preserved facility. https://infoage.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/NHL-Figure-2.jpg That's where I found it. and it calls out "9010 complex". (shrug) I recall on-site paper brochures, I haven't checked lately. I don't know if they are online, on the Web. How much searching should I do? Please don't tell me "we aren't responsible for InfoAge's Web site". You are responsible for vcf.org. The only map there, shows a few buildings by function; no Army numbers. 2) Tony announced, a move of the museum - again, buildings a little cryptic - from one section of a building to four sections of (maybe the same) a building. And a move of the warehouse, apparently to another building. (That kind-of was my last-straw about identifying InfoAge buildings.) Apparently the new-to-VCFed sites will need preparation. Apparently some funds will have to be raised. This is good, this is great. But: it will take time, and volunteers. No timelines were stated. Meanwhile: VCF-East is Oct 8-10 - 60 days from today. Those who have participated, know how labor-intensive that can be. That presents a conflict. Bottom line seems clear to me. What museum or warehouse work will be scheduled *before* Oct? Site work equals people-power equals more volunteers and more people-hours. Right? People will have to choose what to do and when. Right? They may want details. One hopes, VCFed won't be OBLIGED to move their Museum before Oct 2021. That would have consequences for the VCF-East visitors. Right? The Warehouse move "should not" impact VCF-East, but who knows? I'm just guessing. The simplest timeline is: "no changes to current VCFed sites before the end of VCF-East". And, work on sites to be moved to, that "has" to be done before October - one hopes it can be done as best-efforts, lower-priority. (shrug) But VCFed is part of InfoAge, and InfoAge has many tenants/partners. Those may require actions before October. ------------------------------------- All of this is not about me, or maybe only about me. My problem with names is my problem. As for what building is where, what number, what size? Solve that with a good map, point to it, and it's DONE. On moving: I did computer site preparation professionally, when younger. I'm too old now to hustle boxes, sweat and crawl under buildings. But I'm not in charge. But I have an interest in the outcomes. and who knows? maybe there's work for an old person. If Covid permits; that too is uncertain, hard to plan for. Meanwhile: the next 60 days will likely force certain priorities. Let people know so they can make choices ahead of time. Seams reasonable. Regards, Herb Johnson -- Herbert R. Johnson, New Jersey in the USA http://www.retrotechnology.com OR .net preserve, recover, restore 1970's computing email: hjohnson AT retrotechnology DOT com or try later herbjohnson AT comcast DOT net

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] VCF Museum and Warehouse Update
by Tony Bogan 10 Aug '21

10 Aug '21

> Others, who visit sporadically, do not know what they are talking about. I barely know myself, despite 15 years of my visits to "the campus" of Infoage, because I have a dyslexia about "names". So building 9010 versus 9010B versus 9999 versus 9009 all. look. the same. names. to. me. Yep, always been a problem. Even I get the numbers mixed up sometimes! Since this list doesn’t allow attachments I have to upload a detailed map so everyone can see It and access it. I finished it last night after work. It’ll go up and a link sent out tomorrow. We appreciate yours and everyone else’s patience as we make all of these major upgrades and announcements about them. > Please don't tell me "we aren't responsible for InfoAge's Web site". You are responsible for vcf.org. The only map there, shows a few buildings by function; no Army numbers. We are not responsible for InfoAges website. ;-) > 2) Tony announced, a move of the museum - again, buildings a little cryptic - from one section of a building to four sections of (maybe the same) a building. And a move of the warehouse, apparently to another building. (That kind-of was my last-straw about identifying InfoAge buildings.) Apparently the new-to-VCFed sites will need preparation. Apparently some funds will have to be raised. > > This is good, this is great. But: it will take time, and volunteers. No timelines were stated. The main point of the initial update was we are moving from 1/4 of a 6000+ square foot space to an ENTIRE 6000+ square foot space for our museum. Also, we are getting new warehouse space (and space better suited to our needs) We literally just got approval for the two new spaces. I apologize if we don’t yet have specific timelines for each stage of clearing, cleaning, construction and population of the spaces yet, but we are most certainly working on those now that we have actual approval to occupy the spaces. One step at a time, this was step one of many yet to come. > Meanwhile: VCF-East is Oct 8-10 - 60 days from today. Those who have participated, know how labor-intensive that can be. > > That presents a conflict. No conflict whatsoever. The warehouse and museum spaces are not integral parts of VCF east, and no change of Museum venue will happen anywhere‘s near this VCF east or next year’s. This is going to be a multi year endeavor, and we don’t want to put the cart before the horse. > Bottom line seems clear to me. What museum or warehouse work will be scheduled *before* Oct? Site work equals people-power equals more volunteers and more people-hours. Right? People will have to choose what to do and when. Right? They may want details. For sure, people will want details. This was update number one. Announcing the fact that we now have access to two new spaces for our warehouse and our future Museum. Details of this nature are not usually in the initial announcement of the new acquisition of spaces. This announcement was about the acquisition of those spaces. I apologize if I was not detailed enough in my initial announcement. Subsequent updates will have more details. Warehouse work will commence as soon as possible, but again will not have any impact whatsoever on VCF East 2021 or 2022. > One hopes, VCFed won't be OBLIGED to move their Museum before Oct 2021. That would have consequences for the VCF-East visitors. Right? The Warehouse move "should not" impact VCF-East, but who knows? I'm just guessing There was no mention of specific dates because there are none. Yet. There was no mention of VCF east because this announcement has no bearing on VCF east 2021 or 2022. We are not obliged to move our Museum space until our new museum space is done. Once we have done detailed assessments of the museum space, (some of which has already been done) identified exactly what our needs are, then get estimates for any construction that is beyond the volunteer level, We will then pass that information along to everyone. As soon as we know, everyone else will know. > On moving: I did computer site preparation professionally, when younger. I'm too old now to hustle boxes, sweat and crawl under buildings. But I'm not in charge. But I have an interest in the outcomes. and who knows? maybe there's work for an old person. If Covid permits; that too is uncertain, hard to plan for. Great!! We will need all the help and advice we can get! And fortunately for you Herb, the buildings are on concrete slabs. No crawling underneath! Maybe some climbing around the rafters, but we will not ask you to do that! > > Meanwhile: the next 60 days will likely force certain priorities. Let people know so they can make choices ahead of time. Seams reasonable. Other than the fact that VCF East is not impacted by any of this, as I mentioned in the original email we will be reaching out to everyone so stay tuned for more updates. I’m glad you’re excited about the new spaces Herb, (I think you’re excited....) I know I am. Over 6000 square feet of museum space!! A better, slightly roomier, more accommodating warehouse space! (Bonus, closer down the hallways to our existing museum and the new space when finished will be closer still!!) Tony Bogan

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VCF Museum and Warehouse Update
by Herb Johnson 09 Aug '21

09 Aug '21

> As I said, this is an interim fix until such time as InfoAge addresses > this issue with a standardized map with program descriptions *and* > building numbers based on this: > http://compdecon.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/tourmap_lineart_final-scale… > > > They are aware of this issue, (loops back around to Tony's statement on > how the teams are all working together nowadays) and is being worked on > in the background, so it's ready for inclusion in the VCF East program > material. > > Martin Flynn Martin, thanks for a specific response to a specific question - that is, thanks for your map as it is. I have ended my commentary on these matters. But as a matter of courtesy to you: Your description of circumstances and applications suggest that I didn't ask for a map for silly reasons on my part. Thanks for that description. Regards Herb Johnson -- Herbert R. Johnson, New Jersey in the USA http://www.retrotechnology.com OR .net preserve, recover, restore 1970's computing email: hjohnson AT retrotechnology DOT com or try later herbjohnson AT comcast DOT net

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Apple Branded Mid-80's Memory Compatibility Question.
by Ian Primus 09 Aug '21

09 Aug '21

The later ROM revisions actually do have a reasonably competent memory test you can access with control open-Apple solid-Apple reset, but the first rev, ROM 255, doesn't. Also, if you haven't seen it yet, the ROM4x project adds some neat stuff as well: https://github.com/mgcaret/rom4x If I'm working on a IIc and I'm at home and have access to my equipment, I usually wind up burning a new ROM and upgrading it, and then use that to find the bad RAM. Note that if you're going from a 255, the new ROM is bigger, so you'll have to change a couple motherboard jumpers. It's a good idea to upgrade off of 255 if that's what your machine has (Do a PRINT PEEK(64447) and see what version you have, would be 255, 0, 3, or 4), since the later revs add Unidisk 3 1/2" support and fix some serial bugs that let it work reliably at higher speeds. -Ian On Mon, Aug 9, 2021 at 8:18 AM Mike Willegal via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > > Ian, > > Thanks for confirming. It sure doesn’t look like there is clearance for a socket. I’ve also fixed a couple of Mac128ks with bad memory over the years, but those systems did a POST that made debugging significantly easier. This failure was in auxiliary memory and I ended up modifying my 6502 memtest program to run from auxiliary memory in order to identify the bad chip. > > Mike Willegal

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Re: Apple Branded Mid-80's Memory Compatibility Question.
by Mike Willegal 09 Aug '21

09 Aug '21

Ian, Thanks for confirming. It sure doesn’t look like there is clearance for a socket. I’ve also fixed a couple of Mac128ks with bad memory over the years, but those systems did a POST that made debugging significantly easier. This failure was in auxiliary memory and I ended up modifying my 6502 memtest program to run from auxiliary memory in order to identify the bad chip. Mike Willegal

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Apple Branded Mid-80's Memory Compatibility Question.
by Ian Primus 09 Aug '21

09 Aug '21

Yeah. They're all the same part electrically, the same industry standard pinout. Tons of compatible part numbers.You can also use a 41256 or equivalent in a pinch, it just has an extra pin that isn't used on the 4164 for the upper address bit. And basically any RAM in that type is going to be fast enough for the 1mhz Apple IIc, so the speed isn't going to matter either. Be aware that on the Apple IIc, there might not be enough clearance to fit a socket depending on which chip it is, so check before soldering in a socket by stacking a chip on top of the soldered one, and see if it clears when you put it back together. I do see a lot of those Micron chips fail in Apple IIc's. -Ian On Sun, Aug 8, 2021 at 9:59 PM MikeWillegal via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > > I have an Apple IIc with a bad memory chip. The chip is labeled 4264 without any dash number (speed) and branded as Apple. This is apparently a Micron 64k x 1 DRAM chip with industry standard DRAM pinouts. Does anyone know if I can use a 4864-3 that also appears to be an Apple branded Micron part? This most likely was pulled from a working 128K Macintosh many years ago. I could not find a Micron PDF for a 4864, but a Hitachi 4864 seems to have the same pinout as the Micron 4264. > > thanks in advance, > Mike Willegal

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Apple Branded Mid-80's Memory Compatibility Question.
by MikeWillegal 09 Aug '21

09 Aug '21

I have an Apple IIc with a bad memory chip. The chip is labeled 4264 without any dash number (speed) and branded as Apple. This is apparently a Micron 64k x 1 DRAM chip with industry standard DRAM pinouts. Does anyone know if I can use a 4864-3 that also appears to be an Apple branded Micron part? This most likely was pulled from a working 128K Macintosh many years ago. I could not find a Micron PDF for a 4864, but a Hitachi 4864 seems to have the same pinout as the Micron 4264. thanks in advance, Mike Willegal

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Mice!
by Herb Johnson 08 Aug '21

08 Aug '21

> On Wed, Aug 4, 2021 at 2:01 PM Christian Liendo >> >> You can bid on these and add them to the exhibit >> > Adam Michlin Wed Aug 4 18:44:39 UTC 2021 > They really do belong in a museum, but, alas, too rich for my blood. > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXyPvhISkRQ Regards, Herb -- Herbert R. Johnson, New Jersey in the USA http://www.retrotechnology.com OR .net preserve, recover, restore 1970's computing email: hjohnson AT retrotechnology DOT com or try later herbjohnson AT comcast DOT net

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VCF Museum and Warehouse Update
by Tony Bogan 08 Aug '21

08 Aug '21

Good evening everyone. The VCF Steering Committee is pleased to inform you of some exciting updates involving our warehouse and museum! The warehouse is going to be moving to a different section of the building it is currently in, providing us with about 600 additional square feet over the space we have now. More importantly, this section has a better roof on it (no leaks!) a paved ramp to the entrance and access to a loading dock (albeit one that needs some love and attention) We will be moving into this new space in short order and will then begin the process of finishing and climate controlling the space. This is good news for all the VCF artifacts! Now for even more exciting news! As many of you know, our current museum occupies just under 1/4 of a section of the 9010 Building at InfoAge (specifically just under 1/4 of section 9010A.) Each full section is about 6800 square feet. VCF will be moving into section 9010B. All of 9010B. When all is said and done we will have over 6300 square feet of museum space or just over 4 times what we currently have! Additionally, 9010B accesses the main hallway that connect all the ‘H’ buildings together (referred to as “Broadway” by InfoAge) which means several things for us. People will be able to access our new museum once completed by simply crossing the street from the main building. This will eliminate them having to walk down the street and around the corner. People will also be able to enter our museum from both ends, so whether they are by the Model Railroad and Wireless Operators section, (Where our current museum is) or coming from the Military Technology Museum or the Electronic Warfare section they can access our museum. We are very excited about these changes and will be reaching out to all our members looking for volunteers to help clear and prep the spaces and make them ready for our artifacts and/or the general public, as well as raising the funds to make all of these things happen!! Stay tuned for more updates as the time approaches for us to start clearing 9036C (the location of our new warehouse) in preparation for the big move as well as working on 9010B for our new museum. We will need your help and support as we transition to our new locations! Tony Bogan On behalf of the VCF Steering Committee

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VCF East Related....
by Martin Flynn 08 Aug '21

08 Aug '21

Quick update: 1. VCF and CDL (Ken, Mona, Stephen, and myself) were working on the network prep for VCF-East. Ken and Mona wrapped up the installation of the fiber hangers on 9059 (this is for the fiber to 9032A) , Stephen and myself prepped the new data switch for 9032A. 2. The whole team worked on the data rack in the hotel basement as prep for upgrading the first floor WiFi. Picture of the last two weekends work in the hotel at http://compdecon.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/img_1382.jpeg 3. Our friends at Ubiquiti sent two more UniFi access points for the 9032A meeting room (UAP-AC-PRO-E-US) Martin

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OT: Looking for recommendations on new soldering station for vintage electronics!
by Bob Shuster 08 Aug '21

08 Aug '21

I'm looking for a recommendation for a new soldering station. I think it's time to retire my 40+ year old Archer soldering pencil - that I've had at least since I built my first TRS-80 Model I expansion interface, maybe longer! I'm looking for compact, with an auto-off feature, temperature controlled, and a variety of tips. Is this pretty much every current station? I'm looking at the Hakko FX888, or maybe the less expensive X-Tronic 3020? Mainly I repair or modify vintage electronics, but occasionally modern stuff where I need a finer tip and less heat. Thoughts/recommendations? Thanks. - Bob Shuster

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tantalum caps with a slit/cut down the middle
by Bill Degnan 06 Aug '21

06 Aug '21

I have a few boards with tant caps that have a thin slit down the middle of them. Looks like this was done at the factory, not a tear or a blown cap. early 90's. Normal? Bill

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What considers a good age for something?
by Gregg Levine 06 Aug '21

06 Aug '21

Hello! I have here a TRS-80 Model 102, it's been used to work as a terminal for a Pi device. I confess I had an idea for an exhibit at an upcoming VCF East event, in this case the Model 102 would again be a terminal for the Pi who would be using the PDP11 emulator from the SIMH community and an appropriate OS. I'm thinking one of the UNIX images from the TUHS crowd or BSD211 as well. ----- Gregg C Levine gregg.drwho8(a)gmail.com "This signature fought the Time Wars, time and again." The Doctor considered Perry Mason's words during the last fifteen minutes of the trial before the actual one blurted out the usual confession. In the end he concludes, "It was obvious, wasn't it Paul.", the Doctor announces. Paul just shakes his head. >From The Doctor and Perry Mason an unpublished Memoir.

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Calling retro TV people…
by David Riley 06 Aug '21

06 Aug '21

There’s a full Cartrivision set for sale (local pickup only) in Wisconsin. Thread for context: https://twitter.com/foone/status/1423369057181454339?s=21 The auction itself: https://www.ebay.com/itm/265252238312

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Found an IBM XT in my garage.
by Neil Cherry 05 Aug '21

05 Aug '21

I'm doing a bit of cleanup around the house an suddenly found an IBM XT (think it's really a real XT). It has many boards and a full height drive in it. Unfortunately a mouse made a nest in it. So some cleanup effort on my part will be needed. BTW, I have no idea where this came from. I only thought I had the IBM PC motherboard. Any words of wisdom? -- Linux Home Automation Neil Cherry ncherry(a)linuxha.com http://www.linuxha.com/ Main site http://linuxha.blogspot.com/ My HA Blog Author of: Linux Smart Homes For Dummies

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] OFF TOPIC GNR tickets
by Ethan O'Toole 05 Aug '21

05 Aug '21

Guns and Roses had a song called "You Could Be Mine" used in the movie "Terminator 2." In the movie Terminator 2, John Connor hacks things with an Atari Portfolio palmtop. So there is a vintage computer connection. Also the thing about the "terminator vision" containing 6502 assembly or something. I saw GNR in the early 90s with Skid Row opening for them. Unforrtunately I am in Virginia so no use for tickets. Have fun whoever gets them. Wave your Atari Portfolio in the air during that song.

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OFF TOPIC GNR tickets
by Sentrytv 05 Aug '21

05 Aug '21

I was sent two tickets to Guns & Roses for tonight starting at 6 PM. I can’t go. The concert is in East Rutherford New Jersey If you want to go, send me your email and I’ll forward the PDF (must be printed for admission) first one in, can have them. I’ll let everybody know when they are gone. Mike Rosen Sent from: My extremely complicated, hand held electronic device.

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[OT] Anyone Want a 27" Sony Trinitron TV?
by Herb Johnson 05 Aug '21

05 Aug '21

> Alexander Jacocks > There's a person living near me who is offering, for free, a 27" Sony > Trinitron TV. If anyone is interested, let me know, > -- I literally just posted, in the "what is vintage" thread, "who collects LCD TVs?" as a counter point about interest in vintage computers. So this is more on-topic than you'd think. Some people think personal computing was *all about graphics and gaming*, and so about displays. The Sony Trinitron CRT was an advance on color CRTs. Not sure where a 27-inch comes in, by age. They made pretty big CRT monitors! There are persons interested in CRT monitors in our cohort. Regards, Herb Herbert R. Johnson, New Jersey in the USA http://www.retrotechnology.com OR .net preserve, recover, restore 1970's computing email: hjohnson AT retrotechnology DOT com or try later herbjohnson AT comcast DOT net

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How old is "vintage"?
by Herb Johnson 05 Aug '21

05 Aug '21

> Joshua Abraham > I would agree that the time range and qualifications are varied. > > By the book though, vintage usually is defined as an authentic and significant item about 20 years or older. So a good example: The IBM AT would be vintage. A random 286 clone... perhaps not. > > Now defining retro, that’s a whole other can of worms. Haha. > > -Josh “Singularity” So, I read this post offline. I composed a response to this, and took some time to do so. Before I posted, I looked ahead and saw that others made similar points. I see common themes of PROCESS, on matters related to "vintage computing". Putting hard dates on what-is-vintage, well, pardon me, that's an operational decision one makes for specific purposes. Here's my considerations on process. - Herb ----------------------------------- There is no "book", as there's no authority that establishes vintage computing. Vintage isn't about significance. Significance is about "interest" and then "value". Vintage is primarily a measure of age, then largely a matter of out-of-use. The notion of "authenticity" means "not a modern copy"; there are copies of vintage computing items; some were copied in the era, some later, some now. Two ways one can look at age. 1) "things from when you were a kid". 2) "things older than *now*". So 20, 25 years from now-present computers - one or two computer "generations" - is an convenient way from both views, human and tech, to describe some "vintage" computers if only as "too old to be current". I'm old, so age matters to me, I can look back multiple human generations. And: computing advanced rapidly, so "a generation" of computing is a short HUMAN span of time. Here's what I mean about each. ---------------------- Given, personally owned computers became generally available, sometime in the mid-late 1970's (That's me.). MITS Altair era. Technical professionals and those learning-about. So "about a computer generation" after 1975 was an era of lots of home gaming, mass-produced and distributed computers. While thousand of people had original experiences with MITS Altairs; *millions* had experiences with C64's and Atari's and Apple II's. Numbers matter (it goes to value too). Also: mass small-business computing, as in IBM PC's which became PC's in-the-home, but still for doing business, finance, word processing, and so on. People often separate "home gaming" from "boards in a box" computing - I do. Another "generation" is 2000. Everyone had some kind of personal computer, at home and work. You could find them in thrift stores. They started to become disposable. And yet, with Linux, they were still useful. Availability and use was called at the time "the digital divide". People had programmable cell phones by then, kind of small computers and certainly calculators. Also: tablets, and then "netbooks" - tablets that use remote programs not locally-operated programs. "computing" was becoming about connectivity to services. And now, in the 2020's: it's quite possible to not own "a computer" at all. One owns a smartphone, it's not a computational device. TV's are on cables and networks: they are not "computers". We know what people do with smartphones and TV's. And most old smartphones don't have value - if you think about it, it's because they can't do much by themselves, So now, personal information technology is about connectivity, it's about apps which are connected to services including a service to provide content. Example? Remember owing a DVD player and lots of DVD's? Or CD's? Or "video tapes"? Depends on how old you are. What's the "vintage computing" interest counterexamples? No disrespect meant. Calculator collecting may have peaked in general interest in the 1990s? Smartphone collecting, doesn't seem to be too popular. Anyone collect LCD TVs? These are out of my collector-experience zone, I'm trying to make sense of historic trends. So in a certain sense, in 2020 we may be at the end of "personal computing", as valued items obtained for private experience with information technology for "programming" or running arbitrary programs. Current "tech" are items for consumption, access to services. No service, slow service - no value. These devices become disposables - not as failed devices but from owner's BOREDOM; or because of end-of-service. Some were disposable when *sold*. Converse argument? Under-30's who collect 286-386-486 systems, to run classic games. It's stuff *outside* their age-experience, but conceptually it's like playing a gaming device or app "now". Social trends can "invert" to become trendy. It's an interest! I'm not trying to start fights. I'm making points about being retrospective about "vintage computing". "how old" just starts the discussion. It matters more about how old you are, your relationship "back then" with some kind of information technology, and your relationship NOW with either your past or with present information technology. And it matters, how these technologies were designed, then sold and marketed and used. And, what they can do now (if functional). You can divide eras by those criteria. I and others argue, those are the factors that determine interests (and also values-of) in "vintage computing". Regards, Herb Johnson retrotechnology.com -- Herbert R. Johnson, New Jersey in the USA http://www.retrotechnology.com OR .net preserve, recover, restore 1970's computing email: hjohnson AT retrotechnology DOT com or try later herbjohnson AT comcast DOT net

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[OT] Anyone Want a 27" Sony Trinitron TV?
by Alexander Jacocks 05 Aug '21

05 Aug '21

All, There's a person living near me who is offering, for free, a 27" Sony Trinitron TV. If anyone is interested, let me know, and I will try to pick it up and bring it to the workshop, next weekend. - Alex

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VCF Mid-West 16 (2021)
by Jeffrey Brace 05 Aug '21

05 Aug '21

So who's going? Looks like I'm going to be able to go this year despite it being a busy time for me helping with West and organizing East. I'm making the effort since I have never been and only heard from other people about this show. I booked a flight and looking into hotels and wondering what the availability of uber/lyft rides from the airport look like. ========================================= Jeff Brace Vice President & Board Member Vintage Computer Festival East Show-runner Vintage Computer Federation is a 501c3 charity http://www.vcfed.org/ jeffrey(a)vcfed.org

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] How old is "vintage"? Found an IBM XT in my garage.)
by Dave McGuire 04 Aug '21

04 Aug '21

On 8/4/21 6:25 PM, Sentrytv via vcf-midatlantic wrote: > There are classifications for collector cars. > Vintage Car: Manufactured between 1919 and 1930 > Antique Car: Manufactured 1975 or earlier (>45 years old) > Classic Car: Manufactured 1990 or earlier (>20 years old) > Maybe this can be applied, to some degree, to computers as well. This has been discussed many, many times over the years. I don't think it can be applied, because computers vary a whole lot more than cars. If we were saying "home computers", maybe yes. But computers in general, no way. -Dave -- Dave McGuire, AK4HZ New Kensington, PA

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OT: Looking for recommendations on new soldering station
by Bob Shuster 04 Aug '21

04 Aug '21

I'm looking for a recommendation for a new soldering station. I think it's time to retire my 40+ year old Archer soldering pencil - that I've had at least since I built my first TRS-80 Model I expansion interface, maybe longer! I'm looking for compact, with an auto-off feature, temperature controlled, and a variety of tips. Is this pretty much every current station? I'm looking at the Hakko FX888, or maybe the less expensive X-Tronic 3020? Mainly I repair or modify vintage electronics, but occasionally modern stuff where I need a finer tip and less heat. Thoughts/recommendations? Thanks. - Bob Shuster

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OT / InfoAge and VCF support
by Martin Flynn 01 Aug '21

01 Aug '21

VCF and CDL joined forces Saturday to square away a large quantity of project work. * Ken G & Martin F racked the new UPS in 9059, found out the warranty replacement is is a higher wattage (3.0 kW vs 2.2 kW) than the unit it's replacing. Material to deploy two new 30A circuits is inbound, work being coordinated with the IA electrician, Bob P. * Ken installed the anchors under the eaves of 9059 for the fiber run to 9032A. Ran out of material and time to install the anchors on 9032. Additional anchors for 9032 has been ordered. * Ken, CJ, and his son Joe set up the rack mounting holes in hotel basement floor and added anchors for the fiber optic cables, The anchor bolts for the rack are set into the slab using a Hilti two-part system. I routed in the fiber that runs to the 9001 attic into the new rack. * Handed off the new Cisco two-line analog telephone adapter (ATA) for the VCF team to Jeff B. Jeff tested, is working fine. Both lines are available for VCF use, both have voice mail. * ATA for the BBS is active, Server is racked and powered, DNS in place. Last remaining is the firewall rule deployment. Since the VCF workshop is on the 14th, I was planning on being on site on the 7th to continue the work that is prep for VCF-E, rather than push this out closer to VCF-E. If you are available to assist, please reply off-list to reduce the clutter Martin Flynn

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OT: Need help with moving to new web authoring in a VM
by Richard Cini 31 Jul '21

31 Jul '21

All – I hate to bother y’all but I’m trying to move the Web authoring for my three Classiccmp sites from a real PC to a VM (both Windows 10 Pro) using FrontPage 2003 (yes, old). I’m getting weird HTTP server errors when using the VM, so if anyone has done this/experience with it, could you contact me off-list? Thanks! Rich -- Rich Cini http://cini.classiccmp.org http://altair32.classiccmp.org

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Restoring a neglected Apple IIc
by Bill Degnan 30 Jul '21

30 Jul '21

that is awesome! b On Fri, Jul 30, 2021 at 9:09 AM Bob Aviles via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > I have a couple of Apple IIc and now I can work on them, with this video > as guidance.Thank you, Javier. > Bobby > On Thursday, July 29, 2021, 07:22:35 PM EDT, Jeffrey Brace via > vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > > On Thu, Jul 29, 2021 at 6:06 PM Adam Michlin via vcf-midatlantic < > vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > > > Hi Everyone, > > > > As many of you know, we at VCFMA have been working very hard to get > > surplus equipment out of the warehouse and into the hands of loving > > collectors for appreciation and repair. What only a few of you know is > > that I've been asking as many people as I can to post before and after > > pictures. > > > > Javier Rivera did one better and did an entire video on restoring a > > surplus Apple IIc I myself bought and gave to him: > > > > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLcXzklA4_c > > > > Getting equipment into the hands of the people, especially to give > > said equipment a new lease on life, is core to our mission. If you > > have something you bought at a workshop, swap meet, or consignment at > > VCF East/West that you have breathed new life into, consider taking a > > picture (or a video!) so we can help spread the gospel! > > > > As an added bonus, the money raised by the sale of this equipment goes > > directly into a fund to improve the warehouse. Win, win, win! > > > > That's great! Thanks for sharing! > > > > > > Best wishes, > > > > -Adam > > > > --- > > Adam Michin > > Director of Marketing > > Vintage Computer Federation > > https://www.instagram.com/vcfederation/ > > https://twitter.com/vcfederation > > https://www.facebook.com/vcfederation/ > > https://www.youtube.com/user/MidAtlanticRetroComp > > > >

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Apollo DSKY lights up again, despite faulty jumper
by Jeffrey Jonas 30 Jul '21

30 Jul '21

Curious Mark does it again: not only obtains genuine Apollo computer electro-luminescent panels but lights them up using the original relays! The relay logic is amazing: 5 relays generate 7 segment output including blanking! One hitch: a "Chinese-ium" Copper-Cladded-Aluminum jumper failed. Add that to the recent influx of faulty breadboards and it's a world of hurt for prototyping :-( https://youtu.be/feRCZyLzAwA Apollo DSKY panel relight: the full story -- jeff jonas

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