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Repair Workshops February 2020
by Jeffrey Brace 15 Feb '20

15 Feb '20

February 15 & 16, 2020: Hunt Valley, MD at Bob Roswell's System Source: < https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1cVBh27hzT1P53BCorZXcK3cZQVwPtwWLLX6… > The Vintage Computer Federation and the System Source Computer Museum are hosting a vintage computer workshop on Saturday February 15th and Sunday February 16th 2020 at: System Source Computer Museum 338 Clubhouse Road, Hunt Valley, MD 21031 Plenty of free parking, short walk from Baltimore’s light rail (Gilroy Road Stop) We will open at 10AM on Saturday February 15th, 2020 and will lock up by midnight. We will open at 10AM on Sunday February 16h and lock up at 6:00PM Accommodations: Try https://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotels-g41196-Hunt_Valley_Maryland-Hotels.html Feel free to talk with others about sharing a room. Food: There are plenty of restaurants within a short drive. We will have catered Indian buffet on Saturday at cost ($12.00?) and catered Barbecue ($12.00?) on Sunday for those who sign up. We will feature tours of the museum throughout both days and several mini-workshops: - Retrobright workshop (bring your yellowed plastics) - Pre-industrial computing class - Learn to use a slide rule, and various types of Abaci - Hot Metal Typesetting (3500 lb word processor) If you need a machine to work on, please let me know. We have lots of computers awaiting restoration! If you have unusual needs, (220 Volts, fork lift, etc please email Bob Roswell at museum(a)syssrc.com Bob Roswell broswell(a)syssrc.com https://museum.syssrc.com 410-771-5544 x 4336 Here is the signup sheet: < https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1cVBh27hzT1P53BCorZXcK3cZQVwPtwWLLX6… > ========================================= Jeff Brace Vice President Vintage Computer Federation

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Scans of David Ahl's DEC EDU newsletter
by Jeffrey Brace 14 Feb '20

14 Feb '20

Someone asked me if we have any copies of DEC's EDU Newsletter which came before Creative Computing. She only found one copy on bitsavers: https://archive.org/details/bitsavers_deceducatiigitalEDU7Newsletter1973_11… Does anyone know if copies of this newsletter exist as scans or hardcopies? Do you think that asking on CCtalk would be helpful? -- ========================================= Jeff Brace Vice President & Board Member, VCF East Showrunner Vintage Computer Federation http://www.vcfed.org/ jeffrey(a)vcfed.org

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Working on a historical microprocessor exhibt
by Adam Michlin 13 Feb '20

13 Feb '20

Hi Everyone, VCF is working on a historical exhibit of CPUs (not really support chips at this point). Literally just the CPUs. What should we have at the bare minimum? 4004, 8008, 8088, 8086, 6502, Z80, 6800, 6809...? What should we have if we have more space? 80x86, 680x0, Sparc, MIPS, Power, Alpha, ARM, Itanium...? Modern CPUs (to some degree) aren't out of the question, either, as we're hoping to show the progression of Moore's Law from the 4004 (2,300 transistors) to present day maybe, for example, a AMD Ryzen 9 3900X (at 9,890,000,000 transistors). Thoughts? I'm sure I'm forgetting plenty of important CPUs. -Adam

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Working on a historical microprocessor exhibt
by Neil Cherry 13 Feb '20

13 Feb '20

Tony, you just reminded me ... A hugely important processor in the history of processors the 6501. It's really too bad you won't get one to display and if you do it needs to be guarded. 6800 ($300+ as I recall) -> 6501 (sued into oblivion by Motorola) -> 6502 (for less than $30). Remmeber $300 is was more than I made in a week in 1980 (35 hours). So jump that back to 1975, that's quite a bit of money for just the CPU. -- 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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The Print Shop for the C64 - known working copy?
by Jeffrey Brace 13 Feb '20

13 Feb '20

Hello, I setup The Print Shop for the C64 in the museum with the original disk, but it locked after successful test print in the printer setup part. I tried two cracked versions, but they didn't have the setup part in the menu or didn't work. Does someone have a known working copy? Can you send it as a .d64? I will be at the System Source repair workshop this weekend if that helps deliver a real floppy disk. -- ========================================= Jeff Brace Vice President & Board Member, VCF East Showrunner Vintage Computer Federation http://www.vcfed.org/ jeffrey(a)vcfed.org

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CRT Repair (OT Modern $$)
by Bill Degnan 12 Feb '20

12 Feb '20

Hi - I have a Dream Authentics arcade with a faulty CRT. It was purchased new about 12 years ago. Click .. click .. click then nothing. The inbound signal from the computer is ok, problem is with the CRT. If you're in the Philadelphia area (Kennett Square is 30 mins south) let me know. Will pay fair wage for on-site repair. The CRT itself is open in the back once you remove the arcade back cover. Contact me off list through vintagecomputer.net/contact.cfm Thanks Bill

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Fortran Board Game
by Herb Johnson 12 Feb '20

12 Feb '20

Adam, I'll risk my ignorance of this particular 1970's board game, to speak up. Without going on about the history of board games; There were any number of "computer" card-game or board-game products in the 1970's and 80's, also earlier - why is this one any better than any other? Why is this worth $300? I'm not a game-collector, and I certainly don't take an eBay description at face value. But I know FORTRAN, and I don't see much "FORTRAN" about this game, from the eBay auction photos. I dont' want to give Adam a hard time, if he was simply excited to see such a thing and was sharing his excitement. But I'm left confused by statement like "we really need this... this is a real thing". Does the VCFed Museum now solicit board-games about computers? If so the local thrift stores will produce them; please provide some guidance if you want donations. Do not pass GO, do not pay $300. 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 retrotechnology DOT info

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Oh noes, wikipedia might be wrong :-0
by Jeffrey Jonas 12 Feb '20

12 Feb '20

I was looking up the "first" 32 bit CPU chip. Ummm, 1980 is before 1982 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HP_FOCUS The Hewlett-Packard FOCUS microprocessor, launched in 1982, was the first commercial, single chip, fully 32-bit microprocessor available on the market. [I guess "fully 32 bit" is the key phrase: 32 bit external interface?] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorola_68000 The original MC68000 was fabricated using an HMOS process with a 3.5 um feature size. Formally introduced in September 1979, initial samples were released in February 1980, with production chips available over the counter in November. Once again, "Who Was First" is a vague and dangerous question. I'd love to see a "Who's On First" variation about "first" computers, with ENIAC on first :-) I agree with defining a focus for the CPU exhibit. Certainly the 8 bit processors are a natural grouping. Or just the processors of the 70s: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microprocessor_chronology

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Working on a historical microprocessor exhibt
by Jeffrey Jonas 11 Feb '20

11 Feb '20

My animated reply to Chris Liendo: > Sun Microsystems SPARC Processor > Using an unproven new architecture, this processor put Sun Microsystems on the map I believe the HP Spectrum RISC chip came first: Citing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PA-RISC The architecture was introduced on 26 February 1986, when the HP 3000 Series 930 and HP 9000 Model 840 computers were launched featuring the first implementation, the TS1 > Microchip Technology PIC 16C84 Microcontroller > Adding easily reprogrammable onboard memory > to store software revolutionized microcontrollers I worked at General Instruments' Hicksville facility around 1982. Here are some mementos http://ferretronix.com/tech/chips/index.html such as info about the first PIC chips http://ferretronix.com/tech/chips/gi_product_guide_1982_3.jpg They were VERY EXPENSIVE to use, requiring a cross assembler and development tools, programmer, emulator for debugging, etc. They were ROM only. The UV-EPROM ones came later. I'd say the flash/eeprom ones REALLY made things hobbyist friendly. No more pulling the chip to UV erase it, program it using a dedicated programmer, inserting it into the circuit only to find a program debug and repeat the entire cycle. Wikipiedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PIC_microcontrollers links to https://www.eetimes.com/microchip-offering-flash-at-otp-prices/# Microchip offering flash at OTP prices By Darrell Dunn 08.31.2001 Having established itself as a major supplier in the microcontroller market over the past decade by pioneering the use of one-time-programmable (OTP) devices, Microchip Technology Inc. today hopes to usher in a new era with devices based on a new process technology the company believes will provide the advantages of flash memory at OTP prices. "We're trying to move flash into mainstream applications," said Greg Robinson, product marketing manager at Microchip in Chandler, Ariz. "We changed the entire paradigm of the 8-bit market with OTPs and now with our new cell we can bring flash into consumer types of applications as we eliminate the traditional flash disadvantages of cost and programming time."

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Fortran Board Game
by Adam Michlin 11 Feb '20

11 Feb '20

This is not a joke. We need this for the musuem: https://www.ebay.com/itm/SEALED-Fortran-Computer-Board-Game-VTG-1973-Orda-P… Well, OK, not really need... but still... And, yes, it is a real thing. -Adam

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Vic-20 Switch
by corey cohen 11 Feb '20

11 Feb '20

So does anyone have a part number for a correct replacement switch. If they go bad, maybe we need to buy a few for the museum’s Vic-20’s that work. corey cohen uǝɥoɔ ʎǝɹoɔ Sent from my iPhone > On Feb 10, 2020, at 12:31 PM, Sentrytv via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > > > <mime-attachment>

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Blinken lights for the Pidp8 ?
by Neil Cherry 10 Feb '20

10 Feb '20

I finally found the missing chip for my PIDP8 (I thought it was a ULN chip, it's not). And I've be successful at running advent on it (yea). I recall someone mentioning that there was one program that was a program that would basically exercise the display while it was running. Does anyone recall which program that might be? I won't have time to dig into the PIDP8 and actually learn to properly load from the display. At least not for a few more months. Thanks -- 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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OT: Seeking information on a 2006 Dell XPS 700 in Jet Black
by Bob Shuster 10 Feb '20

10 Feb '20

We discovered this beast in cleaning out a relative’s house. It appears to have never been powered on - still has the plastic wrap on it as does the display. My initial evaluation was that this 2006 PC was worthless in 2020, but in thinking about it now I’m not so sure since it seems kind of unique. Does anyone know anything about this? Does it have any value today - and/or is anyone interested in it? Please contact me off-list, no need to clog this with OT discussions! Thanks. - Bob

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Vic-20 Switch
by Bill Degnan 10 Feb '20

10 Feb '20

you have 10,000 vic 20's just transplant a nicely-working switch from dead machine. :-) On Mon, Feb 10, 2020 at 10:24 AM Sentrytv via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > Lubricating a switch should help > > Sent from: > My extremely complicated, hand held electronic device. > > > On Feb 10, 2020, at 9:01 AM, Chris Fala via vcf-midatlantic < > vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > > > > This is a common failure. Not sure if it is fixable, perhaps with > lubrication, I never tried. Replacement is an option. > > > > > > > > > >> On Feb 10, 2020, at 7:09 AM, Jeffrey Brace via vcf-midatlantic < > vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > >> > > > > The museum's vic-20 power on switch is difficult to turn on and off. Is > > this a common issue with the vic-20? Is there a way to make it easier to > > turn on and off like the C64 power switch? > > > > -- > > ========================================= > > Jeff Brace > > Vice President & Board Member, VCF East Showrunner > > Vintage Computer Federation > > http://www.vcfed.org/ > > jeffrey(a)vcfed.org > >

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Vic-20 Switch
by Jeffrey Brace 10 Feb '20

10 Feb '20

The museum's vic-20 power on switch is difficult to turn on and off. Is this a common issue with the vic-20? Is there a way to make it easier to turn on and off like the C64 power switch? -- ========================================= Jeff Brace Vice President & Board Member, VCF East Showrunner Vintage Computer Federation http://www.vcfed.org/ jeffrey(a)vcfed.org

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Online ticket sales for VCFe 2020 have begun!
by Dean Notarnicola 10 Feb '20

10 Feb '20

Online ticket sales have begun, exclusively on Eventbrite https://www.eventbrite.com/e/vintage-computer-festival-east-2020-tickets-92… Advance ticket purchase on Evenbrite gets you in 30 minutes early (8:30 am) so you can claim a spot for keynotes, classes, sales or other events. Ticket prices are higher at the door the days of the event and do not start unitl 9:00 am, so buy ahead and get in early! *Advance ticket sales close at end of day Monday April 20th, so don't wait!*

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Last workshop report
by David Gesswein 10 Feb '20

10 Feb '20

Executive summary: I checked out the two 3B1's in the museum. One had hardware mods to allow more and larger disks and is functional though the drive doesn't want to reliably spin up. The second has a motherboard fault. I also updated the image on the 3B1 in the Museum and added a USB cable hidden behind the center expansion board cover to allow easier updates to the disk image. Due to the rain and the filler work running long the Xerox 8010 didn't get that much work done. It appears to have a hardware fault though was running some. Fault may just be with the control panel. The hard drive wouldn't spin properly, likely loose belt. The second Xerox was not investigated at all. TLDR: The plan was to mostly work on the Xerox 8010 Star/Dandelion but we decided to not try to move it in the heavy rains Saturday so I did more 3B1 work. I checked out the two 3B1's in the warehouse and removed the batteries from both. The first one with sticker NCR SN 02233914 on the side was interesting. The motherboard had been modifed to the P5.1 motherboard configuration. This change was under development when AT&T killed the UNIX PC line. The last software supported it but the updated motherboard was not shipped. P5.1 increases the number of heads supported from 8 to 16. The hard disk controller chip was also changed to the WD2010 which allows the number of cylinders to be increased from 1024. The chip supports 2048 but the operating system limit is 1400. It also had the modification to support a second hard drive. You can see the grill for one of the fans had been cut down to allow the cables for the second drive to exit the case for an external drive at some point. The fan was reinstalled and no cables are present for the external drive. Currently it is configured with a single DEC RD54 hard drive. The drive capacity is 152 MB vs the standard configuration of 67 MB. I removed the RD54 to backup with my reader. It initially didn't want to spin up but with some light hits to spin it around the spindle axes it spun up and I was able to read the drive. The MSB for the head was put in the sector number byte since the WD2010 only supports 8 heads. I hadn't run across a machine with the P5.1 mods so had to fix my 3B1 decoding to match. The drive label had 42 defects listed. I found 7 sectors with read errors, the first 5 matching sectors in the defect list. The machine has 2 MB on the motherboard and a 2 MB memory expansion board so has the maximum amount of memory supported. It also has a floppy tape drive expansion board and cable with it. I forgot to dig around on the shelf rack to see if the drive was around. May be good to see if the drive is around so it can be kept together with the computer. This machine had the battery holder installed. I removed the BR2325 battery. You likely can install a BR2330 to get a little longer life. BR2330 is the battery I have in the museum 3B1. After I put everything back together the computer was running but the hard drive wasn't spinning up. Likely the drive is unhappy. I didn't open it back up to check that I got the power plug fully seated. I also did not test the floppy drive. This machine is more tricked out than the one in the museum except for not having the DOS expansion board. I haven't looked that much at the disk image. It does have some things I haven't seem before, a CAD program and an office suite Smart Software System with wordprocessor, database, spreadsheet, and spellchecker. It had noticable usage by one user and a couple other accounts. A few pictures here http://www.pdp8online.com/3b1/vcf-p5.1/pics.shtml The second 3B1 is labeled 370429065 on the bottom. I was able to read the drive but it had 50 bad sectors and got worse with further read attempts. The drive didn't sound too bad. It's possible that the drive is useable with a reformat. The system files were similar to the previous machine and it only had one user account with no significant content so I didn't try harder to recover the bad sectors. This machine does not complete its power on diagnostics. It has one green LED lit which indicates that the video ram failed its test. I did not try to fix the fault. This machine still had the soldered in battery so I cut it out. It was a CR2430. It has a dual serial port expansion board installed without memory installed so only has the 2 MB on the motherboard. I opened the museum 3B1 and ran a USB cable from the emulator with the end tucked above the center expansion slot memory board. It can be accessed by removing the center slot cover. It is a USB-C connector. I updated the image with some more demo software. Some of the additions are it has BASIC, Logo, gcc, Microsoft Word & Multiplan, simple hello world in C, BASIC, and Logo, a ~10 line Logo program which draws a tree and the software to use the DOS coprocessor board. I need to write up a description of how to use the stuff installed. I demoed at the workday. Connor was working on a VAX which didn't want to boot. We used my mfm board to verify that the RD54 drive wasn't going ready. Comparing to the 3B1 RD54 it sounded like the heads were stuck. He opened the drive and it had a deteriorating rubber stop for the heads that was likely preventing them from moving. It was a blue rubber ring on the bottom plate of the drive and reasonably accessible. He removed as much of it as he could and the heads properly went through the startup sequence. I tried to read the drive with my mfm board and it had an excessive number of read errors to be useful. I did verify it was a VMS disk. It appears to have the problem commonly seen where the head stack is out of alignment. Some of the heads are so far out of alignment you read the data from the next cylinder. Drive may be recoverable with methods like this. http://www.pdp8online.com/mfm/head_servo/ Connor pulled 2 more RD54's from warehouse machines to try to get a good image for the emulator in case we can't get one formatted by the VAX. One drive wouldn't work, I think stuck heads again. The other was readable. It was from a PDP-11, possibly a 73. It is RT-11 with KASTLE SYSTEMS building monitoring software. Only a few hours were left when I got to the Xerox 8010. I pulled the boards and power to the hard drive and verified the power supply voltages were within specification. I also inspected for anything suspicious. For some reason the floppy drive power and data cables were disconnected. I released the spindle and head shipping locks on the hard drive and verified the spindle would turn. I hooked up my mfm board and tried to read the drive. The drive barely spun. I think the belt is slipping. I didn't have time to remove the drive from the machine to work on further. We installed the cards and powered on the machine after Connor found the power button hiding behind a cover. As previously reported the diagnostic display counted from 0 to 10 repeatedly. If I understand the documentation, the machine is supposed to cycle through these codes when the alt boot button is pressed and you release it when the code matches the operation you wish to perform. I played with the button but it still always went though the 0-10 sequence. It is reading the button as always depressed. The reset button next to it did function. The hard drive power is currently disabled and the shipping locks installed. The floppy power and data cables were reconnected. The machine is missing its castors. They need to be replaced. It still needs cleaning. The one I was working on one of the side panels is broken at the bootom. I think the other machine had a good side panel. Their is some rust but the machine looks in reasonable condition. I did not do any testing on the second machine.

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Museum Report 2020-02-09 February 9, 2020
by Jeffrey Brace 10 Feb '20

10 Feb '20

I started setting up The PrintShop with the C64 in the 80's bedroom exhibit. Found the original box and disks. Going to have a Star Gemini NX-10 working to print out samples for visitors. A decent amount of visitors. I started training a new docent named Dennis and hope to have him up to speed and in the rotation soon. I started out by hazing him and made him figure out how to turn all the 2 dozen different machines which can be tricky as they are in different spots, some have switches, some are power buttons, etc. -- ========================================= Jeff Brace Vice President & Board Member, VCF East Showrunner Vintage Computer Federation http://www.vcfed.org/ jeffrey(a)vcfed.org

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Museum Report 2020-02-08 February 8, 2020
by Jeffrey Brace 10 Feb '20

10 Feb '20

About two dozen people came through the museum with medium interest. It is interesting to show off all the improvements to the museum. Tony and Adam were there all day working on various museum and warehouse stuff. Things are really looking great in the museum. Come stop by and see what all the cool new stuff that is happening! -- ========================================= Jeff Brace Vice President & Board Member, VCF East Showrunner Vintage Computer Federation http://www.vcfed.org/ jeffrey(a)vcfed.org

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Working on a historical microprocessor exhibt
by Adam Michlin 09 Feb '20

09 Feb '20

LOL. Well, MIPS was just an ivory tower academic design... <duck and cover> (for the record for everyone, I heart MIPS and I teach MIPS... ) On 2/9/2020 1:27 PM, Andrew Diller wrote: > My outrageous claim: I think a whole exhibit dedicated to just MIPS evolution... it's a fascinating arch and one that counts as a classic 90's UNIX powerhouse. > > But of course, that is just my opinion.... > > > Bare Min should include: MIPS R3k, R4k, R5k, R10k, R12k, R14k and the R16k. > > There is a good case to be made that MIPS pushed the boundaries of RISC evolution in the 90's and if it weren't for the Itanium disaster would be a strong contender nowadays... > > -andy > >> On Feb 9, 2020, at 11:45 AM, Adam Michlin via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: >> >> Hi Everyone, >> >> VCF is working on a historical exhibit of CPUs (not really support chips at this point). Literally just the CPUs. >> >> What should we have at the bare minimum? 4004, 8008, 8088, 8086, 6502, Z80, 6800, 6809...? >

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Macworld EXPO NY 2000
by Peter Fletcher 09 Feb '20

09 Feb '20

In July of 2000, my friend Joe and I attended Macworld NY. We saw the introduction of the G4 Cube, iMovie 2, and OS X. On stage we saw Steve Jobs, Gregory Hines, and Douglas Adams and we had the privilege to meet Sinbad on the show floor. Sadly Steve, Gregory, and Douglas have all since passed away. Sinbad thankfully is still alive and well. I stumbled upon my old Canon Mini DV camera in February of 2020 and this footage was on one of the tapes. It just seemed right to use iMovie 2 to import and edit the video. My old Power Mac G4 was also used to import and edit. Video here : https://youtu.be/SVKUgkT8wuA <https://youtu.be/SVKUgkT8wuA> -Pete

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Working on a historical microprocessor exhibt
by Dave McGuire 09 Feb '20

09 Feb '20

On 2/9/20 2:20 PM, Andrew Diller wrote: >> <voice accent="irish"> >> A man after me own heart! >> </voice> >> > > I read that as > > > <voice accent="Spongebob-Pirate-Narrator"> > A man after me own heart! > </voice> coffee -> keyboard -- Dave McGuire, AK4HZ New Kensington, PA

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Re: vcf-midatlantic Digest, Vol 21, Issue 9
by Burning Image 09 Feb '20

09 Feb '20

I would suggest adding the 1802, 2650, 6100 / 6120. and SC/MP. Best regards, Cory Sickles On Sunday, February 9, 2020, 12:01:37 PM EST, <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. Working on a historical microprocessor exhibt (Adam Michlin) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message: 1 Date: Sun, 9 Feb 2020 11:45:37 -0500 From: Adam Michlin <amichlin(a)swerlin.com> To: vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> Subject: [vcf-midatlantic] Working on a historical microprocessor exhibt Message-ID: <e873e0db-612f-2e6f-dde3-cbd43002ae54(a)swerlin.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8; format=flowed Hi Everyone, VCF is working on a historical exhibit of CPUs (not really support chips at this point). Literally just the CPUs. What should we have at the bare minimum? 4004, 8008, 8088, 8086, 6502, Z80, 6800, 6809...? What should we have if we have more space? 80x86, 680x0, Sparc, MIPS, Power, Alpha, ARM, Itanium...? Modern CPUs (to some degree) aren't out of the question, either, as we're hoping to show the progression of Moore's Law from the 4004 (2,300 transistors) to present day maybe, for example, a AMD Ryzen 9 3900X (at 9,890,000,000 transistors). Thoughts? I'm sure I'm forgetting plenty of important CPUs. ?????????? -Adam End of vcf-midatlantic Digest, Vol 21, Issue 9 **********************************************

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ISA BIOS extension board?
by Richard Cini 08 Feb '20

08 Feb '20

All – I have an old 486 “shoe box”/industrial PC from 1994 that I want to toss a larger hard drive in to use with some Windows 3.11 experiments I’m doing. Unfortunately, it doesn’t have LBA BIOS extensions, so I’m capped at 540MB. I have one from WD, but it’s kind of creaky. So, I pulled out a 1.2G drive I had and installed OnTrack 9.57 which works fine. However, I feel kind of funny relying on the software wedge because you need to make custom boot diskettes, etc. So, I was looking for an ISA card with the LBA BIOS extensions. I know they made them years ago, but I don’t know exactly what they are called, so I’m not having much success in locating one. There may be other options like using an XT-IDE (if it does LBA; can’t tell) or maybe a different IDE card. Problem is that space is very limited (only 3 slots) and it has to be a low/short card to avoid interfering with the CPU fan. Any other suggestions/advice welcome. Right now I’m going to run with the 540MB drive I have, but I would like to find a better solution. Thanks! Rich -- Rich Cini http://www.classiccmp.org/cini http://www.classiccmp.org/altair32

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Looking Next Weekend 2/15-2/16 VCF Workshop in Hunt Valley MD
by rar 07 Feb '20

07 Feb '20

The Vintage Computer Federation and the System Source Computer Museum are hosting a vintage computer workshop on Saturday February 15th and Sunday February 16th, 2020 at: System Source Computer Museum 338 Clubhouse Road Hunt Valley, MD 21031 Free parking on site and a short walk from Baltimore's light rail (Gilroy Road Stop) Saturday, February 15th 10 AM to Midnight Sunday, February 16th 10 AM to 6 PM Accommodations: Try https://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotels-g41196-Hunt_Valley_Maryland-Hotels.html<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.tripadvisor.com_Ho…> Food: There are plenty of restaurants within a short drive. We will have catered Indian buffet on Saturday $12 and catered Barbecue $12 on Sunday for those who sign up. We will feature museum tours throughout both days and several mini-workshops: Retro-Bright (bring your yellowed plastics) Pre-industrial Computing Class - Learn to use a slide rule and various types of Abaci Learn Hot Metal Typesetting with the Linotype, our 3500-pound word processor If you need a machine to work on or you have special requests, please let us know. We have lots of computers awaiting restoration! Email: Bob Roswell at museum(a)syssrc.com<mailto:museum@syssrc.com> Signup at https://tinyurl.com/yzhq8pmp<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__tinyurl.com_yzhq8pmp&d…> Bob Roswell broswell(a)syssrc.com 410-771-5544 ext 4336 Computer Museum Highlights<http://museum.syssrc.com/> [syssrclogo_38years]

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Vendors at VCF East 2020
by Jeffrey Brace 07 Feb '20

07 Feb '20

Does your business want to have a commercial sales table at the VCF East? The cost is $30 per table, and you can order as many tables as you want. Contact jeffrey(a)vcfed.org to reserve your spot. The deadline is Friday, April 19. The rules and procedures are the same as last year. We rearranged the show layout last year, so that vendors will have copious space! No more being packed in like sardines.

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help needed near Downngton, PA to copy files from Apple II Prodos disk
by Bill Degnan 06 Feb '20

06 Feb '20

Hi - Got a visitor to the shop today who was passing through and wanted help to copy files from an Apple ][ disk PRODOS format. I did not have one on hand so I asked him for his contact info to see if I could help him. Anyone have a system set up to archive a PRODOS Apple //e disk and copy to modern media/email to person? If so, contact me and I will forward to you his info. He will come to you but you should be in the general area of Downington. he just wants to see what's on the disk and recover the files if possible. I told him about VCF, he is going to try to make it this year if he can. Thanks Bill

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Announcing the AppleII Classroom *ALL THREE DAYS* at VCF East 2020
by Adam Michlin 05 Feb '20

05 Feb '20

It is official! I can announce that we are going to have an Apple II classroom lab (9-12 Apple IIes) running classes *all three days* at VCF East 2020. Emphasis because this is the first time we are having classes on the Saturday and Sunday. This is something I have been dreaming of for years and working on with Tony Bogan since VCF East 2019. <http://vcfed.org/wp/festivals/vintage-computer-festival-east/vcf-east-apple…> Teachers will be: Stephen Edwards, Mouse Kelly, Dean Notarnicola, Javier Rivera, Tony Bogan and a lowly high school teacher who likes to teach students 6502 assembly which we wont name. ;) Retrobrite, Assembly, AppleBASIC, Joystick Repair, Modern Solutions for your II, the list goes on and on. Full class list at: http://vcfed.org/wp/festivals/vintage-computer-festival-east/vcf-east-apple… <http://vcfed.org/wp/festivals/vintage-computer-festival-east/vcf-east-apple…> Every day will also have an open lunch lab from 12:00-1:00 with Apple II games old and new. Maybe even brand new games if Michael Packard finishes his latest game in time. PS: The obvious question.. why Apple IIe? 1. It was my idea. 2. Tony is providing the IIes. More importantly, we expect to change platforms every year and hereby formally challenge the Commodore crew to start planning for the C64 classroom lab at VCF East 2021! PPS: Everyone should be proud of me for not making the obvious joke about the odds of getting 9-12 C64s up and running in the same room at the same time <duck and cover>

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Subject: Re: 1980's bedroom setup
by Jeffrey Jonas 04 Feb '20

04 Feb '20

According to wikipedia, the Balans chair was invented in 1979. Mine's from 1984. Definitely the correct period. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kneeling_chair

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Rack lift
by Mike Loewen 04 Feb '20

04 Feb '20

I'm looking into the possibility of getting a lift, to raise equipment into computer racks. What do you guys recommend, that won't break the bank? The Harbor Freight lift tables only go up to 34". Mike Loewen mloewen(a)cpumagic.scol.pa.us Old Technology http://q7.neurotica.com/Oldtech/

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Instagram Challenge
by Adam Michlin 04 Feb '20

04 Feb '20

Living Computers: 3,100 followers Computer History Museum: 4,572 followers VCF: 554 followers Challenge accepted. How can you help? I'm assuming everyone that can tolerate such new a fangled thing as Instagram is already following us at: https://www.instagram.com/vcfederation/ But even those people that can't tolerate it can help! How? Pictures! Really cool pictures! Of really cool vintage computers. We may not have the endowment of CHM and LC, but our members are the best members and have the coolest gear! Small print: Pictures accepted by email at this address or <adam.michlin(a)vcfed.org>. If you have an Instagram account that you want tagged, let me know. Wish I could promise every single picture will be posted. This offer not valid in ... blah blah blah...

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Apple diskII drive head needed
by Sentrytv 04 Feb '20

04 Feb '20

I am looking for good working apple diskII head for a floppy drive model A2M0003 One of the coils on the head is open does not seem to be fixable and I am looking for the head and cable. If you have something I can use please contact me. Mike Rosen Sent from: My extremely complicated, hand held electronic device.

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] 1980's bedroom setup
by Ethan O'Toole 03 Feb '20

03 Feb '20

[NON-Text Body part not included] For the 80s bedroom do you have one of those ubiquitous "computer desks" that were everywhere? With the book space or whatever across the top of the back hutch, and the place for the disk drives to the side of the monitor? - Ethan

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Re: 1980's bedroom setup
by Sentrytv 03 Feb '20

03 Feb '20

It wouldn't be a bad idea to have a boys bedroom and a girls bedroom. Of course with different computers, peripherals and decor. Showing what boys and girls liked back in the 80s. Sent from: My extremely complicated, hand held electronic device. > On Feb 3, 2020, at 12:52 PM, Jeff G <jeffg(a)junknet.net> wrote: > > If you are thinking what I'm thinking on the desk, it was "Sauder" brand > furniture that seemed to be popular then, or maybe that was the 90s. It was > cheapo particle board stuff, even cheaper than Ikea, but everybody had it, > like microwave carts, TV stands (with VCR slot), etc. > > I love this idea, and Martin mentioning "Merlin" phones made my day for > some odd reason LOL. I have a connection to them even though I was just a > kid back then. > > I LOVE the bedroom/office ideas - definitely be cool to see it switched > around to different eras/decades! Definitely be cool to see it jump back to > the 70s and have it mimic Matthew Brodick's room from Wargames with the > IMSAI. > > JeffG aka Bags

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1980's bedroom setup
by Jeff G 03 Feb '20

03 Feb '20

If you are thinking what I'm thinking on the desk, it was "Sauder" brand furniture that seemed to be popular then, or maybe that was the 90s. It was cheapo particle board stuff, even cheaper than Ikea, but everybody had it, like microwave carts, TV stands (with VCR slot), etc. I love this idea, and Martin mentioning "Merlin" phones made my day for some odd reason LOL. I have a connection to them even though I was just a kid back then. I LOVE the bedroom/office ideas - definitely be cool to see it switched around to different eras/decades! Definitely be cool to see it jump back to the 70s and have it mimic Matthew Brodick's room from Wargames with the IMSAI. JeffG aka Bags

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] 1980's bedroom setup
by Neil Cherry 03 Feb '20

03 Feb '20

I had various left overs/hand-me-downs in my bedroom. A kitchen table, a set of shelves I built out of boards and a wooden chair. I have all except the chair and the TV monitor (lovely 13" B&W Sony, sister tossed it - AHHHH!). I really don't recall seeing computer desks but I didn't know that many people with home computers until the later part of the 80's when I was building PCs for folks. -- 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] Friday Class ideas - VCF East 2020
by Eric Rangell 03 Feb '20

03 Feb '20

I'd be interested in a class about the PDP8 and how to program the PiDP8.

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1980's bedroom setup
by Sentrytv 03 Feb '20

03 Feb '20

Hey for those people who don't like Linda Ronstadt. Then make it a Michael Jackson poster. Or probably both. Sent from: My extremely complicated, hand held electronic device. > On Feb 2, 2020, at 6:18 PM, Sentrytv <sentrytv(a)yahoo.com> wrote: > > I really hope you have that cool Linda Ronstadt poster on the wall!! > > Sent from: > My extremely complicated, hand held electronic device. > >> On Feb 2, 2020, at 4:46 PM, Jeffrey Brace via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: >> >> Lots of visitors today. I counted about 52. I have that number because I'm >> starting to keep track of the actual number of visitors that make it to our >> museum (i.e. not just InfoAge in general). >> Changes to the museum: >> We switched out the Storagetek with one piece from the Vax 9000. >> We added two Russian computers. I believe one is Ukranian and an Apple // >> clone. Tony Bogan has more details. >> We started our 80's bedroom exhibit and have a Commodore 64 setup there now >> and will have a printer and PrintShop connected soon. Visitors will be able >> to print out souvenirs. The bedroom has such artifacts as 80's movie >> posters, Dungeons and Dragons books, vinyl records from the time, Risk >> (board game), Rubix Cube. We plan on adding more pop culture of the time >> period. >> The next phase will be an 80's office environment and appropriate computer >> for that time. We have the cubicle wall and fake plant already there. >> I'm sure I'm missing some changes, so maybe the steering committee can fill >> in the gaps. >> More changes to come ... >> -- >> ========================================= >> Jeff Brace >> Vice President & Board Member, VCF East Showrunner >> Vintage Computer Federation >> http://www.vcfed.org/ >> jeffrey(a)vcfed.org

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Friday Class ideas - VCF East 2020
by Jeffrey Brace 03 Feb '20

03 Feb '20

So we are filling up fast on the Friday classes at VCF East 2020, but some instructors are looking for ideas that people really want. So what are topics that everyone wants us to do? -- ========================================= Jeff Brace Vice President & Board Member, VCF East Showrunner Vintage Computer Federation http://www.vcfed.org/ jeffrey(a)vcfed.org

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1980's bedroom setup/exhibit updates
by Tony Bogan 03 Feb '20

03 Feb '20

For those of you on Facebook, pictures are on the VCF Facebook page. Will be added to Instagram as well. This list does not allow photos to be attached. Jeff will be setting the printer up shortly, and the office section will be done over the next couple weeks. One of the Vax 9000 cabinets is now in the museum as well (again, pics on Facebook) and as Adam mentioned there’s a Ukrainian clone of the ZX80 and a Pravetz 8M Bulgarian clone of the II+ (actually a dual cpu machine with 6502 and Z80 on the mobo) Since the C64 is currently in the 80s bedroom exhibit, we are putting a recently donated Intertec Superbrain in its place for the moment. The plan being to give CP/M an even larger presence in the micro aisle in the near future. These are some of the things that have been done in the past couple of weeks. Sent from my iPhone > On Feb 2, 2020, at 7:22 PM, Sentrytv via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > > <mime-attachment>

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Museum Report 2020-02-02
by Jeffrey Brace 02 Feb '20

02 Feb '20

Lots of visitors today. I counted about 52. I have that number because I'm starting to keep track of the actual number of visitors that make it to our museum (i.e. not just InfoAge in general). Changes to the museum: We switched out the Storagetek with one piece from the Vax 9000. We added two Russian computers. I believe one is Ukranian and an Apple // clone. Tony Bogan has more details. We started our 80's bedroom exhibit and have a Commodore 64 setup there now and will have a printer and PrintShop connected soon. Visitors will be able to print out souvenirs. The bedroom has such artifacts as 80's movie posters, Dungeons and Dragons books, vinyl records from the time, Risk (board game), Rubix Cube. We plan on adding more pop culture of the time period. The next phase will be an 80's office environment and appropriate computer for that time. We have the cubicle wall and fake plant already there. I'm sure I'm missing some changes, so maybe the steering committee can fill in the gaps. More changes to come ... -- ========================================= Jeff Brace Vice President & Board Member, VCF East Showrunner Vintage Computer Federation http://www.vcfed.org/ jeffrey(a)vcfed.org

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] List of 2020 Exhibits
by Bob Flanders 02 Feb '20

02 Feb '20

Hi Tony... thank you! Can you list my co-exhibitor in the listing? Lewis Moten. Thank you!!! Bob On Sun, Feb 2, 2020 at 4:13 PM Tony Bogan via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > Exhibitor list has been updated with all the approved exhibits to date. > There are a number we are waiting to hear back from with more details > before listing them, so the list will be updated as we move closer to VCF > East (there’s already another one approved since we updated the site > earlier!) > > > http://vcfed.org/wp/festivals/vintage-computer-festival-east/vcf-east-exhib… > > Tony

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] List of 2020 Exhibits
by Bill Degnan 02 Feb '20

02 Feb '20

My wchibit is not listed Bill On Sun, Feb 2, 2020, 4:14 PM Tony Bogan via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > Exhibitor list has been updated with all the approved exhibits to date. > There are a number we are waiting to hear back from with more details > before listing them, so the list will be updated as we move closer to VCF > East (there’s already another one approved since we updated the site > earlier!) > > > http://vcfed.org/wp/festivals/vintage-computer-festival-east/vcf-east-exhib… > > Tony

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] List of 2020 Exhibits
by Tony Bogan 02 Feb '20

02 Feb '20

Exhibitor list has been updated with all the approved exhibits to date. There are a number we are waiting to hear back from with more details before listing them, so the list will be updated as we move closer to VCF East (there’s already another one approved since we updated the site earlier!) http://vcfed.org/wp/festivals/vintage-computer-festival-east/vcf-east-exhib… Tony

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Museum Report 2020-02-01
by Jeffrey Brace 02 Feb '20

02 Feb '20

Sending this report out late. We reopened the museum for visitors yesterday (Sat. Feb. 1) and we had about 10 visitors. The steering committee continues to make changes and improvements to the museum. The floor epoxy was finished about a week ago and now we are working on the bedroom exhibit as well as changing out artifacts. Lots of interesting "stuff". Personally I find it exciting all the different changes. -- ========================================= Jeff Brace Vice President & Board Member, VCF East Showrunner Vintage Computer Federation http://www.vcfed.org/ jeffrey(a)vcfed.org

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Hayes 300bps SmartModem for museum exhbit?
by Herb Johnson 02 Feb '20

02 Feb '20

> Was it the Hayes (internal S100) listed below? Seuss himself just > mentions a "Hayes 300 baud modem card" at: > https://www.chinet.com/html/cbbs.html I know plenty about S-100. I'm pleased to see an opportunity to show in the 21st century that S-100 was (again) a trailblazer in personal computing. The discussion at the linked Web page seems clear to me, that the card referenced was a S-100 product. The people in discussion state that testing was "very early in Feb" of 1978. One can research to see what Hayes products were available on that date. But one Hayes S-100 card I saw today says on the card "1977-1978" The linked discussion is from Randy Suess and - not mentioned here - Ward Christensen. Ward developed a number of early - I'd call legendary - programs which were distributed later by CPMUG and SIG/M in their diskette libraries. Don't forget him. http://www.s100computers.com/Hardware%20Folder/DC%20Hayes/103/103%20Modem.h… shows a Hayes 80-103A modem card and discusses some of its history. The site also shows a Hayes Micromodem-100 and claims it was "second". Another S-100 modem brand was PMMI; the MM-103 is also shown at s100computers.com. Note John Monahan mentioned the Hayes card needed a PMMI coupler. There were probably other brands of S-100 card modems. These cards for various reasons, did not include a "coupler", the device that physically connected to the telephone. That's for historic reasons; look it up. There were several key technologies needed to produce a modem; and a little bit of regulated commerce was involved. They all came together at the time to enable such a product to arise. Of course: the microprocessor computer with mass storage created a need. Yes, there were remote terminals in use and that was a market, but most terminals were wired in or used leased lines. There's other considerations I'm not putting into this simple post; go research late-1970's computing. I was a BSEE and minicomputer system manager at the time, I experienced some of this stuff, and so I'm simply commenting from memory. I find that modern people looking back, think that modems were "natural" even obvious. No, they weren't, they occurred at a point in time for historic reasons. I've suggested a few. It's entirely up to the exhibitors to decide, whether or not to portray that background in their exhibit. 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 retrotechnology DOT info

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Hayes 300bps SmartModem for museum exhbit?
by Adam Michlin 01 Feb '20

01 Feb '20

Hmm.. this just gets more interesting. I found this: http://software.bbsdocumentary.com/AAA/AAA/CBBS/thoughts.txt Where Ward Christensen thanks the S-100 modem companies: "Oh yes, special thanks to the S-100 modem companies (Hayes, IDS, and PMMI) for really making CBBS practical. We probably wouldn't have tried it with an external modem." And Wikipedia <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hayes_Microcomputer_Products> tells me: "Hayes started producing similar products at a "hobby level" in his kitchen in April 1977 with his friend and co-worker, Dale Heatherington. Their first product was the 80-103A, a 300 bit/s Bell 103-compatible design for S-100 bus machines. Business picked up quickly, and in January 1978 they quit their jobs at National Data to form their own company,[2] D.C. Hayes Associates." Furthermore, the Micromodem II for the Apple II came out in 1979. So the very thing that made BBS systems practical caused problems for lay people wishing to connecting to BBSs (especially if they didn't have slots). Enter the SmartModem. So cool. Thinking out loud, we should put the Micromodem II in the Apple II and connect it to one of the S100 machines with an 80-103A! And now I really want an original Bell 101 for the display. We might have to buy a bigger display case <he half jokes>. On 2/1/2020 11:39 AM, Tony Bogan via vcf-midatlantic wrote: > That was the modem I mentioned as my assumption of what you wanted, but I only have the later Apple II internal modem with the external microcoupler. S100 stuff was not a thing i dealt with in my small corner of the world. > > Tony > >>> I'm learning more and more. Since the exhibit is primarily motivated to >>> honor CBBS and the passing of Randy Seuss, I'm doing some research on >>> the modem originally used for CBBS. >>> >>> Was it the Hayes (internal S100) listed below? Seuss himself just >>> mentions a "Hayes 300 baud modem card"

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] List of 2020 Exhibits
by Mike Loewen 01 Feb '20

01 Feb '20

On Fri Jan 24 14:10:58 EST 2020, Tony Bogan wrote: > Yes, the list definitely needs to be updated (and the entire website section > for VCF East) > > It is slated to be updated after the workshop this weekend. Since we just > had a flurry of classes, speakers and exhibits sign up over the past 5 or 6 > days, we decided to meet at the workshop tomorrow and go over everything > before doing the next update. As you well know, everyone that wants to do an > exhibit isn't automatically approved, so it’s never been done in real time. > (Although maybe we will let some Pentium based exhibits in this year ;-) Any progress on the current exhibit list? Mike Loewen mloewen(a)cpumagic.scol.pa.us Old Technology http://q7.neurotica.com/Oldtech/

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Help with Tandy 1000 TX
by David K 31 Jan '20

31 Jan '20

I have a Tandy 1000TX. It works - I have played some Infocom and other games on it. I recently got a copy of Leather Goddesses of Phobos and have been unable to get it to load/work. The reference card mentions the game "is not self-booting". (I've attached a copy of the reference card) It appears you need to make a copy of the original game disk and the directions start by saying "Insert your IBM (or compatible) DOS disk in drive A" I do not have a copy of DOS for IBM (the game says you need version 2.0 or higher). Can anybody help me obtain this? I do not have the ability or capacity to load something online and get it onto a floppy disk. I've looked on eBay and seen either higher DOS versions (I am unsure which versions I can use on my Tandy) or crazy prices. I'm hoping not to waste money on buying the wrong thing. My Tandy has both a 5.25 and 3.5 disk drives. Thanks, David K.

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Lots of Heath/Zenith Equipment in Winchester, VA
by Alexander Jacocks 31 Jan '20

31 Jan '20

Does someone with lots of Heath/Zenith knowledge have time to look over some pictures that I was sent, and to help me determine what this equipment s worth? I'm not really interested in keeping most of it, so it'd be available to anyone interested once I pick it up. Thanks! - Alex

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