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Ian's coming to workshop this weekend
by Jeffrey Brace 08 Nov '19

08 Nov '19

For those wondering, I just confirmed that Ian will be coming to the workshop this weekend. All rejoice as the MacGyver of vintage computer repair arrives. -- ========================================= Jeff Brace Vice President Vintage Computer Federation

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Repair workshop Nov. 9 & 10
by Jeffrey Brace 08 Nov '19

08 Nov '19

We still have plenty of space available for The next VCF repair workshop is Nov 9 & 10, but space will fill up quickly, so ... Signup here: < https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Le5_EtutRBgnOc9_4gLxJb7CGGEpIuTQWjZ… > This time it will be in CDL (formerly known as IXR), the hackerspace by the front gate entrance. Also known as 9059 or the Telecom Building. I think I will do things differently with the food this time as there were some people who never paid for pizza or dinner and I was short on money last workshop. -- ========================================= Jeff Brace Vice President Vintage Computer Federation

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] OT: large # of Vintage items for sale
by Evan Koblentz 08 Nov '19

08 Nov '19

>> That is well beyond what I'd pay. Agreed. That's nuts. On Thu, Nov 7, 2019, 9:39 PM madodel via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > On 11/7/19 21:23, Alexander Pierson via vcf-midatlantic wrote: > > The pricepoint this kid has in mind doesn't seem to be based heavily on > previous transactions. While I currently don't have my ear to the ground > for Hero robot ebay sales, I used to for quite awhile. tl;dr: take my > assessment here with a grain of salt. > > > > Complete Hero-1 robots usually fetch a few hundred bucks, anywhere from > 200 for ones in need of serious repair, all the way up to about 500 for a > complete working unit. Sometimes you see them go higher, especially if > they've got all the bells in whistles, in good shape, complete > documentation with the addendums issued by Heathkit. Those schematics > changed with time, and so they sent you little pieces of paper to cut out > and tape over the old sections of schematics. > > > > I've only ever seen one complete, sealed, mint Hero 2000 for sale > before, and that went for 3 grand. Now, keep in mind that the Hero 2000 is > by far the most elusive model, with the fewest total manufactured units, > but also the most power. A base Hero 2000 has somewhere like 6 > processors/coprocessors on board and can be maxed out at about a dozen, > depending on installed options. I've never seen seen a Hero 2000 in > meatspace before. I know this seller has one for just over 5 grand, but > it's in rough shape from what the pictures show. I spot plenty of rust. > At a tenth of that, it might be worth the gamble, but even that's pushing > it in my book. > > > > Back to the NIB Hero-1. Seeing as it was the popular model used by > schools and hobbyists alike, they're far more common than the 2000 or the > Jr. To put one of those at about 14 grand for a sealed kit? That's quite > absurd. Unbuilt Hero-1's are something I've only ever seen once before, > and it was a long time ago, so whatever it fetched has long since left my > mental cache. Plus, it only looked like one box -- there's no way that > includes a lot of the features that make a Hero-1 desirable. Thus, it's > likely a very barebones unit from what I understand. You would have to > confer with Robert Doerr, who is the defacto expert on all things Heathkit > Hero, in order to reach a better assessment. > > Lastly, that same seller has another Hero-1, with no visible arm, and > not all of the panels visible. I see manuals, but I do not see > schematics. It's also dirty in ways that make me sad. There's also more > circuitry than I've ever seen near the head battery cage, stacked on top of > the sonar receiver. Maybe that's a later revision? Again, Mr. Doerr is > your best resource there. Anyway, you could cut his price in half and I > still wouldn't touch it based on this condition. > > Hopefully my rambling mess is helpful. > > > > -Alexander 'Z' Pierson > > > Thanks. That is helpful. I know nothing about this and the seller told me > to make an offer. I'd be just buying it to donate to the museum. He gave > me no price. So if I offer $2000 would that be fair? I just want a fair > price to him that doesn't Did he ask $14,000 for it? That is well beyond > what I'd pay. > > > Mark > >

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] OT: large # of Vintage items for sale
by madodel 08 Nov '19

08 Nov '19

On 11/7/19 21:23, Alexander Pierson via vcf-midatlantic wrote: > The pricepoint this kid has in mind doesn't seem to be based heavily on previous transactions. While I currently don't have my ear to the ground for Hero robot ebay sales, I used to for quite awhile. tl;dr: take my assessment here with a grain of salt. > > Complete Hero-1 robots usually fetch a few hundred bucks, anywhere from 200 for ones in need of serious repair, all the way up to about 500 for a complete working unit. Sometimes you see them go higher, especially if they've got all the bells in whistles, in good shape, complete documentation with the addendums issued by Heathkit. Those schematics changed with time, and so they sent you little pieces of paper to cut out and tape over the old sections of schematics. > > I've only ever seen one complete, sealed, mint Hero 2000 for sale before, and that went for 3 grand. Now, keep in mind that the Hero 2000 is by far the most elusive model, with the fewest total manufactured units, but also the most power. A base Hero 2000 has somewhere like 6 processors/coprocessors on board and can be maxed out at about a dozen, depending on installed options. I've never seen seen a Hero 2000 in meatspace before. I know this seller has one for just over 5 grand, but it's in rough shape from what the pictures show. I spot plenty of rust. At a tenth of that, it might be worth the gamble, but even that's pushing it in my book. > > Back to the NIB Hero-1. Seeing as it was the popular model used by schools and hobbyists alike, they're far more common than the 2000 or the Jr. To put one of those at about 14 grand for a sealed kit? That's quite absurd. Unbuilt Hero-1's are something I've only ever seen once before, and it was a long time ago, so whatever it fetched has long since left my mental cache. Plus, it only looked like one box -- there's no way that includes a lot of the features that make a Hero-1 desirable. Thus, it's likely a very barebones unit from what I understand. You would have to confer with Robert Doerr, who is the defacto expert on all things Heathkit Hero, in order to reach a better assessment. > Lastly, that same seller has another Hero-1, with no visible arm, and not all of the panels visible. I see manuals, but I do not see schematics. It's also dirty in ways that make me sad. There's also more circuitry than I've ever seen near the head battery cage, stacked on top of the sonar receiver. Maybe that's a later revision? Again, Mr. Doerr is your best resource there. Anyway, you could cut his price in half and I still wouldn't touch it based on this condition. > Hopefully my rambling mess is helpful. > > -Alexander 'Z' Pierson Thanks. That is helpful. I know nothing about this and the seller told me to make an offer. I'd be just buying it to donate to the museum. He gave me no price. So if I offer $2000 would that be fair? I just want a fair price to him that doesn't Did he ask $14,000 for it? That is well beyond what I'd pay. Mark

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] OT: large # of Vintage items for sale
by Alexander Pierson 08 Nov '19

08 Nov '19

The pricepoint this kid has in mind doesn't seem to be based heavily on previous transactions. While I currently don't have my ear to the ground for Hero robot ebay sales, I used to for quite awhile. tl;dr: take my assessment here with a grain of salt. Complete Hero-1 robots usually fetch a few hundred bucks, anywhere from 200 for ones in need of serious repair, all the way up to about 500 for a complete working unit. Sometimes you see them go higher, especially if they've got all the bells in whistles, in good shape, complete documentation with the addendums issued by Heathkit. Those schematics changed with time, and so they sent you little pieces of paper to cut out and tape over the old sections of schematics. I've only ever seen one complete, sealed, mint Hero 2000 for sale before, and that went for 3 grand. Now, keep in mind that the Hero 2000 is by far the most elusive model, with the fewest total manufactured units, but also the most power. A base Hero 2000 has somewhere like 6 processors/coprocessors on board and can be maxed out at about a dozen, depending on installed options. I've never seen seen a Hero 2000 in meatspace before. I know this seller has one for just over 5 grand, but it's in rough shape from what the pictures show. I spot plenty of rust. At a tenth of that, it might be worth the gamble, but even that's pushing it in my book. Back to the NIB Hero-1. Seeing as it was the popular model used by schools and hobbyists alike, they're far more common than the 2000 or the Jr. To put one of those at about 14 grand for a sealed kit? That's quite absurd. Unbuilt Hero-1's are something I've only ever seen once before, and it was a long time ago, so whatever it fetched has long since left my mental cache. Plus, it only looked like one box -- there's no way that includes a lot of the features that make a Hero-1 desirable. Thus, it's likely a very barebones unit from what I understand. You would have to confer with Robert Doerr, who is the defacto expert on all things Heathkit Hero, in order to reach a better assessment. Lastly, that same seller has another Hero-1, with no visible arm, and not all of the panels visible. I see manuals, but I do not see schematics. It's also dirty in ways that make me sad. There's also more circuitry than I've ever seen near the head battery cage, stacked on top of the sonar receiver. Maybe that's a later revision? Again, Mr. Doerr is your best resource there. Anyway, you could cut his price in half and I still wouldn't touch it based on this condition. Hopefully my rambling mess is helpful. -Alexander 'Z' Pierson On Thursday, November 7, 2019, 07:58:34 PM EST, madodel via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: On 11/5/19 15:47, Evan Koblentz via vcf-midatlantic wrote: > VCF would love to have the Hero 1 in its box. Our policy remains that we > only accept donations, we don't purchase artifacts. Would someone like to > acquire this for us? Anyone have an idea on what a fair price for this is? The seller says it was a sealed box that he opened to check if there was anything in it but it was never assembled. Mark > > On Tue, Nov 5, 2019, 2:49 PM Tony Bogan via vcf-midatlantic < > vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > >> All, I’ve been working with a young man from California who inherited a >> large amount of vintage computers and other items. >> He’s reached out to a number of Facebook groups, but I’m trying to help >> him reach interested parties without having to go on a dozen different >> groups back and forth. >> >> Short story, his grandfather passed away and has a storage unit filled >> with items. >> PET 2001, hero robots (one of which is a Hero 1 still new in the box) >> Atari, Tandy portables, Model 1, Compact Mac through Mac II era, Apple II+, >> IIe, the list goes on, with lots of boxes still unopened. He’s trying to >> sell everything, and we are trying to avoid anything being thrown away or >> brought to recycle. >> >> Please contact me off list via email and I will put you in touch with him >> directly. >> >> Tony >> >> Sent from my iPhone >>

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] OT: large # of Vintage items for sale
by Evan Koblentz 08 Nov '19

08 Nov '19

VCF would love to have the Hero 1 in its box. Our policy remains that we only accept donations, we don't purchase artifacts. Would someone like to acquire this for us? On Tue, Nov 5, 2019, 2:49 PM Tony Bogan via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > All, I’ve been working with a young man from California who inherited a > large amount of vintage computers and other items. > He’s reached out to a number of Facebook groups, but I’m trying to help > him reach interested parties without having to go on a dozen different > groups back and forth. > > Short story, his grandfather passed away and has a storage unit filled > with items. > PET 2001, hero robots (one of which is a Hero 1 still new in the box) > Atari, Tandy portables, Model 1, Compact Mac through Mac II era, Apple II+, > IIe, the list goes on, with lots of boxes still unopened. He’s trying to > sell everything, and we are trying to avoid anything being thrown away or > brought to recycle. > > Please contact me off list via email and I will put you in touch with him > directly. > > Tony > > Sent from my iPhone >

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Gauging Interest: CompuGraphic MCS hardware
by Herb Johnson 08 Nov '19

08 Nov '19

> I'm helping to clear out a storage unit that belonged to a deceased friend, > and I've come across some CompuGraphic MCS hardware: Does anyone have any interest in this? Kenneth, If I recall these are early 1980's or late 1970's technology. While these may not be of interest within "vintage personal computing", they are a part of a segment of microcomputing and computing of typeography and digital publishing. I'm writing the following from memory, so I may have some ideas and references mushed up. But I'm making a point: this CompuGraphic stuff isn't just ugly boxes of boards and clunky mechanical stuff. Details, you can look up. There was a prior revolution in typesetting by use of PHOTOtypesetting instead of physical blocks of type laid out by hand. Wheels of typefonts were projected by character, onto photosensitive paper, to produce text masters. A textbook would be a good application example. You needed a lot of wheels (master fonts) and they were proprietary (hard to replicate) and not cheap. Big business only, and in a world of PAPER information ONLY there were a lot of them. But the next revolution, was to use a CRT instead of optical projection. The CRT was driven digitally; just bits on a screen. Minicomputers (PDP-8s) were the initial digital technology, and later microprocessors made that digital technology cheaper. A company or service could now produce quality text copy, in a unit that took much less space, and which stored fonts on digital media not mechanical font-wheels. Since all the visual stuff was "in the machine", one could drive this technology with a text-based description language, on a computer without all this typeset technology. This is why old schemes like DEC's "runoff" were popular. A lot of these applications, drove mechanical text printers like daisy-wheel, IBM Selectrics, and other such printers. One made do with overprinting on simpler printers. Other steps followed later of course: laser printing for direct production of text; and computers with the power to compose pages visually. Note that TeX was early software means to compose type-set text and arbitrary graphics (math symbols, etc). But once personal laser printers could produce bit images, and microcomputers could run complete page-editing software; and once this stuff became "personally" priced; all these "phototypsetting" services went away except for massive printing services. And all the mechanical and optical printing technologies became "junk". So the CompuGraphic stuff is at the junction of these events. It's small enough to be manageable by a person or small institution. And it has some hope of working. There may be people or groups interested in just this segment - mostly post-60-year-olds from the era, I imagine. That's my "any interest" comments. 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 retrotechnology DOT info

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Festivus Buy Tickets Now!
by Jeffrey Brace 07 Nov '19

07 Nov '19

Pay for your Festivus tickets online via Eventbrite: <https://www. eventbrite.com/e/festivus-2019-tickets-77436696243?aff=VCFMailingList> Cost is $10 for Festivus, $15 at the door. Overnight stay is $25 via Eventbrite and $30 at the door. Tickets are available until Dec. 6 (day before Festivus). Dec. 7 you have to pay at the door. -- ========================================= Jeff Brace Vice President Vintage Computer Federation

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Repair Workshop Sat Dinner
by laurakid 07 Nov '19

07 Nov '19

not sure about workshop. been doing craft fairs so busy with glue and paint n stuff. however i live super close to there so maybe I’ll drop by to say hello. No need to save a place for me though. I will probably eat before going Sent from Yahoo Mail for iPhone On Thursday, November 7, 2019, 8:59 AM, Sentrytv via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: I will not be going to the restaurant. Mike R. Sent from: My extremely complicated, hand held electronic device. > On Nov 7, 2019, at 12:32 AM, Jeffrey Brace via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > > I took the liberty of making reservations at Asbury Festhalle and > Biergarten. I went there Wednesday night for my birthday and it seemed like > a great place that our group would like. Lots of great beer selections. > Good food. > I currently have reservations for 10 people. So if you are > definitely interested, then let me know and if you aren't going, then let > me know as well. > The reservation is for 7:30PM. > Yes, you have to pay for parking, but it is only about $1 per hour and you > can download an app "Asbury Park Parking" to "pay the meter" over your > smartphone. > -- > ========================================= > Jeff Brace > Vice President > Vintage Computer Federation > > > <https://www.avast.com/sig-email?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campai…> > Virus-free. > www.avast.com > <https://www.avast.com/sig-email?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campai…> > <#DAB4FAD8-2DD7-40BB-A1B8-4E2AA1F9FDF2>

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Repair Workshop Info for Nov. 9 & 10
by Jeffrey Brace 06 Nov '19

06 Nov '19

As a reminder the workshop is $10 *per* person, *per* day. Sorry this is InfoAge's rule and not our decision. So that means for two days it is $20. Sign up quickly to guarantee a table. DATE: November 9 & 10 LOCATION: InfoAge Building 9059 (CDL Hackerspace (formerly IXR)- (2201 Marconi Road, Wall Township, NJ) TIME: Start about 10 A.M. on Saturday and ends whenever we go to sleep. End about 5 P.M. on Sunday. (Starts around 10 A.M. Sunday morning) SIGNUP: < https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Le5_EtutRBgnOc9_4gLxJb7CGGEpIuTQWjZ… > COST: - $10 per person, PER day. This is required by InfoAge for us to pay for renting the space. - $25 for those wanting to stay overnight (Money goes to InfoAge). Please pay ME (Jeff Brace) when you get there so that I don't forget. Credit cards accepted. I will be using VCF's PayPal Here tablet with bluetooth credit card machine. 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. - Please bring an extra one or two power cords as these are often forgotten by people. DRINKS: You should bring your own. I would recommend bringing a cooler of some type. FOOD: Bring your own, but we will usually order pizza or go out to eat for dinner. If the weather is nice, then we might cook burgers out back. GATE: During the hours from 1 pm to 5 pm close the front gate behind you. We want museum visitors to go to the front lobby and not wander through the middle of the campus. Outside of those times, you can feel free to leave the gate open. PARKING: Park in the main parking lot, unless you are unloading in front of 9059 (CDL / IXR Hackerspace). InfoAge doesn't like us parking on the lawn anymore. QUESTIONS? Contact Jeff: 732-759-1783 jeffrey(a)vcfed.org Have fun everyone! -- ========================================= Jeff Brace Vice President Vintage Computer Federation

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] OT: large # of Vintage items for sale
by Tony Bogan 05 Nov '19

05 Nov '19

These items are for sale, (from Dom, not from me) not donation. Tony Sent from my iPhone > On Nov 5, 2019, at 2:49 PM, Tony Bogan via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > > <mime-attachment>

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OT: large # of Vintage items for sale
by Tony Bogan 05 Nov '19

05 Nov '19

All, I’ve been working with a young man from California who inherited a large amount of vintage computers and other items. He’s reached out to a number of Facebook groups, but I’m trying to help him reach interested parties without having to go on a dozen different groups back and forth. Short story, his grandfather passed away and has a storage unit filled with items. PET 2001, hero robots (one of which is a Hero 1 still new in the box) Atari, Tandy portables, Model 1, Compact Mac through Mac II era, Apple II+, IIe, the list goes on, with lots of boxes still unopened. He’s trying to sell everything, and we are trying to avoid anything being thrown away or brought to recycle. Please contact me off list via email and I will put you in touch with him directly. Tony Sent from my iPhone

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Gauging Interest: CompuGraphic MCS hardware
by Kenneth Gober 05 Nov '19

05 Nov '19

I'm helping to clear out a storage unit that belonged to a deceased friend, and I've come across some CompuGraphic MCS hardware: 2 dual 5.25" floppy drives (I assume these are the system units) 2 CRT displays, ~12" diagonal (one with white bezel, one with black bezel) 1 keyboard with a DB-something connector (I hope to unearth another) 1 8204/HR phototypesetter 1 8216/HR phototypesetter many phototypesetter font cartridges several boxes of documentation, including some CP/M-86 manuals floppy disks Does anyone have any interest in this? Is it something VCF would want? I prefer for everything to stay together (i.e. a request for just the keyboard and nothing else isn't generally welcome, with one exception). Note that the phototypesetters are fairly large -- bathtub sized. While researching what this stuff is, I found a very old request from Al Kossow for a CompuGraphic keyboard needed for some reverse engineering work. So far I've only found one, and if I can't find another I'd consider sending the one I have to Al on extended loan (assuming the one I have is what he wanted, and he's still interested) but I really don't have space to store the rest (especially the phototypesetters) and I would really really hate to break up this set. -ken

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VCF @ Brickfair NJ report
by Evan Koblentz 05 Nov '19

05 Nov '19

Friday I gave a lecture at Brickfair on the history of Lego robotics from before Mindstorms (1980-1997). Only 5 people attended, but they were all enthusiastic about the subject. One guy knew about VCF. Another said he came to Brickfair solely because he heard about my topic. So that's cool. IMO the event management did a terrible job of advertising their Friday sessions. Saturday I demo'd my favorite of the various pre-Mindstorms sets, #9700, using the Apple II platform. I didn't bring the IBM version. The demo worked well until about 4pm. I troubleshooted it as best I could while also talking to visitors. Some of the basic diagnostics between the computer and the interface box stopped working. I know it's not the computer, so this will take more fixing than I can do. I will bring it to the workshop next Saturday. I told the show managers there was no point in me coming back today without having a working demo. My table was in an island of its own, so they understand and said it's fine. The show traffic Saturday was pretty good. I had a steady stream of visitors all day, most of which liked what I had to show them. Lego is an excellent gateway drug to vintage computing. :) Tons of parents my age (40s) came over to reminisce about 8-bit computers. Only one person ever heard of Laser. A lot of people came over and told their kids it's a "Mac II". I enlightened them... I found out there are several dozen Lego shows nationwide. They experts said Chicago and DC (Northern Virginia next summer) are the biggest. I'll look into Virginia next year. My goal is to have a schematic of the interface box done by then (Nevell agreed to do it) and a working replica made in time.

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VCF Repair List
by Jeffrey Brace 03 Nov '19

03 Nov '19

At the next workshop (Nov. 9 & 10) if anyone wants to repair any of the following VCF museum machines, then please let me know. OSI Challenger = Bill Drogoole will look at Sony monitor for Apple 2 = Ian will repair Apple /// = Tony will look at AT&T 3B1 = David Guesswein will look at Needs someone to look at: Sinclair ZX-80 IBM PC Convertible -- ========================================= Jeff Brace Vice President Vintage Computer Federation

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Museum Report 2019-11-03
by Jeffrey Brace 03 Nov '19

03 Nov '19

My day started out well and right away. I rarely get people wanting to see the museum at 1PM when I arrive. Usually people make their way to our museum by 3:30PM or later. A 7th grade boy with his grandmother were waiting for me and had previously been to other InfoAge museums on a previous trip, but ran out of time. I gave him the full 2 hour tour and he really enjoyed it. The rest of the day was filled with casual visitors. I also got a chance to try out the instructions for the SOL-20 and how to operate it. This was my first time using it! -- ========================================= Jeff Brace Vice President Vintage Computer Federation

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Speaking of the 3b1...
by Win Heagy 02 Nov '19

02 Nov '19

I have a 3b1 that I think is mostly complete and working, but I'm missing the mouse. Is there anything unique about the mouse (other than its looks)? Can another mouse be made to work with it? I've seen the mouse listed on eBay but for $$$$. Thanks, Win

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Brickfair NJ
by Evan Koblentz 02 Nov '19

02 Nov '19

Brickfair (Lego show) is arranged like VCF East: Friday sessions for serious hobbyists and weekend family-centric demos. I gave my 1980s Lego robotics lecture there today. Tomorrow and Sunday I'll have a VCF booth of the same stuff; the computer is the Laser 128 because I did not want to schlep the Compaq Portable too. It's at the Meadowlands Expo Center if anyone wants to go.

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Museum 3B1 & PDP-8
by David Gesswein 01 Nov '19

01 Nov '19

I'm looking fixing the 3B1 at the next workshop. From the last workshop it seems like the hard drive has died. Since I likely will need do do a new installation Was there anything in particular on it that people liked for demos? Is their anything people like on Unix machines to use for demos? If not I'll go with standard OS & software that was on the machines and see what interesting stuff I see in the archives. For the straight 8 has anyone tried to operarate it since the last workshop I was at (the one previous to the last workshop). If so was their any problems? If not would anyone doing the tours like to learn how to use it?

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Bell Labs
by Evan Koblentz 01 Nov '19

01 Nov '19

Our demo at Bell Labs today was great! I'll write more about it and post pictures later this week.

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Unix Tell All Book From Kernighan Hits The Shelves
by Christian Liendo 01 Nov '19

01 Nov '19

https://hackaday.com/2019/10/29/unix-tell-all-book-from-kernighan-hits-the-… Can we get him to come back and sell / sign books?

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Museum 3B1 & PDP-8
by Dave McGuire 31 Oct '19

31 Oct '19

On 10/31/19 12:22 PM, Brian L. Stuart via vcf-midatlantic wrote: > I used to use the 3b1 quite heavily in the early '90s, and > I'm pretty sure I remember running a build of rogue on > it, though I usually ran without the windowing system to > get a full 80 columns. Now that you mention it, I believe nethack could be built on the 3B1 as well. > As Dave mentiones, yes there are many other editors for > it. But there's only one TRUE editor, as you know: emacs! [dave ducks] -Dave -- Dave McGuire, AK4HZ New Kensington, PA

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Transparent Apple II/II+ Case Kickstarter
by J. Alexander Jacocks 31 Oct '19

31 Oct '19

All, I met the MacEffects team at Vintage Computer Festival Midwest, a few of weeks ago, and saw the prototype for their truly amazing clear Apple II/II+ case: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/maceffects/injection-molded-clear-case… The pictures truly do not do it justice. My wallet was duly robbed. They are down to the last few hours, and the kickstarter is close, but not quite there. Help out, if you can! - Alex

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possibly useful for bbs-simulator
by Jeffrey Jonas 30 Oct '19

30 Oct '19

I have a Castelle FaxPress model 2000 4 phone lines to ethernet (thin-net or AUI, no RJ45). It is intended to be a fax server but I wonder if it could be used as a modem server to ethernet. If anyone knows if that's possible, please speak up. I'll gladly donate it for the project.

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Exposed pins on vintage computers in storage
by Ethan O'Toole 29 Oct '19

29 Oct '19

I have a system in climate controlled storage. I currently leave all the CPU and memory boards installed. It has large connectors that are male pins on side of computer and female on side of the CPU and memory boards. Would it be a big deal to leave the boards removed from the system? The boards weigh a lot and I plan to move it upstairs in the storage unit -- reset the rent counter and lower the size of the unit. I could potentially get some desicant and wrap up the boards if needed but the cabinet not so much (it's a Cray.) Any thoughts? - Ethan

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Good news -- archiving the old Yahoo group
by Evan Koblentz 29 Oct '19

29 Oct '19

Many of you probably heard the recent news that Yahoo is about to delete all their old groups. Many of you also know that from 2004-2015, this very group operated on Yahoo. I filled out Archive Team's request to have our old group preserved and they accepted it. Apparently our activity was deemed historically important. :) I'll post a link to the archive location when they provide it. -- Evan Koblentz, executive director Vintage Computer Federation www.vcfed.org evan(a)vcfed.org (646) 546-9999 VCF is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization

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Museum Report
by Chris Fala 28 Oct '19

28 Oct '19

I was docent yesterday. I have been "assistant" docent or "co-docent" before, but this was my first time completely solo. It is always fun spending time at the museum, I highly recommend it! Fairly slow day, likely due to the intense rain we had for most of the morning and early afternoon. There were two groups. Early in the afternoon, a large group of Boy Scouts came through. They seemed fairly interested, and a few of them asked some questions. One boy took pictures of pretty much everything. Later in the afternoon a young family with five small children came through. The oldest daughter seemed very interested and, like the boy scout from earlier, took pictures of everything. Chris

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someone once wanted PC-AT case, VESA/VLB bus motherboard
by Jeffrey Jonas 27 Oct '19

27 Oct '19

I remember someone once asking for a PC-AT case, and someone else asking for a VESA/VLB motherboard. I just happen to have a PC-AT tower case with a socket-3 ISA/VLB motherboard. Speak up if you still need it! -- jeff jonas

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Looking for an Apple //c Plus
by Jason Perkins 26 Oct '19

26 Oct '19

A friend is looking to buy a //c Plus. Does anyone have one they're looking to sell? Thanks! -- Jason Perkins 313 355 0085

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OT: 3D print design for ESP32 VGA dongle
by Bill Degnan 25 Oct '19

25 Oct '19

Hi - Any one have a 3d printer file URL or if it does not exibt be interested in a little ($paid) project to make an enclosure for this device: *https://tinyurl.com/yy8uhffv <https://tinyurl.com/yy8uhffv>* "LILYGO® TTGO VGA32 V1.2 Controller PS/2 Mouse And Keyboard Graphics Library Game Engine And ANSI/VT Terminal For The ESP32" I have the printer but I don't have a scanner.. This is for a product to be sold at the Kennett Classic shop. Contact me privately through vintagecomputer.net/contact.cfm Thanks Bill

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Big Beautiful Vintage Computers, and Where To Find Them
by Paul Birkel 25 Oct '19

25 Oct '19

Congratulations Dave. Hittin' the "Big Time" :->. https://hackaday.com/2019/10/23/big-beautiful-vintage-computers-and-where-to -find-them/ -----

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] computer superstitions
by Jeffrey Jonas 25 Oct '19

25 Oct '19

> You need three sync's for it to work... > sync > sync > sync > halt I'm unsure there was a halt or shutdown for Unix v6. I think one just halted the CPU. There's a good reason for three syncs. The "sync" command only schedules/initiates the buffer/cache flush. The disk writes took time, so typing it 3x on a teletype was a simple way to delay the operator enough for the writes to complete before halting the system.

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computer superstitions
by Jeffrey Jonas 23 Oct '19

23 Oct '19

"Scandinavia and the World" is an online comic with an International flavor. This time literally: https://satwcomic.com/hangry-computer looking that up leads to: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Kuai_Kuai_culture Kuai Kuai culture is a phenomenon in Taiwan wherein workers put snacks of the "Kuai Kuai" brand next to or on top of machines. Workers who do this believe that, because the name of the snack - "Kuai Kuai" - stands for "obedient" or "well-behaved," it will make a device so adorned function without errors. As such, it can be commonly found in myriad places of work in Taiwanese society. A rigid set of best practices has arisen surrounding the proper use of Kuai Kuai snacks, such as using green bags only, and ensuring the snacks are not expired. other programming/computer superstitions: https://www.red-gate.com/simple-talk/opinion/opinion-pieces/programmer-supe… and kinda related to that: http://catb.org/jargon/html/magic-story.html -- jeff jonas

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MORE ado about chording keyboards
by Jeffrey Jonas 21 Oct '19

21 Oct '19

William Arthur Stewart Buxton ... is known for being one of the pioneers in the human–computer interaction field. https://www.microsoft.com/buxtoncollection/type.aspx?t=Chord%20Keyboard chording keyboards from Bill Buxton's collection of unusual computer interface devices https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Buxton the photo shows Bill Buxton with a Microwriter chord input device his own web site: https://www.billbuxton.com/

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Museum Report 2019-10-19
by Jeffrey Brace 20 Oct '19

20 Oct '19

Good day at the museum. Maybe 20 people stopped by. About 1/4 of them were high interest, 1/2 medium interest and 1/4 low interest. It's always fun to see visitors who see things differently or ask questions that you have never gotten before. I love the new LED screens on the "top shelf" machines. I look forward to seeing demos for them soon. :) Steve Anderson stopped by and dropped off his Dig-Comp 1. We chatted for a while about what's new with VCF and he had some personal perspective on many of the artifacts and explained to me how some of them were used and operated. I appreciate that since I'm weaker on my knowledge of 50's and 60's machines. I also worked on my demo of Geck OS, which is Unix for the C64. Interesting piece of software. Quite impressive that it works on a C64. Mouse will be docent tomorrow. -- ========================================= Jeff Brace Vice President Vintage Computer Federation

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Sep 28 2019 workshop followup
by Jeffrey Jonas 19 Oct '19

19 Oct '19

I had a wonderful time at the Sep 28 2019 workshop. I could not attend Sunday in order to start the Jewish New Year properly with family and friends. I already followed up Eric Rangell's chording keyboard prototype with "much ado about chording keyboards". I was beyond impressed with Nevell Greenough's LPG-30 emulator. The front panel looks absolutely authentic, albeit with an LCD instead of the 3-trace oscilloscope. I frobbed an LGP-21 back in high school and I remember a lot about it. We geeked out about the strange opcodes that ENCOURAGED self modifying code, mostly out of necessity due to the lack of registers or stack. For example, there are 2 instructions for modifying the address field on an instuction. One saved the program counter plus 1 in the address field of an instruction. That's how it did subroutines: store the return address in the jump/branch instruction at the END of the subroutine, then jump to the subroutine start. Another saved the accumulator to the address field of an instruction. That was probably for address calculations in lieu of index registers. It's essentially a "move under mask" since the address field was NOT the entire word. http://ed-thelen.org/comp-hist/lgp-30.html <<< main page http://ed-thelen.org/comp-hist/lgp-30-man.html <<< programming manual But those intentionally PREVENTED any address overflow into the opcode. So how did Mel use an overflow to cause a branch? We think it's possible he incremented the address of a branch instruction by loading the entire instruction into the accumulator, adding to that and storing the accumulator back into (drum) storage. That's the only way to overflow the address over the 2 unused bits between the opcode and address to increment the jump into the instruction, which is a different jump/branch. And that's why Mel is *still* a "real programmer" :-) -- jeff jonas

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Museum closing for renovations
by Evan Koblentz 19 Oct '19

19 Oct '19

We're closing the VCF museum during January 2020 to make renovations. This is only our part; InfoAge stays open and they gave us the all-clear tonight. We are discussing various renovation ideas including a new floor (epoxy), better lighting, more signs, exhibit improvements, etc. ... basically all the things I've been talking about but haven't done for the past few years!

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Kennett Classic Opens Today
by Bill Degnan 19 Oct '19

19 Oct '19

Hey all....Karen and I opened a vintage computing exhibit gallery and hobbyist shop which is located in Kennett Square, PA which is more or less between Baltimore and Philadelphia just off Rt 1. We're about 15 miles from I-95 where Delaware meets Maryland. https://www.kennettclassic.com/launch/ It's a big effort, there is still a lot of on-going set up, but starting today at 3PM the doors open and we'd love to see you. We're open 6 days a week, closed Monday. Check out the new exhibits including the Commodore Feature Wall we'll be running through Christmas. We have new vintage computing add-on hardware like Wifi modems and sd storage, plus actual vintage hardware. After this weekend we'll launch our social media (because we'll have pictures). We'll be updating the inventory of what we have for sale on our web site as it comes in, we have a 50 items to add today. We'll also start posting our weekly videocast on the subject of the computer history and vintage computing. busy busy busy! Got to go! Bill Degnan and Karen Doneker kennettclassic.com vintagecomputer.net

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Festivus Tickets
by Jeffrey Brace 18 Oct '19

18 Oct '19

This year I will be selling tickets online through Eventbrite. I am doing this because it makes it far easier for me to manage collection of money for the event. This leaves me more time to enjoy the event and less time tracking down people for money for the event. So I am much happier because I get to enjoy the event more. Tickets for the event are $10 through Eventbrite and $15 at the door. Overnight stay in the Sandy recovery area $25 through Eventbrite and $30 at the door. Click here to buy tickets: < https://www.eventbrite.com/e/festivus-2019-tickets-77436696243?aff=VCFMaili… > Thank you for your cooperation! -- ========================================= Jeff Brace Vice President Vintage Computer Federation

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Introduction
by Kenneth Gober 17 Oct '19

17 Oct '19

Hi, I'm Ken (kgober on the VCF forum). A few months back, when it became increasingly clear that I was missing important local news by not subscribing to this mailing list, I signed up, but I've just been lurking until now. I live in central NJ, and work in IT (Information Security actually) for a large pharmaceutical firm. My interests far exceed the amount of time I have available for them. A big part of my interest in vintage computing is really just an extension of my interest in retro computer gaming, because of course the best platform to run old software on is the hardware it was intended for. I do resort to emulators when I have to; some hardware is just not practical for me to acquire or operate at home (the larger DEC systems, for example). I have a fairly large collection of 8-bit systems that I haven't had time to power on in years, but am unwilling to get rid of. And another fairly large collection of Macs ranging from Mac Plus through G3 that I will someday do something with. Plus of course the PC collection which is mostly Compaq and IBM models (including a bunch of PS/2 systems). Also a few Unix systems (mostly Sun, but a couple IBM RS/6000s too), oldest being a SPARCstation SLC and the newest a SPARC Enterprise T5140. I also have some interest in PDP-11s; I have an 11/23 Micro that I'm trying to get running again (power supply issues) and eventually upgraded to something that will run BSD Unix, and some day I need to get my father's H-11 running again (it's been in storage for decades). I've written some software which I've previously posted about on the VCF forum, notably VT05 and VT52 terminal emulators for Windows, and also "FSX", a command-line utility to browse and read files from old disk images (RT-11, RSX-11, Unix v5, and Commodore for now, with more to be added as time permits). Those can all be found at https://github.com/kgober I've considered attending one of the repair weekends but I can't decide what to actually work on next that's not too much trouble to unearth. The PDP-11 is probably easiest (being on top of the pile) but I do have a TRS-80 Model 4P that needs a new line filter capacitor (at least I think that's what blew up, but I still need to open it up to verify). I have a bunch of Commodore floppy drives that I acquired in 'as-is' condition that need to be checked, but checking a 4040 or 8050 would also require me to dig one of my PETs out of the pile, and I'm not even sure which of them is still working... And so on, and so on. It's kind of a disaster actually. I will certainly have no shortage or projects to work on when I retire, so I've got that going for me. -ken

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A "100%" Efficient BBS Transfer Protocol
by John Heritage 16 Oct '19

16 Oct '19

Hey folks, It always bugged me back in the day that ZModem (and even Ymodem-G) left some performance on the table. For a 14.4 kbps modem with a theoretical perfect transfer rate of 1800 characters per second (assume no data compression, flawless connection, etc) -- ZModem would give you something like 1650-1660 cps and Ymodem-G would give you up to 1730 cps under ideal conditions. Ymodem-G of course had no error recovery (though it did send CRCs to help indicate whether or not there was a problem). In the interest of trying to use 100% of "upload" bandwidth, I always wanted to write a protocol that used the back channel to send CRCs from the 'download' computer to the upload source computer. (Even on asymmetrical protocols like USRobotics standards, 450 bps 'back channel' should be enough for this..) This protocol would operate like ZModem or YModem-G where the uploader just keeps streaming, but no CRCs would be sent with the transfer. Instead, the 'sender' computer would simply pre-calculate CRCs for every 1K or so; the receiver computer would calculate after receiving that 1K, and send back to the uploader. The uploader would go back and verify that it was getting the right CRCs in the right order (you could pre-calculate these and store in RAM before the transfer starts to reduce CPU load during transfer). If no problems were encountered - you might hit that theoretical 1800 cps. If problems were encountered - you'd either pause for some period of time and then re-send the last 3-4 good sets of CRCs to alert the 'receiver' computer that the transfer had to resume from an earlier state and would start after those 3-4 CRC sets were sent. Anyway just some thoughts. Something I might try in C sometime with a couple of modems... John

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Amazing LEGO datacenter model
by Jameel Akari 16 Oct '19

16 Oct '19

I can't stop looking at this amazing thing. https://www.flickr.com/photos/78666052@N05/48569034132/in/dateposted/ "Johan Alexanderson (Jalex) Vintage Computer Room Inspired by computer rooms from the 60s and 70s." The details are just great. -- Jameel Akari

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Museum report (Saturday)
by Evan Koblentz 13 Oct '19

13 Oct '19

I went to the museum yesterday despite taking a break for a while. I needed to pick up the Lego robot stuff for my upcoming Brickfair NJ demo, and also there was an NJIT alumni tour so I figured it's good politics since I work there now. Lots of visitors from the NJIT your and then a few families throughout the rest of the day.

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Museum Report 2019-10-13
by Jeffrey Brace 13 Oct '19

13 Oct '19

A good day at the museum. It started out well with a phone call from the InfoAge front desk to make sure that someone was at VCF because there was a visitor extremely interested in visiting us. It was a 9 year old boy and his family (brother, mother, grandmother) and he wanted to see the original Mac. He had watched YouTube videos, but had never used or touched one. So I let him use MacWrite and MacPaint and Microsoft BASIC. He was high interested and had questions and stayed about an hour looking at other machines. He came from Cape May and I let his mother know about VCF East. There were about half a dozen medium interest people and another half dozen low interest visitors. So overall a good day. -- ========================================= Jeff Brace Vice President Vintage Computer Federation

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Help! Stuck bit
by Dean Notarnicola 10 Oct '19

10 Oct '19

Hey VCF peeps! I’ve got a Briel Altair replica that has a stuck bit on the front panel. I’ve verified that switch (bit) 5 lets me deposit a zero or one into any given memory address. But when I go back to examine it, it always show one regardless of the actual state of the bit. I verified that the switch is good, the led is good, and I replaced all the 74 series latches without effect. There is a 220 ohm resistor in line with it that reads 216 ohm but that should be well within spec for a 5% resistor. I could replace it with a new 2%, but I’m not sure that would fix anything. Anyone have any ideas why this bit always lights when I examine it? Thanks. Dean

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Museum Update
by corey cohen 09 Oct '19

09 Oct '19

We received a lovely donation from Nokia for some improvements in our museum to do more live demos. So Jeff and I figured we can share some of the progress. First, we bought 10 LCD televisions to hook up to the top row of displays where it's impractical to have a vintage monitor. This will allow us to have demos running on machines like our Sol-20, Vic-20, Atari 800 and Tandy CoCo. We also put up an announcement sign in the hallway outside our door. The current video display system (TV) hanging from the ceiling is really missed by many people and until we move it to a better place this will have to do. I also put my youngest son to work scraping our "sign" at the entrance to Infoage because it was peeling very badly. We painted it white with correct outdoor latex paint (I think it was spray painted before with white automobile primer or something). Later in the week we will add reflective lettering that says "Computer Museum". A bit captain obvious, but we are dealing with the public, LOL... We hope to finish this and a few other projects in the next two weeks as we have some parts on order. Here are some pics in a thread I created on our forum. http://www.vcfed.org/forum/showthread.php?71900-Updates-in-progress-at-the-… Cheers, Corey corey cohen uǝɥoɔ ʎǝɹoɔ Vintage Computer Federation, a federal 501c3 designated charity 917-747-1408 mobile corey(a)vcfed.org www.vcfed.org corey cohen uǝɥoɔ ʎǝɹoɔ Sent from my iPhone

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Sperry/Univac Uniscope 100 Service Manual?
by Bill Degnan 08 Oct '19

08 Oct '19

Jeff - could this be a OEM Hazeltine? Bill On Tue, Oct 1, 2019 at 12:43 PM Jeff G via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > Would anyone happen to have a service manual, schematic, or ANY technical > info on a Univac Uniscope 100 terminal? I acquired one a few days ago and > its dead. I did find that the Computer History Museum has the manual and > they are seeing if they can dig it up, but if I can get a full copy or if > someone has one locally that would be better. > > If someone did have one I'd be glad to scan it if possible and make it > available. I also found some online posts where the original designer of > this posted up original drawings and talked about the thoughts behind the > design of it. > > Some pics of it on my web site as I cleaned it up here: > https://www.junknet.net/2019/09/30/sperry-uniscope-100-terminal-acquired/ > > I also acquired some Sperry/Univac "Mapper" memorabilia at the same time, > that I'll be posting up on my web site too. (Known today as BIS from > Unisys) > > Thanks, > > Bags (aka Jeff G) >

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] VCF East 2020 -- April 24-25-26
by Bill Degnan 07 Oct '19

07 Oct '19

It should be a beautiful weekend, less likely to be rainy. Earth day weekend I think. I think I am going to do a Pentium III exhibit, if that's not too old. If you're really way back no one can identify with it. Bill On Mon, Oct 7, 2019 at 7:41 PM Tony Bogan via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > > > Sorry that the rates are high. We do our best to pick a date that works > for > > most people. It's a difficult and busy time of year. Pushing it earlier > in > > April conflicts with Easter/Passover and late March is VCF PNW. Maybe > next > > year we can also take into account the marathon. > > No apologies needed jeff, there’s never going to be a good time, there’s > only the best time we could arrange given the circumstances. > Go too early and bad weather really becomes a factor, as we already know > all too well. Go too late and it’s summertime and all the problems that go > with that. > > We make the best of what we have to work with. Thank you for getting the > dates set and announced in a timely fashion, it’s a big first step towards > making this event realize it’s full potential!! > > Tony >

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VCF East 2020 -- April 24-25-26
by Evan Koblentz 07 Oct '19

07 Oct '19

Subject line says it all. Mark your calendars...

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Two months left until Festivus
by Jeffrey Brace 07 Oct '19

07 Oct '19

Sign up here: < https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1x0oSxqZXh8tmqqbUsP3KS3OywiNsEAOOmtq… > -- ========================================= Jeff Brace Vice President Vintage Computer Federation

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