December 2015 - vcf-midatlantic

VCF East 6.0 talks are online
by Evan Koblentz 28 Dec '15

28 Dec '15

The first batch of old videos are online, thanks to the grunt work of Kevin Savetz (and original recording by Dave Sica). Playlist is at https://t.co/yYRr7rP7R4 ... enjoy! There will be much more soon. :)

2 1

Floppy Days #50 - TI-99 History with Jim Fetzner and Mark Wills
by Randall Kindig 27 Dec '15

27 Dec '15

http://floppydays.libsyn.com/floppy-days-50-ti-99-history <http://floppydays.libsyn.com/floppy-days-50-ti-99-history> The TI-99/4A - History, with Jim Fetzner and Mark Wills This is the second in a multi-part series on the TI-99/4A computer. For this history segment, I was lucky enough to find a couple of people who have an incredible history with the TI-99, Jim Fetzner and Mark Wills. Jim has an extensive, multilingual library of all things TI and possesses some very interesting hardware items related to the TI-99. Mark is the author of TurboForth for the TI-99/4A and has been involved in the TI-99/4A scene pretty much since 1983. He’s also English, living in the UK, so he has a rather British take on the home computer wars. I will cover TI-99 history with the help of these two gentlemen. I think you will find this very interesting! Randy Kindig host Floppy Days Podcast, floppydays.com <http://floppydays.com/>

1 0

Fred, welcome to the group!
by Joseph Oprysko 27 Dec '15

27 Dec '15

Unfortunately, I can't tell you what bus to take to work. ;). lol. I never really got the chance to work with S-100 based systems. I live outside of Philly. I'm mostly into 80's PC's and have a plethora of useless knowledge to most people. But people in this hobby well, I tend to have a bit more in common with. ;) it's nice to have people to talk to who know what you're talking about. It's a fun and comfortable place to chat and let your geek out. -- Normal Person: Hey, it seems that you know a lot. Geek: To be honest, it's due to all the surfing I do. Normal Person: So you go surfing? Normal Person: But I don't think that has anything to do with knowing a lot... Geek: I think that's wrong on a fundamental level. Normal Person: Huh? Huh? What?

1 0

Videos! People get ready....
by Evan Koblentz 26 Dec '15

26 Dec '15

The time has come to post a boatload of old VCF East lectures on the Intertubes. (Translated: someone stepped forward to do the grunt work -- our good friend Kevin Savetz of AtariPodcast.com fame.) There will be several batches of uploads during the next few weeks.

1 0

forum vs email, was "Let's add value . . ."
by William Dudley 26 Dec '15

26 Dec '15

I have to visit a forum to see what's new. That means I have to schedule the effort. Email is a "push notification" system, and as Dave McGuire said, "the interrupt-driven nature of a mailing list tends to be a lot more efficient". If this mailing list uses mailman software, then there is a searchable web archive of all posts, such that somebody can treat it like a forum if the are so inclined. Just click on "sort by thread". Bill Dudley This email is probably free of malware because I run Linux.

1 0

Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Mac OS Originals for Mac 128k (Tony Bogan)
by Joseph Oprysko 25 Dec '15

25 Dec '15

Tony, Actually, I don’t. So you know, I don’t have any plans to put together the 128k complete system then turn around and eBay it or anything. That’s certainly not my style. I’m more of the hoarder style.. LOL But, I’m working on inventorying what I have, figuring out what I WANT to collect, then sell the other stuff to support my hobby. There’s no other way. Like honestly… why do I really need TWO Coleco Adam systems??? (Although I’m sure some on this list would venture why I would even WANT one.. LOL) The main question I’ll be faced with will be wether to be generous to other hobbyists, as I was with the S-100 card at Festivus, and let the equipment go for a song. And know it’s going into the hands of people who will genuinely appreciate the hardware. Or go the eBay route, and post it on here, and good luck to the bidders… It’s been years since I’ve done an eBay auction cause I got screwed over by someone who I sold something to, who sent be back a box of rocks. Ebay/Paypal sided with the buyer, and I lost like $300 in equipment and gained a box of rocks. Joe > On Dec 25, 2015, at 6:00 AM, vcf-midatlantic-request(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org wrote: > > Message: 2 > Date: Thu, 24 Dec 2015 18:31:36 -0500 > From: Tony Bogan <thebogans(a)mac.com <mailto:thebogans@mac.com>> > To: vcf-midatlantic > <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org <mailto:vcf-midatlantic@lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org>> > Subject: Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Mac OS Originals for Mac 128k > Message-ID: <830BA675-B818-4056-BF8C-5F21D2BD4DA0(a)mac.com <mailto:830BA675-B818-4056-BF8C-5F21D2BD4DA0@mac.com>> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii > > I'll touch base with you after Christmas. I have a number of original disks. Do you have the manual and cassette tape too? > Tony > > Sent from my iPhone

1 0

3D CAD help needed for our new museum
by Evan Koblentz 24 Dec '15

24 Dec '15

I'm looking for someone who is talented (and not slow) at 3D CAD drawing. Basically, we have a 2D bird's eye sketch of how the new museum space will look. We need someone to make 3D renderings. Not just going to send anyone the 2D sketch. This will require that we have a phone call so I can explain stuff in detail, and will also require that you turn it around fairly quick. An important aspect is that we do NOT need/want the drawing to be very detailed. It just needs to get our basic point across when we show some renderings to the InfoAge board and/or other VIPs. Email me privately if you can help.

1 0

Mac OS Originals for Mac 128k
by Joseph Oprysko 24 Dec '15

24 Dec '15

I am looking for some original Mac OS floppy disks. I have a very nice mac 120 8K with original keyboard and mouse and an external 400 K floppy drive and the carry bag. It is functional and not very discolored. I'd like to complete my collection by having a set of original disks to go with it. If anyone knows where I can get a set of original Mac OS floppy disks I'd appreciate some feedback. Thank you very much, Joseph Oprysko -- Normal Person: Hey, it seems that you know a lot. Geek: To be honest, it's due to all the surfing I do. Normal Person: So you go surfing? Normal Person: But I don't think that has anything to do with knowing a lot... Geek: I think that's wrong on a fundamental level. Normal Person: Huh? Huh? What?

2 1

Vulcan HDD for GS hints
by Joseph Oprysko 23 Dec '15

23 Dec '15

After playing around with my new floppy drive emulator from BMOW, on my GS which has the dying/dead Vulcan IDE drive, I've learned a few tricks and found a few things I thought I'd share. There are several places online to get the software for the Vulcan controller, including a great deal of Apple II GS software on www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za When resizing partitions, you can only go left, right, up, or down, you cannot enter a number. But to speed up the number, you can hold down the CONTROL key while holding the arrow key. And here is the most valuable piece of information I found. While the partition manager seems to format for DOS 3.3, PRODOS, PASCAL, and C/PM, there is the nice hidden option. When the FORMAT option is highlighted, if you type AE, it will prompt you to do a low level format. And that helped me fix the drive I was having so many issues with. While it still has a couple bad sectors early in the drive, I will just make 2 partitions, one blank one, covering the bad section, and hopefully not have issues afterwards. :-) I'll let you know what happens. The floppy emu is a great device as it also acts as Smartport devices/hard drives, Mac floppies, or Mac HD20 Hard drive devices. :-) -- Normal Person: Hey, it seems that you know a lot. Geek: To be honest, it's due to all the surfing I do. Normal Person: So you go surfing? Normal Person: But I don't think that has anything to do with knowing a lot... Geek: I think that's wrong on a fundamental level. Normal Person: Huh? Huh? What?

1 0

New Device Programmer Suggestions
by J. Alexander Jacocks 22 Dec '15

22 Dec '15

All, I have had, for several years now, an Advin Pilot MVP parallel port device programmer. It has done excellent work, and I had yet to find a device that it couldn't program, until now. I now have a need to program PLCC84-package CPLDs, for boards that I will be building. What does everyone suggest, as far as a <$500 programmer? I really would like to stick with programmers supported by active US companies, to make sure of future support. As much as people seem to recommend them, I'm not inclined to get any of the Chinese knockoff programmers, for the above reason of support, of the lack thereof. Thanks! - Alex

3 2