December 2015 - vcf-midatlantic

Museum Report
by Jeffrey Brace 14 Dec '15

14 Dec '15

Mouse was docent for the museum yesterday Sunday December 13. He did a great job. There were lots and lots of visitors because of the Holiday train setup. Busy all day. I believe that the trains will be there one more weekend on Dec. 19/20 weekend.

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Classic Tandy compters, New York and The Big Bang Theroy
by Kelly Leavitt 13 Dec '15

13 Dec '15

I know many of you don't watch sitcoms, but I'm a fan. For those of you that don't partake, you can stop here... So, here's a link between this nonsensical show and our hobby. Specifically, one of the characters (Howard Wolowitz) is named after an early developer for TRS-80 computers. I started working on databases on TRS-80 model II computers. The database we used was called Profile. It was created for Radio Shack by the Small Computer Company in Hawthorne, New York. The Small Computer Company was founded by Howard Wolowitz in 1979. Bill Prady, now a producer for The Big Bang Theory, used to be one of Howard's partners. So, it ain't much, but to me it was fun when I figured this out. Kelly References: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FilePro http://www.photobuff.com/filepro.htm http://www.photobuff.com/move.htm http://www.sfdrupalguy.com/six-degrees-of-howard-wolowitz

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Getting Data off old Atari Floppies
by Herb Johnson 13 Dec '15

13 Dec '15

> ... and I need to know the order of operations for preventing > damage to 'future floppies', etc.. Should I be cleaning the drive > after every single disk? what's the best way to > clean the drive?, etc... http://www.retrotechnology.com/herbs_stuff/clean_disks.html Herb Johnson retrotechnology.com -- Herbert R. Johnson, New Jersey USA http://www.retrotechnology.com OR .net preservation of 1970's computing email: hjohnson AAT retrotechnology DOTT com alternate: herbjohnson ATT retrotechnology DOTT info

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Another site update
by Evan Koblentz 11 Dec '15

11 Dec '15

On mobile browsers, when you press the "menu" button, the sub-menus are now indented so you can see the hierarchy. Thanks yet again to Steven T.'s web designer Darren for this improvement.

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iMac
by Herb Johnson 11 Dec '15

11 Dec '15

> they go from $20-$30 to as much as over $100 plus shipping. The "plus shipping" is significant in cost and risk. That depresses the sale price. Consider packing and shipping a forty-pound CRT terminal in a plastic case. Of course you want the case to remain intact and not cracked. You also don't want the CRT shadow mask or yoke to "shift" from impact and misalign the color display (look it up). And consider these are close to two decades old: time and high-voltage ozone have degraded the plastics; so has exposure to light and chemicals with chlorine (bleaches, floor cleaners). Few know how to pack items in these circumstances; and "return for refund" makes no sense because you won't get either your original OR return shipping back. Herb Johnson retrotechnology.com -- Herbert R. Johnson, New Jersey USA http://www.retrotechnology.com OR .net

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Happy DEC-10 day
by Michael Thompson 11 Dec '15

11 Dec '15

> > Date: Thu, 10 Dec 2015 23:06:38 -0500 > From: Dave McGuire <mcguire(a)neurotica.com> > Subject: Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Happy DEC-10 day > > There are three KS-10s here. None are functional, but one had its > first power up (well, first in a few decades anyway) a few weeks ago. > We hope to have it paired with a disk drive and running by spring of > 2016 or so. > > -Dave > > -- > Dave McGuire, AK4HZ > New Kensington, PA > I will boot my KS10 on DEC20 day. -- Michael Thompson

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Teletype Sounds Video Posted (with PDP 11/05)
by william degnan 11 Dec '15

11 Dec '15

Here is a video that has a lot of teletype keyboard that can be used for sound capture in hi-res so hopefully this will do. Except for the non-percussive keys like SHIFT, I noticed no sound difference between keys including LF vs CR. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uepU_gTkMFY This is the PDP 11/05 S I was working on last month, with ASR 33 Teletype as printer/keyboard. Entering, editing and running a simple DEC BASIC counter program. -- Bill

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Simpler web domain for VCF
by Evan Koblentz 11 Dec '15

11 Dec '15

We bought vcfed.com and vcfed.org. Both of them forward to vintagecomputerfederation.org ... and they're a lot easier to put on our literature and stuff. :)

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Happy DEC-10 day
by Herb Johnson 10 Dec '15

10 Dec '15

Those who remember the legacy of the PDP-10, DEC-10 and DEC-20 might use this day, to consider what might have been, and what was, for this DEC product line. In the late 1970's I ran a KA-10, the oldest PDP-10, for a university's Artificial Intelligence department. But it was also used for general timesharing access, and many universities ran TOPS-10 and PDP-10 KA's and later KI's and KL's to service many many terminals. These were not small machines, they filled rooms. But a later KS-10 model was a microprogrammed version of the PDP-10 - it was only the size of a very large refrigerator. Compuserve used KS-10's as network controllers, and ran their own OS on 10's to provide their services. But DEC "choked" on developing 36-bit PDP-10 compatible workstations or desktops (some of those engineers went on to form Data General) and DEC produced the VAX line instead. The old PDP-10's were eventually taken out of commercial service; I don't know if any are running commercially today. It's hard to run one "privately" in a basement or garage, but someone likely fires something up in the winter. If anyone knows directly of a PDP-10 out there today, it would be nice to know of it. Happy DEC-10 day! Herb Johnson -- Herbert R. Johnson, New Jersey USA http://www.retrotechnology.com OR .net

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TI 99/4a BlowOut
by william degnan 10 Dec '15

10 Dec '15

Selling off extra guaranteed-to-work (30 days) TI 99 4/a systems - you can customize your order as I have a lot of available inventory. Min order is $49.99 depending on the hardware and software purchased. I will set it all up and make sure it works correctly before shipping. Contact me privately with system quote requests including your address. Assume shipping is = cost + materials. Here are some photos of example systems on hand. http://www.vintagecomputer.net/ti/ti994a/ -- Bill

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