January 2016 - vcf-midatlantic

Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Young Innovators Faire
by Todd George 06 Jan '16

06 Jan '16

Some of the comments in my report duplicated what Doug had said previously. I should have done a better job editing my summary of the day. Sorry for any annoyance there. Additionally, the total attendees number conflicted a bit. I'd personally trust Doug's numbers over mine. Nearly 30,000 is more accurate. :-) Thanks guys.

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] VCF East - Kernighan video online
by VAXman＠tmesis.org 06 Jan '16

06 Jan '16

Evan Koblentz via vcf-midatlantic writes: >Ta-da! > >https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUWt_StXKsY A wonderful demonstration illustrating the difference between a $39.99 and a $399.99 microphone. The audio quality of that video is pretty awful and that's really a shame.

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OT: InfoAge needs a plumber
by Evan Koblentz 06 Jan '16

06 Jan '16

InfoAge management asked that all of the member groups forward this message: -------------------------- InfoAge has need of some major plumbing work that will include excavation and laying pipes. Before looking without, we might look within. Look through your membership lists and see if there's a plumber or two that may be able to offer us their services and expertise at low or no cost if we supply a little labor.

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Young Innovators Faire
by Todd George 06 Jan '16

06 Jan '16

Date: Sun, 03 Jan 2016 19:50:29 -0500 From: Evan Koblentz <evan(a)snarc.net> Subject: [vcf-midatlantic] Young Innovators Faire >Big thanks to you, Chris F., and Todd G. for representing us there! >Generally speaking how did it go? Here's my report from the show (slightly modified from a previous version of the report I sent to Evan, Doug and Chris)! I had a nice long talk with Gabe (co-founder of The Young Innovators Fair), he told me how much he appreciated us being there. He thought our booth was a gigantic hit, and said he thought we were one of the busier stand-alone/standard-sized booths at the event. As of ~2 pm (??? it's all a blur) on Sunday when I talked with him, they were far in excess of 20,000 (!!!) tickets sold for the weekend NOT INCLUDING something like a few thousand (rumored) free/donation/charity tickets that they gave out. Apparently those "free" tickets went unaccounted-for. Saturday was definitely the busier day, but Sunday proved to be a strong contender. I also need to brush up on my rollerskating skills, as Gabe had the brilliant idea to wear roller skates at the event. Definitely helps him get around the place in an expedient fashion. Some of my favorite moments, a dad stopped at the booth while walking by with his family, comes over to me and says "If you had asked me this morning if anything here would make me stop dead in my tracks, I'd have said 'No Way'. This is amazing and has definitely stopped me in my tracks". We also received tons of positive feedback from the booth guests. There was a girl at our booth for nearly the entire day on Saturday, she was 16 and "wants to be an engineer". She was so knowledgeable about all things computer and was really digging our booth. She was extremely smart and was chatting with us off and on all day. I also had a great long talk with a gentleman who indicated his son had two apps in the Apple App Store, had been programming since he was 8, was probably 13 or so by my guess now. He had never programmed in BASIC, so I gave him some brief instruction. He took to it like a duck to water. His first program in BASIC? "Hello World". I only told him to "Put whatever you want the computer to display inside the quotes." A few people commented how much they appreciated that our booth was "something different". I also directed a few people to actually join VCFed based on discussions I had. One guy had a bunch of Apple equipment set up on display in his basement, said he curates and restores it. He expressed interest in improving his restoration skills (participation in workshops) and really seemed interested in our group in general. He had mentioned he has no idea a group like ours existed. I also lost count of how many parents told us "how old we were making them feel", told me the story about how "Drexel made us buy that Macintosh" (at least 20 people told me some variant of this story), and indicated to their kids when we showed them the 5 1/4" and 3 1/2" floppy disk props we had at the table how "they used to store all of their high school/college work on those" while the kids just looked as us with a blank stare. There was definitely an interesting combination of "parent-types" being attracted to our booth, with their children in tow explaining to them how these were the old computers they used to use. The other side of that was kids being attracted to the games we had up and running and then being suckered into listening to their parents wax nostalgic once they realized what hardware was running the games. The only failure we had at the VCF booth was our KayPro II. The floppy disks were warm when we pulled them out, but letting the machine cool down didn't "fix" the problem. Who knows, it was a long two days and this computer probably isn't used to that kind of workload. The one at the booth wasn't mine, but I still feel bad that it gave up the ghost. Funny side story, my wife is tired of hearing me curse and complain about working inside of my KayPro II. To prove it, I sent a text to her and said "Hey, the KayPro at our booth died". Her reply was "Why, did you yell at it too much?". To put this into perspective even more, my wife doesn't know many of the names of the computers I work on. So that tells you how excellently engineered the innards of the KayPro are that she knows what it's called and has heard me bitch about it that much. The venue wasn't so lucky... Apparently their failures were numerous, including the credit card processing at the concession stands failing, the ATM machines logically emptying shortly thereafter, and to top it off the vending machines emptying by around 11 am on Saturday. Apparently their credit card processing never came back online throughout the rest of the weekend. Between that and the ATM machines being empty, who knows how much potential revenue they lost due to our "cashless society". We didn't have an Apple II with us, turns out that was a bit of an error as we got lots of flack from people... "Where's Oregon Trail?", "Where's Loadrunner?". Surprisingly, the TRS-80 Model 4 was the star of the show in my opinion. I would have expected the Macintosh SE/30 to garner more attention but it did not (ran a close second though). So many people commenting "Oh I had one of these in college" (about the Macintosh) or "this was the computer I learned to program on" (about the TRS-80). I was also pleasantly amused by the sheer number of people walking up to the table and yelling "Oh my gosh a Trash 80!". I was also asked many, many times how in the world we had a working TRS-80 of any variety. Seems they have a reputation of some sort for being troublesome or something. All-in-all, a great time! I was so tired Saturday and Sunday night, tired stretched into Monday. But I'd do it again tomorrow, that's how much fun we had. :) Special thanks to Doug and Chris with whom this wouldn't have been possible. And of course Evan for putting it all together for us. See ya! -Todd

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DEC cabinet in Pittsb, PET in Timonium MD
by william degnan 05 Jan '16

05 Jan '16

DEC cabinet in Pittsb, https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/comp.sys.dec/95_YjW-rz0M PET in Timonium MD https://baltimore.craigslist.org/sys/5383670535.html (I'd request a photo other than what they have but otherwise looks like a good deal) -- -Bill-

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Older teste equipment available for sale
by Kelly Leavitt 05 Jan '16

05 Jan '16

Folks: I ran into a strange hoard of equipment that some of you may be interested in. There were lots of old scopes and other test equipment. The guy is looking for someone to come and make an offer for a bunch of items. They're in Morris Plains, NJ. Here is a link to pictures. https://www.flickr.com/gp/138339552@N08/9e9usq It includes old picture tubes, stacks of old large value capacitors, old ham equipment, oscilloscopes, and video equipment. Let me know if you're interested and I'll get you in touch with Glenn. Kelly

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Correction: Semi-OT: printer for new museum signs
by Herb Johnson 05 Jan '16

05 Jan '16

I concur with most of the discussion following my previous comments. Laser printers are king for low maintenance and cost-per-page; but ink is convenient in the circumstances noted. As Evan has stated, they need a tiny-office solution for quick signage and general but light printing use. Scanning is part of that solution. However, a freebie B&W letter-size laser printer will print for FREE, and would be a good thing to locate elsewhere. I'll only add, that my Epson ink carts (black and color) are a few years old but have not dried out. My print use is obviously occasional, but printing something each month is a really, REALLY good idea for any inkjet. The Epson has many print diagnostic modes and reports cartridge capacity and condition. These modern printers, laser and ink, are awfully smart. Herb -- Herbert R. Johnson, New Jersey USA http://www.retrotechnology.com OR .net

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Correction: Semi-OT: printer for new museum signs
by Herb Johnson 05 Jan '16

05 Jan '16

Evan wrote: > I just learned that even very cheap inkjets, sub-$200, can print 11x17. > That might be our best compromise if a larger printer is unaffordable. There are a number of 11X17 inkjet printers. In fact I own an Epson WF-7520 from two years ago which not only prints 11X17, it SCANS 11X17. Produces PDF directly to a USB "stick". Scans both sides through the automatic feeder. WiFi network-capable. And on sale, these printers are near $200. New. For the handful of signage in discussion, these are reasonably priced, and pay for themselves in say a year. Plus one would provide local copy and scanning capability (hint hint hint). You'll have to replace ink carts at intervals of course, but "printing to flash" avoids a lot of printing. And there's laser printers too, some of which also scan, at modest prices (but large toner costs). Buying a larger printer is entirely a VCFed business decision, as it would either cost more than a few hundred dollars, or would be a result of some donation. But most signage would be 11X17 or smaller, and a dedicated printer/scanner for that class of work, at a few hundred dollars, would be a reasonable purchase if only to reduce use of a more expensive printer and its no-doubt more-expensive supplies. Translation: burn up a cuppa $200 printers instead of over-using a $1000 printer. and get a scanner while you're at it. By the way: a long time ago, didn't InfoAge have a professional class large printer on the premises, for large signage? Herb -- Herbert R. Johnson, New Jersey USA http://www.retrotechnology.com OR .net

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Amiga 1000 case
by Anthony Becker 05 Jan '16

05 Jan '16

Okay, I did send this out on the other list (at least I think I did, sometimes emails from my phone would go to limbo land) But I met someone at VCFE-X who has the GB1000 replacement motherboard for the Amiga 1000. I have an empty 1000 case. I probably took down their info but have no idea where it is, and if I took it down since things were so busy there I probably just wrote the email address and not what i wrote the address for. Think this was the person who was talking to me also about getting Amiga Unix on my 3000UX So hoping they are on this list. Contact me and we can arrange getting it to you.

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] January Workshop - Whats the plan
by Todd George 05 Jan '16

05 Jan '16

Yes! 1541's sound like a great plan. Some topics I'd like to suggest: - Proper care and feeding - Alignment - Speed Adjustment - Cleaning Additionally I will bring my "Bucket O' Parts", EPROM burner and related equipment, tools including desoldering gun (that reminds me, I need maintenance parts for that). I'll bring some cleaning supplies as well (99% isopropyl, and try to find some lint-free Q-Tips). I'll also bring a bunch of other Commodore stuff including diagnostic harnesses and whatnot. Does anyone have an alignment disk or two? Are they generally required or do people usually just use an oscilloscope with a factory produced original disk? Once we align can we then produce known-good alignment disks for others? Thanks guys. Can't wait!!! -Todd

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