October 2016 - vcf-midatlantic

VCFed BBS finally happening
by Evan Koblentz 13 Oct '16

13 Oct '16

Everyone, We've had various talk / starts / stops about an authentic-ish dial-up BBS through the years. Now it is finally coming true. The most recent plan was to use Asterisk, but that is overkill, a lot of maintenance, and would require an expensive telephony card. I asked Joe O. to research something better. He came back with this: http://www.excelltel.com/en/enproductslist.asp?id=612 It's an 8-port analog PBX with a GSM module. We bought it on Amazon for $98.49. Joe will connect this via modem to a PC running MajorBBS (possibly virtualized). We'll connect modems and vintage computers to the analog ports. Visitors and VCF East exhibitors/visitors will be able to dial in at 300-2400bps, hear the handshake, and connect to our BBS just like in the glory days. People can also telnet in directly to the PC thanks to our LTE modem, or they can call in remotely once we buy a GSM SIM card (to be considered after the main system is up and running). The PBX won't arrive until sometime next month because it shipping from China. Joe suggested that someone can draw the standard VCFed logo using ASCII art, and BBS users can watch it fly by a line at a time when they connect. I endorse that idea! Joe will answer any technical questions. Keep in mind we selected this approach because it's affordable, low maintenance, and the simplest way to reach the goal. Some people wanted us to use all period hardware, or modern servers that were WAY more than we needed, or a high-end PBX, etc. .... this one is "just right" for us.

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ansi art
by william degnan 13 Oct '16

13 Oct '16

Branching thread per Dan's comment about ANSI art. I have been messing around with this since I re-watched Jason Scott's BBS documentary this weekend. My goal was to get a RIP reader on my pocket chip handheld linux computer. Two days ago I spent some time in a coffee shop near my home connecting to telnet BBS's that have ANSI art. mewbies is a good starting point. I was having some trouble. What is the best terminal program using Debian Linux to read ANSI art RIP files, something one can call from the command line if possible? b

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Google spies on us! :)
by Evan Koblentz 13 Oct '16

13 Oct '16

I happened to check out the Google Earth view of InfoAge. Look at this screen capture: http://vcfed.org/evan/vcfcars.jpg I see a red Miata, blue pickup, white van... this has to be from VCF East, because it's too many cars to be from a workshop.

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Two munths 'til Festivus
by Jeffrey Jonas 08 Oct '16

08 Oct '16

Jeff Jonas shall attend!

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Museum Report
by Jeffrey Brace 08 Oct '16

08 Oct '16

Slow day at the museum, only two visitors on a rainy day. Interested visitor who wants to return when they have more time. It seems that there is so much to see at all the museums. Good for me, since I was tired from volunteering at Camp Evans Base of Terror last night. I will be at the museum tomorrow as well. -- Jeff Brace - ark72axow(a)gmail.com

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Tw months 'til Festivus
by Evan Koblentz 07 Oct '16

07 Oct '16

Festivus is my favorite event because it's the least work (and Jeff B. does most of it!)

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Good stuff available in northern NJ / southern NY state
by Herb Johnson 07 Oct '16

07 Oct '16

Of the items listed, I'd be interested in a QX-10 and incrementally less in a Kaypro. As there are several of these, asking for one each is modest and plausible. My guess is, there may be a distribution of these at Festivus, which I'll attend barring severe weather; if available sooner I'd pick up sooner. I'd expect to pay some amount some of which would go back to the original owner - that being the apparent terms announced. - Herb -- Herbert R. Johnson, New Jersey USA http://www.retrotechnology.com OR .net

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ISO: DECServer 550 Power Cord
by Systems Glitch 06 Oct '16

06 Oct '16

In another case of, "the right way, the wrong way, and the DEC way," it seems there's a special IEC cable used for DECServer 550s. Does anyone have one? It looks like a regular grounded IEC cable, but with a groove cut in the plug, opposite the ground pin. Looks like I could probably make do with a Dremel tool and a standard cable, but I thought I'd check first. Thanks, Jonathan

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] ISO: DECServer 550 Power Cord
by VAXman＠tmesis.org 06 Oct '16

06 Oct '16

Dave Wade via vcf-midatlantic writes: >Its actually standard, the high temperature version of the normal IEC >connector. It is rated to 120 degrees Celsius rather that 70 as the >normal lead.... .. in the UK we call them Kettle Leads as they are >commonly used on kettles... > >https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEC_60320 > >Dave G4UGM Say WHAT!?!?!? And miss an opportunity to malign DEC for its engineering.

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IEC power connector reference
by Dave McGuire 06 Oct '16

06 Oct '16

Since this is an area of perpetual confusion, I dug around a bit and found this very nice chart describing the IEC320 series of power connectors: http://www.stayonline.com/reference-iec320.aspx -Dave -- Dave McGuire, AK4HZ New Kensington, PA

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