December 2016 - vcf-midatlantic

Items needed for modern history exhibit
by Evan Koblentz 18 Dec '16

18 Dec '16

Here are things we still need for the modern history exhibit: - Small calendar - Standalone address book - Dictionary - Navigational compass - Any handheld game console - Photo album - Ordinary telephone We need these things sooner rather than later. All should be straightforward and on the small side -- nothing weird or large, please. :)

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Museum Report - 18-Dec-2016
by Todd George 18 Dec '16

18 Dec '16

Really busy day at the museum. I honestly lost count/improperly tracked the number of people, but it was easily 20+. Most of them were there for the Model Train Exhibit. Quite a few had previously seen our exhibit in the prior location. Interest levels varied from low to high. I even walked someone through signing up for the local chapter mailing list. I filled in a few details about the club side of things and gave them a tour. :) There were quite a few other visitors, all of which I'd classify as "low to medium" levels of interest. One gentleman was there with his daughter (?) whom was a bit impatient, so I gave him a relatively quick tour. He was very interested, but she was not. I also took in a donation of some Tektronix gear. See ya! -Todd

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Electric Dreams
by Duane 18 Dec '16

18 Dec '16

Be thankful his name was not Alexander Graham Siren... George Carlin -----Original Message----- From: william degnan via vcf-midatlantic Sent: Sunday, December 18, 2016 3:24 PM To: vcf-midatlantic Cc: william degnan Subject: Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Electric Dreams Ha ha Bill Degnan twitter: billdeg vintagecomputer.net On Dec 18, 2016 3:21 PM, "Jeffrey Jonas via vcf-midatlantic" < vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> wrote: > I accidentally downloaded Western Electric Dreams > but I was interrupted by phone calls :-) >

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Electric Dreams
by Jeffrey Jonas 18 Dec '16

18 Dec '16

I accidentally downloaded Western Electric Dreams but I was interrupted by phone calls :-)

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Electric Dreams
by william degnan 17 Dec '16

17 Dec '16

Watching Electric Dreams tonight b

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Museum report
by Evan Koblentz 17 Dec '16

17 Dec '16

IA opened at noon today for the train show. I didn't get there until 1:30 because of the weather. We had about 15-20 people come through. Pretty good condering the river of slush between our building door and the front building.

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40th's
by william degnan 17 Dec '16

17 Dec '16

There are a lot of other computers that have a 40th this year. Northstar Horizon comes to mind, but many others. Plus PDP 11/04 /34 /45 /55. Atari 2600....

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SASI Hard Drive Controllers
by william degnan 17 Dec '16

17 Dec '16

Related to my post yesterday, I have a SASI XEBEC 104526 rev 4 that works ok when there is a fan blowing on it but overheats after a while. It controls a SASI external hard drive used by a Visual 1050 computer. OK, I will look through the electronics and replace failing components and sure it up. Seems like the typical course of action for an XEBEC and other (SASI) external controllers. I am also thinking about the CBM 9090 and related 5-10Mb drives. 35 years in, they all seem to be failed or failing. Similar XEBEC controllers for things like IBM PC's seem to have fared better. Why? Or just a coincidence? Is there a common component that fails more often in SASI controllers but not IDE and others of the era? I know the history of SASI/SCSI and I have some XEBEC docs. I can research further on my own, but maybe someone who actually supported these back when they were new has some casual knowledge to pass along. How reliable were these when they were new/current? Bill

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Anyone have a hardcopy of "More Basic Computer Games"
by Corey Cohen 17 Dec '16

17 Dec '16

I’m trying to run “TICKERTAPE” on my Altair so I can punch out some holiday paper tape. Problem… I don’t have a copy, I’ve been trying to decipher the image on the atari archives site, but I can’t seem to get it to work. The image is really bad and I’ve had to guess on a few things. If you have a hardcopy, can you please take a high resolution photograph with a camera or your phone and email it to me. I want to send the paper tape in with my kids to school on Monday morning. Thanks, Cheers, Corey

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Anyone have a hardcopy of "More Basic Computer Games"
by Duane 17 Dec '16

17 Dec '16

Corey, I can't help on the BASIC program, but you might be able to help me. The attached file is the output of a program I wrote last year to run on a 1219B computer and punch text into paper tape. I hand encoded the data from a character generator data sheet (TB62713). I don’t have a punch so I have not been able to check / debug the program. It runs on my emulator. If you have a way to send it to the punch, let me know of any problems. Duane -----Original Message----- From: Corey Cohen via vcf-midatlantic Sent: Friday, December 16, 2016 3:35 PM To: vcf-midatlantic Cc: Corey Cohen Subject: [vcf-midatlantic] Anyone have a hardcopy of "More Basic Computer Games" I’m trying to run “TICKERTAPE” on my Altair so I can punch out some holiday paper tape. Problem… I don’t have a copy, I’ve been trying to decipher the image on the atari archives site, but I can’t seem to get it to work. The image is really bad and I’ve had to guess on a few things. If you have a hardcopy, can you please take a high resolution photograph with a camera or your phone and email it to me. I want to send the paper tape in with my kids to school on Monday morning. Thanks, Cheers, Corey

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