January 2017 - vcf-midatlantic

Workshop Important Info 1/14 & 1/15, 2017
by Jeff 11 Jan '17

11 Jan '17

I *may* be able to come for a while Saturday, but probably wouldn't need a table. If I do I could bring my Fluke 9010a or any other specialty crap I have for any troubleshooting anyone needs to do, and generally I'd be there to offer comic relief and help anyone else with projects. JeffG (aka Bags)

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Have to cancel for Saturday
by Neil Cherry 11 Jan '17

11 Jan '17

;-(Waaaaa) I'm going to be working on Saturday so I can't attend. -- Linux Home Automation Neil Cherry ncherry(a)linuxha.com http://www.linuxha.com/ Main site http://linuxha.blogspot.com/ My HA Blog Author of: Linux Smart Homes For Dummies

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BSD ports to vintage
by william degnan 11 Jan '17

11 Jan '17

Starting new thread reply to my post about the Next OS ... Was the Nix port to the DEC Rainbow supported officially or did they bless it but not support it? An exhibit about Berkley UNIX / BSD micros with the focus on the drive for a lower-cost yet powerful-enough machine, leading to the Next Cube might be interesting. There were attempts to port crappy Nix's onto machines that did not have the power to really support them. The early articles about the i386 touched on "finally" we have something that can run UNIX on a micro. Bill Degnan twitter: billdeg vintagecomputer.net

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] re Lisa Xenix exhibit
by william degnan 11 Jan '17

11 Jan '17

> > Hi Jason: > > So like I said on the maillist, I think this is cool. I look forward to seeing it. > > I've been trying to work towards some Xenix representation in my collection. > Nothing there yet... I thought I might get a TRS-80 Model II there but its a big undertaking. > For the me fact that in the face of Linux it appears its one of the mistakes of Microsoft to > not stay involved with the Unix OS is historically very interesting. > Now on the Lisa... wow... a foreshadow of NextOS and OSX too! > Is there any testimony supporting that this could have been a seed > for Job's job's to look to Unix as the basis of NextOS after leaving Apple? :O > > I usually try to convey some historical significance in my exhibit... and had > to with my past "Spread Sheet" exhibit. Spreadsheets have NO flash. > I sidestepped that reality with the "what if spreadsheets had come to us on a Cosmac ELF" > Hope the ideas help you see some other ways to consider the "interestingness" of > what you have there. > > -DC I think you are onto something interesting with an exhibit of the milestones that lead up to the Next OS, but you'll find that its path did not much involve the Lisa. Attempts to connect a hacked toether Lisa Xenix to the Berkley BSD variant that became the Next OS is a bit of history in hindsight. Even if you have Xenix running on the Lisa what about networking to do something useful with it, using what was available at the time, without having to develop something new? I think Lisa Xenix was an afterthought OS not what the manufacturer intended, kind of like efforts to put MS DOS on the Commodore B Series machines by adding an 8088 coprocessor. For this increasingly hypothetical Next OS exhibit, one could walk through dev milestones that lead to the Next OS as the end point. Show a Next Cube plus one or two earlier BSD UNIX micros, workststions, minis if you coukd find them. What the Next OS represented was a cheap UNIX machine, less than $10,000 was a pretty big deal at the time. Problem for exhibit...The early UNiX workstations are very rare, few have caught on yet that these are worth saving, many have been trashed. A Perq would be nice or an early Motorola mini. This is an area that deserves more attention. Bill

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re Lisa Xenix exhibit
by Douglas Crawford 11 Jan '17

11 Jan '17

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OT: Lab/Scientific hotplate needed
by Joseph Oprysko 11 Jan '17

11 Jan '17

I have some chemical and biological tests I need to run in my apartment. But I am woefully short on the supplies. Most I can pick up relatively inexpensive, tubes, graduated cylinder, etc. but I need a hotplate with good temperature controls to ensure the validity of the tests. Would anyone happen to have one lying around (in the Philadelphia area) Thanks, Joe -- 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?

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System 36 Terminal for $1200 or a Commodore 64.
by Christian Liendo 10 Jan '17

10 Jan '17

http://newjersey.craigslist.org/sys/5949282727.html So he thinks the terminal is worth $1200 or one of the computers below. I don't understand him, but maybe one of you might want to call >From the advertisement Willing to accept cash or trade ins of the following computer gear any condition: 486, 386 286 186 8086 Intel / tandy jr, IBM Tandy Radio Shack, trs-80 Apple II, IIe, II+, Franklin Commodore 64, 128 Dragon 32 Atari ST / STE / Falcon / MegaST Atari 800 / 400 TI-99 4a Cartridge based Systems NEC turbo Graphics / PC engine Sinclair. Z-80 Amiga 500, Amiga 1000, Any Commodore Amiga

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Osborne 1 Craigslist
by Joseph Oprysko 10 Jan '17

10 Jan '17

Here's something if anyone is interested. He's asking 200, but would likely take $150. Manuals, modem, etc. http://cnj.craigslist.org/sys/5917864959.html -- 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?

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Looking for an SSD to SCSI bridge compatible with DEC
by Matt Patoray 09 Jan '17

09 Jan '17

Hi all, I am looking to get my AlphaServer 2100 back online, since it's winter here in Ohio and I would not have to worry much about heat. I am looking for a bridge that uses an SSD and has a 50 pin SCSI output and can be configured to work with DEC. Matt Sent from my iPhone

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C116 on Ebay for the Commodore Team
by william degnan 09 Jan '17

09 Jan '17

You guys watching this boxed C-116? Getting pricey. Ebay: 252707357480 Bill

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