October 2017 - vcf-midatlantic

Head align Tape
by Duane Craps 16 Jul '18

16 Jul '18

>>> 7 track or 9 track? The Univacs are pretty old even for "vintage". Head alignment tapes are not track specific. They have one track the width of the tape and are used to adjust time delays to time align the bits coming off the read head when reading the alignment tape. Then a "scratch tape" is used while writing all ones to adjust the write delays while looking at the read amps. We used the same alignment tape for 7 and 9 track units. Duane On 6/17/2017 11:40 AM, Dave McGuire via vcf-midatlantic wrote: > 7 track or 9 track? The Univacs are pretty old even for "vintage". On 6/17/2017 11:40 AM, Dave McGuire via vcf-midatlantic wrote: > On 06/17/2017 11:37 AM, Herb Johnson via vcf-midatlantic wrote: >>> UNIVAC 1540 Magnetic Tape Unit...I wonder if anyone has a 800 BPI, >>> NRZ Master Head Alignment Tape (skew tape) to donate to VCF. >> 7 track or 9 track? The Univacs are pretty old even for "vintage". >> >> Also, as Dave McGuire noted, a lightly-used tape from a known-good drive >> will be useful. In the floppy-disk world, I use several diskettes each >> from a known good drive to validate "alignment". > That wasn't me. But yes, that can be useful for rough validation. > >> Seems to me, there's likely several boxes of mag-tapes in the inventory. > Yes, I brought a few boxes several years ago. > > -Dave > v

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Need someone for InfoAge front desk
by Jeffrey Brace 23 Dec '17

23 Dec '17

All InfoAge groups are now required to cover the InfoAge front desk each Sunday in a rotation. It is VCF's turn. I need to be docent at VCF. I can't do both at the same time. It's a pretty simple job. I've tried for weeks to get someone to take this, but have been so far fruitless. If you are interested and available, then please e-mail me privately.

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Festivus - important!
by Evan Koblentz 03 Nov '17

03 Nov '17

Everyone -- please sign up sooner rather than later for Festivus (Dec. 9-10) - it's vital that we know how many people are going so Jeff B. can get the right amount of food and stuff. Last year we ran out of burgers. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1odmPxfBK9BrR-NDZIx4_ c-V2lZpt_-vU-3fIBGiyrM4/edit#gid=0

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IBM PC near-compatibles
by Herb Johnson 01 Nov '17

01 Nov '17

NEC APC, the 8-inch floppy 8086 machine. I have one too, not powered up in some years. "gasoline powered clothes iron" _ don't have that. Seems entirely reasonable to me. Many clothes irons were heated in fires, or one put coals in them. It's another discussion to talk about these. My point was, items that fell out of favor just at product introduction, become rare and potentially collectable; sometimes as contrary items. Various mechanical calculators? same considerations. It's been interesting, as people have mentioned their favorite MS-DOS non-IBM-PC's. Herb -- Herbert R. Johnson, New Jersey in the USA http://www.retrotechnology.com OR .net

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Festivus - important!
by VAXman＠tmesis.org 31 Oct '17

31 Oct '17

Drew Notarnicola via vcf-midatlantic writes: >>I'll bring ribs again IF I can make it and some beer too. >What a hero. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdWHsaly-XU FWIW, I missed October's RR launch because I drove nearly all the way when I then realized I'd forgotten to pack my motor casings. I'll miss November's because an old DECUS friend is getting married and I've been invited to his ceremony. Therefore, December's launch is the last this year and I want to make that one. If the weather IS NOT conducive to a launch, I'll make ribs and attend sometime by the late afternoon/early evening.

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Festivus - important!
by VAXman＠tmesis.org 31 Oct '17

31 Oct '17

Jeffrey Brace via vcf-midatlantic writes: >The reason I chose December 9 & 10 was because it originally conflicted >with World of Commodore, which was originally scheduled for December 2 & >3. I try to avoid conflicts with other events. I had asked back in June >for people to specify which dates they wanted. I had limited response, >so I chose a date. For some reason World of Commodore was rescheduled to >Dec. 9 & 10. The best laid plans of mice and men ... So, now you can move it up a week! :)

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Festivus planning
by Ian Primus 31 Oct '17

31 Oct '17

As usual, I am planning to attend Festivus, and bring my usual van full of televisions and assorted video game consoles. I'm trying to get things ready earlier this time, so, does anyone have anything in particular they would like me to bring, so I can try to plan better? -Ian

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Museum Report 2017-10-29 October 29, 2017
by Jeffrey Brace 30 Oct '17

30 Oct '17

A slow day at the museum due to pouring rain all day. We did get 6 visitors with mild interest. Mouse was at the InfoAge front desk. Thanks so much for filling in for VCF! It is much appreciated!

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Festivus - important!
by VAXman＠tmesis.org 30 Oct '17

30 Oct '17

Evan Koblentz via vcf-midatlantic writes: >Dec. 9 in the morning until Dec. 10 in the evening. We don't really >advertise it to the public. This is the group holiday party. It's our >only purely social event of the year. I may and I may not be there. Moving the party a week closer to Christmas this year causes me some conflicts. It'll all depend on the weather on the 9th if I can make it. Inclement weather -- I can be there. Nice weather -- I'll be flying. I'll bring ribs again IF I can make it and some beer too.

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] IBM PC near-compatibles
by Earl Baugh 30 Oct '17

30 Oct '17

Following up on two things. I have a NEC machine (nicknamed the "Herniator" because of it's weight) that came to me via Kyle that is a PC near compatible that has 8 inch drives. Runs MS-DOS. It at least, I'd say, is a little interesting. I don't know of many other MS-DOS compatible machines that ran off 8 inch floppy. And in theme with Herb's kerosene powered fan, I actually own a gasoline powered clothes iron. Looks like a regular small iron but is gasoline powered. Seriously. Earl

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