November 2017 - vcf-midatlantic

Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Bicycle pump for VCF handcart
by VAXman＠tmesis.org 25 Nov '17

25 Nov '17

Jeffrey Brace via vcf-midatlantic writes: >Can anyone bring a bicycle pump for the tires in the VCF handcart? The >tires are getting flat. When do you need it?

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Wanted: PC with Double Density floppy support
by Jim Hart 25 Nov '17

25 Nov '17

Please ignore if this is inappropriate for this list. I am in need of a PC that supports 360k floppy disk drives. I have the drive so I just need a machine that supports them in the BIOS. I am trying to use Image Disk and Teledisk to create actual floppies. If anyone has one for sale or knows of one please contact me off list at jim(a)jimhart.org. Thank you, -Jim Hart Sent from my iPhone

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January and February workshop dates, any conflicts?
by Jeffrey Brace 25 Nov '17

25 Nov '17

Are there any other events in January or February that I should avoid for planning a workshop? I want to book some dates soon.

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Museum Report 2017-11-25 November 25, 2017
by Jeffrey Brace 25 Nov '17

25 Nov '17

Lots of visitors today, maybe 2 to 3 dozen. Seems to be a busy time of the year with people doing indoor activities. Various ages and levels of interest. One girl even took 30 minutes to do a really cool dragon drawing using Paint on the Windows 3.1 machine. While the "boring" adults talked about cool stuff on the Commodore 64, she was doing a really nice drawing. Dean stopped by to drop something off. I tried the SuperCPU with an Atari joystick, but it doesn't work well enough for Metal Dust. I need to find a power supply for the PSX-64 to try a Playstation controller. Or try another Atari joystick or another manufacturer of the joystick. I would love to get my Playstation Joystick controller. It is a laptop version that really works well to mash the fire button.

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Galaga Challenge at Festivus
by Jeffrey Brace 25 Nov '17

25 Nov '17

I challenge anyone to a three game battle on Galaga. We each play three games and add up the scores. Highest score wins. I'm awesome at this game. I can beat anyone! Who accepts?

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micros in business (was early recollections, apple /// cobol)
by Jeffrey Jonas 24 Nov '17

24 Nov '17

A friend who is a CPA bought an Apple ][+ to run his business from home. He used VisiCalc (the first "killer app"). It was a lot more versatile than the huge Burroughs that was on display for a long time. In 1982, I worked for a small company that specialized in dental office automation using a TRS80 model 2 with extension floppy drives and daisy wheel printer to print insurance forms. It also handled appointments, reminder cards, etc. Around 1984, I noticed an unused Apple Lisa 1 (with Twiggy drive!) at a client. That was my first word processor! I used it for my documentation. No manual or training needed! Just poke around and things were quite natural! Dow Jones Telerate explored using single board computers and touch-screen terminals for their newswire service. Newswire services were not afraid to make custom hardware such as ISA interface cards. This was before ALL hardware became "just a commodity". Not just COTS but downright disposible :-( A friend who worked at a large scale printer remembers Syquest drives using Apple/iMac formats were the primary media/format for submission. The artistic community still favors Apple platforms. I attended a trade show for broadcasters. Apple notebooks/tablets are now used in lieu of cameras and for video editing in the field. -- jeff jonas

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Bicycle pump for VCF handcart
by Jeffrey Brace 24 Nov '17

24 Nov '17

Can anyone bring a bicycle pump for the tires in the VCF handcart? The tires are getting flat.

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festivus
by william degnan 24 Nov '17

24 Nov '17

Ian, I have picked up from Fran in Balitmore a vax station 3100 that uses one of those VR 260 displays I gave you, with the special video connector. http://vintagecomputer.net/digital/VR-260/ I no longer have the display so the VaxStation is of no use to me, interested in it? If so I will bring to Festivus. Or, if you don't really care about the display bring it so I can use it here, I can give you a trade for the display, I am sure I have something we can trade. vintagecomputers are basebal cards. Bill

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apple /// cobol
by Herb Johnson 23 Nov '17

23 Nov '17

> anyone use apple /// cobol, used it back when . ... Waterloo Cobol for the SuperPET There were a number of 8-bit COBOLs. CP/M versions in particular. I only used it on mainframes, and not much at that. I glanced at SuperPET stuff recently. Didn't a lot of SuperPET stuff require the 6809 card? So it "ran" as 6809 code. Pure 6809 systems (SS-50 based) were semi-popular in the era. - Herb -- Herbert R. Johnson, New Jersey in the USA http://www.retrotechnology.com OR .net

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Cards Against Humanity, Ideas for blank cards for, at Festivus, I ask you
by Jeffrey Brace 23 Nov '17

23 Nov '17

I'm soliciting ideas for what to print on all them blank cards that Cards Against Humanity provides. Any suggestions? E-mail them to me privately as this game is in the South Park realm of humor ;) Remember there are black cards (question) and white cards (answers).

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