November 2017 - vcf-midatlantic

TRS 80 Model II with printer and drive bay - Luray, VA
by william degnan 12 Nov '17

12 Nov '17

Anyone in the area of Luray, VA want a TRS 80 Model II with printer and drive bay, but no keyboard, may be incomplete? let me know privately and I can set you up with the guy Bill

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MS-DOS 1.25 software/Gazelle
by Richard Cini 11 Nov '17

11 Nov '17

All – One of my recent projects was to build a Seattle Gazelle replica based on the unit in the VFC collection. While doing this, I got to wondering about software for it. On Bitsavers, there is a program disk called “Perfect Writer”, a word processing program. Video is character-based, and the system doesn’t have a PC-compatible BIOS, so even though it runs MS-DOS, it can’t be that compatible. I have not seen the mention of a video board for the Gazelle, but I found the CompuPro PC-Video (a PC-compatible MC6845-based video board for the S100). If anyone has any info on this aspect of the history of the Gazelle, I’d appreciate it. Thanks! Rich -- Rich Cini http://www.classiccmp.org/cini http://www.classiccmp.org/altair32

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

11 Nov '17

A busier than normal Saturday. About two dozen visitors. Some were very interested and got the extended tour, some with moderate interest and some with light interest. I guess this time of the year is cold and dark and people want to do indoor activities. It's nice to be busy! Jeff Brace

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Festivus 2017 Parking Question
by Jeffrey Brace 10 Nov '17

10 Nov '17

There was a question about confusion on where to park for Festivus. I modified the VCF East map (crudely) to make it more clear: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1ThrnNAnAWsCz30Am7IvG8GS50YFOziHK This is InfoAge's Map: http://infoage.org/visiting/ You would park behind Q/R/S. If the ground is wet, then make sure to park on the blacktop and not the grass. Any questions, then let me know.

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Docents needed to signup for - Festivus 2017 - Saturday/Sunday Dec 9/10
by Jeffrey Brace 09 Nov '17

09 Nov '17

Even though we are celebrating Festivus, we still have to attend to our museum Saturday/Sunday Dec 9/10. We need individuals to take one hour to be docent during the Festivus weekend. The hours are 12-5pm both days. It will be super busy because of the holiday train show. Here is the sign up list: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1_Wrz46b7EJ1Rs-iZkRjcgocNqCRNECL9k1b… E-mail me privately with any questions.

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FESTIVUS 2017 - IMPORTANT INFO
by Jeffrey Brace 09 Nov '17

09 Nov '17

Here is the detailed Festivus information. I will send it out again the week of the event. *DATE:* December 9 & 10. *TIME:* START - 10 A.M. on Saturday and goes late into the night until everyone sleeps. END - 5 P.M. on Sunday. (Re-starts around 10 A.M. Sunday morning) *LOCATION:* InfoAge Building 9010-D - (2201 Marconi Road, Wall Township, NJ) - It will be straight ahead once you enter through the gate. The door is marked Sandy Recovery and is up the steps. *PARKING:* InfoAge management wants us to park inside the campus, in a neat orderly row, between the Festivus building and the hackerspace building. The holiday train show is going on, so we are discouraged from parking in the main parking lot, since they will be reserved for guests of the model train show. Do not cost IA money by leaving it open to confuse paying guests. Always close it behind you when you enter/exit, EVEN IF IT WAS ALREADY OPEN! *COST:* $10 for all members attending Festivus, which VCF pays to InfoAge to renting the space and buy food and supplies. $25 if you are staying overnight. See below for details. *EQUIPMENT:* VCF will have tables setup for food and games. We will have three full sized refrigerator to temporarily store food and drinks. We will be borrowing *my* propane grill to cook hamburgers and hot dogs outside. *DRINKS:* Everyone is encouraged to bring their own drinks and enough to share with others. Bring your favorite and put what you are bringing on the list: *FOOD:* VCF will be supplying hamburgers, hot dogs, condiments, plates, forks, napkins, cups. I will be posting a list of recommended items soon. You are encouraged to bring your own favorite good and put what you are bringing on the list: *IMPORTANT TO KEEP FOOD AND DRINKS IN THE CAFETERIA! THIS IS THE RULE OF THE FACILITY OWNERS.* *ENTERTAINMENT?* Ian: Vintage video games and boob tubes. Jeff Brace: Namco Joystick games, C64 Jostick Games, Intellivision Joystick Games, C64 with Super CPU and Metal Dust with optional PS2 controller, Cards Against Humanity!, Vectrex Evan: Will be entertaining us with his consternation. Nameless individuals: Burping, farting and snoring throughout the night. *STAYING OVERNIGHT?* Let me know if you want to stay overnight. The cost is $25. You provide your own mattress cover, blankets, pillows. There is a shower area, lounge, bunk beds, hot water for tea, microwave oven, toaster oven, keurig, coffee pot, ice machine, sink, cable TV, wi-fi. To get an accurate headcount, let me know as soon as possible that you are staying overnight and how many nights. There will be coffee, milk, cream, sugar and tea bags available as well. * BUYING, SELLING, FREEBIES :* You are allowed to bring items to sell and trade with specific individuals, but this isn't a hamfest where you get a table to sell your stuff. If you want to bring your stuff, you are encourage to post to the list what you want to sell/trade and set it up ahead of time with individuals. Anything you bring in and don't sell/trade, you bring home. We can set aside a freebie table as per traditional, but you *must* take your stuff home before leaving if no one takes it. *SIGN-UP LINK:* https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1odmPxfBK9BrR-NDZIx4_ c-V2lZpt_-vU-3fIBGiyrM4/edit?usp=sharing

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Museum of Modern Art Event: Thinking Machines: Art and Design in the Computer Age, 1959–1989
by Christian Liendo 09 Nov '17

09 Nov '17

I am going to check this out, but I think it's rather interesting https://www.moma.org/calendar/exhibitions/3863?locale=en Drawn primarily from MoMA's collection, Thinking Machines: Art and Design in the Computer Age, 1959–1989 brings artworks produced using computers and computational thinking together with notable examples of computer and component design. The exhibition reveals how artists, architects, and designers operating at the vanguard of art and technology deployed computing as a means to reconsider artistic production. The artists featured in Thinking Machines exploited the potential of emerging technologies by inventing systems wholesale or by partnering with institutions and corporations that provided access to cutting-edge machines. They channeled the promise of computing into kinetic sculpture, plotter drawing, computer animation, and video installation. Photographers and architects likewise recognized these technologies' capacity to reconfigure human communities and the built environment. Thinking Machines includes works by John Cage and Lejaren Hiller, Waldemar Cordeiro, Charles Csuri, Richard Hamilton, Alison Knowles, Beryl Korot, Vera Molnár, Cedric Price, and Stan VanDerBeek, alongside computers designed by Tamiko Thiel and others at Thinking Machines Corporation, IBM, Olivetti, and Apple Computer. The exhibition combines artworks, design objects, and architectural proposals to trace how computers transformed aesthetics and hierarchies, revealing how these thinking machines reshaped art making, working life, and social connections. Organized by Sean Anderson, Associate Curator, Department of Architecture and Design, and Giampaolo Bianconi, Curatorial Assistant, Department of Media and Performance Art.

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Connor!
by Evan Koblentz 09 Nov '17

09 Nov '17

Our own Connor K. is becoming more famous by the clock cycle! IBM made a video about him. It's about 40 minutes so make some popcorn and enjoy. https://t.co/u qb4kyi09g6 Connor, we hope to see you at Festivus.

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relaying the news: Oregon Train revisited
by Herb Johnson 09 Nov '17

09 Nov '17

> a playable version of the classic Apple ][-era adventure game > Oregon Trail to promote Oregon tourism. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Oregon_Trail_(series) Over the decades, I kept stumbling over implementations of this game; so it's caught my attention (I don't "game".) Most recently, I accidentally watched an episode of "Teen Titans", a current cartoon about DC comics teen heroes (essentially slacker teens with a clubhouse). It apparently started as a BASIC time-shared program in 1971. The basis of the game is "some research in some diaries of people who actually made the trip on Oregon Trail", from a 2013 interview of the first developer, in Minnesota. http://yesterthenfornow.kinja.com/an-interview-with-the-teacher-turned-deve… HMH IP Company Unlimited (parent of The Learning Company) a company that produces educational gaming, appears to have a current trademark for "The Oregon Trail", from 2017. Their IPO (stock offering) of 2013 lists The Oregon Trail as one of their premier titles. There's a current card-game, produced by Pressman, that's available at Amazon and Target. The diaries themselves, are historic documents, accumulated by various people and organizations; some are still held by families. In the 1970's, they were researched by authors and scholars. A Web search for "Oregon trail diaries" finds a few online, and discussion about them. http://www.oregonpioneers.com/diaries.htm http://www.octa-trails.org/articles/oregon-trail-diaries Herb Johnson -- Herbert R. Johnson, New Jersey in the USA http://www.retrotechnology.com OR .net

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RE: Digest, Vol 25, Issue 8, Slide Rules
by SVCatITC＠aol.com 09 Nov '17

09 Nov '17

Still have my Post ' Versalog ' model. I also, (in my picking travels) have found a hardcover instruction manual for it. (it originally only came with a paper instruction, long gone) Lost all knowledge of how to use since 1972! I have, on the bucket list, to relearn my slide rule, now that I have proper instructions. Bill Inderrieden In a message dated 11/8/2017 12:01:51 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, vcf-midatlantic-request(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org writes: Message: 4 Date: Tue, 7 Nov 2017 19:10:20 -0500 From: systems_glitch <systems.glitch(a)gmail.com> To: vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> Subject: Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Slide rules, lots and lots of 'em Message-ID: <CAA+dubJ6f3YVHtoZwmpDSi_a+jdR5bZ6bpCJj=swTFNHgtarEg(a)mail.gmail.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8" Wonder if they'll have any of the classroom sized ones -- Amy had one in their graduate office at RPI that must've been a yard long! Thanks, Jonathan On Tue, Nov 7, 2017 at 5:25 PM, Brian Schenkenberger via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> wrote: > Evan Koblentz via vcf-midatlantic writes: > > >Someone is donating 20 boxes of slide rules. He said some of common and > >some are rare/exotic. > > > >We'll keep the latter and probably sell many of the former at VCF East > >or whatever. > > Ooooo! I still have my K&E Log-Log Duplex Decitrig and case from my HS and > college days. I had a second one too (a short 8" SR) but I don't recall > the > make. I'll need to dig it out of the mothballs. ;) > ------------------------------ Message: 5 Date: Tue, 7 Nov 2017 19:41:20 -0500 From: David Gesswein <djg(a)pdp8online.com> To: Brian Schenkenberger via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> Subject: Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Slide rules, lots and lots of 'em Message-ID: <20171108004119.GA25333(a)hugin2.pdp8online.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii On Tue, Nov 07, 2017 at 05:25:43PM -0500, Brian Schenkenberger via vcf-midatlantic wrote: > > Ooooo! I still have my K&E Log-Log Duplex Decitrig and case from my HS and > college days. I had a second one too (a short 8" SR) but I don't recall the > make. I'll need to dig it out of the mothballs. ;) > I just missed being taught them. Did have my relatives slide rules in my 2016 VCF display. http://www.pdp8online.com/shows/vcfe16/pics/P1090150.shtml?small

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