December 2017 - vcf-midatlantic

Qualstar 3412S on Ebay
by Mike Loewen 19 Dec '17

19 Dec '17

There's a Qualstar 3412S 9-track tape drive on Ebay, in Rochester: 13243878889 The nice thing about this model is that it handles: 800bpi NRZI R/O 1600bpi PE 3200bpi DPE 6250bpi GCR However, 800bpi NRI is read-only. The seller indicates that the unit is untested, but maybe someone could convince them to at least power it on to see if it passes the self-test. Assuming it works, this would be a good unit for someone looking for a versatile 9-track drive. Mike Loewen mloewen(a)cpumagic.scol.pa.us Old Technology http://q7.neurotica.com/Oldtech/

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1 Adam 12, meet the man at IBM
by Jeffrey Jonas 19 Dec '17

19 Dec '17

Who is this mysterious "Adam" who helps in the warehouse? An item needs to be located. Please respond directly to me.

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Jason Scott talks about the recent Commodore discoveries
by Mark Whittington 18 Dec '17

18 Dec '17

For those that don't know, Jason Scott has recently started a Patreon funded weekly podcast project. I recommend checking it out and sponsoring it if you find it interesting and have the means. https://www.patreon.com/textfiles The Dec. 8 podcast talks about the recent discovery of the collection of Commodore stuff in PA. I've linked to it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLKd3B7TJE8

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FS: Early Processor Tech S-100 Extender
by systems_glitch 18 Dec '17

18 Dec '17

link: https://www.ebay.com/itm/272987996882 This one looks to be quite early, it carries a 1975 copyright and uses the older military style S-100 socket. The socket is VERY tight, like new Sullins connectors. If you have loose connectors in your motherboard, you'll likely have to remove the extender and separate the board and extender outside of the card cage. There's a small chip in the S-100 socket, as shown in the pictures. I've used this extender in my IMSAI and tested it at full speed with a RAM board, on a terminated backplane. Thanks, Jonathan

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FS: Newtech Computer Systems Model 6 rev B Music Board for S-100
by systems_glitch 18 Dec '17

18 Dec '17

link: https://www.ebay.com/itm/272987932493 Just finished checking it out by the manual, works fine! This little board is a 6-bit DAC, amplifier, and speaker on a little S-100 board, and allows your S-100 machine to make sounds. It's apparently pretty good for a 6-bit DAC, there are videos on YouTube of other hobbyists playing samples taken from various audio sources using the Model 6 -- at least, I was surprised that it sounded as good as it did. Set up for the default port of 0x24 and using the internal speaker. Don't really know what they're worth, so feel free to submit an offer! Thanks, Jonathan

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Festivus Pics
by Christian Liendo 18 Dec '17

18 Dec '17

Anyone have Festivus pics? I was not able to attend

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paging Joe Herdler
by Dave McGuire 17 Dec '17

17 Dec '17

Hey Joe, did you see my private email from several days ago? Everyone else...sorry for the noise. -Dave -- Dave McGuire, AK4HZ New Kensington, PA

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Museum report
by Evan Koblentz 17 Dec '17

17 Dec '17

Today was the last day of the Infoage holiday train show. Busy! Several families came through our museum all day long. We also have a group of about 20 college kids who are volunteering with the Sandy relief organization. Various member visitors today -- Corey/Jeremy, Tony, and Don all stopped by. ________________________________ Evan Koblentz, director Vintage Computer Federation a 501(c)(3) educational non-profit evan(a)vcfed.org (646) 546-9999 www.vcfed.org facebook.com/vcfederation twitter.com/vcfederation instagram.com/vcfederation

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FS: MITS 1K Static RAM Board, Fully Populated, Repaired/Tested/Working
by systems_glitch 17 Dec '17

17 Dec '17

link: https://www.ebay.com/itm/272986862278 Picked this one up in a larger lot of S-100 boards. The address jumper area was a mess, the soldered wire links were removed and replaced with machine pin socket pins. It's currently addressed to start at 0x0000. This one has a pretty low serial number, from what I've seen the earliest boards had no serial number at all, but this one is the lowest out of the handful of 1K boards I've personally seen, which were all in the 400-500 range. I have it listed starting at $1 as I have no idea what it's worth. If someone desperately needs this particular board (i.e. based on the serial number) for their system, send me an offer off-list and I can end the auction for you. Thanks, Jonathan

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adjunct to bitsavers and Library of Congress?
by Jeffrey Jonas 15 Dec '17

15 Dec '17

old news to us but good to see it in the spotlight: https://boingboing.net/2017/12/15/back-up-back-up-back-up.html A deep dive into the race to preserve our digital heritage [copying up data from old media, using virtual machines to emulate the required legacy operating system, applications and such to access the data formats]

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