February 2017 - vcf-midatlantic

Workshop and snow
by Jeffrey Brace 09 Feb '17

09 Feb '17

So the weather looks like there will be as much as 12 inches of snow in New Jersey starting in the morning and ending in the afternoon/evening on Thursday. The roads should be cleared up by Friday evening. As of now the workshop is still on. We will re-evaluate the condition of the roads early Friday evening and make a call as to whether it is still on or off. This is just on the off chance that we have a super snowstorm like we did 4 years ago with three feet of snow and it took two to three days to plow. Also if you have not signed up by midnight, then you are not guaranteed a table. I will send the workshop info out one more time tomorrow for those that missed it from previous e-mails. -- Jeff Brace - ark72axow(a)gmail.com

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QIC 20/40 cartridge drive
by Jack Rubin 08 Feb '17

08 Feb '17

Does anybody have a QIC 20/40 cartridge drive (preferably with a SCSI interface) that they can spare? This drive takes DC2000 cartridges. I'm hoping to adapt my HP 9825 and HP 85 to take these cartridges and would like an external drive for transfers. Thanks, Jack

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Using simH to make a real bootable RSX11/M 3.2 RL02 disk
by william degnan 07 Feb '17

07 Feb '17

Now that I have my PDP 11/40 running with twin RL02's I have been having fun with it by using simH to make disks and then porting them to an actual disk using PDPGUI program. Here's a good example, if you're looking to run RSX11/M on a PDP 11, I worked through a way to get it onto an RL02 drive. Version 3.2 will run on any PDP 11 with 64K, even 11/20. http://vintagecomputer.net/browse_thread.cfm?id=668 I skimmed the web for a week, plus got some ideas and suggestions from simH users. The hard part was to find a way to get an operating system only found on RL01 drives to an actual RL02 drive. Most people believe RSX11/M is better than RT-11 I don't know yet, I was more interested in the process of making disks using simH. There is a lot of potential to do disk and tape operations with simH that would be impractical with actual hardware as very few of us have the real things. I would love to run UNIX 6, but I have a bad extended instruction set card (EIS M7238) so I have to wait for that to get fixed before I can run UNIX :-( Bill

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Ideas needed: attaching our tablets to shelf poles
by Evan Koblentz 07 Feb '17

07 Feb '17

Everyone, None of my ideas for attaching a tablet to our shelving units have yet panned out. Following are * specific requirements *. - We need to install tablets vertically against the metal upright poles of our shelving units in the museum. (Poles are this style: http://tinyurl.com/zzz9rch but the tablets need to be against the vertical pole, not involving the actual shelves.) - The tablets (Insignia Flex 8) only cost $50. So we do not want an industrial mounting system that costs just as much or more. - The tablets need to be flush (more or less) to the poles, not sticking out. They do not need to be adjustable; in fact I'd prefer they are not adjustable. - The mounts don't need to lock, but they do need to be basically secure -- goal is to stop a visitors from casually walking away with one, not stop a determined criminal. - Must be non-ugly. This is a museum, not your workshop. My first plan was to buy hard-shell tablet cases and put pipe/conduit-style U-clamps on the back of them. But I wasn't able to find hard-shell cases that fit the dimensions of these tablets. Second plan was to use locks like the kind atop this stand: http://tinyurl.com/zfqx6yl (you only get the horizontal part on top and the locking mechanism). Figured we could adapt those to be installed on top of a piece of plexi or sheet metal, in the shape of a tablet, with the bottom bent up like capital J. But the lock thingamajigs do not fit our tablets. Third idea was to use something like this (http://tinyurl.com/zs6nkea) but they are too big for our tablets. Also they're ugly. I need new ideas. Some folks suggested attaching U-clamps directly to the back of the tablets, but that is permanent-ish. I don't want to do that. We need to solve this ASAP. I want to install the tablets in time for VCF East. ________________________________ 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

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Ideas needed: attaching our tablets to shelf poles
by William Dudley 07 Feb '17

07 Feb '17

Did no one look at the tablet mounts I built? http://www.dudley.nu/projects/tablet_holder/ They're easy to make from pvc pipe. Two "C" shaped ones could be used to hold each tablet, so that the tablets can't be removed. The mounts attach to the shelf verticals using hose clamps. A screwdriver (or nutdriver) would be needed to move or remove a tablet. Bill Dudley This email is free of malware because I run Linux.

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Android tablet drive imaging
by Evan Koblentz 07 Feb '17

07 Feb '17

It takes about 30 minutes to set up the tablets exactly as needed. Is there an Evan-proof tool to image the drive of the first device and copy it exactly onto the other ones (probably around 10 total).

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Free Atari 2600 Carts at Sunday's Workshop
by Adam Michlin 06 Feb '17

06 Feb '17

Hi Everyone, As Evan has mentioned, I'm working on inventorying the video game section of the warehouse and reducing redundancies. Rest assured we already have at least 3 copies of the below cartridges in the warehouse and we really don't need to have any more than that. It seemed best to offer the extra cartridges to the membership at large and I'll be at the workshop (I don't need a table, hi Jeff!) and we are happy to give them to a good home with a member free of charge. Here is what we have (all cleaned and tested): Empire Strikes Back (qty 2) (both w/label) Frogger (qty 3) (none w/label) Qbert (qty 1) (no label) I'm thinking first come first serve by sending me an email *privately* (please don't clog the list!). One cart per person for now, to be re-evaluated if there is sparse interest. First priority will be for people who can pickup on Sunday, but I'll try to figure something out if you can't make it and no one who can has claimed a remaining cartridge, so let me know if you are interested. Best wishes, -Adam

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Babylon 5 and the Amiga
by william degnan 06 Feb '17

06 Feb '17

Yup, Amiga toaster and related tools. I have a video about the making of...will post on you tube, or it may already be there, let me know if it's not. Bill Bill Degnan twitter: billdeg vintagecomputer.net On Feb 5, 2017 2:43 PM, "Jeffrey Brace via vcf-midatlantic" < vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> wrote: I decided to create a separate thread from the one about the workshop. Babylon 5 is off topic, but the Amiga is on topic. I wanted to explore how the Amiga was used to create the computer generated graphics on Babylon 5. The creator of Babylon 5 called it CGI (Computer Generated Imagery). The show used Amigas because it was really advanced graphics at a much lower price than a Silicon Graphics workstation or whatever was available at the time. Deep Space Nine was also on the air at the same time, but they must have used something much more expensive. Does anyone know which software was used? Do the computer models used still exist from the TV show or were they lost? -- Jeff Brace - ark72axow(a)gmail.com

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[OT] Stuff I'm Bringing, This Weekend
by J. Alexander Jacocks 06 Feb '17

06 Feb '17

All, I've got some things that are surplus to me, and I'll be bringing them with me, this weekend. I'm open to trade or sales, if anyone is interested: ZX Spectrum +3, fully working 1366x768 LCD panel, CCFL PowerBook 100 Series batteries PowerBook 500 Series RAM modules Sony VGN-SZ110 Laptop 3GB/160GB - https://esupport.sony.com/US/p/model-home.pl?mdl=VGNSZ110&LOC=3#/manualsTab IBM ThinkPad x230 Maybe some other stuff, I'll update the list if I find more items. I'm looking for a ZX Spectrum + 128, prefer non-working. Thanks! - Alex

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XT-IDE Slot 8 Support Writeups
by Systems Glitch 06 Feb '17

06 Feb '17

Two related writeups on adding IBM PC/XT 5160 Slot 8 Support to the XT-IDE cards: Building + rev 3 install: http://www.glitchwrks.com/2017/02/03/slot-8-support Rev 2 install + K3 hack: http://www.glitchwrks.com/2017/02/05/slot-8-xt-ide-rev2 This works on all XT-IDEs with ISA pin B8 present, which is all Rev 3 boards, I think all of the Rev 2 boards (with serial port), and some of the early rev 1 boards. Most of the production Rev 1 boards have ISA pin B8 removed to save on plating costs, so it's not applicable there. I still have one or two of the prototype boards left, if anyone wants a kit or assembled mod board. I'll be ordering more in the near future, so they're available for the VCF East XT-IDE workshop. Files haven't been uploaded to GitHub just yet, I need to go through them, should be up within an hour or so. Thanks, Jonathan

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