March 2017 - vcf-midatlantic

museum report
by Evan Koblentz 13 Mar '17

13 Mar '17

I started around 10 today. Dean couldn't make it, so I called Bill Dudley (he lives nearby). Fortunately he was able to come over for a few hours and help. Android itself and the kiosk app both had oddities which took us a while to understand. After emailing the app developer we finally got useful explanations. Now, all the tablets are running the kiosk app using a volume license key and they're all configured exactly the same (but I'll double-check that next weekend). Bill is going to come back one day this week and do some prep work on the steel mounting plates to prevent rusting. Next weekend, post-Trenton (Saturday afternoon), I'll bolt the plates to the shelf posts. Then we'll run the power cords, connect to the magic web page, and things will be golden. We kept busy with the tablet software all day; meanwhile there were some visitors. Two men in their 50-60s stopped by around 4pm and stayed until closing. They both did punch card processing in their college days. ________________________________ 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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Trenton update
by Evan Koblentz 12 Mar '17

12 Mar '17

Trenton Computer Fest is this Saturday at The College of New Jersey from 9am-5pm. Jeff B. and I are planning to arrive at 8am to set up the group table (or two) with our robot demos. Looking forward to seeing many of you there as we do every year. ________________________________ 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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Univac 1 memory
by Mike Loewen 12 Mar '17

12 Mar '17

We need this for the museum: www.ebay.com/itm/Univac-vintage-large-computer-Parts-only-AS-IS-/1624287669… Mercury delay memory from a Univac 1. Mike Loewen mloewen(a)cpumagic.scol.pa.us Old Technology http://q7.neurotica.com/Oldtech/

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Museum report
by Evan Koblentz 11 Mar '17

11 Mar '17

I arrived at the museum around 11 today. Tony stopped by to loan us his Laser 128 as a backup in case ours acts grumpy at Trenton next weekend. Martin also visited to give us the CNC'd mounting plates for our tablets. Jeff B. came over at noon. We made a plan for the outdoor VCF East signs. We also did recon around campus for tables/chairs to use at the show. Jeff brought over our new full-color trifold brochures. First time we ever had these. They look incredible. Huge thanks to Drew for designing them. Jeff then spent a few hours checking out some Commodore inventory in the warehouse. I stayed in the museum to clean the workbench area and play tour guide. There were three groups of visitors today: a couple with five or six kids, an older couple, and a father/son. The kids in the first group stopped to read every sign: I told them the signs will being replaced by tablets and they seemed excited about it. The husband in the second group said he was a Tektronox field technician for 20 years and that he'd met the founder Howard Vollum (who got his start at Camp Evans; for newer list members that's the Army base which now is the InfoAge Science Center, where our museum resides!). Father of the third group was a guy like many of us, mid-40s, who grew up on 8 bits and whose son learned Scratch. Naturally we showed him BASIC on the same computer his father hadn't seen in 30 years (C-64). Jeff and I went to Home Depot for sign materials and then to dinner. I spent another hour or two in the museum and began assembling the tablet mounting brackets. Each plate has two sets of brackets. Turns out a single set would have been plenty. Now we know. I'm staying over here at InfoAge tonight. Dean and Drew will be here tomorrow to help with tablet setup and stuff. ------------------------- 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] Sick Laser 128
by Jeffrey Brace 11 Mar '17

11 Mar '17

tlhIngan Hol Dajatlh'a'? On Fri, Mar 10, 2017 at 7:08 PM Christopher Blackmon via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> wrote: > taH Pagh taHbe' > > > From: william degnan via vcf-midatlantic < > vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> > To: vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> > Cc: william degnan <billdegnan(a)gmail.com> > Sent: Friday, March 10, 2017 7:06 PM > Subject: Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Sick Laser 128 > > On Fri, Mar 10, 2017 at 5:48 PM, Evan Koblentz via vcf-midatlantic < > vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> wrote: > > > and so it begins. > >> > > > > What's that supposed to mean? > > > > Shakespere > > > > -- Jeff Brace - ark72axow(a)gmail.com Sent from my Commodore 64

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Sick Laser
by Evan Koblentz 11 Mar '17

11 Mar '17

Someone on VC Forum pointed out something so brilliant that I wish I'd thought of it! The computer worked when I reassembled it, and the only difference was a left-out screw, therefore we can conclude the problem the screw was defective. Makes perfect sense. :) "If she weighs the same as a duck..."

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Sick Laser 128
by william degnan 10 Mar '17

10 Mar '17

Evan, The plan is to start with the big stuff and work from there. Test the voltages, see if anything is way off and obvious, burned out or completely dead (0V). I have found that for me, I have to get the schematic and measure everything on the board, compare with the schematic. I am not an engineer, it takes me 4x as long to figure out what's wrong. Mostly I am persistent and I just keep at it. I get more work done at home than at the workshops, I guess because I have everything here as I like it. B

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Sick Laser 128
by Evan Koblentz 10 Mar '17

10 Mar '17

I used the Laser 128 twice today. It worked fine. Now, there's no start-up beep and it displays junk text. Help! ________________________________ 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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Live auctions at VCF-East?
by Joseph Oprysko 09 Mar '17

09 Mar '17

Evan, I believe I suggested this idea last year, but I don't recall for sure. One ''event" I'd like to see at VCF-East would be a live auction event. There's often items that are either complete systems, or certain rare items that I know I would rather see performed as an auction as opposed to just 'for sale' in the normal sales room. I don't know if it would be too late to do that now for this year or not. I know I have a number of items I'd rather 'auction' off to either members or visitors to VCF-East. The specifics of the auction would likely be left up to the board to decide. (Lot size, percentage taken by VCF for facilitating the auction, etc.) I know there was times where I heard that 'someone will be selling X item' in the consignment room, only to get over there after getting my tables setup, etc, and see it's already been picked over like a corpse by a buzzard. But by setting a specific time, with a viewing of lots prior to the auction. It gives people a chance to purchase the specific item/lot. Thanks, Joe -- Normal Person: Hey, it seems that you know a lot. Geek: To be honest, it's due to all the surfing I do. Normal Person: So you go surfing? Normal Person: But I don't think that has anything to do with knowing a lot... Geek: I think that's wrong on a fundamental level. Normal Person: Huh? Huh? What?

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Info Needed: DATARAM DR-111 PDP-11 Unibus 16KW Core Memory
by Systems Glitch 09 Mar '17

09 Mar '17

Looking for any information and/or documentation on DATARAM DR-111 (assembly 61101) 16Kx16 core memory boards for the Unibus. I've got four in unknown condition, one with a clearly destroyed 8T37. I have a large format scanner with ADF and can digitize print sets if necessary. Thanks, Jonathan

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