March 2017 - vcf-midatlantic

VCF East -- Sunday night clean-up + beer
by Evan Koblentz 17 Mar '17

17 Mar '17

We'll need a hard-working, reliable crew of people to help clean up Sunday night when VCF East ends. There will be lots of hard work: don't volunteer if you're going to stand around and chat. VCFed will pick up the bar tab after. Email me off-list to volunteer. ________________________________ 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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I guess another Apple 1 is up for Sale
by mike willegal 16 Mar '17

16 Mar '17

When I first started the registry, remarkably few Apple 1s had been powered up in any recent timeframe. Since then, a lot more have been turned up, so to speak. I started just logging the most recent time each one had been known to be operated. Since replacement components are still available, I currently consider the number kind of meaningless, since with little to a lot of effort, any one of them could be operated. It's not like some vintage airplanes or cars, where some key components may not be available to repair a broken unit. regards, Mike Willegal

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Fwd: 10 times the donation, one-day only
by Evan Koblentz 16 Mar '17

16 Mar '17

Buy stuff on Amazon today: we get a bigger-than-usual small piece. :) -------- Forwarded Message -------- Subject: 10 times the donation, one-day only Date: Wed, 15 Mar 2017 10:09:13 +0000 From: Amazon.com <store_news(a)amazon.com> To: info(a)vcfed.org Amazon Celebrate Amazon's #1 ranking in customer satisfaction. <https://smile.amazon.com/gp/f.html?C=3BLXWMWSKGGS7&K=A3CY796Z8VGVDO&R=SEESE…> smile.amazon.com <https://smile.amazon.com/gp/f.html?C=3BLXWMWSKGGS7&K=A3CY796Z8VGVDO&R=SEESE…> Dear Vintage Computer Federation, Great news. We have an upcoming 1-day opportunity to drive additional AmazonSmile donations for Vintage Computer Federation Inc. The American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) surveyed over 10,000 customers to measure perceptions of quality and value across retailers nationwide, and Amazon ranked #1. In celebration of this recognition—and to say thank you to our customers for their support—on Thursday, March 16 only, Amazon will donate 5% (10 times our usual donation rate) of the price of eligible products customers purchase at smile.amazon.com <https://smile.amazon.com/gp/f.html?C=3BLXWMWSKGGS7&K=A3CY796Z8VGVDO&R=SEESE…>. This offer begins at 12:00 AM Pacific Time, and expires at 11:59 PM Pacific Time. On Thursday, March 16, share the message below on social media, your website, and in email to increase donations to Vintage Computer Federation Inc. (Please do not share this promotion outside your organization until Thursday, March 16.) /Amazon is celebrating its #1 ranking in customer satisfaction by the ACSI! Today, March 16, Amazon will donate 5% (10 times the usual donation rate) of the price of your eligible AmazonSmile purchases to Vintage Computer Federation Inc. Get started at smile.amazon.com/ch/47-4133714 <https://smile.amazon.com/gp/f.html?C=3BLXWMWSKGGS7&K=A3CY796Z8VGVDO&R=SEESE…>./ Today, your support goes 10 times further. <https://smile.amazon.com/gp/f.html?C=3BLXWMWSKGGS7&K=A3CY796Z8VGVDO&R=SEESE…> You received this e-mail because you are the registered contact of an organization enrolled in AmazonSmile. If you would like to view or change your organization's AmazonSmile account, please visit: org.amazon.com <https://smile.amazon.com/gp/f.html?C=3BLXWMWSKGGS7&K=A3CY796Z8VGVDO&R=SEESE…> © 2017 Amazon.com <https://smile.amazon.com/gp/r.html?C=3BLXWMWSKGGS7&K=A3CY796Z8VGVDO&R=SEESE…>, Inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Amazon, Amazon.com <https://smile.amazon.com/gp/r.html?C=3BLXWMWSKGGS7&K=A3CY796Z8VGVDO&R=SEESE…>, the Amazon.com <https://smile.amazon.com/gp/r.html?C=3BLXWMWSKGGS7&K=A3CY796Z8VGVDO&R=SEESE…> logo, Prime, Kindle Fire, and 1-Click are registered trademarks of Amazon.com <https://smile.amazon.com/gp/r.html?C=3BLXWMWSKGGS7&K=A3CY796Z8VGVDO&R=SEESE…>, Inc. or its affiliates. Amazon.com <https://smile.amazon.com/gp/r.html?C=3BLXWMWSKGGS7&K=A3CY796Z8VGVDO&R=SEESE…>, 410 Terry Avenue N., Seattle, WA 98109-5210. Reference: 230604120 Please note that this message was sent to the following e-mail address: info(a)vcfed.org

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this is CRAZY
by Evan Koblentz 15 Mar '17

15 Mar '17

Someone is selling a pair of untested twiggy drives. Bid is up to $20K. http://www.ebay.com/itm/122383386508 ________________________________ 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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EP385
by Mike Loewen 15 Mar '17

15 Mar '17

Although not as famous as the R.E.S.I.S.T.O.R.S. group in NJ, Explorer Post 385 in State College, PA was an early enabler of computer programming education to a large group of high school students from 1968 onwards. That is where I learned FORTRAN on an IBM 360/67, along with PL/1 and IBM 360 Basic Assembler Language. Here's a Town & Gown article from November, 1970 that talks about us: http://q7.neurotica.com/Town+Gown.pdf If you like, you can skip the cheesy science fiction short story and go directly to page 7. :-) Mike Loewen mloewen(a)cpumagic.scol.pa.us Old Technology http://q7.neurotica.com/Oldtech/

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check out the VCFed brochure
by Evan Koblentz 15 Mar '17

15 Mar '17

Drew N. designed a trifold brochure for us. We ordered a few zillion of 'em printed on glossy paper. Here are some pictures: http://vcfed.org/evan/brochure/front.jpg http://vcfed.org/evan/brochure/flap.jpg http://vcfed.org/evan/brochure/inside.jpg http://vcfed.org/evan/brochure/back.jpg We will distribute these everywhere the Federation goes: the museum, Festival(s), off-site demos, etc. .... thus we'll have some at Trenton this weekend. These brochures are Federation-wide, not just for our chapter. We'll send a big stack to our people our west and such. ________________________________ 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] this is CRAZY
by Jason Perkins 15 Mar '17

15 Mar '17

Lisa stuff has just gone up and up in value. If you want another shock, look up how much Lisa mice sell for. I've never seen a complete one go for less than $300. It took me over 10 years to find mine because I can't justify those prices. On a similar vein, the IR remote for the radio in my Mercedes gets an asking price of $200+ whenever one comes up. I know it's uncommon... but geeze! It's just a remote.... -J On Wed, Mar 15, 2017 at 5:20 AM Ben Greenfield via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> wrote: > I think the important thing is how to identify a twiggy drive from other > drives? > > > > On Mar 15, 2017, at 5:16 AM, Joseph Oprysko via vcf-midatlantic < > vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> wrote: > > > > OMG. That really is frigging ridiculous. > > On Wed, Mar 15, 2017 at 1:05 AM Evan Koblentz via vcf-midatlantic < > > vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> wrote: > > > >> The drives sold for $32,000. > >> > > -- > > 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? > > -- Jason Perkins 313 355 0085 Sent from my iPhone

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I guess another Apple 1 is up for Sale
by Christian Liendo 15 Mar '17

15 Mar '17

The Article mentions Mike Willegal http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-4311980/Working-Apple-1-auct…

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Off the Hook
by Evan Koblentz 15 Mar '17

15 Mar '17

I'll be on 2600's Off the Hook radio show on Wednesday, March 29 to talk about VCF East. The station is WBAI (Long Island). You can stream it at www.wbai.org. ________________________________ 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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8-Bit Generation - Jay Miner (and friends) devices
by John Heritage 14 Mar '17

14 Mar '17

I just watched the 8-bit generation video finally, narrated by the excellent Bil Herd :). Whoever here had a hand in putting that together, thank you so much! .. One take-away I have from this video I haven't seen/read elsewhere is that it seems like the only "Jay Miner engineered device" that was ever properly marketed by parent company was the Atari 2600? i.e. - Original Atari/Bushnell wanted to kill the 2600 kinda early - Warner Atari did a big marketing push in 1980-1981 and that made the 2600 super successful. - Neither Bushnell nor Warner seemed to know what to do with the Atari 400/800. You can see this in the initial high price, and also in locking out the system to developers early on (which imo is why it lost to the Apple II). - We all know the story of how Commodore didn't know what to do with the Amiga 1000.. And if you count the 3DO with RJ Mical and others as a descendant device, that too could have been handled better... Am I off the rocker here? There is some irony that the only Jay Miner device that was properly marketed was handled by "New York Blue Shirts"... I know the Amiga was a mis-managed device but I often feel like the Atari 400/800 deserves that award just as much as it was the first home computer to show the real benefit of custom chips, and at launch in 1979-1980 was way more powerful and capable than contemporaries.. John

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