May 2017 - vcf-midatlantic - lists.vcfed.org

Re: [vcf-midatlantic] COBOL: vintage vs. legacy code
by VAXman＠tmesis.org 15 Sep '17

15 Sep '17

"Joseph S. Barrera III via vcf-midatlantic" writes: >On Mon, May 22, 2017 at 7:53 PM, Jeffrey Jonas via vcf-midatlantic < >vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> wrote: > >> Java and all its variants and environments, > > >I've been writing Java for almost 20 years and fully expect to be >writing in it for another 10. I've been writing assembly for 40+ years and fully expect to be writing it for another 10+. ;)

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WiFi RS-232 Internet Modem
by Paul Rickards 24 Jun '17

24 Jun '17

I've created a WiFi RS-232 Internet modem that plugs into a 25 pin RS-232 port and emulates the Hayes AT command set. It allows you to use your retro computer or terminal to dial "dial" BBSs online. More info here: http://biosrhythm.com/?page_id=1453 Contact me privately if you have questions. Cheers, Paul twitter: @paulrickards

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OT - Live streaming / podcasting from VCF
by Martin A Flynn 18 Jun '17

18 Jun '17

OT Warning: One of the other InfoAge Teams (disclaimer I'm helping) is setting up a podcast / livestream studio at IA. The studio has a decent audio chain and will be able to stream to a commercial provider. Anyone interested in hosting a segment live from VCFE XIII? If so, email me directly to keep the chatter off the main list Martin

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Commodore 64 curb find, need power supply
by Jason Perkins 04 Jun '17

04 Jun '17

Thanks Alexander! That sounds ideal! -J On Wed, May 24, 2017 at 8:07 PM Alexander via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> wrote: > Nice score! > > I believe I have a spare C64 PSU from a bricked machine that won't be > needing it. You are welcomed to it. > > You're over in Springfield, right? I'm not far away, if you want to stop > by the Merrifield area, it's yours at your convenience. > > -Alexander 'Z' Pierson > > Sent from my pocket telephone. > > Jason Perkins via vcf-midatlantic < > vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> wrote: > > >Last week I was driving through my neighborhood and spied an electric lawn > >mower by the curb. When I walked back to nab it, by eye caught a Commodore > >logo on a box. I thought to myself "Surely there's not commodore equipment > >inside." Turns out it was a never opened MPS-801 dot matrix printer! > >Everything, even the original ribbon, was in its packing. > > > >Well, this warranted a closer look at the other curb items. Nearby was a > >long box lid, with 2 items in plastic bags. One bag contained 1541 drive, > >and the other an original style C64. Both with plastics in perfect > >condition! The C64 has an "A" revision motherboard. > > > >I've never had a C64, so I figure this is worth a play :) It didn't come > >with a power supply though. Does anyone have an extra they want to sell? > >I'm just outside DC if that makes a difference. > > > >Thanks! > > > >-- > >Jason Perkins > >313 355 0085 > -- Jason Perkins 313 355 0085 Sent from my iPhone

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Wifi232
by william degnan 02 Jun '17

02 Jun '17

Yesterday I got one of Paul Rickard ' s WIFI232 devices and I should say, Well Done! It's perfect for vintage computing. Plunk one on most any serial port and you're all set. Great documentation and features too. There is even a built-in wifi access server function. I tested on a vt240 last night to connect to telnet bbs and other telnet sites ATDT towel.blinkenlights.nl [enter] ATDT IP address of BBS Etc. http://biosrhythm.com/?page_id=1453 Bill Degnan twitter: billdeg vintagecomputer.net

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COBOL
by Evan Koblentz 02 Jun '17

02 Jun '17

Relax: I don't intend to learn COBOL. :) Lots of tech reporters are writing stories about why COBOL is dead/obsolete. They're wrong. I am writing a story about COBOL's merits, roadmap, etc. -- already working on setting up some interviews with people in the ISO standards community, IBM, and so on. Here's a specific question for you guys. The page at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_compilers#COBOL_compilers lists lists nine COBOL compilers. Other than IBM and Gnu, which are the most common ones used in industry? (banks, federal agencies, etc.) ________________________________ 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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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] COBOL: vintage vs. legacy code
by Jeffrey Jonas 31 May '17

31 May '17

My dad's happily retired for about 25 years now. Some of his COBOL IBM mainframe code is STILL IN PRODUCTION. Why? Because of the investment of untold man-YEARS of effort, debugging and diligence to yield nearly bullet-proof code. Because the code implements algorithms and logic that's no longer documented or understood by anyone else. Porting code introduces new bugs, thus IBM's captive audience with all the new mainframes ALWAYS being "backwards compatible". > It's not obsolete as long as it's *not* too much trouble to maintain. There's a whole wild and wacky world of backwards compatible retrofits to "legacy systems". Screen scraping interfaces new apps to programs that still think they're talking to 3270 "green screen" terminals. Dave McGuire: > Organizations are using it for a reason: > It's the right tool for their job, > based on whatever criteria they've set forth. FORTH? Did somebody say FORTH :-) Most of my dad's career was writing COBOL programs. I'll never have that stability in today's "language of the month" club: Perl, Python, Go, Ruby on Rails, Java and all its variants and environments, ADA (before it was a fruit), FORTRAN/RATFOR/WATFIV, ... -- Jeff Jonas

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Sphere 1
by Evan Koblentz 29 May '17

29 May '17

Sellam Ismail is looking to sell his Sphere 1 (missing CPU card) for $4K OBO. He's at sellam.ismail(a)gmail.com. It would be wonderful if someone could buy this and donate it to the VCFed museum. Someone offered to replicate the CPU card for us if that happens. Anyone can send me a PM here or email to evan(a)vcfed.org if you're interested in helping us. Please note that we are not looking for donations to buy the computer ourselves. We have a policy prohibiting artifact purchases regardless of the source of funds. ________________________________ 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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testing ... ignore
by Evan Koblentz 29 May '17

29 May '17

________________________________ 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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Animated graphic needed
by Evan Koblentz 28 May '17

28 May '17

Some of our museum info kiosks, aka the cheapest Android tablets available, are showing signs of burn-in from the VCF logo screen saver. I don't know if this is literally old-fashioned "burn it" or some other technical issue. Quick search reveals un-burn apps that display many colors etc. to undo symptoms. Anyway, to prevent this from happening on all of our tablets, we should make a screensaver more elaborate than the current one (our "ectoplasm" logo on a black background). Please note that the screensaver is a web page with an image; the kiosk app requires this vs. loading an image directly. Can someone make a version of our logo that does things such as fade in/out, bounce around, spin, etc.? I don't think HTML5 video would work because some of the tablets use older Android 4.4. ------------------------- 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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