August 2017 - vcf-midatlantic

OT: Solar Eclipse sunglasses -- legit, better and still cheap
by Dan Roganti 17 Aug '17

17 Aug '17

This is a better option and it doesn't cost much, only $6 its not the gimmicky stuff that you see sold in stores, and its the same material specified for welding masks to filter the solar light. It's the same specification used by astronomers for their telescope equipment but these are welding goggles, so it's light weight and costs less, These are found at Harbor Freight and other places with tools pass it on https://www.harborfreight.com/welding/welding-helmets/2-piece-welding-goggl… <https://www.google.com/url?q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.harborfreight.com%2Fwelding%…> -- _ ____ / \__/ Scotty, We Need More Power !! \_/ _\__ Aye, Cap'n, but we've only got 80 col's !!

5 8

What's a good way to upgrade my Amiga 1000
by Dan Roganti 17 Aug '17

17 Aug '17

What's a good way to upgrade my Amiga 1000. I like to get it setup which would let me download Amiga software online and transfer the files to my A1000 as I do with my C64 and Apple][. Is there something like the uIEC with the SD card from Jim Brain at Retro Innovations. This is the best one I've seen so far. Here you just swap the SD card after you download any software online, and pop this into the uIEC plugged into the C64. I still use it together with my cross-platform dev when coding new stuff. or is it more like ADTPro for the Apple][ by using the serial cable I heard it's a lot easier to find something for the later models which don't rely on Kickstart disks. Dan -- _ ____ / \__/ Scotty, We Need More Power !! \_/ _\__ Aye, Cap'n, but we've only got 80 col's !!

2 2

Museum report
by Evan Koblentz 16 Aug '17

16 Aug '17

We had a few scattered visitor groups today. I got a parts bin at Harbor Freight and put it on the workbench. Bottom few rows are now full of screws and nuts and bolts and washers. Not as impressive as IXR's electronic components :) but at least it cleans up our workbench. The majority of the bin drawers are empty for future use. I noticed that two of our 15-ish tablets were misconfigured. They were set to get content from a folder on vcfed.org rather than from the Pi on our local network. I fixed that. Every few months someone from the Infoage board hosts a meeting for the various group leaders. There was one such meeting tonight. One of the highlights: Infoage got a grant to install ADA-compliant ramps for all the public buildings on campus. That includes our museum building ("9010-A" in Infoage parlance from the Army days). I think it will be installed in the next few months. ________________________________ 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

1 0

Simple 3D Printable case for WiFi232
by John Heritage 16 Aug '17

16 Aug '17

I made a very simple 'slide in' sleeve case for the WiFi232 modem in case anyone is interested. It does not fully enclose, but at least keeps the electronics off of your desk surface, and leaves plenty of room for the USB and RS232 connectors, and to push the button. The plastic does cover the solder in point for power, but the sketchup file is there if you need to change it. ~ 827mm of 3.0mm plastic required. https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2486879

2 1

DC600 mag tape cartridges available
by William Dudley 15 Aug '17

15 Aug '17

I have a box of 49 DC600 (maybe some DC300's in there) cartridges, plus one tape head cleaner cartridge. Some have been used to backup my MSDOS system back in the 90's. Some have labels on them suggesting that they contain UNIX-y things for Sun computers. That may or may not be true. I will bulk erase the MSDOS backups. If anyone is interested in these tapes, contact me. I won't want money for the tapes, just money to cover shipping, if needed. Bill Dudley Jackson, NJ This email is free of malware because I run Linux.

1 0

Mac SE coming to Workshop
by william degnan 12 Aug '17

12 Aug '17

I am picking up a MAC SE model 5011 with a bad SCSi HD (I am told) on the way to the workshop Saturday to play around with. Not sure if anyone is into these I think the hard drive is bad because it needs a new Apple sticker on the side. I have found if you replace the sticker the computer fixes itself.

15 25

Museum Tour 2017-08-11 August 11, 2017
by Jeffrey Brace 12 Aug '17

12 Aug '17

A group of forty-five children (about 8 years old) from Camp WOW (I believe through Children of America) came to InfoAge to tour all the museums. They were split into two groups. They all seemed to enjoy the museum. It's nice to have large groups to show off the museum. They were interested, well behaved and asked a lot of good questions. -- ======================================================== Jeff Brace ========================================================

4 4

Found this in the side of a NeXT monitor.
by Douglas Crawford 11 Aug '17

11 Aug '17

http://imgur.com/6cxLW3x

1 0

IBM 3740 FM Disks and Catweasel
by william degnan 11 Aug '17

11 Aug '17

Anyone who cares... Using my XOR S-4 S-100 computer I built IBM 3740 disks (SDSS) tonight. I had to replace a cap near the 7812 and one of the 1488 drivers on the CPU I/O card first, to get the system to work, but after that I was all set. 128 bytes 26 sectors per track, ~241K capacity. There were a lot of disk formats back then, I had to double check I was building the right thing as the old systems are flexible yet cryptic. So, should I attempt to build or image disks using the catweasel MK4 as the drive controller I have an actual disk to play with, or image disk. The XOR S-4 system I am using has Mitubishi M2896-63-02U drives, they're 8" DS/DD and the disk controller uses a 1795 FDC chip. The computer with the Catweasel has a Tandon 848. I'll post more details on my site as I make progress with photos. Bill

1 0

Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Mac SE coming to Workshop
by Adam Rosen 11 Aug '17

11 Aug '17

Useless historical tidbit: SE was short for System Expansion. It was the first compact Mac with an expansion slot. That six slot Mac II was beyond the reach of mere mortals (or at least undergrads). At that time in the Mac world having even one expansion slot was a big deal… Unfortunately 30 years later, the same pain persists… > On Aug 11, 2017, at 9:10 PM, Jeff Brace <jeffrey(a)vcfed.org> wrote: > > I love my SE/30 because I got a Daystar Accelerator which allows hookup to a color monitor and also makes it 40Mhz! Loved it! > > On Fri, Aug 11, 2017 at 6:06 PM, Adam Rosen via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org <mailto:vcf-midatlantic@lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org>> wrote: > Actually correcting myself: the SE/30 is a 16MHz 68030, not 30MHz. (Damn human memory issues…) It also has a 68882 math coprocessor, which the standard SE does not. > > -- > ============= > Jeff Brace

1 0