September 2017 - vcf-midatlantic

Museum report / Atari Party
by Evan Koblentz 14 Sep '17

14 Sep '17

Mixed bag today. Infoage hosted an NJIT alumni event around lunchtime, so we had many visitors from 1-3ish. Then it was dead. I closed early around 4 and went to Bill Lange's "Atari Party" at his home in central NJ. Couple of dozen people there enjoying videogames and food/drink. Glad to see many friends: Bill and his wife Lucy, Pete F., Amiga Bill W., and others who'd been to VCF East or who knew of us.

2 1

OT: Hurricane Harvey Relief
by Joseph Oprysko 14 Sep '17

14 Sep '17

To my friends in the VCF; My brother Jim who lives in Lumberton, TX and had everything he owned washed away and destroyed. His house was submerged under the flood waters for 4 days. He just got back to his property today. His home will need to be demolished and rebuilt from the ground up. He is literally rebuilding his life from scratch. He's a long time computer user and lost everything, including the loss of a number of vintage systems as well. I'm reaching out to my friends and compatriots, in hopes we can help him some. My sister and I setup a gofundme account to at least be able to help him with some of the necessities. While his vintage systems are probably the furthest from his mind right now, I'm hoping that we can come together and help someone in need. The most immediate needs are support so he's able to get food and medicine for himself, his wife, and his fur babies. (His pets). His house was covered by 119" for almost 4 days. (Yes, almost ten feet of water.) There is little, if anything salvageable. If you're able to help, please do. https://www.gofundme.com/household-recovery-fund Thank you, Joseph Oprysko -- 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?

1 0

[OT] DC-Area Workshop - September 16th and 17th - Middletown, MD
by J. Alexander Jacocks 14 Sep '17

14 Sep '17

All, Since VCF can't do a workshop, due to facilities usage conflicts, this fall, I'd like to offer to host a smaller workshop, at my house, in Middletown, MD. I have a 3-car detached garage of about 960ft^2 that we can use for the purpose. There is air conditioning, and a refrigerator, for drinks. I have plenty of power, and some table space. Please bring yourselves, your projects, folding chairs, folding tables (if you have them), and anything else that you might want. We will provide some drinks (but feel free to bring your favorite), and are willing to order lunch, based on the requests of the attendees. We have very limited space in the house, but talk to me, if you want to stay the night. There are hotels not so very far away. Date: September 16th and 17th, 2017 Time: Starting 10:00am Saturday, ending Sunday around 5:00pm Place: Alex's house, Middletown, MD Please RSVP, so that I know who is coming, and when. I'll provide directions directly to the attendees. I asked Evan, before posting this, to make sure that this wasn't going to conflict with VCF needs, as this is definitely NOT an official VCF event. Hope to see you here! - Alex

6 12

Maker Faire -- helpers?
by Evan Koblentz 13 Sep '17

13 Sep '17

Jeff B., Dean/Drew (part of the time), Mouse, and I are staffing the VCF table at World Maker Faire on September 23-24 in the NY Hall of Science (Queens). We won Make Magazine Editor's Choice awards there in 2014 and 2016. :) This year we're making a BASIC learning lab. We are setting up four computers (Apple //c, for convenience) and we'll guide kids through a script every 30 minutes in a formal presentation. We even bought a small amplifier and wireless microphone (thanks Jeff B. for doing the research). It'll be pretty cool. We could use more helpers. People who are extroverts, good teachers, good with kids, will represent us professionally, and are reliable. In exchange you get a free full-weekend Maker Faire ticket. Email me off-list if you're interested. ________________________________ 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

Oracle finally kills off Sun
by Adam Michlin 12 Sep '17

12 Sep '17

Dear List, Long since barely even a shadow of what it once was, but it seems Oracle has finally officially killed off Sun. Particularly saddening is the decision to not open source Solaris. RIP Sun Microsystems.... https://meshedinsights.com/2017/09/03/oracle-finally-killed-sun/ -Adam

7 7

OT: Source for IBM mainframe part
by Ethan 11 Sep '17

11 Sep '17

Howdy, Have a friend looking for an IBM mainframe part: It's for an IBM DS6800 1750-511. It is a controller card with an IBM part number of 22R6154 Any pointers on a where to look for such an item used? Any leads appreciated! - Ethan

1 0

Zynq Projects
by Support 10 Sep '17

10 Sep '17

I am in need of a programmer to help with some Xilinx Zynq based projects. Think Z-turn Lite connected to ISA bus. One ARM will run Linux and one without OS to allow real time processing. The idea being to allow services in Linux or devices on the Z-turn to be connected and passed to the ISA bus using code on the ARM. Pays a few hundred dollars per step in the proof of concept projects. Not a huge amount if you do this professionally, but I'd much rather give the funds to someone here than someone on freelancer.com. If interested reply off list. Thanks! Henry S. Courbis Office Toll Free: (800) REACTIVE (732-2848) Office/Mobile Direct: (856) 779-1900 www.ReActiveMicro.com <http://www.ReactiveMicro.com> - Sales, Support, and News, Our Headquarters on the Internet ReActiveMicro.com/wiki - Support, Software, Manuals, and History. Create your own page today! Facebook.com/reactivemicrousa - Our Social Media Outlet and Support

2 1

semi-OT: caps with a fuzz layer on them
by william degnan 09 Sep '17

09 Sep '17

Generally I assume when you see leaking or bursting it could very well have gone bad or it's on the way out... Take a look at the attached photo. Note how the rest of board's components are clean, but a number of the 103K50 caps (10x10^3 pF) have a white fuzz. I never saw this kind of leaking before. Hope it's not too toxic. I am going to test one to confirm and then remove them all and replace them all. BTW - this is an logic control board for a foot synthesizer that I am repairing. Bill

2 1

Re: [OT] DC-Area Workshop - September 16th Digest, Vol 23, Issue 7
by SVCatITC＠aol.com 08 Sep '17

08 Sep '17

Sorry Alex; I have conflicts that weekend. I wished I could attend, however, VCF chores are still tied to the EAI TR-20 restoration in the museum. I would have brought the beginnings of my exhibit for ' East 2018 in May, however that also is a bit slow to get off the ground. Too many components to rifle out of the warehouse on such short notice. Many other 'life' stuffs more important to do. Sorry again. Bill Inderrieden Message: 1 Date: Wed, 6 Sep 2017 12:04:07 -0400 From: "J. Alexander Jacocks" <jjacocks(a)gmail.com> To: vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> Subject: Re: [vcf-midatlantic] [OT] DC-Area Workshop - September 16th and 17th - Middletown, MD Message-ID: <CAF-r0Y1yDhDcX-R2bSo4Jt_YvUXPSejWVfuR5dN5W_ECJzzjLw(a)mail.gmail.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8" Anyone else interested? I still have 1+ confirmed. I haven't heard from most of the usual DC area folks. If you can't come, can you tell me why, so that I can tailor this better, in the future? Is it: 1. too far (Middletown, MD) 2. bad date choice 3. not interested in a non-Infoage workshop 4. other, please specify Any information would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! - Alex

1 0

4116 DRAM
by Mike Loewen 07 Sep '17

07 Sep '17

If any VCF Midwest attendees have some spare 4116 dynamic RAM, I could use a couple. Anything 200ns or faster should work. Please reply off-list. Thanks! Mike Loewen mloewen(a)cpumagic.scol.pa.us Old Technology http://q7.neurotica.com/Oldtech/

2 1