November 2018 - vcf-midatlantic

Surplus books @ Festivus
by Evan Koblentz 11 Dec '18

11 Dec '18

We have too many books!!! Today I put aside 10 full boxes. There will be many more. I don't think much else will get done before Festivus, but we'll keep putting the pallet of surplus books out for perusal at the winter workshops. Same rules as at VCF East: $1/pound, minimum $1 charge, no fractional increments, and you only get the actual box if you buy a whole box worth. We'll need a postal scale to make this work. ________________________________ Evan Koblentz, executive 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] OT: modern cloud services
by Dean Notarnicola 02 Dec '18

02 Dec '18

* > I think there are a few things we can probably agree on: > 1) "cloud computing" is a silly buzzword for saying "their computing (server) environment and equipment" as an alternative to. "your computing (server) environment and equipment". * No, I can't agree to that. "your computing (server) environment and equipment" does not the features and capabilities that would qualify them as true cloud infrastructure with elastic, on-demand, resources. You can, however, build this into your infrastructure if desired. *> (I personally think silly buzzwords like this enforce magical thinking and a lack of understanding.) > 2) There are pros and cons for both maintaining in-house servers, as well as using online cloud services. Probably some combination of both is ideal for many organizations. * Agreed *> 3) hosting all our data elsewhere gives many of us pause for many reasons.* It should. Don't trust the hype. Understand your requirements and heavily scrutinize any potential offerings. On Fri, Nov 30, 2018 at 2:47 PM m simons via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > Ditto, about all of the stuff about not knowing as much as everybody on > all the different issues related to cloud computing and why one IT > department or C-level executive may make one decision over another. > > I think there are a few things we can probably agree on: > > 1) "cloud computing" is a silly buzzword for saying "their computing > (server) environment and equipment" as an alternative to. "your computing > (server) environment and equipment". > > (I personally think silly buzzwords like this enforce magical thinking and > a lack of understanding.) > > 2) There are pros and cons for both maintaining in-house servers, as well > as using online cloud services. Probably some combination of both is ideal > for many organizations. > > 3) hosting all our data elsewhere gives many of us pause for many reasons. > > That being said, I've got a server rack and a large stack of older servers > burning a hole in my pocket looking for something good to do with them. > > Any suggestions? Any interest? > > --MS > > > > >

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Festivus Video Games
by jsalzman＠gmail.com 02 Dec '18

02 Dec '18

I'll be bringing a couple vintage board games: Electronic Arcade Mania https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/4624/electronic-arcade-mania and OMNI https://technabob.com/blog/2017/08/11/milton-bradley-omni-8-track-game/ So it's time to brush up on your 70s and early 80s trivia and LED light chasing skills. On Fri, Nov 30, 2018, 5:46 PM Alexander via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org wrote: > I was able to grab a few cartridges from my 2600 collection. Didn't have a > ton of space to bring the lot of it. > > Mario Brothers, Gorf, Spacewar, Crystal Castles, Joust, Warlords, Miss > Pac-Man, Tele-games Auto Racing. > > -Alexander 'Z' Pierson > > > Sent from my pocket telephone.

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Snipe-It
by Martin Flynn 01 Dec '18

01 Dec '18

On 11/29/2018 2:18 PM, Evan Koblentz via vcf-midatlantic wrote: > >> Eric, >> >> Quick question - how well does the current version of Snipe-It run on >> Ubuntu Server 18.04.1 LTS on top of ESXi? >> >> Might be usable to track stuff in the Makerspace (also at Infoage in >> Building 9059) > > I don't know if they have a server version. We were shopping for a > cloud-based product. local version is free - I'm willing to spin up a server to save $399.00 a year

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how about a lovely vintage printer for that computer :-)
by Jeffrey Jonas 01 Dec '18

01 Dec '18

I have some things that need adoption, starting with a lovely Panasonic KX-P1124 24 pin dot matrix printer. Come on, upgrade from that 9 pin printer already!

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Kind of OT: RS-485 to DMX-512
by Martin Flynn 01 Dec '18

01 Dec '18

Trying to get a lighting controller to talk to 1986 vintage microprocessor based lighting control packs. The PHY layer of DMX-512 (lighting control protocol) is RS-485. Anyone have code samples that could be used as a starting point, or should I break down & buy the USB to DMX-512 cable?

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Snipe-It
by David Gesswein 01 Dec '18

01 Dec '18

On Fri, Nov 30, 2018 at 02:20:31PM -0500, Tony Bogan via vcf-midatlantic wrote: > But I quickly learned that this group of men and women are as happy to impart that knowledge and experience onto others as they are to discuss it with their peers in their respective fields. Getting us to stop imparting our knowledge may be the harder trick.

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HSC going out of business
by Bob Applegate 01 Dec '18

01 Dec '18

I got an email overnight from HSC, at one time known as Halted Electronics, about their going out of business. They were the classic electronics surplus stores with bins full of dusty components and strange secrets sitting on top of each other. The last time I was in Silicon Valley, I stopped there and grabbed some S-100 prototyping boards (they had dozens of them), and looked through their collection of other S-100 boards. They had a fair amount of other vintage computing stuff too. The web page can’t possibly show everything they have, but it’s worth a look: https://www.halted.com/commerce/index.jsp I have no involvement with them except as a customer. Always great people to work with. Bob

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Festivus Video Games
by Alexander 01 Dec '18

01 Dec '18

I was able to grab a few cartridges from my 2600 collection. Didn't have a ton of space to bring the lot of it. Mario Brothers, Gorf, Spacewar, Crystal Castles, Joust, Warlords, Miss Pac-Man, Tele-games Auto Racing. -Alexander 'Z' Pierson Sent from my pocket telephone.

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] OT: modern cloud services
by Mike Loewen 01 Dec '18

01 Dec '18

On Fri, 30 Nov 2018, Laura S. Reinhard via vcf-midatlantic wrote: > "I may be opinionated and say things with conviction..." You and Evan will get along famously. :-) ...ducks and runs for cover... Mike Loewen mloewen(a)cpumagic.scol.pa.us Old Technology http://q7.neurotica.com/Oldtech/

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