December 2018 - vcf-midatlantic

If there are any left over CoCo's
by Neil Cherry 03 Dec '18

03 Dec '18

If there are any left over Tandy CoCo's let me know and I'll get them working and make use of them. Maybe a repair class in the CDL. I will make a donation for them. -- Linux Home Automation Neil Cherry ncherry(a)linuxha.com http://www.linuxha.com/ Main site http://linuxha.blogspot.com/ My HA Blog Author of: Linux Smart Homes For Dummies

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] HSC going out of business
by Evan Koblentz 03 Dec '18

03 Dec '18

>> Now, just so it's clear, I'm responding to this rather seriously. I certainly think something like this is possible, and would even take on a related project myself, but it would require a lot of support. VCF will not go into that field. We * used to * take all kinds of stuff. Nowadays we are highly selective and sticking to real policies about what we'll take and not take. On Sun, Dec 2, 2018, 9:17 PM m simons via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org wrote: > On Friday, November 30, 2018, 4:14:20 PM EST, Laura S. Reinhard via > vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: >Like the > goodwill idea. Or maybe a new nonprofit that serves such a purpose? Perhaps > some >people in this group could get the ball rolling (and hand off). > >> If we could talk goodwill into opening a science store here and there > with > >> all the strange stuff they send to Dell for recycling... > Isn't VCF and all the other groups at InfoAge mostly nonprofit groups that > get all sorts of weird electronics and stuff, some of which that are > surplus to find new homes for? > > Part of the problem is, of course, that 1) You need enough space, and > resources (human and otherwise) to make such a thing feasible and 2) Some > of what you would be getting in is essentially potentially hazardous waste > / ewaste that has some potential liability, and will cost some $$ to > dispose of properly if you can't find it new homes. > > Now, just so it's clear, I'm responding to this rather seriously. I > certainly think something like this is possible, and would even take on a > related project myself, but it would require a lot of support. > > (For the record, I've previously been a manager of a nonprofit materials > exchange, and I recently joined the board of a recycling nonprofit > organization in PA. It's certainly in our wheelhouse to do this, but we > need space, people, and funding.) > > --Michael S. > > >

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] UNIVAC Black Paper Tape
by Paul Birkel 03 Dec '18

03 Dec '18

Thanks Bill. The closed-loop nature makes me think of a NC tape that intentionally repeats a series of steps, perhaps as a station in a line operation. Don't believe that this particular seller has a particularly good reputation, either. Perhaps there was some late model UNIVAC system that might have been used to produce these tapes to then drive a sequencer-controller (assuming that there's anything UNIVAC'y at all about them)? -----Original Message----- From: vcf-midatlantic [mailto:vcf-midatlantic-bounces@lists.vcfed.org] On Behalf Of Bill Dromgoole via vcf-midatlantic Sent: Sunday, December 02, 2018 11:44 PM To: vcf-midatlantic Cc: Bill Dromgoole Subject: Re: [vcf-midatlantic] UNIVAC Black Paper Tape Good question Paul. To me its just ordinary black paper tape . Could come from anywhere and be from any computer. Would need to see any hand written pencil notes at beginning of tape to have a clue . It is the same format, that is eight level that we use on the 1219B but I doubt it is anything interesting especially at those prices. Bill Dromgoole From: Paul Birkel via vcf-midatlantic Sent: Sunday, December 2, 2018 6:38 AM To: vcf-midatlantic Cc: Paul Birkel Subject: [vcf-midatlantic] UNIVAC Black Paper Tape See eBay listings 113415388445 and 123521333211. I see no evidence of provenance. However what I do see appear to be cut from unusually heavy stock and in the form of closed loops. They appear to be 8-level (3-sprocket-5). Do these make sense for use on a Univac system? How so, and which system(s)? Happy Post-Festivus, paul

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] HSC going out of business
by m simons 02 Dec '18

02 Dec '18

On Friday, November 30, 2018, 4:14:20 PM EST, Laura S. Reinhard via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: >Like the goodwill idea. Or maybe a new nonprofit that serves such a purpose? Perhaps some >people in this group could get the ball rolling (and hand off). >> If we could talk goodwill into opening a science store here and there with >> all the strange stuff they send to Dell for recycling... Isn't VCF and all the other groups at InfoAge mostly nonprofit groups that get all sorts of weird electronics and stuff, some of which that are surplus to find new homes for? Part of the problem is, of course, that 1) You need enough space, and resources (human and otherwise) to make such a thing feasible and 2) Some of what you would be getting in is essentially potentially hazardous waste / ewaste that has some potential liability, and will cost some $$ to dispose of properly if you can't find it new homes. Now, just so it's clear, I'm responding to this rather seriously. I certainly think something like this is possible, and would even take on a related project myself, but it would require a lot of support. (For the record, I've previously been a manager of a nonprofit materials exchange, and I recently joined the board of a recycling nonprofit organization in PA. It's certainly in our wheelhouse to do this, but we need space, people, and funding.) --Michael S.

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UNIVAC Black Paper Tape
by Paul Birkel 02 Dec '18

02 Dec '18

See eBay listings 113415388445 and 123521333211. I see no evidence of provenance. However what I do see appear to be cut from unusually heavy stock and in the form of closed loops. They appear to be 8-level (3-sprocket-5). Do these make sense for use on a Univac system? How so, and which system(s)? Happy Post-Festivus, paul

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Hot CoCo! (yea!)
by Neil Cherry 02 Dec '18

02 Dec '18

So the poor, unloved CoCo I (one) I adopted lives. There was damage to the case but the main part is the motherboard and I see no damage and it boots into BASIC (8814 bytes of RAM available, yea). There's hope for a life of leasure and pampering as a Frankenstein (upgraded and running OS9). :-) For the other OS9 junkies: CoCoTalk has Allan Batteiger, General Manager of Microware, the owner of OS-9. https://youtu.be/_J6c31MBkhc -- Linux Home Automation Neil Cherry ncherry(a)linuxha.com http://www.linuxha.com/ Main site http://linuxha.blogspot.com/ My HA Blog Author of: Linux Smart Homes For Dummies

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It's the great Festivus Charlie Brown!
by Joseph Oprysko 02 Dec '18

02 Dec '18

I had a great time being able to get out to Festivus. It's been a while since I've been able to make it to any of the VCF events, and it was good to see everyone. Although things got a bit dangerous on the way home. About 30 miles inland I guess I that's where the barometric pressure changed rapidly. The road became a wall a fog, but the pressure change threw off my equilibrium and I had to quickly pull over as I almost passed out. If I had to describe what it felt like, I would think of being in a washing machine. So I had to spend 15-20 on the side of 195? Trying to regain my balance and deal with an almost instantaneous migraine-like headache. Luckily traffic was light. Well I hope everyone enjoys the holiday season. Joe

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OT - the guy that got the M100 from me
by dillera＠gmail.com 02 Dec '18

02 Dec '18

Nice meeting everyone last night, I had a blast. Quick note- I'm bad with names, so if the gentleman that grabbed the M100 from me last night will email me his address of list I'm mail him the back ROM plate which I just found at the bottom of a jar in box in a box that didn't make it out there yesterday. Hope to see everyone around at the next meet up and this time I will bring some locks that I have to try and pick. -andy D

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] OT: film photography
by Dave McGuire 02 Dec '18

02 Dec '18

On 12/1/18 3:27 PM, Laura S. Reinhard via vcf-midatlantic wrote: > True. I just can’t afford to work the way I love most. Working > digitally was great at first and still has many advantages > especially for making photomontage. But I miss the level of > control and patience that film took. I can’t even print my own > color prints from negs anymore. The machine simply does not > exist. (At least not operating). C’est les vis. I think this is pretty much universally the case when technological advances enable the general public to do something that was formerly the exclusive domain of either the highly trained, the highly talented, or the rich. It becomes commoditized. Not just the equipment, but the activity itself. I watched this happen with photography. I grew up in the 1970s; my mother was (and is, among other things) a journalist and a photographer. I grew up watching the incredible work she did, both at photo shoots and in the darkroom. It is art of the very highest order. Now everyone has digital camera. Everyone has a crappy one in their phone, and lots of people have good real ones. A lot has been gained; we can all take half decent pictures now, but a great deal has lost...almost nobody can take truly great pictures now. The general public now thinks of photography as "taking pictures"; and they don't understand the effort and talent that used to comprise nearly all of photography. It has been diluted almost beyond recognition by the advent of cheap digital cameras and the subsequent commoditization of the field. But when people see the work of, say, Ansel Adams, they say "WOW!" and sometimes wonder how he did that using such "primitive" tools. "No Photoshop, OMG!" Like other fields, the truly artistic side of it will be kept alive by people like you and my mother. Even just talking about occasionally, like here in this thread, it raises awareness and keeps it in the public consciousness. -Dave -- Dave McGuire, AK4HZ New Kensington, PA

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Al Lowe is selling a few items (LSL source code)
by Ethan O'Toole 02 Dec '18

02 Dec '18

Al Lowe threw a few items on eBay, including source code backup disks of two LSL games. This will be a fun one to watch! (I met him when he came to MAGFest a few years ago. Nice guy! Unfortunately he didn't bring his alto saxophone because he would have fit right in playing in the hallways.) https://www.ebay.com/usr/al_lowe?_trksid=p2047675.l2559

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