March 2018 - vcf-midatlantic

OT: Free CD printer available
by Kelly Leavitt 29 Mar '18

29 Mar '18

I have an extra RIMAGE Everest III printer for free if anyone wants it. Goes to the recycler Friday if no one wants it. You can come to Sparta NJ to pick up or I can bring to VCF. I do not have the driver CD, but I do have 5 sets of thermal ribbons for it. Here's what it looks like: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hr7YdWLi0Ds <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hr7YdWLi0Ds>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbkSl3YO7pk I just have the printer. The robotics system went up in smoke and has already been recycled. vcfed and Infoage have first dibs.

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Interesting article about preserving Apple software (not hardware)
by Christopher Gioconda 29 Mar '18

29 Mar '18

Admittedly I'm a Commodore guy, but this link about Apple software preservation was shared in a Commodore group on Facebook. It made me think about our recent conservation conversation, and I had a realization it isn't just about hardware. Software mediums, like floppy diskettes and tapes, are falling victim to entropy and require efforts to preserve them in new ways that are more durable and futureproof. Anyway, here is the link: https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/gv39mx/programmers-are-racing-to… Chris

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Museum report today
by Tony Bogan 28 Mar '18

28 Mar '18

Left work early so I could finally pant that section of wall in the museum white to match the rest of the walls in the museum (where I had removed and closed off the old door last year) Stopped at the front desk and let them know I'd be in the museum for a couple hours before I had to go back to work in case anyone stopped by. Well, ended up not getting any painting done as I had half a dozen visitors come through between 1:30 and 3:30 (the only time I had to paint!) The first visitors were a husband and wife that were very interested. They are both programmers and they started their careers on punch card systems. They took the full tour and asked lots of questions. They were also very interested in VCF East coming up. The next two visitors were individuals that came one after the other spaced about a half hour apart. Both gentlemen asked lots of questions. They were mostly interested in the micros since those were the machines they get up using (one had a trs 80, the other an apple II) The past couple were a mother and teenage son. Their interest level was extremely high, and the mother used to work for xerox from the late 80s through the early 2000s. They stayed long after the tour asking lots of questions. I showed them the videos I have of Bill Dromgoole working in the Univac and then ended up telling them everything bill has taught me about its use and inner workings. They too showed interest in VCF East. So the wall is still the same color as it was before the day started! I was disappointed at first that I could not get the work done (Wednesdays are usually dead) but in the end it was a great day with some of the most engaged people I've had while at the museum. Tony Sent from my iPhone

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OT: 60s/70s/80s Lithography tech
by John Heritage 28 Mar '18

28 Mar '18

Off topic -- Some interesting pictures/info on 1960s-1980s (and before/after) silicon litiography technology : http://www.iwailab.ep.titech.ac.jp/pdf/iwaironbun/2015iitb.pdf A few examples: Pic of a 64kb DRAM wafer from 1979, 1k SRAM 2 inch wafer from 1974 wafer yield chart from 1974-1975 for 1kbit SRAM 1906 Vacuum tube, pic of 1947 Bipolar transistor 1970 Intel 1kbit dRAM, and 4004 CPU die pics

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Preview: museum plans for this weekend
by Evan Koblentz 28 Mar '18

28 Mar '18

Jeff B. is back from hiatus and will be our decent this Saturday. Adam and I will also be there to work on the network and other things. Laura will be there to paint the third UNIVAC pallet. Infoage is closed Sunday due to most of the staff observing Easter.

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More vcfed in Hackaday
by Evan Koblentz 28 Mar '18

28 Mar '18

Found this article from last week. Pleasant surprise! I didn't know Hackaday would be at Trenton. They featured us at the beginning of the article. :) https://hackaday.com/2018/03/23/hackaday-visits-worlds-oldest-computer-fest…

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OT -- URGENT -- Thunderbird help needed
by Evan Koblentz 28 Mar '18

28 Mar '18

I've got a huge problem. I use Thunderbird on my Linux desktop. Made a backup copy of the profile folder before wiping the partition and reinstalling Linux the other day. Imported the backup profile into the new installation. All of the IMAP folders worked fine, but my POP folders are broken. The messages appear to be there in the folders, but they're blank when I open them (except the sent folder: that is missing entirely). This includes my entire inbox of personal email containing thousands of messages, many of which are very important, and some of which are absolutely vital. Tbird has a "repair folder" option but all that did was erase everything include the message list (got it back by reimporting the profile folder again). Here is someone else who had the same problem, but no solution is listed: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1024340 .... can anyone help? (Please don't tell me that I "should" have made another kind of backup, or that I should switch all folders to IMAP going forward, etc. ..... that will NOT help solve the immediate problem and will just make more stressed/angry.) Any tbird whizzes out there who can save all these messages???? This is urgent.

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HealthKit ET-3400?
by Joseph Oprysko 28 Mar '18

28 Mar '18

Does anyone happen to have one of these beasties lying around somewhere? I’m interested in getting one, as I have several Motorola 6800 manuals for op code programming. I’m interested in playing around with it and of course learning/refreshing my knowledge of that CPU. I’m wary of buying off eBay, as many of them will say “As-Is, Powers on, but untested”. So likely they’re being sold by either someone’s child, or a garage/Attic cleanout company. While the ET-3400 is generally what I’m looking for, any microprocessor trainer, similar in functionality would be acceptable. I know I have some manuals in storage I had gotten from the Engineering VP at Fox TV for a different trainer, but when he inquired with the boss “his wife” she apparently had gotten rid of it years ago. That kind of bummed me out. So if you have one that you’ve used/played around with and is no longer near the top of your interests, please let me know off list. Thanks, Joe 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?

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] OT -- URGENT -- Thunderbird help needed
by Evan Koblentz 27 Mar '18

27 Mar '18

> The MORE command is a Linux shell command to print the raw contents of > a file to the screen I have no clue how I'd use that. (Tried calling you but it said the number I had is not working.)

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Anyone need help with VCF exhibit?
by Joseph Oprysko 27 Mar '18

27 Mar '18

Due to personal issues, I’ll likely not be having my own exhibit at VCF, but if someone in the area is looking for some help with their exhibit, I’m available. If you’re interested, feel free to contact me off list and we can discuss the details. -- 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?

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