March 2018 - vcf-midatlantic

Artifact handling and becoming better caretakers
by Herb Johnson 22 Mar '18

22 Mar '18

> The goal will be additional training for > museum volunteers on proper artifact handling and collection management. > In the interim please be mindful that what has been entrusted > to us might be very unusual and unique, and, quite frankly, irreplaceable. > Until we get more formal guidelines and training the goal should be to > stabilize and preserve artifacts, and not to alter them in any way unless > there is an active threat to them. This includes deep cleaning, adhesive > removal, major repairs, etc. Let’s acknowledge that we don't know what we > don't know, and, until we know better, we should be extremely cautious. Well, I read the statement signed by the Board of Directors of VCF Inc. It's a very careful and cautious statement, about the need to preserve our artifacts intact, and not damage them, and what we don't know about preserving them - and so let's wait for some comprehensive policy from some peer museums "who know what we don't know". My initial reaction was to write another cautious statement, about the need to RESTORE artifacts, the 'present threat' of time that already is damaging them, about the need to recover data. About employing old-persons NOW, who worked on these machines, who won't be around "later". About others, such as private owners, who are restoring and who can use our help as we work on our own artifacts. And so on.... But that's reacting to a reaction, I decided. I respect, that the VCF Inc. Board, has to show due diligence, and take actions in policy. But you know - we all know each other, in vintage computing, many of us do. We know who is working on what, who has what, and where that work is going on. If not, there's the Internet. We all know (most of us) how age is affecting equipment, and ourselves, and those who still are alive who made this stuff. "Decay" is a fact not a what-if. We know who's interested in this stuff, how they get interested, preservation is one interest, restoration another, education another, and so on. "Some of us", includes you Members of the Board; and those reading these words on this list. For the oldest of us (me), time and delay are not our friends. We may each have our points of view - some enjoy repair, some don't. But we collectively know quite a lot, and we have ears and mouths to engage about these matters. So, let's take a deep breath, before we lecture each other like we've never met before, and don't know our ignorance. The initial issue, was about removing paint while removing tape goo. Let's not do that - that's a good idea. Message received I believe. But saying like, "don't touch until we create a corporate policy about preservation among our peer organizations", may make a few people "nervous", may seem a bit "reactive". VCF Incorporated, as I've suggested, *already* has many good people doing many good things about repair and restoration, emulation, or archiving. People like to be appreciated - acknowledged - for work done and contributions made. The due diligence of the Board, may call for caution at times, or some executive decision. But the work of VCF Inc - as your statement notes - is accomplished by people who have demonstrated trust AND expertise; demonstrated by their results. So: Consider the volunteers in hand. Have some trust, that they all won't rub the paint off the console. These are the people who will help you, the Board of Directors, in developing policies - which is what Boards do, among other things. And, they will do the work of preservation, a goal of the Board. They are your first "experts". Others who benefit from their work, can speak up if found and asked. I get many inquiries myself, from *emulators* - those who write and support emulators, do very hard work to resurrect documents and software and hardware, to make their emulations "work". It's not my preference, but, hey ! there's more of them, than more of ME. No three-phase needed, no garage-of-racks, just a PeeCee. Some people start their vintage interest that way. (shrug) It's reasonable to ask other institutions too. You might ask other artifact-based museums - machine tools, steam engines, antique autos. I'm *sure* they have discussions and policies about "fix/don't fix" "touch/don't touch" which would inform your Board. Their interests in legacy are no less than yours, or mine - my modest experiences suggest that to me. And, if the Board want to discuss particular policies in this email list, or elsewhere, that's a reasonable thing. I'm a little startled by this particular context. I hope this is a more useful response, than dueling lectures. We are, mostly, on the same side. Also, note the informed posts about removing tape adhesive. regards, Herb Johnson -- Herbert R. Johnson, New Jersey in the USA http://www.retrotechnology.com OR .net

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old file formats
by Jeffrey Jonas 22 Mar '18

22 Mar '18

Apropos of data restoration and copying-up old files: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/how-to-open-old-computer-files The Quest for a Universal Translator for Old, Obsolete Computer Files To preserve bygone software, files, and more, researchers are working to emulate decades-old technology in the cloud. by Jessica Leigh Hester March 08, 2018 Of course, all that can be lost if not openly replicated on other systems.

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Trenton
by Herb Johnson 21 Mar '18

21 Mar '18

Since TCF is walking distance from my home, I was there this year. It was, as Evan says, much like the last few years. There's one or two vendors who bring vintage-computing items, and then several others you see at hamfests with modern computers, and a few parts vendors. It's early in the hamfest season so it's good to see these folks again. I bought some widgets, my friends bought some vintage things, I scarfed up the tossouts at the end. There was a 3D printer dealer there. The talks are of the same sorts as recent, mostly about doing modern computing in various aspects. Since early personal computing included "embedded" issues like networking, operating things, coding - modern computing topics in embedded work are of interest to many of us oldies. THey show off some college-engineering student work, some robotics. Neil Cherry's talk was fine, and I recommend looking at IoT stuff through the eyes of vintage computing "nuts and bolts". Frank O'Brian spoke on the Space Shuttle computer - he's part of Infoage, wrote about the Apollo Guidance Computer. Other talks may be of interest to some who read this. A surprising talk, was by a high-school student, who is making his own semiconductors in his garage. When his talk began with "here's how a semiconductor works...." I was worried. Spoiler: he's using 1990's class small-run semiconductor technology, and a bit of optical hacking, and some common household items. And he's getting it done. Best talk I've heard in years, me being a BSEE from the 1970's, that's what I learned then. Not sure the "gamers" would be interested, but the "makers" among us ought to be. The Sarnoff Collection had a table during the morning, and opened their museum in the afternoon which is a short walk away. Go there sometime, to see the COSMAC computers, some blue LEDs (RCA uncovered the breakthru technology), and radio/TV stuff if that's of interest. I work with them so they get my attention. The 1802 *is* a New Jersey microprocessor. TCF has topics of interest to modern computing technologists, and also a strong amateur radio component. You can get your ham license in a day spent there, like many hamfests offer. It's not the parking lot of old-tech dealers it used to be, but it's not a bad way to spend a day-of-tech. Herb Johnson -- Herbert R. Johnson, New Jersey in the USA http://www.retrotechnology.com OR .net

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Infoage closed tomorrow due to snow -- EOM
by Evan Koblentz 21 Mar '18

21 Mar '18

________________________________ 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] Need to change April workshop date
by Jeffrey Brace 20 Mar '18

20 Mar '18

And the winner is .......... ? On Tue, Mar 6, 2018 at 2:42 PM, Evan Koblentz via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> wrote: > > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > From: Evan Koblentz <evan(a)vcfed.org> > To: vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> > Cc: > Bcc: > Date: Tue, 6 Mar 2018 14:42:14 -0500 > Subject: Need to change April workshop date > A bunch of Sandy volunteers (yes it's still happening) need to use the > barracks area April 7-8. That bumps us. (Don't worry, it's set in stone for > VCF East weekend.) > > They said we could reschedule to April 21-22 or 28-29. > > Vote here: https://doodle.com/poll/vyyvb324ah8i8bvw ... whichever date > has the most votes by 11:59pm this Thursday wins. > > Votes via reply to this message will not be counted. > >

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Small rescue help needed in Wilmington DE
by Evan Koblentz 20 Mar '18

20 Mar '18

Who's available to pick up some boxes of important magazines/journals in Wilmington, Delaware on April 20? (Already asked Bill Deg.; he's not available that day.) These are for the museum.

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Museum report
by Jeff G 20 Mar '18

20 Mar '18

I use WD40 to remove tape/label adhesive with very good luck, and often no damage to painted surfaces. Once the label is removed I usually use regular isophyrrl alcohol to clean up the WD. You can always test on some hidden spot to make sure its safe too.

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] NeXT in the family.
by Lou 20 Mar '18

20 Mar '18

Oh I know all about the community site, I got myself into the forum on Saturday and I am loving what I have read so far. As for the peanuts archive believe it or not I believe its actually installed on my NS! The previous owner was a collector himself and replaced the drive with a Scsi2SD board which works wonderfully well. Sure I don't get the classic sound of the disk spinning up but as long as everything works the way it's supposed to I cannot be picky haha! The other interesting thing about this acquisition was that it came with actual documentation and the official OS Install/Dev tools Disks! The Documentation itself seems to be the original "Getting Started" Booklet that covers both the NeXTstation and the NeXTcube setups and walk through. There is also an official user reference guide, applications guide, release notes, some letters and another book which is a third party publication on how to use the Operating System. The Documentation alone is awesome looking through and I might consider bringing it up the next time I am at the Museum if anyone wants to look through it! Thanks again for the reach out Tony! Lou >Very nice! If you have not already, make sure you check out nextcomputers.org >Especially their file archive (down the bottom of the home page) > >They have ISO images of the peanuts archive CDs along with disk images (cd and floppy) >of many of the utilities, apps, games and operating systems that were available for >the NeXT machines. > >Tony

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Museum report
by Evan Koblentz 20 Mar '18

20 Mar '18

Good day!!! We got a Wang 4000. This was the first computer model from Wang. Before that they only made calculators. Back story: the computer belonged to a chemical company here in NJ. They bought it around 1967-1968, used it deep into the 1970s, and replaced it with an HP-3000. Frank's father tightly wrapped the 4000 in plastic, put desiccant bags inside, built a wooden crate for it, and put it in some corner of his warehouse. The father died several years ago. His son Frank took over the company and recently decided to sell one of their warehouses. While clearing the warehouse this month, Frank and his colleagues found the crate. Frank remembered that the company had the HP-3000 so he Googled, found an HP mailing list, and posted about its availability. Dave M. and Mike L. read that message, noticed it was here in NJ, knew VCF would love to have an HP-3000, and forwarded it to me. He agreed to donate it to VCF. He didn't want to wait until he got here to see it, so he opened one side of the crate back at his warehouse. It happened to be the front. He saw it was a Wang 4000 and not the HP (he has no idea now what became of the HP!) He re-sealed the crate and brought it to us today -- special thanks to Infoage volunteer Ray B. for operating the forklift. Steve A. led the crate-opening party. We were shocked at the good condition of the computer inside! It looked very clean. Steve and I determined where to put the computer (in place of the Data General Eclipse in the museum) and then we removed the plastic wrap. That left a lot of tape residue; I went out to buy some Goof Off (they didn't have Goo Gone). But then there were about 30 museum visitors today and other tasks to do, so I'll clean the new artifact another day. 4000 picture 1: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1MFIYqIOVHKRH-D87sBpTxxnwA3lPWBJp/view?usp=… 4000 picture 2: https://drive.google.com/file/d/199JTwJwFYkaxR_hUfhc2o1OsDZ60zBe-/view?usp=… 4000 memory: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1WP1qDzZlwn9DLbpsBc3WaFoaJEdJvQzW/view?usp=… Frank: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1G2pd9sbWmzxakkQQSdB1Ak2-lLc1ub2X/view?usp=… Forklift: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1C4sQpHQamzexjJKoTbV_7QmiIOnkX3-H/view?usp=… Beside the great visitorship today, I also installed the next rack shelf and put the combo DVD/VCR along with the laserdisc player in there (the LD has a karaoke feature... I can't see us using that!). I couldn't find where in the warehouse I put the stereo receiver, but it was an old crappy one anyhow, so it's no big deal if we need to replace it. Also on the agenda: replace the rack's network wires with black ones in order to continue the "stealth" theme which I like. A/V so far: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1EU6TZoSwIW5NVtoXUV2Crr6kzODONQE3/view?usp=… Whole rack so far: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Vqdd5YqtoLOW1BhWdCa0xBK6dT7oaTsa/view?usp=… A weird thing about the tablet server: its power button is on the front near the top left side -- exactly where you wrist would hit when using the keyboard that sites on top of it (since we don't have a keyboard tray). But the server happens to have pull hooks on both sides, the hooks happen to have round indentations on their inward-facing sides (facing toward each other, that is), and the height of the indentations happens to line up with the power button about a half-inch in front of it. So I went to Home Depot, bought a metal rod, asked Roddy next door to spray it black, and installed it between the indentations. Got all that? :) (The pictures below will show you.) Now the rod serves double-duty as a wrist-rest and power button guard. It worked very nicely. Front: https://drive.google.com/file/d/100dAtR4HGtHJ-Nhzi8f1fTK1HcheJNjk/view?usp=… Top: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1WsF5UYQ4EQBBjlIUFPCpbikcyFO8bWVN/view?usp=… Looking ahead: next weekend (or maybe Friday) is when Dean, Drew, and I will swap from the Pi to the server and the consumer router to the Cisco access point. ________________________________ 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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NeXT in the family.
by Lou 19 Mar '18

19 Mar '18

Finally a good weekend without snow yesterday I was able to meet up with CommodoreZ of the VCF community over the acquisition of a complete NeXTstation mono setup. For those that did not know a few months back a NeXTstation popped up on craigslist in the DC area. I tried my best to pull resources on my end to get out there but lacking my own personal vehicle few others were not able to assist me with getting out there. Fortunately however CommodoreZ lived not far from there at all and was more than willing to act as a middleman/liaison for me to acquire the NeXTstation. We finally met up yesterday and we chatted up for a few hours, that alone was so much fun I almost forgot what I was actually there for! Transaction done, thanked him up and down for the help and headed back home with a machine I always wanted to get my hands on! Everything runs great after setting up the system. It looks as good as the Museum's NeXTstation! I hope to do some interesting things with it soon enough. Once again I cannot express it enough to give my thanks to Z. Without his help I do not know if I would have gotten this in my hands, but he made it happen.

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