June 2018 - vcf-midatlantic

Ideas on replacing a backlighting on a laptop
by Neil Cherry 04 Jun '18

04 Jun '18

Okay I have a T1000SE which now boots on it's original NiCad battery (it's roughly 32 years old). I found out I needed to throw a switch on the battery so the red dot is visible (on the side facing the PC and in the middle of the lever assembly). The fact that it charged the battery and now boots astonished me. The one issue I have is I can barely read the screen. The contrast works and it goes from light to dark screen but the letters are really difficult to read. The second dial does nothing and I'm pretty sure that's the brightness. Has anyone attempted this before? Any hints? Thanks -- 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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Idea for an Exhibit - Novell
by Bill Degnan 04 Jun '18

04 Jun '18

To my knowledge no one has done an exhibit about Novell / Netware networking at least directly. I envision a simple file sharing network installed on some MS DOS 5-era machines, a simple email system, security features, etc to illustrate the product. As with VMS, Novell declined in usage when TCP/IP became dominant. Not a lot of people know that Novell helped commercialize SUSE Linux. There is a good story here, someone with experience with Novell should take it up. Bill

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Former NASA Amiga 2500
by CJ Reha 04 Jun '18

04 Jun '18

A friend of mine sent me this eBay link...an Amiga 2500 formerly used by NASA as a telemetry lab workhorse. Interesting! The $5,000 pricetag seems ridiculous to me, but who knows...maybe someone out there will find it reasonable. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Amiga-2500-NASA-Telemetry-Lab/183241576598?hash=it…

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Ted Dabney, Atari co-founder, dies at 81
by Jonathan Sturges 04 Jun '18

04 Jun '18

https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/06/01/616191252/ted-dabney-co-… -Jonathan

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Thanks & VCF
by Jeff G 03 Jun '18

03 Jun '18

First off - had a blast at VCF as usual. Glad I ended up staying on Saturday although I had some conflicting events it all came together in the end. The consignment room was NUTS this year! Next year hopefully I'll be able to volunteer or exhibit again. Also, thanks to the person that had the Altair w/video camera setup; he let me take a picture of his TI Silent 700 power supply, and going by that pic I was actually able to find one on Ebay and verify it was the correct one, so huge THANKS for checking off another item of my vintage computing todo list! Jeff G / Bags

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PAL C64 at workshop?
by Jeffrey Brace 01 Jun '18

01 Jun '18

Is there anyone coming to the workshop that has a C64 that is already configured in PAL format? -- ========================================= Jeff Brace Vice President Vintage Computer Federation

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Found: Boxed Fairchild Channel F
by jaj＠totallyamused.com 01 Jun '18

01 Jun '18

>Do you think its a reasonable price? Wouldn't mind having one someday. My >parents had one. > >Matt Not a bad price, leans to the high end of the market. I can't see the link through work security, but if it is clean and the box is in nice shape, it is worth it -- they are pretty rare to find in the wild. I always prefer the version with the hardwired joysticks, the earlier releases. Channel F drag racing is one of my all time favorite games because you actually shift and the have to let off the gas to not blow the engine. I haven't played mine in a few years, I may have to dig it out tonight. For reference I got mine about 20 years ago in the box with a 1/2 dozen games for $35. One note, if someone picks it up for you, have them check the music section of the store (if it is a thrift store), the cartridges are often mistaken for 8 track tapes, you might be able to get some games to go along with it.

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Found: Boxed Fairchild Channel F
by J. Alexander Jacocks 01 Jun '18

01 Jun '18

All, I just saw, in a store in Hagerstown, a boxed Fairchild Channel F. They’re asking $125. If anyone is interested, let me know. Picture is here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/s3mh109pb4vigb3/54956337427__ED72638A-9BF5-4CB8-8… - Alex

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BBC Micro
by Evan Koblentz 01 Jun '18

01 Jun '18

>> Glad to hear you have a BBC Micro now. They’re fine machines, and as you rightly point out, require 240V power plus some sort of monitor. Ignore the PAL outputs and go straight for the RGB which is on a DIN connector. I vaguely recollect making up a special cable when I got mine going and hooking it up to a Sony studio monitor. Watch out for the X2 cap in the power supply which is a known point of failure. It’s easy enough to replace if that hasn’t already been done, but annoying to have it fail... 240 ... What were they thinking!? What do we do for a disk drive? On Fri, Jun 1, 2018, 7:24 AM David Comley via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> wrote: > Glad to hear you have a BBC Micro now. They’re fine machines, and as you > rightly point out, require 240V power plus some sort of monitor. Ignore the > PAL outputs and go straight for the RGB which is on a DIN connector. I > vaguely recollect making up a special cable when I got mine going and > hooking it up to a Sony studio monitor. > > Watch out for the X2 cap in the power supply which is a known point of > failure. It’s easy enough to replace if that hasn’t already been done, but > annoying to have it fail... > > Dave > > > > On Jun 1, 2018, at 1:36 AM, Evan Koblentz via vcf-midatlantic < > vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> wrote: > > > > Well that was interesting! > > > > Several of us were there: me, Doug, Chris F., Dean, Chris L., Brian C., > Bill Lange (not Bill L. the auction seller), and Jason Scott. All of us but > Bill made it into a photo (https://tinyurl.com/ydbuy6pd) kindly taken by > Chris L.'s girlfriend. > > > > The auctioned started at 3pm. I was the last to leave at midnight -- but > the auction was still going strong! They had another hour or two remaining. > > > > Some people got amazing bargains (valuable nuggets discovered after > buying boxes of inexpensive items) and other people paid full retail or > higher for various things. We spotted a few people who were professional > sellers, but most of the people (maybe 100?) were individual collectors, > and most of those were gamers, not computer collectors like us. However we > did see a few people who said they attended VCF East, and I couldn't help > myself from recruiting a few new folks. > > > > VCFed itself had a good night: > > > > - Dean purchased a box of stuff which happened to contain a CGA/EGA/VGA > adapter -- exactly what I posted about us needing a few days ago -- so I > commandeered that item for us. :) > > > > - VCFed has several S-100 computers, but there was one item I'd never > seen: an industrial (rackmount) chassis with a keyboard built into the > front edge of the case. It is from a company called MBR. No boards inside, > but it looked unique. At my request, Dean entered an absentee bid for it > (it would be one of the last items auctioned due to placement in the room). > He'll donate it to us if he wins. We will find out tomorrow. > > > > - VCFed has an Amstrad 640 and various Sinclair computers, but we didn't > own a BBC Micro. There was a first-gen (1981) unit available in the > auction. At my request, Bill (and his wife Lucy) successfully bid on it and > donated it to us. It also has some nice software. We'll have to get a power > adapter for it to use an American outlet. > > > > It was fun hanging out with several group members all afternoon/evening. > There were a few times where some of the group members bid against each > other ... a little healthy competition! > > > > Overall a very successful time for Bill Log. and all buyers. > >

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Introduction
by CJ Reha 01 Jun '18

01 Jun '18

Hello! Evan suggested I introduce myself since I am new to the VCF community, and it seems like a good idea, so here goes. I'm CJ. I was introduced to the world of VCF through some friends who frequent here as well, mainly Lou, Ian, and Z. I did go to VCF East last weekend, so if you saw a kid in an Atari jacket running around with a bunch of systems it was probably me. I'm pretty young, since I just turned 16 on the 24th, but I like to think I still have a decent-sized system collection. My current projects are resurrecting a half-rust-eaten Mac Plus I bought from Ian as well as all of the other stuff I ended up with, and a few "newer" items like an Epson PC clone. Anyway, I am very glad to be here and happy to be surrounded by like-minded hobbyists. I had a ton of fun at East and hope to attend many more future events. Regards, ~CJ

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