August 2019 - vcf-midatlantic

Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Museum report - 12/16/18
by Douglas Crawford 04 Jul '20

04 Jul '20

Again? This isn't getting through. On 12/17/2018 12:28 PM, Douglas Crawford wrote: > Great day at the museum. Visitor flow was non stop in the afternoon. > I am grateful for the assistance of Chris and Tony, with their help we > cycled > through the visitors and gave everyone good attention. > Its fun to docent in teams! > > The museum looked sharp and with Tony's help we had most everything > running that is > demo-able.

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Festivus Movies and a reminder (Dec. 7 & 8)
by Evan Koblentz 01 Sep '19

01 Sep '19

>> Do you guys make use of a projector to show on a large screen? Yes. We have an LED projector and a 100-inch portable screen. On Sat, Aug 31, 2019, 10:35 AM Sentrytv via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > Hey > Do you guys make use of a projector to show on a large screen? > > Sent from: > My extremely complicated, hand held electronic device. > > > On Aug 31, 2019, at 9:24 AM, Jeffrey Brace via vcf-midatlantic < > vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > > > > As a reminder Festivus is Dec 7 & 8 starting at 10am Dec. 7 and ending > Dec. > > 8 at 5pm. > > Signup here: < > > > https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1x0oSxqZXh8tmqqbUsP3KS3OywiNsEAOOmtq… > >> > > > > So I have tried in the past to show movies in a separate room and found > few > > were interested. So my new thought is to show some TV shows and movies > with > > low volume on the cafeteria TV for anyone to watch and as mostly > background > > noise. Bernie S. gave me this idea. The idea is for casual viewing as > most > > people are interested in casual conversations, eating, drinking and > playing > > video games, but some might stop and look for a few minutes. > > > > The first DVD will be "Whiz Kids". A show in the 80's > > Bring whatever movies or suggestions to Festivus. > > I have the following streaming service accounts: Netflix, Amazon Prime > > Video, YouTube Premium, Disney+ > > -- > > ========================================= > > Jeff Brace > > Vice President > > Vintage Computer Federation > >

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Cool yet sad rescue coming up this fall
by Evan Koblentz 31 Aug '19

31 Aug '19

Everyone, Sometime this fall, we're going to rescue a pair of SGI cabinets from the Princeton University data center. SGI customized the cabinets in black and orange ... because Princeton Tigers. Their data center VP said these systems almost certainly can't ever run again. Too much disassembly already happened. So all he's promising us are the actual cabinets, not the remaining innards. However, he asked if we can help disassemble those remaining innards, in order to make the cabinets lighter/safer to move. I said what if we agree, but in exchange our guys get to keep those parts if desired? :) Waiting to hear back. I don't yet know much about the system. VP is asking some of his old-timers to write down its history for us. Here is a picture: https://tinyurl.com/y6ldajlb

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Festivus Movies and a reminder (Dec. 7 & 8)
by Evan Koblentz 31 Aug '19

31 Aug '19

>> Just curious, how many lumens Dunno On Sat, Aug 31, 2019, 12:30 PM Sentrytv via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > Evan > Just curious, how many lumens? > > Sent from: > My extremely complicated, hand held electronic device. > > On Aug 31, 2019, at 11:05 AM, Evan Koblentz via vcf-midatlantic < > vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > > >>> Do you guys make use of a projector to show on a large screen? > > > > Yes. We have an LED projector and a 100-inch portable screen. > > > > On Sat, Aug 31, 2019, 10:35 AM Sentrytv via vcf-midatlantic < > > vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > > > >> Hey > >> Do you guys make use of a projector to show on a large screen? > >> > >> Sent from: > >> My extremely complicated, hand held electronic device. > >> > >>> On Aug 31, 2019, at 9:24 AM, Jeffrey Brace via vcf-midatlantic < > >> vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > >>> > >>> As a reminder Festivus is Dec 7 & 8 starting at 10am Dec. 7 and ending > >> Dec. > >>> 8 at 5pm. > >>> Signup here: < > >>> > >> > https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1x0oSxqZXh8tmqqbUsP3KS3OywiNsEAOOmtq… > >>>> > >>> > >>> So I have tried in the past to show movies in a separate room and found > >> few > >>> were interested. So my new thought is to show some TV shows and movies > >> with > >>> low volume on the cafeteria TV for anyone to watch and as mostly > >> background > >>> noise. Bernie S. gave me this idea. The idea is for casual viewing as > >> most > >>> people are interested in casual conversations, eating, drinking and > >> playing > >>> video games, but some might stop and look for a few minutes. > >>> > >>> The first DVD will be "Whiz Kids". A show in the 80's > >>> Bring whatever movies or suggestions to Festivus. > >>> I have the following streaming service accounts: Netflix, Amazon Prime > >>> Video, YouTube Premium, Disney+ > >>> -- > >>> ========================================= > >>> Jeff Brace > >>> Vice President > >>> Vintage Computer Federation > >> > >> > >

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] OFF TOPIC movie
by Neil Cherry 31 Aug '19

31 Aug '19

On 8/28/19 6:42 PM, Sentrytv via vcf-midatlantic wrote: > the "this" network is a movie called "Runaway" (1984)A Movie about robots being programmed to go berserk. > > Starring Tom Selleck as the good guy and the part of the bad guy being played by, of all people, Gene Simmons of > KISS. > I don't think I ever heard of it back in the 80s. > Just thought somebody might want to watch it. NOoooooooo! That was a terrible movie then and I don't think you can mystery science theater it to improve it. ;-) -- 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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Festivus Movies and a reminder (Dec. 7 & 8)
by Jeffrey Brace 31 Aug '19

31 Aug '19

As a reminder Festivus is Dec 7 & 8 starting at 10am Dec. 7 and ending Dec. 8 at 5pm. Signup here: < https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1x0oSxqZXh8tmqqbUsP3KS3OywiNsEAOOmtq… > So I have tried in the past to show movies in a separate room and found few were interested. So my new thought is to show some TV shows and movies with low volume on the cafeteria TV for anyone to watch and as mostly background noise. Bernie S. gave me this idea. The idea is for casual viewing as most people are interested in casual conversations, eating, drinking and playing video games, but some might stop and look for a few minutes. The first DVD will be "Whiz Kids". A show in the 80's Bring whatever movies or suggestions to Festivus. I have the following streaming service accounts: Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, YouTube Premium, Disney+ -- ========================================= Jeff Brace Vice President Vintage Computer Federation

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] OFF TOPIC movie
by Randy M 31 Aug '19

31 Aug '19

My wife liked Tom Selleck so it was required watching. Not on the level of, say, 2001 A Space Odyssey, but pretty neat little gadgets. Most of the movies panned by the critics were mostly pretty good, IMHO. On Fri, Aug 30, 2019, 9:50 PM Sentry TV via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > The point was that some time ago there was conversation about "computer" > movies and I don't think we mentioned "Runaway", not that it was a bad > movie!.Most of the movies at the time that had some sort of "futuristic > tech" in it, really were not very good!Except for War Games.My 2 cents > On Friday, August 30, 2019, 08:14:31 PM EDT, Jeffrey Brace via > vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > > Is it better or worse than "The Terror of Tiny Town"? > > On Fri, Aug 30, 2019 at 8:49 AM Neil Cherry via vcf-midatlantic < > vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > > > On 8/28/19 6:42 PM, Sentrytv via vcf-midatlantic wrote: > > > the "this" network is a movie called "Runaway" (1984)A Movie about > > robots being programmed to go berserk. > > > > > > Starring Tom Selleck as the good guy and the part of the bad guy being > > played by, of all people, Gene Simmons of > > > KISS. > > > I don't think I ever heard of it back in the 80s. > > > Just thought somebody might want to watch it. > > > > > > NOoooooooo! That was a terrible movie then and I don't think you can > > mystery science theater it to improve it. ;-) > > > > -- > > 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 > > > > > -- > ========================================= > Jeff Brace > Vice President > Vintage Computer Federation > >

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Workshop Straight 8 status
by David Gesswein 29 Aug '19

29 Aug '19

When I left after the last workshop a bit would be dropped when shifting the accumulator in the moving lights demo. I was able to move failure to a different AC bit by swapping AC cards. When I got to Infoage for this workshop Evan said that he had successfully ran the moving lights program for a demo sometime previously. I spend some time trying to get the problem to reproduce unsuccessfully. I tried wiggling the cards and using the margin check voltages without causing the failure. Moving the cards enough that they move in the backplane connector would cause faults but motion less than that didn't. I suspect it will be back sometime. At a previous workshop I replaced a number of diodes in the memory cards but didn't' have time to do the memory margin check procedure. This time the sense amp margin voltages that caused failure were 4.9V and 17.3V. The manual says the difference should be > 12V which it is. The slice failure voltages are 7.04 and 8.1V. No minimum range was specified in the maintenance procedures. I left the slice voltage set to the middle of the range at 7.6V. Power supply voltages were 10.7 and -14.6. I did notice that I was still getting double increments on front panel load/store operations occasionally. The machine has a debounce circuit that did not debounce sufficiently. I assume the switches are noisier than when new. I previously put a 47uf capacitor on it to increase the debounce time. I increased that to 100uf. That may be getting a little too large since it seemed to ignore really quick switch presses. People using the machine should let me know if you see the double increment or other funny behavior still and if you find it ignores switch actions for you. Good check is after or occasionally during check the address matches the expected address for next location you are loading. When I tried to local Focal programs last time I got ?11.35 error which is input buffer overflow. Focal has a design issue. When loading from ASR33 paper tape it prints what it reads in without any flow control so if printing is slower than reading it will overrun when the small buffer is filled. I compared the RX bit timing from the teletype to the TX clock and the TX clock was slower. I adjusted the R450 clock to prevent the overrun. Teletype seemed to be happy with the faster clock. I was able to load lunar lander without errors. My attempt to land ended with a crater. Known issues are 1) The machine will start running sometimes at power on when the auto restart switch is off. It seems to start running before the voltages are stable so it corrupts memory when it runs. Didn't look at this. Easy workaround is to leave the single step switch on at power on. 3) The W300 delay line cards still need to be fixed. I think the machine is usable for demos. I suspect sometimes the demos won't work but will next time. We need to keep track of what issues we see and is anything correlated with when it acts up such as temperature to help in further fixing. I left it with the moving AC light demo, the punch block letter text on paper tape demo, and FOCAL lunar lander demo. I'll look for what else might be of interest. Getting the plotter working and making an interface on it will hopefully be a winter task for me. Having the plotter making some interesting plots should be a good background demo.

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OFF TOPIC movie
by Sentrytv 28 Aug '19

28 Aug '19

I was just flipping through channels on TV and found that on the "this" network is a movie called "Runaway" (1984)A Movie about robots being programmed to go berserk. Starring Tom Selleck as the good guy and the part of the bad guy being played by, of all people, Gene Simmons of KISS. I don't think I ever heard of it back in the 80s. Just thought somebody might want to watch it. Mike R. Sent from: My extremely complicated, hand held electronic device.

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August Repair Day - Sat Report from Member
by dillera＠gmail.com 28 Aug '19

28 Aug '19

Ok, the Saturday Repair Day was a blast. Here are some photos and notes from the show. A lot of people showed up, a lot of projects got done and we had a wonderful evening barbecue outside as well. If anyone took a photo of that, please pass it along, I was too busy eating and drinking to take any photos. We had a couple of new members show up and it was a nice time getting to know them during the day as well as over food. Some equipment was given away and some new donations to the Museum also. Photos I took are here: https://imgur.com/gallery/X2o83iM <https://imgur.com/gallery/X2o83iM> Items to consider- 1. Serial box. JasonP's amazing serial box (Smart Cable SC821 Plus) let me connect the MicroVax to a VT term- without it i wouldn't have had the proper cabling to do it. This is a buy from me. https://www.smart-cable.com/catalog?action=display&key=102 <https://www.smart-cable.com/catalog?action=display&key=102> I've found it on ebay for $10-50 (just got one on ebay w/ cables for $40). 2. Pencil Soldering iron - this looked amazing and i didn't take a photo so if AlexJ can comment on what that model was I want to get one. It looked very handy for some jobs. 3. MFM Emulater - DaveG was kind enough to help me image a drive and showed me his amazing MFM drive emulator. I now have one in my Vax... Please reply back if you are interested in an October and November Repair day so we can ensure we have one! -andy

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