August 2019 - vcf-midatlantic

Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Emailing issues
by Dean Notarnicola 27 Aug '19

27 Aug '19

"Standards? We ain't got no standards. We don't need no standards. I don't have to show you any stinking standards!" On Tue, Aug 27, 2019 at 3:38 PM Sentrytv via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > Well put! > > Sent from: > My extremely complicated, hand held electronic device. > > > On Aug 27, 2019, at 2:27 PM, Tony Bogan <thebogans(a)mac.com> wrote: > > > > > >> I have noticed that some emails on my iPhone Gmail app will appear as > >> “blank”, but I see the ... and click and there is the email. It seems > that > >> Gmail parses for certain text to make it part of previous replies. Some > >> replies get mixed in. Definitely different behavior than the website > which > >> I use on the desktop. > > > > If only standards were standard and everyone implemented those standards > in the standard way!! > > > > Tony > >

2 1

Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Emailing issues
by Sentrytv 27 Aug '19

27 Aug '19

Well put! Sent from: My extremely complicated, hand held electronic device. > On Aug 27, 2019, at 2:27 PM, Tony Bogan <thebogans(a)mac.com> wrote: > > >> I have noticed that some emails on my iPhone Gmail app will appear as >> “blank”, but I see the ... and click and there is the email. It seems that >> Gmail parses for certain text to make it part of previous replies. Some >> replies get mixed in. Definitely different behavior than the website which >> I use on the desktop. > > If only standards were standard and everyone implemented those standards in the standard way!! > > Tony

1 0

Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Emailing issues
by Jeffrey Brace 27 Aug '19

27 Aug '19

On Tue, Aug 27, 2019 at 12:56 PM Alexander Pierson via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > I've noticed that too on certain emails. For some reason, they're > unreadable to my mobile email client. I don't know what that's all about... I have noticed that some emails on my iPhone Gmail app will appear as “blank”, but I see the ... and click and there is the email. It seems that Gmail parses for certain text to make it part of previous replies. Some replies get mixed in. Definitely different behavior than the website which I use on the desktop. > > But I do know that even yahoo's garbage fire of an interface can handle > threads of emails without issue normally. On Tuesday, August 27, 2019, > 12:32:11 PM EDT, Tony Bogan via vcf-midatlantic < > vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > > > > On Aug 27, 2019, at 11:02 AM, Drew Notarnicola via vcf-midatlantic < > vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > > > > Maybe you guys need a better client. In Gmail, every email shows up as > part > > of a thread, and mine are included and visible. > > I don’t have any trouble seeing all the emails, including my own, but for > some reason when the list was moved/updated last year suddenly my emails > come through as a mime attachment. Doesn’t happen on a couple other lists > I’m on but it does with this one. > Tony > > -- ========================================= Jeff Brace Vice President Vintage Computer Federation

2 1

Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Emailing issues
by Alexander Pierson 27 Aug '19

27 Aug '19

I've noticed that too on certain emails. For some reason, they're unreadable to my mobile email client. I don't know what that's all about... But I do know that even yahoo's garbage fire of an interface can handle threads of emails without issue normally. On Tuesday, August 27, 2019, 12:32:11 PM EDT, Tony Bogan via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > On Aug 27, 2019, at 11:02 AM, Drew Notarnicola via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > > Maybe you guys need a better client. In Gmail, every email shows up as part > of a thread, and mine are included and visible. I don’t have any trouble seeing all the emails, including my own, but for some reason when the list was moved/updated last year suddenly my emails come through as a mime attachment. Doesn’t happen on a couple other lists I’m on but it does with this one. Tony

1 0

Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Emailing issues
by Drew Notarnicola 27 Aug '19

27 Aug '19

Maybe you guys need a better client. In Gmail, every email shows up as part of a thread, and mine are included and visible. On Mon, Aug 26, 2019 at 7:54 PM Sentrytv via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > I haven't tried to find out it kind of just live with it > > Sent from: > My extremely complicated, hand held electronic device. > > > On Aug 26, 2019, at 6:32 PM, Mike Loewen via vcf-midatlantic < > vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > > > >> On Mon, 26 Aug 2019, Sentrytv via vcf-midatlantic wrote: > >> > >> I think what bugs me more is the fact that it sends my email as an > attachment instead of a response in the body of the email. Maybe this can > be set up differently via Yahoo. I know, we went through this before, just > saying. This also happens with others. > > > > This bothers me, as well. Tony Bogan's messages also show up as > attachments. In order to reply to one of these in context, I have to copy > and paste from the original message. Is there a setting on your email > clients which can fix this? > > > > > > Mike Loewen mloewen(a)cpumagic.scol.pa.us > > Old Technology http://q7.neurotica.com/Oldtech/ > >

2 1

what's that alluring device at the workshop?
by Jeffrey Jonas 27 Aug '19

27 Aug '19

https://i.imgur.com/q4eVBxG.png What is that wonderful thing? Looks like a paper tape drive in the background and some CPU front panel in the foreground but retrofitted with the LCD. Whose? What izzit? -- jeff jonas

3 2

workshop sign up?
by W2HX 27 Aug '19

27 Aug '19

Can someone point me to the sign up sheet to attend sunday's repair workshop? I don't need a table, I just want to attend and observe. I looked on the VCF website for the VFC east but didn't see the event listed. thanks Eugene W2HX

10 19

Problems we face as collectors/curators: The last lesson of Bob Pease
by Herb Johnson 26 Aug '19

26 Aug '19

Yes, this post is too long. Read it when you have time, if you have interest in analog electronics. Or, if you think about problems in collecting vintage technology from others' "archives" (spelled "hoardings"). https://www.electronicdesign.com/analog/what-s-all-pease-prototype-stuff-an… (link to previous article below) https://www.electronicdesign.com/analog/what-s-all-stuff-stuff-anyhow One of the electronic trade-magazines (papery bloggy things in postal mail to oldies) occasionally sends me email-links to articles on their Web sites. This article caught my attention, as it represents the problems we have today as collectors of vintage computing (or electronic, or semiconductor) items. It's the perception that this stuff is junk and has no value except as curiosities accumulated by "hoarders". But I'll explain why this stuff has value. If you read the article, it's about a collection of accumulated artifacts of work done by Bob Pease, an analog design engineer at Philbrick National Semiconductor in the 1960's and decades following. Since he worked before digital simulation - and because simulation isn't good enough - he accumulated many prototype circuits for things he designed. a reminder: prototypes prove the result. So they were necessary at design-verification time, and later to deal with problems in production. He also found them useful to demonstrate to others, and to show when National was exhibiting. Bob's contributions were not only in design and development, but in education and in publication. His columns (and books from them) on analog design were amusing, informative and are read to this day. He personally mentored a generation of analog electronic designers. Bob Pease died several years ago. However: the article is informative about attitudes about previous design and prototype practices; or simply about the technical past. The article essentially suggests: "This stuff is a mess of junk. We don't do things this way now, we know better now. There's no value to this stuff, because we don't know how to make sense of it. Since some parts are before production, they can't be of any interest to anyone except as scrap. A few things, remind some of us about the-old-days. But this guy was a hoarder." There's a link to a previous article of a few months prior (link above). The "Pease collection" was obtained from Pease's estate, I think in 2017. The task of organizing it was "resigned" to a "media relations manager" - very likely a person who was unfamiliar with its technical content. As with the current article, other engineer's comments and photos give some meaning to the items photographed. Nobody seems to know exactly what to do with this stuff, other than to give it away to their older buddies at social events. Of course, any collector of vintage semiconductors will wince when reading this article: they love pre-production parts. And many "senior" analog engineers, like the ones quoted in the articles, have some experience with the chips and circuits shown, and the methods Bob used in design and construction. Again: they are still informed by his work and methods. Some number of engineers or collectors, would likely be pleased to have some example from their mentor or simply from the period. I won't give a lecture on "curation", the art of displaying and describing artifacts to glean information and context and to preserve intellectual and/or physical content. That describes a process that has yet to be performed (may never happen) for this rescued but endangered collection. It's already picked over a few times. For those who are simply vintage-computing collectors or users, you'll likely be saddened by association about this article and situation. It could well be a bunch of vintage computers and accessories. Note the author confuses a 5.25-inch floppy drive with "a CD player". If that kind of iconic artifact is unrecognizable in 2019, imagine what will be overlooked going forward. The last lesson of Bob Pease, may well be as suggested in the title of the article: "What is this stuff, anyhow?". What's to be done - if anything - with artifacts of technical work and products? Do they have value? What do they mean? Can they inform us, or simply amuse us, or do they just get in the way? Regards, Herb Johnson -- Herbert R. Johnson, New Jersey in the USA http://www.retrotechnology.com OR .net preserve, recover, restore 1970's computing email: hjohnson AT retrotechnology DOT com or try later herbjohnson AT retrotechnology DOT info

3 4

Re: [vcf-midatlantic] August Repair Day - Sat Report from Member
by VAXman＠tmesis.org 26 Aug '19

26 Aug '19

andy diller via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> writes: > >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. =20 > >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=3Ddisplay&key=3D102 = ><https://www.smart-cable.com/catalog?action=3Ddisplay&key=3D102> I've >found it on ebay for $10-50 (just got one on ebay w/ cables for = $40). DEC BCC08 There should be a cache of these in the warehouse. Andy Goldstein donated his MicroVAX-II from the DEC museum to MARCH/VCF. I picked it up at MRO and delivered it to Infoage. There was a cable on its console port. The MicroVAX-II had been on display at one time but I believe that it too has been relocated/retired to the warehouse. It had DEC property tags as well as other identifying marks that it belonged to Andy. If you don't know who Andy Goldstein is/was, too bad for you.

4 4

Magnusson Method
by Glenn Holmer 26 Aug '19

26 Aug '19

https://twitter.com/lizhenry/status/1165760903809130496 Anybody know where to find the original Datamation article? -- Glenn Holmer (Linux registered user #16682) "After the vintage season came the aftermath -- and Cenbe."

1 0