December 2020 - vcf-midatlantic

Revised, My take on "what is vintage computing"
by Herb Johnson 26 Dec '20

26 Dec '20

> Most computers built before 1980 have either been destroyed or lost, and of those that exist very few are still operational. ... It thus makes perfect sense that new hobbyists are gobbling up post-vintage (my term) machines such as Intel 386/486 computers, Macintosh II’s, SGI’s, NeXT and DEC VAX boxes, etc. They’re obtainable and more familiar. Well, Bill is right about the last point. 1990's computers are obtainable and more familiar to people who grew up in the 1980's and 90's. Some might be cheap because they are plentiful, or just underpriced. But here's the problem. Macs in particular, built with small surface mount components, are *failing left and right*. The capacitors weren't designed to last that long. Some of those components used inferior materials or methods. And - the components are more difficult to remove and replace on multilayer PC boards. Some of that applies to many PC-compatible boards too, depending on their era. And the Mac plastics? Crumbling. That's what plastics DO, otherwise the world would be covered with old plastics. They were not designed for 30 years use. Some pieces like reset buttons, lids, fasteners, bezels - like peanut brittle. Especially pieces around high voltage CRT's, it's the ozone. Fact. Bill - I *sell* vintage Macs. They are mostly falling apart. Some even are blasted from corroding batteries, or just moisture and rust. Sorry. Whereas (he he), those "destroyed" 1970's computers, were made in an era of owner-repair. They use large sized components on through-hole PC boards made for hand-soldering - because they were often built from kits by the owners. Translation - even "makers" that can solder Arduino kits, can figure out how to replace caps, pull IC's from boards. And the parts are STILL common, either old-stock or some new-stock. Also: no plastics. S-100 chassis are mostly metal and even wood. The toggle switches, they are plastic. $20 for an IMSAI paddle? Wow. S-100 boxes have been called "ugly boxes full of boards". Who's laughing now? "most destroyed or lost?" Better check eBay! I recently saw *well over one hundred* S-100 boards at auction. Several systems too. Thanks to the many grandpas who "hoarded" them, they have been preserved, and are now available for sale and restoration to use. Some good number of them, simply WORK. I sell those too, and that's my experience as well. They. are. repairable. and: There are STILL S-100 board kits - parts, boards, all new-stock obtained TODAY. Bill and I know people who offer them! It's its own thing! I'd never build a Pentium S-100 board, but some people have! Scares even me, Dr S-100 myself. Bill, he mentioned modern replicas too. You know, people have a right to do what's familiar, be wary of the unfamiliar. They don't know about the world before their childhood, unless they ask and look around. But ignorance can be a lost opportunity. And sticking with what you know, may get you stuck. It's all a matter of choices and opportunities, and the facts. There's enough for everyone's interests. But don't count out the 70's yet! I'm still hereeeeeee! 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 comcast DOT net

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2020, Just one more week
by Sentrytv 26 Dec '20

26 Dec '20

2020 is like Windows Millennium Edition (Me). We would like to forget it and hopefully most people do. But because of the pandemic, you know it’s going to be in the history books forever. Mike Sent from: My extremely complicated, hand held electronic device. > On Dec 26, 2020, at 6:19 PM, Chris Fala via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > > Windows 9? > > iPhone 9? > > > > >> On Sat, Dec 26, 2020 at 6:13 PM Jeffrey Jonas via vcf-midatlantic < >> vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: >> >> Niel Cherry: >>> Merry Christmas and let's never speak of this year again! ;-) >> >> 2020 is kinda like Unix 4 or DOS 4: >> the bastard child that nobody talks about :-) >> >> Or more like September 3-13, 1752 >> >> https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofBritain/Give-us-our-eleven-d… >> >> $ cal 9 1752 >> September 1752 >> S M Tu W Th F S >> 1 2 14 15 16 >> 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 >> 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 >>

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There's Unix System III and System V but nothing in between :-)
by Jeffrey Jonas 26 Dec '20

26 Dec '20

Niel Cherry: > Merry Christmas and let's never speak of this year again! ;-) 2020 is kinda like Unix 4 or DOS 4: the bastard child that nobody talks about :-) Or more like September 3-13, 1752 https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofBritain/Give-us-our-eleven-d… $ cal 9 1752 September 1752 S M Tu W Th F S 1 2 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

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Merry Christmas everyone!
by Jeffrey Brace 26 Dec '20

26 Dec '20

I wish everyone a very Merry Christmas. I hope that you and your family are safe, well and enjoy this time of year despite everything going on. -- ========================================= Jeff Brace Vice President & Board Member Vintage Computer Festival East Show-runner Vintage Computer Federation is a 501c3 charity http://www.vcfed.org/ jeffrey(a)vcfed.org cell: 732-759-1783

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Happy Kwanzaa!
by Jeffrey Brace 26 Dec '20

26 Dec '20

I wish everyone a Happy Kwanzaa *Habari Gani!* As you explore the seven principles, may you and your family have a joyous celebration! -- ========================================= Jeff Brace Vice President & Board Member Vintage Computer Festival East Show-runner Vintage Computer Federation is a 501c3 charity http://www.vcfed.org/ jeffrey(a)vcfed.org cell: 732-759-1783 <https://www.avast.com/sig-email?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campai…> Virus-free. www.avast.com <https://www.avast.com/sig-email?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campai…> <#DAB4FAD8-2DD7-40BB-A1B8-4E2AA1F9FDF2>

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Merry Christmas everyone!
by Jeffrey Golas 26 Dec '20

26 Dec '20

Merry Christmas to all! — Jeff aka Bags

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Merry Christmas everyone!
by Neil Cherry 25 Dec '20

25 Dec '20

On 12/25/20 8:07 PM, Sentry TV via vcf-midatlantic wrote: > Flush the cache, clear browser history, delete unused files, defragment,..... dedup, clear $TMP dir, Reboot +1 ;-) -- 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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YouTube Video on a New-old-stock Sun Ultra 5
by Alexander Jacocks 25 Dec '20

25 Dec '20

All, Depending on your definition of “vintage”, you could say this is off-topic, but I made an unboxing and basic overview video on the Sun Ultra 5 workstation: https://youtu.be/244-o7EVjiM Please excuse the crappy camera work; I’m no videographer, and without most of my equipment (due to the fire) this was shot sans-tripod, sans-DSLR, and sans-lighting. Thoughts are welcome! - Alex

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Merry Christmas everyone!
by jsalzman＠gmail.com 25 Dec '20

25 Dec '20

... and install anti-virus, DUH! 😁 On Fri, Dec 25, 2020, 8:07 PM Sentry TV via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > Flush the cache, clear browser history, delete unused files, > defragment,..... > On Friday, December 25, 2020, 07:59:34 PM EST, Richard Cini via > vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > > Yes, Merry Christmas and happy holidays to all. Definitely need to flush > the cache on this year for sure. > > Time to play some Zelda. > > > http://www.classiccmp.org/cini > Long Island S100 User’s Group > > Get Outlook<https://aka.ms/qtex0l> for iOS > > ________________________________ > From: vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic-bounces(a)lists.vcfed.org> on behalf > of Neil Cherry via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> > Sent: Friday, December 25, 2020 6:29:56 PM > To: vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> > Cc: Neil Cherry <ncherry(a)linuxha.com> > Subject: Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Merry Christmas everyone! > > Merry Christmas and let's never speak of this year again! ;-) > > -- > 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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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Merry Christmas everyone!
by Neil Cherry 25 Dec '20

25 Dec '20

Merry Christmas and let's never speak of this year again! ;-) -- 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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