September 2020 - vcf-midatlantic

Searchlight BBS questions
by Richard Cini 08 Sep '20

08 Sep '20

Is there anyone on-list with experience setting-up a Searchlight BBS? I have mine up and running with multiple dial-up nodes (for a hopeful future demonstration) but I’m having problems with setting up the file areas. If someone could drop me a note off-list, I’d appreciate it. Thanks. Rich -- Rich Cini http://www.classiccmp.org/cini http://www.classiccmp.org/altair32

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Vulcan Database manual
by Jack Rubin 08 Sep '20

08 Sep '20

I have a copy of the Vulcan Database manual (no software). Vulcan was the database Wayne Ratliff created and then licensed to Ashton-Tate where it was sold as dBase II. I don't have the software. Happy to donate it to the Museum if there is interest. Jack

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] SOT: Any dBase fans here?
by Michael Thompson 08 Sep '20

08 Sep '20

> > > From: Dave McGuire <mcguire(a)neurotica.com> > Subject: Re: [vcf-midatlantic] SOT: Any dBase fans here? > > Neat! I did a lot with Clipper too, at one of my first industry jobs > many years ago, in Lawrenceville NJ. We were a small (<5 people) > company writing custom software that joined databases with desktop > publishing, for the creation of large directories, like phone books. > The software was all written in Clipper, and output to files ingested by > Ventura, and produced camera-ready output usually on a Varityper VT-600. > Those were great times, and I learned a LOT. > > Clipper is a great compiler! > > -Dave > > -- > Dave McGuire, AK4HZ > New Kensington, PA > I maintained a Used Car Dealership management package that was written in dBase. I converted it to Clipper, dramatically enhanced the financial management capability, and made it multi-user through a network. The performance and capability that you could get from PC-XT and PC-AT systems was really impressive. -- Michael Thompson

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VAX 11-780 Rack Available
by W2HX 07 Sep '20

07 Sep '20

Hi friends. This rack is available for free. I am located in 10510 happy to drive, up to say 1.5 hours to meet up to transfer vehicles? https://w2hx.com/ForSale/DEC%20Rack/20200719_114742.jpg https://w2hx.com/ForSale/DEC%20Rack/20200719_114751.jpg it is in very nice condition. Comes with wheels/casters, no panels. It is, I believe 24" wide, but it has a set of vertical rails at 19" in addition to 24" I think the space on the right would carry cables etc? Regardless, it will work fine with 19" equipment. Just the perfect think you need to complete your DEC VAX or other DEC set up! Contact me directly. 73 Eugene W2HX PS Please pass onto any other list you may belong to that might have an interest in this rack. Thank you

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VCF East 2020 Exhibitor Deadline September 13, 2020
by Jeffrey Brace 07 Sep '20

07 Sep '20

If you want to do a virtual exhibit (or in-person) for VCF East 2020's Virtual Show, then you need to let me know by September 13, 2020. At this point there are very few slots available because the schedule has filled up. So there is no guarantee that there is a spot left. So act quickly. If you already confirmed with me, then your video is due by September 23 to allow proper time to process. Sign up here: https://forms.gle/DHF7FqezwVSNe3nZA Any questions? Send me an e-mail. -- ========================================= 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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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] SOT: Any dBase fans here?
by David Gesswein 07 Sep '20

07 Sep '20

I don't need the dBASE III stuff though thought I would reminisce some. I did work in dbase II with Clipper compiler starting on our TI PC. The family raised show rabbits and I wrote programs in it for keeping track of rabbits and printing pedigrees and running shows. We sold the programs to other rabbit people. Used dBASE III a little at work. Purchasing was oriented to production so engineering orders weren't tracked well. I used terminal emulator on a PC to screen scrape the MIS system running on the VAX, KEDIT (IBM XEDIT like editor) with REXX scripting language to reformat into files that could be read in by dBASE and merge the information from the files to print a report with status of parts to go bug purchasing/receiving. Did get KEDIT to run on the TIPC by editing the binary to adapt to the slightly different video hardware on the TIPC. I had the TIPC running this software at VCF 2016. On Sun, Sep 06, 2020 at 06:21:30PM -0400, Jim Scheef via vcf-midatlantic wrote: > Date: Sun, 6 Sep 2020 18:21:30 -0400 > From: Jim Scheef <js(a)sdf.org> > To: 'vcf-midatlantic' <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> > Subject: SOT: Any dBase fans here? > X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook 16.0 > > As I clean out my basement, I'm getting rid of some cool stuff. Before I try to give it away on eBay, I want to offer it here. > Once upon a time (mid-80's), I developed a few applications in dBase III. For our own productivity we used a dBase clone called dbXL for coding and QuickSilver, a compiler, to make the resulting code run faster and easier to distribute. Conveniently, both products, produced by Wordtech Systems, use the same dBIII-compatible index files. QuickSilver produces an object file which requires a linker. So, I'm including my copy of P-Link86. So far this is the manual only; still looking for the media. > Both of these products are free (f.o.b. my driveway*) to a good home. Included are the manuals and several versions of media floppies for both products. > As a bonus, this deal includes another dBase compiler called FORCE. I don't recall anything about it, but I do have both the manuals and media. > The manuals are typical of the era, loose-leaf and weigh several pounds so shipping would cost some actual money. Normally I would sell or give these away at VCF East. > At this point, you know what to do if you are interested. > Jim > * my driveway is located in western CT north of Danbury.

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SOT: Any dBase fans here?
by Jim Scheef 06 Sep '20

06 Sep '20

As I clean out my basement, I'm getting rid of some cool stuff. Before I try to give it away on eBay, I want to offer it here. Once upon a time (mid-80's), I developed a few applications in dBase III. For our own productivity we used a dBase clone called dbXL for coding and QuickSilver, a compiler, to make the resulting code run faster and easier to distribute. Conveniently, both products, produced by Wordtech Systems, use the same dBIII-compatible index files. QuickSilver produces an object file which requires a linker. So, I'm including my copy of P-Link86. So far this is the manual only; still looking for the media. Both of these products are free (f.o.b. my driveway*) to a good home. Included are the manuals and several versions of media floppies for both products. As a bonus, this deal includes another dBase compiler called FORCE. I don't recall anything about it, but I do have both the manuals and media. The manuals are typical of the era, loose-leaf and weigh several pounds so shipping would cost some actual money. Normally I would sell or give these away at VCF East. At this point, you know what to do if you are interested. Jim * my driveway is located in western CT north of Danbury.

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Nice Coco 3 in PA on Craigslist
by Alexander Jacocks 06 Sep '20

06 Sep '20

I don’t have any knowledge of the listing, but I just saw this: https://lancaster.craigslist.org/sys/d/new-holland-tandy-128/7190677582.html - Alex

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Project of the day - Windows 3.11 386Enh on a floppy
by Richard Cini 06 Sep '20

06 Sep '20

Not really sure what applicability this really has, but today’s challenge was to get Windows 3.11 Enhanced Mode running from a single 1.44MB floppy disk. There are easy ways to get Standard mode running, including using files from “precopy.cab” on Windows 95 or 98, but this was way more challenging. I started from a full install and pared it down using a guide I found (which was a two-disk solution). The boot files and required extras (HIMEM, PKUNZIP and a very small ramdrive driver) took about 300K, leaving only about 1.2MB (1.156MB to be exact) for a complete install. A normal no-frills install is about 3-ish megabytes. There are significant compromises – no virtual memory, no networking, no multimedia, only system fonts, and only a few apps, but once running you could run them from another floppy. I discovered that 386Enh won’t put a temporary swapfile on a RAM drive, so it runs without it. I guess you could call this the 1992 version of PortableApps :-) Rich -- Rich Cini http://www.classiccmp.org/cini http://www.classiccmp.org/altair32

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B205 tape drive (reduced)
by Mike Loewen 05 Sep '20

05 Sep '20

The Burroughs B205 tape drive in South Carolina has been reduced to $500: https://www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-BURROUGHS-B205-CORPORATION-ELECTRODATA-COM… This was originally part of Claude Kagan's B205 system. Mike Loewen mloewen(a)cpumagic.scol.pa.us Old Technology http://q7.neurotica.com/Oldtech/

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