January 2021 - vcf-midatlantic

Museum Report 2021-01-09
by Jeffrey Brace 10 Jan '21

10 Jan '21

Dylan was docent that day. There was some high interest visitors and they loved watching Bill Dromgoole show of, explain and operate the Univac. It is a rare opportunity to see this machine in action and the visitors loved it! They also loved the C64 The Printshop exhibit. -- ========================================= 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] portable terminal preferences
by Herb Johnson 09 Jan '21

09 Jan '21

> I'm curious what everyone else uses to connect to their various machines. > Straw poll? Thoughts? 1) use a device with a REAL RS-232 UART. Not a USB/serial dongle. http://www.retrotechnology.com/memship/mship_usb.html Here's a somewhat busy note about using a FTDI-brand TTL-to-USB dongle, on a 8-bit microcomputer to a USB based modern computer. It references some other information too. But the problem I want to call out in general, is the "layers of character flow control" section of the document. The problem in brief, is that a USB serial dongle has its own buffers and hardware and software handshaking. It is a microcontroller after all. It's only vaguely controlled by the modern computer with the USB driver, which may or may not have user-means to operate. Most people use these dongles with old "terminal emulators" that think THEY have a buffer and some handshaking control of a UART. The USB driver arbitrates some of that, but not always well. It's all too busy, and generally means a slower sustained baud rate to avoid loss of characters. And for long runs of characters (like XMODEM) you get losses anyway. I think trying to run an 8-bit micro at 19.2K baud at length, is asking for trouble. But people get obsessed about high baud-rates. And certainly it's no fun, to transfer a file and find errors, even with XMODEM and other protocols. So - find a computer with a real, live, UART buried in it. They still exist. And in fact, that GPD MicroPC suggested, *has* (apparently) a RS-232 port. Too fancy for me, any 1990's laptop will do. Some of them still work well. Even some post 2000 laptops and desktops have serial ports. Use those, available from any industrial dumpster. 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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We made the NY Times (sort of)
by Adam Michlin 08 Jan '21

08 Jan '21

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/08/style/retrocomputing.html

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Commodore 64 PC Booklet Circa 1982 - $425 (Wayne NJ)
by Chris Fala 08 Jan '21

08 Jan '21

Amusing to a point, but more irritating and infuriating. Glad I acquired a few things when I did, hopeless now. On Fri, Jan 8, 2021 at 11:52 AM Bob Aviles via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > Nuts! > On Friday, January 8, 2021, 11:34:31 AM EST, Christian Liendo via > vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > > Yes the price is crazy, I just find stuff like this amusing. > > Is like when someone tries to sell a Dodge K car with 100k miles and wants > like $6000 because it's a classic. > > > > On Fri, Jan 8, 2021 at 10:25 AM Sentrytv <sentrytv(a)yahoo.com> wrote: > > > Well whoever it may be, > > is absolutely freaking nuts when it comes to pricing! > > Kind of like another item I saw on EBay. > > That has been up there for quite a while😆 > > And still hasn’t sold! > > > > Sent from: > > My extremely complicated, hand held electronic device. > > > > > On Jan 8, 2021, at 9:48 AM, Christian Liendo via vcf-midatlantic < > > vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > > > > > > I'm curious if anyone knows who this is? > > > > > > > > > https://newjersey.craigslist.org/sys/d/wayne-commodore-64-pc-booklet-circa-… > > > > > >

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Commodore 64 PC Booklet Circa 1982 - $425 (Wayne NJ)
by Bill Degnan 08 Jan '21

08 Jan '21

Commodore put these three-fold brochures out a lot over the years. I have never seen that one. Worth $5-10. Bill On Fri, Jan 8, 2021 at 11:52 AM Bob Aviles via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > Nuts! > On Friday, January 8, 2021, 11:34:31 AM EST, Christian Liendo via > vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > > Yes the price is crazy, I just find stuff like this amusing. > > Is like when someone tries to sell a Dodge K car with 100k miles and wants > like $6000 because it's a classic. > > > > On Fri, Jan 8, 2021 at 10:25 AM Sentrytv <sentrytv(a)yahoo.com> wrote: > > > Well whoever it may be, > > is absolutely freaking nuts when it comes to pricing! > > Kind of like another item I saw on EBay. > > That has been up there for quite a while😆 > > And still hasn’t sold! > > > > Sent from: > > My extremely complicated, hand held electronic device. > > > > > On Jan 8, 2021, at 9:48 AM, Christian Liendo via vcf-midatlantic < > > vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > > > > > > I'm curious if anyone knows who this is? > > > > > > > > > https://newjersey.craigslist.org/sys/d/wayne-commodore-64-pc-booklet-circa-… > > > > > >

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New Member Dan Fitzgerald
by Jeffrey Brace 07 Jan '21

07 Jan '21

Welcome Dan! Please introduce yourself. How did you find our group? What are your interests? -- ========================================= 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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Saturday workshop and stuff
by Sentrytv 06 Jan '21

06 Jan '21

I will be at the Saturday workshop early morning and bringing some stuff with me that I need to get rid of or I would like to get rid of. Not all of it is for sale, some of it is free. I’ll make a short list here contact me off list if interested. TI PEB in shipping box. For sale Ti 99 /4a computer in box. For sale Various cables new. For sale Some used video cables D-link eight port KVM KVM cables AGP video cards some higher end models Some ICs for sale Some security cameras if I can find them Various free stuff also I will only bring the TI stuff if someone is interested , Saturday. Contact me off list please. Mike Rosen Sent from: My extremely complicated, hand held electronic device.

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VGA Monitors (CRT) free
by Kelly Leavitt 06 Jan '21

06 Jan '21

Various. I have too many. Send email off list. Come get them. Wantage NJ. Beer money appreciated but not necessary. Sent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy smartphone Get Outlook for Android<https://aka.ms/ghei36>

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] New Member Dan Fitzgerald
by Bob Aviles 06 Jan '21

06 Jan '21

Hi, and welcome! Bobby On Wednesday, January 6, 2021, 04:27:44 PM EST, Sentrytv via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: Welcome! Sent from: My extremely complicated, hand held electronic device. > On Jan 6, 2021, at 3:52 PM, Jeffrey Brace via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > > Welcome Dan! > > Please introduce yourself. How did you find our group? What are your > interests? > > -- > ========================================= > 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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New List Member Bob
by Jeffrey Brace 06 Jan '21

06 Jan '21

Welcome Bob! Please introduce yourself to the list. How did you find out about our group? What are your interests? -- ========================================= 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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