October 2021 - vcf-midatlantic

Now that VCF East is on our back of list of events, what is next?
by Gregg Levine 19 Oct '21

19 Oct '21

Hello! So now we've done VCF East and it was amazing. (And yes good to see even new people.) What is happening next? The people on Hack A Day are urgently looking forward to the next Swap Meet. And even though I am still space starved, so am I. ----- Gregg C Levine gregg.drwho8(a)gmail.com "This signature fought the Time Wars, time and again."

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Tomczyk Interview
by Andrew Diller 19 Oct '21

19 Oct '21

Michael Tomczyk: Commodore VIC-20 Developer, Computer Pioneer - a nice article apparently resulting from an interview of Mr. Tomczyk at VCF East 2021. His keynote was a hit with a packed room. Look for it soon up on the VCF YouTube channel... Meanwhile: https://talesfromthecollection.com/2021/10/19/michael-tomczyk-commodore/ <https://talesfromthecollection.com/2021/10/19/michael-tomczyk-commodore/> -andy

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Hackaday Article on VCFE 2021
by Andrew Diller 19 Oct '21

19 Oct '21

https://hackaday.com/2021/10/19/vcf-east-roars-back-to-life/ <https://hackaday.com/2021/10/19/vcf-east-roars-back-to-life/> VCF East Roars Back To Life

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Compaq LTE 5280 5300 - Requesting assistance
by Russell LeChard 19 Oct '21

19 Oct '21

Good Evening VCF East, I'm new to this group(but not to IT in general [30 years experience ]) I love vintage computers. I'm also in the process of restoring several vintage notebooks. Two in particular are Compaq LTE 5280 and 5300 models. Both have moderate problems. The 5280 is the better model. I'm trying to salvage parts from both to make one good system. I need to replace the Multifunction bay(Floppy/CD-ROM), hard drive bay, and battery bay from the 5280 with the floppy, hard drive, and battery from the 5300. Here is my problem, I'm unable to eject these components from the bays in the 5280. The release buttons seem to be locked and won't slide all the way forward. There are supposedly locking screw holes on the bottom of the unit, but there are no screws in them( they were already missing when I obtained them second hand.) I'm very much stuck! LOL I also have Cerebral Palsy with mobility and dexterity issues (I have one good arm/hand to work with. This makes the disassembly of this notebook even more problematic. This system will be for myself for early/mid 90's DOS games BTW. I spoke to another VCF East member and they suggested I send a message out to the group with this request. I'm in the Toms River, NJ area and I'd even be willing to discuss reasonable compensation(or a trade for other vintage systems( I have others and vintage spare parts)) for someone with the expertise in the Compaq LTE 5000 series for their time and effort. Let me know. Thank you in advance. Take Care, Russell LeChard

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Hackaday article hitting the site tomorrow
by Jeffrey Brace 18 Oct '21

18 Oct '21

Tom Nardi of Hackaday said that his article on VCF East will be hitting the site tomorrow. He seemed pretty impressed with the changes that we made with the show this time. ========================================= 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

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Large format scanner
by Herb Johnson 18 Oct '21

18 Oct '21

> scanning 17 X 34 inch schematics and documents > 1) take them to a copy shop ask if they have any copyright restrictions. I've had occasions where a copy shop said "we can't copy materials that have a copyright". They won't tell you that, if they provide a self-serve copier. But I've seen notices on the copiers that "prohibit" copying copyrighted materials. And generally large-format scanners aren't available for public use. Please don't give me a hard time about this. I am reporting a experience, not asking for a lecture on the subject of copyright, nor giving one. And it may be, this experience doesn't occur anymore, or only at national-brand copy services. > 1a) copy-service costs rather high Ask for donations from people who will benefit. Some people reject this idea outright, it seems like begging or pleading poverty, or some kind of evil capitalism. No, no, and no. People who benefit, sometimes like to show their support and gratitude. If this is wrong, why is gofundme "right"? > 2) take a photo It's hard to illuminate a document evenly. Keep in mind: a scanner moves the same light across the entire document. It even self-adjusts for uniformity. Scanners are very smart. A digital camera will *highlight* any change in illumination. and it needs to know the "color" (kind) of illumination (sun, cloud, incandescent, etc.) If you use a single-source (a light bulb), it won't work, parts of the document are different distances away. *Try it with a newspaper.* You might wait for a lightly cloudy day - then the sunlight is diffused uniformly. And set your camera for "cloudy" to get the color right. You might have to use a longer exposure; that means you have to physically mount the camera so it doesn't shake in your hands. And set your camera for the largest-sized images. again, try it with a newspaper to see if you can get away with this. People today are so used to smart-phone cameras, many don't have the old digital-camera experiences I'm talking about, like using natural light, worrying about light-source color/temperature, etc. People who take lots of photos, set up light-boxes and diffusers and all that stuff. All that said: maybe some high-end smartphones & cameras can do some "auto-stitch" thing or "panorama" thing, and get a big image, AND do so at 300 DPI or better detail that documents need. > 3) scan pieces and stitch together with software This works reasonably well, if you are familiar with a image application. I use an ancient version of Paint Shop Pro. I won't describe the details (read the documentation) but it amounts to pasting the cuts into same-pixel-size cutouts, and then moving the current paste to overlap exactly the previous-cut's edge features. With practice it works pretty well. 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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WTB: XYlogics 472 Pertec Controller or Multibus to VME Adapter
by Jonathan Chapman 18 Oct '21

18 Oct '21

All, I'm in search of either an XYlogics 472 in the Sun Multibus to VME adapter, or just a Multibus to VME adapter (can get the bare XYlogics boards). I'd prefer the Sun 501-1155 assembly since it has the right back panel connectors, but either way is better than neither way :) Thanks, Jonathan

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Another VCF East video by the TechKnight
by Christian Liendo 18 Oct '21

18 Oct '21

https://youtu.be/nUEeuwBGLt4

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WTB/WTT: Asante Mini EN/SC with PowerBook Cable for Full Size
by Jonathan Chapman 15 Oct '21

15 Oct '21

All, I've got an Asante Mini EN/SC with PowerBook cable that I'd like to trade for the full-size EN/SC. Turns out you need the special cable even if you're using regular SCSI, and I don't have that one (stacking DB25 on one end, DB25M on the other). I've tested the Mini EN/SC with TangentDelta's PowerBook 180 and it works fine there, so it's definitely just a cabling issue. I'd like to trade it for a full-size EN/SC, or alternately buy an EN/SC as I may have someone interested in buying the Mini EN/SC for their PowerBook. Thanks, Jonathan

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100Mhz 6502
by Christian Liendo 13 Oct '21

13 Oct '21

http://www.e-basteln.de/computing/65f02/65f02/ The 100 MHz 6502 The 6502 was the CPU in my first computer (an Apple II plus), as well as many other popular home computers of the late 1970s and 80s. It lived on well into the 1990s in game consoles and chess computers, mostly in its updated “65C02” CMOS version. Here’s a re-implementation of the 65C02 in an FPGA, in a pin-compatible format that lets you upgrade those old computers and games to 100 MHz clock rate! Supported host systems Chess computers We have focused on Mephisto chess computers first, since these are at the center of Roland’s collector’s interest. But many others are on the wishlist, including Fidelity (Elite A/S Budapest and Glasgow, Prestige, Avantgarde), Novag (Super Constellation, Super Expert C), SciSys (Turbostar), … Mephisto MM II and B&P Mephisto MM IV, MM V, Rebel Portoroz (MM X) Mephisto Polgar Mephisto Milano and Nigel Short Mephisto Rebell 5.0 Novag Constellation Forte A/B Chafitz ARB (various Sargon versions) and MGS Microcomputers So far, we are supporting the two 6502-based members of the classic 1977 “Trinity” of home computers – the Apple II and the Commodore PET series. It may be possible and worthwhile to also support some slightly later machines: The Acorn BBC Micro, Atari 400 and 800, and maybe the Commodore C64 come to mind. I don’t have any of these computers though. Please contact me if you are interested to help with an adaptation of the 65F02! Apple II, including the II plus and europlus, and presumably the //e. Quite a bit of hardware and software trickery by Steve Wozniak, and the older models do not support a real 65C02 – but the 65F02 is a bit more generous in its bus timing and works nicely. The Disk II floppy drive works nicely under DOS 3.3; support for the language card is under development. Commodore PET/CBM up to 8032. A very clean and “by the book” design. The same memory map should work for all models from the PET 2001, the 3000 and 4000 series, and the 8000 series up to the 8032. (But excluding the 8096 and beyond, which require memory bank switching.) So far we have tested this on the 8032 only; the 8050 floppy drive works. A caveat is in order here. The home computers, with their flexibility and expandability on both the hardware and software side, are bound to encounter limitations and incompatibilities: Memory expansion boards and bank switching need to be known to and emulated by the 65F02; and since the 65F02 only has 64 kByte of RAM on board, it cannot fully accelerate the extended memory. Also, while the 65F02 makes an effort to detect the access to time-critical peripheral devices, and switch back to the original slow speed temporarily, there will probably be incompatible software or add-on hardware. And finally, some software you simply don’t want to be accelerated – try an action video game at 100 MHz to understand that concern… The 65F02 supports an optional hardware switch to disable the acceleration. This way, one can still select between accelerated operation and original speed before one starts the host computer. In non-accelerated mode, the 65F02 should be fully compatible with any software or add-on hardware. (Well; unless the software uses undocumented 6502 opcodes…

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