November 2021 - vcf-midatlantic

Festivus Repair Question - IBM P70 Floppy Drive Re-cap
by Bart Hirst 21 Nov '21

21 Nov '21

Hello, I have a working IBM P70, but the floppy drive needs to be recapped. Is this something that could be done at the Festivus repair workshop? If so, I'll order the parts and sign up. thanks! Bart

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Festivus Signup Link via EventBrite
by Jeffrey Brace 21 Nov '21

21 Nov '21

For anyone who tried the link and got an error message, sorry about that. My e-mail had a malformed link. Here is the correct link to sign up for Festivus: Festivus Signup Link <https://www.eventbrite.com/e/festivus-2021-tickets-194874814817> https://www.eventbrite.com/e/festivus-2021-tickets-194874814817 Festivus is December 11 & 12. I previously sent all the information, but will send a reminder e-mail soon. Hope to see everyone there! It will be fun! :-D ========================================= 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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What is VCF Festivus? December 11 & 12, 2021
by Jeffrey Brace 21 Nov '21

21 Nov '21

Just a reminder to everyone about our upcoming Festivus party. I've gotten a lot of signups so far for this event. Here the info again: START: Sat, Dec 11 at 10AM END: Sun, Dec 12 at 5PM ANNUAL VCF MA Town Hall: December 11 at 8PM WHERE: 2201 Marconi Rd, Wall Township, NJ (InfoAge Campus) 9010-C = Cafeteria where we will eat and drink. 9010-C = Game room across from cafeteria 9010-D (Women's Bunkroom) = Mini Festivus Swap Meet where we can buy and sell 9059 = Festivus Repair workshop COST: $20 per person covers the whole event $25 per person per night for overnight stay Buy tickets through Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/festivus -2021-tickets-194874814817 If you want to pay at the door, then you also have that option. I can have the iPad ready to take cash or credit, etc. I will be doing the traditional burger and hot dog grilling outside. VCF will be buying soft drinks. Ian will be bringing his vintage video games. Everyone is welcome to bring their own games. Let me know what you are bringing: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ccEP-PdZGuqz0HFZKNXmfxICtXaO3Hly892… Everyone brings a food or beverage item. Here is the potluck signup sheet for food and drinks: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1UtSrLUdnIcRjY3LErfukhYltF1oHno0V6Nk… Here is the buy/sell list for the mini swap meet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/19jpgyvVoKaxAuUxQU-7_b3Grk9LWOQ6aAbQ… The swap meet rules are you bring your own table(s) and are responsible for selling things yourself. CHANGE OF SWAP MEET ROOM: We won't be able to use the room that we use for consignment during VCF East. It is being renovated for a new museum. We will be using the women's bunkroom. It's possible we can switch this back to the original room. I'm trying to negotiate with InfoAge management a slight change in their schedule. Festivus Repair workshop signup: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/14C_OObkhtzCsA-LF7rzNhoagb3RovLDsXtB… For a lot of new people and those who don't know. I thought I would explain what this "Festivus" event was all about. WHAT IS FESTIVUS? Festivus started out as a party years ago and took place 6 months after VCF East. At some point, it was officially called "Festivus" as recommended by Bernie S. It refers to the Seinfeld episode https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HX55AzGku5Y. It is a made up holiday around the same time as many others in December, but for us it is not religious, but simply Pure Vintage Computer Fun. WHAT DO YOU DO AT FESTIVUS? It is a barbecue hamburgers, hot dogs, perogies, etc. It is a Potluck, everyone brings a food and/or beverage item. It is vintage video game fun. We have a game room setup for Ian and others to setup their video games for everyone to play. It is a fellowship to catch up with members that we haven't seen since VCF East or last Festivus in person. WHAT'S NEW? Last year we did a mini-swap meet where members bought and sold each others items, we are doing this again. Also we are adding a repair workshop. Everyone loves to tinker with these items and why not include this in our events as so many enjoy it. WHAT ELSE? Our Mid-Atlantic Chapter Town Hall where we review what has happened over the year, what we plan on doing and take any questions from members. -- ========================================= 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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Apple 2 Classroom @ VCF East 2022
by Jeffrey Brace 19 Nov '21

19 Nov '21

Tony Bogan and Adam Michlin will be organizing an Apple 2 Classroom in the CDL Classroom area for VCF East 2022. They had planned to do it in 2020, but Covid happened, so it was delayed. Now that we are back to original time of year for our show, the classroom is back on schedule. In any case, I'm excited to see it and love the hands-on aspect. They currently plan to do it all 3 days during the event and so far have two classes scheduled: 1) Apple 2 BASIC 2) Apple 2 assembly. There is more to come and hope that everyone is excited to hear about it and invites their kids (and adults) to come learn hands-on! By the way VCF East 2022 is on April 22,23,24. ========================================= 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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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] [OT] My eyes are aging - glasses recos for electronics work/small print reading?
by Crawford Griffith 17 Nov '21

17 Nov '21

Folks, I don’t normally need glasses for reading, but for electronics, especially surface mount stuff, I use a big lighted arm mount magnifier like Bill Degnan. I even have a couple of microscopes for really tiny stuff. I also have a variety of head mount magnifiers, hand held ones with and without lights, and a folding 5” one I take to workshops. All the portable ones have been misplaced several times each. Buying a replacement usually makes the lost ones reappear. I’ve used cheap reader glasses, but try not to keep them on for long as they give me headaches. John H. - Hate to say it, but I think you have to try a bunch of different things and see what works for you. - Crawford

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[OT] My eyes are aging - glasses recos for electronics work/small print reading?
by John Heritage 17 Nov '21

17 Nov '21

I'm sure at least a few of you can relate. Hell, I *know* Crawford Griffith can relate ;-).. I wear contact lenses and without the lenses I can read small print/see tiny text on PCBs without problem. Once the contacts are in I have real trouble focusing in some cases on small fonts, or other details such as the crappy way manufacturers print specs on power supplies. Any specific recommendations for eye glasses here? Are cheap reading glasses sufficient for [seeing] soldering "up close" and other uses like that or is there a type of reading / magnifying glass that's also for safety that someone would recommend? Thanks! John

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[OT] My eyes are aging - glasses recos for electronics work/small print reading?
by Herb Johnson 17 Nov '21

17 Nov '21

0) Get professional advice about your eyes. They wear down with age, that's been established in this thread. Safety is essential, to your eyes and about whatever you are doing. 1) Learn about lighting by: visiting hardware stores, visiting craft or hobby stores. Visiting sewing or cloth stores. They will have various lighting products. New LED technologies are creating new products. Of course, you have to see them to determine if they are useful to YOU. Ask "crafters" you know - they have the same problem. It's the holiday season, ask the model-train builders when you see their holiday exhibits. 2) Learn about diopters, color temperature. Friends in photography, can advise you on uniform illumination. Spotlights produce glare, dark shadows, that's not helpful. Improving your workplace lighting will make a great difference. 3) Cheap plastic dollar store glasses, are what they are. They will get lost, scratch up, and break. Maybe someone can advise on real-glass glass readers in repairable stock frames sold by diopter, but any optometry store will have such things. I imagine Amazon will too. A virtue of cheap glasses is that you can experiment with what works and doesn't. Stack up glasses for use or to see what diaopters you need for what. 4) Consider, you may need different solutions for different purposes. Witness all the solutions discussed in this thread. But the more you learn, the more you can develop "discernment" about what works and WHY, what doesn't. There's no magic "one ring for all" solutions, and anyway your eyes will change over time. regards Herb -- 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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[OT] 6' HDMI to DVI cables looking for new home
by John Heritage 16 Nov '21

16 Nov '21

Good morning folks, I have a pair of 6 foot HDMI to DVI male to male cables extra sitting around. I've reduced my number of DVI monitors substantially recently and rather than just eWaste these, if anyone wants 1 or both of these cables just send me an email and an address and I'll mail them out. First come first serve. I'm not sure if they're DL-DVI but they have all 24 pins visible on the DVI side. Thanks! John

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Home computing pioneer Sir Clive Sinclair dies aged 81
by John Heritage 15 Nov '21

15 Nov '21

Eek. I missed this somehow (while on vacation). Sad to hear he passed - very interesting person and he contributed greatly to a lot of people’s lives. He also assumes once machines match or surpass human intelligence, it’ll be very hard for us to survive and ‘that is inevitable’. Check out “Micro Men” for a video focused on the Sinclair vs. Acorn/BBC/Micro and early ARM era stuff going on in England in the early 1980s. The best line in the show is Clive’s (dramatic license taken) <disgusted voice> “Games, Games, Games, all everyone wants is Games” which turns into .. well I won’t spoil it :). (Micro Men also fleetingly covers Clive’s attempts at making/selling micro cars for transport..) On Fri, Sep 17, 2021 at 11:09 Bob Aviles via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > His daughter stated that he never uses a computer or calculator instead > he uses a slide ruler. > > On Thursday, September 16, 2021, 04:48:25 PM EDT, Bill Degnan via > vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > > We have one of these calculators on display within our Sinclair User Group > exhibit > > On Thu, Sep 16, 2021 at 4:26 PM Jeffrey Brace via vcf-midatlantic < > vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > > > On Thu, Sep 16, 2021 at 2:23 PM Christian Liendo via vcf-midatlantic < > > vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > > > > > I don't know how accurate this is but it came across my feed > > > > > > > > > > > > https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/sep/16/home-computing-pioneer-s… > > > > > > Very interesting. I knew about the Sinclair computers, but I didn't know > > about the invention of the pocket calculator. > > > >

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Intel 4004 50th anniversary
by Christian Liendo 15 Nov '21

15 Nov '21

Intel https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/newsroom/news/intel-marks-50th-anni… WSJ The Chip That Changed the World Most of the wealth created since 1971 is a result of Intel’s 4004 microprocessor. For those that have WSJ https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-chip-that-changed-the-world-microprocessor… For those who do not https://archive.ph/oeL7t eeNews Europe Intel celebrates 50 years of the 4004 https://www.eenewseurope.com/news/intel-celebrates-50-years-4004

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