April 2021 - vcf-midatlantic

Commander X 16 is changing its name
by Jeffrey Brace 05 Apr '21

05 Apr '21

It was announced a few days ago, but I like the new name! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWBUMgAl7wY ========================================= 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] short biography of Nat Wadsworth available for your reading pleasure
by Gregg Levine 04 Apr '21

04 Apr '21

Hello! Interesting. In fact I actually saw one, perhaps many, at the VCF East sometime ago. It's simple nature appealed to me. Mike you captured the essence of the whole gubbins inside that article. ----- Gregg C Levine gregg.drwho8(a)gmail.com "This signature fought the Time Wars, time and again." On Sat, Apr 3, 2021 at 12:21 PM MikeWillegal via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > > Nat Wadsworth, was the inventor of the SCELBI computer. The essay can be downloaded from my feature story page: https://www.willegal.net/feature_stories/FeatureStories.htm <https://www.willegal.net/feature_stories/FeatureStories.htm> > > Comments can be left on my blog: > Short Nat Wadsworth Biography, Hobby Computer Innovator <https://www.willegal.net/blog/?p=9675> > > Best regards, > Mike Willegal

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] short biography of Nat Wadsworth available for your reading pleasure
by Christian Liendo 04 Apr '21

04 Apr '21

Thanks for posting. I really want to read this On Sat, Apr 3, 2021, 12:21 PM MikeWillegal via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > Nat Wadsworth, was the inventor of the SCELBI computer. The essay can be > downloaded from my feature story page: > https://www.willegal.net/feature_stories/FeatureStories.htm < > https://www.willegal.net/feature_stories/FeatureStories.htm> > > Comments can be left on my blog: > Short Nat Wadsworth Biography, Hobby Computer Innovator < > https://www.willegal.net/blog/?p=9675> > > Best regards, > Mike Willegal

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Swap Meet For Sale List
by Jeffrey Brace 04 Apr '21

04 Apr '21

Creating a separate thread in case others missed the other one. Anyone wanting to list what they have for sale at the swap meet can list it on this Google Sheet if they like: For Sale List: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1-6tUM80QSE3o0WCrwpunVpfVcOWlkCR3rr2… ========================================= 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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Swap Meet Want to Buy List
by Jeffrey Brace 04 Apr '21

04 Apr '21

Creating a separate thread in case others missed the other one. Anyone wanting to list what they want to buy at the swap meet can list it on this Google Sheet if they like: Want to Buy List https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1CJT63tqE42pBMl2yUi6aLdYdrvLBlSG0jqu… ========================================= 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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short biography of Nat Wadsworth available for your reading pleasure
by MikeWillegal 03 Apr '21

03 Apr '21

Nat Wadsworth, was the inventor of the SCELBI computer. The essay can be downloaded from my feature story page: https://www.willegal.net/feature_stories/FeatureStories.htm <https://www.willegal.net/feature_stories/FeatureStories.htm> Comments can be left on my blog: Short Nat Wadsworth Biography, Hobby Computer Innovator <https://www.willegal.net/blog/?p=9675> Best regards, Mike Willegal

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a home for unloved modern computers & parts
by Jeffrey Jonas 03 Apr '21

03 Apr '21

A friend from the NJ Linux group helps with TDI Connect (formerly the Trenton Digital Initiative (TDI)) http://tdiconnect.org/TDIConnect_PCDonations.php They refurbish computers and supply them to schools and those in need. They really need: USB mice, USB keyboards, monitors, etc. I'll gladly collect any such "leftovers" from the the Swap Meet and forward them (unless Ian Finlay can be there to collect directly). I don't want him to make the trip only to return empty-handed. -- jeff jonas

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VCF Museum on Wheels!
by Jeffrey Brace 02 Apr '21

02 Apr '21

We have been planning to have a mobile museum for a long time and Covid-19 has inspired us to implement this plan faster. At first we were looking into getting a bus inexpensively because a lot of the schools needed the extra cash, but we found a great partnering program in our investigation. We have partnered with Tesla for funding so we were able to get an electric bus. So will be renovating our new bus into a mobile vintage computer museum! We still have to decide on which computers we will have in this museum and periodically change them out. This is a great chance to be able to take our museum *to* the schools instead of the other way around. Plus it is Covid-19 regulation compliant with a limited number of students on the bus at one time. Many schools will be having more cash available for programs like this due to the Covid-19 relief package passed by Congress, so they will have money available for extra programs like ours. Over the next few months we will be retrofitting our bus and hope to have it ready by September. Other fun ideas are that we will serve period specific snacks to visitors including pop rocks, kool aid and twinkies, etc. ========================================= 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 -- ========================================= 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] VCF Museum on Wheels!
by Martin Flynn 02 Apr '21

02 Apr '21

If the total weight is over 26001 pounds, a CDL is necessary. Also would need to be aware that some buses (notably school buses) are not geared for highway use , limiting their speed Sent from my iPhone > On Apr 2, 2021, at 9:01 AM, Jeff Salzman via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > > Sometimes, an old bus can be bought for little money. One could easily be > gutted and fitted with anything we could arrange to showcase in it. > > https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/180150850286348/ > >> On Fri, Apr 2, 2021, 8:45 AM Bruce via vcf-midatlantic < >> vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: >> Jeff: >> Consider scaling back the idea. >> Instead of any sort of vehicle (the major cost, especially considering >> insurance, licensing, maintenance, storage, repairs, etc.), consider >> putting together some portable containers or crates, possibly modeled upon >> the ones used by professional musicians on road tours. >> There are lots of ways to do this, but one way would be to have two >> displays in one crate, connected by hinges on one side and clasps on the >> other. (Putting this hardware on the corners would offset the displays by >> 90 degrees, should that matter.) Place the crates on folding tables, >> trestles, or intrinsic fold-out legs to raise them to a useful height. >> Now you just need a vehicle to carry them in, and if nobody in the club has >> one, rent it. All the complications of a club owning a vehicle (and they >> may be considerable) are avoided this way. >> Bruce >> NJ >> On Fri, Apr 2, 2021 at 8:03 AM Jeffrey Brace via vcf-midatlantic < >> vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: >>> In all seriousness, yes, this was an April Fool's joke, but it had some >>> truth to it. Erik Klein, the VCF president, has contemplated this idea >> and >>> brought it up a few times and we joke about it, but he really wants to do >>> it and I feel like the rest of the national board does too. The idea does >>> have its merits with "bringing the artifacts to the people". The >>> difficulty of course is the cost, building and maintaining of such a >>> vehicle. We would love to do something like this, but we don't >>> realistically see it happening without a lot of time, effort, money and >>> dedication. >>> ========================================= >>> 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 >>>> On Thu, Apr 1, 2021 at 8:54 AM Jeffrey Brace <jeffrey(a)vcfed.org> wrote: >>>> We have been planning to have a mobile museum for a long time and >>> Covid-19 >>>> has inspired us to implement this plan faster. At first we were looking >>>> into getting a bus inexpensively because a lot of the schools needed >> the >>>> extra cash, but we found a great partnering program in our >> investigation. >>>> We have partnered with Tesla for funding so we were able to get an >>> electric >>>> bus. So will be renovating our new bus into a mobile vintage computer >>>> museum! >>>> We still have to decide on which computers we will have in this museum >>> and >>>> periodically change them out. This is a great chance to be able to take >>> our >>>> museum *to* the schools instead of the other way around. Plus it is >>>> Covid-19 regulation compliant with a limited number of students on the >>> bus >>>> at one time. Many schools will be having more cash available for >> programs >>>> like this due to the Covid-19 relief package passed by Congress, so >> they >>>> will have money available for extra programs like ours. Over the next >> few >>>> months we will be retrofitting our bus and hope to have it ready by >>>> September. >>>> Other fun ideas are that we will serve period specific snacks to >> visitors >>>> including pop rocks, kool aid and twinkies, etc. >>>> ========================================= >>>> 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 >>>> -- >>>> ========================================= >>>> 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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wire wrap gun
by Dave McGuire 02 Apr '21

02 Apr '21

https://www.ebay.com/itm/133709531567 I have one of these; this is one of the really nice ones. If you want to do any wire-wrapping, this is THE tool to get. No association with seller, yadda yadda. -Dave -- Dave McGuire, AK4HZ New Kensington, PA

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