July 2021 - vcf-midatlantic

VCF East 2021 Update
by Jeffrey Brace 16 Jul '21

16 Jul '21

First of all I want to be clear to everyone that we are doing a live show only this year. We are doing a live show or bust. The website is being updated regularly, but here is a brief update: So far we have 7 classes signed up for VCF University. We have 13 exhibits that take up 21 tables so far. We have 3 vendors: Drakware, Jim Brain, Jeff Galinet Consignment will have a huge amount of space this year taking up almost an entire section of the 9010 building. Glitch will be doing his single board workshop with something new planned. Tony has worked hard to get a food truck for the show. No luck so far, but he is still working on it. We have a Plan B which is to sell sandwiches like we did in 2019. We have 7 speakers lined up for Saturday and Sunday so far with room for one more. We will have 4 speakers each day spread out over the day. Tickets are on sale now. We are still looking for volunteers for all areas. This is shaping up to be a really exciting show! It looks like it will be the biggest show ever! ========================================= 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

4 3

[vcf_midatlantic] Monitor schematic diagram
by Herb Johnson 16 Jul '21

16 Jul '21

> Would you have a diagram for: > > QC-1418 monitor > HGC/MDA/Hercules > > Mike Rosen I don't know who "you" is addressing but my post preceded this post. Docs for IBM PC era monitors may be part of PhotoFact or other TV-type service documentation. Specify the BRAND of monitor also. But MDA compatible monitors are all similar in general operation and "TV" service information may be informative. It's all about what's wrong if anything with the monitor in question. A Web search suggests "BTC" may be a brand associated with the monitor. Web search confuses that brand name with "bitcoin" and isn't all that productive. 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

2 1

Monitor schematic diagram
by Sentrytv 15 Jul '21

15 Jul '21

Would you have a diagram for: QC-1418 monitor HGC/MDA/Hercules Mike Rosen Sent from: My extremely complicated, hand held electronic device.

1 0

Sussex ARC hamfest this Sunday, July 18th.
by Herb Johnson 15 Jul '21

15 Jul '21

> Hi Kelly so what is the weather supposed to be like for the day Well, News12 New Jersey cable-channel weather says Saturday and Sunday are rainy days, with thunderstorms overnight Friday and Saturday. Check with any reliable weather service. But the atmosphere is full of heat and humidity - energy sources for rain, simple physics. The simple hamfest rule is: expect rain, lose half the dealers and half the crowd. That, plus the heat-n-humidity and air-quality alerts and distance, decides for me I'm not going to Sussex NJ on Sunday, or Valley Forge PA on Saturday for their hamfest. Old-person considerations. For those who can deal with these issues, there will be some dealers there and there's some inside sales too. I look forward to the fall. regards, Herb retrotechnology.com -- 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

1 0

Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Next set of tools being upgraded
by Bruce 14 Jul '21

14 Jul '21

You'd better check the country of manufacture of those name brand tools you prefer. Many are now from China, despite being long-time American brands. My experience is different from yours. HF wrenches, including Allen keys, perform just fine, even the ratchet ones. I have screwdrivers, driver bits, a bench vise, and many other non-powered tools I've never had a problem with. Drill bits are a bit less reliable. HF bits are fine for wood and soft metals, even mild steel, but will not necessarily stand up to (normalized - not hardened) medium-carbon steel (in my limited experience). That is no surprise and no particular disappointment. I had one saber saw on which the blade-mounting lever broke. I returned it (90 day return window) and bought the next higher priced one. I had a double blade (opposite spin) circular saw fail in some manner that I forget, and they replaced it without argument. The funniest problem item was an anvil: I cut off a corner of the mounting slot in the base to make a quick-release anvil mount -- and out spilled a bunch of steel beads! The casting had a hollow I could fit my pinkie into! BTW, those anvils have very soft faces. They're useful, but not up to snuff for serious work. But grinders, welders, auto-darkening welding helmets, miscellaneous cabinets and racks, etc., etc., just end up costing half what I'd pay elsewhere and perform just fine. The cheapest HF bench grinder works, but takes a while to come up to speed as it's underpowered. The big caveat: Those battery-powered hand tools, typically 18V rechargeable drills and so forth. Either the HD batteries or the HD chargers are crap. They never last. I won't buy those anymore. Overall, however, HF is my first stop for tools. OTOH, I *never* recommend a professional buy his critical tools there. If your income depends upon the reliability of your tools, you don't want one crapping out on you in the middle of a job. Pros should buy professional-quality tools (and not just name brands because some of those are crap too). Bruce NJ On Wed, Jul 14, 2021 at 9:56 AM Sentrytv via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > I have gone to Harbor freight to buy many things and aside from the free > flashlights and batteries most of their tools are pretty poor quality, or > at least the items that I have purchased. > I ended up returning most of the items that were poor quality. > > I have to admit the scan tool I bought from them, to scan codes on my > car, was reasonably priced and worked well. > > There is no doubt that their prices are reasonable, but I really hate > buying stuff from China. > > That may be my opinion but I think a lot of us feel that way. > > Mike R. > > > > > Sent from: > My extremely complicated, hand held electronic device. > > > On Jul 14, 2021, at 8:59 AM, Martin Flynn via vcf-midatlantic < > vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > > > > Bruce, > > I’m a harbor freight regular, however when working (or conserving) > historic kit, I don’t want to screw it up worse than it is with a hand tool > that tears up the fasteners. > > > > Right tool at the right time was my dad’s signature line… > > > > Martin > > > > Sent from my iPhone > > > >> Of course, this is none of my business (as a lurker on this list) but I > >> must point out that the hand tools at Harbor Freight are mostly of quite > >> good quality. I use these in my shop and have little complaint. Their > >> main claim to fame is price -- quite low, generally. It is no longer a > >> situation like in the '60's when you'd buy a set of Allen wrenches from > the > >> $1 bin at the auto parts store and the damned thing would twist into a > >> hexagonal screw the first time you applied any torque to it. > > > >

2 1

Sperry Univac Core - Which computer and Capacity?
by Herb Johnson 14 Jul '21

14 Jul '21

> Douglas Crawford > Sat Jul 10 02:49:34 UTC 2021 > > So, right. Here's the whole post mortem on this. > That's a recap of the entire successful conversation. > Links to the board pics, and the UNIVAC manuals > and such are in the conversation. > Hence, "I'm good". > > Thanks! It seems polite to respond to your detailed response to my "where's the core" message. Your responses were informative, thank you. As you responded, your Web pages on WordPress are for other purposes than for showing items for further discussion or to solicit inquiries. Your response explains itself and needs no elaborations on my part. Otherwise: you posted in this list to get some info: you got some info and assistance: job done. But at some point you literally posted "Any recommendations on where else to look?" and that is what I responded to. If I posted after your request was satisfied, that was simply a circumstance. My post also explained itself and needs no elaboration. You and I, simply put content on the Web in different ways for different purposes. I'll be thoughtful about your use, you suggested you'll be thoughtful about my suggested use. Those are considerations outside the immediate topic which you have already concluded. Doug, you asked me if I liked your site, if I would read a few of your pages on WordPress. Well, I did. They are good presentations about how you've designed various microprocessor-based projects, small and large. There's a general display of your vintage collection. These are all well-crafted pages with visual and textual content. WordPress sites have a commonality to them that makes them hard for me to compare to other Web sites. The "adventures in ROV" page, is a pretty detailed presentation of the methodology of students and mentors to create a toy-class small ROV from Arduino technology and various toy-class parts. I only say "toy" because you've also done commercial class development work. As an engineer myself, I'm informed by your presentations of design process. Doug, you are welcome to wander around my Web domain retrotechnology.com, for any information and considerations of use or result you can glean from them. There's an open question from Doug, about whether Web search "finds" the discussions here in this email list. I don't know, I search a lot and don't recall "finds" from this list. But technical content in this somewhat-private email list is limited. So I speculate there aren't often enough keyboards to trigger a high-value "search hit". It's also possible, that the hosting site "tells" search engines not to search the email archives. Those are administrative matters I have no knowledge about. But as Doug suggests: the email list is for specific purposes, if it doesn't do other things there are other venues which do. Thanks and 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

6 9

Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Next set of tools being upgraded
by Christian Liendo 14 Jul '21

14 Jul '21

On Wed, Jul 14, 2021 at 9:57 AM Sentrytv via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > There is no doubt that their prices are reasonable, but I really hate buying stuff from China. > > That may be my opinion but I think a lot of us feel that way. > > Mike R. > +1 I don't want to get "political" but I see people who like to complain about jobs and workers not getting paid enough in the states. Well if consumers are not willing to pay the extra money so that a fellow american can still have a job, then I don't want to hear about it. The difference in cost is not much in my opinion and I am willing to pay the extra money. I like to support good companies like Chapman tools, their customer service was very nice and willing to put in the effort to make a nice tool kit for me. So I have no qualms about giving them my money.

2 1

Next set of tools being upgraded
by Herb Johnson 14 Jul '21

14 Jul '21

> Looking at replacing the Allen wrench at CDL with sets > Anyone have suggestions on other manufacturers / options? > > Martin Flynn Related are Torx drivers. I don't recall what CDL has in these. A 6-inch shaft T15 is necessary to service Apple Macintoshes of all sorts particularly the earliest models. Later Apple models use other Torx sizes. These screws find themselves in all kinds of equipment. I'll leave choice of tool brand to persons with more experience than mine. 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

5 7

[OT?] For Offer: NewTek Lightwave for Windows XP + PC & Peripherals
by Alexander Jacocks 13 Jul '21

13 Jul '21

Here’s what I got, in another email: “ It was suggested I reach out to this group so here I am. I just pulled out of storage a Windows XP PC with the last version of Video Toaster and Lightwave installed on it, 1TB of storage, and various peripherals/extras. Anyone know what the market or value might be for it? If so, please feel free to reply directly and off list. ” Let me know if you’re interested, and I’ll put you in touch. - Alex

1 0

Repair Workshop 2021-07-10
by Jeffrey Brace 12 Jul '21

12 Jul '21

Enjoy pictures from this weekend’s repair workshop at System Source: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1-LdMKjLa34aJrAL_xyOhNBBiHsgbcuSl Lots of people here fixing lots of stuff! -- ========================================= 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

2 1