March 2022 - vcf-midatlantic

Commodore 1702 door
by svcatitc＠aol.com 20 Apr '23

20 Apr '23

Jeffrey Brace jeffrey at vcfed.org Writes:Wed Sep 2 13:48:24 EDT 2020 Sounds like an Outer Limits episode where the world was taken apart and remade every moment and sometimes they made mistakes which is why when you lose your keys you find time in a place that you already searched. I thought this was a Spielberg "Amazing Stories" episode, obviously not. The episode is: "A Matter of Minutes" is the third segment of the fifteenth episode from the first season (1985–86) of the television series The Twilight Zone. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Matter_of_Minutes I remember that scene where the couple is in the "Void of White Space" and the "Supervisor of the Maintenance of Time" says: (paraphrasing) "Ya know how you go back to look for something you know is supposed to be there multiple times and then it finally is where you thoughtit should be? That's us. We forgot something. We are now working on moving Christmas!" I personally call them the "Minute-Ahead" men and you may hear me at a workshop cursing at them!!!! I DOOO BELIEVE! Bill Inderrieden

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Wordle in BASIC
by Christian Liendo 30 Jun '22

30 Jun '22

Someone posted what looks like a BASIC program called Wordle from Creative Computing. https://twitter.com/katie_panda/status/1496607013589204998/photo/1

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FYI: Vintage Anniversaries
by Jeffrey Brace 09 Jun '22

09 Jun '22

As part of the brainstorming for VCF East themes we came up with anniversaries. I am sharing them here. I'm sure that there are many more that we missed, so this list isn't exhaustive, but these are the most interesting and important that came to mind when brainstorming. I thought I would share to inspire and as an FYI. Space War = 1962 Removable Storage = 1962 C programming = 1972 Magnavox Odyssey = 1972 Pong = 1972 Bell’s Law = 1972 Commodore 64 = 1982 Timex Sinclair = 1982 Tron = 1982 Knight Rider = 1982 Linux = 1992 Vintage Computer Festival = 1997 ========================================= Jeff Brace VCF National Board Member Chairman & Vice President Vintage Computer Festival East Show-runner VCF Mid-Atlantic Executive Director Vintage Computer Federation is a 501c3 charity http://www.vcfed.org/ jeffrey(a)vcfed.org

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] OT: time to downsize
by Bob Shuster 03 May '22

03 May '22

Oops, I missed one of my favorite computers, my Mac Plus 1MB with hard drive. I updated the Google sheet listing. Btw, I think I’m going to move the list over to a webpage. Google Sheets is not well-suited for a complex format like this and is very prone to accidentally deleting items (which I did with several!) I’ll send a new link when I’ve done that (and added a significant amount of new items, probably Atari next…) Bob Shuster

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Advertising VCFe 2022
by Jeffrey Brace 03 Apr '22

03 Apr '22

I will be on Bil Herd's YouTube stream to promote VCF East. The show will start at 2PM on April 8 on this channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/BilHerd. Bil had been talking up VCF East for weeks talking about: 1) The C64 schematics (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wULKtIE-SI&t=5s) 2) Al Charpentier, VIC I and VIC II chip designer ( https://youtu.be/JeGCC2Kgqik) 3) Dave Haynie and Amiga (https://youtu.be/6ZT209i-3Lo) I will also be joining CDL's Facebook stream ( https://www.facebook.com/groups/129849193755962) on Monday, April 18 at 7PM to talk about VCF East. Kay Savetz (Antic Podcast) continues to promote our show on his show on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgtj2VfQ6MvKRn3Gr_OGykA FYI: I wrote an article for IEEE Annals of the History of Computing which was recently published: Volume 44, Issue 1. If anyone else knows of anywhere else we can advertise, please let me know. ========================================= Jeff Brace VCF National Board Member Chairman & Vice President Vintage Computer Festival East Showrunner Vintage Computer Federation is a 501c3 charity http://www.vcfed.org/ jeffrey(a)vcfed.org

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Two Days left to register VCF East 2022 exhibit
by Jeffrey Brace 30 Mar '22

30 Mar '22

We've gotten a number of entries in the past week. There's still room for more exhibits, but the rooms are starting to fill up. If you intend on doing an exhibit, please register by midnight, April 1 https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfUestwcqFWT7EY3m0kShPtYISMvP2-qYq… Thanks! ========================================= Jeff Brace VCF National Board Member Chairman & Vice President Vintage Computer Festival East Showrunner Vintage Computer Federation is a 501c3 charity http://www.vcfed.org/ jeffrey(a)vcfed.org

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OT: help needed with network problem
by William Dudley 28 Mar '22

28 Mar '22

This has naught to do with vintage computers, but I need help, and this audience likely has one or more folks who can help. I run my own mail server; I have for many years. Lately, spamhaus.org has blocked me for ONE suspect email from my network. Here is ALL the bad activity from my IP for the last three months: (IP address, timestamp (UTC), and HELO string) 98.109.205.15 2022-03-28 10:15:00 instructure.com 98.109.205.15 2022-03-15 08:05:00 instructure.com 98.109.205.15 2022-01-21 16:10:00 localhost It's a funny kind of malware that sends two messages 15 days apart. I can't figure out where it's coming from, and my knowledge of iptables and tcpdump is insufficient to do the following jobs: 1. figure out where this bad email is coming from 2. block port 25 outbound at my firewall except from the ONE machine authorized to send email. I am willing to PAY for help with this. Email me if you think you can help and would like to try. Thanks, Bill Dudley This email is free of malware because I run Linux.

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System 360 and 370 consoles
by Enzo D'Amato 28 Mar '22

28 Mar '22

I saw these old IBM consoles online on eBay. The prices are very high, but I though that the people here would find them interesting. They are some of the only legible pictures of the consoles that I have seen. 360 Mod 50 panel: https://www.ebay.com/itm/325111900834 370 Mod 138 panel: https://www.ebay.com/itm/325112152316 360 Mod 30 panel: https://www.ebay.com/itm/325111939456 370 Mod 148 panel: https://www.ebay.com/itm/325110927633 Also, a telex 8020 tape drive: https://www.ebay.com/itm/125187607333

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Shugart SA800-2 drives
by Mike Loewen 28 Mar '22

28 Mar '22

I have a pair of Shugart SA800-2 8" drives, which are mounted in a Micromation enclosure. Both drives have the factory jumper configuration, except for the B: drive which has the termination jumpers (T3, T4, T5 and T6) removed and DS2 installed. I've connected them to my media system via an older FDADAP board. Using the IMD program, I try and read a single-sided disk that has valid data. The drive selects and the head-load solenoid activates. After several seconds, IMD displays a "No interrupt from FDC" error. The same thing happens with both drives. The Alignment function doesn't recognize anything from the disk. I've successfully used this system with Tandon TM848-2 drives, and a Siemens 120-8. Before I start chasing signals, are there any obvious pitfalls to using a SA800-2 with a (relatively) modern PC? Should the DC (Disk Change) jumper be installed? By default, it is not. I noticed that on the Tandon drive, DC is installed. I have the operating and maintenance manuals for the SA800/801 drives. Mike Loewen mloewen(a)cpumagic.scol.pa.us Old Technology http://q7.neurotica.com/Oldtech/

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Museum items in need of repair
by Jeffrey Brace 25 Mar '22

25 Mar '22

Apple 2: Best as I can describe: "scrambled video". This has been a chronic problem with this machine. It seems like it is a loose video card and wires that need to be reseated, wiggled, etc. Tony knows how to make it work, but he can't always be there and the fix doesn't last very long. The other docents and I have tried to replicate what he does to no avail. IBM PCjr: Has a floppy drive making loud noises and doesn't boot up properly. We have an SD card solution for it, but that doesn't seem to work all the time either. Dean knows how to make it work, but again it doesn't work for me or the other docents. Vic-20: Needs great demo programs downloaded to SD card and instructions made for docents which ones they are and how to operate them. Adam Joystick: It doesn't go up! Don't know if it can be repaired, or if it needs to be replaced. ========================================= Jeff Brace VCF National Board Member Chairman & Vice President Vintage Computer Festival East Showrunner Vintage Computer Federation is a 501c3 charity http://www.vcfed.org/ jeffrey(a)vcfed.org

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