April 2022 - vcf-midatlantic

Commodore 1702 door
by svcatitc＠aol.com 21 Apr '23

21 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 04 May '22

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

03 May '22

I posted a while ago about downsizing, and have gotten a significant way through. I converted to a webpage - it’s much easier to navigate than Google Sheets. That being said, I’ve gone through most of my Apple and Atari stuff (still more to come) and have reached a milestone where I feel comfortable sharing with the group. The new link: http://www.theshusters.com/bobvintage.html Please don't share for now without asking me. Right now it’s just open to this group - my contact info is intentionally missing from the webpages. If you can read this, you have my email. Email me with questions or offers! Please don't make offers on the list, but if you want to discuss my process and feel the group would benefit, then by all means knock yourself out! :) Bob Shuster (Slightly edited original message below) ---- Well, folks, I’ve gotten to the age where I need to seriously downsize my hobbies and collections, not wanting to leave it to my children to have to deal with in later years. (I had to do that recently for a relative.) On the electronics side, I’ve decided to concentrate on my vintage video game systems - and therefore sell off most of my vintage computer stuff. My collection includes mostly 8-bit stuff: TRS-80 Models I, IV, M100, etc. - Atari 400, 800, Stacy, Portfolio, ST, etc. - C64/VIC20 - T/S1000 (including an unbuilt kit), Apple II, II+, IIe, IIe Platinum, IIgs - Wang WLTC - Mattel Aquarius - TI-99/4A - many others that I still have to dig out - plus lots of peripherals, disks, manuals, etc. Also have some newer Macs starting with a Mac Plus in an Apple carrying bag. I’m starting with you guys before trying to list elsewhere, although I may hit some of the dedicated FaceBorg pages (such as for Aquarius and Apple II.) I'm willing to ship some of the smaller items, but in general systems or monitors will need to be picked up here (near the Fort Washington exit of the PA Turnpike) or nearby, and cash or PayPal for payment. I may also consider trades for some of the video game stuff I’m looking for. It pains me to do this, but the clutter is getting out of hand, and I haven’t touched most of these in years. It’s time for someone else to enjoy. Bob Shuster

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VCF East 2022 Post Event Survey
by Jeffrey Brace 02 May '22

02 May '22

Hello everyone, For those that attended the show, please fill out this survey so that we may improve the show: https://bit.ly/vcfe2022post. Thanks! ========================================= Jeff Brace VCF National Board Member Chairman & Vice President Vintage Computer Festival East Showrunner Vintage Computer Federation is a 501c3 charity https://vcfed.org/ <http://www.vcfed.org/> jeffrey(a)vcfed.org

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VCF East Clinic kudos
by Crawford Griffith 02 May '22

02 May '22

Folks, I have to give a public Shout Out / Thank You to Jonathan Chapman and Glitch Works for the VCF East 2022 workshop / S-100 Clinic. Jonathan worked tirelessly to get kits built, and S-100 systems fixed, while being incredibly patient even with newbies, tough customers, and some idiot who clogged his desolder station. Highlights were: * Simply seeing 3 IMSAI’s (mine included) in a row on the CDL workbench with one early Altair was a treat. Ryan, Dmitry, and I got to see what other configurations the IMSAI’s had, and swapped known-good parts between us for testing. * Seeing a young woman come in, never having soldered before and seeing her first do a learners kit, then a full-on Glitch project. There was also another young woman there later (Connor’s friend) also doing a kit. * Just seeing people walk in, and say “so, what is all this”? and talk a bit about the CDL, and what we were working on. (Tip for introverts, the end of the front workbench nearest the door make you spokesperson pro tem) Jonathan’s expertise is hard to overstate, and he got my IMSAI operational. Jonathan did all the troubleshooting, and brought up the IMSAI power supply slowly so the electrolytic caps didn’t get all explodey I swapped out some known-bad front-panel switches, then the fun began. I recall there being at least a few badly tarnished TTL chips, and a bad one-shot chip. At least two bad IC sockets, one of which was under front-panel switches - Jonathan showed how the socket could be removed without major surgery. Dmitry loaned a 3 voltage / current limited power supply so boards could be tested *before* plugging into the IMSAI bus. In the end, I had a basic operational system, which is fantastic. Jonathan identified some of my mystery s-100 boards, procured at Trenton ages ago. In fact Ryan had one of them also to test, a video terminal board. Ryan also loaned me his front panel as a swap test, and the extra pair of hands needed for lucite cover re-installation. So, thanks Jon/Glitch! I promise to never clog up your Hakko desolder station ever again! -Crawford

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About that previous message concerning NJ Transit
by Gregg Levine 29 Apr '22

29 Apr '22

Hello! I believe group I was a little rude regarding the bollixed NJ Transit schedule. According to them, the reason why my train for last weekend was deleted was for their work on a bridge. And of course they completely forgot that they were still showing only last year's schedules everywhere. Anyway based, on what I normally work on, I've decided that unless circumstances change, I won't be at the next scheduled repair weekend for NJ. ----- Gregg C Levine gregg.drwho8(a)gmail.com "This signature fought the Time Wars, time and again."

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NJ Transit schedules mixup
by Gregg Levine 29 Apr '22

29 Apr '22

Hello! I am now aware that NJ Transit has gone ahead and created schedules that still do not make sense. For example they show a PDF for 3/26/2020 schedule that contains information I would have used to work out how to get to Belmar and then to Infoage for VCF East last week that would have gotten me there on time. And if that schedule was available in hardcopy last week. Then they still had the ones up from the last part of last year. So as of today Thursday, unless circumstances change that confirm I should be where InfoAge and the CDL location is on the weekend, I am still off for the coming one in July there. ----- Gregg C Levine gregg.drwho8(a)gmail.com "This signature fought the Time Wars, time and again."

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Great Commodore Related moments for me at VCF 2022,
by Christian Liendo 29 Apr '22

29 Apr '22

I wanted to share some great moments for me from VCF 2022. I owned a C64, Amiga 500, Amiga 2000 and Amiga 3000, I worked in an Amiga only store and I worked on their ad campaign. So for me this was a big deal. Where do I start? Albert Charpentier was sitting in the small couch area in building 9010D and he was talking about his history and what he did at Commodore. Why he designed what he did and what he did afterwards. It was wonderful. Some small tidbits: He designed the VIC because he liked video games. I thought that was a great bit of trivia. He wanted to make a "Commodore 80" and he wanted to use an Intel Chip. He never heard of the C64 being called the "VW Beetle" of computers and was surprised with all the people making clones. He knew the VIC-20 and C64 were big sellers but didn't seem to realize the impact to so many people. I have to say, the staff from Commodore really don't know how much of an impact their work did. Later on I took him to see the Univac and he was very impressed. He was also impressed by the PDP-8. He had worked on a PDP-8 at one time and was surprised to see one At the Commodore Panel Hedley Davis admitted they didn't like the look of the Amiga 2000. Personally I like the A2000 case but they explained that the A3000 was an aesthetic choice. I also didn't know about the joystick design issue they had. I also realized I want to buy Andy Finkel's shirt collection.

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