June 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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8-bits and 80 columns
by John Heritage 17 Dec '22

17 Dec '22

Hey all -- Which (popular) 8-bit computers gained "easy" or even "standard" 80 column support? I know there are a ton more 8bits than I'll list below, but my understanding is: Atari 8bit -- XEP80 official accessory but almost no one bought it; used joystick ports.. slow and limited 80 column (black and white?). Atari did have a 60 column graphics/text mode IIRC. there is a software hack that uses narrow characters for '80 columns' but hard to read, and came out after the machine was no longer commerically sold. Apple II - supported via cards. If 80 column support became common, when did it become common? what was normal for color count, etc? C64 - C128 mode natively offered 80 column support; millions of these sold. So maybe common later on? 16 colors. PET - no 80 column? C Plus/4 - software hack? ZX Spectrum -- available via some clones only, not common? BBC Micro - Looks like a native mode for 80 column support? TRS-80 - no native 80 column support? Thanks! John

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Does anyone want to watch Tron for our holiday event?
by Christian Liendo 08 Jul '22

08 Jul '22

It's 40 years old this year and I think I have a DVD. Next year will be the 40th anniversary of War Games.

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IBM 1130
by Jeffrey Brace 01 Jul '22

01 Jul '22

Hello everyone, I'm trying to find more information about VCF's IBM 1130 than one can find through Google searching. Who out there has knowledge of this machine? 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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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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For Sale: PLUS+ Hardcard 20 - Restored and Functional
by Bill Degnan 30 Jun '22

30 Jun '22

Very rare functional (restored) hardcard - vintage 8-bit ISA harddrive card with slim 20mb harddrive. I had to crack through the glue holding the plastic case to get to the hard drive and fix the drive arm rest capstan, and de-stiction the platter axle. It has been working for a week or testing, lots of programs loaded onto the drive. Currently it's on day 1 of the auction, @ 99 cents. https://www.ebay.com/itm/275367307450 quick video and pictures. https://twitter.com/billdeg/status/1541621464188813312 Or...stop by the shop to claim it.

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] IBM 1130
by VAXman＠tmesis.org 28 Jun '22

28 Jun '22

Jeffrey Brace via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> writes: > >Hello everyone, > >I'm trying to find more information about VCF's IBM 1130 than one can >find through Google searching. Who out there has knowledge of this >machine? All I really know about it is of rescuing it.

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Best source for capacitors
by Bob Shuster 28 Jun '22

28 Jun '22

In all my years of collecting and using computers, and that’s 100s of computers and video game systems, I’ve never had a capacitor go or needed to replace one. Until now! Power supply filter cap on a TRS-80 Model 4. So where do you guys go for parts? I’m not looking to stock up, just need some one-offs (probably the X caps.) Do you just go to Mouser or Digi-Key? Does anyone have spares? Bob Shuster

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It Takes a Federation or The Tale of the Atari Mega STe
by Adam Michlin 28 Jun '22

28 Jun '22

Hi Everyone, We have a new exhibit in the Mid Atlantic Museum at InfoAge. Here's the back story. A few years ago, Bill Lange was kind enough to reorganize the Atari collection in the warehouse. He also provided plastic bins for most of the equipment, inspiring the ongoing project to protect as many artifacts as possible in plastic bins. During his work, he found a lonely and dirty Atari Mega STe that needed some love and care. Bill repaired the machine and we put it on display in the museum, but something was missing... You see, we are always looking for ways to demo machines and especially ways that involve something other than productivity software and games. We were reminded that the Atari ST was well known for its MIDI prowess, having MIDI built into the core of its architecture. A music demo, now that would be cool... Lessons were learned along the way. The Atari ST can use a color monitor or a higher resolution B&W monitor. Some programs work properly only with the higher resolution B&W monitor, particularly Cubase, which was to be the highlight of the demo. Luckily, we have both monitors, so that problem was solved. It was fun trying to figure out which USB floppy drives played nice with the 720K FAT (MS-DOS but old school MS-DOS) file system. Oh, and Cubase is *really* picky about what directory it is installed in. Thus the quest was on to get the machine doing MIDI. An external Yamaha MIDI box was donated. A period correct Tandy speaker system (thanks to Dean Notarnicola!) was borrowed. And a live music demo was all but ready. We just needed music, or so we thought. Frustratingly, this was not to be as the hard drive decided it didn't want to play nice anymore. Ugh! In swoops Pete Fletcher, though, who took the machine home, repaired it, and moved heaven and earth to get a solid state solution (good luck getting an Ultrasatan from Europe these days, but a different solid state solution was acquired). Just this morning, Pete delivered the Mega STe in perfect condition full of all sorts of goodies for demonstration and we have the first external MIDI demo in the history of the VCF MA Museum. Stop by to see and hear it yourself. Send us your favorite MIDI file and we can put it on the playlist. Thanks to Bill, Pete, and Dean. All three of you helped create something none of us could have done alone. It truly takes a Federation. -Adam

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Mega STe disk solutions
by John Heritage 27 Jun '22

27 Jun '22

Hey Peter! Thanks for preserving that mega STe ! I also have one and was curious what you ended up with for a storage solution? I have an ultrasatan but was thinking of getting or doing something else for my mste because I'd like to repurpose that ultrasatan to another ST in my collection. Is there anything you recommend or recommend avoiding ? Thanks! John On Wed, Mar 16, 2022, 10:18 AM Peter Fletcher via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > I was bored on Sunday and made a short video of the sounds of inserting > various computing media into mainly old machines. I’ve been told it is ASMR > for geeks. I hope you enjoy it. > > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_y20Bgui6ds&t=18s

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