February 2023 - vcf-midatlantic

VCF East 2023 Tickets now on sale on EventBrite
by Jeffrey Brace 21 Feb '23

21 Feb '23

Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/vcf-east-2023-vintage-computer-festival-east-2… ========================================= 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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Commodore 64
by Mike Markowski 21 Feb '23

21 Feb '23

My wife and I have been cleaning her parents' old house, and I found her brother's Commodore 64 in the original old cardboard box and with a holder overfull with 5-1/4" floppies. No sign of a floppy drive yet. Is there a recommended web page for steps forward? I'm an EE, built some ham radios, but no experience reviving a C64 (assuming it needs reviving - don't want to power it up with the 40 yr old old supply!). There are many, many YouTube videos but I wonder if any of them or particular site is considered -the- place to go. Thanks for any recommendations, Mike ab3ap

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Commodore 64
by Bill Degnan 21 Feb '23

21 Feb '23

The most important advise is to buy a new replacement power brick. Dont use the original, too risky. Bill On Tue, Feb 21, 2023, 7:21 PM Sentrytv via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > Personally I would suggest bringing it to one of the workshops. > There are many people interested in commodore 64 that could help. > Including Jeff Brace. > I have a diagnostic cartridge and harness and so do others. > Matter of fact I need help with an > apple 2 plus keyboard issue. > > Mike > > Sent from: > My extremely complicated, hand held electronic device. > > > On Feb 21, 2023, at 5:27 PM, Mike Markowski via vcf-midatlantic < > vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > > > > My wife and I have been cleaning her parents' old house, and I found > her brother's Commodore 64 in the original old cardboard box and with a > holder overfull with 5-1/4" floppies. No sign of a floppy drive yet. Is > there a recommended web page for steps forward? I'm an EE, built some ham > radios, but no experience reviving a C64 (assuming it needs reviving - > don't want to power it up with the 40 yr old old supply!). There are many, > many YouTube videos but I wonder if any of them or particular site is > considered -the- place to go. > > > > Thanks for any recommendations, > > Mike ab3ap > >

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Amazing 2022 PET demo, + VCF hotel share early inquiry
by Ken 18 Feb '23

18 Feb '23

It always feels mildly topic-edgy to share a demo video link here, but this PET demo is not only amazing, but the video beautifully captures the phosphorus glow and bezel reflections of the real hardware filmed in a dark room. I'd love to see this in person sometime at VCF East. "BACK TO THE PET (Commodore PET 4016 hardware demo made in 2022)" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cznyKsOl3po Speaking of VCF East, I wouldn't dare miss it, even as I have an even harder trip this year (carless from upstate New York), and so here's my early plea for anyone who might want an extra to share their room (splitting costs, paying you extra for letting me hitch rides to InfoAge, etc.), or even any kind of rideshare with anyone travelling from NYC or NY points further north/northwest. Thanks, Ken

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Special Thanks (belated) to Alex Jacocks
by Neil Cherry 18 Feb '23

18 Feb '23

This is a bit belated (oops). I want to thanks Alex Jacocks for the installation of the door closers in 9059. The doors now close very smoothly and this should help with HVAC costs. Thank you and very much appreciated. -- Linux Home Automation Neil Cherry kd2zrq(a)linuxha.com http://www.linuxha.com/ Main site http://linuxha.blogspot.com/ My HA Blog Author of: Linux Smart Homes For Dummies KD2ZRQ

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Is the living computer museum dead?
by Bill Degnan 18 Feb '23

18 Feb '23

I'll bet she already had a first round, and the initial selling price was rejected by the initial round of potential buyers. She would have top notch staff and people to maximize the price she can get, I would not be surprised if some/all goes overseas. THe US should institutionalize / Smithsonialize this! Write your congress men/women Bill On Sat, Feb 18, 2023 at 10:35 AM MikeWillegal via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > Paul Allen's Flying Heritage museum was sold last year. I think it’s > clear that Jody Allen has little interest in the enterprise and she > controls Vulcan. It's my uninformed option that they may be waiting or > looking for a buyer (perhaps even the right buyer that would continue Paul > Allen’s Legacy). > > -Mike Willegal

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Re: Is the living computer museum dead?
by MikeWillegal 18 Feb '23

18 Feb '23

Paul Allen's Flying Heritage museum was sold last year. I think it’s clear that Jody Allen has little interest in the enterprise and she controls Vulcan. It's my uninformed option that they may be waiting or looking for a buyer (perhaps even the right buyer that would continue Paul Allen’s Legacy). -Mike Willegal

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Is the living computer museum dead?
by Christian Liendo 17 Feb '23

17 Feb '23

I just saw this posted on HackerNews about what seems to be going on with the living computer museum https://www.pcjs.org/blog/2023/02/16/ Also someone posted about a small museum in Japan with some nice machines https://www.dream-library.org/museum/index.html

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TTL USB dongle to 5V TTL serial.
by Neil Cherry 17 Feb '23

17 Feb '23

This is not a RS232 USB dongle which has it's own issues with interfacing to older equipment (but same problem, no enough current to push or pull the signal). I have a 3v3/5v0 USB TTL dongle. It works with some equipment but it couldn't pull the signal to 5v0 interfacing to my HD6303 (Hitachi's 6803). I fixed this by using 2 gates on a 74LS04 with the USB dongles TX. Not sure how to solve this. Has anyone built such a set of line drivers? I'll be using a similar setup with a few other boards (EPROM burner, PT69-5, Microbox II, etc.). But those might be worse as I'll be using a ESP WiFi chip (3v3) as a terminal server. -- Linux Home Automation Neil Cherry kd2zrq(a)linuxha.com http://www.linuxha.com/ Main site http://linuxha.blogspot.com/ My HA Blog Author of: Linux Smart Homes For Dummies KD2ZRQ

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Repair Workshop 2023-02-11 & 2023-02-12
by Jeffrey Brace 16 Feb '23

16 Feb '23

Wow! What a great workshop. We were all packed into CDL and the adjacent classroom space. We had four new people come to our repair workshop which is great! It's good to have new blood and keep a regular group coming. It seems that the new people were referred to us by other members. One Member, Jim Preciado, said in an email to me: *"Jeff,* *Please pass my thanks onto all for a weekend well spent at your Repair Workshop.You may also pass my contact information onto any of the VCF staff that has a need for it. In particular, please make sure that Doug has it for the museum and the MicroVAX II.* *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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