May 2023 - vcf-midatlantic - lists.vcfed.org

OT / Equipment pickup
by Martin Flynn 11 Jan '25

11 Jan '25

Anyone on list in proximity to Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania? There's a Winsted equipment rack that's a cosmetic match for what we have deployed already that I am considering purchase of Before arranging shipping / freight, anyone nearby that might be headed to VCF East or the swap meet? Martin

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] VCF East 2023 YouTube videos and articles
by Bob Flanders 18 Mar '24

18 Mar '24

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Swapmeet spreadsheet!
by Ethan O'Toole 09 Jun '23

09 Jun '23

Is there one yet? Or can someone create!? - Ethan

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] OT: time to downsize
by Bob Shuster 07 Jun '23

07 Jun '23

Just added: Besides the TRS-80 Model 1 systems, Model 4, Color Computer 2 systems, plus related software and documentation that I added the other day, I’ve also now added all the TRS-80 Model 1/3/4 books that I have. I’ve had a lot of inquiries about the Model 4 - yes, it’s still available until someone commits to coming and getting it! I think I’m going to have to put it back into storage, as I’ve now been using it for days and I don’t want to get drawn back in! ;) I think once I get all the TRS-80 stuff stowed back away I’ll go back and add the assorted items that I found in my closet in the other categories *after* I did the listings. I've been regularly marking the sold and sale pending items, thank you guys so much! And once again - many thanks to those who have adopted some of my babies so far. Please let me know if I can clarify anything or if any more photos are needed. The link: http://www.theshusters.com/bobvintage.html <http://www.theshusters.com/bobvintage.html> Please don't share without asking me. Currently 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 (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, 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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Warehouse cleanup 05-28-2023
by Jeffrey Brace 29 May '23

29 May '23

Another great day of cleaning out our future warehouse. I met Christian Liendo there and Ken Gober around 9AM, Bill Interriden joined us shortly after that followed by Thomas and Ian Litchfield. We worked for about 2 and half hours before calling it quits for lunch at almost noon. Some had other appointments and had to go. The rest stayed to work on other things and be docent for the museum. We filled up most of the dumpster. We removed almost everything that could be removed. The remaining items belong to other groups or are too large to fit in the remaining space in the dumpster. There are also paints and other items that have to be properly disposed of. We will access what remains and come up with another cleanup day. There is a lot of dust and other particles that need to be vacuumed with a shop vac or swept up. We are getting closer to having it completely emptied out. Some pictures: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1-uoBXutpBMMKHLsAqGK2-yiiZGg0Gy-s?us… Thanks! Jeff Brace VCF National Board Member Chairman & Vice President Vintage Computer Festival East Showrunner VCF Mid-Atlantic Event Manager Vintage Computer Federation is a 501c3 charity https://vcfed.org/ <http://www.vcfed.org/> jeffrey(a)vcfed.org

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NEC MultiSpeed Laptops New in Box
by Jeff Galinat 28 May '23

28 May '23

A friend of mine has 3 NEC MultiSpeed Laptops for sale. New in the box. If you are interested let me know and I will put you in touch with him. He travels up & down the eastern US for work and works in NJ, DE and TN. I have no idea as far as price but you can negotiate that with him directly if you are interested. I didn’t think the list accepted pictures so the Facebook link below has a advertisement from back in the day. Regards Jeff https://www.facebook.com/groups/2103793056560583/permalink/3668748716731668…

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(Nabu) Livestream talk with Leo Binkowski, DJ Sures and Brian Johnson = Sat, May 27 6:30PM EDT
by Jeffrey Brace 28 May '23

28 May '23

There were lots of technical glitches during VCF East with the Zoom talk by Leo Binkwoski, Nabu developer. So, I am doing a live Q&A session with him this coming Saturday, May 27 at 6:30PM EDT. He has already recorded his talk and I posted that to VCF's channel: https://youtu.be/IhPsNQBCKfM. There was no monitoring of questions during the livestream during VCF East and I'm sure many were frustrated with the network problems. So I now want to give everyone a chance to do Q&A based on his high quality talk that we posted last Saturday 5/20/23. DJ Sures and Brian Johson will be there for support. The plan is that I will start out with some questions until we get some from the public on the YouTube stream and go from there. I will be talking with them via Zoom and streaming to YouTube. Thanks! Jeff Brace VCF National Board Member Chairman & Vice President Vintage Computer Festival East Showrunner VCF Mid-Atlantic Event Manager Vintage Computer Federation is a 501c3 charity https://vcfed.org/ <http://www.vcfed.org/> jeffrey(a)vcfed.org

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Burroughs B80
by Mike Loewen 27 May '23

27 May '23

Does VCF at Infoage possess a Burroughs B80? Al Kossow from Bitsavers is asking. Mike Loewen mloewen(a)cpumagic.scol.pa.us Old Technology http://q7.neurotica.com/Oldtech/

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VCF Museum - Microcomputer slots, S-100 to Apple II to IBM PC, Lou Eggebrecht
by Douglas Crawford 26 May '23

26 May '23

This is the first in what I expect to be a series of posts that highlight subject I/We are thinking of at the museum. In the museum, one of our talking points- a "sub tour" in the museum, highlights concepts of interconnects, from back planes to buses. Bus slots are best represented currently in the micro era exhibits on S-100, Apple II, and the PC. One idea that is probably coming is to have a whole slew of labeled add-in boards on the wall to show how significant the ability and the practice of upgrading a microcomputer was. Slots were important to make these machines versatile and created entire sub industries around each machine that had slots. I'm less versed in the slot systems of the minicomputers; I imagine a certain amount of this dynamic occurred there too. I'd like to share a bit of lore on the IBM PC bus, as this, I find, is lesser known in the hobby. The father of the IBM PC ISA bus is Lou Eggebrecht, and its a great story. He wrote the book, literally, on the IBM PC ISA Bus. https://archive.org/details/interfacingtoibm00egge I just bought a copy. We'll have this in the museum. After the PC was launched, a situation happened between him and IBM and they "parted ways". A short interpretation might go along the lines that IBM perceived Mr. Eggebrecht was capitalizing too much personally on the ISA bus. My reference is "Blue Magic - The People, Power and Politics Behind the IBM Personal Computer" by James Chposky and Ted Leonsis. I don't know his whole career after IBM. I do know he went on to be an influential person at Commodore, ICS and Broadcom. Here's a period piece on him at Commodore (https://amr.abime.net/review_51617) He seemed to follow along with moves of Mr. Hock Tan. Hock Tan is the CEO that presided at Commodore at the end of line, selling off the assets I think. Hock Tan then came to ICS (Integrated Circuit Systems), a Valley Forge-based fabless mixed signal semiconductor designer with products revolving around phase-locked loops. Of interest to most of our hobby--- ICS was started by Ex-MOS process engineer Ed Arnold in the late 1970s. ICS had a number of ex-Commodore personnel on staff. Mr. Eggebrecht I believe was on the board of ICS for while, and this is where I had a chance to meet him in the late 1990s. At the time I only knew he had some involvement with the IBM PC. He was very likeable; humble, warm, and gracious. Mr. Eggebrecht was ideal to have on the board at ICS - who's chief products were the timing generators for the Intel processors and chipsets at the time. Hock Tan went on to IDT (as did I) when he sold ICS to IDT and then to Avago (I did not). Hock Tan orchestrated the huge merger of Avago and Broadcom. I mention this, because, not surprisingly, Lou Eggebrecht served on the board of Broadcom for some time too. He would be a great speaker at a VCF! :-O I hope his oral history gets taken too.

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VCF Museum - Microcomputer slots, S-100 to Apple II to IBM PC, Lou Eggebrecht
by Herbert Johnson 26 May '23

26 May '23

I read Doug's post, and subsequent posts, and started to write a response that filled in on a few points. Such as, actual S-100 bus history. Or, why a "slot" isn't quite a bus, and the history of that. And, how IBM's PC bus isn't quite like MITS's Altair Bus - which wasn't quite "S-100". That became a lecture, and it's not useful or polite to post a lecture. So I created a Web page instead, and I'm posting a link to that, for those interested in a little more background. While it's my opinion, it's a technically informed one; some history can be argued of course. It's also on-the-fly and a bit rough. http://www.retrotechnology.com/herbs_stuff/bus_history.html The point relevant to this discussion, is to flesh-out some of the background that Doug references. I hope it informs his intended display. It's certainly a good idea, to display and describe general features of vintage computers. One of them is a bus architecture, or maybe the lack of one, why such things occur, and their consequences. My interest in S-100 architectures is certainly a consequence. Much of my Web site is devoted to S-100 computers. Others who have posted, have sites or interests in specific brands or architectures. I'm informed by their responses in my document. Thanks to all and I hope I have some useful considerations in my offline response. Regards Herb Johnson -- Herbert R. Johnson, New Jersey USA https://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

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