December 2024 - vcf-midatlantic

What is Festivus?
by Jeffrey Brace 08 Dec '24

08 Dec '24

For those that are new to the mailing list and new to the party. Here is an explanation: WHAT IS FESTIVUS? Festivus started out as a party years ago and usually took place 6 months after VCF East. Whereas there was a Vintage Computer "Festival", this was a Vintage Computer "Festivus". At some point, it was officially called " Festivus" as recommended by Bernie S. It refers to the Seinfeld episode https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HX55AzGku5Y. It is a made up holiday around the same time as many others in December, but for us it is not religious, but simply Pure Vintage Computer Fun. WHAT DO YOU DO AT FESTIVUS? It is a barbecue hamburgers, hot dogs, perogies, etc. It is a Potluck, everyone brings a food and/or beverage item. It is vintage video game fun. We have a game room setup for everyone to bring and to setup their video games for everyone to play. It is a fellowship to catch up with members that we haven't seen for a while. We have been doing it for years, maybe since 2006? I started in 2008, so I don't know what happened before. WHAT ELSE? - We do a mini-swap meet. - The town hall for the MARCH Steering Committee will give an overview of what has happened over the year, as well as plans for the future. Jeff Brace

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An epic FlatMac build!
by Andrew Geppert 07 Dec '24

07 Dec '24

If you are part of this list, I think you will enjoy this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Grd_a4oi7qU&ab_channel=KevinNoki It's worth a watch through the end for some practical use too! Very inspiring and makes me want to go tinker with some vintage computers. Andy

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2025 Event Dates
by Jeffrey Brace 06 Dec '24

06 Dec '24

*REPAIR WORKSHOPS* January 11 & 12 February 15 & 16 March 08 & 09 May 03 & 04 June 07 & 08 July 12 & 13 August 09 & 10 September 06 & 07 October 18 & 19 November 15 & 16 *SWAP MEET* June 7 October 18 *FESTIVUS * December 13 Take care! 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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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] bernieS has joined the VCFestivus list
by Jeffrey Brace 06 Dec '24

06 Dec '24

On Fri, Dec 6, 2024 at 4:02 PM Dan FitzGerald via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > Is this actually a list we can join? If so, how? > No. This is Bernie S joining our mailing list to keep up to date on MARCH (formerly known as VCF Mid-Atlantic Chapter). He wants to keep informed of updates on Festivus so that I don't have to keep texting and calling him separately. One less person for me to contact individually because they don't read/pay attention to the discussion list. > > Regards, > Dan FitzGerald > They/Them or She/Her > Classical Computing Laboratory at IBM Poughkeepsie > http://www.vm.ibm.com/devpages/dfitzger > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: bernieS via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> > Reply-To: vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> > To: vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org > Cc: bernieS <bernies(a)panix.com> > Subject: [vcf-midatlantic] bernieS has joined the VCFestivus list > Date: 12/04/2024 12:02:05 AM > > VCFestivus l >

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bernieS has joined the VCFestivus list
by bernieS 06 Dec '24

06 Dec '24

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Lomas S100 projects
by Richard Cini 05 Dec '24

05 Dec '24

All – I haven’t directly posted to the list much recently, but I do lurk, and I mostly hang out on the S100 list and of course the VCF forums. But I thought I’d post something about what I’ve been working on over the last year-ish or so. I really liked the Lomas video board, the Color Magic, mostly because I thought I could use it with my Gazelle (there was a reference in some source code). But, the CM is pretty rare, so I created a reproduction which took nearly two years to complete (most of it was idle, waiting to crack the PALs on the board which only occurred earlier this year). That reproduction works great, and I have some boards available. While I was waiting to move that project along, I worked with a few guys on the Seattle Computer Products 86-DOS source code reconstruction after F15sim found all of those disks. That was an awesome project and I got to work with some really smart people, so I learned a lot. Once that project concluded, I undertook another Lomas-related project, doing a reproduction of their 186-based board. Lomas had a 186-based SBC that’s fully-integrated with peripherals and 256k of DRAM. That one only took 3 months for me to create a working modernized reproduction. So, if you add a floppy to it, you have a nice 2-board system able to run PC/DOS up to 3.3 (and probably higher, but I haven’t tried). It will also run with external RAM, so my system is running with 640k (using CompuPro RAM) – a 4-board PC. Unfortunately, it’s not really PC-compatible; it’s more like the Tandy 2000 in that way. Most software works so long as it sticks to DOS or BIOS calls. Direct video calls will work because the Color Magic is a PC-compatible CGA board. The two follow-on projects hopefully will include a reproduction of Lomas’ SCSI board (no schematics or docs have been found yet in the wild), and I’d really like to get Windows 1.0 running on it. It nearly runs, but it needs a few custom drivers which I may try to write using the Tandy 2000 drivers as a model. Lomas also had a 286 board which looks to be reproducible but there’s no manual/schematics for that either. Anyway, I’ve posted a lot of stuff on my GitHub (https://github.com/RichCini/) for those interested. I could really use help locating those missing manuals. Overall, I’m impressed with the quality of the boards Rich Lomas produced, but they’re very dense boards chip-wise (the Color Magic in particular) and were challenging to reproduce. Happy holidays all, and more to come in the new year! Rich -- Rich Cini http://cini.classiccmp.org

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sad news
by Dave McGuire 04 Dec '24

04 Dec '24

I know several people here are acquainted with Mike "Big Mike" Nicewonger, most recently in Houston, TX but formerly of the Baltimore/Laurel MD area. A big personality on the rescue list, big dealer (pusher!) of workstation hardware in the 1990s/2000s, etc. Mike passed away a few minutes ago. I'm sorry to share sad news. -Dave -- Dave McGuire, AK4HZ New Kensington, PA

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Facebook marketplace raspberry pi modules
by Christian Liendo 04 Dec '24

04 Dec '24

If it's not directly related to vintage computing. I know there are uses for RaspPis in Vintage Computing, but this is not about that. It's not like he's telling you not to post it, Please just add the "OT" to state it's off topic. On Tue, Dec 3, 2024 at 8:53 PM Sentry TV via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > > OTHow is OT determined? > On Tuesday, December 3, 2024 at 08:47:12 PM EST, Jeffrey Brace via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: >

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Facebook marketplace raspberry pi modules
by Jeffrey Brace 03 Dec '24

03 Dec '24

This message should have been labeled OT. I suppose CDL members would be more interested in this. On Tue, Dec 3, 2024 at 7:48 PM Hopkins, Justin via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > Compute 3? > No wonder she is trying to get rid of them now. Compute 5's are shipping > and she may get stuck with them. > > > > From: vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic-bounces(a)lists.vcfed.org> On Behalf > Of Sentrytv via vcf-midatlantic > Sent: Tuesday, December 3, 2024 7:30 PM > To: Dave Shevett <shevett(a)pobox.com> > Cc: Sentrytv <sentrytv(a)yahoo.com>; vcf-midatlantic < > vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> > Subject: Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Facebook marketplace raspberry pi modules > > > This message and any attachments are intended only for the use of the > addressee and may contain information that is privileged and confidential. > If the reader of the message is not the intended recipient or an authorized > representative of the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any > dissemination of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you have > received this communication in error, please notify us immediately by > e-mail and delete the message and any attachments from your system. >

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RE: [vcf-midatlantic] Facebook marketplace raspberry pi modules
by Hopkins, Justin 03 Dec '24

03 Dec '24

Compute 3? No wonder she is trying to get rid of them now. Compute 5's are shipping and she may get stuck with them. From: vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic-bounces(a)lists.vcfed.org> On Behalf Of Sentrytv via vcf-midatlantic Sent: Tuesday, December 3, 2024 7:30 PM To: Dave Shevett <shevett(a)pobox.com> Cc: Sentrytv <sentrytv(a)yahoo.com>; vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> Subject: Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Facebook marketplace raspberry pi modules This message and any attachments are intended only for the use of the addressee and may contain information that is privileged and confidential. If the reader of the message is not the intended recipient or an authorized representative of the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, please notify us immediately by e-mail and delete the message and any attachments from your system.

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