June 2025 - vcf-midatlantic

June 7, 2025 Swap Meet Status
by Jeffrey Brace 05 Jun '25

05 Jun '25

I know that everyone is looking at the weather for the swap meet this coming Saturday, June 7. We have been watching the weather forcast very closely. A little rain is not concerning, but the thunderstorms are concerning. We will make a final call on Thursday at 10PM about what we will do. We will post here: https://vcfed.org/vcf-swap-meet/ so that there is one spot for current status information. A second issue is the food truck. The food truck cancelled a few days ago because the head chef died suddenly. We couldn't find a replacement at the last minute since it is a summer weekend and everyone is booked. We *may* have some solution to support at least the vendors and volunteers. The general public are on their own. Otherwise we have plenty of vendors signed up lots of interest. We have been daily out posts on Facebook & Instagram to tell everyone about the event. Lots of engagement, interest and excitement. Any questions? Please email: swapmeet(a)vcfed.org. Take care! Jeff Brace VCF/MARCH Fundraising Manager

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IBM 4224 Printer: How easy is it to repair?
by Dan FitzGerald 05 Jun '25

05 Jun '25

Good morning! On Tuesday night I (drunk) purchased an IBM 4224 line printer from a scrapper and the associated service documentation from another ebay seller. The scrapper has a few available, half of which have a similar problem with the display momentarily showing power and then going out. I have no idea how broken this thing is because the service documentation isn't available on the internet. My hope is that I can repair this and get it running so that the Classical Computing Laboratory can have a 3270 line printer connected to "CCLVM1", our VM/ESA 2.4.0 installation. I like the 4224 because it seems to be more common than a 3287 and will also run off of 120v power (our 6262 requires 240v, so it is now a static exhibit installed in front of a cafeteria entrance). Does anybody here have any experience working with repairing IBM 4224 printers, and if so do you have any tips/tricks/advice that you could share with me? Regards, Dan FitzGerald She/Her or They/Them Classical Computing Laboratory at IBM Poughkeepsie http://www.vm.ibm.com/devpages/dfitzger

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the Kenbak-1 MEGA
by Jeffrey Jonas 05 Jun '25

05 Jun '25

At first, I thought the Arduino was just a toy. The KIM Uno changed my mind, the "a-ha! moment" when I realized that the Arduino is the jello-instant-pudding of embedded processors. The magic ingredient that makes everything easier. The Kenbak-1 MEGA takes that to 11. It's an Arduino shield that looks and acts like the Kembak's front panel. Would you like to learn more? The KIM and SYM were the original 6502 trainers:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KIM-1https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S… The KIM Uno is the modern replica: https://obsolescence.wixsite.com/obsolescence/kim-uno-summary-c1uuh The KIM Uno is a very simple "open-source hardware" project that started out as a replica of the classic 1976 KIM-1 computer. Later, Apple-1 compatibility and a 6502 programmable calculator mode were added, plus a built-in 'early 6502 software gems' collection. We just keep tweaking and adding. It costs about $10 in commonly available parts (board & parts without case or power supply), but provides a faithful KIM-1 'experience'. An Arduino Pro Mini mounted on the back contains all the logic and memory. *** https://www.kenbak.com/ Everything you ever wanted to know about the KENBAK-1 but were afraid to ask https://www.facebook.com/groups/352054786710322/ The place for lovers of the Kenbak-1 and its recent replicas! Share your machines and programs here. https://youtu.be/OUCJXyThSXI video: VCF East XI - John Blankenbaker and the Kenbak https://youtu.be/PDCKNDitH38 video: VCF East XI - Kenbak 1 Tech Support at the Vintage Computer Federation's Vintage Computer Festival Kenbak inventor John Blankenbaker provided tech support for his namesake computer! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenbak-1 The Kenbak-1 is considered by the Computer History Museum, the Mimms Museum of Technology and Art and the American Computer Museum to be the world's first "personal computer", invented by John Blankenbaker of Kenbak Corporation in 1970 and first sold in early 1971. By 1974, several other "first" computers appeared: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SCELBI https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark-8 Featured in the July 1974 issue of Radio-Electronics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EDUC-8 The EDUC-8, pronounced "educate", is an early microcomputer kit published by Electronics Australia in a series of articles starting in August 1974 and continuing to August 1975. Electronics Australia initially believed that it was the first such kit, but later discovered that Radio-Electronics had just beaten it with their Mark-8 by one month.

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] June 7, 2025 Swap Meet Status
by Mick Sybal 04 Jun '25

04 Jun '25

Its not like its powered. It can all be dried. On June 4, 2025 3:32:56 PM EDT, Sentrytv via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: >

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] June 7, 2025 Swap Meet Status
by Dean Notarnicola 04 Jun '25

04 Jun '25

Who’s going to want to put their gear out in the rain? On Wed, Jun 4, 2025 at 3:05 PM Sentrytv via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > I do realize that it is too early to tell and Friday would probably be the > day you guys will call this. > But , > Jeff, I realized that the website said “rain or shine. “ > So if it does rain or if there is thunderstorms as you may be anticipating, > Is the group going to make a rain date for Sunday or > Cancel completely? > If they do cancel, is there a refund policy? > > Mike > > Sent from: > My extremely complicated, hand held electronic device. > > > On Jun 4, 2025, at 9:01 AM, Jeffrey Brace via vcf-midatlantic < > vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > > > > I know that everyone is looking at the weather for the swap meet this > > coming Saturday, June 7. > > We have been watching the weather forcast very closely. A little rain is > > not concerning, but the thunderstorms are concerning. We will make a > final > > call on Thursday at 10PM about what we will do. > > We will post here: https://vcfed.org/vcf-swap-meet/ so that there is one > > spot for current status information. > > > > A second issue is the food truck. > > The food truck cancelled a few days ago because the head chef died > > suddenly. > > We couldn't find a replacement at the last minute since it is a summer > > weekend and everyone is booked. We *may* have some solution to support at > > least the vendors and volunteers. The general public are on their own. > > > > Otherwise we have plenty of vendors signed up lots of interest. We have > > been daily out posts on Facebook & Instagram to tell everyone about the > > event. Lots of engagement, interest and excitement. > > > > Any questions? Please email: swapmeet(a)vcfed.org. > > > > Take care! > > > > Jeff Brace > > VCF/MARCH Fundraising Manager > >

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Upcoming Video Game event at System Source
by Ryan Burke 03 Jun '25

03 Jun '25

The Computer Museum at System Source is hosting a video game open house at the museum on June 28th from 9 AM to 10 PM. Visitors will be able to tour the museum, play classic games on CRT TVs. Relive your childhood or experience classic video games. At the museum we will have many retro game consoles, from the Atari 2600 to the Nintendo Wii, set up on CRTs with controllers and games out for people to play. Admission is $30, and includes pizza and drinks served for lunch. Please email rburke(a)syssrc.com if you have any dietary restrictions. Register at the link below: https://ca.syssrc.com/wp/?page_id=105&civiwp=CiviCRM&q=civicrm%2Fevent%2Fin…

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FYI Bunch of COSMAC stuff just showed up on Ebay
by Hopkins, Justin 03 Jun '25

03 Jun '25

All from the same estate, but for some reason, the seller listed some of it almost 6 months ago, but never found a buyer. 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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Victor 9000 Questions
by Hopkins, Justin 02 Jun '25

02 Jun '25

Just bought one of these at an online estate sale, condition unknown, I am picking it up this week. I don't know what software comes with it, or if it even works. I plan on using it as a dumb terminal, so as long as it can run Kermit, that is all I will need. And I guess the keyboards need to be refurbished with new foam and foil sets because they wear out. Does anyone have a set of new pads that they could bring to the swap meet that I could buy off you? If I order some from texelec, they won't arrive in time. 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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