September 2025 - vcf-midatlantic

Can't get Gotek to work with Amiga 500+
by Benjamin Krein 22 Sep '25

22 Sep '25

This should be the easiest thing in the world & yet I'm completely stuck. After 40+ years I've FINALLY got an Amiga 500+. I've been wanting an Amiga nearly all my life but never had one until now. Anyhow, I don't have any physical media but I do have a Gotek (Artery AT32F415CBT7 Microcontroller). I've been trying for the past 2 days to just get Workbench to boot on this thing & I'm not getting anywhere. The computer is an Amiga 500+ I brought home from the UK (I'm in the USA). Before leaving I was able to see it boot up into a game from the physical floppy drive without any issues whatsoever. It works. When I power things on I get to the insert-disk animation but that's as far as I get. Here's what I've done: 1. Upgraded FlashFloppy on the Gotek to the latest 3.44 2. Factory reset the internal flash on the Gotek 3. Copied *JUST* Workbench 2.04 ADF to the USB stick 4. Tried adding a FF.CFG with "interface = amiga" & nothing else 5. Tried multiple USB thumb drives 6. Formatted USB sticks with both the official SD Formatter Utility as well as Disk-Utility 7. Confirmed jumper on the Gotek is on S0 8. Tried different 34-pin cable 9. Powered on with both mouse buttons pressed & picked DF0 (only one available) from the boot selector None of the above works. The activity light on the Gotek comes on briefly when it's being accessed but the track indicator on the OLED never shows any activity. I've bought Amiga Forever Plus so I'm using their official ADF files. I'm fresh out of ideas at this point. The Gotek works perfectly fine on other computers (BBC Micro B) so I'm pretty sure I don't have a hardware issue. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Happy to provide any other info that might help too. PS - Does anyone have a diskette copy of Workbench 2.04 they'd be willing to sell/send me? I'd love to just see this Amiga work even if just booting into Workbench (I'm near Philadelphia, PA). -- - Benjamin Krein

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Rare commodore 1403 greyscale vga display
by Bill Degnan 22 Sep '25

22 Sep '25

https://www.facebook.com/share/1CJt6QPmYZ/?mibextid=wwXIfr Zimmers.net lists this is monochrome vga, which converts the vga color to an equivalent grey/white/black gradient so you can see color differentiation represented in shades of grey. If you have a Facebook acct and live near Sweedsboro (near del memorial bridge), this monitor is pretty rare, and would normally have been sold with the Colt PC. There was a period in 87/88 where companies sold greyscale VGA monitors a $100 cheaper alternative to the color equivalent. You still got VGA detail but in shades of grey. In some ways it’s easier on the eyes if all you’re doing is spreadsheets and term papers as a student. I have a ps/2 model 25 with a greyscale vga. Not affiliated with the seller. Bill

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Timex Sinclair 2068 Available Near Me (VA)
by Alexander Jacocks 22 Sep '25

22 Sep '25

Folks, This isn't my listing, but happy to pick it up for anyone interested: https://www.facebook.com/share/1DCTb79J5w/ Ping me if interested. - Alex

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Pickup needed in Hamburg, PA - IBM 5126
by Jeffrey Brace 20 Sep '25

20 Sep '25

Jeff Salzman is unable to pick up an item for VCF this weekend in Hamburg, PA. Is there anyone else available that can pick it up? It's an IBM 5126. If interested, then we will pass on the info. Take care! Jeff Brace VCF National Board Member Chairman & Vice President VCF East Showrunner VCF/MARCH Fundraising Manager VCF Evangelist Vintage Computer Federation is a 501c3 charity https://vcfed.org/ <http://www.vcfed.org/>

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Need someone to take over AV at VCF 2026!
by Ethan O'Toole 18 Sep '25

18 Sep '25

Hello all, For the past 5 years or so I have led up the effort for main stage AV at VCF East. Friends like Ben and Reggie and a number of other awesome people have helped along the way. Things have gotten too crazy schedule wise and I won't be able to support the AV side for 2026. It's time to hand over the reins to someone else! It's a great opportunity to play with your AV toys and get some experience. VCF owns the beautiful Epson projector, the projection screen and pipe and drape (curtains that go behind the stage.) You will need to bring in PA, mics, cameras, cables. We have always routed and recorded video from the presenter laptop separately as well as cameras for building the side by side view. So, does anyone on here have the drive and ability to take this over? Happy to give information in advance if it's beneficial. (I am still coming to VCFE 2026, hopefully get back to doing a table because I've been sitting on a number of ideas :-)

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Why doesn't forum.vcfed.org have 2026 VCF East in Upcoming?
by Neil Cherry 18 Sep '25

18 Sep '25

Why doesn't forum.vcfed.org have 2026 VCF East in Upcoming? Just noticed it's not there -- Linux Home Automation Neil Cherry ncherry(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] Never seen this before
by Ethan O'Toole 18 Sep '25

18 Sep '25

Hotel TVs do tricks to support the ondemand systems. oncommand was one and there was another. When someone hits menu it would secretly jump the tv to an unused channel and the hotel headend would generate menus for that user bbrowsing. Buy a movie and you get on a dedicated private channel where you can see it. We could get the tvs into add/remove channel mode and you could just go up thru the channels and see people browsing menus, watching movies and sometimes naked people. Good av hardware supports rs232 for integreation with control systems like AMX and Crestron. I moved off AMX to this linux python pile called HomeAssistant and it's on my to-dos to add a serial to network bridge and make home assistant talk to my home stereo preamp which has rs232. Home assistant is wild, it's crazy but also crazy powerful. - Ethan

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Never seen this before
by Bill Degnan 18 Sep '25

18 Sep '25

yah...could that just be a wired channel remote port? On Thu, Sep 18, 2025 at 11:36 AM Hopkins, Justin via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > Ha, learn something new every day. > I just looked up the user manual for the TV and it just says > “for special AV control use only” with no elaboration, and there is a > related product that just says the RS-232 is for 3rd party control systems. > > > Thanks for the info on it. > > > > > From: Dean Notarnicola <dnotarnicola(a)gmail.com> > Sent: Thursday, September 18, 2025 11:07 AM > To: vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> > Cc: Hopkins, Justin <Justin.Hopkins(a)broadridge.com> > Subject: Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Never seen this before > > Sure, usually only on commercial sets. This is used to remotely control > the settings and operation of the set. Sony referred to it as “Control-C”. > On Thu, Sep 18, 2025 at 11: 03 AM Hopkins, Justin via vcf-midatlantic > <vcf-midatlantic@ lists. vcfed. org> > ZjQcmQRYFpfptBannerStart > This Message Is From an Unknown Sender > You have not previously corresponded with this sender. Use caution when > clicking links or opening attachments. Report suspicious emails by clicking > the "Report" button in your Outlook toolbar or forward to > SIRT(a)Broadridge.com<mailto:SIRT@Broadridge.com>. > ZjQcmQRYFpfptBannerEnd > Sure, usually only on commercial sets. This is used to remotely control > the settings and operation of the set. Sony referred to it as “Control-C”. > > > On Thu, Sep 18, 2025 at 11:03 AM Hopkins, Justin via vcf-midatlantic < > vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org<mailto:vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org>> > wrote: > RS-232 on a TV??? > > > https://imgur.com/a/le9sVhA< > https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/imgur.com/a/le9sVhA__;!!Ebr-cpPeAnfNniQ8… > > > > 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. > > 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] Never seen this before
by Dean Notarnicola 18 Sep '25

18 Sep '25

Sure, usually only on commercial sets. This is used to remotely control the settings and operation of the set. Sony referred to it as “Control-C”. On Thu, Sep 18, 2025 at 11:03 AM Hopkins, Justin via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > RS-232 on a TV??? > > > https://imgur.com/a/le9sVhA > > 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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Never seen this before
by Hopkins, Justin 18 Sep '25

18 Sep '25

RS-232 on a TV??? https://imgur.com/a/le9sVhA 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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