August 2026 - vcf-midatlantic

Cray supercomputer dollar coin, coming soon!
by Jeffrey Jonas 05 Sep '26

05 Sep '26

https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/invention-featured-wisconsins-american-… NJ's coin continues Thomas Edison's PR campaign for the light bulb :-( https://www.usmint.gov/american-innovation-2019-1-reverse-proof-coin-new-je…

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Earliest version of MSDOS recovered
by Richard Cini 04 Sep '26

04 Sep '26

All — I haven’t been able to talk about this early MSDOS recovery project since a few of us began working on it in September, but you can see the blog post by Scott Hanselman here. Scott’s post links to both @BrokenPipe’s site and mine where we discuss the process. In short, I was able to get 700-ish pages of original source listings from Tim Paterson which I scanned and then we converted to workable source code. It’s the earliest known version of DOS code to exist in the wild. https://opensource.microsoft.com/blog/2026/04/28/continuing-the-story-of-ea… Rich http://cini.classiccmp.org/ https://github.com/RichCini Long Island S100 User’s Group Get Outlook<https://aka.ms/qtex0l> for iOS

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OT - Wanted for use at CDL
by Martin A Flynn 04 Sep '26

04 Sep '26

Thanks to a kind stranger (OK, really was one of the folks who help out), CDL now has a APC SUA3000RM2U UPS for the audio rack in the studio. Hopefully this shields the Studio gear from any additional spike and surge damage. It needs fresh batteries and mounting hardware, so check your junk & leftovers piles for a rack kit Part number is APC SU032A, picture is at http://compdecon.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/apc_rack_kit.jpg

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VCF Mid-Atlantic Steering Committee Nominations
by Jeff Salzman 03 Sep '26

03 Sep '26

Members of the VCF MidAtlantic Mailing List, Another year has passed by, and it's time for the VCF-MA annual Steering Committee elections There are currently four seats becoming vacant. Jeff Salzman, Dave McGuire, Doug Crawford, and Ian Litchfield have either reached the end of their appointed terms or have resigned. Nominations to fill those positions are now open. The election will be held according to sections 4 and 5 of our published by-laws, listed at the end of this email and linked below. https://vcfed.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/VCFMA-Charter-Jul2022.pdf) Anyone who directly receives this message and has been a member of the VCF Mailing List for at least 30 days is eligible to vote. There is no 30-day restriction to mailing list membership to be nominated as a candidate. Current members of the mailing list in good standing are eligible to submit nominations for Committee member candidates. Nominations can be made by simply communicating the nomination via e-mail to a current Committee member: Thomas Gilinsky - thomas.gilinsky(a)vcfed.org, Dave McGuire - dave.mcguire(a)vcfed.org, Douglas Crawford - douglas.crawford(a)vcfed.org, Ian Litchfield - ian.litchfield(a)vcfed.org, or Jeff Salzman - jeff.salzman(a)vcf.org) Members of the mailing list may also self-nominate. To be eligible for the election, the prospective nominee must then accept the nomination by replying in the affirmative to the nomination email. One nomination per member can be made. Nominations will close on November 23nd at 11:59PM. An updated list of eligible nominees will be published regularly. Nominees are also encouraged to provide a position statement, which will be posted to the VCF-MA website for prospective voters to read. Voting will commence on November 30th, and will close at 11:59pm on December 13. Winners will be announced on December 14 during the Town hall event at our annual VCF Holiday celebration. Thank you, Jeff Salzman Chairman - VCF-MA Steering Committee ---------------------------------------- 4. COMMITTEE ELECTIONS Steering committee membership includes representation of VCF membership, as determined by the VCF governing board and VCF-MA sponsored elections. - The committee membership will be determined by elections to be held on a yearly basis (currently November). - Committee membership is ideally comprised of five people but may vary due to changing circumstances. Any committee vote to determine an increase in committee members shall be held within six months after a new election cycle. - A minimum of one seat will be up for election in every cycle, unless additional vacancies create the need for additional seats to be filled, in which case all vacant seats will be up for election in that cycle. - In the event of a tie, a two-week runoff election will be held. - If a tie still exists after the runoff, the non-running committee members will determine a winner. - In the event of a committee tie, the current chairperson or chair delegate will determine the winner. - Nominations for committee members can be made by current members in good standing simply by communicating the nomination to a committee member. One nomination per member can be made. Said members may also self-nominate. - In the case of off-cycle vacancies, the committee may move, without a public election, to appoint by simple majority vote new committee members to fill the seats until the next scheduled election. - A committee chairperson will be appointed by the committee members within 30 days of each completed election cycle. At that time a recording secretary will be selected. - Prospective committee members should be knowledgeable in some aspect of computing, preferably vintage computers, and show a demonstrated interest in vintage computing, computing history, and museum management and governance. - In order to be sufficiently aware and have proper perspective of museum and warehouse issues, prospective committee members should be able to physically attend VCF events at least quarterly and attend meetings regularly. 5. VCF MEMBERSHIP VCF general membership is open and granted to anyone who joins the mailing list. Voting rights will be granted to active list members who join no less than 30 days before an election.

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VCF Swap Meet Oct. 17
by Jeffrey Brace 31 Aug '26

31 Aug '26

https://vcfed.org/vcf-swap-meet/ Signup for vendors: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfXtLdCVrP3NOj7vPiSrCqlBBh8fQAJE7k… We are having it again in Brookdale's parking lot. Jeff Brace

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VCF Ontario Pre-Event Survey Results
by Jeffrey Brace 30 Aug '26

30 Aug '26

Here are the results of the VCF Ontario Pre-Event survey. Thank you for your participation! https://www.surveymonkey.com/stories/SM-5AjaEeVZi_2BzFa6kNxznYzA_3D_3D/ :-D Jeff Brace VCF National Board Member Chairman & Vice President VCF East Showrunner VCF Fundraising Manager VCF Evangelist Vintage Computer Federation is a 501c3 charity https://vcfed.org/ <http://www.vcfed.org/>

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Fujitsu 8" 80 MB SMD Hard drive available (Manhattan)
by Stephen A Edwards 27 Aug '26

27 Aug '26

I have a Fujitsu M2312K 8" 80 MB Winchester hard drive, which is too big for my collection to accommodate. The manual (on Bitsavers) points out it has "floppy disk drive dimensions," but they're referring to 8" floppy dimensions (two can sit side-by-side in a 19" rack!). I don't know whether it works. The power cabling appears intact and complete, but the ribbon cables are gone. It uses an SMD interface, which is old enough not to refer to a surface-mounted device. I'm located in Manhattan (New York City) and would be happy if you could pick it up and bring it to a spacious, appreciative home. Email me off-list if you're interested.

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Re: Can you identify this printer?
by David Hayden 27 Aug '26

27 Aug '26

And here it is for $399 in the July 1988 issue of Compute Magazine (page 82). That timing and price line up well with my recollections: https://archive.org/details/1988-07-compute-magazine/page/82/mode/2up?q=%22… Dave -- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. www.avast.com

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Re: Can you identify this printer?
by David Hayden 27 Aug '26

27 Aug '26

Herb Johnson wrote: > Bingo. > 80 Microcomputing (magazine) December 1985 page 146 (PDF page 147) > ad for the D80 *with photo*. Photo matches Hayden's fuzzy image. > https://archive.org/details/80-microcomputing-magazine-1985-12/page/n147/mo… Herb, you're my hero. Thanks!! As for why, it's purely nostalgic. I responded yesterday but the message was rejected. I just now realized that the reason is that I sent it to the subscription request address. Oops! Here's yesterday's message: --------------------------------------- Thank you again for everyone's help identifying this printer! Dave Shevett wrote: >Might be a Brother HR-15? that has a similar layout, but the panel is a little different. I don't think so for the reason you mentioned. The panel is different. Adam Sampson wrote: > An archive.org full-text search finds an announcement in Computerworld from August 26, 1985: That's very helpful! There's a mention in there of the ECS printwheel handling 200 characters, which would explain the "dual font" that I mentioned. I suspect that this is the printer. If only I could find an image of it. Herb Johnson asked several questions which I'll answer below. Thanks, Herb, for taking the time to ask these. > Are you sure it was a daisy wheel and not a dot-matrix Yes, I'm certain. > Do you remember how you used those "buttons" on the keypad to do different things? Not really. I think one was to load the paper, but I don't recall anything specific about them. > What computer did you use with this printer? That was an AT&T 6300 or 6300+. Here's the full photo <https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/bwq02x447555dsdv5sde8/N04_025.tif?rlkey=pd71…> that the previous one was cropped from. It shows the computer. > What did you print on it? Heh, heh ... One specific thing I remember was travel & living vouchers for work. They would reimburse meals and didn't require receipts up to $25 per meal? Per day? Something like that. Anyway, I created a spreadsheet with code to auto-fill the meal amounts with random numbers from $15-$25 ... Strictly as an academic exercise you understand.... Anyway, that thing slammed out those forms in no time flat, and that edge sensor meant that it put everything in just the right box. Oh yeah... Other than that, I probably printed letters and other miscellany on it. > Where did this photo come from? I took the photo myself. That's the actual printer. > Finally - why are you interested? Purely for my own curiosity and nostalgia. > You are asking strangers to do work. I asked the question "Can anyone identify this printer?" I never asked anyone to do work, and I apologize if anyone thought that I did. I was merely hoping that someone might recognize it. Still, I deeply appreciate the effort that you others have put forth. I think I'll try looking up Xerox marketing materials from 1985-86 to see if I can find a photo of the D80. My memory says that I bought it for a great price, probably a few hundred dollars, but a 1988 catalog lists it for about $1500, which is way more than I would have paid. Maybe I got it as surplus from AT&T where I worked at the time. It's a mystery. BTW, I donated it to a local school some time in the 90s and they eventually disposed of it. Thanks again to everyone for your help. Dave -- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. www.avast.com

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Can you identify this printer?
by David Hayden 26 Aug '26

26 Aug '26

Can anyone identify this printer? Here's what I remember about it. All of this is fuzzy: * Bought around 1990. I think I purchased it from DAK. * Daisy wheel printer * It had a left-edge of paper sensor, so you could just drop in a piece of paper and it figured where the edge was. * Cool dual-font daisy wheel. I think it contained normal and italics on one print wheel. * The name *might* read "Advantage D80." That rings a faint bell in my head, but I can't find any info about it. Thanks! Dave -- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. www.avast.com

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