- vcf-midatlantic - lists.vcfed.org

Hotel Block #3 Added - VCF East 2026
by Jeffrey Brace 20 Feb '26

20 Feb '26

Get it while it lasts! #3 is $99! I post to social tomorrow. https://vcfed.org/vcf-east-hotel-blocks/ Enjoy! Jeff Brace VCF East Showrunner

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MailMan3 Test
by Jeffrey Brace 19 Feb '26

19 Feb '26

Nothing can possbli go wrong! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SI1qdUWvY4 Enjoy! 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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Upgrading to Mailman Version 3
by Jeffrey Brace 19 Feb '26

19 Feb '26

As recommended a few months ago, we are upgrading the VCF MidAtlantic Discussion List to Mailman Version 3. We have had Version 2 for some time now. It was about time. It should be upgraded by the end of the day today (2/18/2026) Hopefully there will be no hiccups in the process. Enjoy! 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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MARCH committee town hall this evening @ 7:00 PM EST
by Thomas G 19 Feb '26

19 Feb '26

Hello all, This evening, the MARCH steering committee will be opening our second bimonthly meeting to the public for an open town hall. We're interested in trying to make this a regular occurrence, in the interest of better communication with the rest of the membership at large. The meeting will begin at 7:00 PM EST and will run for an hour and a half. Our (rough) agenda will be as follows: * Roll call * Managerial reports * Old business * New business * Town Hall Q&A session While every MARCH committee meeting is open to be attended by anyone who requests, in practice this is typically limited to the committee members, managers, and a handful of other local volunteers who are most closely involved in the day-to-day operations of MARCH at infoage. Oftentimes there appears to be a bit of a disconnect between this core group and the wider membership regarding the realities of what's going on "down on the ground" so to speak, and hopefully these more broad-focused meetings can ameliorate that. The meeting will be held using google meet, which can be joined from any sufficiently modern web browser, or directly over the phone. No google account is necessary for use. To join the video meeting, click this link: https://meet.google.com/poj-twap-qyw Otherwise, to join by phone, dial +1 929-324-9283 and enter this PIN: 194 499 181# To view more phone numbers, click this link: https://tel.meet/poj-twap-qyw?hs=5 Hope to see you there! -Thomas Gilinsky Chairman & Collections manager, MARCH steering committee

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How do I value these Mac clone things?
by Joseph Giliberti 17 Feb '26

17 Feb '26

First off, I'm sorry for sending out this kind of email. I typically don't place a lot of worth on determining monetary value on vintage machines because that's not why I'm in the hobby. However, my recent haul seems to has generated a lot of interest on a Macintosh collector facebook group and I don't know how to proceed. I went and picked up a lot of Mac hardware from a storage unit cleanout in Reading, PA via Facebook Marketplace. I was interested because of several Mac IIcI and various Quadras, but I also ended up with 5 "Micromac," machines, which seem to be repackaged compact Macs in desktop cases with external monitor ports. They can be seen here: https://ibb.co/vC2qM6d9 I posted to get more information on a Facebook group and got several responses that are more or less, "I need to have one! Take my money!" Now, this surprised me. I cannot find any comparable sales on ebay or Worthpoint to base a price on. I don't want to price them unreasonably, but I also don't want to give them away. Can anyone advise me as to what they might be worth? Based on the clamor for them, I plan on donating one to our museum if we don't already have one. I'm going to further evaluate what I have today. As far as I can tell, four are re-packaged SE's and one is an SE/30. I'm assuming when I open them up that at least one of them will be battery bombed, because that's life. I want to know the condition of them as best as I can before I offer them for sale so as to not screw over anyone. Thanks in advance, Regards, Joe Giliberti

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How do I value these Mac clone things?
by Herbert Johnson 16 Feb '26

16 Feb '26

I've sold compact Macs for many years, and I never heard or came across "micromac" cases for SE or SE/30 motherboards. That appears to be what these are: powered cases for the mobos. I'm not sure how someone found B/W monitors to be driven by these unmodified boards. Either the product includes some video circuits to accommodate more-common monitors; or someone made custom monitors for it. I don't know the product - inspection will be informative. Worst case - use a motherboard-less Mac SE/Plus/SE-30 and drive its monitor. Web search for "micromac" finds a service company that makes/sells Mac upgrades; not the same company?, no info there. Also a name for a Rasp Pi Pico emulation of the compact Macs. So it's hard to find information on the prior company & case product. Here's some links: https://www.reddit.com/r/VintageApple/comments/ard4hj/mystery_micromac_micr… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45ytL_R93Is That time MicroMac Technology took the CAT MAC (Macintosh from a catalog) mainstream! Ron's Computer Videos 6.38K subscribers, 8 months ago from Feb 2026 Discusses the micromac product and a modern 3D printed case equivalent Search of Mac magazines of the 1989 period may find ads and details. As far as value. It seems to be an uncommon item (rare is a judgement call). It's a kind of a thing. Those explain the attention and response to "I have a stack of these ..." Simple math tells me total value depends on working condition of the items in it plus physical condition of case plus intangible "gotta have" value. I myself would find an answer to obtaining a monitor, and of course evaluate working state, before I'd price and offer them. The floppy drives would need servicing for certain. Inspect the power supply and mobos for component damage potential (RIFA caps, state of other caps, battery). 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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More TRS-80 Model 102 stuff
by Gregg Levine 15 Feb '26

15 Feb '26

Hello! Having now confirmed the existence of both a 6264 which I'd installed in the thing, and a 62128 and a 62256; this becomes one of are both of them the same pinouts of the 6264? I believe not, but over years I've seen some darned strange things surface regarding EPROM designs. ---- Gregg C Levine gregg.drwho8(a)gmail.com "This signature was once found posting rude messages in English in the Moscow subway."

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TRS-80 Model 102 stuff
by Gregg Levine 15 Feb '26

15 Feb '26

Hello! Okay yesterday I was indeed able to work out how to move files between this laptop and the TRS-80 Model 102 I own. It involved DOSbox and a serial cable who used the FTDI chipset and a nullmodem connector. DOSbox was setup to be a slow 80386DX. And running the unique software that the company commissioned I was able to basically do that. Ironically the disk drives the thing uses, and I do not have here were the same ones that Brother optioned for their knitting machines. The unit uses for memory a 6264 chip which I know is a static RAM chip organized the same as the EPROM 2764. I stuck one of mine in, and it seems to have found it. But has anyone ever seen a 62128 (Static RAM same as a EPROM 27128), or a 62256 (Static RAM same as a EPROM 27256) someplace? ---- Gregg C Levine gregg.drwho8(a)gmail.com "This signature was once found posting rude messages in English in the Moscow subway."

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What would have used 64kB Simms?
by John Heritage 14 Feb '26

14 Feb '26

I'm going through some old stuff I have, and came across some 64 kilobyte and 256 kilobyte simms. The earliest Simms I really remember using were 1MB for 386/486 computers though I could see 386s using the 256kb. Earlier than that I've touched a few 286s with sipp and simm slots, but even they were typically aiming for "the full 640KB". But most XT/286 products I touched had individual ram chips socketed or soldered on board. What devices would have used 64KB Simms back in the day? There are 9 chip as well, so I assume parity.

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OT: 50 Insane New Jersey Facts That Sound Fake But Are 100% True
by Herbert Johnson 14 Feb '26

14 Feb '26

Jeff Brace, sharing the link was appreciated, thanks, it was well intended. But I'm afraid you've been fooled by AI generated content to grab eyeballs. Inspection of the poster's video collection shows this - go immediately to their list of videos. Every few days in a MONTH, they posted the same subject (fifty facts) about a total of 21 US states. That and two videos about town-factoids. Only AI could produce that much content in a month. I don't even care about validating the facts or not. But the fastest way to make that determination, is to stop the video, click on "closed captioning", and click on "transcripts". - I can read text faster than I can watch and listen, no ads too. a momentary glance thru the NJ transcript, suggested some errors, confusing "the tri state" with New Jersey specifics. If I want to search the Web about New Jersey for purpose, I'll do so and have done so. There are any number of researched, referenced and maintained Web sites about features of New Jersey. Why do I care about Web site or video-content quality? I work hard to produce content on my Web site. Of course I consume Web content. I read this email list, among other reasons, for quality content. Degraded content lowers the bar and reduces expectations and distorts one's knowledge - just like eating excess candy changes your food patterns and is ultimately unhealthy (but profitable for candy producers). Also - when AI's "scrape" my content, their posted version of my content robs *my site* of "eyeballs". I'm saying: I have skin in this game. So this YouTube site is not a reliable site for New Jersey factoids, or any factoids. It's a vehicle for ads (revenue to the video producer) and eyeball-bait (increased value for ads). Sharing such video sources (sorry) propagates the AI-generated-media virus, as I've described. I've posted my considerations and process, so others can use the same process to evaluate the flood of AI-generated semi-factual content we are now subjected to. People can consider (and disagree about) my considerations but let's be clear-eyed about what's behind whatever "media" we consume. The old saw: "if you aren't paying for the product, YOU are the product". 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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