- vcf-midatlantic - lists.vcfed.org

WTB/WTT: SWTPC 6800 Boards
by systems_glitch 30 Apr '19

30 Apr '19

All, I'm still looking for boards for my mostly-empty SWTPC 6800 chassis. I've got a power supply and backplane for it now, but still no boards. If you've got spares and especially if you'll be at VCF East, I'm interested in buying or trading for them. Thanks, Jonathan

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DEC PDP 11/03-AA for sale
by Mike Loewen 30 Apr '19

30 Apr '19

I have a PDP 11/03-AA available for sale, which I will bring to VCF East. This CPU was used as the console of a VAX 11/780, and includes an RX01 floppy drive and cables. I've never gotten around to even powering up this machine, and it's time to let it go. The installed boards are: M7264 EB 11/03 processor with 4-Kword MOS RAM M7940 Serial Line Unit (SLU, Async) M7946 RX01 8" floppy disk controller M8017 Single-line async control module M7944 4-Kword 16-bit MOS RAM (external refresh) M9400 YE Headers and 240-ohm terminators (18-bit bus only) I also have the following boards to upgrade the system to something more useable: M8012 BDV11 bus terminator, bootstrap and Diagnostic Module M8044-DB 32K, 16-bit RAM M8043 Q-bus quad serial interface Also have the cable for the M7940 (BC03L-00). About the floppy drive...the M7946 is a RX01 controller, but the part number on the drive itself is for an RX02. I know practically nothing about DEC hardware, so I don't know why the discrepancy. I'll be taking offers for the whole setup (off-list, please) until midnight, May 1. Pictures are at: http://q7.neurotica.com/Oldtech/PDP1103/ Mike Loewen mloewen(a)cpumagic.scol.pa.us Old Technology http://q7.neurotica.com/Oldtech/

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One more VCF East ticket desk person needed
by Evan Koblentz 29 Apr '19

29 Apr '19

Everyone, We have three ticket desk volunteers: Charlotte, Jayme, and Gina. They're all awesome, but they are all new at it. (Ann/Amy aren't available this year.) Can anyone suggest a fourth volunteer, so that we're better able to cover all of the hours? (8:30am-6:00pm Saturday; 8:30am-5:00pm Sunday.) As previously stated: ticket desk people need to be reliable, outgoing, on-the-ball in a retail/service environment, and represent us professionally. We hope to find a fourth person who can 100% commit no later than Wednesday mid-day. Obviously it can't be one of those "if" or "they'll try" situations.

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] This weekend
by Evan Koblentz 29 Apr '19

29 Apr '19

> Hope marathon went well! Thank you. I finished :), which is something to be proud of because it was my first one since having bone tumor surgery in my leg in 2016. Docs said I might never run again!! I came all the way back. Unfortunately I missed my time goal by 8 minutes.

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This weekend
by Evan Koblentz 29 Apr '19

29 Apr '19

Everyone, Jeff B. and I decided to close the museum this weekend so we can do VCF East stuff and not be tied to the tour guide desk. Also I will be unreachable from this Saturday evening through Sunday evening or Monday morning. I'm running in the NJ Marathon this Sunday (7:30am start). It is my first one since 2015 ... in 2016 I had surgery and they said I might never run again. I showed 'em!

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Consignment cheat sheet
by Evan Koblentz 29 Apr '19

29 Apr '19

Here's a consignment process cheat-sheet, thanks to Jim Scheef: http://vcfed.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/east2019consignment.pdf -- Evan Koblentz, executive director Vintage Computer Federation www.vcfed.org evan(a)vcfed.org (646) 546-9999 VCF is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.

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Fyi: Ride share available from Boston to VCF East
by Evan Koblentz 26 Apr '19

26 Apr '19

See https://twitter.com/33asr/status/1121599733712269314?s=19 for the details. Don't reply here.

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] This weekend
by Evan Koblentz 26 Apr '19

26 Apr '19

> You go Evan! Best of luck in the marathon. Thanks Pete! It is my third one, but the first since 2015. If it were a 5K then I'd just pick a different one; those are held all over the place practically every weekend. Marathons are harder to come by... the funny part is it normally takes a week-ish to get my legs back after running 26.2. This time I have two days and then we start setting up for VCF East. :)

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VCF East on Reddit
by Evan Koblentz 26 Apr '19

26 Apr '19

I posted about the show at https://www.reddit.com/r/vintagecomputing/comments/bhiv74/massive_celebrati… ... please vote it up!

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OT - Anyone familiar with OpenNMS ? If so, please contact me off-list
by Martin Flynn 26 Apr '19

26 Apr '19

OT - Anyone familiar with OpenNMS ? If so, please contact me off-list https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenNMS https://www.opennms.com/

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Museum report
by Evan Koblentz 25 Apr '19

25 Apr '19

Busy day! I got to the museum around 11am and stayed to 11pm. We had a good amount of visitors today. Several families came through, including a few engineers. Jeff B. and I worked on VCF East preparation between the visitors. After-hours, I made good progress on our new info kiosk. I used aeronautical-grade velcro (thank you Martin) to attach one of the micro form-factor PCs to the back of the 27" touchscreen monitor, configured all the OpenKiosk software settings, and learned how to connect from our office PC to the web server with SSH (thank you Bill Dudley for the telephone tech support). I know SSH is very secure, but afterward I decided to put FTP on the web server because (don't kill me) I prefer a point-and-click way to move files. Then I spent an hour or two on the kiosk content. Got the main template finished. All that's left to do is update a few content pages, tie back the kiosk cabling, and hang a sign from the ceiling pointing to the kiosk. Probably another 2 hours total and then it will be done.

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Belated announcement :)
by Evan Koblentz 25 Apr '19

25 Apr '19

Emmanuel Goldstein interviewed me live for 2600's Off the Hook radio show just now. It was a 5-minute chat about VCF East. I assume they will post it as a podcast in the next day or two.

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OT: How to use Stack Exchange chat rooms?
by Evan Koblentz 22 Apr '19

22 Apr '19

VCF East is being discussed at https://chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/38597/the-bbs (apparently I posted in the wrong place and they moved it into the retrocomputing chat room) .... I am logged into SE but I can't figure out how to participate in the chat. Help! -- Evan Koblentz, executive director Vintage Computer Federation www.vcfed.org evan(a)vcfed.org (646) 546-9999 VCF is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.

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Help needed Wednesday 1pm
by Jeffrey Brace 22 Apr '19

22 Apr '19

Mike Ruane of Infoage needs help. I will be there, but we need more people. If available, send me a private message and I will let Mike know. Here is his message: To All – Pat and I need help getting three display cabinets from the Ocean County Historical Society in Toms River this Wednesday. We need two more guys to help us. We would leave InfoAge at 1:00 and be back by 3:00. Please get the word out to your folks and let me know if we have any volunteers. I don’t want to lose these cabinets. Thanks!! -- ========================================= Jeff Brace Vice President Vintage Computer Federation

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Solaris SPARC install VM?
by Ethan O'Toole 22 Apr '19

22 Apr '19

Anyone know if there is an install VM for net-installing older Solaris on Sparc like 2.6, 2.7? I know one exists for IRIX. I found some FAQs and such that indicated some issues with older Linux providing the root filesystem over NFS. Any pointers appreciated. - Ethan

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Hard drive art
by Brian Brubaker 22 Apr '19

22 Apr '19

Thank you for your thoughtful comments, I'm very sorry if I caused any agitation as a result of my art. I must admit, lurker may have been too strong of a word. I have a friend involved with vintage computers and is the one who pointed out the one 14" platter I found from this group. Since then I subscribed, but dont get a chance to read often. The majority of my art supplies have come from Ebay with a substantial investment on my part, most being sold as scrap. Some platters, spacers, and actuators were bought disassembled already. The ones not sold as scrap, I'm paying the value of a working drive. Now at this point anyone else could have purchased these drives and attempted to use them. I would be happy to work with people from this forum to sell some individual parts one might want. As for the drives themselves, I've spent over $300 in shipping alone for some of the 8" and 9" drives I've bought and disassembled from CA. I've been scanning Ebay for over a year targeting value, and specific models , I've got 60+ searches I check daily. I've invested thousands of dollars, countless hours disassembling drives, countless hours designing and creating my art, and tons of blood and sweat. That all being said, I do have an impressive collection of hard drive parts from the last 50 years, and I can understand your frustration as a vintage computer restorer. I would honestly rather use my parts for art, but I could be willing to help provide parts for sale where I could. I have sold 90% of the circuit boards on Ebay, including many from real vintage drives. I will say, when I looked into starting this project, I did tons of research into art made from hard drives, what I found was there were lots of clocks, and a few sculptures here and there, but nothing anywhere near what I had in mind to make. So, I found something new and unique and creative to reuse many old hard drives that eventually all would find their way to a scrap yard or landfill. New + unique + recycling seems a rare thing these days, and something I feel the world needs more of. I think the shelf life (or wall in my case), can out live any working vintage hard drive. That being said, I'm happy to work with those who want to prolong their own vintage computers. On Sat, Apr 13, 2019, 12:43 PM Herb Johnson via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > Brian Brubaker posts about use of hard-drive parts to create art, for > our appreciation. Well, this use of vintage electronics as art, gives me > pause. I thought about it; I wrote a lecture; I decided a lecture would > not be read or appreciated. So here's my straightforward considerations. > > Brian: I restore vintage computers to operation. So I see in parts of > your art, computers that can't be restored because they were demolished. > That's not an abstraction, for me - that is a fact. > > This situation is not your fault. However, you have posted in a group of > vintage-computer restorers; so my point is relevant in this forum. > > So: Brian, I encourage you to make available, such ancient drives and > parts as might be useful to restore ancient computers. I'm sure you can > get guidance about doing so. > > I don't mean to spoil your fun or interests. Do not go back to "lurking" > because some old-guy doesn't like your work - that is not what I said, > that's not how I said it. Art evokes responses; the artist can't > determine all those responses. This is part of my response. And > certainly, there's art today which is FAR more controversial than a > bunch of old computer parts. I'm making a point, not cursing your works, > which have artistic merit. > > Brian, thanks for showing your works in this forum. > > Herb Johnson > > -- > Herbert R. Johnson, New Jersey in the USA > http://www.retrotechnology.com OR .net >

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Drive repairs, was Hard drive art
by CT 22 Apr '19

22 Apr '19

Thanks Herb! I'll definitely say hi at the show and will take some pics of the drives as well to bring up. Looking forward to meeting everyone (and some of you again!) On Sun, Apr 21, 2019 at 10:47 PM Herb Johnson via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > > I have a couple Macintosh external drives that aren't working properly. > > Would it be the right venue to bring them to VCF East to the class? Or > > should I wait for a repair workshop? > > > > Thanks, > > Eric, chesapeaketechie @... > > I deal in Apple Macintosh SCSI drives. I (and others here) can give you > some hints about making these run a while longer. Contact me after > VCF-East and say hello at the show! I'll be a vendor. > > Herb > > PS: I'm a little busy with VCF-E prep, to follow these drive repair/art > discussions. Glad people care! There's a lot of work going on in > hard-drive recovery. David Gesswein is very modest about his MFM > emulator; it's extracting good data from bad drives, and David et al are > working hard to support oddball drive controllers's oddball formats. > Dave McGuire talks about servo tracks... I have buddies struggling with > those on 8-inch hard drives. > > This is how engineers do vintage computing. Makes me hungry for silicon > and iron oxide .... > > Herb > > -- > Herbert R. Johnson, New Jersey in the USA > http://www.retrotechnology.com OR .net > preserve, recover, restore 1970's computing > email: hjohnson AT retrotechnology DOT com > or try later herbjohnson AT retrotechnology DOT info >

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Drive repairs, was Hard drive art
by Ethan Dicks 22 Apr '19

22 Apr '19

On Sun, Apr 21, 2019 at 9:47 PM Herb Johnson via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > > I have a couple Macintosh external drives that aren't working properly. > > I deal in Apple Macintosh SCSI drives. I (and others here) can give you > some hints about making these run a while longer. Contact me after > VCF-East and say hello at the show! I'll be a vendor. I'd be interested in a conversation about Seagate ST1480N drives (found in some Quadras and in lots of Sun workstations as a "SUN0424" drive). I have a couple that work and a couple that do not. One HDA makes unhealthy "buzzsaw" noises and is likely a write-off. The other spins up then immediately spins down. I wonder if there's a rotation feedback sensor in the HDA that's not reporting correctly that's causing this behavior. I wouldn't mind being able to copy data from these drives but I know they were last used in the 1990s and the data on them was mostly the OS install and any user files were copied off long ago, but I doubt there's anything magical and wonderful to be found on them. Just getting one of them working again would be convenient. I don't have that many sub-1GB drives left anymore (I have lots and lots of Seagates and others in the 1GB-4GB range). -ethan

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VCF East -- Schedule + Friday keynote change
by Evan Koblentz 21 Apr '19

21 Apr '19

Here is the full VCF East 2019 schedule: http://vcfed.org/wp/festivals/vintage-computer-festival-east/vcf-east-sched… Let me know if there any mistakes. Note: Steve Bellovin is unable to be there on Friday. In his place, we're having a panel on D-I-Y computing with Alexander Pierson, Jon Chapman, and possible one or two other people.

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Drive repairs, was Hard drive art
by Herb Johnson 21 Apr '19

21 Apr '19

> I have a couple Macintosh external drives that aren't working properly. > Would it be the right venue to bring them to VCF East to the class? Or > should I wait for a repair workshop? > > Thanks, > Eric, chesapeaketechie @... I deal in Apple Macintosh SCSI drives. I (and others here) can give you some hints about making these run a while longer. Contact me after VCF-East and say hello at the show! I'll be a vendor. Herb PS: I'm a little busy with VCF-E prep, to follow these drive repair/art discussions. Glad people care! There's a lot of work going on in hard-drive recovery. David Gesswein is very modest about his MFM emulator; it's extracting good data from bad drives, and David et al are working hard to support oddball drive controllers's oddball formats. Dave McGuire talks about servo tracks... I have buddies struggling with those on 8-inch hard drives. This is how engineers do vintage computing. Makes me hungry for silicon and iron oxide .... Herb -- Herbert R. Johnson, New Jersey in the USA http://www.retrotechnology.com OR .net preserve, recover, restore 1970's computing email: hjohnson AT retrotechnology DOT com or try later herbjohnson AT retrotechnology DOT info

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Hard drive art
by Dave McGuire 19 Apr '19

19 Apr '19

On 4/16/19 1:51 PM, Herb Johnson via vcf-midatlantic wrote: > This is becoming an argument. That's understandable, but that's not my > goal. > > My point of throwing the "old guy" card, is to say some interest in > vintage computing is persistent, is beyond keeping one's computer > running, but in goals you refer to as "museum". Most museums put a > computer on a shelf, don't touch: the work I describe re-engages > people with now-working computers. Your work also engages others; > I don't question the value of art, or oblige it to be for purpose. > This is what engagement looks like. Herb, this has nothing to do with you being an "old guy". Let's just face facts: Most of us try very hard every day to keep rare and valuable hardware out of the hands of people like the original poster, and I'm know for a fact that I'm not the only one who thought "this guy had better hope he doesn't run into me on the street". "Hey, there's a complete Model T Ford, I'm gonna grab it, tear our the seat and use it for a couch!" Nobody in their right mind would every dream of doing that, yet people do stuff like this and actually feel justified. Unbelievable. -Dave -- Dave McGuire, AK4HZ New Kensington, PA

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Cool -- double emulation!
by Evan Koblentz 18 Apr '19

18 Apr '19

Here's the "APPalm" (Apple II) emulator inside PHEM (Palm Hardware Emulator) on my brand-new Galaxy S10e phone. :) http://tinyurl.com/y3thepoy

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New acquisition
by Richard Cini 18 Apr '19

18 Apr '19

All — I was able to get my hands on another Seattle Gazelle. I will mostly use this for spare parts for my main machine but this one came with original manuals and an 8” diskette. No floppy controller or drives, though, which is fine with me since I already have those. What’s interesting is that this is the second system of this type I’ve seen that uses the TEi enclosure. The one in the VCF collection is a 22-slot version and I have a 12-slot version. More to come as I restore this one. It was working as of when it was stored 20 years ago. Get Outlook for iOS<https://aka.ms/o0ukef>

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OT: NJARC YouTube
by Evan Koblentz 18 Apr '19

18 Apr '19

Off-topic: Our museum neighbors in the NJ Antique Radio Club said they need 1,000 subscribers to do live streaming, but they are a long way off at 300-something. They're asking for subscribers among like-minded people: https://www.youtube.com/user/njarc?fbclid=IwAR0DTOIO-_DH70ZvdyW8XWS_iSqqn-2….

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Museum report
by Evan Koblentz 17 Apr '19

17 Apr '19

Today was shockingly busy for a non-summer Wednesday, but Jeff B. pointed out that it's spring break for local schools so that explains it. Tons of visitors today! I used the small amount of downtime between visitors to do some more work on the information kiosk + random VCF East tasks.

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InfoAge campus clean-up
by Evan Koblentz 17 Apr '19

17 Apr '19

InfoAge is having a campus clean-up day on Saturday, April 27 from 9am-noon. They (rightfully) want all the groups to help. I told them VCF supports the project, but that it's a terrible time for us because of our event next weekend. Jeff B. and I will be going nuts (hard to tell the difference, I know!) doing final show preparations. But if anyone is interested in helping with this project, then let me know.

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Cool - Activision developer found us
by Evan Koblentz 16 Apr '19

16 Apr '19

Got a phone call from Dan Kitchen today. Never heard of him, but he pointed me to his website: https://www.dankitchengames.com/game-credits Says he lives here in NJ, heard about VCF East, and is looking forward to attending.

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Exhibit reg- Closed
by Evan Koblentz 16 Apr '19

16 Apr '19

VCF East exhibit registration is closed. For special consideration, procrastinators may grovel to me off-list.

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InfoAge is closed this Sunday - EOM
by Evan Koblentz 16 Apr '19

16 Apr '19

Nothing to read here.

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OT: Re: AMX / Panja Control system
by Evan Koblentz 16 Apr '19

16 Apr '19

Adding "OT:" subject-line prefix. On Tue, Apr 16, 2019, 12:12 PM Sentrytv via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > Cleaning out my garage > I found a AMX/Panja control system, including: > Accent 3 Control processor, wired and wireless color touch panels, > RS 232 boxes, > wireless transmitter and receiver boxes, > and relay boxes. > > A catalog and software for programming is included > > Contact me off list if interested can picked up in Edison NJ > Mike Rosen > > Sent from: > My extremely complicated, hand held electronic device. >

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AMX / Panja Control system
by Sentrytv 16 Apr '19

16 Apr '19

Cleaning out my garage I found a AMX/Panja control system, including: Accent 3 Control processor, wired and wireless color touch panels, RS 232 boxes, wireless transmitter and receiver boxes, and relay boxes. A catalog and software for programming is included Contact me off list if interested can picked up in Edison NJ Mike Rosen Sent from: My extremely complicated, hand held electronic device.

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VCF East - Friday class schedule
by Evan Koblentz 15 Apr '19

15 Apr '19

http://vcfed.org/wp/festivals/vintage-computer-festival-east/classes/

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Good workshop!
by Evan Koblentz 15 Apr '19

15 Apr '19

It started out in bizarro world: Ian skipped this one, and Tony worked on Atari, Commodore, and Tandy gear (no Apple II!). :).... Jeff S. tested some of our Tandy hardware. Anthony and Jason worked on getting a Counterpoint system up. Refresher: Counterpoint built a few hundred Unix workstations on contract to AT&T in 1986, AT&T canceled the project, and so these were never released. The ones we have may be the last ones around. It took some brainstorming (and some trial-and-error), but this morning one of the workstations came to life! Drom stopped by, unexpected, and worked on the Univac. There was a Don Casselli sighting, but I didn't have a chance to talk to him (was busy withe museum visitors). I worked on the museum info kiosks. Big accomplishment: I installed Apache as our intranet server. Never installed that before, so I learned something new. Jason provided tech support for a few of my questions. Jameel donated two micro-form-factor PCs for powering the kiosks. I wiped them (they had Windows 10) and put on Linux, of course. :) I installed OpenKiosk on them. Tony's projects were for the VCF East Software Store. Jeff S. worked on his MOBIDIC replica which will someday power our life-size replica. I'm not sure what Dean did. Jeff B. helped out with a little of everything.

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Univac repairs at Workshop
by Jeffrey Brace 14 Apr '19

14 Apr '19

Thanks for making the trip Drom! <https://www.avast.com/sig-email?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campai…> Virus-free. www.avast.com <https://www.avast.com/sig-email?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campai…> <#DAB4FAD8-2DD7-40BB-A1B8-4E2AA1F9FDF2> On Sun, Apr 14, 2019 at 7:45 PM Bill Dromgoole via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > > I made an emergency trip to the Museum today. > I wanted to make sure the Univac system was operable for VCF-East > > Worked on Univac paper tape reader in the 1532 I/O console.. Rang out all > the wires, measured the capacitors etc. > When done it was working again. Maybe something in the wire harness? > Who knows. It works again. I didn’t replace anything. > > Loaded punch tape we made last time at the six day workshop. Good load, > clear al and au. > Ran program and got bad punch tape. > Replaced the card Duane suggested with a 2014 from the warehouse. > Now it seems to work. > > Loaded the Mk-152 diagnostic program and computer still has same channel > 17 problem. > But the demonstration procedure is still the same for the docents. > It works about 95% > > Didn’t have time to work on ASR-35 teletype but it seemed to work ok. > > A day well spent. > > Bill > > > > > -- ========================================= Jeff Brace Vice President Vintage Computer Federation

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Apache question (museum intranet server)
by Evan Koblentz 14 Apr '19

14 Apr '19

Today I picked out an unloved modern PC from our collection (from the ones donated back at Festivus) and turned it into our museum intranet server. It runs Linux and the latest version of Apache. I didn't touch the stock configuration files: it just magically worked after I gave the server a static IP and stuff. Here is the question ... SHOULD any of the stock config files be changed? All this server will do is offer rather primitive .htm files for the info kiosks. It's not going to face anything external, although it does connect through our firewall so its software can be updated. There is no need to remotely manage it. Can/should I just leave the stock config alone, or should anything be changed for security, performance, etc.?

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Univac repairs at Workshop
by Bill Dromgoole 14 Apr '19

14 Apr '19

I made an emergency trip to the Museum today. I wanted to make sure the Univac system was operable for VCF-East Worked on Univac paper tape reader in the 1532 I/O console.. Rang out all the wires, measured the capacitors etc. When done it was working again. Maybe something in the wire harness? Who knows. It works again. I didn’t replace anything. Loaded punch tape we made last time at the six day workshop. Good load, clear al and au. Ran program and got bad punch tape. Replaced the card Duane suggested with a 2014 from the warehouse. Now it seems to work. Loaded the Mk-152 diagnostic program and computer still has same channel 17 problem. But the demonstration procedure is still the same for the docents. It works about 95% Didn’t have time to work on ASR-35 teletype but it seemed to work ok. A day well spent. Bill

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Sunday Breakfast for repair workshop 9am
by Jeffrey Brace 14 Apr '19

14 Apr '19

We will meet tomorrow at 9am at OB Diner in Point Pleasant Beach. Let me know if you are coming. 1519 Richmond Ave, Point Pleasant, NJ 08742 -- ========================================= Jeff Brace Vice President Vintage Computer Federation

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OT - Strong backs (not necessarily weak minds) needed for a few minutes on Saturday afternoon 04/13/2019
by Martin Flynn 13 Apr '19

13 Apr '19

OT Warning! CDL has a project underway that will require lifting an aluminum lighting truss to near ceiling height in the CDL studio. The CDL team will get the brackets hung, we need a few bodies to lift the aluminum truss into place. End result will look like this, we are lifting the bare truss. Total weight is around 50 pounds, truss is 4 meters long. I don't see this taking more than 15 minutes around 3:00 PM Off list replies please to keep the noise down martin flynn

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FS: Atari XEGS system + books + games
by Andy Meyer 13 Apr '19

13 Apr '19

For sale Atari XEGS deluxe system XEGS console XEGS keyboard XG-1 light gun Atari C061982 power supply XE cartridge: Bug Hunt XE cartridge: Flight Simulator II XE cartridge: GATO Built-in game: Missile Command Atari XE System owner's manual Atari XE System Keyboard owner's manual Book: Basic Atari BASIC, ISBN 0-8104-6526-4 Book: Atari Games and Recreations, ISBN 0-8359-0242-0 Tested and working Reply off-list Thanks Andy

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5965 tubes
by Sentrytv 13 Apr '19

13 Apr '19

Found some NOS 5965 tubes in a lot of tubes I purchased Are these needed by anyone in the group? Mike Rosen Sent from: My extremely complicated, hand held electronic device.

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Hard drive art
by Herb Johnson 13 Apr '19

13 Apr '19

Brian Brubaker posts about use of hard-drive parts to create art, for our appreciation. Well, this use of vintage electronics as art, gives me pause. I thought about it; I wrote a lecture; I decided a lecture would not be read or appreciated. So here's my straightforward considerations. Brian: I restore vintage computers to operation. So I see in parts of your art, computers that can't be restored because they were demolished. That's not an abstraction, for me - that is a fact. This situation is not your fault. However, you have posted in a group of vintage-computer restorers; so my point is relevant in this forum. So: Brian, I encourage you to make available, such ancient drives and parts as might be useful to restore ancient computers. I'm sure you can get guidance about doing so. I don't mean to spoil your fun or interests. Do not go back to "lurking" because some old-guy doesn't like your work - that is not what I said, that's not how I said it. Art evokes responses; the artist can't determine all those responses. This is part of my response. And certainly, there's art today which is FAR more controversial than a bunch of old computer parts. I'm making a point, not cursing your works, which have artistic merit. Brian, thanks for showing your works in this forum. Herb Johnson -- Herbert R. Johnson, New Jersey in the USA http://www.retrotechnology.com OR .net

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Hackaday - Paper Tape Reader Badge
by Neil Cherry 12 Apr '19

12 Apr '19

I've only skimmed this https://hackaday.com/2019/04/12/cyphercon-badge-has-a-paper-tape-reader-bui… Now I wonder if I can get that to talk to my PiDP8? PS: I skimmed because I have about 2 minutes between calls and Qs. I might actually get to read it this weekend. :( -- 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

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] MOS LSI chips time frame
by Evan Koblentz 12 Apr '19

12 Apr '19

Ben, Sorry if I already ask you this: are you planning to exhibit at VCF East again? Or at least to attend? If you're exhibiting, then we need you to register by this Saturday at 11:59pm. Hard deadline. Running joke: still got hoodies and Legos with your name on it. It's time to rectify that.... -- Evan Koblentz, executive director Vintage Computer Federation www.vcfed.org evan(a)vcfed.org (646) 546-9999 VCF is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] MOS LSI chips time frame
by Ben Greenfield 11 Apr '19

11 Apr '19

Hello Herb, Thanks for the framing. My follow-up email should have 2 links one from a paper written by C.F. O’Donnel and presented at the Fall Joint Computer Conference, 1968 This paper describe the fabrication process and the obvious need for computer assisted design to manage the complexity of the masks. It describes moving the manual process they were using pre-MOS-LSI to computer process. An excellent paper. The second link was to this paper written by Ken Shirriff discussing intel and the first microprocessor. This paper is also a good read. Which touches on the Autonetics D200 https://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-history/silicon-revolution/the-surprising-st… I have now found a second paper presented at the Fall Joint Computer Conference, 1968 this one by R.K. Booher Describing autonetics sudy of potential and the problems associated with direct coupled and 2-pahse MOS circuits and devised the 4-phase system which solved many problems. https://www.computer.org/csdl/pds/api/csdl/proceedings/download-article/507… > On Apr 11, 2019, at 3:24 PM, Herb Johnson via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > > > From: Herb Johnson <hjohnson(a)retrotechnology.info> > Subject: [vcf-midatlantic] MOS LSI chips time frame > Date: April 11, 2019 at 3:24:38 PM EDT > To: vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> > > > Ben Greenfield posted: "I’m doing some research on North American Aviation/Autonetics artifacts and while researching simply Metal Oxide Semiconductor or MOS." > > He pointed to some photos of some NAA objects with labels "Autonetics MOS/SOS" from Rockwell/Autonetics. Apparent dates 1968 or so. > > My interest is in COSMOS products from RCA, particularly the 1802 COSMAC microprocessor. A Web search of my site will be informative about that. > > RCA produced an LSI chip-pair version later known as the 1801, sometime in 1975; followed by the 1802 single-chip. But RCA produced SOS (Silicon on Sapphire) COS (complimentary silicon) logic in the early 1970's and possibly earlier. > > I've not traced the history of RCA's CMOS work but it's likely of the same era as the Autonetics/Rockwell work. Ben, I don't know your goals or interests. But if I were researching this, I'd look back at the electronic trade journals and the IEEE conference journals of the period. Those would have names and dates and products and prototypes and functionality. > > I'd like to be told, if RCA's CMOS work was preceded by work from Rockwell slash Autonetics; or if there's some relationship. > > Another subtext appears to be "the first microprocessor". I'm not overly interested in arguing "firsts", or arguing ABOUT arguing "firsts". The RCA COSMAC 1802 is interesting for many reasons. > > herb johnson > > > -- > Herbert R. Johnson, New Jersey in the USA > http://www.retrotechnology.com OR .net > > >

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MOS LSI chips time frame
by Herb Johnson 11 Apr '19

11 Apr '19

Ben Greenfield posted: "I’m doing some research on North American Aviation/Autonetics artifacts and while researching simply Metal Oxide Semiconductor or MOS." He pointed to some photos of some NAA objects with labels "Autonetics MOS/SOS" from Rockwell/Autonetics. Apparent dates 1968 or so. My interest is in COSMOS products from RCA, particularly the 1802 COSMAC microprocessor. A Web search of my site will be informative about that. RCA produced an LSI chip-pair version later known as the 1801, sometime in 1975; followed by the 1802 single-chip. But RCA produced SOS (Silicon on Sapphire) COS (complimentary silicon) logic in the early 1970's and possibly earlier. I've not traced the history of RCA's CMOS work but it's likely of the same era as the Autonetics/Rockwell work. Ben, I don't know your goals or interests. But if I were researching this, I'd look back at the electronic trade journals and the IEEE conference journals of the period. Those would have names and dates and products and prototypes and functionality. I'd like to be told, if RCA's CMOS work was preceded by work from Rockwell slash Autonetics; or if there's some relationship. Another subtext appears to be "the first microprocessor". I'm not overly interested in arguing "firsts", or arguing ABOUT arguing "firsts". The RCA COSMAC 1802 is interesting for many reasons. herb johnson -- Herbert R. Johnson, New Jersey in the USA http://www.retrotechnology.com OR .net

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museum report
by Evan Koblentz 10 Apr '19

10 Apr '19

Productive day at the museum today. - Big group of local high school students visited for a thorough tour - Senior citizen's group also visited for a tour - Steve A. stopped by to relocate our new(er) access point onto the ceiling, replacing the old(er) Cisco unit - I ordered the table rental for VCF East -- Evan Koblentz, executive director Vintage Computer Federation www.vcfed.org evan(a)vcfed.org (646) 546-9999 VCF is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] MOS LSI chips time frame
by Ben Greenfield 10 Apr '19

10 Apr '19

To answer my own question MOS-LSI process was a big jump in processing power. The integrated circuit as the main building block for complex systems could manage about 30 elements where this new process jumped to between 600 to 6000 elements on a chip. If that sounds wrong to anyone I grabbed it from this paper which actually describes the process change in the context of trying to produce an Autonetics D200. https://www.computer.org/csdl/pds/api/csdl/proceedings/download-article/507… <https://www.computer.org/csdl/pds/api/csdl/proceedings/download-article/507…> I also found this reference The Surprising Story of the First Microprocessors - IEEE Spectrum <https://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-history/silicon-revolution/the-surprising-st…> Sorry about the use of First in the head line… So far those have been the best sources of information on this process and the Autonetics D200. What I find interesting is that I’m starting to suppose that Silicon Valley is really the home of personal computing and venture capital but it is far from the center of technology. Hope someone finds this interesting, Ben > On Feb 26, 2019, at 8:08 AM, Ben Greenfield via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > > > From: Ben Greenfield <ben(a)cogs.com> > Subject: MOS LSI chips time frame > Date: February 26, 2019 at 8:08:03 AM EST > To: vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> > > > Hey All, > > I’m doing some research on North American Aviation/Autonetics artifacts and while researching simply Metal Oxide Semiconductor or MOS. > > Here are some image artifacts > > https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0YG4TcsmGWIVSf <https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0YG4TcsmGWIVSf> > > So the text on the back of the sales package clearly references anticipating the possibilities 1968 will bring. > > I was searching MOS LSI and of course I find exhibit “A” for the problems of claiming first in technology development. > > http://firstmicroprocessor.com > > I was hoping some one could comment on the development of MOS processeses in general to give me context. > > I also wanted to share what I think are some pretty cool artifacts. > > Thanks, > > Ben > > > > > >

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Workshop Info Important VCF Repair & Signup April 13 & 14, 2019
by Jeffrey Brace 09 Apr '19

09 Apr '19

As a reminder the workshop is $10 *per* person, *per* day. Sorry this is InfoAge's rule and not our decision. So that means for two days it is $20. Sign up quickly to guarantee a table. DATE: April 13 & 14, 2019 LOCATION: InfoAge Building 9032A - (2201 Marconi Road, Wall Township, NJ) TIME: Start about 10 A.M. on Saturday and ends whenever we go to sleep. End about 5 P.M. on Sunday. (Starts around 10 A.M. Sunday morning) SIGNUP: < https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1XTEGeYkzqrmGL_X5OdyFbjoy4QtLMBDoX5r… > COST: - $10 per person, PER day. This is required by InfoAge for us to pay for renting the space. - $25 for those wanting to stay overnight (Money goes to InfoAge). Please pay me when you get there so that I don't forget and then have to spend time chasing you down. Credit cards accepted. I will be using VCF's PayPal Here tablet with bluetooth credit card machine. OVERNIGHT: Bring your own pillow, blankets, soap etc. We provide a bed frame and an uncovered mattress. There are showers and a kitchen for your use. - You can pay via PayPal to paypal(a)vcfed.org. or to me via cash or credit card in person. EQUIPMENT: - VCF will provide a table and you can use any available electrical outlet. - Bring your own tools, power strips, power cords, and supplies etc. - If you need particular tools that you don't know or particular parts, please post to the list for those going. They may have what you need. Let them know ahead of time. - Please bring an extra one or two power cords as these are often forgotten by people. DRINKS: You should bring your own. I would recommend bringing a cooler of some type. FOOD: You provide your own. We usually order pizza, subs or go out to a dinner and everyone pays their own way. Usually, we make a decision when everyone gets hungry. GATE: During the hours from 1 pm to 5 pm close the front gate behind you. We want museum visitors to go to the front lobby and not wander through the middle of the campus. Outside of those times, you can feel free to leave the gate open. PARKING: Park across from 9032 or 9010A on any blacktop area. InfoAge doesn't like us parking on the lawn anymore. QUESTIONS? Contact Evan : 646-546-9999 or evan(a)vcfed.org or myself (Jeff) : 732-759-1783 or jeffrey(a)vcfed.org Have fun everyone! -- ========================================= Jeff Brace Vice President Vintage Computer Federation

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Unix demo @ Bell Labs - June 5
by Lou 09 Apr '19

09 Apr '19

Oh man if there is any way I can be part of this please, please let me know. I might even have a wonderful system for such an exhibit coming my way soon.

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Sun Voyager - Best Solaris?
by Ethan O'Toole 09 Apr '19

09 Apr '19

Broke out the Sun Voyager. LCD is slow to come on, after it warms up it is fine. Seems like bad caps. Any thoughts on best Solaris to run? 2.6? 2.7? Sparcstation 5 class machine - Ethan

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