- vcf-midatlantic - lists.vcfed.org

OT: Wi-fi range extender
by Jeffrey Brace 14 Jul '17

14 Jul '17

I'm in need of a wifi range extender for a Verizon FIOS router. Does anyone have one for free or near free that they no longer need? I see one on Amazon for $20. I wonder how easy it is to configure and how reliable it is. -- ======================================================== Jeff Brace ========================================================

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Museum Report 2017-07-12 July 12, 2017
by Jeffrey Brace 12 Jul '17

12 Jul '17

Three retired people visited the museum today. Two of them were from Atlanta and one was local. The gentleman had been in the computer business for a number of years before retiring. He first worked for a company, then started his own company by offering PC support. He told about how things changed over the years in terms of support. His first home computer was a TRS-80. They really liked the exhibits. I told them about the VCF South East and the local lady about VCF East, the train show and the Base of Terror. I also tested some of the C64 SIDs. I think that the docents will be pleased with my selections :-D -- ======================================================== Jeff Brace ========================================================

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Off topic-testing 3 phase power
by Jason Perkins 11 Jul '17

11 Jul '17

Any good multimeter should be fine for this. You could measure phase to phase voltage, and check frequency. I have a mid range Fluke meter which could do this test easily (I recall it can measure 1000v) -J On Mon, Jul 10, 2017 at 2:01 PM, Ben Greenfield via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> wrote: > > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > From: Ben Greenfield <ben(a)cogs.com> > To: vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> > Cc: Herb Johnson <hjohnson(a)retrotechnology.info> > Bcc: > Date: Mon, 10 Jul 2017 14:01:01 -0400 > Subject: Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Off topic-testing 3 phase power > Hey Herb, > > The only thing I can say in my defense is that one can be both naive and > have respect for electricity. > As for a professional, I have one involved. Unfortunately my natural > curiorsity keeps me from being passive during integration of this project. > > I could have gotten into all sorts of esoteric details about what I’m > really trying to troubleshoot but I really wanted a simple answer, which I > got from Bill Dudley. Bill’s answer was simple and re-enforced my beliefs > on the subject. > > Regarding testing equipment. I believe the Fluke I referenced was proper > testing equipment and I wanted to see what others thought. I included a > link to it’s page it is rugged 4 channel 100 Mhz portable oscilloscope. > This looks like the ultimate tool for this type of work and I wanted to > know what other’s thought. > > http://en-us.fluke.com/products/portable-oscilloscopes/fluke-190-ii- > portable-oscilloscope-190-104.html > > I followed list guidelines by marking the post off-topic. I felt it was a > fair question in a hacker environment and I thought others may have first > hand experience they could share. > > I was satisfied with answers I did receive and I love that the list exists > as resource for hacking questions for all sorts of technology. > > Thanks, > > Ben > > > On Jul 10, 2017, at 12:45 PM, Herb Johnson via vcf-midatlantic < > vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> wrote: > > > > Ben Greenfield has asked about testing a 50Hz 400 volt 16 amp outlet. > > > > Without going on about it: something in Ben's request, doesn't feel > "right". This is a dangerous circuit. I don't give public advice about > things that put people at risk. > > > > Ben, consult with a local qualified electrician, about whatever you have > in mind. If such circuits are unfamiliar to you, if you don't have > appropriate LINE TESTING test equipment - get someone who IS familiar and > local and qualified. > > > > Herb Johnson > > > > -- > > Herbert R. Johnson, New Jersey in the USA > > http://www.retrotechnology.com OR .net > > > -- Jason Perkins 313 355 0085

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Re: Digest, Vol 21, Issue 10 3 Phase Testing Power
by SVCatITC＠aol.com 11 Jul '17

11 Jul '17

Hi Ben; I'll put in my $0.02. Having been an industrial electrician for a couple of years back in the 1970's I might know a thing or two. I worked in a wire drawing mill where 208 Y and 480 Y 3 phase were common voltages we worked with every day. If you want to discuss more info on the project you are working on, feel free to contact me off list. My only caution is to insure safe signal return commons to the power lines you are working on, along with proper insulation of your phase line current transformers. Depending on how the power is brought into your facility, and how old the facility is, the grounds can be VERY ratty!!! Although I am not trying to volunteer him, Bill Dromgoole may be another resource to contact as he just made up a breadboard to load up the 3 phase 400 cyle MG set for the Univac targeting computer. That shipboard power was part of his "bread & butter" when he was working. Bill Inderrieden In a message dated 7/11/2017 12:02:05 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, vcf-midatlantic-request(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org writes: Message: 2 Date: Mon, 10 Jul 2017 14:01:01 -0400 From: Ben Greenfield <ben(a)cogs.com> To: vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> Cc: Herb Johnson <hjohnson(a)retrotechnology.info> Subject: Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Off topic-testing 3 phase power Message-ID: <850FDE4F-74C2-471D-A3C4-BF8A74D9C38E(a)cogs.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 Hey Herb, The only thing I can say in my defense is that one can be both naive and have respect for electricity. As for a professional, I have one involved. Unfortunately my natural curiorsity keeps me from being passive during integration of this project. I could have gotten into all sorts of esoteric details about what I?m really trying to troubleshoot but I really wanted a simple answer, which I got from Bill Dudley. Bill?s answer was simple and re-enforced my beliefs on the subject. Regarding testing equipment. I believe the Fluke I referenced was proper testing equipment and I wanted to see what others thought. I included a link to it?s page it is rugged 4 channel 100 Mhz portable oscilloscope. This looks like the ultimate tool for this type of work and I wanted to know what other?s thought. http://en-us.fluke.com/products/portable-oscilloscopes/fluke-190-ii-portable -oscilloscope-190-104.html I followed list guidelines by marking the post off-topic. I felt it was a fair question in a hacker environment and I thought others may have first hand experience they could share. I was satisfied with answers I did receive and I love that the list exists as resource for hacking questions for all sorts of technology. Thanks, Ben

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Reproduction OSI 502 Boards Are In!
by systems_glitch 11 Jul '17

11 Jul '17

The first batch of reproduction OSI 502 boards are in and look fine! If you preodered you should have an email from me. If you missed the preorder and you'd like to buy one, I've got plenty -- they're $25 USD each. Thanks, Jonathan

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Festivus 2017 mark your calendars
by Jeffrey Brace 10 Jul '17

10 Jul '17

The date is December 9 & 10. -- ======================================================== Jeff Brace ========================================================

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Off topic-testing 3 phase power
by Herb Johnson 10 Jul '17

10 Jul '17

Ben Greenfield has asked about testing a 50Hz 400 volt 16 amp outlet. Without going on about it: something in Ben's request, doesn't feel "right". This is a dangerous circuit. I don't give public advice about things that put people at risk. Ben, consult with a local qualified electrician, about whatever you have in mind. If such circuits are unfamiliar to you, if you don't have appropriate LINE TESTING test equipment - get someone who IS familiar and local and qualified. Herb Johnson -- Herbert R. Johnson, New Jersey in the USA http://www.retrotechnology.com OR .net

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TRS-80 graphics pad?
by Kenneth Seefried 09 Jul '17

09 Jul '17

Noticed this today...seems like it would have above average fetish value for the TRS-80 crowd. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Radio-Shack-TRS-80-X-Pad-GT-116-Graphic-Tablet-IN-B… Disclaimer: I have purchased a couple of things from this seller, all positive experiences, but I have no other interest in their business. KJ

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Museum Report 2017-07-09 July 9, 2017
by Jeffrey Brace 09 Jul '17

09 Jul '17

Had three highly interested and knowledgeable visitors today. They had all been to VCF, but only on Friday. I told them to come again next year for the whole weekend. They stayed for an hour as they asked a lot of questions about VCF the group and what we did. I booted up the NextStation and wrote a little helloworld.c program. It was fun! I also have been combing through the vast High Voltage SID Collection and picking out some new tunes for the museums C64. The docents are getting tired of hearing the same old songs over and over. I have to just get the uIEC working and transfer them to real floppy next weekend. -- ======================================================== Jeff Brace ========================================================

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The Eagle has landed
by Mike Loewen 09 Jul '17

09 Jul '17

I recently acquired an Eagle IIE-2 CP/M computer, along with a binder containing manuals and diskettes for Spellbinder 2.30 and Ultracalc 2.0: http://q7.neurotica.com/Oldtech/Eagle/ The Eagle has single-sided, 80 track (96tpi) drives. It was missing the the CP/M / CBASIC disk, and I was able to create one from an image in Don Maslin's archive. The image was in Teledisk format (TD0), originally read on a quad-density 96tpi drive at 250kpbs. I used the TD02IMD utility to convert it to an IMD image, then used IMD with the data rate set to translate from 250kpbs to 300kpbs to write the image on a 1.2MB HD drive. Works fine. Mike Loewen mloewen(a)cpumagic.scol.pa.us Old Technology http://q7.neurotica.com/Oldtech/

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] July workshop: anyone need a hand?
by Jeffrey Brace 09 Jul '17

09 Jul '17

Evan could use help sorting through the Apple //c to find 4 good working ones and repair if necessary. Also find color monitors that work with them in the warehouse. <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 Sat, Jul 8, 2017 at 6:30 PM, Jonathan Sturges via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> wrote: > > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > From: Jonathan Sturges <jonathansturges(a)yahoo.com> > To: vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org > Cc: > Bcc: > Date: Sat, 8 Jul 2017 18:30:40 -0400 > Subject: July workshop: anyone need a hand? > I'm thinking of coming up for the workshop because I haven't been in > awhile, but I don't have a good project. Anyone need any assistance? Some > soldering maybe? > > Note to Evan: I don't want to spend the whole weekend in the > warehouse... :-) > > -Jonathan S. > > -- ======================================================== Jeff Brace ========================================================

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Very productive day!
by Evan Koblentz 08 Jul '17

08 Jul '17

Jeremy (Corey's teenage son) and I worked in the warehouse from 10am-5pm today. Jeff B. was the museum docent. Jeff and I then continued warehouse work until 9pm. Until today, half of the warehouse was orderly and sorted/organized, with the other half being a mess. Now that other half is still disorganized but it's disorganized in neat orderly aisles. :) This will please the town fire inspector (due next month, we're told) and will make it pleasant for us when we do the sorting and organizing next month. It was a pleasure to walk around that side of the warehouse tonight and have plenty of space with nothing to trip over! We also made a plan for how to proceed next time. It was a good day in the museum too: Jeff said he counted 14 visitors. Thank you Jeremy and Brace for great work today.

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July workshop: anyone need a hand?
by Jonathan Sturges 08 Jul '17

08 Jul '17

I'm thinking of coming up for the workshop because I haven't been in awhile, but I don't have a good project. Anyone need any assistance? Some soldering maybe? Note to Evan: I don't want to spend the whole weekend in the warehouse... :-) -Jonathan S.

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OT: Favorite Pizza in InfoAge area
by Jeffrey Brace 08 Jul '17

08 Jul '17

I'm curious to see which pizza everyone likes the best. We have sampled various pizza during workshops and I'm wondering which one is preferred. This survey data will be used for future workshops after using variance and standard deviation data analyzed on a Commodore 64. If you don't remember the name, then specify when you had it. Vote for your favorite pizza: 1) Joe's 2) Dominick's 3) Vinny's 4) Anthony's 5) Carmen's (Pete and Elda's) 6) Other: (Please specify) -- ======================================================== Jeff Brace ========================================================

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Funny
by Evan Koblentz 08 Jul '17

08 Jul '17

Stopped at a Walgreens near my home tonight. Happened to be wearing VCF hoodie. Kid behind the counter asked if VCF is a real thing or if it's just a shirt. So I explained the group. He said "yeah I do that". I asked what's the oldest computer he knows of, figuring he would say Windows 95 or something. He said "Zed X Spectrum" and even pronounced it right! Then added he's only 20. I was impressed.

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Important Info for Workshop July 15 & 16
by Jeffrey Brace 08 Jul '17

08 Jul '17

Looks like a light turnout this workshop because of K-Fest and the Hamfest in Sussex County, NJ. We are therefore moving it to the smaller room in 9010-A. As a reminder the workshop is $10 per person, per day now. InfoAge rules. If you have signed up, then you are guaranteed a table otherwise you will forced to work in the hot un-air conditioned warehouse with Evan forcing you to move the same heavy computer back and forth the whole weekend. DATE: July 15 & 16, 2017 LOCATION: InfoAge Building 9010A - (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/16G0w7Z5y15B2uWh-NKItmVnoJF-f3NIIFQD… COST: - $10 per person, PER day. This is required by InfoAge as mandatory payment by us. - $25 for those wanting to stay overnight. Please pay me when you get there so that I don't forget. Otherwise I will send my attack cat to find you. 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. - We will have PayPal credit card swipes available. Let me know ahead of time if you want to use this and I will set it up. 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. - 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 9010A on any blacktop area. InfoAge doesn't like us parking on the lawn anymore. QUESTIONS? Please ask me (Jeff Brace) or Evan. My cell is 732-759-1783 and Evan’s is 646-546-9999 in case you need to contact us. See everyone there! And have fun! -- ======================================================== Jeff Brace ========================================================

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Off topic-testing 3 phase power
by Ben Greenfield 08 Jul '17

08 Jul '17

Hey All, I find myself needing to verify that an outlet is supplying 16 amps at 400 volts Alternating Current at 50 Hz. I have verified the voltage with a multimeter but feel I should be more thorough. I’m trying to purchase an appropriate european socket tester which is much cheaper if not as versatile as Fluke 109-104. I also have a Tektronix 2355 which I think I could measure each line on it’s own channel to measure the voltage and the phase. Is there a safe way to measure current with this oscilloscope? Thanks, Ben

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Off topic-testing 3 phase power
by William Dudley 08 Jul '17

08 Jul '17

To test current, you need a load, either the thing you intend to power, or an equivalent dummy load. 400v @ 16A is going to need one hell of a big resistor. To measure current, hook up the load and then measure voltage. I = E/R. Optional extra credit: observe the waveform under load to make sure that it's sufficiently sinusoidal. Bill Dudley Retired EE On Jul 8, 2017 6:38 AM, "Ben Greenfield via vcf-midatlantic" < vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> wrote: ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Ben Greenfield <ben(a)cogs.com> To: vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> Cc: Bcc: Date: Sat, 8 Jul 2017 08:35:57 -0400 Subject: Off topic-testing 3 phase power Hey All, I find myself needing to verify that an outlet is supplying 16 amps at 400 volts Alternating Current at 50 Hz. I have verified the voltage with a multimeter but feel I should be more thorough. I’m trying to purchase an appropriate european socket tester which is much cheaper if not as versatile as Fluke 109-104. I also have a Tektronix 2355 which I think I could measure each line on it’s own channel to measure the voltage and the phase. Is there a safe way to measure current with this oscilloscope? Thanks, Ben

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OT: will trade CD blanks for flash memory
by Jeffrey Jonas 07 Jul '17

07 Jul '17

I have spindles of blanks CDs that I'll glady trade for flash memory: USB, CompactFlash, SmartCard, etc. Even small ones (under 2 gig) are useful. -- jeff jonas

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VCF PNW
by Evan Koblentz 07 Jul '17

07 Jul '17

Some of you may already know this :) but for those who don't: today we announced Vintage Computer Festival Pacific Northwest, scheduled for February 10-11 at the Living Computer Museum + Labs in Seattle. Read all about it: http://vcfed.org/wp/2017/07/07/vintage-computer-festival-pacific-northwest/ ________________________________ Evan Koblentz, director Vintage Computer Federation a 501(c)(3) educational non-profit evan(a)vcfed.org (646) 546-9999 www.vcfed.org facebook.com/vcfederation twitter.com/vcfederation instagram.com/vcfederation

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Need a single 5.25" PC floppy recovered
by John Heritage 07 Jul '17

07 Jul '17

Hey folks - I found a single floppy labeled C:\SYSOP among my Atari 8bit collection of disks, and since it really seems to be a PC floppy (I ran BBSes on the Atari 8bit, ST, then PC) as it has the hub ring and C:\ designation.. I was curious if there were someone local that I could mail the disk to that has a working 5.25" drive and could maybe see if there's anything on the disk? It's only one disk. I live near Norristown/King of Prussia PA .. I don't need the disk back afterwards.. :) john.heritage(a)gmail.com Thanks, John

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Getting rid of a pile of old Apple stuff for anyone interested around NYC
by Joseph Marlin 06 Jul '17

06 Jul '17

Hey, guys. I'm moving soon and trying to get rid of a bunch of the dead weight in my collection -- Mostly printers, keyboards, mice, and a few systems in need of repair. Would love to keep them in the ecosystem and avoid curbing them if possible. Listing is here: https://newyork.craigslist.org/que/sys/6207412822.html If you're interested, you can contact me here or there. Thanks! [https://images.craigslist.org/00V0V_8NFoYC4JT5S_600x450.jpg]<https://newyork.craigslist.org/que/sys/6207412822.html> Tons of Vintage/Retro Apple Macintosh Equipment for Cheap<https://newyork.craigslist.org/que/sys/6207412822.html> newyork.craigslist.org If you're into collecting old macs then you've hit the jackpot today. I'm planning on moving out of state in a couple of months, and I have a whole bunch of odds and ends in my classic mac collection

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WTB: DECbrouter
by systems_glitch 05 Jul '17

05 Jul '17

Anyone have a DECbrouter they want to sell? This is a DEChub 90 module. Also looking for a v.35 and/or RS-232 cable for it. Thanks, Jonathan

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Maker Faire 2017
by Evan Koblentz 03 Jul '17

03 Jul '17

We (me, Dean, Jeff B., Corey, and special thanks to Doug) came up with a plan for VCFed's World Maker Faire exhibit Sept. 23-24 in at the N.Y. Hall of Science (Queens). Our plan is to make a BASIC learning classroom. We're planning to set up four Apple //c systems (because they're small, we have several in decent condition, drives are built-in, etc.) and we'll give a formal presentation every 30 minutes. Dean is looking into using localtalk so we can print the programs for kids; Jeff is arranging the audio (wireless headset for the roving instructor (we'll take turns), small amp, couple of speakers); and I'm testing the computers (at the upcoming workshop) and writing a simple game program that shows off a dozen common BASIC commands. We will also set up a large screen so parents and curious onlookers can watch the class from behind the figurative velvet rope. We will seek additional booth volunteers. At minimum, we'll need two people in the booth at all times -- one for the welcome desk, one to be the instructor. We plan to ask specific people who we know are good at booth stuff, but everyone should feel free to volunteer. ________________________________ Evan Koblentz, director Vintage Computer Federation a 501(c)(3) educational non-profit evan(a)vcfed.org (646) 546-9999 www.vcfed.org facebook.com/vcfederation twitter.com/vcfederation instagram.com/vcfederation

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Upcoming July VCF Workshop Signup now! - 7/15 & 7/16
by Jeffrey Brace 03 Jul '17

03 Jul '17

The next VCF workshop will be on July 15 & 16. If you are interested in attending, then please signup: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/16G0w7Z5y15B2uWh-NKItmVnoJF-f3NIIFQD… -- ======================================================== Jeff Brace ======================================================== <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>

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DC/Baltimore Area Enthusiasts?
by Robb Hill 03 Jul '17

03 Jul '17

Hi, Anybody in the DC/Baltimore area that might like to get together occasionally? I'd like to make it to NJ but only have been able to make it once. If there is enough interest, I would be happy to organize the meetup. Thanks, Robb

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Amstrad PC1512 and PC1640 - Power Supply Replacement
by Support 02 Jul '17

02 Jul '17

I'm glad to announce an Amstrad PC enthusiast in England is currently testing the ReActiveMicro Universal PSU as a possible replacement option for this rare-ish PC clone. It seems the Amstrad PC1512 and PC1640 systems were sold by Alan Michael Sugar Trading in the UK back in 1987, sold in Germany under the name Schneider, and were also sold in the U.S. under some other names as well. All these Amstrad machines used the display monitor to provide power to the PC body. +12, -12, +5, -5, volts DC - which is the SAME outputs as used by the Apple II systems and what the Universal PSU was designed to replace. Being a modern solution the Universal PSU accepts universal AC supply voltage (100-240v AC / 50-60Hz) unlike older power supplies. There are many Amstrad's out there not being used because the power supply has died. With some luck the ReActiveMicro Universal PSU will help breath some life back in to these old systems. Photo here: https://www.facebook.com/reactivemicrousa/photos/a.1461349847451589.1073741… Amstrad PC owners can get their own Universal PSU here or can email me off list: http://www.ebay.com/itm/302309768009 Henry S. Courbis Office Toll Free: (800) REACTIVE (732-2848) Office/Mobile Direct: (856) 779-1900 www.ReActiveMicro.com <http://www.ReactiveMicro.com> - Sales, Support, and News, Our Headquarters on the Internet ReActiveMicro.com/wiki - Support, Software, Manuals, and History. Create your own page today! Facebook.com/reactivemicrousa - Our Social Media Outlet and Support

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Museum Report 2017-07-02 July 2, 2017
by Jeffrey Brace 02 Jul '17

02 Jul '17

Mostly a slow day, but had a family of 10 show up who had mostly been here before. Mostly kids, they loved it. I had a lot of them try various paint programs, Paintbrush, MacPaint, Deluxe Paint III. Also C64 SIDs. They loved it so much that the parents had to drag them away. They promise to come again soon. I had another family of 4 come in with moderate interest. Told them about VCF East and our booth at Maker Faire. Overall a nice day! I was able to reset the network connections on the tablets, so all of them are working well now. -- ======================================================== Jeff Brace ========================================================

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OT: 500 GB PATA drive
by Kelly Leavitt 02 Jul '17

02 Jul '17

I'm trying to help a neighbor get his old XP machine running again. Lots of photos of course. Anyone have a cheap or free parallel ATA drive? Contact me off list please, Kelly kelly(a)catcorner.org

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Museum report
by Evan Koblentz 02 Jul '17

02 Jul '17

Good day visitorship-wise. Several families came through our door. One group was the extended family of an Infoage board member. Another group was a father and college-age daughter, both of whom studied compsci (they stayed for an hour). I spent a lot of time with visitors today debunking myths about Apple and such.

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Who going to Kfest?
by Evan Koblentz 01 Jul '17

01 Jul '17

Ian, Alex J., Andy Molloy, Henry, and yours truly are all going to Kfest. Anyone else from the group?

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] The next Great VCF workshop July 15 & 16, 2017
by Blatboy 30 Jun '17

30 Jun '17

Alas, I now have a big freakin' deadline on July 17. You'll be having fun at the workshop. I'll be cramming. I took my name off the spreadsheet. I'm crossing my fingers my luck will be better for the August one. :) Walter http://www.jwalterhawkes.com http://www.blatboy.com like to know where/when I'm playing? Click here <http://www.blatomaster.com/mlist.php> to sign up for my list, and let the babble begin.

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Radio Shack Model II rescue
by Joseph Oprysko 30 Jun '17

30 Jun '17

There is a Radio Shack Model II that needs to be rescued. It's in Flushing, NY. If I was able to drive that far, I'd pick it up myself. Is anyone available in the area who would be able to pick it up? Thanks, Joseph Oprysko -- Normal Person: Hey, it seems that you know a lot. Geek: To be honest, it's due to all the surfing I do. Normal Person: So you go surfing? Normal Person: But I don't think that has anything to do with knowing a lot... Geek: I think that's wrong on a fundamental level. Normal Person: Huh? Huh? What?

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looking for intel 4040 programs
by Herb Johnson 30 Jun '17

30 Jun '17

> So far the only [4040 programs] I know of are Herb Johnson's stuff at > http://www.retrotechnology.com/restore/intel440_roms.html You're welcome. Also consider http://www.retrotechnology.com/restore/int_upp.html which describes the Intel UPP programmers, operated by a 4040. Their code is locked up in 4001's. They are operated by an Intel 8-bit system. http://www.retrotechnology.com/restore/a04.html A simple cross assembler. Pro-log's "The Designer's Guide to Programmed Logic" has how-to-code 4040 examples. I have copies from two years, 1972 and 1977. Copies are available for a modest fee. Yes, I charge fees. MOst use of 4004 and 4040, were in products for industry. The sources were never released for those. Disassembly is informative. The 4004 and 4040 were controllers and so most any code was special purpose. I suppose, you could try to find old Intel user archives - they had a small collection of 4-bit and 8-bit programs as part of their User Library. Many of Intel's eight-bit and 16-bit programs have been recovered in the last few years. But Intel lost interest in their 4-bit development products by the Multibus era. What's your plan? Herb -- Herbert R. Johnson, New Jersey in the USA http://www.retrotechnology.com OR .net

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Colossal Cave Adventure on AMC website
by Douglas Crawford 30 Jun '17

30 Jun '17

Maybe old news, but here goes: Rick Adams made a web version of the game for AMC: http://www.amc.com/shows/halt-and-catch-fire/exclusives/colossal-cave-adven… It has a nice green screen CRT look. FYI It has a single input line "Next ?" - not quite like a terminal. (Dummy me I was hitting ENTER expecting it to scroll and thought it was broken) from: http://rickadams.org/adventure/

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] vcf-midatlantic Digest, Vol 20, Issue 29
by Kenneth Seefried 30 Jun '17

30 Jun '17

From: Dave McGuire <mcguire(a)neurotica.com> > I didn't say it was impossible, I said it was pretty tough to do. And I said it wasn't. It wasn't in the old days if you knew what you were doing and it definitely isn't now in the 95% of everything is Ethernet/IP world. > We've all seen those interfaces, and those of us (myself included) who > have used them have run up against the same old problem of driver > availability, OS version dependencies, etc etc. Some of us were and are capable of dealing with those issue and routinely do. > In fact the first widely-deployed router that was capable of routing > IP on a T3 at wire speed while handling BGP was an IBM RS/6000 7012-320 > with a synchronous serial card in it, bundled by IBM as the 6611 Network > Processor. I'm quite familiar with the 6611. Awful things to build large networks with (I did) unless you really, really needed SNA/APPN weirdness that it took Cisco a while to figure out (I, regrettably, did). But, yes, commodity hardware. Lot's of IBM network network gear is "IBM [RT,PC,PS/2,Power] + ARTIC card" under the cover. That said, I believe a properly configured Wellfleet BLN could handle T3 routing + BGP before the 6611 (in 1991?). The Wellfleet BCN certainly could, but I think production BCNs were delayed till after the 6611 shipped. I was building out a worldwide Wellfleet-based network at the time (1100 routers?), but some of the details have faded. Wellfleet had the worst user interface ever conceived (SiteManager aka SiteMangler), but we deployed tons, including some interesting FDDI->FDDI routing scenarios (so the bandwidth was there). Let's not stroll into the minefield that was Wellfleets OSPF implementation.... Those were heady days. > But this is not the norm by any stretch. Perhaps not the norm by Cisco sales numbers, but that's kinda like saying *BSD doesn't exist because Microsoft. - IBM sold a lot of 6611s. For a long time. - Internet IMPs were Honeywell DDP-516s - we've been doing routing on commodity hardware for a long time. - Nokia sold tens of millions of bog-standard rackmount ATX PCs (later CPCI) running FreeBSD (relabled IPSO) as firewall/routers with optional V.35/X.21, HSSI, ATM & FDDI interfaces. I still use a Nokia/Sagnoma sync serial card from an IP440 in my lab. - Most of the earlier Juniper line are repackaged PCs running FreeBSD (nee JunOS). - SnapRoute is a Linux-based routing platform that AT&T has vetted for 5G network routing on commodity hardware (http://about.att.com/story/white_box_collaboration.html) - etc., etc., etc. And that ignores the whole Software Defined Network (SDN) trend which is predominately OSS+White Box Hardware. Little guys like Google, Amazon & Facebook are betting on that. > The fact that it can be done, and was very occasionally done, isn't really the point. Sure, when 'the point' becomes cherry-picking whatever allows you think declare yourself 'right'. Par for the course, as they say.

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] KIM-1 find (was:The next Great VCF workshop July 15 & 16, 2017)
by Jeff Galinat 29 Jun '17

29 Jun '17

On 6/29/2017 9:00 AM, Chris Fala wrote: > $20 KIM-1?!?!?!? I don't think jealous is a strong enough word. Let me > know if you ever get tired of it! LOL Sounds like your priorities for > going to this event are in order. :-) Have a good time. > > Chris > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > From: *Jeff Galinat via vcf-midatlantic* > <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org > <mailto:vcf-midatlantic@lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org>> > Date: Thu, Jun 29, 2017 at 7:18 AM > Subject: Re: [vcf-midatlantic] The next Great VCF workshop July 15 & > 16, 2017 > I won't be able to make it as the 16th is the Sussex County Hamfest, > last year I scored a $20 Rev-b Kim-1. > Regards, > Jeff Galinat > Thanks Chris, The guy said the KIM-1 didn't work but I figured that for $20 I would hang it on my wall if I couldn't fix it. I brought it home, applied power, hit reset & it worked fine. I entered the clock program from the "First Book of KIM" and it worked as expected. The only thing I can think of think of is that the seller mistook the SST switch on the keyboard for a power switch since it is labeled ON/OFF and he didn't know that you had to hit reset before it would do anything. Anyway, there is always lots of interesting stuff at the Sussex hamfest. Regards, Jeff

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The next Great VCF workshop July 15 & 16, 2017
by Jeffrey Brace 29 Jun '17

29 Jun '17

Sign up now or miss out on the most awesome VCF workshop: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/16G0w7Z5y15B2uWh-NKItmVnoJF-f3NIIFQD… -- ======================================================== Jeff Brace ======================================================== <https://www.avast.com/lp-safe-emailing-3177-b?utm_medium=email&utm_source=l…> Virus-free. www.avast.com <https://www.avast.com/lp-safe-emailing-3177-b?utm_medium=email&utm_source=l…> <#DAB4FAD8-2DD7-40BB-A1B8-4E2AA1F9FDF2>

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Semi-OT: microcontollers (?)
by Herb Johnson 29 Jun '17

29 Jun '17

I find Evan's responses satisfactory, and reasonable. If he says he wasn't opposed to old microcontroller discussions, good; sorry for my misunderstanding. And I wasn't out to attack him personally; just ideologically. I think prolonged discussions here of modern tools and architectures, in modern context, are to be discouraged. But as they are relevant to support vintage computing - RaspPi's emulating, WiFi chips on Commodore 64's, vintage architectures, etc. - then discussion is useful. I guess Evan started that discussion to make that point. Another discussion group, supports the COSMAC 1802. There's recent discussions there, of how USB/serial dongles complicate use of the 1802 at 2Mhz with a bit-banged (low baud rate, low response) serial interface. That discussion won't occur in USB world, or in Windows world - they would find such applications inexpiable, foreign. But I don't participate in those worlds - too "new". Thus discussion groups limit their range, for purpose. Herb Johnson -- Herbert R. Johnson, New Jersey in the USA http://www.retrotechnology.com OR .net

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Slightly OT
by Martin Flynn 29 Jun '17

29 Jun '17

Free inkjet cartridges 4 cyan. HP564xl 3 yellow. HP564xl Will drop off in IXR lab July 8th

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Looking for a mostly working SID chip
by Jason Perkins 29 Jun '17

29 Jun '17

My new-to-me C64 has a very failed 6581 SID. 2 voices are bad (one is mostly stuck on), it gets super hot, and after running for a while it makes the machine lock up. Does anyone have a mostly-working SID they would want to part with? PS: Sidbench shows just how broken this one is. I was rather bummed since this seems to be a low hour C64. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nU88B_mWQM8 Thanks, -- Jason Perkins 313 355 0085

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Cromemco JS-1 joysticks color
by Dan Roganti 29 Jun '17

29 Jun '17

anyone ever notice the difference in color of the Hammond clamshell case ? I dug out my JS-1 joysticks, which I picked up over the years, looking them over cause one of them needs a rebuild. I have a 3rd spare in case I needed parts, and the top cover of the clam shell has a different color. The bottom of the clamshell has the same blue color on all of them. One color is beige, and the other is a light gray. But they are original. I just never noticed they went thru a color change. Dan -- _ ____ / \__/ Scotty, We Need More Power !! \_/ _\__ Aye, Cap'n, but we've only got 80 col's !!

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] WTB: DECbrouter
by Kenneth Seefried 28 Jun '17

28 Jun '17

From: Dave McGuire <mcguire(a)neurotica.com> > > If you need to route something like a T1 or T3 line, that's pretty > tough to do on anything but a purpose-built router due to support for > those types of hardware interfaces. > That's not really true, except for very exotic or very ancient interfaces. I have at various times had DDS/ISDN, T-1/CT-1, T-3/DS-3, HSSI as well as Ethernet, TR, FDDI and ATM up to OC12 running on x86 platforms under various open source OSes (usually FreeBSD or OpenBSD) in production. Admittedly, FDDI, TR & ATM support have aged poorly in OSS, I haven't tried HSSI in years, and not too many people are provisioning DS-3s or OC-12 these days given the alternatives. What you don't get on the open source platform relative to a Cisco, et. al., is the protocol support. Pretty much only IP and limited higher level serial protocols (SDLC/HDLC/PPP/SLIP). > > Further, for more modern circuits > like OC192s, etc, there really aren't too many general-purpose computers > available that can move data that fast in any predictable or consistent > way, > While I'm unaware of an OC192 card for, say, PCI-e, FreeBSD on modern systems using Intel or Chelsio PCI-e ethernet cards can reliably route between 10G ports at wirespeed. I haven't gotten any of the Chelsio 40G cards yet, but they're supported as well. There are lots of folks doing exactly this to avoid the cost of something like a Cisco 12000 series router. Not just in labs or moms basement; for example the NANOG mailing list regularly has folks talking about this sort of setup running with BGP as core infrastructure. Folks like ServU have built a business around Intel ecosystem + BSD + 1/10/40G routers. What you definitely don't get on OSS is more than rudimentary QoS. Sophisticated bandwidth management pretty much requires dedicated ASICs. > > and nothing anywhere near as reliable or internally redundant as > something like a big Cisco or Juniper machine. They exist with their > six-figure price tags for a reason. > I would agree with this. From: systems_glitch <systems.glitch(a)gmail.com> > > V.35 sync serial. You can *get* V.35 cards for PCs, but I'd imagine it's > not supported in most OSes I'd want to do routing in (namely, OpenBSD). > You'd be surprised. The Lan Media Corp sync serial cards are pretty well supported on OpenBSD. The Sangoma sync cards might be; the T-1 cards are. KJ

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] WTB: DECbrouter
by Kenneth Seefried 27 Jun '17

27 Jun '17

From: Neil Cherry <ncherry(a)linuxha.com> > >How about an AT&T BRouter? I think it's a Cisco CGS (the smaller of >the 3). I think it's running a 9.x code (might be 10, I hope not). > IGS was the small one, no? Fixed 1 port net and 1 port wan? Sorta evolved into the 3000 series. CGS & MGS were in the middle and AGS was the big one. Last IGS I had ran IOS 8.x. Of course, you mention CGS now and it's the Cisco Gateway Switch. KJ

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Semi-OT: microcontollers
by Evan Koblentz 27 Jun '17

27 Jun '17

Let's use the "Semi-OT" subject line prefix for posts about microcontrollers. ________________________________ Evan Koblentz, director Vintage Computer Federation a 501(c)(3) educational non-profit evan(a)vcfed.org (646) 546-9999 www.vcfed.org facebook.com/vcfederation twitter.com/vcfederation instagram.com/vcfederation

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workshop prize! (speaking of microcontrollers)...
by Evan Koblentz 27 Jun '17

27 Jun '17

I went to Microcenter today seeking a screen protector for my new phone (they didn't have it) and decided to buy a $10 Pi Zero-W. They have a good supply of the Zero, -W, and Pi 3. Girlfriend was with me and she bought one too. I asked why, and she said it can be a prize to give out at our next workshop. Okay then! Some lucky attendee will get it. ________________________________ Evan Koblentz, director Vintage Computer Federation a 501(c)(3) educational non-profit evan(a)vcfed.org (646) 546-9999 www.vcfed.org facebook.com/vcfederation twitter.com/vcfederation instagram.com/vcfederation

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looking for intel 4040 programs
by Jonathan Gevaryahu 27 Jun '17

27 Jun '17

Does anyone on the list have any Intel 4040 programs, code listings or rom images lying around? So far the only ones I know of are Herb Johnson's stuff at http://www.retrotechnology.com/restore/intel440_roms.html -- Jonathan Gevaryahu jgevaryahu(a)gmail.com jgevaryahu(a)hotmail.com

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] WTB: DECbrouter
by VAXman＠tmesis.org 25 Jun '17

25 Jun '17

systems_glitch via vcf-midatlantic writes: >Anyone have a DECbrouter they want to sell? This is a DEChub 90 module. >Also looking for a v.35 and/or RS-232 cable for it. I have one but I'm not really looking to part with it unless you want to give me ridiculus money for it.

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Museum Report 2017-06-25 June 25, 2017
by Jeffrey Brace 25 Jun '17

25 Jun '17

A good day at the museum. About two dozen visitors. They ranged from the "lets zip on through" to the "let's ask lots of questions and be really interested". One guy was here yesterday and was so impressed that he brought his whole family today! I was also able to have a 7 year old boy type in a 5 line BASIC program into the Commodore 64 and help him figure out how it worked. That's always fun to teach kids simple programming. I love teaching hands-on stuff. I was also able to complete the window tint, so the areas that have no blinds are tinted now. It is much better now with sunlight, but not blasting sunlight. Next time I will work on getting newer SIDs for the Commodore 64 demo. -- ======================================================== Jeff Brace ======================================================== <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>

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Intel dropping their IoT platforms (was re: CHIP, WiFi RS-232)
by Jeffrey Jonas 25 Jun '17

25 Jun '17

[this is 'on topic' because these systems are used to retrofit vintage/legacy systems, as well as for emulators such as the PiDP-8] The Raspberry Pi and CHIP seem to be the clear "winners" despite supply/supplier problems. I am disappointed that the BBC MicroBit is not on the top-ten list despite their dedication to education and STEM/STEAM. They're kinda available in the USA. Circuit Cellar has always been full of SBC (single board computers), now SoC (Sytem on Chip) and such. Others mentioned the Omega 2 https://onion.io/omega2/ and VoCore http://vocore.io/#store They're cheap, but how about FREE? Just re-purpose your old routers with dd-wrt, open-wrt and such. A friend and I tried one of the Orange Pi variations and were disappointed. Very little community support, few distros work at all. I'm extremely disappointed with Intel totally dropping their Edison and Joule development systems, particularly with all the nationwide Hack-A-Thons using the Edison hardware. It wasn't just the hardware, but all the "technology evangelists" and support engineers to indoctrinate folks to the Intel/Linux way. I'm concerned about the future of Hack-a-Thons with the loss of Intel as a major underwriter, hardware supplier & technology support. Despite seeing them on the shelf at MicroCenter, I never felt that the Intel Galileo gained enough traction. I spent a week just trying to get a LCD shield running and gave up because the libraries were all AVR-centric, and the Arduino development environment has no concept of using different platforms at the same time (Intel Galileo, Arduino Explora, Arduino nano). Intel first lost the embedded market when they gave up on their X-scale ARM chips, and now they're giving up again? the news from slashdot: Intel Quietly Discontinues Galileo, Joule, and Edison Development Boards https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/17/06/19/1720201/intel-quietly-disconti… Intel is discontinuing its Galileo, Joule, and Edison lineups of development boards. The chip-maker quietly made the announcement last week. >From company's announcement:/Intel Corporation will discontinue manufacturing and selling all skus of the Intel Galileo development board. Shipment of all Intel Galileo product skus ordered before the last order date will continue to be available from Intel until December 16, 2017. [...] Intel will discontinue manufacturing and selling all skus of the Intel Joule Compute Modules and Developer Kits (known as Intel 500 Series compute modules in People's Republic of China). Shipment of all Intel Joule products skus ordered before the last order date will continue to be available from Intel until December 16, 2017. Last time orders (LTO) for any Intel Joule products must be placed with Intel by September 16, 2017. [...] Intel will discontinue manufacturing and selling all skus of the Intel Edison compute modules and developer kits. Shipment of all Intel Edison product skus ordered before the last order date will continue to be available from Intel until December 16, 2017. Last time orders (LTO) for any Intel Edison products must be placed with Intel by September 16, 2017. All orders placed with Intel for Intel Edison products are non-cancelable and non-returnable after September 16, 2017. The company hasn't shared any explanation for why it is discontinuing the aforementioned development boards. -- Jeff Jonas

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