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Museum Report 2017-06-24 June 24, 2017
by Jeffrey Brace 24 Jun '17

24 Jun '17

About a dozen visitors came today with medium to high interest. One lady was from Maine was in the area visiting her husbands relatives in New Jersey. She had read about our group recently and made a point to visit us today. She wasn't sure exactly where she had read about us. So I guess our media presence is working! She loved our museum! I also started work on putting tint on the museum windows by the workshop PC. The sun gets quite strong and it gets hard to work on the computer in the afternoon with the sunlight blasting down. I should be able to finish tomorrow. -- ======================================================== 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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RX01 drives for pickup/super cheap/ trade
by william degnan 24 Jun '17

24 Jun '17

All, Please contact me via vintagecomputer.net/contact.cfm Times Up! If you want an RX01 drive and live near Landenberg, PA I am liquidating 4 of them (maybe 5). Although I personally don't own controllers for these, the drives work on UNIBUS, OMNIBUS, and QUADBUS DEC machines. *Name your price. $150 for one $200 for two $250 for three $300 for all four. First come first served. (something to reimburse my expenses/storage)* If you want to trade for one *or more*, I will trade for a RX01 disk controller OMNIBUS or UNBUS. "Working" or something I can fix. I will also trade for a RK05 UNIBUS backplane/controller complete or incomplete If you need to have them shipped I have an ebay auction here, normal price: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Digital-DEC-RX01-Dual-8-In-77-Track-PDP-8-PDP-11-Fl… So as you can see, you save a huge discount if you come get them. I have already sold two. First come first served. No I am not lugging them to a workshop unless you're willing to pay closer to "retail" price. These are stored in my house, climate controlled. They have been, to my knowledge, in climate controlled storage since taking off line. Bill

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WiFi RS-232 Internet Modem
by Paul Rickards 23 Jun '17

23 Jun '17

I've created a WiFi RS-232 Internet modem that plugs into a 25 pin RS-232 port and emulates the Hayes AT command set. It allows you to use your retro computer or terminal to dial "dial" BBSs online. More info here: http://biosrhythm.com/?page_id=1453 Contact me privately if you have questions. Cheers, Paul twitter: @paulrickards

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Where's Evan?
by VAXman＠tmesis.org 23 Jun '17

23 Jun '17

http://tmesis.net/Where's%20Evan/Where's%20Evan.jpg

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Where's Evan?
by Evan Koblentz 23 Jun '17

23 Jun '17

This is not an official VCFed thing, but, this weekend I'll be demoing the Apple // + Lego robot setup with GardenSLUG -- that's Garden State Lego User Group (an "Adult Fan of Lego" aka "AFOL" group, so they tell me) at the NJToyCon in Parsippany. https://www.toyconnj.com/ This will be my first time meeting the adult Lego group people. I mean, what a bunch of wackos, grown men spending their time and money on their hobby from the 1970s and 1980s .... oh, crap. ;) Anyway I have no idea if my demo will fit in, but they seem welcoming so I'll go and have fun. It is only 30 minutes from home. ________________________________ 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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PC/AT replacement lock
by Richard Cini 22 Jun '17

22 Jun '17

All – In case anyone is looking to replace the barrel cam lock on their 5170 PC/AT, it’s fairly easy. Look on eBay (picture attached, hopefully) or elsewhere for a 3/8” depth, 90-degree cam lock with the key removable in both positions. You will need to recycle the locking bar from the old lock and may need to bend it slightly to clear the internal metal part of the enclosure top. Works like a charm. Rich -- Rich Cini http://www.classiccmp.org/cini http://www.classiccmp.org/altair32

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PDP-8E rails?
by W2HX 22 Jun '17

22 Jun '17

Hi friends. I have a PDP-8/e and I would like to mount it in a rack as a sliding unit. Here is a photo of what I have mounted on the side of the PDP-8E to help figure out what I need. Does anyone have what I would need to mount this in a rack? For sale? http://w2hx.com/x/PDP/PDP-8E/2.jpg Thanks Eugene

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VME Graphics Cards
by John Heritage 22 Jun '17

22 Jun '17

Has anyone ever come across any VME graphics cards? I have an Atari Mega STE with an unused VME slot, and would love to have some higher resolution output for that machine than what the stock ST chips provide.. Just figure I'd ask..

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] CHIP, was Re: WiFi RS-232 Internet Modem
by Kyle Owen 22 Jun '17

22 Jun '17

On Jun 20, 2017 7:29 PM, "David Gesswein via vcf-midatlantic" < vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> wrote: On Tue, Jun 20, 2017 at 07:30:53PM -0400, Dan Roganti via vcf-midatlantic wrote: > > Not they removed the 1x per person limit, but still prohibit the online > sales for the PI Zero???. > They also have the interesting per unit price which significantly increases with quantity starting with qty 2. My friend bought one, walked out of the store, walked back in and bought another. The look on the cashier's face was, shall we say, not very approving...! Kyle

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Museum Report 2017-06-21 June 21, 2017
by Jeffrey Brace 21 Jun '17

21 Jun '17

Since I work in public schools, I am off work today, so I was docent at the museum. We had a few visitors today with moderate interest. I mostly got a look at any changes in the last few weeks since I was away. There are two new artifacts of the month. Next machine and Indigo 2. I hope to try to be here as many Wednesday as possible during the summer. There are a few dates where groups are visiting. I plan on making to being her on those days. -- ======================================================== Jeff Brace ========================================================

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Retro computer desk / table recommendations?
by John Heritage 21 Jun '17

21 Jun '17

Hey folks -- Does anyone have any epic retro computer desks/tables they've seen that they'd recommend? I currently have an Atari 800XL, Atari Mega STE, and an Amiga 1200 crammed on a small 5' x 30" table. It has a few "stacks" for separating monitors, mice, and keyboards, but I'm looking to build something bigger than this. I might convert my guest room into a retro room (and then add an Atari 7800, Jaguar, and maybe an Amiga 500).. so if anyone has any suggestions, ideas, or pics they'd recommend I look at -- I'd appreciate it :). I do have a Roland MT-100 on the side for MIDI for these machines, and of course an old onkyo stereo to play those chiptunes loudly :). Thanks! John

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] CHIP, was Re: WiFi RS-232 Internet Modem
by Earl Baugh 21 Jun '17

21 Jun '17

There are two MicroCenters here in the Atlanta area, I've walked in multiple times and bought a number of Pi Zero W's. Never any muss or fuss. (same with the Zero when it came out) I currently am working not too far from one of the two, so if someone wants one (don't bury me with requests) just drop me a line in private. I can go by sometime and buy some ...just need the cost plus shipping and I'll get them to you. I've found that they work quite well with the BT and Wifi (I also have some RedBear shields that I use on the regular Pi Zeros and those work well too...but the W is cheaper...) Earl

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] CHIP, was Re: WiFi RS-232 Internet Modem
by william degnan 20 Jun '17

20 Jun '17

On Jun 20, 2017 10:15 PM, "Kyle Owen via vcf-midatlantic" < vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> wrote: > > On Jun 20, 2017 7:29 PM, "David Gesswein via vcf-midatlantic" < > vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> wrote: > > On Tue, Jun 20, 2017 at 07:30:53PM -0400, Dan Roganti via vcf-midatlantic > wrote: > > > > Not they removed the 1x per person limit, but still prohibit the online > > sales for the PI Zero???. > > > They also have the interesting per unit price which significantly increases > with quantity starting with qty 2. > > > My friend bought one, walked out of the store, walked back in and bought > another. The look on the cashier's face was, shall we say, not very > approving...! > > Kyle I bought 5 zeroes from Ebay cheap, I guess I got lucky. The lot included headers. At the time there were.a few lots avail. I did not get the last one or anything like that. Bill Degnan twitter: billdeg vintagecomputer.net

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Superbrain Restoration blog
by Douglas Crawford 19 Jun '17

19 Jun '17

I finally wrote up the saga of the Superbrain restoration that happened over the last several years. Its in my usual long winded story form. :O https://abitoutofplace.wordpress.com/2017/06/14/intertec-superbrain-qd-rest… This led to the Kermit and the Brain exhibit, which by the way, has undergone some extensive edits with help from a very kind edit reviewer and folks from The Kermit Project. It is much better than when I first announced it. https://abitoutofplace.wordpress.com/2017/06/16/kermit-and-the-brain/

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A little personal milestone
by Evan Koblentz 18 Jun '17

18 Jun '17

This is no big deal to most of you, but today I entered a simple front panel program solo for the first time (on the HP 1000 thanks to Mike L.'s excellent teaching last weekend). Hey you, David G.! This means I'll have more confidence the next time I try your similar program on the PDP-8.

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OT - Live streaming / podcasting from VCF
by Martin A Flynn 18 Jun '17

18 Jun '17

OT Warning: One of the other InfoAge Teams (disclaimer I'm helping) is setting up a podcast / livestream studio at IA. The studio has a decent audio chain and will be able to stream to a commercial provider. Anyone interested in hosting a segment live from VCFE XIII? If so, email me directly to keep the chatter off the main list Martin

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Wifi232 on hackaday
by Duane Craps 18 Jun '17

18 Jun '17

Link to WI232 modem review on Hackaday: http://hackaday.com/2017/06/17/bbsing-with-the-esp8266/

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WiFi RS-232 Internet Modem
by Herb Johnson 17 Jun '17

17 Jun '17

To Paul: Thanks for the response to my post; and likewise for the other responses and your offer to head's-up here your next run of boards. If you have insights into USB/serial buffering issues, you can contact me privately c/o retrotechnology.com. (I follow the VCFed list by Web, so I don't see private email addresses for private contacts.) - Herb -- Herbert R. Johnson, New Jersey in the USA http://www.retrotechnology.com OR .net

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WiFi RS-232 Internet Modem
by Herb Johnson 17 Jun '17

17 Jun '17

> but I really want to to be able to ssh from my Apple IIe > to any of my machines without having to serial tether the Apple IIe to > one of my Linux boxes. Caution: this message may be boring to younger audiences. This is not my technology, but I have interests in 20th C. serial in the 21st century. After noodling the Web and Twitter, my impression is that this item seems to come available briefly, then get sold out; that may repeat or not. I'm not passing judgement, I'm simply reporting what I found. There's any number of WiFi dongles which are a little programmable and which accept serial trans/recieve, and have some other I/O bits. Neil Cherry works with ESP8266 type WiFi dongles, as part of his open IOT activities; he's reported on them in this list. This responds to the "want non-tehered serial" comment above. I think I see one such dongle on this device, on a board that probably includes another processor and some RS-232 type level-converting. One could likely build one with an Arduino - some of them are WiFi without a shield. For fun, you could add a speaker to sound-out the wired-modem buzz-whirr connect sounds. One challenge of vintage use of 21st century connection technology - WiFi, even USB/serial dongles - is how they manage both sides of the 20th century transfer. Translation: USB dongles have hardware buffers (and software drivers) that screw up character processing and other delays, by old MS-DOS programs and old slow microprocessors. I don't know if the WiFi dongles have similar issues. Here's a tech note I wrote recently, reportage on discussions about the above, in an on-line 1802 COSMAC forum. Many 1802 microcomputers were severely limited, even by mid-1970's standards. That's fine, it was a condition of the times. http://www.retrotechnology.com/memship/mship_ttlusb.html Herb -- Herbert R. Johnson, New Jersey in the USA http://www.retrotechnology.com OR .net

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Head alignment tape
by Herb Johnson 17 Jun '17

17 Jun '17

> UNIVAC 1540 Magnetic Tape Unit...I wonder if anyone has a 800 BPI, > NRZ Master Head Alignment Tape (skew tape) to donate to VCF. 7 track or 9 track? The Univacs are pretty old even for "vintage". Also, as Dave McGuire noted, a lightly-used tape from a known-good drive will be useful. In the floppy-disk world, I use several diskettes each from a known good drive to validate "alignment". Seems to me, there's likely several boxes of mag-tapes in the inventory. Herb -- Herbert R. Johnson, New Jersey in the USA http://www.retrotechnology.com OR .net

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Friday funny
by Evan Koblentz 16 Jun '17

16 Jun '17

Had a phone call with a former DEC Alpha engineer today. Best quote: "It'll run infinite loops twice as fast!" -- Sent with K-@ Mail - the evolution of emailing.

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Kermit and the Brain exhibit blog
by Douglas Crawford 16 Jun '17

16 Jun '17

For those interested, I documented the creation of my past VCF East exhibit and reproduced the demonstrations I did at the show on youtube. Many missed the demonstrations on Saturday while the Superbrain was out of commission. The page also links to the Superbrain restoration blog for those interested in that whole saga. https://abitoutofplace.wordpress.com/2017/06/16/kermit-and-the-brain/

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Young Innovators Faire
by Evan Koblentz 15 Jun '17

15 Jun '17

Chris/Todd/Doug are representing VCFed at the Young Innovators Faire (a small Maker Faire clone) tomorrow and Sunday at the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center, 100 Station Ave., Oaks, Pennsylvania. Bring your kids and say hi to them! ________________________________ 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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Head alignment tape
by Duane Craps 15 Jun '17

15 Jun '17

All, This past work session Bill Dromgoole applied power to the museum's UNIVAC 1540 Magnetic Tape Unit. There were problems but just seeing the indicators lit up is good progress. I wonder if anyone has a 800 BPI, NRZ Master Head Alignment Tape (skew tape) to donate to VCF. Since we are not likely to ever run into a commercial tape I guess I could tweak the handlers to mach each other if they even require alignment but, it would be better to be able to do it the right way. Also could use some blank or good used tapes. It might be a long time before we need them but it would be nice to have them available. Duane Craps

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OT: Chuck Thacker passes away at age 74
by Tony Bogan 15 Jun '17

15 Jun '17

https://9to5mac.com/2017/06/14/chuck-thacker-lead-designer-of-the-xerox-alt… Sent from my iPhone

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Commodore SX64 and 8050 in Newport Delaware
by william degnan 14 Jun '17

14 Jun '17

There is a thrift shop called Hippo Thrift that has a sx64 (no keyboard cable) and a 8050 IEEE drive (no IEEE cable) for sale. The SX64 comes with a lot of CBM carts and a carrier full of Commodore disks, no labels. I did not test these. If interested, you have to call them in advance, they're keeping these in the back, not a regular item to sell in the shop. What got my attention in the first place was the CBM 8096 that they were also selling. It has a keyboard issue but otherwise works. A CBM 8032 with a 64K memory expansion that is branded "CBM 8096" is very rare, worth taking time out the day to pick it up. I don't know if I have ever actually seen one before in person. Not as rare as a P500 or C65, but still a lucky find. The thrift shop is a mile or three from rte 95 just south of Wilmington, Delaware. Because I don't have enough room to store this one, if anyone wants a regular nice and clean CBM 8032 that works, I am selling it for $150, pickup only I live about 15 miles west of the shop. If you want it shipped the price is $300 + shipping (Ebay prices for my trouble) Bill

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Re: vcf-midatlantic Digest, Vol 20, Issue 13 Museum Pix
by SVCatITC＠aol.com 14 Jun '17

14 Jun '17

I'll chime in with my $0.02. I agree with Jim, Drew, Evan. We all have identified the problems. All it takes is time and money (the talent we have in spades). Evan mentioned my involvement with the TR20. We also, when that project is completed, will start thinking about restoration of "George", however, all these projects require the donated extended time, parts, specialized test equipment to get this (in some cases 50yrs old) stuff resurrected. We all have lives outside of this venue. Having said that, the obstacles should not deter us from pushing ahead. Here's my idea.... One of the projects I plan to have ready for East XIII exhibiting is an IBM, USA made '286 (640k soldered to the motherboard), under plexiglass, so that viewers, expert and novice, will see how we made things in that era. It is planned to have 2 ESDI drives and an Intel Above Board EMS memory card fitted. For a "hands on", I plan to have that machine running Win3.0. controlling a Z80 based materials testing machine. The OEM's DOS software (1987era) of the test machine will be running on Win3.0 . This testing machine has plenty of visuals (blinkin lights) and octal displays for the eye candy. We plan on crushing soda cans and showing the stress strain curves of the testing. Begrudgingly (LOL), Evan has given the nod to this display. Quoting "it's time to display 286 artifacts". After East is over, it is my hope that this display can be brought into the museum as a "computational device of the month" to show there were other things done with PC's in this era, other than games, and financial forecasts. The testing is safe and will be easy to demonstrate by the docents. Bill Degnan's year of the appliance computer, comes to mind with this project. The point of the droning on, is to show that other fresh ideas can be considered to bring more life into the museum (and hopefully more donations) while the main projects continue at the slow methodical pace they need to take. Feel free everyone to tell me I am way off base with my idea. I can take the hit, otherwise...... Let's start brainstorming ideas. Bill Inderrieden In a message dated 6/13/2017 12:04:38 P.M. EDT: Drew Notarnicola writes: Message: 1 Date: Mon, 12 Jun 2017 12:41:51 -0400 From: Drew Notarnicola <drew.notarnicola(a)gmail.com> To: vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> Subject: Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Museum pictures >If we are willing to enhance the experience from viewing lifeless >artifacts to showing operating equipment >and a good bit of hands on I think it would be some mighty strong gravity. >The problem is half our artifacts are lifeless because they either don't >run yet or they can't have monitors hooked up. And we don't have anything >yet that visitors can do that's hands on.

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RadioShack last stores closing?
by Jonathan Gevaryahu 13 Jun '17

13 Jun '17

The local radioshack here was one of the 72 stores (out of ~1500) which was not closing in May, but on Monday this week they announced they are closing as well. This is one of the combined sprint-radioshack stores, the sprint part is remaining open. I suspect all of the remaining 72 stores are closing; last day for the local store is the 28th. It was already pretty picked over when I checked today. -- Jonathan Gevaryahu jgevaryahu(a)gmail.com jgevaryahu(a)hotmail.com

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OT: T-Mobile Tuesdays
by Joseph Oprysko 13 Jun '17

13 Jun '17

This is very off topic. Today on the T-Mobile Tuesdays app, they're giving away a one month Xbox One game pass codes. If anyone has a T-Mobile phone and doesn't have an Xbox One, could you please send me the code in a private email. My son plays on the Xbox One a lot, and the game pass will let him play quite a few more games. Since it's summer break from school, it's something that will help him pass the time when we're at home. Thanks, Joe -- 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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Museum pictures
by Mike Loewen 12 Jun '17

12 Jun '17

I wanted to point someone to a site which has pictures from our Infoage museum, but have come to the conclusion that there is no official site like that. Is anyone working on a museum page? I suspect there are lots of pictures floating around in personal collections, but it would be nice to have an official (virtual) museum page. Mike Loewen mloewen(a)cpumagic.scol.pa.us Old Technology http://q7.neurotica.com/Oldtech/

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Stan Veit's History of the Personal Computer
by Glenn Roberts 12 Jun '17

12 Jun '17

I was cleaning out a closet and came across my copy of "Stan Veit's History of the Personal Computer". I realized it's almost 25 years ago this was published and perhaps some on this list haven't read it? I've been enjoying re-reading my copy. One thing that I realized in reading his bio is that it was rather late in life that he became part of the personal computer movement - he was 56 when he opened the Computer Mart in NYC. It's a great read. takes you back. In scanning Amazon I realize this book is now somewhat of a collectible - they seem to go for as much as $200! It looks like there's a podcast on line for those of you who might want to listen http://www.classiccomputing.com/CCPodcasts/Stan_Veit/Entries/2016/1/12_Stan_ Veit_7.html - Glenn

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Weekend workshop report
by Mike Loewen 11 Jun '17

11 Jun '17

I worked on two projects at the museum, this weekend: my recently acquired Eagle IIE micro and the museum's HP 2117F display system. The Eagle is a 4MHZ Z80 system (CP/M) with 64KB RAM and SS 5-1/4" drives. The display was out of adjustment, with a "doubled" presentation. A quick tweak by Ian on one of the video pots fixed that, and I resoldered the leads to the reset switch which had been inexplicably cut by a former owner. Nice bright and clear display (green CRT), passes internal diags. The HP 2117F is a circa 1983 mini, with a hardware floating point processor module. I pulled the power supply and checked the inside of the top cover for the infamous black form: yep. It hadn't quite started to disintegrate, but it was just a matter of time. I removed the foam and glued a plastic shield in its place. The power supply voltages were close, but I adjusted them to spec. The system wasn't completing its self-test, and didn't seem to be recognizing its RAM. It turned out to be a missing ribbon cable which is supposed to connect the RAM boards (3 boards of 256KW each) to the controller board. I pulled a donor cable from our ugly 2113E hangar queen and the memory tests now pass. I also replaced 3 broken plastic toggles on the front panel with parts from the 2113E. I showed Evan how to toggle in a short program from the front panel to make the lights dance, Cylon style. To paraphrase a line from the movie, "Firefox": you MUST think in octal. :-) The 2117F is missing a couple of crucial controller cards to connect to the peripherals in the cabinet: the HP-IB interface for the hard disc, the 7970B tape drive interface, and the interface for the 13037C disc controller. Fortunately, the 2113E has the requisite HP-IB card (12821A) so it may be possible to check out the HP-IB drive in the future. Mike Loewen mloewen(a)cpumagic.scol.pa.us Old Technology http://q7.neurotica.com/Oldtech/

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Found: VMS Hobbyist CDs
by VAXman＠tmesis.org 11 Jun '17

11 Jun '17

Neil Cherry via vcf-midatlantic writes: >On 06/03/2017 11:21 PM, Jim Scheef wrote: > Neil, > Could you pull ISOs >of a couple of the CDs before you take them to IA? > Jim > >I'm using my Linux box to see if I can copy the entire CD to an image. I >don't know how well this will work but it won't take much space. http://tmesis.net/OpenVMS_Hobbyist/

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Diner for Sunday AM
by Evan Koblentz 11 Jun '17

11 Jun '17

We're meeting at the Blue Swan Diner (I think it's in Ocean Township) at 9am tomorrow and will be back at the museum around 10:30ish. All are welcome. ------------------------- 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

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OT: Rasperry Pi Linux Malware
by Tony Bogan 09 Jun '17

09 Jun '17

http://www.zdnet.com/article/linux-malware-enslaves-raspberry-pi-to-mine-cr… Sent from my iPhone

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PowerPC upgrade card?
by David Hoelzer 09 Jun '17

09 Jun '17

I’ve recently come into possession of a Macintosh Quadra 610AV. I’ve replaced all of the SMD capacitors and the PRAM and it’s running beautifully… but it could really use a PPC upgrade card since it only has a 68040 in it. Does anyone have anything lying around, perchance, that they would be willing to part with? Thanks!

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June 10-11 workshop sign-up
by Evan Koblentz 09 Jun '17

09 Jun '17

Everyone, Here is the sign-up sheet for the next workshop. https://tinyurl.com/y76ns8my ________________________________ 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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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Museum pictures
by VAXman＠tmesis.org 07 Jun '17

07 Jun '17

Douglas Crawford via vcf-midatlantic writes: >As a docent, I took some photos a ways back attempting decent coverage >and just put them on my imgur account. Its not official or complete, but >perhaps useful for now. http://imgur.com/a/tjYMm It would be great if we >did something like what I have here on the VCFed site that we could put >our official descriptions and let folks also ad personal accounts and >comments. How about a 4K video walk-through?

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Museum pictures
by VAXman＠tmesis.org 07 Jun '17

07 Jun '17

Martin A Flynn via vcf-midatlantic writes: >On 6/7/2017 1:36 PM, Brian Schenkenberger via vcf-midatlantic wrote: > >Douglas Crawford via vcf-midatlantic writes: > >> As a docent, I took >some photos a ways back attempting decent coverage >> and just put them >on my imgur account. Its not official or complete, but >> perhaps useful >for now. http://imgur.com/a/tjYMm It would be great if we >> did >something like what I have here on the VCFed site that we could put >> >our official descriptions and let folks also ad personal accounts and >> >comments. > How about a 4K video walk-through? Panoramic as an example: >https://www.isec.space/pano/9162/_html5/9162.html Save that that's not video, that'd be cool too. >

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Museum pictures
by VAXman＠tmesis.org 07 Jun '17

07 Jun '17

Evan Koblentz via vcf-midatlantic writes: >> How about a 4K video walk-through? > >We'll consider it. Again, there is the concern of "giving away" too much >if people can see the whole thing while laying in bed and using their >smartphones. LOL! No, just a video to serve as an advertisement of what's in store should they decide to get out of bed and or turn off their smartphones.

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Found: VMS Hobbyist CDs
by VAXman＠tmesis.org 06 Jun '17

06 Jun '17

Jonathan Gevaryahu via vcf-midatlantic writes: >AFAIK OSes which require drives with '512 byte blocks' is sort of a scsi >hack. The physical data on the cd surface is 2048 byte blocks (plus ECC >and subchannel data you don't normally see for 2532 bytes per sector, >plus headers and sync marks etc) The whole 512 byte thing is a special >mode certain cd drives have which sends each 2048 byte block to the host >computer as if it was four separate 512 byte blocks/sectors, but its >really just a translation layer. Not all drives do it. > >The actual CD contents for these VMS cds are 2048 byte blocks, the 512 >byte magic happens in the drive, AFAIK. > >I could be wrong about this. Pretty much, that's correct. However, if you want VMS to boot from the CD, it had better present the CD image in 512 byte blocks.

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Here's the COBOL article
by Evan Koblentz 05 Jun '17

05 Jun '17

http://www.techrepublic.com/article/cobol-programmers-know-old-is-not-bad/ ________________________________ 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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Found: VMS Hobbyist CDs
by Neil Cherry 05 Jun '17

05 Jun '17

I just found my CD of the VMS Hobbyist CD for 5.4, 5.5, 5.5-2, 6.0, 6.1 and 7.2. No licenses but I think folks can handle that. I expect to be At infoAge on Monday night. Is there somewhere I can leave them so VCF can pick them up? -- 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] Found: VMS Hobbyist CDs
by VAXman＠tmesis.org 05 Jun '17

05 Jun '17

Dave Wade via vcf-midatlantic writes: >The content might not be ISO but the file extension is.. Usable by SIMH >on the Pc.... The extension means nothing. You could call it .DOGFART and it'd still function.

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Found: VMS Hobbyist CDs
by Herb Johnson 05 Jun '17

05 Jun '17

> On 06/04/2017 08:49 PM, Neil Cherry wrote: Private to Neil Cherry: contact me on an unrelated matter. Seems you are not getting my private emails. Herb Johnson -- Herbert R. Johnson, New Jersey in the USA http://www.retrotechnology.com OR .net

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Found: VMS Hobbyist CDs
by VAXman＠tmesis.org 05 Jun '17

05 Jun '17

Dave Wade via vcf-midatlantic writes: >All the VMS Images I have, even the ones from Digital have ".iso" = >extensions so I assume some software "barfs" at other extensions. When I >= started playing with VMS images I assumed they were ISO but quickly = >found out they are not, they are just block dumps of the filing system, >= and I believe if you have a Linux system you can just DD them to a = >partition and then mount under VMS. There is a vast collection of VAX = >images at vaxhaven.com again all as ".iso" files... >From Digital, I'm assuming d|i|g|i|t|a|l as in Digital Equipment Corp? I don't recall DEC ever distributing anything with an ISO extension save for DECnet-ISO, later called 'phase V'.

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Found: VMS Hobbyist CDs
by VAXman＠tmesis.org 05 Jun '17

05 Jun '17

Jim Scheef via vcf-midatlantic writes: >Neil, Could you pull ISOs of a couple of the CDs before you take them to >IA? Jim Just to be pedantic, the VMS distribution kit CDs are not ISO-9660! One can make an image of the CD's contents -- call it an ISO if it makes you feel better -- but its contents are not ISO-9660. This image can then be burned to recordable CD media by an appropriate burner but then, they'll only be useable on VMS. Also note that some of the older hardware many of you may be playing with will have early generation CD-rom drives that may be onerous when trying to read newecordable CD media.

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Found: VMS Hobbyist CDs
by VAXman＠tmesis.org 05 Jun '17

05 Jun '17

Dave McGuire via vcf-midatlantic writes: >{...snip...} > I was first going to say .DOGBARF but that's a real product. > > .DOGFART is a real product too, unfortunately! sub/real/commercial/whole

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Found: VMS Hobbyist CDs
by VAXman＠tmesis.org 05 Jun '17

05 Jun '17

Dave McGuire via vcf-midatlantic writes: >On 06/04/2017 10:15 AM, Brian Schenkenberger via vcf-midatlantic wrote: >>> The content might not be ISO but the file extension is.. Usable by >SIMH >> on the Pc.... > > The extension means nothing. You could call >it .DOGFART and it'd still > function. > > Actually, .DOGFAR is the extension I use for all of my disk images. >How'd you know?! ROTFLMFAO! I was first going to say .DOGBARF but that's a real product.

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Warning: This thread involves game consoles
by william degnan 04 Jun '17

04 Jun '17

the biggest diappointment about the Retron 5 and similar game systems is that they don't play Atari games. Other than MAME, is there a system that plays all Atari carts in one system? b On Sat, Jun 3, 2017 at 12:00 AM, Alexander Pierson via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> wrote: > > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > From: Alexander Pierson <ajpierson1(a)yahoo.com> > To: vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> > Cc: > Bcc: > Date: Sat, 3 Jun 2017 04:00:54 +0000 (UTC) > Subject: Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Warning: This thread involves game consoles > I asked for an Atari 2600 from my parents... in 2005. I have to say that > it's one of the most memorable presents I've received from them. And now I > want to play Asteroids... > -Alexander 'Z' Pierson > > My dad bought us kids the original Atari 2600, my first game console. I > > preferred the planes over the tanks. Gen-X all the way. It is customary > > to reply to a thread such as this. > > > > > > > >

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