- vcf-midatlantic - lists.vcfed.org

Sunday Appliance Computer Panelists
by william degnan 28 Mar '17

28 Mar '17

Attention Sunday's panelists, here is some prep info for you. 1. Each of the three groups (Tandy, Apple, Commodore) will have one microphone (hopefully) that they can pass amongst the team. You can rotate who the person will be to respond to questions, does not matter to me. 2. Questions will be pretty specific game show style and hopefully closed-ended. Please keep your answers specific to the question, on-topic and paragraph length so we can get through the entire set. 3. Generally speaking the discussion will cover (*not necessarily in this order*): a. Why is 1977 an important year? b. The common characteristics of home/small business appliance computers in 1977. b.2 "Appliance computer or not"? Covers other lesser-known appliance computers available in 1977, "almost appliance" computers, etc. c Questions related to "..why today are the Apple II, Commodore Pet and Tandy TRS 80 Model 1 models are synonymous with the term appliance computer?.." d. The appliance computer in the home of 1977, typical user and what was "new" about the appliance computer owner, what drove this new market? e. Describe the appliance computer in small business in 1977, what kinds of things did the appliance computer and related peripherals begin to make obsolete? f. Compare and contrast Apple, Commodore, Tandy products. Technical, user experience, software, reliability, pet peeves, etc. g. Putting appliance computers in perspective as they relate to the overall computer industry in 1977 4. The last time I ran a panel at VCF some of the speakers took it as an opportunity to go waaay off topic "before I answer your question let me first tell you about what great new project I am working on today..." - please do not do that, ok? Feel free to contact me with questions. Bill

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Can anyone help today/tonight
by Evan Koblentz 28 Mar '17

28 Mar '17

Needed: one warm body to help with VCF East stuff at the museum. I will be there around 4pm today. Working to as late as needed. Help please!! Assembling (not painting) signs, cleaning up museum, tons of miscellaneous tasks

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A little promotion...
by Douglas Crawford 28 Mar '17

28 Mar '17

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VCF: My could-be-interested buy list: Sun Voyager Bag and Amiga 2000
by Ethan 27 Mar '17

27 Mar '17

Just in case anyone has like a garage full of them and you're coming to VCF East, my short "interested" list is pretty much: The Sun Voyager bag that fits the workstation An Amiga 2000, w/ accelerator/scsi and maybe toaster BeBox front panel and IO card (might be impossible to find) Needs repair Oberheim Matrix 6, 6R or 1000 midi synth

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VCF-E stuff I'll likely see
by Herb Johnson 27 Mar '17

27 Mar '17

http://www.retrotechnology.com/vcfe12/vcf17_sales.htm Here's a Web page for the items I'll likely bring to VCF-East. They will be available in the dealer's space, where I'll be. YOu can contact me for questions but I'm a bit busy... Prices at the show. See you there. Herb Johnson -- Herbert R. Johnson, New Jersey in the USA http://www.retrotechnology.com OR .net

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Repairs to a Heath WH19 Terminal
by Jason Perkins 27 Mar '17

27 Mar '17

Looking for some advice on getting a Heath WH19 terminal going again. First, some schematics: http://www.rsp-italy.it/Electronics/Kits/_contents/Heathkit/Kits/Heathkit%2… My annotations on the x-ray view: https://goo.gl/photos/PF8N7wRDPLc1czUU7 What I observed: When first powering the terminal it did nothing. The fast blow 1A fuse was open, the wire was broken. As it was handled it broke more, suggesting it could have simply failed from vibration? The manual said that a 2A slow blow fuse is appropriate for 120v operation. I replaced the fuse with the smallest one I had on hand, a 4A slow blow, connected the terminal to a current meter, and powered it up. It beeped :) But was drawing 5A :( and then there was a little smoke :( :( I quickly powered it off. R263, a 1.2 ohm 2W resistor had cracked. R263 supplies the +53v rail to the horizontal section. C228 seems to be good (open resistance, correct mfd), D208 and D211 seem to be good (.5v one way, open the other), C229 isn't shorted but my meter can't measure its capacitance. I replaced R263 with a 4w 1.2 ohm resistor I had on hand, and powered up again. Still too much current draw, and more smoke in the area of Q217. Does this suggest Q217, the HOT, is bad? I pulled it out and did the diode test on it, it seemed to test OK? It's a BU500, and I see some NOS ones on ebay. I'm unsure what my next step should be. Thanks for your input! -- Jason Perkins 313 355 0085

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WTB: Toshiba Libretto Power Adapter
by Systems Glitch 27 Mar '17

27 Mar '17

All, I've got a Libretto 110CT that needs a power adapter, thought I'd check here before hitting eBay. I believe they're all compatible. Thanks, Jonathan

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] one computer too many (how can that be?)
by Steven Michelsen 27 Mar '17

27 Mar '17

Its marked A1093 http://www.everymac.com/ultimate-mac-lookup/?search_keywords=A1093 Sent from my Sprint Samsung Galaxy S7. -------- Original message --------From: Matt Patoray via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> Date: 3/27/17 2:54 PM (GMT-05:00) To: vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> Cc: Matt Patoray <mspproductions(a)gmail.com> Subject: Re: [vcf-midatlantic] one computer too many (how can that be?) Steve, Any idea on the specs of the machine? Thanks, Matt On Mon, Mar 27, 2017 at 1:18 PM, Steven Michelsen via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> wrote: > Last year at VCF-East, among other things, I bought a circa 2003, Mac G5 > Tower. I have never gotten to test / use / play with this machine in the > last 11.9 months, and at this point I may never get to it. So then, it's > free to anyone that wants to pick it up here in Succasunna, NJ. > > > > For myself, I am in the process of packing up my toys and moving to > southern > Delaware. I had grand plans to attend more of the monthly workshops to > learn from the "gurus" that frequent them, but this is less likely now that > I will be 3 hours away. Darn. > > > > So contact me here or off-list at stevenm(a)optonline.net > <mailto:stevenm@optonline.net> and arrange to cart off my Mac Tower. BTW > It comes with no accessories (except a power cord if you need one, which I > doubt (g)) > > > > Best, > > Steve > > > > Hitting the road with a bunch of '80s hardware > > https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/65762317/forums/on_the_road.jpg > > > > > > > > > > -- Matt Patoray Owner, MSP Productions KD8AMG

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one computer too many (how can that be?)
by Steven Michelsen 27 Mar '17

27 Mar '17

Last year at VCF-East, among other things, I bought a circa 2003, Mac G5 Tower. I have never gotten to test / use / play with this machine in the last 11.9 months, and at this point I may never get to it. So then, it's free to anyone that wants to pick it up here in Succasunna, NJ. For myself, I am in the process of packing up my toys and moving to southern Delaware. I had grand plans to attend more of the monthly workshops to learn from the "gurus" that frequent them, but this is less likely now that I will be 3 hours away. Darn. So contact me here or off-list at stevenm(a)optonline.net <mailto:stevenm@optonline.net> and arrange to cart off my Mac Tower. BTW It comes with no accessories (except a power cord if you need one, which I doubt (g)) Best, Steve Hitting the road with a bunch of '80s hardware https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/65762317/forums/on_the_road.jpg

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Tuesday afternoon volunteer
by Evan Koblentz 26 Mar '17

26 Mar '17

I need ONE reliable, hard-working, no-BS volunteer for this Tuesday afternoon. It is mostly detail work. Starting around noon and working until quite late if necessary.

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Museum update
by Evan Koblentz 26 Mar '17

26 Mar '17

Midnight -- leaving the museum now. It's a mess, and there is still a lot of work to do before the show. I was going to come back Wednesday morning. Now I think I'll come back sometime Tuesday afternoon. The good news is Adam and I (and also Jeff B. and Chris F.) got a ton of stuff done this week. Way too much to itemize. Adam and I determined some wrinkles in the weekend's plan, but we put our brains together and worked through all of it.

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VCF Friday set-up times?
by Bob Applegate 26 Mar '17

26 Mar '17

Can set-up take place on Friday during the day? I know a lot is done in the evening but are the display halls open during the day? Bob

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Hotel Suggestion for VCF
by Chris Fala 26 Mar '17

26 Mar '17

I have stayed at the Residence Inn Marriott in Neptune on Jumping Brooke Rd. It has a pool, free hot breakfast, etc. For those looking for a nice hotel who also want to split the cost with a friend or two, I discovered that they have a two bedroom, two bathroom suite with one king and one queen bed and a fold-out sofa bed. Nice option for multiple people to also have some privacy. The rate for three nights (Thursday through Sunday) is $657, which split three ways is a pretty good deal. Hope this helps.

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FS: iMacs
by Systems Glitch 26 Mar '17

26 Mar '17

All, I've got a few iMacs I'd like to part with at VCF East: 1x indigo G3 slotloader -- with keyboard and mouse 1x lime G3 tray loader -- with mouse, OS X 10.3 installed, works 1x Intel Core 2 Duo white, OS X 10.4 installed, has typical colored vertical lines issue $20 each. I won't bring them if no one claims them. I believe the indigo G3 also works, but I haven't powered it up in a while. The Intel iMac does have vertical lines issues, but it's not so bad as to be unusable. I can pull up system specs if anyone is interested enough to request them. Thanks, Jonathan

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Free empty boxes for IBM 5150 PC + monitor
by matt＠mattmik.com 26 Mar '17

26 Mar '17

I know empty boxes aren't really worth anything, but if anyone's interested...I have the original boxes for both the IBM 5150 PC and 5151 monitor. They're free to a good home. They look like this: https://www.classiccomputershop.eu/Files/5/17000/17331/ProductPhotos/MaxCon… http://www.computercloset.org/IBM_PC_System_Boxed.jpg I believe the foam inserts are still inside. Let me know. I'll be at VCF East on Saturday.

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If anyone has a spare SupRmod they want to sell me, I'd appreciate it.
by corey cohen 26 Mar '17

26 Mar '17

I just went to work on my apple II for VCF east and I forgot that I have an external modulator for my Rev-4 not an internal SupeRmod. If anyone has a spare working SupeRmod and can part with it, I'd be pretty appreciative. Email me with how much you want for it. Thanks, Corey corey cohen uǝɥoɔ ʎǝɹoɔ

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VCF-E consignment room form
by Jim Scheef 26 Mar '17

26 Mar '17

Hello all, We should have a great consignment room again this year. Procedures will be much like previous years, however you are *greatly* encouraged to fill out the consignment form in advance. To make life easier, the form is a fillable PDF. Get the form here: http://vcfed.org/wp/festivals/vintage-computer-festival-east/vcf-east-consi… See you at VCF! Jim

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VCF - Wednesday problem
by Evan Koblentz 26 Mar '17

26 Mar '17

Guys, We've got a problem. A bunch of people volunteered to help Thursday, Friday, etc. We appreciate it very much. But what we really need are Wednesday volunteers to help us schlep tables and chairs. Can anyone please help?

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Monitor repair class test subjects
by Ian Primus 25 Mar '17

25 Mar '17

I'm getting my material ready for the monitor repair class I'm doing on Friday, and Jason I know is bringing a monitor with some faults as an example. Looking around, I seem to have fixed most of the broken things i had laying around that were obvious. I'll keep looking, but, has anyone got a monitor that has a fault that they think would make a good demonstration? I *think* Will had one he said he could bring that has messed up vertical, I can ask him to bring that along if he has it handy. But if anyone else has anything convenient, let me know. Preferably monitors that either are self contained terminals, or take composite video, to make getting some video on the screen simpler with limited amounts of hardware. Thanks! -Ian

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VCF-E Consignment room volunteers
by Jim Scheef 25 Mar '17

25 Mar '17

Hello all, Hopefully some of you remember me as Kelly's helper in the consignment room over the last few years. Before that I was MARCH's first treasurer for VCF 3, 4, 5. This year I agreed to take over the consignment room so Kelly can concentrate on his team exhibit. If this is going to work, I need two or three volunteers to help in the consignment room. This ensures that no one is stuck making change the entire weekend. In exchange you will be reimbursed for your ticket for Saturday and Sunday. This is important work and the volunteers must be approved by Evan. This is actually a fun job, and, of course, you get first crack at all the consignment stuff. If you would like to help, please respond off-list. Jim

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MARCHIAN invasion of Trenton
by Herb Johnson 25 Mar '17

25 Mar '17

A stub of a Web page with my photos of TCF 2017. I'll flesh it out later. http://www.retrotechnology.com/restore/tcf_2017.html Contact me for comments, any photos you have of the event, permission to use my photos (a link and credit pls), etc. I'd certainly would like to add photos and give credits, link to other photoed sites. Herb Johnson retrotechnology.com -- Herbert R. Johnson, New Jersey in the USA http://www.retrotechnology.com OR .net

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Altair bootloader
by Mike Loewen 25 Mar '17

25 Mar '17

Our Josh Bensadon received a mention on Hackaday for his 14-byte bootloader for the Altair 8800: https://just8bits.blogspot.co.uk/2017/03/doing-it-in-less-than-bill-gates.h… Mike Loewen mloewen(a)cpumagic.scol.pa.us Old Technology http://q7.neurotica.com/Oldtech/

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Online hangout for Enigma fans?
by Evan Koblentz 24 Mar '17

24 Mar '17

I want to let the Enigma community know about Tom P.'s talk+class at VCF East. Where do Enigma people congregate online? ________________________________ 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 Tarbell DD controller
by Richard Cini 24 Mar '17

24 Mar '17

All – I still can’t get my Cromemco 16FDC to work properly with the hacked-together Gazelle I have – the individual parts seem to work but not the whole. By chance, does someone have a spare/extra Tarbell DD controller that they would part with? Or I’d even maybe I could send my 16FDC to someone with a working Cromemco system who can test it for me. It would also be helpful if I could get a picture of the floppy controller and CPU Support cards in the Gazelle that VCFMA has in-stock. I pinged Jim privately but I haven’t heard back. Please let me know off-list if you can help. Thanks! Rich -- Rich Cini http://www.classiccmp.org/cini http://www.classiccmp.org/altair32 All –

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"PC Radio Show" interview link
by Evan Koblentz 24 Mar '17

24 Mar '17

Here's the podcast link for my recent interview on the WBAI "PC Radio Show": http://pcradioshow2.org/2017/pcrs_2017_march22_128kbps.mp3 I'm on from about 5:30-16:30 in the program. Special thanks to friend-of-VCFed Hank Kee for making it happen. Then next Wednesday evening I'll be on 2600's "Off the Hook" show on the same station, with VCFed friends Bernie S., Emmanuel Goldstein, and Kyle Drosdick.

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Sat. night VCF East dinner
by Evan Koblentz 23 Mar '17

23 Mar '17

Everyone, Tickets for the Saturday night VCF East dinner will be $33 (plus cash bar). Just so you all know, we are not making any money on that. The ticket price is exactly our cost. Last year we charged less and lost money. Dinner will be at the same place as last year: Clancy's Tavern, 25 South Main St., Neptune City, NJ 07753. Same menu too, including the (mmmm) VCFed logo ice cream cake. We will sell tickets at the show. First we'll go to exhibitors, vendors, speakers, etc., and then to everyone else. Cash, PayPal, credit cards are all accepted. ________________________________ 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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MARCHIAN invasion of Trenton
by Herb Johnson 23 Mar '17

23 Mar '17

I attended the TCF and saw talks by Frank OBrien (Apollo Guidance Computer), Neil Cherry (Home Automation / Internet of Things) and Evan and Jeff's robotics presentation. The TCF "flea market" was flea-sized to be sure. But good people brought vintage computing things, proportionally it was a large piece of a small pie. One of my friend bought an SGI Octane 2 (newer model) , a SGI Indigo 2 High Impact and a BeBox ($1000) were also offered. Ther were even a few 360K floppy drives and diskettes for sale. I bought, from another vendor of many things vintage, another TI 99/4A, with transformer and TV interface, to test the TI I bought not long ago - both worked by the way. A book vendor had many vintage computing books, some VERY vintage (my era); from his father's collection so he said. Neil's talk was most informative, despite his protests as posted here. The key concept from it, in my opinion, was "MQTT", which is a message-based protocol between sensors and controllers - "publishers and subscribers" in the lexicon. The widespread adoption of a messaging protocol is a signifigant step - akin to TCP/IP for networking, my impression. The rest of the talk was about things talking with things to do things. Neil, practice this phrase: "details of implementation or scope are beyond the limited time I have available today. Contact me afterwards and I can give you references. Thank you." Evan is correct, in his reportage that I said his and Jeff's robotics talk was more technically informative, than my discussion with a student and faculty-member of their $40K demonstration robot. I could not get those persons, to describe the programming interface to their tower of plastic and motors. Evan showed a BASIC program with peeks and pokes. The 20th century won that "battle of the 'bots". Am I a judge? I worked on robotic system interfaces to minicomputers in 1975. Frank always gives an entertaining talk, and he's a published expert on the Apollo Guidance Computer. He claims the DSKY human interface designed in the early 1960's, presaged personal and embedded-computer human interfaces to come. It may be fun to confirm that claim, the interface has a design history. But "success has many parents..." I have photos, to answer another post, which I'll put on a Web page in due course; a link will be posted here. I'll point to other photoed sites or sources, if their publishers give me Web links and permission for use of selected photos. Those who are photographed should contact me and name themselves. Herb Johnson retrotechnology.com -- Herbert R. Johnson, New Jersey in the USA http://www.retrotechnology.com OR .net

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Re: What limited the C64's CPU to ~ 1 MHz? , Vol 17, Issue 23
by SVCatITC＠aol.com 23 Mar '17

23 Mar '17

Hi Dan, John; Newbe here....... Thanks for the enlightenment on legacy high speed chip design. Boy does this bring back memories! Back in the early 80's, had a similar problem designing a quiet 5mHz main clock, with dividers, to run test fixture registers, on component hardware from production runs. (Working in the test fixture / model shop.) In a macro sense, like your 'micro' illustration, I had harmonic splash all over the fixture and DUT circuits..... Way too noisy for testing the low level analog circuits on the hybrid DUT PC board. I finally ended up taking the main clock components off the main breadboard (oscillator and the like), and enclosing them in a total metal capacitor enclosure (forget the alloy) with ceramic feedthroughs for power and clock out. With the total metal shield around the 'heartbeat'..... quieted everything down. We all, in the normal thoughts in our brains, think only digital when we are in front of such devices, however, when you are designing main 'heartbeats' in these things, you have to think 'analog' and design around the analog component of the rudimentary signals before moving on to 'clocking' signals and gate chasing around the PC board. In devices that have an analog component (Data Acquisition), have seen guard circuit PC traces totally circling around the 'heartbeat' circuits, for shielding. So like the 12 items you identified in rudimentary CPU design, when you are at that level, one must think basic analog and physics for high speed design and compensate for all the parasitic effects. As you noted, they all had trade-offs. It comes down to best bang for the buck! Thank you so much for the refresher course! Bill Inderrieden ----------- Original Message ------------- Message: 15 Date: Thu, 23 Mar 2017 11:01:04 -0400 From: Dan Roganti <ragooman(a)gmail.com> To: vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> Subject: Re: [vcf-midatlantic] What limited the C64's CPU to ~ 1 MHz? Message-ID: <CADo=F9Eai8W_OvDosnWSm1vq9tbF+yQHKcB179t5cEBg05HzLA(a)mail.gmail.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 On Thu, Mar 23, 2017 at 8:47 AM, John Heritage via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> wrote: >> Does anyone know the reason why the C64 only ran at ~1 MHz? Was it to >> keep RAM costs or system cost as low as possible or was there a different >> engineering reason? >> >> (The Atari and BBC machines managed higher clocks, but were very expensive >> compared to the C= devices, although the 1977 Atari 2600 managed ~1.19 MHz >> out of it's 6507 (6502 with low pin count/less addressing).. > The various clock circuits inside the different home computers was the > least of their problems. All of those different combinations used between > the various home computers were just methods they found to minimize their > Bill of Materials - because every penny was crucial to their bottom line > when making thousands of them in the consumer market. > There were still real and significant design challenges present in the > early VLSI designs of the 1970s to make these faster. But they slowly > marched on and made improvements every year to where we had the 8086 > running at 5mhz and 68000 running at 8mhz already by 1979. This list below > is just some of design problems and they are all interrelated. Making trade > offs between each of these was a constant battle. This list is mostly > ordered by significance, but some of this could be a matter of opinion. > 1. BJT, NMOS, PMOS, or CMOS logic families contribute to speed, > eg. depletion-load NMOS is faster than BJT > 2. Miller Effect [capacitance] prsent even on the silicon die > 3. VLSI design geometries were limited to about 5um > 4. Clock distribution across the silicon die [eg, too much clock skew] > 5. Higher Clock speed required more power dissipation > 6. Negative Bias voltage was a burden to compensate for Miller Effect > [eg. 8080 ] > 7. Lead Inductance present even on the silicon die > 8. Slew Rate, > eg, ECL being faster ran on smaller voltages, slew rate was less, > giving faster clock speed > 9. TTL signals are above the noise floor > eg, ECL being faster was below noise floor, ie power is negative voltage > 10. TTL operate in saturation for logic signals, [eg. ECL being faster > operate in Linear region] > 11. Square wave logic signals have more odd numbered harmonics > than a linear analog device, reducing the possible bandwidth > 12. Pin Capacitance limited not only the driver characteristics but also > the frequency bandwidth

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The Atlantic : How Aristotle Created the Computer
by Herb Johnson 23 Mar '17

23 Mar '17

The cited article is a surprisingly through and generally correct presentation of the formal history of logic, computation and computing theory. This article, is how academics and historians look at "computing", and doesn't really have much new from my glance. It's a good tutorial, I think. I'm not sure why The Atlantic published it in the recent issue, what event or circumstance prompted it - I read very quickly to scope out the article. The author apparently is an "angel investor" and former/current? computing financial whiz. Of course, the title argument is merely a draw to read the article, "success has many parents". 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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Museum updates
by Evan Koblentz 23 Mar '17

23 Mar '17

Tony brought some of his employees to the museum today to replace our center door with a regular section of wall. They'll continue working on it tomorrow and finish Monday. Not having the unnecessary door there means they're won't be an ugly brown blob behind George, and also that we'll have more room for a timeline exhibit in the hallway (probably this summer). Adam and I are going to be at the museum all weekend to finish other projects in time for VCF East. Getting the tablets all done, completing the modern history exhibit, and a ton of minor things nobody will notice but will collectively be an improvement. Jeff B. and others are also expected.

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What limited the C64's CPU to ~ 1 MHz?
by John Heritage 23 Mar '17

23 Mar '17

Does anyone know the reason why the C64 only ran at ~1 MHz? Was it to keep RAM costs or system cost as low as possible or was there a different engineering reason? (The Atari and BBC machines managed higher clocks, but were very expensive compared to the C= devices, although the 1977 Atari 2600 managed ~1.19 MHz out of it's 6507 (6502 with low pin count/less addressing)..

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Me on WBAI in a few minutes
by Evan Koblentz 23 Mar '17

23 Mar '17

Being interviewed on WBAI (Long Island) "PC Radio Show" imminently, re: VCF East.

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Jason Scott is making a renewed push to image Apple ][ software...
by Mark Whittington 22 Mar '17

22 Mar '17

Jason (of archive.org and textfiles.com fame) is renewing efforts to track down and image as much of the existing original Apple ][ software as possible. More info here, summary below -- http://ascii.textfiles.com/archives/5180 In short, a lot of the software that's been archived so far was sourced from cracked versions that were often modified greatly from the original releases. There's now a team of very skilled folks who want to be sure that the pristine versions of these programs are archived and that so-called "silent crack" versions are available for future generations to enjoy. In this context, a "silent crack" is one that removes the copy protection and nothing more, and without adding crack screens or attributions. They're getting to the end of the collections that they already have and are putting out the call for more from people who may have collections sitting around gathering dust in boxes. <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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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Univac 1 memory
by Mike Loewen 22 Mar '17

22 Mar '17

> On Sun, 12 Mar 2017, Evan Koblentz wrote: >>> Mercury delay memory from a Univac 1. >> >> Do you know if it actually * is * from a U-1? > > http://www.computerhistory.org/revolution/early-computer-companies/5/100/14… > >> If so, then feel free to bid and then donate artifact. :) > > Hey, I'm just a retiree on a fixed income. The Univac memory sold for $18,701. Just a bit over my budget. Mike Loewen mloewen(a)cpumagic.scol.pa.us Old Technology http://q7.neurotica.com/Oldtech/

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Re: MARCHIAN Invasion of Trenton "Digest, Vol 17, Issue 20"
by SVCatITC＠aol.com 22 Mar '17

22 Mar '17

To Neil; Newbe here.... Don't kick yourself! You were way too polite in describing the inconsiderate guy dominating the Q&A. I felt bad for you having to deal with that guy. I attended your course and found it amazing that you were able to cover what you could, even when being HIGHJACKED by the boor you wouldn't let you finish at least one thought! It's a shame that you couldn't get through the presentation to your satisfaction. There was a lot of info to cram into one hour. Kudos to you for navigating around the potholes of cranky technology and the Gremlins residing therein. It is a brave man who can stand up there and fight such pitfalls in oratory. Thank You! and Congrats! Bill Inderrieden Original Message Message: 5 Date: Sun, 19 Mar 2017 22:33:48 -0400 From: Neil Cherry <ncherry(a)linuxha.com> To: vcf-midatlantic _vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org_ (mailto:vcf-midatlantic@lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org) >> "Finally I let one gentleman dominate the questioning >> and I might not have fully understood what he was asking."

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Help IDing card
by Support 20 Mar '17

20 Mar '17

>From what I remember back in those days - these Controllers changed almost weekly. It was a really crazy time with all the clone hardware. Every corner Tech Shop sold these Controllers, and who knows where they got them from. It was really the Wild West once the Clones took over (1989-90), and lasted most of that whole decade really. I would be really surprised if you find an actual manual. Most of the times my dealer would give me a photocopy page if there was even anything. The more 'standard' or mass produced Controllers came in boxes... but also cost 2-3x as much. If I had to guess it's MFM over RLL since RLL was much more rare. Shouldn't hurt to test on either drive - assuming you can find any that are still working. Anyway, good luck. $.02 Henry S. Courbis Office Toll Free: (800) REACTIVE (732-2848) Office/Mobile Direct: (856) 779-1900 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 On Mon, Mar 20, 2017 at 7:27 PM, Christopher Blackmon via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> wrote: > > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > From: Christopher Blackmon <ckblackm(a)yahoo.com> > To: Tony Bogan <thebogans(a)mac.com> > Cc: vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> > Bcc: > Date: Mon, 20 Mar 2017 23:27:14 +0000 (UTC) > Subject: Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Help IDing card > https://www.dropbox.com/sh/x15qpbmvvznsn8w/AAB37n56zJ4jBTWOGhYe_s8Ba?dl=0 > > I put 3 pictures at this location. > thanks,Christopher. > > >

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Help IDing card
by Jason Perkins 20 Mar '17

20 Mar '17

Looks like a ST506 type disk controller. Probably RLL. -J On Mon, Mar 20, 2017 at 7:39 PM Christopher Blackmon via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> wrote: > https://www.dropbox.com/sh/x15qpbmvvznsn8w/AAB37n56zJ4jBTWOGhYe_s8Ba?dl=0 > > I put 3 pictures at this location. > thanks,Christopher. > > -- Jason Perkins 313 355 0085 Sent from my iPhone

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Help IDing card
by Neil Cherry 20 Mar '17

20 Mar '17

On 03/20/2017 02:04 PM, Christopher Blackmon via vcf-midatlantic wrote: > I've got a full length 16-bit ISA card with the part # WD1006V-WA2 on it that I'm > trying to find the spec's for... I've found several that are close via google, but none > that are exact matches. Would anyone happento have some info on this card? A guess (for memory long time ago old): Western Digital Hard Drive interface card. ST-506 (?) insterface. Probably 2 drive interface, each drive needed 1 long and 1 short header cable. I don't know if it supports RLL but I kind of doubt it. I recall jumping into ROM on the card to format the drives. Sorry that's all I have. -- 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] Help IDing card
by Evan Koblentz 20 Mar '17

20 Mar '17

>> Does the list allow photo attachments or do I need to use dropbox? We prefer that you post them somewhere and then email the link.

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Help IDing card
by Christopher Blackmon 20 Mar '17

20 Mar '17

I've got a full length 16-bit ISA card with the part # WD1006V-WA2 on it that I'm trying to find the spec's for... I've found several that are close via google, but none that are exact matches. Would anyone happento have some info on this card? thanks,Christopher.

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The Atlantic : How Aristotle Created the Computer
by Christian Liendo 20 Mar '17

20 Mar '17

This is not off topic as it relates to how a publication is making a claim on the history of computing. I'm looking for opinions because my first response is no. https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2017/03/aristotle-computer/5…

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MARCHIAN invasion of Trenton
by Jeffrey Jonas 20 Mar '17

20 Mar '17

Michael Kato and Jeff Galinat were venders. I got to chat with Bill Inderrieden, Wm Dudley, Rebecca Mercuri, Neil Cherry, Herb, Dean & Drew and "the usual suspects". Despite being compressed into one day, I felt satisfied. I got some goodies in the dealer's den - displays from Galinat - books from Kato - bags of 1,000 leds and VFD modules from Ott Neil Cherry's home automation presentation had new things from last year. With 13 presentations at a time, everyone's sure to be disappointed and miss things. I missed the earlier C++ talk and the later one was cancelled. -- jeffj

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Museum report
by Evan Koblentz 20 Mar '17

20 Mar '17

Moderate amount of visitors today. About a dozen people in four or five groups of families. I continued setting up the tablets. Finished most of the physical installation. Ordered a few USB extension cables on Amazon so we can power everything without daisy-chaining regular extension cords or power strips. The USB extensions should be here later this week. Me, Adam, and possibly others will be there again next weekend. I have a long list of museum things to get done in time for VCF East. Next weekend will almost be a reality TV episode: can disorganized Evan lead a crew to finish a dozen overlapping projects by the deadline? We'll see! ------------------------- 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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DEC stuff available
by Richard Cini 19 Mar '17

19 Mar '17

All – I was contacted last week by a gentleman in Fitchburg, MA, who used to work for DEC and has a huge load of DEC hardware, manuals, print sets and other stuff. Based on his email, he worked on RSTS and RT-11 (checking to see if he knows Megan G.). Here’s a sample: · If you have a MicroVAX, i might have some extra memory boards for that. · i have a lot of manuals, the logic manual, the PDP-11 manuals, and unibus peripherals manuals... all handbooks · I have an 11/05 cpu, with box, backplane, power supply, front control panel. not sure about the memory, these had core · i have an 11/34 in the large box with the programmers keyboard and a 9-slot expansion bus and a full schematic set for it. · i have several sorts of LSI-11 backplanes including the ones that make a VT-100 into a VT-103. · and i have the kits to turn a VT-100 into a ReGis graphics terminal... VT125 · i have 11/23 boards, which do 22-bit addressing, and a bunch of 512K OEM memory boards (clearpoint or Camminton) · and the MXV-11 boards with the EPROM sockets, some RAM and 2 serial ports are in abundance. · also DLV-11J quad serial port boards, mostly OEM stuff, · some of these boards i have schematics for... · for the hard-core hackers, i have several wire-wrap-roll-your-own boards, dual height and quad. · i also have software... mostly RT-11 but i also have some Micro-RSX · also have some DECUS software, esp a cross-assembler for the 6502... I fixed some bugs and improved the functionality of this tool and used it myself extensively. He also said that he’s still into PDP projects. If anyone’s remotely interested, contact me off-list and I’ll pass his info on to you. Rich -- Rich Cini http://www.classiccmp.org/cini http://www.classiccmp.org/altair32

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Trenton report
by Evan Koblentz 19 Mar '17

19 Mar '17

All went well in Trenton yesterday. Jeff B.'s Commodore/Capsella robot and my Apple/Lego robot both worked perfectly and everyone who stopped at our booth seemed impressed. Herb pointed out that some college students were showing a modern $40,000 robot but were unable to explain how it works nor do much more than our designs. :) Group members spotted in addition to me, Jeff, and Herb: Jeff Galinat, Jeff Golas, Jeff Jonas, Neil, Dean, Drew, Brian Stuart, Bill I., and Steve ... sorry if I forgot anyone. Plus the usual groupies :) who attend Trenton, VCF East, etc. but aren't official members. Brace and I gave a successful lecture. The audience wasn't huge (about 10 people) but they seemed very interested and I think we did a good job presenting historical and technical information. They asked some smart questions afterward. A while ago Gini Mauchly offered us a desk fan that her father brought home from Eckert-Mauchly Computer Company. At the show yesterday we took delivery of it. Me, Brace, Dean, and Drew went to dinner. Burgers and beer.... om nom nom nom. ------------------------- 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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Commodore Inside Story Kickstarter Funded
by John Heritage 19 Mar '17

19 Mar '17

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/469255657/commodore-the-inside-story/d… Looks like the "Commodore: The Inside Story" told by David Pleasance is already fully funded :) I've watched a few of this guys interviews and he seems to be a no-BS kinda leader from Commodore.. I'm looking forward to the book..

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help dumping rom of rare coin-op arcade game
by Herb Johnson 18 Mar '17

18 Mar '17

> The CPU is a Signetics 2650 and the ROM > looks to be a Signetics N82S115N (it's the only socketed chip on the board > that I can see). Google tells me 82S115 is a 512 X 8 TTL bipolar PROM, by finding datasheets. Most ordinary and old PROM programmers don't support that whole class of PROMs to program. But reading it is a different matter. http://www.retrotechnology.com/restore/fuse_bipolar_prom.html Build a reader. Or fake a common 5V EPROM and read THAT. It's doable. You're welcome. Herb -- Herbert R. Johnson, New Jersey in the USA http://www.retrotechnology.com OR .net

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Seattle Gazelle question
by Richard Cini 18 Mar '17

18 Mar '17

All – Back in 2014, I posted a message to the group about the Seattle Gazelle. I don’t have one, but I was basically trying to re-create it using the boards I had in-stock. Jim Scheef sent me a reply back then, but I wanted to follow-up with the whole group on this since I only just located the needed support board (300F model). I think I have all the pieces now: SCP 8086 board, SCP 300F support board, CompuPro RAM22 (128k), and the Cromemco 16FDC controller. I’m using the 16FDC because the source code for the v1.5 SCP BIOS has a compilation switch for it (the other options are Tarbell, SCP and Northstar) and I didn’t have the others. All of the board jumpers are “default” per the manual, other than disabling the RDOS on the 16FDC. This week, I put everything together and the boards work individually but not together (the 16FDC tests OK with the built-in RDOS and a Z80 board). I’ve confirmed basic things like port locations and the like match the v1.5 ROM. I’ve also done some manual testing – I can turn the drive motor on and off by outputting port I/O commands from the monitor, for example, so I know that intra-board communications work. For drives, I have available to me TM100-2A (5.25” DSDD) and Qume QT242 (8” DSDD). The drives test good with a PC using the default jumpers (I use a floppy adapter board from DBIT for the 8”; I now have MSDOS 6.22 on an 8” disk ☺). Straight floppy cables; DS0 strapping. The TM100 (SSSD version) is mentioned specifically in the Cromemco manual, but the Qume is not. When issuing the “B” (boot) command in the SCP ROM, there is no drive activity at all. Controller-specific code is in two places – the monitor ROM (for the bootstrap) and in the DOSIO module. The ROM version I have is for the Cromemco board, so it should work. I also have disk images so eventually I can make a bootable 8” disk if I can fix the rest of it. So, maybe a few basic questions: · Have I missed anything in the above? · What drives were used in the Gazelle and did SCP really use a controller other than the SCP one? · In the system VCFMA has, what drives and controller are used? Thanks again for any help. Rich -- Rich Cini http://www.classiccmp.org/cini http://www.classiccmp.org/altair32

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Commodore Inside Story Kickstarter Funded
by Steven Michelsen 18 Mar '17

18 Mar '17

I am really looking forward to reading that. On the kickstarter page, I like how it's noted that the book "will be 236 pages in length." Sent from my Sprint Samsung Galaxy S7. -------- Original message --------From: John Heritage via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> Date: 3/18/17 9:21 AM (GMT-05:00) To: vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> Cc: John Heritage <john.heritage(a)gmail.com> Subject: [vcf-midatlantic] Commodore Inside Story Kickstarter Funded https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/469255657/commodore-the-inside-story/d… Looks like the "Commodore: The Inside Story" told by David Pleasance is already fully funded :) I've watched a few of this guys interviews and he seems to be a no-BS kinda leader from Commodore.. I'm looking forward to the book..

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OT: free ATAPI/IDE CD drives
by Jeffrey Jonas 18 Mar '17

18 Mar '17

I salvaged way too many ATAPI/IDE interface CD drives: read to 52x, read/write too. Free if you take them at VCF. I didn't think of it soon enough for Trenton :-/ -- jeff jonas

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