- vcf-midatlantic - lists.vcfed.org

VCFed BBS finally happening
by Blatboy 17 Oct '16

17 Oct '16

Oh, seeing this news got me excited! I would also like to chime in for a vote to be able to call in externally. That said, I've had limited luck using a modem on the VoIP lines I have in the studio and at home... 2400 baud is ok by me. :) That said, to do it via Telnet would be ok too. Walter On Thursday, October 13, 2016, Joseph Oprysko <joprysko1(a)gmail.com> wrote: Once the exhibit is configured and functioning properly, if there is enough > support and requests for expandion or additional functionality, those will > be addressed at a future time. > Thanks, > Joseph Oprysko 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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Festivus 2016 Dec. 3 & 4 INFO & signup
by Blatboy 17 Oct '16

17 Oct '16

Greetings. I'm interested in showing up one or both days. But due to various things that I'll spare you the details of, I may need to make a somewhat last minute decision. Is there a "deadline" of sorts? I have so many little projects I'd love to finish up over there around like minded souls... mostly Amiga... if that's not too bleeding edge haha. :) 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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Festivus 2016 Dec. 3 & 4 INFO & signup sheet
by Jeffrey Brace 16 Oct '16

16 Oct '16

Even though I have posted a few times over the last few months about Festivus, apparently there are people that have missed the posts. So I will post this information to keep everyone informed of this fun event: I have prepared a list for who's going and what they will be bringing. Please put yourself down here or let me know and I will do it for you: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1flOzpjh4Wdd3Gn6B3DqWHpQmxYSQGrtFo20… LOCATION: InfoAge Building 9010A - (2201 Marconi Road, Wall Township, NJ) - It will be the classroom area that we usually have our workshops. TIME: Start about 10 A.M. on Saturday and goes late into the night until everyone sleeps. End about 5 P.M. on Sunday. (Re-starts around 10 A.M. Sunday morning) COST: $10 for all members attending the workshop, which VCF donates to InfoAge as thanks for providing the space for us. EQUIPMENT: VCF will have tables setup for food and games. Ian will be bringing his vintage video games and TVs. Dan Roganti and Jeff Brace will be setting up their Commodore 64 internet game for eight players. We will have a full sized refrigerator to temporarily store stuff. We will be borrowing a grill to cook hambugers and hot dogs outside. DRINKS: Everyone is encouraged to bring their own drinks and enough to share with others. Bring your favorite and put what you are bringing on the list: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1flOzpjh4Wdd3Gn6B3DqWHpQmxYSQGrtFo20… FOOD: This is a pot luck. Bring your own favorite good and put what you are bringing on the list: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1flOzpjh4Wdd3Gn6B3DqWHpQmxYSQGrtFo20… ENTERTAINMENT? It seems that interest has waned for showing movies, so I'm inclined to not bother with showing movies this year. However Ian will bring his Cards Against Humanity and we will be playing that! -- Jeff Brace - ark72axow(a)gmail.com

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Pansonic Senior Partner
by william degnan 16 Oct '16

16 Oct '16

FYI if anyone is interested, came through my site, I do not know person, nor did I speak with or correspond with this person: VintageComputer.net Inquiry Contact Information Name: Mike Vrable DBA/ Email: mikevrable-at-gmail.com Phone: 330 555 5555 ------------------------- Comments: PANASONIC Senior Partner for sale 10/16 email for more discussion VintageComputer.net ---------------------------------------------------------------

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Festivus 2016 Dec. 3 & 4 INFO & signup sheet
by VAXman＠tmesis.org 16 Oct '16

16 Oct '16

Jeffrey Brace via vcf-midatlantic writes: >... >Please put yourself down here... How low can we go with self deprecation without exceeding the canons of this list?

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Looking for a TI Silent 707 1200baud for the VCF Museum
by Corey Cohen 14 Oct '16

14 Oct '16

I'm donating a spare PiDP-8 to the museum which has a serial interface that can't go below 1200baud. If we can find one of the smaller TI Silent terminals that goes that fast, we can hook it up to the PiDP so that we can have it run hands on demos and visitors can take the result with them. It would be really cool for people to have a takeaway from the museum when they visit. So if anyone has one of these TI Silent units they can donate to VCF Museum let me know. Thanks, Corey corey cohen uǝɥoɔ ʎǝɹoɔ

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Can Anyone Take IC Die Micrographs?
by Systems Glitch 14 Oct '16

14 Oct '16

I've decapped a house-numbered IC and taken a look with my 40x loupe, it appears to be some sort of memory device, but I don't have enough magnification to see any die text or anything. Can anyone on this list take a micrograph at > 40x for me? I won't need the IC back unless it's convenient to get it to me at the next get-together I'm able to attend or something. Figured I've got a tube of them and it might be nice to know what they are :) They're in side-brazed ceramic carriers, so it was easy to decap with a bastard file. Thanks, Jonathan

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Anyone selling a Burroughs B205 Computer console?
by Christian Liendo 14 Oct '16

14 Oct '16

I am sending this to the group for their amusement. http://newyork.craigslist.org/mnh/wan/5813819331.html

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Honeywell u-COMP DDP-516 Console
by william degnan 14 Oct '16

14 Oct '16

Sharing this page, getting started working on a Honeywell u-COMP DDP-516 Console. I hope you like the photos. http://www.vintagecomputer.net/browse_thread.cfm?id=655 Bill

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Spot the Commodore 64 on Mr. Robot?
by Jeffrey Brace 13 Oct '16

13 Oct '16

In Season 2 Episode 11 of Mr. Robot there is a Commodore 64 with 1702 monitor, and 1541 disk drive. I thought that this was very cool! Commodore 64's popping up all over TV shows these days! :) -- Jeff Brace - ark72axow(a)gmail.com

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VCFed BBS finally happening
by Evan Koblentz 13 Oct '16

13 Oct '16

Everyone, We've had various talk / starts / stops about an authentic-ish dial-up BBS through the years. Now it is finally coming true. The most recent plan was to use Asterisk, but that is overkill, a lot of maintenance, and would require an expensive telephony card. I asked Joe O. to research something better. He came back with this: http://www.excelltel.com/en/enproductslist.asp?id=612 It's an 8-port analog PBX with a GSM module. We bought it on Amazon for $98.49. Joe will connect this via modem to a PC running MajorBBS (possibly virtualized). We'll connect modems and vintage computers to the analog ports. Visitors and VCF East exhibitors/visitors will be able to dial in at 300-2400bps, hear the handshake, and connect to our BBS just like in the glory days. People can also telnet in directly to the PC thanks to our LTE modem, or they can call in remotely once we buy a GSM SIM card (to be considered after the main system is up and running). The PBX won't arrive until sometime next month because it shipping from China. Joe suggested that someone can draw the standard VCFed logo using ASCII art, and BBS users can watch it fly by a line at a time when they connect. I endorse that idea! Joe will answer any technical questions. Keep in mind we selected this approach because it's affordable, low maintenance, and the simplest way to reach the goal. Some people wanted us to use all period hardware, or modern servers that were WAY more than we needed, or a high-end PBX, etc. .... this one is "just right" for us.

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ansi art
by william degnan 13 Oct '16

13 Oct '16

Branching thread per Dan's comment about ANSI art. I have been messing around with this since I re-watched Jason Scott's BBS documentary this weekend. My goal was to get a RIP reader on my pocket chip handheld linux computer. Two days ago I spent some time in a coffee shop near my home connecting to telnet BBS's that have ANSI art. mewbies is a good starting point. I was having some trouble. What is the best terminal program using Debian Linux to read ANSI art RIP files, something one can call from the command line if possible? b

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Google spies on us! :)
by Evan Koblentz 13 Oct '16

13 Oct '16

I happened to check out the Google Earth view of InfoAge. Look at this screen capture: http://vcfed.org/evan/vcfcars.jpg I see a red Miata, blue pickup, white van... this has to be from VCF East, because it's too many cars to be from a workshop.

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Two munths 'til Festivus
by Jeffrey Jonas 09 Oct '16

09 Oct '16

Jeff Jonas shall attend!

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Museum Report
by Jeffrey Brace 08 Oct '16

08 Oct '16

Slow day at the museum, only two visitors on a rainy day. Interested visitor who wants to return when they have more time. It seems that there is so much to see at all the museums. Good for me, since I was tired from volunteering at Camp Evans Base of Terror last night. I will be at the museum tomorrow as well. -- Jeff Brace - ark72axow(a)gmail.com

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Tw months 'til Festivus
by Evan Koblentz 07 Oct '16

07 Oct '16

Festivus is my favorite event because it's the least work (and Jeff B. does most of it!)

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Good stuff available in northern NJ / southern NY state
by Herb Johnson 07 Oct '16

07 Oct '16

Of the items listed, I'd be interested in a QX-10 and incrementally less in a Kaypro. As there are several of these, asking for one each is modest and plausible. My guess is, there may be a distribution of these at Festivus, which I'll attend barring severe weather; if available sooner I'd pick up sooner. I'd expect to pay some amount some of which would go back to the original owner - that being the apparent terms announced. - Herb -- Herbert R. Johnson, New Jersey USA http://www.retrotechnology.com OR .net

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ISO: DECServer 550 Power Cord
by Systems Glitch 06 Oct '16

06 Oct '16

In another case of, "the right way, the wrong way, and the DEC way," it seems there's a special IEC cable used for DECServer 550s. Does anyone have one? It looks like a regular grounded IEC cable, but with a groove cut in the plug, opposite the ground pin. Looks like I could probably make do with a Dremel tool and a standard cable, but I thought I'd check first. Thanks, Jonathan

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] ISO: DECServer 550 Power Cord
by VAXman＠tmesis.org 06 Oct '16

06 Oct '16

Dave Wade via vcf-midatlantic writes: >Its actually standard, the high temperature version of the normal IEC >connector. It is rated to 120 degrees Celsius rather that 70 as the >normal lead.... .. in the UK we call them Kettle Leads as they are >commonly used on kettles... > >https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEC_60320 > >Dave G4UGM Say WHAT!?!?!? And miss an opportunity to malign DEC for its engineering.

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IEC power connector reference
by Dave McGuire 06 Oct '16

06 Oct '16

Since this is an area of perpetual confusion, I dug around a bit and found this very nice chart describing the IEC320 series of power connectors: http://www.stayonline.com/reference-iec320.aspx -Dave -- Dave McGuire, AK4HZ New Kensington, PA

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C64 workhorse survivor
by Douglas Crawford 06 Oct '16

06 Oct '16

http://hothardware.com/news/battered-but-not-beaten-commodore-c64-survives-…

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F/S - STM Baby
by Evan Koblentz 05 Oct '16

05 Oct '16

John Dilks, who started the Atlantic City Personal Computing '76 conference, is selling his STM Systems "Baby!" computer. He said it includes the original briefcase and 9" screen. He sent some links which I posted: http://vcfed.org/evan/baby1.jpg http://vcfed.org/evan/baby2.jpg http://vcfed.org/evan/stmbabyad.jpg John is asking $2,500 and said he will donate 10% to VCFed. I asked him to donate the computer instead :) but he prefers selling it. John's email is oldradio(a)comcast.net. He is not on our list.

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Good stuff available in northern NJ / southern NY state
by Evan Koblentz 05 Oct '16

05 Oct '16

There's a bunch of good stuff available for the taking in northern NJ / southern NY state. It is free to good homes, but the owner would appreciate reasonable cash donations -- please don't take advantage of him. He has Parkinson's disease, so he is definitely NOT shipping anything. The items are in two locations (his home in Hewitt, NJ and an airplane hangar in Montgomery, NY). I don't have a specific breakdown of which items are at which locations. But, he said that the items in the hangar MUST be moved by the end of this month or they'll be thrown away. The full list of items (both locations) he sent me is: - 10 (or more) Kaypros - 6 (or more) Epson QX-10 - 1 or 2 Zorbas - 1 Televideo TS-803 - 1 Philips 2000 - 1 Xerox 820 - Several dot matrix printers. - Several CRT monitors - 1 Apple small monitor (used with an Apple 2 C) - 1 Compaq portable - 1 Commodore 128 - 1 Tandy Color Computer - 1 Toshiba luggable with plasma display. (at home) - 1 external 8" floppy drive - 1 external 5" floppy drive - 1 IBM PC-Junior - 1 DEC Decwriter III - 1 Japanese Word Processor. - Floppy disks, (5 and 8") manuals, etc. (at home) - 1 Diablo printer + some ribbons and wheels. (at home) - 1 CD reader with SCSI interface. - acoustic coupler modem - "Probably more things I don't recall at the moment." He has one other artifact which VCFed has dibs on: an HP-21MX minicomputer located at his home. This is non-negotiable. It's ours. :) Obviously we would be grateful if someone can go retrieve it for us and bring it to the museum. Very important: if you can retrieve it for us, then you MUST let us know ahead of time; don't tell me after the fact. He also has, at home, a new-ish Supermicro pedestal file server: http://www.supermicro.com/products/chassis/pedestal/800/SC850.cfm. We don't need that, but he wants it to go together with the HP, so be warned. :) Contact: Roberto Waltman, 973-853-0042, rgwaltman(a)warwick.net

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Vintage Computer Festival West 2016 Gaming Panel 1080p with perfect audio
by Corey Cohen 05 Oct '16

05 Oct '16

https://youtu.be/bS_qGy3Ei3s <https://youtu.be/bS_qGy3Ei3s> Finally got around to converting this down from 4k 100mbps to 1080p and uploaded it to youtube. Enjoy, Erik Kline did a great job moderating the panel. Cheers, Corey

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OT: Dell laptop for sale
by Evan Koblentz 04 Oct '16

04 Oct '16

I'm selling a laptop. It is a Dell Latitude E6510. Works fine, needs new battery, has small chip in the plastic frame behind the monitor. It runs Linux Mint 18. This is a good, fast-ish system. $100 firm.

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Evan's Lego Robot work made the Make: cool stuff list
by Douglas Crawford 04 Oct '16

04 Oct '16

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Woohoo! Award....
by Evan Koblentz 03 Oct '16

03 Oct '16

We won a Maker Faire Editor's Choice award. It's our second time; we won two years ago.

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Reaching our goals (big news)
by Evan Koblentz 03 Oct '16

03 Oct '16

Vintage Computer Federation has big dreams. We’re restructuring our organization to help make them come true. Our mission is to empower collectors, grow the community, and teach everyone about computer history. We especially want to raise interest in computer history among young people. To do so, we are planning many changes. For example, we want to expand the Vintage Computer Festival event series, offer new resources on the vcfed.org site, foster regional chapters, and improve our museum space. There are still other ideas that we hope to share in 2017 and beyond. We firmly believe these goals are attainable and imperative. However, as an all-volunteer unit, there simply isn’t enough time to devote to our cause without overly sacrificing time spent at our regular jobs, being with family, collecting vintage computers, and so on. As such, effective today, Vintage Computer Federation co-founder Evan Koblentz is stepping down as president and accepts the new position of part-time director. Evan is the Federation’s first employee. He reports to the board. Evan will continue day-to-day administration of the Federation and will embark on new fundraising initiatives. Erik Klein, formerly vice president, is now board chairman. Jeffrey Brace, also formerly a vice president, is now vice-chairman. Corey Cohen retains his role as business manager. We feel this new structure will help us gain resources, meet our goals, and continue to save and teach computer history for many years to come. Vintage Computer Federation Inc. is a 501(c) non-profit organization.

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Reaching our goals (big news)
by Evan Koblentz 03 Oct '16

03 Oct '16

Vintage Computer Federation has big dreams. We’re restructuring our organization to help make them come true. Our mission is to empower collectors, grow the community, and teach everyone about computer history. We especially want to raise interest in computer history among young people. To do so, we are planning many changes. For example, we want to expand the Vintage Computer Festival event series, offer new resources on the vcfed.org site, foster regional chapters, and improve our museum space. There are still other ideas that we hope to share in 2017 and beyond. We firmly believe these goals are attainable and imperative. However, as an all-volunteer unit, there simply isn’t enough time to devote to our cause without overly sacrificing time spent at our regular jobs, being with family, collecting vintage computers, and so on. As such, effective today, Vintage Computer Federation co-founder Evan Koblentz is stepping down as president and accepts the new position of part-time director. Evan is the Federation’s first employee. He reports to the board. Evan will continue day-to-day administration of the Federation and will embark on new fundraising initiatives. Erik Klein, formerly vice president, is now board chairman. Jeffrey Brace, also formerly a vice president, is now vice-chairman. Corey Cohen retains his role as business manager. We feel this new structure will help us gain resources, meet our goals, and continue to save and teach computer history for many years to come. Vintage Computer Federation Inc. is a 501(c) non-profit organization.

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Fwd: equipment available - NH
by Evan Koblentz 03 Oct '16

03 Oct '16

-------- Forwarded Message -------- Subject: equipment available - NH Date: Sat, 1 Oct 2016 15:24:12 -0500 From: Jay West <jwest(a)classiccmp.org> Reply-To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts <cctalk(a)classiccmp.org> To: cctalk(a)classiccmp.org I have no idea how many people this person emailed, but I did get emailed directly about it so passing it on.. "Stuff" available (as of today for sure) in central NH. See a few pictures at www.ezwind.net/nh <http://www.ezwind.net/nh> The person said it includes 2 or 3 systems (altos? PDP? Vax?), and a lot of documentation and media. Some other documentation is present for other systems (Honeywell, etc.). They also said some Prime manuals but not sure I buy that. Snippets in email I received: You would not want to see what I have go into the dump. My Dad was a programmer from day until . His life's work is in my basement. Includes a VAX and a Dec PC and an Altos. Also have numerous PDP and PDP material. Many VAX/VMS manuals, multitude of software and manuals. And. We have some PDP=10 and somePDP11 books and manuals. Prime. And. Still available. Location Central NH. Come get it or call me via telephone. Where do you want it shipped and can you pay for freight charge? Want it gone now as soon as possible. Thank you. And. Here are pics of the DEC machines and an Altos. All of the documentation goes with the computers and some is from other mid-range platforms. Some text books as well. I need to sell all of this stuff to an interested buyer. Moving and can't take it with me. If you are serious (and able) to get this equipment within a week or two, then contact me off-list and I'll send an introduction email. Whoever takes this on should be in the NorthEastern US at least.. Best, J

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vintage.org
by william degnan 03 Oct '16

03 Oct '16

http://www.vintage.org/ umm.

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TRS-80 digitizer
by Mike Loewen 02 Oct '16

02 Oct '16

Are these things really so rare that they fetch $300? http://www.ebay.com/itm/302092943083 I may have to reconsider hanging on to mine. Mike Loewen mloewen(a)cpumagic.scol.pa.us Old Technology http://q7.neurotica.com/Oldtech/

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Woohoo! Award....
by william degnan 02 Oct '16

02 Oct '16

On Sun, Oct 2, 2016 at 4:24 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: > Date: Sun, 2 Oct 2016 23:24:20 +0300 > Subject: Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Woohoo! Award.... > I’m not surprised this is the most talented group I know. > > > On Oct 2, 2016, at 11:21 PM, Corey Cohen via vcf-midatlantic < > vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> wrote: > > > > Awesome > > > > corey cohen > > uǝɥoɔ ʎǝɹoɔ > > > >> On Oct 2, 2016, at 2:15 PM, Evan Koblentz via vcf-midatlantic < > vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> wrote: > >> > >> We won a Maker Faire Editor's Choice award. It's our second time; we > won two years ago. > > > Post some photos

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contact info needed
by Jeffrey Jonas 02 Oct '16

02 Oct '16

I'm trying to contact Christopher Bachmann of randomvariations.com. The email address I have no longer works. His web site has everything ... except any contact information or way to create a login! It may be best to contact me privately: jeffj/at/panix/dot/com -- jeff jonas

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Maker Faire, the journey begins
by Evan Koblentz 01 Oct '16

01 Oct '16

Was mostly done with my robot -- with a lot of phone help from Dan R. -- by 4:45. Jeff B. is picking me up at 5:30. Who needs sleep? :)

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Museum Closed this weekend
by Jeffrey Brace 30 Sep '16

30 Sep '16

We will all be at Maker Faire 10/1 and 10/2. -- Jeff Brace - ark72axow(a)gmail.com

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Help! LOGO programming
by Evan Koblentz 30 Sep '16

30 Sep '16

I'm stumped on a few things in LOGO for the Apple II. Can anyone help me by phone now?

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Looking for Bruce from Future Dimensions, Compuware
by Microtech Dart 29 Sep '16

29 Sep '16

Interesting story (well maybe for some). For any of you who have followed my projects, here is some context: It is one and the same company who used both the Point 4 IRIS systems and the Convergent Technologies MightyFrame systems that I have spent the last 3 years reconstructing and restoring. Some of the guys from that company distinctly remember one single programmer, who was responsible for programming (and possibly sourcing the hardware) for both of these systems for them. The programmer's name was Bruce, who's initials were BAM, and who worked for a company in the Los Angeles California area called Future Dimensions, back in the 1982-1985 area. It is also possible that he later had some connection with Compuware around the same timeframe.. Anyway, I thought I would just put this "out there", to see if anyone reading this might be this very Bruce, or someone who might know who he is. He once wrote this program to run on login of their Point 4 IRIS system. He also often commented his programs as the author as BAM. #BASIC 2/CALLME LIST 10 DIM A$[10],B$[50] 20 IF ERR 0 GOTO 40 30 INPUT ""A$ 40 PRINT "\207\\233\*\215\\215\\215\\215\\215\\215\\215\\21 5\\215"; 41 PRINT "CHUCK, THE LOCATION REPORT IS READY." 42 PRINT "ALSO, THE MODEL REPORT IS READY" 50 PRINT "\215\PLEASE CALL ME. BRUCE. TYPE '0' TO GET OUT OF THIS "; 60 INPUT A$ 70 IF A$="0" CHAIN "VM." 80 GOTO 40 RUN \←* It's my hope that someone finds this at least humorous, maybe even silly, if nothing else. Thanks always, -AJ http://point4iris.com http://MightyFrame.com http://QICreader.com

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VCFed @ World Maker Faire this weekend
by Evan Koblentz 29 Sep '16

29 Sep '16

Jeff B., Corey, Mouse, and yours truly are staffing the VCFed booth at World Maker Faire this weekend. They said we're in a tent this year. That is all I know for now, location-wise. Our theme is the same as at HOPE -- vintage computer robots. Jeff is showing an improved version of his Capsella robot controlled by a BASIC program on a Commodore 64. He has many more parts available now than he did for HOPE. I'm showing a Lego robot powered by a LOGO program on an Apple //e, vs. at HOPE my Lego demonstration used BASIC on a Compaq 386 luggable (in the form of a Network General Sniffer). By coincidence, Jeff's robot and mine are both car-like and they're both around the same size. So let me just say: MY LEGOBOT CAN KICK BRACE'S CAPSELLABOT'S BUTT. :) Here's mine: http://vcfed.org/evan/legobot.jpg I figured a black frame, red racing stripe, and huge rear spoiler all give it maker-cred. One motor controls forward/backward, another motor (via the exposed chain drive up front on the left side of your screen) controls steering, there is a touch/bump sensor on front, a light sensor in back, and working head/tail lights. I need to put a little Lego dude and steering wheel in the cockpit! Of course, the point of this is to show people (mostly children) that Lego computerized robotics are not a modern invention, but in fact existed 30 years ago. LOGO works like BASIC -- you can type a program and run it instantly (no compiling) or type commands directly. But in most ways it's even more basic than BASIC. Instead of FOR-NEXT loops you have REPEAT; instead of GOSUB you have LIST-TO-RUN; there aren't line numbers; and I'm trying to understand their oddly formatted IF-THEN method (which is also called something else; I forget what right now). Maybe I'll disable the front bump sensor and program the 'bot to go full speed into BraceBot. :) All in good fun, of course. Hope to see many of you this weekend.

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Polo shirt ordering info
by Evan Koblentz 29 Sep '16

29 Sep '16

The new shirts will be black polos with our logo on the left breast pocket. All sizes S-3XL will be $15. To order, send PayPal to polos(a)vcfed.org. **** BE SURE TO INCLUDE A NOTE WITH YOUR SIZE, QUANTITIES, ETC!!!!! **** You can also send a check to Vintage Computer Federation, PO Box 417, Eatontown, NJ, 07724, but in that case send a follow-up email to polos(a)vcfed.org so we know about it immediately vs. having to wait for your check. I'll place the order next Friday night.

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Museum Report
by Jeffrey Brace 28 Sep '16

28 Sep '16

We had a visit from about 15 children from Veteran's Middle School in Brick. They enjoyed it, but as always there wasn't enough time to show them all of the museum. It's always interesting to see what "kids" know or don't know about the history of computers. -- Jeff Brace - ark72axow(a)gmail.com

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Mad science experiment
by Evan Koblentz 27 Sep '16

27 Sep '16

Tonight's insanity: Lego drone programmed in Logo. Someone (presently) sell an expensive Lego drone kit, controlled by a phone app, using a mixture of Legos and custom parts. Why not do the same on an Apple //e using only 1980s Lego parts and Logo? This will be incredible if I can get it working for World Maker Faire next weekend. I am focusing hard on a lightweight and efficient design.

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Museum Report
by Jeffrey Brace 25 Sep '16

25 Sep '16

Slow day the museum. Only 1 regular visitor. But I got two VCFins visit who had been to InfoAge's OMARC Hamfest, Jeff Galinet and Herb Johnson. The got to see the updates to the new museum and catch up on things. It was nice to have them visit. -- Jeff Brace - ark72axow(a)gmail.com

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Atari & ATR8000
by Neil Cherry 25 Sep '16

25 Sep '16

I have an unusual bit of kit. I have an ATR8000 which is a device that was attached to the SIO port of an Atari 8 bit computer and gave it access to CP/M. I'd like to resurrect this setup (working on the Atari 800XL now) but I may need some help. What I appear to have is the ATR8000, CP/M floppy diskettes (5 1/4) and a manual. I haven't found my Atari Drives but I hope to have my Raspberry Pi (SIO2PC) working soon. I may need to beg, borrow or steal an Atari drive and a normal 5 1/4" drive tha can handle 1024 sector CP/M disks. -- 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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Museum report
by Evan Koblentz 24 Sep '16

24 Sep '16

Jeff B. and I spent several hours at the museum today. Had a few visitors and acquired a nice-looking Mac Classic. Mostly we cleaned the workshop, reorganized a few things, fixed some exhibit displays, and did some prep for Maker Faire next weekend. Jeff will be there again to give tours tomorrow.

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Funny little story
by VAXman＠tmesis.org 23 Sep '16

23 Sep '16

Evan Koblentz via vcf-midatlantic writes: >Got a phone call tonight from a 90-year-old who said (with full >sincerity), "I started on a computer called the Apple II. You probably >never heard of it." At that age, I would have expected to hear the Babbage Engine II. :)

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Funny little story
by Evan Koblentz 22 Sep '16

22 Sep '16

Got a phone call tonight from a 90-year-old who said (with full sincerity), "I started on a computer called the Apple II. You probably never heard of it."

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my VCF midwest wrapup
by Jeffrey Jonas 22 Sep '16

22 Sep '16

"There are no strangers, only friends you have not met yet" --- W.B. Yeats "A stranger is just a friend I haven't met yet." -- Will Rogers I just returned from my first VCF Midwest. It was totally awesome. A most glorious, drama-free weekend of vintage computers, reproductions, simulators and emulators but mostly all the great folks who create and appreciate them. I owe a zillion thanks to Connor for making it possible for me to attend. I was surprised at how many folks I already knew (either from VCF east, or online) and all the new friends I made so easily and comfortably. The dinners were great for schmoozing - the pizza place with the amazing pizza sliced into small squares, perfect for sharing. - the salad bar, with discount coupons thanks to Eric - the "dead dog party" afterwards The "free table" was like the dumpster diving after TCF (Trenton Computer Fest) but it was all weekend. I am enjoying items such as - empty chip rails - 5V and 12V power cubes - more home router/switches I had to pay for some items (GASP!) - a pretty silver Kensington trackball (dealer's den) - laser barcode scanner and more Palm PDAs from the auction The most bizarre item I got: a large heavy single axis gyro at the auction. My only laments are - missing the free rail of MAX232 chips - not attending sooner! -- jeff jonas

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OT: Modern-ish laptop F/S
by Evan Koblentz 20 Sep '16

20 Sep '16

Looking to turn my old Dell Latitude E6510 into cash. It's a Dell Latitude e6510, Intel Core i5, 2.67GHz, 4GB RAM (upgradeable to 8), 500GB HDD (not SSD). I installed Mint 18. Any reasonable offer accepted. Can ship or meet up in person.

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8-bit ISA slot Single Board Computer
by Herb Johnson 20 Sep '16

20 Sep '16

Joseph Oprysko posted: > Is anyone here aware of such a beast? I have a Heathkit/Zenith Z-150 > system. It's motherboard is literally just an 8-Bit ISA backplane, the > computer occupies 4 of the ISA slots. I have Z-150 and related documentation. Zenith/Heath produced a number of models of ISA computers which used passive backplanes and several ISA boards to complete the PC-nearly-compatible computer. Other Zenith products used IBM-type motherboards with most of the PC functions on that board. http://www.retrotechnology.com/herbs_stuff/zenith_mans.html#z148 > I'm curious if there exists a Single Board Computer that would work in the > 8-bit slots. > > What I would actually like to try is to have multiple SBC's on the ISA bus, > and have them communicate with each other. There may be single-board PC's which fit a single 8-bit ISA slot. But many were 16-bit ISA, the longer slot. And the PC-104 stackable bus standard, is essentially the ISA bus on a different connector. YOu can look up PC-104 if that's not familiar. Running multiple ISA-bus "masters" on one ISA bus, may be a problem. Briefly: they each expect to drive the bus as a single master. There may be products that can share the bus with each other. (shrug) you'll have to do some homework to become familiar with such things; and then of course find now-vintage products which will share the bus; and of course determine how to set them up, boot up sequences, who is in charge when, and so on. Likely more common, are slave CPU boards, where a task or a user gets a CPU on a board with memory and I/O; but uses the bus to share resources like hard drives. this was common in S-100 TurboDOS systems. Some of the S-100 "IEEE-696" CPU boards, can release the bus to another CPU or DMA bus-master; some of those boards are fairly functional "computers". Multibus did this too. But I'm guessing the idea, is to use IBM-PC ISA-class products, to check out multiple bus-masters and multiple CPU's, in a vintage way. a modified ISA backplane, may be such a way. A custom backplane may be able to adapt ISA "no share" bus masters to access common ISA bus devices. But you might look at PC-104; they are smaller cards, more integrated and so with more features; and they may have a multi-master standard as part of PC-104. And of course, they are vintage now. ;) Herb JOhnson -- Herbert R. Johnson, New Jersey USA http://www.retrotechnology.com OR .net

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