- vcf-midatlantic - lists.vcfed.org

information overload and all that jazz [was Mastodon]
by Jeffrey Jonas 07 May '22

07 May '22

Raymond Scott's 1960 album "The Secret 7: The Unexpected" predicted this: Citing the liner notes: "A Message from Where" is a gentle protest based on Scott's feeling that "we're getting too many messages from too many places". This was DECADES before the Internet, cable-tv, texting and all our wonderful new-and-improved sources of "information overload"! The man saw the future and knew it was ludicrous. samples of the tracks: https://www.raymondscott.net/music/streaming-audio/s7/ An amazon comment finally unmasks the men of mystery: This late-'50s album by the amazing Raymond Scott boasts a truly ALL-STAR jazz supergroup line-up: Elvin Jones Milt Hinton Kenny Burrell Eddie Costa Sam "The Man" Taylor Harry "Sweets" Edison "Wild" Bill Davis Jean "Toots" Thielemans

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KISS goes wrong
by Jeffrey Jonas 07 May '22

07 May '22

No, I'm not talking about Gene Simmons et. al., or https://memory-beta.fandom.com/wiki/DeathTongue?file=DeathTongue.jpg I'm talking about insane engineering, gone insane! The stuff that Rube Goldberg, Heath Robinson, Frederick Roland Emett, and Wallace&Gromit build all the time: https://youtu.be/WN90HYiFpAw Marble Machine X - A Lesson in Dumb Design from Wintergatan Dumb Design requirements are holding the Marble Machine X back from Success, let us see if we can at least try to learn something from my biggest mistakes :) "Back to the drawing board" as we used to say, but more importantly, "THINK". Not "Think different", more like "think CLEARLY", "think AHEAD" but most of all, KEEP IT SIMPLE! Antoine de Saint-Exupery said it best "perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add but when there is nothing left to take away" [sadly, "value engineering" often takes that to stupid extremes] -- Jeff Jonas

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Wang 2200 in Sagamore Hills, Ohio
by Dave McGuire 06 May '22

06 May '22

On 5/6/22 20:38, Sentrytv via vcf-midatlantic wrote: > Even if I asked my son to go pick that up > it would be a 2 Hour Dr. from Columbus. 2hrs? At the drop of a hat. I generally want maybe an hour of notice if the drive is to exceed 5-6 hours. I've still not heard back from them; I'm hoping something can be worked out. LSSM doesn't have much of an acquisitions budget, so maybe it won't be all about the dollar signs for them. We'll see. -Dave -- Dave McGuire, AK4HZ New Kensington, PA

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Wang 2200 in Sagamore Hills, Ohio
by William Sudbrink 06 May '22

06 May '22

I wish I could go get it. https://www.estatesales.net/OH/Sagamore-Hills/44067/3272274 About 16 pictures down. Bill S. -- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus

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Atari gets a shout out
by W2HX 06 May '22

06 May '22

https://youtu.be/WDrZY2hn5cs?t=480 Trevor Noah. 73 Eugene W2HX Subscribe to my Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/w2hx-channel/videos

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10 Years ago today
by Christian Liendo 06 May '22

06 May '22

You can love or hate Facebook, but I do like the reminders of what happened in the past 10 Years ago today we had a VCF We mourned the loss of Claude Kagan Dave McGuire brought a rather nice DEC with multiple terminals David Gesswein brought a couple of DECs and had the PDP-8 out Bill Degnan had a IBM PC setup with multiple versions of the PC Bill Dromgoole brought his OSI collection Ian Primus had a large Apple II setup Kids were playing Guitar Hero on a C64 Brian Cirulnick and I were showing off our SGIs. Daniel Kottke was our speaker. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=boCSTajHutc It's nice to look back and remember.

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] VCF East 2022 article and videos
by Dave McGuire 06 May '22

06 May '22

On 5/5/22 12:31, Brian L. Stuart via vcf-midatlantic wrote: > Yes, she was there. I kind of got the impression she didn't > want to be recognized though. She was almost incognito. > Otherwise, I might have mentioned that some of the bits > in my display were purchased from Adafruit. :) She's a bit of a celebrity, plus the whole "hard-core tech girl" aspect of things. I really don't blame her for staying low-profile; she'd probably end up getting cornered by tech guys and not have been able to enjoy the event. -Dave -- Dave McGuire, AK4HZ New Kensington, PA

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VCF East 2022 article and videos
by Jeffrey Brace 05 May '22

05 May '22

Thought I would share some good press about the show! https://hackaday.com/2022/05/02/vintage-computer-festival-east-raises-the-b… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5s7u8p3uqU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVS4dCl4lcM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zi07_OtCeFA ========================================= Jeff Brace VCF National Board Member Chairman & Vice President Vintage Computer Festival East Showrunner Vintage Computer Federation is a 501c3 charity https://vcfed.org/ <http://www.vcfed.org/> jeffrey(a)vcfed.org

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Bench Spares order
by Martin Flynn 05 May '22

05 May '22

CDL is restocking & placing a parts order for the makerspace workshop, here's whats on the list so far: Pre-cut Heat Shrink assortments Molex pin kits (903 series 4 and 12 pin) Dual wipe IC sockets (Tyco-Augat) * 8-pin * 14-pin * 16-pin * 18-pin * 24-pin * 28-pin * 40-pin * 64-pin D & E connctor shells + pins for the pneumatic crimper 3.6V ni-mh packs and pigtails to replace motherboard barrel batteries Anything else suggested as stock? Martin Flynn

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VCF East 2022 photos
by Mike Loewen 05 May '22

05 May '22

For better or for worse, here are my pics: http://q7.neurotica.com/Oldtech/VCF-East2022/ Mike Loewen mloewen(a)cpumagic.scol.pa.us Old Technology http://q7.neurotica.com/Oldtech/

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Veteran's Appreciation Lunch May 20 @ InfoAge
by Jeffrey Brace 05 May '22

05 May '22

Mike Ruane, CEO of InfoAge wanted me to pass this along to VCF members =========================== From: Patricia Mariconda <pmariconda(a)townshipofwall.com> Subject: Veterans Appreciation Luncheon May 20, 2022 Good Morning! I am reaching out to those of you who have previously participated in one of our Veteran or Senior events to invite you to be a vendor at our Veterans Appreciation Luncheon on May 20th at 11:00am. We will be inviting our township Veterans to lunch and would love for them to be able to explore numerous vendor tables as well. Please let me know if you are able to participate by responding with your organizations name. If you know of anyone else who would be interested and can provide a service to this population please feel free to forward the information. Just make sure that they RSVP to be by May 13th. Thank you and hope you are all doing well. *Patti Mariconda* *Director* *Wall Youth Center and Community Services* *1824 South M Street* *Wall, NJ 07719* *732-681-1375* ========================================= Jeff Brace VCF National Board Member Chairman & Vice President Vintage Computer Festival East Showrunner Vintage Computer Federation is a 501c3 charity https://vcfed.org/ <http://www.vcfed.org/> jeffrey(a)vcfed.org

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Museum Docent training
by Jeffrey Brace 05 May '22

05 May '22

Now that VCF East 2022 is over and I've started to wind down with post mortems, sending thank you emails, surveys, meetings, etc. and other post event cleanup; I've started to train some new docents: Rick Lewis Doug Crawford (he's been docent before, but needs a refresher) Bart Hirst I'm starting regularly scheduled training and hope to have docents in a regular rotation. If you are interested in being a docent, then send me an email and I will get you started in the training. The number of visitors has increased to a normal level in recent months, so it's important to have docents in the VCF museum during regular business hours. We are also getting school groups on Wednesdays which is nice to see the return of groups of students. There have also been recent events such as NJ Maker's Day, Tour of Old, Days of Learning and Lecture Series that have brought in many visitors to InfoAge and VCF in recent months. It's nice to see the level of visitors to InfoAge and the VCF Museum get back to normal. Please tell everyone about InfoAge, which is the diamond in the rough that not enough people know about. I will sometimes hear from visitors that live in the same town (Wall Township) that had never heard of InfoAge despite living in the same town for years. Word of mouth is one way that you can help get visitors to our museums. So please help us promote it! Thanks! ========================================= Jeff Brace VCF National Board Member Chairman & Vice President Vintage Computer Festival East Showrunner Vintage Computer Federation is a 501c3 charity https://vcfed.org/ <http://www.vcfed.org/> jeffrey(a)vcfed.org

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My VCF East 2022 photos
by Herb Johnson 04 May '22

04 May '22

https://www.retrotechnology.com/vcfe22/vcfe_2022.html Some of my photos of the VCF-E 22 event, with some captioning. I'll fill in details as time permits. For those who think the Web page is clunky, it has the virtue of being compatible with any HTML browser, ever. Contact me with any errors and corrections or for non-private use of photos. - regards Herb Johnson -- 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 comcast DOT net

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VCF East Clinic kudos
by Herb Johnson 04 May '22

04 May '22

[Discussion about Jonathan's S-100 workshop in the CDL facility.] I spent time in Jon's workshop, mostly observing. I also enjoyed seeing the IMSAIs in repair. And it's good to see people learning to build kits from components. Jon and I tag-teamed on one IMSAI fix. He was looking up details on a front-panel signal that wasn't pulsing; but could not find an early IMSAI schematic. While he was looking, I reverse-engineered the circuit to trace it backwards. He found the problem from the schematic, just as I traced it back, to the same one-shot 74121. Replacing it solved the problem; apparently 40-year-old monostables tend to fail, Jon said at the time. There were a number of people in the workshop, exercising their collective knowledge of these early vintage computers. It was good to see them all, not just the S-100 machines. And it should be noted: there was a nice exhibit of early S-100 computers, thanks to Mike Loewen. I'm certainly in favor of another workshop devoted to more 1970's computers, if not only S-100 computers. If it's done during a swapmeet, I suggest not much work will get done in the morning, people will be swapping. So that eats into a day of repair. Regards, Herb Johnson sometimes called "Dr. S-100" -- 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 comcast DOT net

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4th of May
by Jim Scheef 04 May '22

04 May '22

May the forth be with us all...

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] OT: time to downsize
by Bob Shuster 04 May '22

04 May '22

I just posted another update, having finished going through my Commodore VIC-20 stuff. Next up is the rest of the Commodore stuff! I have two C64s (one boxed), a 64C boxed - plus drives, software, and books. Could be a few weeks before I finish going through those. Many thanks to those who have looked and especially to those who have taken some of my treasures! I’m glad they’re going to good homes. The main link: http://theshusters.com/bobvintage.html - Bob Shuster

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WTB: 150MB Bernoulli Cartridges
by Alexander Jacocks 04 May '22

04 May '22

Folks, I'm looking for 150MB Bernoulli cartridges. Please let me know, off-list, if you have some that you'd like to sell, and how much you'd like for them. Thanks! - Alex

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] OT: time to downsize
by Bob Shuster 03 May '22

03 May '22

Oops, I missed one of my favorite computers, my Mac Plus 1MB with hard drive. I updated the Google sheet listing. Btw, I think I’m going to move the list over to a webpage. Google Sheets is not well-suited for a complex format like this and is very prone to accidentally deleting items (which I did with several!) I’ll send a new link when I’ve done that (and added a significant amount of new items, probably Atari next…) Bob Shuster

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SGI Monitors in North/Central NJ near Patterson
by Douglas Crawford 03 May '22

03 May '22

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/4394951120608651/?ref=search&refe…

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NJ Makers group on FB
by m simons 02 May '22

02 May '22

Greetings, I reactivated the NJ Makers group on FB. I spent a lot of time looking for lists and things for spaces in and around NJ and surrounding states and found most of them were outdated, or no longer there. If you're active on FB, or even if you are only there to maintain a page for a club or group, maker space, local library, school, scout troop, or whatever, I'd like to invite y'all to join us and let us know about what you're doing as an individual or a group project. Lots of stuff that VCF does and other groups at InfoAge would be appropriate of course, so please help to spread the word.. I think there's a lot of people in the group that haven't heard of VCF, InfoAge, etc. https://www.facebook.com/groups/njmakers/ Thanks -- MS

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] OT: time to downsize
by Bob Shuster 02 May '22

02 May '22

I posted a while ago about downsizing, and have gotten a significant way through. I converted to a webpage - it’s much easier to navigate than Google Sheets. That being said, I’ve gone through most of my Apple and Atari stuff (still more to come) and have reached a milestone where I feel comfortable sharing with the group. The new link: http://www.theshusters.com/bobvintage.html Please don't share for now without asking me. Right now it’s just open to this group - my contact info is intentionally missing from the webpages. If you can read this, you have my email. Email me with questions or offers! Please don't make offers on the list, but if you want to discuss my process and feel the group would benefit, then by all means knock yourself out! :) Bob Shuster (Slightly edited original message below) ---- Well, folks, I’ve gotten to the age where I need to seriously downsize my hobbies and collections, not wanting to leave it to my children to have to deal with in later years. (I had to do that recently for a relative.) On the electronics side, I’ve decided to concentrate on my vintage video game systems - and therefore sell off most of my vintage computer stuff. My collection includes mostly 8-bit stuff: TRS-80 Models I, IV, M100, etc. - Atari 400, 800, Stacy, Portfolio, ST, etc. - C64/VIC20 - T/S1000 (including an unbuilt kit), Apple II, II+, IIe, IIe Platinum, IIgs - Wang WLTC - Mattel Aquarius - TI-99/4A - many others that I still have to dig out - plus lots of peripherals, disks, manuals, etc. Also have some newer Macs starting with a Mac Plus in an Apple carrying bag. I’m starting with you guys before trying to list elsewhere, although I may hit some of the dedicated FaceBorg pages (such as for Aquarius and Apple II.) I'm willing to ship some of the smaller items, but in general systems or monitors will need to be picked up here (near the Fort Washington exit of the PA Turnpike) or nearby, and cash or PayPal for payment. I may also consider trades for some of the video game stuff I’m looking for. It pains me to do this, but the clutter is getting out of hand, and I haven’t touched most of these in years. It’s time for someone else to enjoy. Bob Shuster

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Trying to remember a name.
by Jeff S 02 May '22

02 May '22

I am HORRIBLE at remembering names until I use them on a regular basis. That being said, I'm trying to remember the name of someone I was talking to at the last VCF-East event, and perhaps some contact information. That person is probably on this list. If so, I apologize for forgetting your name. All I can provide is a description. He's about 5'5"-5'-7" or so, thin build. Has dark hair and a trimmed beard and mustache.I think he was carrying a shoulder bag with him when he was attending the event. I've seen him plenty of times at various VCF public events, so I know others have seen him around and most likely know him. I was talking with him about the older computing systems like Univac, Eniac and such. I can remember the dialog, but can't even remember his name (did I mention I was HORRIBLE at remembering names). Thanks for any insight, Jeff Salzman

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Trying to remember a name.
by Jeff S 02 May '22

02 May '22

That's the guy, I believe. His name stated with an A. On Sun, May 1, 2022, 4:14 PM drummy via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > I think I know who you mean.I spoke to him remember his name either. His > first name is short. Something like Ayn or Ain. Maybe

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VCF East 2022 Post Event Survey
by Jeffrey Brace 02 May '22

02 May '22

Hello everyone, For those that attended the show, please fill out this survey so that we may improve the show: https://bit.ly/vcfe2022post. Thanks! ========================================= Jeff Brace VCF National Board Member Chairman & Vice President Vintage Computer Festival East Showrunner Vintage Computer Federation is a 501c3 charity https://vcfed.org/ <http://www.vcfed.org/> jeffrey(a)vcfed.org

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9-track tape deck
by Stephen A Edwards 02 May '22

02 May '22

Someone on Facebook has a reel-to-reel tape for a set of diagnostic programs for a Honeywell mainframe that they'd like to have digitized. Anybody have a working drive?

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ZAPPLE 8080 monitor
by Bill Degnan 01 May '22

01 May '22

Does anyone have a copy of the 8080 version of the ZAPPLE monitor, presumably still called the APPLE monitor program? Bill

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VCF East Clinic kudos
by Crawford Griffith 01 May '22

01 May '22

Folks, I have to give a public Shout Out / Thank You to Jonathan Chapman and Glitch Works for the VCF East 2022 workshop / S-100 Clinic. Jonathan worked tirelessly to get kits built, and S-100 systems fixed, while being incredibly patient even with newbies, tough customers, and some idiot who clogged his desolder station. Highlights were: * Simply seeing 3 IMSAI’s (mine included) in a row on the CDL workbench with one early Altair was a treat. Ryan, Dmitry, and I got to see what other configurations the IMSAI’s had, and swapped known-good parts between us for testing. * Seeing a young woman come in, never having soldered before and seeing her first do a learners kit, then a full-on Glitch project. There was also another young woman there later (Connor’s friend) also doing a kit. * Just seeing people walk in, and say “so, what is all this”? and talk a bit about the CDL, and what we were working on. (Tip for introverts, the end of the front workbench nearest the door make you spokesperson pro tem) Jonathan’s expertise is hard to overstate, and he got my IMSAI operational. Jonathan did all the troubleshooting, and brought up the IMSAI power supply slowly so the electrolytic caps didn’t get all explodey I swapped out some known-bad front-panel switches, then the fun began. I recall there being at least a few badly tarnished TTL chips, and a bad one-shot chip. At least two bad IC sockets, one of which was under front-panel switches - Jonathan showed how the socket could be removed without major surgery. Dmitry loaned a 3 voltage / current limited power supply so boards could be tested *before* plugging into the IMSAI bus. In the end, I had a basic operational system, which is fantastic. Jonathan identified some of my mystery s-100 boards, procured at Trenton ages ago. In fact Ryan had one of them also to test, a video terminal board. Ryan also loaned me his front panel as a swap test, and the extra pair of hands needed for lucite cover re-installation. So, thanks Jon/Glitch! I promise to never clog up your Hakko desolder station ever again! -Crawford

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S-100 linear power supplies
by Martin Flynn 01 May '22

01 May '22

CDL is planning to stock capacitors for linear S-100 power supplies. Looking for suggestions on the values for the 8 volt and +/- 16V rails Martin

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] VCF East Clinic kudos
by David Gesswein 01 May '22

01 May '22

On Sun, May 01, 2022 at 10:57:16AM +0000, Alexander Pierson via vcf-midatlantic wrote: > While the Nova wasn't 100% after that, it wasn't trying to self-destruct > any more. > Did you find out later what the problem was?

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About that previous message concerning NJ Transit
by Gregg Levine 29 Apr '22

29 Apr '22

Hello! I believe group I was a little rude regarding the bollixed NJ Transit schedule. According to them, the reason why my train for last weekend was deleted was for their work on a bridge. And of course they completely forgot that they were still showing only last year's schedules everywhere. Anyway based, on what I normally work on, I've decided that unless circumstances change, I won't be at the next scheduled repair weekend for NJ. ----- Gregg C Levine gregg.drwho8(a)gmail.com "This signature fought the Time Wars, time and again."

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NJ Transit schedules mixup
by Gregg Levine 28 Apr '22

28 Apr '22

Hello! I am now aware that NJ Transit has gone ahead and created schedules that still do not make sense. For example they show a PDF for 3/26/2020 schedule that contains information I would have used to work out how to get to Belmar and then to Infoage for VCF East last week that would have gotten me there on time. And if that schedule was available in hardcopy last week. Then they still had the ones up from the last part of last year. So as of today Thursday, unless circumstances change that confirm I should be where InfoAge and the CDL location is on the weekend, I am still off for the coming one in July there. ----- Gregg C Levine gregg.drwho8(a)gmail.com "This signature fought the Time Wars, time and again."

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Great Commodore Related moments for me at VCF 2022,
by Christian Liendo 28 Apr '22

28 Apr '22

I wanted to share some great moments for me from VCF 2022. I owned a C64, Amiga 500, Amiga 2000 and Amiga 3000, I worked in an Amiga only store and I worked on their ad campaign. So for me this was a big deal. Where do I start? Albert Charpentier was sitting in the small couch area in building 9010D and he was talking about his history and what he did at Commodore. Why he designed what he did and what he did afterwards. It was wonderful. Some small tidbits: He designed the VIC because he liked video games. I thought that was a great bit of trivia. He wanted to make a "Commodore 80" and he wanted to use an Intel Chip. He never heard of the C64 being called the "VW Beetle" of computers and was surprised with all the people making clones. He knew the VIC-20 and C64 were big sellers but didn't seem to realize the impact to so many people. I have to say, the staff from Commodore really don't know how much of an impact their work did. Later on I took him to see the Univac and he was very impressed. He was also impressed by the PDP-8. He had worked on a PDP-8 at one time and was surprised to see one At the Commodore Panel Hedley Davis admitted they didn't like the look of the Amiga 2000. Personally I like the A2000 case but they explained that the A3000 was an aesthetic choice. I also didn't know about the joystick design issue they had. I also realized I want to buy Andy Finkel's shirt collection.

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Has anyone thought of the VCFED hosting a Mastodon instance?
by Dan FitzGerald 28 Apr '22

28 Apr '22

Look, I know that this probably going nowhere, but there is currently an interest in people posting to something other than Twitter because of Elon Musk. I've been on Mastodon for a couple of years, and it has its flaws, but a VCFED Mastodon instance wouldn't be the worst idea on the planet. One of the flaws with Mastodon is that its like Twitter if it was open-protocol and made up of clusters of special interest groups. If we had a VCFED Mastodon open only to members of VCFED (we could make membership to this mailing list a prereq to joining the instance), then the instance's local timeline would be full of posts from this community. As opposed to the tech.lgbt instance I am on, where the local timeline are just a bunch of people that happen to be queer like me... I feel like a timeline full of folks I just spent three days sharing an exhibit hall with would be more of an actual community. Regards, Dan FitzGerald They/Them/Theirs http://www.vm.ibm.com/devpages/dfitzger

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Apple II Classroom - Thank you and a challenge
by Adam Michlin 27 Apr '22

27 Apr '22

Hi Everyone, On behalf of Tony Bogan, Javier Rivera, Stephen Edwards, Dean Notarnicola and myself, we would like to thank everyone for making the Apple II Classroom such a wonderful success. Almost every class was overflowing all three days! We have all talked and would like to publicly challenge the Commodore community to create a Commodore classroom at VCF East 2023! Best wishes, -Adam

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My VCF East 2022 Polaroids are online
by Dan FitzGerald 27 Apr '22

27 Apr '22

Here ya go, there's eight of them and one of my cat. Cheers! https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjzMkYL id="-x-evo-selection-start-marker"> Regards, Dan FitzGerald They/Them/Theirs http://www.vm.ibm.com/devpages/dfitzger

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Replacing keyswitches on a Macintosh Plus keyboard
by Herb Johnson 27 Apr '22

27 Apr '22

Dan FitzGerald: > that the keyboard was still plugged into my Mac 512Ke, and it fell of > the desk and the top rightmost keyswitches ('/' and '*') snapped. The OK, I can help you but you have to help me. The M0110A keyboard for the Plus and 512KE has a numeric keypad on the right with the keycaps you describe. The M0110 "short" keyboard for the 128K and 512K does not. Point one: you have the long keyboard right? https://deskthority.net/wiki/Apple_M0110A Point two: there's no "standards" when it comes to keyboards, OK? Brand, model, where it was built, when it was built - those come into play. For expediency, I'll just ask you identifying questions. A) what color is the broken *keystem*? Creamy white? Ivory white? Black? b) what color is the *keycap*? Grey/platinum or brown/tan/beige? I can likely supply you at InfoAge, keyswitch and keycaps on Saturday to you in hand, if you inform me before Friday midnight. OK? Plan B: I find out Saturday and provide parts Sunday. With parts in hand you can visit with Jon Chapman at the CDL lab at InfoAge and repair the keyboard in some short period of time. Please reply privately to me so we can work this. Regards, Herb Johnson -- 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 comcast DOT net -- 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 comcast DOT net

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Vintage Computer Festival -- Happy 25th - 2022
by Andrew Diller 26 Apr '22

26 Apr '22

This year is the 25th anniversary of the Vintage Computer Festival The very first one was held on October 26-27, 1997, at the Alameda County Fairgrounds in Pleasanton, California. More information will be forth coming as I continue my research about the history and formation of VCF (the Festival _and_ the Federation). I'm imagining that West may emphasis the anniversary since that is were it all began. -andy

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2022 VCFE AV Thanks and notes!
by Ethan O'Toole 26 Apr '22

26 Apr '22

Much thanks to people who helped out with the AV stuff this year. In no specific order, Shawn Holtom, Ben Dressler, Reggie Waters, Jason Perkins, Glitch and anyone I might of forgotten by accident (still recovering from the weekend!) Thanks to MAGFest for letting us borrow the pipe and drape system used behind stage and the ellipsoidal spotlights. A VCFE 2022 AV system diagram for those curious (95% accurate): https://drive.google.com/file/d/1szUFTQiNCdlRVvHh58kI6bYRSK-ARHJm/view?usp=…

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My Commodore Classroom story
by Kelly Leavitt 26 Apr '22

26 Apr '22

Back in 1982, as I was going into my junior year of high school, I moved to a new school district in rural New Jersey. The one I moved from (Vernon Township) had one Apple II plus computer and a link to an HP9000 time share using paper ttys. That was it for their computer program. The one I move too (High Point Regional High School) had a very different setup. They had just moved from independent TRS-80 model III computers to a new room of twelve Commodore Super Pet 9000s with shared 8050 disk drives. They were offering a BASIC class for interested students. Since I had been programming in BASIC since 1980 (that's a separate story*), they let me test out of that and then do an independent study of Pascal. What I actually did was mess around with peek, poke and what little assembly I knew while learning just enough Pascal on my own. The Super Pet 9000 is well documented at the following two sites: http://zimmers.net/cbmpics/csp9000.html and http://www.6502.org/users/andre/petindex/superpet.html I never hear too much about these setups but this is what I had to work with. I'd be happy to help out with a PET classroom, but I don't have any PET 9000s. Kelly PS * Separate story on how I got involved with computers in the first place... I was playing PeeWee football. Through a freak tackle I ended up breaking my kneecap at the end of 7th grade. I was on crutches and then rehab for two years. They had nothing to do with me for the required PE class. However, the school had just gotten a grant for an Apple II plus. They asked me if I wanted to learn about it, so I did. I sat in the equivalent of a closet for two years reading about the Apple II and basic programming. Funny how my first two computers were NOT TRS-80s but that's what I like the most.

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VCF East 2022 Wrap-up
by Jeffrey Brace 26 Apr '22

26 Apr '22

Hello everyone, VCF East 2022 was a great success! Initial reports indicate that financially we recouped our large expenses this year. Everyone that I ran into seemed very pleased with all aspects of the show and thanked me for all my hardwork and dedication for making this show great. The talks were diverse and top notch, the consignment was very profitable and great treasures to be found, the food on site was appreciated, the exhibits were incredibly exciting, lots of cool VCF Swag to be bought and the comradery was fun. I want to thank everyone who volunteered and helped me with the planning, setup and breakdown of the show. I spent countless hours planning for this show over the weeks and months before the show. Despite the huge amount of time and dedication that I put into this show by myself, I would not be able to make this show happen without the volunteers. The quality of the show has been improved due to the volunteers such as the Sea Cadets and all the individuals who made my job easier and improved the quality of the show overall. For me, this is a part time job in the months leading up to this show and a full time job the week before the show. I want to thank Bill and Rick who helped me plan for hours every week ahead of the show. Bill is my right hand man who helps set up the signs, docenting at the museum and with anything that I need, before, during and after the show. Rick helped with the planning and the survey as well as setup, docent duty and breakdown after the show. The Sea Cadets were incredibly helpful with crowd management and helping in all areas of the show. I want to thank Alex for organizing the volunteers and running the consignment. They brought consignment up to a new level with a Point of Sale System, setting up storage carts for a less crowded room, labeling for items, spreadsheet inventory and many other tweaks. Thanks to Corey for running the front desk, helping with setup and breakdown of it. I felt relaxed to know that he would have everything running there smoothly. Jason was great in setting up the tables, managing the exhibitors and for making the campus map as well as Lawson for making the exhibitor map. Ethan O and crew for bringing the A/V to an even higher level of professionalism. They were so good last year, but were even better this year! Thanks to Adam and Tony for setup and teaching and all the instructors for doing the Apple 2 classroom. It was very successful. Glitch had another incredible workshop and adjusted nicely due to lack of kits by making it an S-100 repair workshop. Chris L for helping where I needed at the front gate, breakdown, etc. Chris F for being the speaker coordinator and all the other people who helped with the day before, during and after the show. I was very glad to be able to go home "early" on Sunday by 10PM due to help with breakdown. I'm usually there until 2AM and come back Monday for several hours to clean up. Thanks to all the great speakers for such diverse, interesting and enjoyable talks. Thanks especially to Bil Herd for wrangling 12 Commodore speakers together in one spot. This was a once in a lifetime opportunity to see so many of them in one spot. Thanks to all the Commodorians who came. You will never see this happen again. Thanks to Burger Becky for such incredible talks. Thanks to Kathy Kleiman for a fun interactive talk. Thanks to Stephen Edwards for moderating the technical talks with the Commodore folks. Thanks to all the in-person and virtual speakers who had diverse and fun talks. All the steamed talks were made private so that we have a chance to clean up the videos and release them as separate talks. We need some time to edit and process them before releasing them. Our next year's show will be April 14, 15 and 16, 2023 back at InfoAge. There will be two themes for this show. The first is: Computing in Education. The second theme will be announced shortly. I hope to see everyone again next year for an incredibly fantastic show! Jeff Brace Showrunner for Vintage Computer Festival East

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The Commodore panels were off the hook.
by Christian Liendo 26 Apr '22

26 Apr '22

I'm sorry for singling out those panels. For me, those Commodore panels were amazing. They were something we wish we had when Commodore was around and had to wait 40 years. I don't know how to properly thank Bil Herd in getting all those people there. But that was a historical moment that I predict people will be talking about for a while. I have a lot of good Vintage Computer Fest Stories and this will go with them, I got to learn a lot of great trivia and met a lot of good people. Also it was great to see all the people I know.

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Green Modem/Phone in consignment
by Jeff S 25 Apr '22

25 Apr '22

Didn't Connor buy that at a discount in the last hour or two? On Mon, Apr 25, 2022, 1:29 PM Jeffrey Golas via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > Does anyone know if the green modem/RCA phone pair that were on the first > table sold at all? (AlexJ would prob know but I dont have his contact info) > > Jeff

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Show
by Jeffrey Brace 25 Apr '22

25 Apr '22

On Sat, Apr 23, 2022 at 6:34 PM Bob Aviles via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > Hi All, > I enjoy the show today, I got a couple of things mostly software and one > joystick. I ready like the talk about Commodore to Atari ST it was a lot of > fun!Anyway can not wait until next year. > Bobby Glad to hear that you enjoyed it! Planning for next year! > -- ========================================= Jeff Brace VCF National Board Member Chairman & Vice President Vintage Computer Festival East Showrunner Vintage Computer Federation is a 501c3 charity https://vcfed.org/ <http://www.vcfed.org/> jeffrey(a)vcfed.org

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Green Modem/Phone in consignment
by Jeffrey Golas 25 Apr '22

25 Apr '22

Does anyone know if the green modem/RCA phone pair that were on the first table sold at all? (AlexJ would prob know but I dont have his contact info) Jeff

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KSUs from free pile
by Jason Perkins 24 Apr '22

24 Apr '22

Whoever took the phone system / KSUs from the free pile... you left the phones. Without them the system won't work. Please grab them, they're in the free pile. Also, a friend was interested the blue / green TIE KSU. The TalkTo is higher quality, think you'd be happy with just one? Thanks, -- Jason Perkins 313 355 0085 Sent from my iPhone

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Sunday afternoon: from the Sarnoff Collection: Vinyl Videos Opening Reception and Zoom/In-Person Informal Discussion
by Jeffrey Jonas 24 Apr '22

24 Apr '22

For folks not enjoying VCF-East in person, on channel 2 is a webcast from the RCA Sarnoff Museum: https://davidsarnoff.tcnj.edu/2022/04/18/vinyl-videos-opening-reception-and… The Sarnoff Collection Vinyl Videos Opening Reception and Zoom/In-Person Informal Discussion April 24, 2022: Reception 1pm; Zoom/In-Person Informal Discussion 2-3:30pm Vinyl Videos: The Rise and Fall of the RCA Videodisc on view through November \xe2\x80\x94 examines the creation, introduction, and fate of an innovative RCA commercial product line. On Sunday April 24, to mark the opening of the exhibit, the Sarnoff welcomes campus and community friends to a public reception (1pm) followed by a live/Zoom conversation (2-3:30pm) among Videodisc project leaders and scholars and historians of science, technology. and innovation. Presented live and via Zoom No reservations necessary To attend via Zoom: https://tcnj.zoom.us/j/92539097242?pwd=VDUxeTBDYXJYT2xidmIyTlRjbFlmUT09 Participants include Dr. Margaret Graham, author, The Business of Research: RCA and The Videodisc; Dr. Benjamin Gross, author, The TVs of Tomorrow: How RCA\xe2\x80\x99s Flat-Screen Dreams Led to the First LCDs; Dr. John A. van Raalte, lead RCA Videodisc researcher; Brian Wallace, curator, Sarnoff Collection. Flori Pierri, assistant curator at the MIT Museum, will moderate the conversation. Vinyl Videos: The Rise and Fall of the RCA Videodisc The RCA Videodisc system \xe2\x80\x93 along with the story of its creation, introduction, and impact on the RCA corporation \xe2\x80\x93 embodies the curious power and fragility of corporate innovation. This exhibit uses objects, images, and documents from the Sarnoff archives along with first-hand and scholarly accounts of this product\xe2\x80\x99s development and demise to examine the complex relationships between basic research, business decision-making, and product development and marketing. For much of the 20th century, RCA defined and dominated the fields of communication, information, and entertainment. RCA created products and provided the capital needed to manufacture and market those products and the highly-desirable content that drove sales of those products: record players and a vast catalog of music; radio and its multitude of broadcast programs; black and white and then color television and that medium\xe2\x80\x99s broad range of programs. Implicit in this success was the need to combine the next innovation with the next market niche and continue the cycle. In 1964, company executives decided to focus on the pursuit of a commercially viable video playback. 1972, RCA announced that a product named Videodisc would be on the market the following year. However, that year and then several more years passed, as difficulties crept into the development process. Some problems were research-based or technical. Some were rooted in a poor understanding of the home user: early designs failed to account for damage from fingerprints, dust, and scratches. Other problems are best characterized as poor leadership followed by sub-optimal responses: some executives ignored the greater status afforded to researchers at the more theoretical end of the spectrum (and to managers in the greater New York/Princeton area as opposed to in Indiana and elsewhere in the mid-West). Research and test work continued through the mid and late 1970s. Variations to disc materials and design and in the approach to needle/cartridge materials, a plastic sleeve totally enclosing the disc, and simplified and smaller player design all contributed to a new line of devices and programs set to drive a new mutually-reinforcing category of sales that built on, rather than cannibalized, the market for televisions. The Videodisc system was introduced in March 1981, promoted heavily for two years, sold poorly, and pulled from the market in 1984. RCA itself was sold to rival General Electric in 1987 in a deal that cost shareholders, workers, and pensioners billions in today\xe2\x80\x99s dollars. What went wrong? VHS videotape, introduced a crucial few months before Videodisc, offered a hard-to-define physical convenience, a lower sale price, and the availability of a rapidly increasing number of titles at a growing number of retail stores. As well, videotape allowed consumers to record programming to be played back at their convenience (a behavior unanticipated by RCA marketing research) \xe2\x80\x93 and it initiated a boom in renting, not selling, of content (another behavior RCA failed to envision). RCA, at this key moment, was also struggling to adapt to an increasingly global business environment, grappling with its own capital and labor issues, and only slowly \xe2\x80\x93 too slowly, as it turned out \xe2\x80\x93 coming to terms with the impact its acquisition and subsequent sale of large corporate units unrelated to its core industries had on the long-term health of the organization. This program is made possible in part by the Mercer County Cultural and Heritage Commission through funding from the New Jersey Historical Commission and the Mercer County Board of Chosen Freeholders.

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] enjoyed the show today
by Jeffrey Brace 23 Apr '22

23 Apr '22

On Sat, Apr 23, 2022 at 7:20 PM Sentrytv via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > I enjoyed the show today as well, > many more interesting things for me to see. > I was really impressed with the enigma machine and several other things as > well . > I like Eric’s display he had with sound, voice > and music with several different computers. > Kids really love that one. > > Had a really good conversation with a person from the Amiga display, I > just don’t remember his name. > > I missed the Apple Workshop unfortunately. > > I picked up several items from consignment and sold some items too which > I’m happy about. > > Met a few people that I didn’t know previously and some of the usual > people. > I believe it was a very good show. > > Mike R. Glad to hear that you could make it and enjoyed it! > > > > > > > > > Hi All, > I enjoy the show today, I got a couple of things mostly software and one > joystick. I ready like the talk about Commodore to Atari ST it was a lot of > fun!Anyway can not wait until next year. > Bobby > > Sent from: > My extremely complicated, hand held electronic device. > > > On Apr 23, 2022, at 6:34 PM, Bob Aviles via vcf-midatlantic < > vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > > > > > -- ========================================= Jeff Brace VCF National Board Member Chairman & Vice President Vintage Computer Festival East Showrunner Vintage Computer Federation is a 501c3 charity https://vcfed.org/ <http://www.vcfed.org/> jeffrey(a)vcfed.org

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Re: enjoyed the show today
by Sentrytv 23 Apr '22

23 Apr '22

I enjoyed the show today as well, many more interesting things for me to see. I was really impressed with the enigma machine and several other things as well . I like Eric’s display he had with sound, voice and music with several different computers. Kids really love that one. Had a really good conversation with a person from the Amiga display, I just don’t remember his name. I missed the Apple Workshop unfortunately. I picked up several items from consignment and sold some items too which I’m happy about. Met a few people that I didn’t know previously and some of the usual people. I believe it was a very good show. Mike R. Hi All, I enjoy the show today, I got a couple of things mostly software and one joystick. I ready like the talk about Commodore to Atari ST it was a lot of fun!Anyway can not wait until next year. Bobby Sent from: My extremely complicated, hand held electronic device. > On Apr 23, 2022, at 6:34 PM, Bob Aviles via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > >

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Show
by Bob Aviles 23 Apr '22

23 Apr '22

Hi All, I enjoy the show today, I got a couple of things mostly software and one joystick. I ready like the talk about Commodore to Atari ST it was a lot of fun!Anyway can not wait until next year. Bobby

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Share a ride Saturday morning from Belmar station? (or other rideshares)
by Ken 23 Apr '22

23 Apr '22

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