- vcf-midatlantic - lists.vcfed.org

Museum Report 2020-08-29
by Jeffrey Brace 30 Aug '20

30 Aug '20

3 VCF volunteers (Dylan Servilla, Kenneth Gober and myself) met up with Martin early Saturday morning to help him with ethernet wiring up the Model Train museum and the Women's bunkroom. We started at 9AM and went to 3PM. We got most of the job done, but ran out of time, so we will be finishing up the job next Saturday. The wiring in the women's bunkroom will provide wired, stable internet when we do VCF East or any other event in that room. This will be very important for VCF East 2020's virtual show. Dennis was docent at the museum and we had about 10 visitors with moderate interest. A good turn out for a day that started out with downpouring rain. I showed Dennis and Dylan the windowed type environment on the 3B1 which they didn't know about. At the same time I setup the screen saver for the 3B1. -- ========================================= Jeff Brace Vice President & Board Member Vintage Computer Festival East Show-runner Vintage Computer Federation is a 501c3 charity http://www.vcfed.org/ jeffrey(a)vcfed.org cell: 732-759-1783 <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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Update on Me
by Adam Michlin 28 Aug '20

28 Aug '20

Hi Everyone, As I previously, rather obliquely, mentioned, I have relocated to Charleston, SC for job reasons. The super short version is I am now at a school where I can teach *a lot* more students 6502 Assembly. When I was first approached to be a member of the Mid Atlantic Steering Committee, my immediate response was that I wanted to run in an election. Circumstances dictated that such an election was not possible at the time and I agreed to serve with the agreement that my position would be put up for election in December 2020. At the time, I fully intended to run for re-election (well, election), however, in light of my relocation, I have made the decision that I cannot fully function as a Steering Committee member from South Carolina and, as such, will not be seeking (re-)election. My regular work in the warehouse will also have to stop, for obvious reasons, although I'm planning to visit a few times each year to do what I can do to help. I will, however, continue to work as the national (paid an insanely modest sum which I will not disclose) Social Media Specialist and will continue working with both the National Board and the MA Steering Committee in a non-voting capacity. Dean Notarnicola and I are working on the MA Steering Committee bylaws (at little late.. but, well, pandemic), so at this point, please hold any questions about how the election will actually happen. What I'm hoping to do with this email is to get people thinking about running for the Steering Committee for an election in December. If you think the Steering Committee is doing things well and want them to continue in that direction, consider running. If you think the Steering Committee is running things into the ground, you definitely need to run. My dream has always been an organization by the people for the people. Elections are the only way to make this truly happen. In the meantime, please do not hesitate to email me at this email or my VCF email (which reaches me quicker) <adam.michlin(a)vcfed.org> if you have any ideas, questions, complaints about either social media or the goings on of the MA Steering Committee and *especially* if you are thinking about running for the Steering Committee and want to know more. I and the other Steering Committee members are also more than happy to answer questions about the position here publicly. And, of course, be sure to follow VCF at: https://www.facebook.com/vcfederation/ https://twitter.com/vcfederation https://www.instagram.com/vcfederation/ Yeah, I know, new fangled crazy social media.... But you're missing a lot of cool content! -Adam

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Museum Report: 26 August 2020
by svcatitc＠aol.com 28 Aug '20

28 Aug '20

Opened up around 12:45p after checking in at "Hotel". Only one young couple visited with only mild interest. In talking privately with Tony Bogan, it was pointed out that "auto-loading" Windows 3.1 on the IBM PS2 defeats the purpose of illustrating that Windows of that era was not a stand-a-lone application and must be loaded over top of DOS. With that in mind, I reversed my "DOH" boo boo by editing of the AUTOEXEC.BAT, but with a twist. I used the CHOICE.COM command and added a "choice" of whether you want to load Windows right away, or not [Y,N], or allow the option to time out in to a DOS prompt. Once that happens, CLS or the clear screen command clears the screen and echos: "Load Windows at any Time by typing WIN". This gives more options. Bill Inderrieden

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Saturday network wiring help @ InfoAge
by Jeffrey Brace 27 Aug '20

27 Aug '20

Martin and I need help with network wiring around museum building this Saturday 9/29 from 9AM onwards. Anyone available? Hoping to get outside work done before rain in the afternoon. -- ========================================= Jeff Brace Vice President & Board Member Vintage Computer Festival East Show-runner Vintage Computer Federation is a 501c3 charity http://www.vcfed.org/ jeffrey(a)vcfed.org cell: 732-759-1783

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Sound blaster 16 with IDE interface
by Sentrytv 27 Aug '20

27 Aug '20

I’m looking for an old ISA sound blaster 16 with IDE interface, not the PNP version, but the one with the jumpers for settings. Driver disk with it would also be helpful. If anybody has a working one that’s a reasonable price, please let me know. I’m in Edison NJ about 45 min from museum. Mike R. Sent from: My extremely complicated, hand held electronic device.

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Wanna VCF 2020 t-shirt?
by Jeffrey Brace 27 Aug '20

27 Aug '20

There is still time to order a VCF 2020 t-shirt for pickup at The VCF Museum. Cost for t-shirts is $20. Then I will send you a PayPal invoice. Fill out this Google Form to order one: https://forms.gle/a8PzyP9xuipgD8bL8 They come in Amber or Green. You can look here for pictures of them here: http://vcfed.org/wp/t-shirts If you want to order and have it delivered to your home, then do that here: http://vcfed.org/wp/t-shirts. Ordering from here is expected to continue to the end of the year, but may stop at any time. Cost is $20 + shipping. Deadline for ordering is September 17, 2020. Expected delivery date will be October 3 (a week before VCF East 2020). -- ========================================= Jeff Brace Vice President & Board Member Vintage Computer Festival East Show-runner Vintage Computer Federation is a 501c3 charity http://www.vcfed.org/ jeffrey(a)vcfed.org cell: 732-759-1783

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IBM Selectic
by Andrew Diller 27 Aug '20

27 Aug '20

https://www.ibm.com/ibm/history/ibm100/us/en/icons/selectric/ <https://www.ibm.com/ibm/history/ibm100/us/en/icons/selectric/> Just came across that and it looked interesting. Dean- I know you recently got a nice one, and I just got a nice Selectric II (thanks DaveR) - but mine needs some cleaning. It powers on but random ghost keypresses ensue and it's either in need of contact cleaning or it's haunted and warning me to get out of my house... Anyone have some good leads on resources they can share to clean and lube up these guys? -andy

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] The good old days of user groups.
by Jeffrey Jonas 27 Aug '20

27 Aug '20

replying to Herb Johnson: A major offshoot of user groups/clubs was shareware. SIG/M was a library of over 100: 8" floppies freely shared by the CP/M groups. There were IBM 1130 groups in the 70s that shared software and newsletters. SHARE was for IBM mainframe folks to share software, libraries, documentation, etc. Science Fiction fandom and anime clubs were similar with APAs, newsletters and fanzines (fan published magazines), being slow to adopt all electronic forums due to the digital-divide (many members had no computer access). -- jeff jonas

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Repair workshop wrap-up 7/11 & 7/12, 2020
by Jeffrey Brace 26 Aug '20

26 Aug '20

On Wed, Aug 26, 2020 at 6:29 PM laurakid via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > Just getting the data would be great. If possible the image files i might > want cross platform because I have a dual 2G Powermac and the Adobe > Creative Suite. I figure I may as well see if i can use that setup for art > photography/design rather than forking out money each month for > subscription. > Next workshop is September 12 & 13. Bring it to the workshop. > > > Sent from Yahoo Mail for iPhone > > > On Wednesday, August 26, 2020, 3:31 PM, Ian Primus via vcf-midatlantic < > vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > > Recovering drives, as in, getting the data off unknown Mac hard > drives? If you want, I can bring along stuff to image them - convert > to a file on a PC which you can then mount and pull files out of or > use in an emulator. Making a full block image of a drive is a great > way to preserve it and ensure you can get whatever you need out of it. > Or are you just trying to get drives working with a Mac? > > -Ian > > On Wed, Aug 26, 2020 at 4:15 AM laurakid via vcf-midatlantic > <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > > > > I really need help recovering hard drives from several old macs . I > have external drives also but honestly I was always terrible at labeling > anything. If anyone can help me at the workshop, that would be awesome. > It seems to be on topic this time around? > > > > > > Sent from Yahoo Mail for iPhone > > > > > > On Wednesday, August 26, 2020, 12:13 AM, Jeffrey Brace via > vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > > > > On Tue, Aug 25, 2020 at 9:20 AM Jeff Salzman via vcf-midatlantic < > > vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > > > > > At the August Workshop, someone asked me about the brushed metal > ZoomFloppy > > > case I had, and I forgot who asked me about it. The person I bought it > from > > > still has more of those cases available. If you're still interested in > > > getting one for yourself, I can pass contact information around. > > > > > > > I asked you about it. Send me the info please. > > > > > > > > > > Thanks, > > > Jeff Salzman > > > > > > > > > On Mon, Jul 13, 2020 at 6:41 PM Jeffrey Brace via vcf-midatlantic < > > > vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > > > > > > > We had 10 people come to our repair workshop. It was very successful > and > > > > everyone enjoyed it. We seem to have a pattern that works for > everyone, > > > so > > > > we will repeat it for the next workshop on August 15 & 16. > > > > > > > > I worked on recovering data from a modern hard drive Jonathan and Ian > > > > helped), which I will detail in another email. I also was successful > in > > > > repairing a Rev A Commodore 64 board. Alex Jaccocks and Jonathan > Sturges > > > > helped me. It had bad Character RAM (U6), Character ROM (901225) and > a > > > bad > > > > U1 chip (6526). This Rev A board has a ceramic VIC 6567 chip too! > > > > > > > > Bill Dromgoole successfully repaired the museum's Ohio Scientific > > > computer. > > > > There were 3 keys that needed replacing. > > > > > > > > Ian fixed one of his black and white TVs and worked on many other > things > > > > with others. > > > > > > > > Neville worked on his Kay Pro. I'm not sure how he made out with his > > > > repairs. > > > > > > > > Mike Rosen worked on Commodore 1541 repairs. > > > > > > > > Ian and Jason Perkins also worked on scanning some documents from the > > > > museum warehouse for preservation. > > > > > > > > Don't know what Alex Jaccocks and Jonthan Sturges were working on. > > > > > > > > Bill Indereidden continued to document and work on the Wang 4000. > > > > > > > > Maybe everyone can tell what they were working on and their progress. > > > > > > > > Next workshop is August 15 & 16: Sign up here: > > > > > > > > > > > > https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1L3Jc_RIHiBG08kZOOAgzvqjf8G0ox9ZRa6B… > > > > > > > > There will be a limit to 10 people in the workshop area. If more > want to > > > > come, then there is room for 2 or 3 people in the museum workshop > space. > > > > Face masks are required for this gathering. > > > > -- > > > > ========================================= > > > > Jeff Brace > > > > Vice President & Board Member, VCF East Showrunner > > > > Vintage Computer Federation > > > > http://www.vcfed.org/ > > > > jeffrey(a)vcfed.org > > > > > > > > > > > > > -- > > ========================================= > > Jeff Brace > > Vice President & Board Member > > Vintage Computer Festival East Show-runner > > Vintage Computer Federation is a 501c3 charity > > http://www.vcfed.org/ > > jeffrey(a)vcfed.org > > cell: 732-759-1783 > > > > > > > > > -- ========================================= Jeff Brace Vice President & Board Member Vintage Computer Festival East Show-runner Vintage Computer Federation is a 501c3 charity http://www.vcfed.org/ jeffrey(a)vcfed.org cell: 732-759-1783

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Repair workshop wrap-up 7/11 & 7/12, 2020
by Ian Primus 26 Aug '20

26 Aug '20

Recovering drives, as in, getting the data off unknown Mac hard drives? If you want, I can bring along stuff to image them - convert to a file on a PC which you can then mount and pull files out of or use in an emulator. Making a full block image of a drive is a great way to preserve it and ensure you can get whatever you need out of it. Or are you just trying to get drives working with a Mac? -Ian On Wed, Aug 26, 2020 at 4:15 AM laurakid via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > > I really need help recovering hard drives from several old macs . I have external drives also but honestly I was always terrible at labeling anything. If anyone can help me at the workshop, that would be awesome. It seems to be on topic this time around? > > > Sent from Yahoo Mail for iPhone > > > On Wednesday, August 26, 2020, 12:13 AM, Jeffrey Brace via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > > On Tue, Aug 25, 2020 at 9:20 AM Jeff Salzman via vcf-midatlantic < > vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > > > At the August Workshop, someone asked me about the brushed metal ZoomFloppy > > case I had, and I forgot who asked me about it. The person I bought it from > > still has more of those cases available. If you're still interested in > > getting one for yourself, I can pass contact information around. > > > > I asked you about it. Send me the info please. > > > > > > Thanks, > > Jeff Salzman > > > > > > On Mon, Jul 13, 2020 at 6:41 PM Jeffrey Brace via vcf-midatlantic < > > vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > > > > > We had 10 people come to our repair workshop. It was very successful and > > > everyone enjoyed it. We seem to have a pattern that works for everyone, > > so > > > we will repeat it for the next workshop on August 15 & 16. > > > > > > I worked on recovering data from a modern hard drive Jonathan and Ian > > > helped), which I will detail in another email. I also was successful in > > > repairing a Rev A Commodore 64 board. Alex Jaccocks and Jonathan Sturges > > > helped me. It had bad Character RAM (U6), Character ROM (901225) and a > > bad > > > U1 chip (6526). This Rev A board has a ceramic VIC 6567 chip too! > > > > > > Bill Dromgoole successfully repaired the museum's Ohio Scientific > > computer. > > > There were 3 keys that needed replacing. > > > > > > Ian fixed one of his black and white TVs and worked on many other things > > > with others. > > > > > > Neville worked on his Kay Pro. I'm not sure how he made out with his > > > repairs. > > > > > > Mike Rosen worked on Commodore 1541 repairs. > > > > > > Ian and Jason Perkins also worked on scanning some documents from the > > > museum warehouse for preservation. > > > > > > Don't know what Alex Jaccocks and Jonthan Sturges were working on. > > > > > > Bill Indereidden continued to document and work on the Wang 4000. > > > > > > Maybe everyone can tell what they were working on and their progress. > > > > > > Next workshop is August 15 & 16: Sign up here: > > > > > > > > https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1L3Jc_RIHiBG08kZOOAgzvqjf8G0ox9ZRa6B… > > > > > > There will be a limit to 10 people in the workshop area. If more want to > > > come, then there is room for 2 or 3 people in the museum workshop space. > > > Face masks are required for this gathering. > > > -- > > > ========================================= > > > Jeff Brace > > > Vice President & Board Member, VCF East Showrunner > > > Vintage Computer Federation > > > http://www.vcfed.org/ > > > jeffrey(a)vcfed.org > > > > > > > > -- > ========================================= > Jeff Brace > Vice President & Board Member > Vintage Computer Festival East Show-runner > Vintage Computer Federation is a 501c3 charity > http://www.vcfed.org/ > jeffrey(a)vcfed.org > cell: 732-759-1783 > > >

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Found treasure - Fluke 9010A
by Richard Cini 26 Aug '20

26 Aug '20

I was looking in the attic for something and a box I thought was empty actually contains a Fluke 9010A debugger with an 8080 pod. I used it for one of my first projects debugging my Altair -- 15 years ago I’m guessing. I thought I sold it, but I guess not ☺ My wife, unfortunately, doesn’t share my gleeful exuberance… If anyone has a Z80 or 8086 pod for it, keep me in mind! Rich -- Rich Cini http://www.classiccmp.org/cini http://www.classiccmp.org/altair32

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] The good old days of user groups
by Herb Johnson 26 Aug '20

26 Aug '20

Jeff jonas says: > giving them the false sense of entitlement > that Internet access is a "right". > No, like driving, it is a PRIVILEGE. "The Internet" was many things at many points in time. The ARPAnet was VERY privileged - for national defense and research. So it was something, then it became something else. Technology which was once scarce, but becomes a commodity, does that. My recent post described "scarcity" of personal computing technology. Many people lament the loss of the past. But this forum is not a political or social-action arena. So a discussion of the politics of the Internet is likely off-topic. I am not in charge so that's merely my working opinion. I will not debate rights versus privileges here, except to say Internet access is such an essential service to live and work in this country, that I think calling it a "privilege" and thus revocable is less than optimal. As for the past of social behavior, yeah, many people behave poorly these days on da Internets, and we also get access to that along with everything else we get. I don't think that's new. Imagine if you had to sit on a streetcorner in a busy city, and see *every single thing that happened there*. Now imagine, someone else feeds you views of the worst of it - for "free" (free access so your name is sold to people who want to sell you stuff). Who do we blame for that, eh? > The burning of the library of Alexandria pales in comparison > to the information and personal effort destroyed > every time a hard drive fails or a major web page does down. I don't know that. "It's harder to delete than it is to save". Stuff gets lost over time but there's services that preserve some of it and there's a lot of duplication. And a lot of stuff is very "forgetable". The Alexandria library was like destroying HALF "the internet" of the era (the other half being held in other cultures). A value of vintage computing is to preserve history, in various forms. People are telling their stories, they are informative and are being preserved by telling. I'm a technologist by training, I preserve physical stuff, but it has human meaning and a context of development and use. I have stumbled into history. 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 retrotechnology DOT info

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] The good old days of user groups
by Jeffrey Jonas 26 Aug '20

26 Aug '20

When I was an undergrad at the Cooper Union Computer Center [78-82], we were fortunate to be an early adopter of Unix version 6 on a PDP11/45. We were INTERACTIVE in a day when most other colleges were still mainframe batch via punched cards. But we were isolated. No modem or links to the outside world. When I consulted to AT&T in the mid to late 80s, I finally had USENET access. Yea, there were already "flame wars" but back then people were /mostly/ accountable for their actions. Students could lose computer access. Employees could get reprimanded by their boss. AOL's "perpetual September" ruined all that when subscribers could PAY for Usenet & Internet access, giving them the false sense of entitlement that Internet access is a "right". No, like driving, it is a PRIVILEGE. Back then, there were "net personalities". Kind folks who set a wonderful tone. Larry Lippman was a noted chemist whose replies were always fun to read and taught us something. "have your hugged your cat today" was his .sig Jeff Meyer @ Fluke was famous for his monthly net.comics "Moriarty reviews", as was jmb (Jerry Boyajian). The successful systems fostered a sense of community. I was late to understand that, thus missing out on some wonderful BBS fandoms such as Elfquest's Electronic Holt and early anthropomorphic fandom BBSs. My main FurryMuck character was Created Jan 1994. The "old guard" is still there having more fun than IRC since the system provides environment, ambiance and programmable characters to foster more imaginative interactions. replying to others: Dave McGuire gripes: > The Internet is presented to people as a "you can GET this, you can GET that!" > "Get get get!" ...not "participate", not "communicate" ... Tom Lehrer said it best "Life is like a sewer: what you get out of it depends on what you put into it" The Internet is seen as a source for entertainment, just like television/radio/cable-TV. A place to tune in and zone out. This is furthered by the way ISPs cheat us by taking away personal web spaces. The demise of systems such as Geocities destroyed countless man-YEARS of effort. Delphi forums died. Yahoo groups died. The burning of the library of Alexandria pales in comparison to the information and personal effort destroyed every time a hard drive fails or a major web page does down. Neil Cherry: > Except on AOL ... ;-) I even think Genie users > had more technical background than most Internet users. I was on GEnie and lurked on the round-tables. I didn't have much to say back then. I seem to recall that GEnie used a decent interface that worked on "dumb terminals" thus giving a full screen of content, vs Prodigy or AOL's user-coddling barely-almost GUI that barely give 1/4 screen of content. Ethan O'Toole: > The Internet has a ton of people sharing information. > I mean, look at youtube. How to fix cars, HVAC, build things ... > It far exceeds the old days millions times over. Agreed, but it took many years to reach that critical mass of GOOD content and ways to find it. Recent YouTube videos taught me how to fix my car, garage door and other stuff. But it's still outweighed by insipid videos from wobbly cellphones. On the bright side, it's a channel for tech folks to share and even earn some money, such as ladyada's Adafruit, Fran Blanche, Jeri Ellsworth, Nixie Pixel, Dave Jones' eevblog, Big Clive, Julian Ilett BradH the Vintage Computer Aussie, Techmoan, Andreas Spiess, The Ben Heck show, Great Scott Lab, Add Ohms, Christopher Barnatt's Explaining Computers, RetroManCave, LGR: vintage computers, The 8-Bit Guy, 8-Bit Show And Tell, Dr. Scott M. Baker's web site, among others. and so it goes -- Jeff Jonas

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Repair workshop wrap-up 7/11 & 7/12, 2020
by Jeffrey Brace 26 Aug '20

26 Aug '20

We had 10 people come to our repair workshop. It was very successful and everyone enjoyed it. We seem to have a pattern that works for everyone, so we will repeat it for the next workshop on August 15 & 16. I worked on recovering data from a modern hard drive Jonathan and Ian helped), which I will detail in another email. I also was successful in repairing a Rev A Commodore 64 board. Alex Jaccocks and Jonathan Sturges helped me. It had bad Character RAM (U6), Character ROM (901225) and a bad U1 chip (6526). This Rev A board has a ceramic VIC 6567 chip too! Bill Dromgoole successfully repaired the museum's Ohio Scientific computer. There were 3 keys that needed replacing. Ian fixed one of his black and white TVs and worked on many other things with others. Neville worked on his Kay Pro. I'm not sure how he made out with his repairs. Mike Rosen worked on Commodore 1541 repairs. Ian and Jason Perkins also worked on scanning some documents from the museum warehouse for preservation. Don't know what Alex Jaccocks and Jonthan Sturges were working on. Bill Indereidden continued to document and work on the Wang 4000. Maybe everyone can tell what they were working on and their progress. Next workshop is August 15 & 16: Sign up here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1L3Jc_RIHiBG08kZOOAgzvqjf8G0ox9ZRa6B… There will be a limit to 10 people in the workshop area. If more want to come, then there is room for 2 or 3 people in the museum workshop space. Face masks are required for this gathering. -- ========================================= Jeff Brace Vice President & Board Member, VCF East Showrunner Vintage Computer Federation http://www.vcfed.org/ jeffrey(a)vcfed.org

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Help Wanted: InfoAge Part Time
by Jeffrey Brace 25 Aug '20

25 Aug '20

Mike Ruane is looking for: Someone who wants to work part time for 8-10 hours per week. The person would work with Gloria (Mike's Administrative Assistant) and be able to back her up when she is out. The schedule would be two days at 4-5 hours per day depending on what schedule they work out and the salary would be $15.00 per hour. Computer skills and knowing Excel would help. If you know anyone, please contact Mike Ruane: thejamesthomasgroup(a)comcast.net -- ========================================= Jeff Brace Vice President & Board Member Vintage Computer Festival East Show-runner Vintage Computer Federation is a 501c3 charity http://www.vcfed.org/ jeffrey(a)vcfed.org cell: 732-759-1783

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First Exhibitor Video received! VCF East 2020
by Jeffrey Brace 25 Aug '20

25 Aug '20

Eric Rangell is first place to submit his exhibitor video! Who will be second place? Deadline is: September 21! Submit your exhibit idea here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfSyp3A7yzPJw77Sc_gl0erV4a7QTN8x7W… We are looking for exhibitors for our virtual hybrid show. The format that we propose is that exhibitors create a short video about 5 to 10 minutes long to show off your exhibit. Send to us by September 21. During the event we would show your video which will stream to YouTube followed by 5 to 10 minutes of questions and answers live. The other option would be for you to show off your exhibit on InfoAge’s campus live on site and in person followed by live questions and answers. Don’t delay slakers! -- ========================================= Jeff Brace Vice President & Board Member Vintage Computer Festival East Show-runner Vintage Computer Federation is a 501c3 charity http://www.vcfed.org/ jeffrey(a)vcfed.org cell: 732-759-1783

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] The good old days of user groups.
by Herb Johnson 25 Aug '20

25 Aug '20

[I wrote this but I put it aside, because who wants to hear what boomers did in the 1970's? But the discussion thread seems to be rooted in the 1980's when computers were things you bought at Sears and there were actual *computer stores* around, and BBS's you could dial up, and local computer clubs aplenty in any good sized town. There was a time before all that, you know. Except: most people I hear from, don't "know that". Things then, were very different from the times in ongoing discussion; and from times today. So, here it is. Pardon the length, this is unfamiliar to most who would read it, so I have to give background.- Herb] The generation of "computer clubs" of the mid 1970's, are of a period before most of the clubs and groups in discussion. I co-started one of the first such clubs in Columbus OH; attended others as they were created. Chronologically: Clubs & groups exploded in size and number once personal computers became production items and then commodity items, in and through the 1980's. BBS's in the period, reduced the need for physical meetings at clubs. By the 1990's there were: widespread dial-up Internet; with sufficient bandwidth and graphics and modem speed; and generic computers easily bought at stores (or online) fast enough to support Internet browsing. So the physical groups dissipated in size and number going through the 1990's and pooped out by 2000 or so, approximately. In the early days of the mid-70's, we got together because there was no other means to obtain and share computing devices and figure them out. The providers were, electronic kits or parts or surplus One bought from ads in electronics magazines. Or that surplus-store some towns had. Or surplus/trash from someone's company or a local university. We were our own tech support; and whatever kit-producing-engineers we got LETTERS and phone calls from; and again, the magazines. There were no personal computers in production in that early era; just things people built, or one bought used minicomputers and their terminals and printers. Then there were these new microprocessors that some technical people were buying to play with, or beginning to use professionally, or learn about in college. As a host of microcomputer items were produced, we'd buy 'em and compare notes. Same with things like terminals, modems, other categories of software and hardware. All these transactions are described, by the surviving computer-club paper newsletters one can find online. Some clubs *didn't even meet*: they were pure correspondence; newletters were contents of member's letters about their projects, reports on software and hardware. Most people did not have a lot of money to spend; most computer things were not cheap; technical skills were essential, not optional. Clubs let people pick each other's brains, share and trade "tech". Even when personal computers were more common, there would be clubs or sections of clubs about specific software: databases, word processing, business. There was no other institution to learn this stuff; otherwise one read "books" or "magazines" or "da manuals and schematics". These clubs that met, were much like other hobby clubs to this day. They printed newsletters and postal mailed them monthly (mimeograph or photocopies). We met at a home or sometimes an institution (university, library, museum). There was a meeting with minutes and resolutions and other business, then a presentation. People stayed a bit to chat before or after. Members also met at each other's homes to work on their own computers and to trade. Sometimes there was a meeting to trade things. There were dues, to pay for postage and printing, snacks, rent for the meeting space. The legacy these groups left behind, are the newsletters with technical content; the archives of software and manuals, which get mined often; and the survivors, who continue their vintage computing interests in varying degrees. Radio Amateur clubs today still do most of these things, by the way. And in these early years, computer-clubs used hamfests to obtain and trade scarce equipment. Dealers at hamfests were either "computer" or "radio", generally. The Hams got to tap this tech, and developed lots of ham computing tech; they supported early microcomputing. Some hams were unhappy about this alliance, which peaked in the 1990's when PC's were common. Computing stuff is now largely gone from hamfests. I know many other hobbies still operate as clubs as I've described. There is a social dimension to these organizations that all the online click-to-get activities cannot provide. And many clubs have activities which require multiple people to participate physically in some way. No mailed newsletters today, usually. However, all these clubs today which operate as I've described, seem to be predominantly run by and populated with "old people". There's a generational change in culture, as well as the technological changes I described. That would be another lecture: one today is enough. 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 retrotechnology DOT info

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Off-Topic:What is the most accurate large 48"ish plotter
by Dave Wade 25 Aug '20

25 Aug '20

Most pen plotters plot to 0.01" accuracy, so a big HP or Roland if you can find one. Dave From: vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic-bounces(a)lists.vcfed.org> On Behalf Of Ben Greenfield via vcf-midatlantic Sent: 25 August 2020 20:57 To: vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> Cc: Ben Greenfield <ben(a)cogs.com> Subject: [vcf-midatlantic] Off-Topic:What is the most accurate large 48"ish plotter

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Off-Topic:What is the most accurate large 48"ish plotter
by Ben Greenfield 25 Aug '20

25 Aug '20

Hey All, Sorry for the noise but I did label it:) Say I want to print shapes on plywood size paper is there a printer that prints an inch long line in CAD that actual measure an inch? ( or milimeter) I would be ok with accuracy somewhere betwen a 1/6th and a 32nd. Wash your hands, Ben

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] The good old days of user groups.
by RETRO Innovations 25 Aug '20

25 Aug '20

On 8/24/2020 8:33 PM, Alexander Pierson via vcf-midatlantic wrote: > The article mentioned TPUG, the Toronto PET Users Group. These days, they exist in part as a Discord group (however, I'm sure someone like Leif Bloomquist can speak to the nature of their current existence better). I think that's pretty cool. They still have regular meetings as well. > > The bulk of my interaction these days with vintage computer enthusiasts is done on that platform (though the VCFed Discord is rather... quiet). The youth of the hobby have found a home there, either on smaller manufacturer-specific servers, or larger generalist servers with plenty of cross-pollination between minis, micros, homebrews, etc. of a variety of makes and models. The SNR varies between servers of course, which can be jarring. What better to approximate the message bases of BBS systems :-) I remember logging into some back in the day and finding nice technical treasures message after message. Then, another BBS with local events were a hotbed of name calling and childish put downs. Ah, BBSes :-) And, if you *REALLY* want that traditional experience, some of the Telnet BBS systems are pretty active. jim -- RETRO Innovations, Contemporary Gear for Classic Systems www.go4retro.com store.go4retro.com

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] The good old days of user groups.
by Ethan O'Toole 25 Aug '20

25 Aug '20

For me growing up a lot of the groups were centered around BBS systems which I suppose followed specific platforms. 30 years later some of my best friends are still from the BBS systems back then. - Ethan

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] The good old days of user groups.
by Tony Bogan 25 Aug '20

25 Aug '20

I can neither confirm nor deny any activities involving telephone lines, computers, BBS or AE lines. PS. check out the Sider 10 meg drive for some great warez, and the T-File directory has new trashing techniques and Black and Red Box how-to filez as well!!

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] The good old days of user groups.
by Ethan O'Toole 25 Aug '20

25 Aug '20

[NON-Text Body part not included] One potential issue with the discord space is that the knowledge isn't captured for easy search outside that platform in the way that forums do. - Ethan

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CRX2020 - Commodore Retro eXPO this weekend
by Andrew Diller 24 Aug '20

24 Aug '20

I'm posting this because it looks interesting, I'm not involved with it (it's this weekend): ------------------- https://www.crxevent.com/news.htm August 28-30, 2020 - HOSTED VIRTUALLY Due to world events we have opted to make this a FREE event, hosted virtually. -----------------------

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Atari XE game system (David K)
by David K 24 Aug '20

24 Aug '20

For what it is worth here is what I heard from someone off-list: "The OS ROM chip is notorious for going bad in the XEGS. Star Raiders has a flag that bypasses a lot of the OS startup routines and jumps right to the game code, so it is more likely to "try" to work on a failing system. The OS ROM can be directly replaced with an appropriately programmed 27256 type EPROM, but your existing one is most probably soldered directly to the motherboard so will take some effort and care to cleanly desolder it, replace with a socket and EPROM."

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PC Jr In Original Box (not working)
by Alexander Jacocks 24 Aug '20

24 Aug '20

All, There’s a PC Jr in its original boxes, near me: https://washingtondc.craigslist.org/mld/sys/d/damascus-pcjr-computer/718288… If anyone is interested, let me know, and I’d be happy to pick it up for you, if you work out a deal with the seller. The price is “best offer.” Thanks! - Alex

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] The good old days of user groups.
by Bill Degnan 23 Aug '20

23 Aug '20

Kennett Classic has an article on the Wilmington, DE PC user group archive https://www.kennettclassic.com/wilmington-de-pc-professional-users-group-pc… and an exhibit about the user groups of the Sinclair TS1000 https://www.kennettclassic.com/the-special-interest-group-sig/ VCFed is not a user group in the traditional sense like these, but with the Internet, forums and such, a user group 2.0 Bill On Sun, Aug 23, 2020, 8:01 PM madodel via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > Sadly she doesn't mention today's groups like VCF. I will send Esther an > email about you guys keeping the torch burning. > > > > https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2020/08/the-golden-age-of-co… > > > The Golden Age of computer user groups > > > Long before subreddits, computer enthusiasts used to get > together—in-person! > > ESTHER SCHINDLER-8/19/2020, 7:45 AM > >

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The good old days of user groups.
by madodel 23 Aug '20

23 Aug '20

Sadly she doesn't mention today's groups like VCF. I will send Esther an email about you guys keeping the torch burning. https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2020/08/the-golden-age-of-co… The Golden Age of computer user groups Long before subreddits, computer enthusiasts used to get together—in-person! ESTHER SCHINDLER-8/19/2020, 7:45 AM

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FTGH: AT&T M14K cables
by Mike Loewen 23 Aug '20

23 Aug '20

I believe this might be a V.35 cable for a DSU: http://q7.neurotica.com/0822201707_HDR.jpg http://q7.neurotica.com/0822202116_HDR.jpg http://q7.neurotica.com/0822202115_HDR.jpg I have two of them. Just pay for the postage. Mike Loewen mloewen(a)cpumagic.scol.pa.us Old Technology http://q7.neurotica.com/Oldtech/

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Museum Report: 22 August 2020
by svcatitc＠aol.com 23 Aug '20

23 Aug '20

Dylan and I opened up around 12:50p Dylan got the space powered up while I checked us in at the "Hotel". Slow day. We only had 1 couple with a relative(?) who was one of the RTM docents, escorting them around campus. I took them up Big Iron Row, and allowed Dylan to take them through 8 Bit / DIY Row. Other Chores: I made the IBM PS2 auto-load Windows 3.11 via the AUTOEXEC.BAT file edit. Dylan made a Smiley face in Paint, so I configured it to load automatically in the STARTUP group. I also added a technical drawing from my archives that was done in Windows Paint some years back. It illustrates what can be done using Paint with some patience and time. The drawing can be found from the PAINT minimized icon on the desktop and use FILE & OPEN. We closed up around 5:15p Bill Inderrieden

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BBS software for a demo
by Richard Cini 22 Aug '20

22 Aug '20

All — I have a side project for the Z80 Membership Card project (I know Josh is involved but not sure if others on the list are) to get it connected to a dial-up BBS. Right now, I’m just trying to get the BBS setup for the testing. The BBS computer is a modern-ish PC running XP with a Digi Classicport 8x PCI card. I have two Hayes 144 modems and a Hayes 300 connected to an 8x4 analog telephone switch. Until I get it working, I’m just using another PC with HyperTerm connected to a modem to dial through the switch, or Telnet, to the BBS. Right now, I have SynchroNET, LoraBBS and Mystic installed and sort-of running. SynchroNET is supposed to work with POTS modems but it doesn’t seem to work out of the box. There’s an add-on program called “sexpots” that’s basically a COM-to-Telnet converter. Still don’t have that fully working – modem connects but no access to the BBS. Using Telnet, I can access the BBS using the fixed IP from any machine (so the server is running and the firewall is set properly), even on the BBS itself. Unfortunately, I can’t access it locally using either the loopback address or “localhost”. I checked the hosts file and the localhost mapping is set “127.0.0.1 localhost” and NOT commented out (which seems to be the default for Windows). LoraBBS and Mystic work but in only single-node; not sure how to get multi-node working. Lora works well on the client side but for whatever reason won’t accept “G” for goodbye even though the menu says it. So, if someone has experience with setting up a POTS-based BBS on modern hardware and can give me a push in the right direction, I’d appreciate it. I feel I’m pretty close at this point but I’m obviously missing something small. Thanks! Rich -- Rich Cini http://www.classiccmp.org/cini http://www.classiccmp.org/altair32

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Sale or trade: Esprit III terminal (no keyboard)
by Mike Loewen 21 Aug '20

21 Aug '20

For sale or trade: Hazeltine Esprit III terminal (no keyboard). Good working condition, emulates a Televideo TVI-950 at speeds up to 19.2K. Pickup in State College, PA. Looks just like this one: http://q7.neurotica.com/Oldtech/Terminals/EspritIII.html Make an offer, greenbacks or trades. Mike Loewen mloewen(a)cpumagic.scol.pa.us Old Technology http://q7.neurotica.com/Oldtech/

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Missing Extech Multimeter (orange and green) at Workshop
by Alexander Jacocks 21 Aug '20

21 Aug '20

Bill, Thanks so much for checking! I found the multimeter late last night. I put it in the center console of my car, for some unknown reason. Sorry for my stupidity! - Alex On Fri, Aug 21, 2020 at 12:26 Bill Inderrieden via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > Alex and All; > > After I closed up shop on Wed's docent chores, I went looking in 9032a and > found nothing. > > I was the one who did the last look-a-round before locked up the building > on Sun after the workshop concluded. > > > > I also went through CDL, just as Martin suggested. CDL owns a lot of the > same model multimeter, however they were all tagged as IXR on the back. > > > > Nothing out on the benches either. > > > > I will ask on Saturday when I am in as to whether there is a "Lost & > Found". When I am in on the 26th, I'll ask the radio boys if they saw > anything, and also keep looking. > > > > Bill Inderrieden > > > > > >

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Re: Missing Extech Multimeter (orange and green) at Workshop
by svcatitc＠aol.com 21 Aug '20

21 Aug '20

Alex and All; After I closed up shop on Wed's docent chores, I went looking in 9032a and found nothing. I was the one who did the last look-a-round before locked up the building on Sun after the workshop concluded. I also went through CDL, just as Martin suggested. CDL owns a lot of the same model multimeter, however they were all tagged as IXR on the back. Nothing out on the benches either. I will ask on Saturday when I am in as to whether there is a "Lost & Found". When I am in on the 26th, I'll ask the radio boys if they saw anything, and also keep looking. Bill Inderrieden

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Heathkit Hero Jr robot
by Bob Applegate 21 Aug '20

21 Aug '20

Someone sent me an email about the Hero Jr and I can’t find that email for anything. Can you please contact me again? Thanks Bob

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September Repair Workshop 9/12 & 9/13
by Jeffrey Brace 21 Aug '20

21 Aug '20

Sign up here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1QPWVJSRL94SdHKtmkUmH6WESwckeXbn8PgV… -- ========================================= Jeff Brace Vice President & Board Member Vintage Computer Festival East Show-runner Vintage Computer Federation is a 501c3 charity http://www.vcfed.org/ jeffrey(a)vcfed.org cell: 732-759-1783

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Xerox Status
by David Gesswein 20 Aug '20

20 Aug '20

As previously reported I worked on the Xerox at this workshop. Short summary: One of the two machines hardware seems ok. Was able to boot it. Second machine has a hardware fault. Major issue before machine is usable is to make a replacement for the missing mouse. Poor picture of what was a nice looking display booting the Interlisp-D that was on the hard drive. http://www.pdp8online.com/misc/xerox-screen.jpg The TL;DR to document what we did. People continuing work should at least read the remaining issues at the bottom. VCF has two Xerox 1108 Dandelion AI machines made in 1985. This model was introduced in 1981 if you trust online sources. The hardware is identical to the 8010 Star Information System except possibly it should have a three button mouse instead of a two button mouse. The AI machines shipped with Interlisp-D and the Star with office software. I'm not an expert on the somewhat confusing models, operating systems, and names. The machine I started with last time still had the problem of the diagnostic screen cycling through the boot options. This is supposed to happen when you push a button on the control panel. Swapping the control panel did not fix it. I then pulled the cards to disconnect them on the second machine and verified the power supply was ok. Plugged the cards in and diagnostic display seemed to behave. I had tried to make a diagnostic boot floppy from image online but I didn't think it was good. The machine also didn't like it. >From the previous workshop the hard drive didn't want to spin up. I pulled it from the machine to work on. The motor seemed fine but the spindle was very stiff. I put some oil on the outer spindle bearing under the pulley and let it sit for a while hoping some got in. It started to spin but the belt popped off as it started to get up in speed. By holding down the belt was able to get the drive to spin up and it quieted down after a little running. Made intermittent noise but nothing horrible. Heads wouldn't move. I opened the warranty void stickers to get access to a hole in the cover that lets you poke the heads to free them. There is a rubber stop for the head that had become gummy in these drives (Quantum 2040). With the heads free it did its calibrate sequence and I was able to read the drive with my MFM reader emulator tool. Drive was serial number c133708 and only had one bad sector. I also repeated this with the second drive. Its pretty quiet but also has the bad stop. It required some fiddling with the reader to read which I haven't investigated why. Drive was serial number 102842 and only had two bad sectors. This drive from the working machine had the nice background picture when I booted the image. When we first booted the machine it looked like it worked but nothing was displayed on the monitor and no evidence that the monitor was alive. Ian opened it up and we found the board was off the CRT pins. Nothing looked damaged. When we tried again we got a dim picture. With time it got somewhat brighter and some adjusting of pots we got a good looking display. After we put it back together one of the diagnostics showed it was a little offset to the right but don't think it matters. Due to the bad head stop which is likely to restick the heads Jeff and I decided to use an emulator for the drive. This will also allow switching which operating environment is running if we wish to show the various options. Unclear if the bearings will be ok with running or will get worse. The rubber bumper is on the down side so shouldn't ooze onto the platters. Unknown if it is outgassing anything bad. The stop should be able to be replaced but would either require arthroscopic surgery or removing the platter cover. Some info on my previous successful and not so sucessful working on these drives. http://www.pdp8online.com/q2040/q2040.shtml Ian Primus was leading the mouse effort. He tried to make an adapter for a Xerox mouse from a later machine. Either it doesn't operate how we think or the chip is bad. He made an adapter for a Amiga mouse which the Xerox responded to the buttons and the cursor jittered around but couldn't move properly. He found further information on the interface and it was using a special encoding, not quadrature that the Amiga generates. Ian and other were discussing how to make a functional mouse. I'll let them fill in the plan if they desire. I tried the viewpoint image for the Darkstar emulator that I converted to the MFM emulator format. It generated error codes 0002 and 0322 which is Ethernet faults. I put on a AUI to 10-base-T transceiver and plugged in a crossover cable to my laptop but it still generates the fault. Holding down the button until 1 is displayed to bypass the diagnostic allowed it to boot. It got to the login prompt. Without a functional mouse we couldn't get further. Discussing with Jeff we decided that Viewpoint would be the best operating system to use for the museum display. I left the emulator configured to boot Viewpoint. This page give information on running Viewpoint. You can also use the emulator to practice with it. https://livingcomputers.org/Blog/Introducing-Darkstar-A-Xerox-Star-Emulator… I cleaned up the monitor, keyboard, and plastic skins on the computer. Some of the skins were damaged so I cleaned the best looking. On putting them back on in the warehouse I couldn't get them to fit properly. Either it was just too dark or they aren't interchangeable. If so you may need to clean the other skins. We didn't mark with machine they came from. I also put on casters. We didn't try to match the missing originals, they are what Home Depot had. Jeff Brace picked them up for me. During this I also checked the power supply under load. All were ok except 5.2 was low at the test connector on the front of the machine. It was around 4.8 volts. It was around 5.1 at the supply. Poking around to try to determine where the voltage drop was it improved to about 5V at the test connector so likely high resistance connection that improved with moving wires. 5.02 is the lower limit according to the manual. I didn't see a ripple specification and didn't check ripple. I though about looking for a tweak pot to raise it .1V but decided not to spend the time. Both machines were similar for 5.2 volt output including improving with poking at wires. This is where time was up. Another workshop should get it ready to use. Ian will be leading that effort. I will not be able to make the next couple. I was not able to run full diagnostics. Also have not verified if the floppy drive is functional. *** Remaining issues I know of. *** 1) Make suitable mouse. 2) Emulator needs to be mounted in the machine. Currently its in an antistatic bag above the power supply. Two options: a) Remove the hard drive and mount it in its place. Their is a #8 coarse thread hole which could be used to attach the emulator if a suitable bracket is made. I can make one if people like this route. The disadvantage is the hard drive will need to be removed from the computer. b) Make longer cables and mount it above the power supply. Longer 50, 20 pin, and power cables cables would need to be made and suitable mounting method made. Possibly just some plastic shields so it can short to anything is sufficient. Longer cables should work but can't be sure until tried. 3) Check power supply 5.2V on front connector to see if it is still around 5V. Page 6-10, 95 in PDF of this manual has the test connector information. http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/xerox/8010_dandelion/service/600P84227_8000_Pr… 4) The foam in the computer is deteriorating. Its currently at the does not spring back stage. Does not seem to be crumbling or generating corrosive gasses. One of these will likely happen with more time so should be addressed at some point. Most of it is just for sound deadening so can be removed with the machine being somewhat louder. I like to replace it on my restorations. There was a bigger piece on the front skin that looks like they put it in for some purpose that we may not want to just remove. 5) Check if skins I cleaned fit properly. 6) There are various scuff marks I didn't bring strong enough cleaner to remove on the skins. Does not need to be addressed but will make it look nicer. I've had good results on plastic with scuffs using soft scrub. 7) May want to try to understand the Ethernet error though its easy to work around.

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PDP-8 Status
by David Gesswein 20 Aug '20

20 Aug '20

I did a quick check out of the PDP-8. Everything in memory seemed to be corrupted but when I reloaded everything seemed to work ok except the deposit and examine switches are a little flaky. They are usable but you need to watch out for it incrementing by more than one and go back and fix the address. I should be able to clean them at a future workshop. I left it with the accumulator light pattern program at 100 octal and the punch block letters on paper tape at 200 octal. The punch demo may be another thing visitors can do and take home if we have more paper tape. There is a notebook with the machine with operating instructions and I can walk people through operating it if anyone is interested. I would recommend turning off the power strip I left tucked under the right rear if the backplanes are open to make sure nobody can reach in and find exposed AC. Don't turn it on without closing the backplanes for the same reason. There is lots of exposed AC when the machine is on. Closing also helps the cooling of the power supply.

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Missing Extech Multimeter (orange and green) at Workshop
by Alexander Jacocks 20 Aug '20

20 Aug '20

All, I seem to have mislaid my multimeter, at some point during the weekend. Did anyone see an orange-clad green multimeter? Thanks! - Alex

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Atari XE game system
by David K 20 Aug '20

20 Aug '20

Ethan, Thanks for the feedback regarding cleaning cartridges - that is often an issue but I do not think the games are the problem in this instance since they work on my Atari 800XL. My understanding is the XE is supposed to boot to Galaxian as a built-in game and if the keyboard is attached it should automatically boot and let you choose between BASIC and Galaxian. Can anyone confirm if this is true? I have no previous experience with the XE so this is all based on what I read online so far. Can anyone provide insight into what is special about the Star Raiders cartridge since from what I have seen online there is something about it that lets it boot when other games won't. David

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SYM-1 for sale
by Bob Applegate 20 Aug '20

20 Aug '20

I’m slowly working on liquidating my collection of stuff from multiple hobbies that completely fill my basement, and will be posting things as they are tested and ready to go. While looking on eBay to get a rough price for a SYM-1 I discovered this link: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Rare-Museum-Item-SYM-1-With-Briefcase-Power-Supply… Well, I’ve got exactly the same thing, so some school or company must have made a few of these for portable trainers. A decent job packing it all into a briefcase. Anyway, mine is much more economically priced. http://k2ut.org/yard-sale/ I’ve got some Heathkit stuff to test, including a Hero Jr robot, and then I’ll post them. Email me privately if interested. Bob

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Museum Report: 19 August 2020
by svcatitc＠aol.com 20 Aug '20

20 Aug '20

Opened at 1p. Slow day. Only one family, of the mom and 3 small kids, the youngest tyke was constantly tugging on mom's arm. I commented jokingly "who's taking who for a walk?" We both laughed. Only casual interest. Finished the insulating mod on the EAI TR20 XY recorder rack ears so there will not be ground loops. Al Klase from NJARC came in and toured the museum a couple of Wednesday's ago and we both commented how ground and guard systems so important in analog circuits (him coming from a HiFi background, among other heavy duty electronics studies). Closed up shop at 5:30p Bill Inderrieden

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Wow! What a repair workshop! Aug 15 & 16, 2020
by Jeffrey Brace 19 Aug '20

19 Aug '20

Wonderfully messy too! Between the two repair workshop areas, museum and warehouse we had about 20+ people attending and working on "stuff". First of all I want to thank Bill Inderrieden for helping me with the logistics of the workshop. It helps me to have a "right hand man" to manage everything that I do during these weekends. I am often pulled in many directions at these workshops to manage activities, answer questions and keep the museum running as well. Somehow I was able to find a place for 16 people to eat for dinner Saturday night going with my Plan "D" when A, B, C didn't have the room or had too long a wait. Outdoor only dining limits my options, but it seemed like everyone enjoyed it. Ian won the first (and second) to smoke award while working on a Swedish computer owned by Andrew. Maybe they can give more details as to the model and what was wrong with this machine. Ian also worked on an older model TV that he had looked for a long time to find. David Gesswein got our Xerox 8010 computer mostly working with a part that needs to be ordered and modern SD drive to replace the original (failed) hard drive. He was also able to get our PDP-8 working with the "chasing lights" demo and the teletype punch demo programs. Bill Inderrieden and Jeff Jonas did lots of good work on organizing the warehouse. Jason Perkins worked on scanning and uploading documents to the internet archive as well as his own hardware. The steering committee has lots of great stuff planned for improving the condition of the warehouse and will be giving details on that soon. Maybe others can fill in what they worked on and were able to repair. Next repair workshop is September 12 & 13: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1QPWVJSRL94SdHKtmkUmH6WESwckeXbn8PgV… -- ========================================= Jeff Brace Vice President & Board Member Vintage Computer Festival East Show-runner Vintage Computer Federation is a 501c3 charity http://www.vcfed.org/ jeffrey(a)vcfed.org cell: 732-759-1783

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T-shirts for Vintage Computer Festival 2020 for Pickup at VCF Museum
by Jeffrey Brace 19 Aug '20

19 Aug '20

I know that for the past few months anyone can order VCF t-shirts from here: http://vcfed.org/wp/t-shirts. This is expected to continue to the end of the year, but may stop at any time. Cost is $20 + shipping. For anyone interested in saving on shipping, you can pick up your t-shirt from the VCF Museum. I am taking orders for them now. Cost for t-shirts is $20. Then I will send you a PayPal invoice. Fill out this Google Form to order one: https://forms.gle/a8PzyP9xuipgD8bL8 They come in Amber or Green. You can look here for pictures of them: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Si_Otu2kICPbNaEUpcw0kSqoh9gDh-xh?us… Deadline for ordering is September 17, 2020. Expected delivery date will be October 3 (a week before VCF East 2020). -- ========================================= Jeff Brace Vice President & Board Member Vintage Computer Festival East Show-runner Vintage Computer Federation is a 501c3 charity http://www.vcfed.org/ jeffrey(a)vcfed.org cell: 732-759-1783

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Free to a Good Home: Okidata Microline 84 printer
by William Dudley 19 Aug '20

19 Aug '20

The Okidata Microline 84 is a wide carriage dot matrix printer, with a "near letter quality" mode in addition to the normal "draft mode". It has a "Centronics" parallel input. A google search implies that ribbons can still be purchased. Photos here: https://www.dudley.nu/forsale/#oki84 Printer is located in Jackson, NJ. I can meet you somewhere within about 15 miles of my home, or I can deliver to the VCF museum at the next work session. It's big and heavy, so shipping will be expensive. Bill Dudley Jackson, NJ This email is free of malware because I run Linux.

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Atari XE game system
by David K 19 Aug '20

19 Aug '20

I recently bought an Atari XE game system. When I turn it on it goes right into self test. The result of the self-test is that the ROM 'slot' on the left is green (good) but the ROM 'slot' on the right is bad (red). All of the 48 RAM blocks show up as good. I get this same result every time I turn it on or reset it. I have tried starting the computer while holding 'Select' and the exact same thing happens. I am confident the power supply is good. I am actually using a 5V power supply for an Atari 800XL I have and it works for the XL just fine. I took the motherboard out of the case and can see no obvious damage (I am not an electronics or computer person by training however). I tried numerous games and none worked except one (see next paragraph). I know the games are good because they work on my XL. The one game that does work is Star Raiders. I saw something online about how this has some special testing (?) component but I do not understand the implication of this. I have the keyboard piece and it seems to work as I can use it to do various things when playing Star Raiders. But pressing the 'Help' button on the keyboard during the self test does nothing. I've left the computer on for maybe 15 minutes as it repeatedly goes through the self test and some of the chips get warm but not particularly hot. Can anyone help me get this to boot correctly and play other games? Thanks, David K

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Xerox Wildflowers - Dandelions and Daybreaks
by Andrew Diller 19 Aug '20

19 Aug '20

I know DavidG has done some amazing work (along with other members) on VCF's 8010 (Dandelion)... And strangely enough the same day (yesterday) someone on the SGI Discord I frequent posted this amazing video, which I thought I'd share to interested people here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10Dlr5rY9SI <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10Dlr5rY9SI> Of a Daybreak (Xerox 6085) booting up into ViewPoint 2.0 and using the apps. VCF also has a Daybreak which would be great to get fully functional again as well. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xerox_Daybreak <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xerox_Daybreak> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xerox_Star <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xerox_Star> I'm not sure of the dates, but do people know if the Xerox Star would have been the system that Jobs and the Apple team viewed at Xerox back when they had their infamous visits? Or were those Altos? -andy

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Xerox Wildflowers - Dandelions and Daybreaks
by Herb Johnson 18 Aug '20

18 Aug '20

> in reality it was a business deal that in essence traded Apple stock for use of Xerox IP https://zurb.com/blog/steve-jobs-and-xerox-the-truth-about-inno Web search for "apple Xerox business deal" found this link pretty quickly. It links to a New York Times article from 2011. As Tony Bogan says, there's probably more such reportage. However, there's also reportage that's just crap - based on speculation and opinion and hype for various purposes. I myself, didn't know one way or another if there was a business deal between Apple/Jobs and Xerox. It was not hard to find out, presuming these are legitimate sources. The chatter after the linked article is informative, because it includes first-hand testimony, plus informed opinions from actual experienced technical persons. Other commentary is fun to see. People not part of the events or items in question, split hairs about things like "innovate" versus "copy", "real genius", and who the heroes and villains "really" were. I'm commenting, because I run across this stuff all the time, and I maintain my own Web site on vintage computing. I have to explain more and more history, because most of my site-readers now have no experience with my items from my era. I could say more about history and evidence, and why people speak or write about something for one purpose or another. But I decided, it's enough to say the following. People write or speak for some purpose. There may or may not be, evidence behind their words. Know the purposes and know the evidence, and then you can (if you wish) decide how to consider what's said and written. It's useful advice, I think. 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 retrotechnology DOT info

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Museum Report: 15 August 2020
by svcatitc＠aol.com 18 Aug '20

18 Aug '20

Very "mixed" busy day. I was adjunct docent with Dylan during the workshop over this past weekend. I got 2 family groups in. I did one full tour and a half of one up "iron row", whereby Dylan finished the other half down "8 bit row". Dylan had one other couple come in and he did the tour solo. We had Amy Jacocks (Alex's wife) join us for the Saturday, performing pro bono work, teaching us museum science and the care and maintenance of museum collections. She does this for a living. She took a tour of our warehouse and then the museum, whereby she then gave us a wrap up of her findings and evaluations. What a consummate professional. To see what we are doing right and where we need improvement was very illuminating. We got a lot of work to do!!!! Thank You Amy !!!! Thank You Alex for sharing your wife's expertise with us !!!! Bill Inderrieden

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Fwd: Join Us | Wi-Fi for Billions: Andrea Goldsmith, Innovation, and Inclusion
by Jeffrey Brace 17 Aug '20

17 Aug '20

Free Webinar sponsored by CHM. Moderated by Bob Metcalf. ---------- Forwarded message --------- From: CHM <marcom(a)computerhistory.org> Date: Mon, Aug 17, 2020 at 4:00 PM Subject: Join Us | Wi-Fi for Billions: Andrea Goldsmith, Innovation, and Inclusion To: <jeffrey(a)vcfed.org> Entrepreneur and Engineering Professor Andrea Goldsmith in Conversation with... <https://computerhistory.us13.list-manage.com/track/click?u=20bc634cf3d929f8…> <https://computerhistory.us13.list-manage.com/track/click?u=20bc634cf3d929f8…> <https://computerhistory.us13.list-manage.com/track/click?u=20bc634cf3d929f8…> <https://computerhistory.us13.list-manage.com/track/click?u=20bc634cf3d929f8…> CHM Live | Virtual Event WiFi for Billions: Andrea Goldsmith, Innovation, and Inclusion In Conversation with Internet pioneer and entrepreneur Bob Metcalfe, Venture Capitalist Angela Tran, and CHM Teen Alumna Ramya Chitturi It’s not every day that someone gives away $100,000, but that’s what Andrea Goldsmith did when she became the first woman to win the Marconi Prize, the top honor in information and communications research. The Stanford engineering professor’s work has enabled billions of people around the world to enjoy fast, reliable cell phone and WiFi networks, as well as applications for video streaming and autonomous vehicles that require stable network performance. But Goldsmith wants to spread the benefits of technology even further by making engineering more inclusive and diverse. Her prize money went to start an endowment to do just that. Join us for an innovative event format as Goldsmith fields questions from three different moderators: a high school student, a young professional, and a peer. They’ll explore her pioneering technology research, her journey as a serial entrepreneur, her commitment to educating the next generation of engineers, and her passion for ensuring that diverse people will be full participants in building tomorrow’s technologies. *This virtual event will begin at 11:00 a.m. and conclude at 12:30 p.m. PT. Registered guests will receive a link to join the virtual event 24 hours prior to the event date. * Learn More <https://computerhistory.us13.list-manage.com/track/click?u=20bc634cf3d929f8…> *When* Wednesday, August 19, 2020 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. PT Livestream *Speaker* Andrea Goldsmith <https://computerhistory.us13.list-manage.com/track/click?u=20bc634cf3d929f8…> *Moderators* Ramya Chitturi <https://computerhistory.us13.list-manage.com/track/click?u=20bc634cf3d929f8…> Bob Metcalfe <https://computerhistory.us13.list-manage.com/track/click?u=20bc634cf3d929f8…> Angela Tran <https://computerhistory.us13.list-manage.com/track/click?u=20bc634cf3d929f8…> *Register Here* <https://computerhistory.us13.list-manage.com/track/click?u=20bc634cf3d929f8…> CHM <https://computerhistory.us13.list-manage.com/track/click?u=20bc634cf3d929f8…> CALENDAR <https://computerhistory.us13.list-manage.com/track/click?u=20bc634cf3d929f8…> VISIT <https://computerhistory.us13.list-manage.com/track/click?u=20bc634cf3d929f8…> MEMBERSHIP <https://computerhistory.us13.list-manage.com/track/click?u=20bc634cf3d929f8…> SUBSCRIBE <https://computerhistory.us13.list-manage.com/track/click?u=20bc634cf3d929f8…> Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences <https://computerhistory.us13.list-manage.com/profile?u=20bc634cf3d929f8435a…> or unsubscribe from this list <https://computerhistory.us13.list-manage.com/unsubscribe?u=20bc634cf3d929f8…> -- ========================================= Jeff Brace Vice President & Board Member Vintage Computer Festival East Show-runner Vintage Computer Federation is a 501c3 charity http://www.vcfed.org/ jeffrey(a)vcfed.org cell: 732-759-1783

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