- vcf-midatlantic - lists.vcfed.org

Swapmeet spreadsheet! [Sudbrink]
by Herbert Johnson 04 Jun '23

04 Jun '23

>> I've added some things to the For Sale Sheet. Bill, the H88 on your sheet entry. Can you check the CRT to see if the neck is open? Or clean the CRT face? From the photo, it's hard to tell the issue. I don't recommend powering up the H88. The tantalum caps on the +12 /+18V line tend to short out and burn up traces. It's because 120V AC line voltage raises the 18 volts to more like 21V which exceeds the 20V rating of the caps. That, and age. The H88/89/19 expects 110VAC. Regards Herb -- Herbert R. Johnson, New Jersey USA https://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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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Swapmeet spreadsheet!
by Gregg Levine 04 Jun '23

04 Jun '23

Hello! Someone is selling a crowd of HP calculators. What numbers are these? I've been interested in finding an HP-41 and its attending accessories for years. (Almost as long as those terminals that I described earlier.) ----- Gregg C Levine gregg.drwho8(a)gmail.com "This signature fought the Time Wars, time and again." On Sun, Jun 4, 2023 at 6:14 AM Sentry TV via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > > I could be interested inthe AppleII GSMike Rosen > On Saturday, June 3, 2023 at 09:33:29 PM EDT, William Sudbrink via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > > I've added some things to the For Sale Sheet. > > Bill S. > > On 5/29/2023 11:00 PM, Jeffrey Brace via vcf-midatlantic wrote: > > OK. Thanks for the reminder. > > Here is the Want to Buy Google Sheet: > > https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1vFpCgRjniAkEL_Dt7sHtOq3cRtFzgVgzjHp… > > Here is the For Sale Sheet: > > https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/10Z-fWeLbW288WghTwAM1J3jgOCvg3ZRsPd7… > > > > Let me know if I'm forgetting anything else. I will review my checklists > > tomorrow for the swap meet. > > > > > > On Mon, May 29, 2023 at 5:07 PM Ethan O'Toole via vcf-midatlantic < > > vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > > > >> Is there one yet? Or can someone create!? > >> > >> - Ethan > >> > >> > > -- > This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. > www.avast.com >

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Thoughts on exhibiting
by Chris Platts 02 Jun '23

02 Jun '23

Hi all, I’ve been sat in my spare room over several years fixing, restoring and tinkering with old machines, usually with the likes of Adrian’s Digital Basement or Usagi Electric on the TV to keep me company. I only really learnt about the VCF recently… but since then, I’ve got the idea in my head of (carefully) throwing a bunch of my British home computers — and maybe an Atari or two — in a suitcase and flying over to the US to exhibit at VCF East 2024. Does that sound like it’d be of interest? I’d bring all that I could — a selection of BBC Micros, Acorn Archimedes, Amstrad CPCs, etc. Whatever I could fit in 23 kilos! I’d happily let anyone have a play around on them and share whatever I know. I suppose I’m asking where the ‘bar’ is for exhibiting. I’m certainly no Adrian or David — just a guy with a soldering iron and an oscilloscope and too much time on his hands. But I do love these old machines and it’d be nice to share. If it’s not quite what the festival needs, I’m still planning on flying over in April to attend even if I don’t exhibit! Any thoughts appreciated! Cheers, Chris

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Warehouse cleanup 05-28-2023
by Jeffrey Brace 29 May '23

29 May '23

Another great day of cleaning out our future warehouse. I met Christian Liendo there and Ken Gober around 9AM, Bill Interriden joined us shortly after that followed by Thomas and Ian Litchfield. We worked for about 2 and half hours before calling it quits for lunch at almost noon. Some had other appointments and had to go. The rest stayed to work on other things and be docent for the museum. We filled up most of the dumpster. We removed almost everything that could be removed. The remaining items belong to other groups or are too large to fit in the remaining space in the dumpster. There are also paints and other items that have to be properly disposed of. We will access what remains and come up with another cleanup day. There is a lot of dust and other particles that need to be vacuumed with a shop vac or swept up. We are getting closer to having it completely emptied out. Some pictures: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1-uoBXutpBMMKHLsAqGK2-yiiZGg0Gy-s?us… Thanks! Jeff Brace VCF National Board Member Chairman & Vice President Vintage Computer Festival East Showrunner VCF Mid-Atlantic Event Manager Vintage Computer Federation is a 501c3 charity https://vcfed.org/ <http://www.vcfed.org/> jeffrey(a)vcfed.org

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NEC MultiSpeed Laptops New in Box
by Jeff Galinat 28 May '23

28 May '23

A friend of mine has 3 NEC MultiSpeed Laptops for sale. New in the box. If you are interested let me know and I will put you in touch with him. He travels up & down the eastern US for work and works in NJ, DE and TN. I have no idea as far as price but you can negotiate that with him directly if you are interested. I didn’t think the list accepted pictures so the Facebook link below has a advertisement from back in the day. Regards Jeff https://www.facebook.com/groups/2103793056560583/permalink/3668748716731668…

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(Nabu) Livestream talk with Leo Binkowski, DJ Sures and Brian Johnson = Sat, May 27 6:30PM EDT
by Jeffrey Brace 28 May '23

28 May '23

There were lots of technical glitches during VCF East with the Zoom talk by Leo Binkwoski, Nabu developer. So, I am doing a live Q&A session with him this coming Saturday, May 27 at 6:30PM EDT. He has already recorded his talk and I posted that to VCF's channel: https://youtu.be/IhPsNQBCKfM. There was no monitoring of questions during the livestream during VCF East and I'm sure many were frustrated with the network problems. So I now want to give everyone a chance to do Q&A based on his high quality talk that we posted last Saturday 5/20/23. DJ Sures and Brian Johson will be there for support. The plan is that I will start out with some questions until we get some from the public on the YouTube stream and go from there. I will be talking with them via Zoom and streaming to YouTube. Thanks! Jeff Brace VCF National Board Member Chairman & Vice President Vintage Computer Festival East Showrunner VCF Mid-Atlantic Event Manager Vintage Computer Federation is a 501c3 charity https://vcfed.org/ <http://www.vcfed.org/> jeffrey(a)vcfed.org

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Burroughs B80
by Mike Loewen 27 May '23

27 May '23

Does VCF at Infoage possess a Burroughs B80? Al Kossow from Bitsavers is asking. Mike Loewen mloewen(a)cpumagic.scol.pa.us Old Technology http://q7.neurotica.com/Oldtech/

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VCF Museum - Microcomputer slots, S-100 to Apple II to IBM PC, Lou Eggebrecht
by Douglas Crawford 26 May '23

26 May '23

This is the first in what I expect to be a series of posts that highlight subject I/We are thinking of at the museum. In the museum, one of our talking points- a "sub tour" in the museum, highlights concepts of interconnects, from back planes to buses. Bus slots are best represented currently in the micro era exhibits on S-100, Apple II, and the PC. One idea that is probably coming is to have a whole slew of labeled add-in boards on the wall to show how significant the ability and the practice of upgrading a microcomputer was. Slots were important to make these machines versatile and created entire sub industries around each machine that had slots. I'm less versed in the slot systems of the minicomputers; I imagine a certain amount of this dynamic occurred there too. I'd like to share a bit of lore on the IBM PC bus, as this, I find, is lesser known in the hobby. The father of the IBM PC ISA bus is Lou Eggebrecht, and its a great story. He wrote the book, literally, on the IBM PC ISA Bus. https://archive.org/details/interfacingtoibm00egge I just bought a copy. We'll have this in the museum. After the PC was launched, a situation happened between him and IBM and they "parted ways". A short interpretation might go along the lines that IBM perceived Mr. Eggebrecht was capitalizing too much personally on the ISA bus. My reference is "Blue Magic - The People, Power and Politics Behind the IBM Personal Computer" by James Chposky and Ted Leonsis. I don't know his whole career after IBM. I do know he went on to be an influential person at Commodore, ICS and Broadcom. Here's a period piece on him at Commodore (https://amr.abime.net/review_51617) He seemed to follow along with moves of Mr. Hock Tan. Hock Tan is the CEO that presided at Commodore at the end of line, selling off the assets I think. Hock Tan then came to ICS (Integrated Circuit Systems), a Valley Forge-based fabless mixed signal semiconductor designer with products revolving around phase-locked loops. Of interest to most of our hobby--- ICS was started by Ex-MOS process engineer Ed Arnold in the late 1970s. ICS had a number of ex-Commodore personnel on staff. Mr. Eggebrecht I believe was on the board of ICS for while, and this is where I had a chance to meet him in the late 1990s. At the time I only knew he had some involvement with the IBM PC. He was very likeable; humble, warm, and gracious. Mr. Eggebrecht was ideal to have on the board at ICS - who's chief products were the timing generators for the Intel processors and chipsets at the time. Hock Tan went on to IDT (as did I) when he sold ICS to IDT and then to Avago (I did not). Hock Tan orchestrated the huge merger of Avago and Broadcom. I mention this, because, not surprisingly, Lou Eggebrecht served on the board of Broadcom for some time too. He would be a great speaker at a VCF! :-O I hope his oral history gets taken too.

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VCF Museum - Microcomputer slots, S-100 to Apple II to IBM PC, Lou Eggebrecht
by Herbert Johnson 26 May '23

26 May '23

I read Doug's post, and subsequent posts, and started to write a response that filled in on a few points. Such as, actual S-100 bus history. Or, why a "slot" isn't quite a bus, and the history of that. And, how IBM's PC bus isn't quite like MITS's Altair Bus - which wasn't quite "S-100". That became a lecture, and it's not useful or polite to post a lecture. So I created a Web page instead, and I'm posting a link to that, for those interested in a little more background. While it's my opinion, it's a technically informed one; some history can be argued of course. It's also on-the-fly and a bit rough. http://www.retrotechnology.com/herbs_stuff/bus_history.html The point relevant to this discussion, is to flesh-out some of the background that Doug references. I hope it informs his intended display. It's certainly a good idea, to display and describe general features of vintage computers. One of them is a bus architecture, or maybe the lack of one, why such things occur, and their consequences. My interest in S-100 architectures is certainly a consequence. Much of my Web site is devoted to S-100 computers. Others who have posted, have sites or interests in specific brands or architectures. I'm informed by their responses in my document. Thanks to all and I hope I have some useful considerations in my offline response. Regards Herb Johnson -- Herbert R. Johnson, New Jersey USA https://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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August Repair Workshop & InfoAge Volunteer Cookout
by Jeffrey Brace 25 May '23

25 May '23

The August repair workshop will be August 26 & 27. Signup is here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1fWMqLQ_8wqgUHlUJMqLlH84z3CPpOzc2Tb-… There is a volunteer cookout run by InfoAge for all the volunteers on August 26. So we are invited. I need a count of who is coming, so please sign up on the Repair Workshop list to let me know that you are coming. Likely it will be burgers, hot dogs, soft drinks. There is no cost to volunteers. Volunteers and their families will be coming. Probably it will be around 6PM, but details will be forthcoming. Thanks! Jeff Brace VCF National Board Member Chairman & Vice President Vintage Computer Festival East Showrunner VCF Mid-Atlantic Event Manager Vintage Computer Federation is a 501c3 charity https://vcfed.org/ <http://www.vcfed.org/> jeffrey(a)vcfed.org

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