- vcf-midatlantic - lists.vcfed.org

A Mastodon Instance for VCF - an Invitation
by Andrew Diller 24 Dec '22

24 Dec '22

With support from the VCF Board I have created a new service for supporters of the Vintage Computer Federation: A VCF Mastodon instance. I have a direct invite to sign up below, or the public url if you just want to look around. I also have some Q&A words below that may help explain why we are doing this. Just go right to signup: https://social.vcfed.org/invite/QDJkojxi Take a look around: https://social.vcfed.org/public Why do we need this? Mastodon is a federated network of instances (servers) every person that wants to participate needs an account on an instance. Many instances have rules and themes around topics. I thought it would be interesting to have one centered around VCF, its supporters which acknowledges our charter and its goals. The Board agreed and we have created and then set up a server inside of VCF's AWS (Amazon) account. This hosts the Mastodon instance. Is VCF Leaving Twitter? No, VCF is exploring Mastodon in conjunction with continuing to use Twitter. Mastodon is an interesting federated technology and as such offers a unique and different way of engaging socially with others on the Internet. It complements Twitter and has some fun new ways of tracking events and postings, more like classic Twitter in terms of a straight non-influenced timeline. Why would I use VCF's Mastodon? There are a few reasons. One: we are here and offering accounts. Some of the larger M. instances have been overwhelmed with requests and are closed to new accounts. The VCF Mastodon Instance (VMI) is open and can allow an easy way for interested individuals to sign up and explore the fediverse with fellow VCF supporters. What did you just say? You can read more about the fediverse here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fediverse It's another interesting technology that has been around for a while but gained recent notoriety as more people have joined up. Mastodon is just one front-end application that participates in the larger fediverse. I have already seeded it with some interesting retro federated sites so you should see postings when you visit. If you decide to join up and start to follow people who are of interest to you it will widen the Federated stream on the site. Please feel free to click on the link and sign up for an account. So far I've found it interesting and fun. You can decide for yourself. If you have questions about using it once you sign up ask me via Mastodon DM me via Masto----> @dillera@social.vcfed.org Again, the VCF Instance is here: https://social.vcfed.org/public Happy Holidays -andy diller Social Media Manager, not Director, at VCFederation

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interesting unit
by Duane Craps 23 Dec '22

23 Dec '22

Looks like it could be a good storage device for 8 bit computers -- DuaneCraps sdɐɹɔ ǝuɐnp

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] OT: Netflix studios coming to former Army base in Monmouth NJ
by Jeffrey Brace 23 Dec '22

23 Dec '22

On Fri, Dec 23, 2022 at 2:03 PM Sentrytv via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > So how will this affect InfoAge(?) in the future? > There is no way to know for certain. The only way that I see it affecting InfoAge is in rental of different equipment. Of course there is a chance for someone at NetFlix to discover the history of InfoAge, do some filming and draw in more visitors. For the Vintage Computer Federation most shows that we have rented artifacts to in the past have been far away. This would be super close, so much easier to rent artifacts. As for VCF East, it may make it harder to get hotel rentals if there are a lot of people using up the local hotels. However this may incentivize more hotels to be built, which would be helpful overall. There are also plans to renovate or rebuild abandoned housing in the surrounding area since the Army moved out of Fort Monmouth. There have been other businesses that have moved into Fort Monmouth including churches, rehabilitation centers, CommVault, etc. This is the first really big named place to open up. There are still acres and acres and acres of undeveloped land (total area of Fort Monmouth is 1,126 acres). I know because I have read the local news and drive through the center of the campus periodically. I invited anyone when visiting VCF to drive through and see what I mean. Jeff Brace > > Sent from: > My extremely complicated, hand held electronic device. > > > On Dec 22, 2022, at 9:52 PM, Ethan O'Toole via vcf-midatlantic < > vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > > > > > > "New $848M Netflix Studios Monmouth At Former New Jersey Army Base Is A > Firm Go; Co-CEO Ted Sarandos Sees “Billions In Economic Output” From 12 > Sound Stages – Update" > > > > "Netflix will pay $55 million for a big parcel of land in New Jersey, > then invest about $850 million to build a state-of-the-art production > studio, according to details of the streamer’s bid. " > > > > "The 289-acre site of Netflix Studios Fort Monmouth, a former army base, > would be one of the largest fully integrated production facilities in the > world and a very close second to Netflix’s biggest U.S. production hub in > Albuquerque, New Mexico, which totals 300 acres." > > > > > https://deadline.com/2022/12/netflix-studios-fort-monmouth-new-jersey-produ… > > > > So uh, this is really close to VCF. 10 mile drive according to the Goog > but much shorter as the crow flies. > > > > - Ethan > >

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] OT: Netflix studios coming to former Army base in Monmouth NJ
by Christian Liendo 23 Dec '22

23 Dec '22

My crystal ball sees property value increases. Who knows, they may rent out the site for films, which will bring in some much needed cash flow. I say this is a good thing. Except for me because I can't move there now because it will be too expensive. On Fri, Dec 23, 2022 at 2:03 PM Sentrytv via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > > So how will this affect InfoAge(?) in the future? >

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OT: Netflix studios coming to former Army base in Monmouth NJ
by Ethan O'Toole 23 Dec '22

23 Dec '22

"New $848M Netflix Studios Monmouth At Former New Jersey Army Base Is A Firm Go; Co-CEO Ted Sarandos Sees “Billions In Economic Output” From 12 Sound Stages – Update" "Netflix will pay $55 million for a big parcel of land in New Jersey, then invest about $850 million to build a state-of-the-art production studio, according to details of the streamer’s bid. " "The 289-acre site of Netflix Studios Fort Monmouth, a former army base, would be one of the largest fully integrated production facilities in the world and a very close second to Netflix’s biggest U.S. production hub in Albuquerque, New Mexico, which totals 300 acres." https://deadline.com/2022/12/netflix-studios-fort-monmouth-new-jersey-produ… So uh, this is really close to VCF. 10 mile drive according to the Goog but much shorter as the crow flies. - Ethan

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What we can learn from vintage computing
by Herbert Johnson 22 Dec '22

22 Dec '22

Jeff Jonas discussed the IBM 1130 front panel. He noted well-labeled controls and computer operations to the single instruction or cycle or clock. It's good information. But Jeff ends with this: > All that was lost with the microprocessor :-( All the data busses and > registers are internal with no pins, thus relying on a monitor to > view/alter registers. That's the glory of REAL font panels: they're all > HARDWARE, they can't lie :-) The MITS Altair 8800, the IMSAI 8080, the MITS 680, the Ithaca Intersystems DPS-1; all supported MITS-class front panels. The earliest 1802 computers, same era, had a byte-level, single clock/instruction front panel (and little else). Home-built early 8008 and 8080 systems, often included front panels. Terminals were expensive, memory was limited, and front panels helped debug the hardware. People looking back today, don't appreciate the limited resources (and limited wealth) during 1970's micro computing. MITS people may not have known about the IBM 1130 front panel. But certainly, Ed Roberts knew about the Data General NOVA, which sat in his office, and which has a front panel. (David Greelish interview with Roberts.) The MITS front panel, like the Nova, permitted single-cycle and single-instruction operation of the 8080 microprocessor. It could not display registers, those are internal to the 8080. So, front panels were not "lost with the microprocessor". They simply fell out of favor, by the late 1970's. Briefly: as microcomputers became more powerful and hardware stabilized, software debugging was cheaper and preferable to hardware debugging. Computers designed for the office and home, were styled like office equipment. I lived through the era, it's hard to prove why something stopped happening. On "hardware panels can't lie". They can fail too. And some devices won't run at toggle-clock speeds. Problems may not manifest on a front-panel if they are intermittent. Front panels are a tool, like other tools they have utility or not. Should I say, "all that was lost, when personal computers became commonplace"? Things change, sometimes there's reasons. Regards, Herb Johnson retrotechnology.com -- 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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NABU Disk images and Forum
by Andrew Diller 22 Dec '22

22 Dec '22

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqFx9Mc6vzY <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqFx9Mc6vzY> I love that they are tracking/working this out via the VCF Forums! https://forum.vcfed.org/index.php?threads/bad-disk-image.1240644/ What a change from just a few years ago when the forum seemed to be on the verge of fading away. Props to the VCF Team that has breathed new life into it. -andy

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[The Washington Post] Remember the pay phone? This man is bringing them back at no cost.
by Glenn Roberts 22 Dec '22

22 Dec '22

Interesting article about bringing back free “pay” phones. Hopefully everyone can click on the link below to read the story… (sent with the “gift” option in Washington Post app…) Remember the pay phone? This man is bringing them back at no cost. “There are lots of people who can’t afford a cellphone or a phone bill,” PhilTel co-founder Mike Dank said. By Cathy Free https://wapo.st/3YFblYX Download The Washington Post app. Sent from my iPad

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What we can learn from vintage computing
by Jeffrey Jonas 21 Dec '22

21 Dec '22

I could go on and on about the glory of the IBM 1130 front panel until I froth at the mouth and fall over backwards (arrrrrrrrrrrrgh!) Here's an attempt to summarize all its goodness. Lookit the panel itself https://www.technikum29.de/en/computer/ibm1130.php Everything is clearly labelled, easy to read. Logically arranged: registers on the left, status in the center, instruction and interrupts on the right. First of all, you SIT at the console with the keyboard and most of the switches in easy reach. Quite the "personal computer" of the time. The number of buttons & switches was minimal because many were multi-purpose depending on the magic "mode switch" on the far right of the display. "run" mode was the usual mode: run at full speed. Too fast? Interrupt-run caused a level 5 (low priority) interrupt after every instruction for tracing, breakpoints, watchpoints, etc. Still too fast? SI: single instruction. Each press of the "START" button ran ONE instruction and the CPU halted, showing the full status on the indicators. Still too fast? Try SMC: Single Memory Cycle. Core memory was a limiting factor so each instruction had 1-7 memory cycles: I1 I2 IX IA E1 E2 E3. I cycles were instruction fetch: first word, 2nd word, indexing, indirect addressing. E cycles were execution: depending on the number of memory accesses required (single word or double-word). The 1130 was somewhat unique in that addresses were for each 16-bit word. There was no byte access, thus no need to address bytes. Still too fast? Use SS: single clock cycle. There were usually 8 clock cycles per memory cycle, sometimes many more as controlled by the cycle control counter. This is where the machine internals REALLY show. A manual gave the flowchart of every instruction for you to follow along clock cycle by clock cycle. The top center shows 1-8 for the clock cycle. The bottom indicators were available for the CE (customer engineer) to wire up as required to debug circuits. There were even a few spare gates to help with 'watchdog' circuits when debugging the hardware. All that was lost with the microprocessor :-( All the data busses and registers are internal with no pins, thus relying on a monitor to view/alter registers. That's the glory of REAL font panels: they're all HARDWARE, they can't lie :-) -- jeff jonas

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Herb's Website made front page on HackerNews
by Herbert Johnson 19 Dec '22

19 Dec '22

It's a bit hyperbolic, to say my site "made the front page" of HackerNews. So, the precipitating event, possibly was https://www.retrotechnology.com/dri/d_dri.html#gaby an update in mid-June 2022 to the license that DRDOS Inc CEO Brian Sparks gave to the CP/M archive site some years ago. Sparks essentially owns CP/M. Read the fine Web pages for details. Otherwise, someone on HackerNews noted one of my many Digital Research Web pages http://www.retrotechnology.com/dri/ - home page for DRI https://www.retrotechnology.com/dri/d_dri.html - early DRI CP/M work http://www.retrotechnology.com/dri/dri_16bit.html - later probably found while Web searching for CP/M ownership information. My pages get attention, because "content is king on the Web" still holds. Here's what I mean. Few Web sites have followed the trail of sales of Digital Research assets, ending with Brian Sparks and DRDOS Inc. associates' final purchase. Few cover all the products of DRI, and their relationship to other software products, particularly 16-bit class products. Scope of content matters. I did all that, before Kildall's story became well-known in 2004, in a biographical write up contained in "They Made America". And, before the IEEE honored Kildall's first business location on the 40th anniversary of Kildall's first boot of CP/M (a date not well-established, by the way). Persistence of content matters. The scope of DRI and CP/M is a rich story. But most accounts of CP/M focus on Dr. Gary Kildall's life when CP/M began with him, and end with MS-DOS and the IBM PC in 1981. Nothing could be further from the truth. Kildall made other contributions after Digital Research, and had other issues. These I do not cover. I followed the CP/M trail from where it started, to many products and people impacted by it, and to wherever that led. Regards Herb Johnson retrotechnology.com -- 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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