- vcf-midatlantic - lists.vcfed.org

portable terminal preferences
by ☼ wil lindsay ☼ 04 Jan '21

04 Jan '21

I've found myself continually searching for a portable (preferably backlit) dedicated terminal/telnet device for various projects. It looks like historically, the portable terminals like the TI Silent 700 series were basically superseded by portable computers (please correct me if I'm wrong). I only see a few examples of the in-between devices such as a Travelmate LT220 or a screen add-on for the Silent 700. My current go-to is to repurpose netbooks with linux and an FTDI cable or over wifi to some hardware connection. This still seems like overkill, but seems like the most usable solution. Clearly, I can just strike up a console on my main laptop, but I like to use something other than the laptop I use for work, paying bills and other dull affairs. This should be fun, right? I'm curious what everyone else uses to connect to their various machines. Straw poll? Thoughts?

5 4

What projects are you working on?
by Jeffrey Brace 04 Jan '21

04 Jan '21

During this time of year many of us are off work or inside for one reason or another. I'm curious what projects everyone is working on. -- ========================================= 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

19 35

free at workshop: monitor, TV
by Jeffrey Jonas 03 Jan '21

03 Jan '21

I have several pleasant monitors for free at the top of the heap: HP 1740 - 17" diagonal, classic 3:4 aspect ratio - 1280 x 1024 - VGA and DVI-D inputs (use a passive adapter/cable for HDMI) - very versatile tilt and height stand - seems to work fine from the bottom of the heap: LG model 26LC7D-UB 26" wide screen TV with lotsa inputs the problem: spazzes out after 3 hours. I see a bad capacitor, that might be the fix. I will bring them ONLY if requested. -- jeff jonas

1 0

Insuring vintage electronics
by Clint 02 Jan '21

02 Jan '21

Random question, but as I'm going through updating my homeowners insurance I'm not sure my vintage electronics are robustly protected. I also haven't found any good providers/opinions on coverage in a few minutes of googling. Does anyone have any thoughts or experience with insurance coverage for relatively small personal collections? -Clint

2 1

dp8340n IBM 3270 protocol transmitter encoder
by William Sudbrink 02 Jan '21

02 Jan '21

Hi, In cleaning up my lab and stores, I have discovered that I have a tube of 10 of these chips. I'm not quite sure what they are for or were used in (or even where I got them). Anyway, if they are, in fact, for managing 3270 mainframe terminal traffic, they're probably not of much use to me. I've also noticed that I'm getting very low in vintage 4000 series CMOS chips. Anybody want to trade? Bill S. -- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus

2 2

Museum Report 2021-01-01
by Jeffrey Brace 02 Jan '21

02 Jan '21

Recorded some videos for the docents on how to run demos on the CoCo 3, Atari 1040ST, Amiga 1000. There seems to be a booting problem for the Osbourne, so maybe someone can take a look at it during the repair workshop. Also the Atari 1040ST demos seem to be in Black and White, I have no idea. (Thinking out loud, is there an SD card solution for the 1040ST?) I'm still having problems with the FujiNet even with the latest firmware update from a few days ago. I go to run a program and it resets. -- ========================================= 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

4 7

Happy New Year!
by Jeffrey Brace 02 Jan '21

02 Jan '21

This has been a challenging year for everyone, but we have been resilient and made it through this horrible and disappointing year. We were able to still have repair workshops to help keep each other sane and have some vintage computer fellowship and goodness. We made VCF East virtual and it was kick ass! As we slowly get out of the darkness entering into 2021 let's continue to show our strength, reliance and unity in all things vintage computing. The light at the end of the tunnel is in sight. Let's help each other to keep moving forward. We are a great bunch of people and I look forward to the time when we can have large in-person events to celebrate all that we enjoy in this hobby! To you and your family I wish you a Happy and safe New Year! :-D -- ========================================= 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>

2 1

Amiga 2000 Getting files onto floppy disk
by Sentrytv 02 Jan '21

02 Jan '21

Good evening Happy new year! I have an AMIGA 2000 that I need to get drivers for the SCSI card Onto a floppy disk. SCSI drivers need to be on my kickstart disk so I can access the hard drives. I only have a Windows computer and I’m not sure how I would be able to get these files onto a floppy disk that the Amiga can read so I can set the configuration properly to see what is on the hard drives. ( 1 SCSI -1 RLL) 2090 card. Right now it has the original configuration. Kickstart 1.2 in ROM. And I am using workbench 1.3 floppy disk to start the system. If I don’t use a workbench floppy disk to start the system, it will prompt me for workbench 1.2. So my goal is to get the drivers onto the kickstart disk so I can access the hard drives At least with a minimal amount of expense. Can anybody help with this, please? Mike Rosen Sent from: My extremely complicated, hand held electronic device.

1 0

OT: Locked out of group chat on iPhone 6
by Jeffrey Brace 01 Jan '21

01 Jan '21

OK. So I'm in a family group text chat (SMS) since Covid-19 started and there are 14 people in the chat. My uncle has an iPhone 6 and 3 GB of free storage. So after a certain time he is "locked out" of the group conversation and doesn't receive any conversations from the group chat. His belief is that everyone needs to delete the conversation from their phones to get back into the group chat. So he believes that after everyone deletes the conversation, then he will get a flood of conversations again. This seems to happened, but I believe that it is a coincidence. He claims that his phone fills up with 3 GB of messages when everyone doesn't delete the conversation. 1) How can I explain to him that this is not how smart phones work? 2) How can I troubleshoot the *real* problem so that it doesn't keep happening? Also he doesn't want to get a new phone because he can't afford it. -- ========================================= 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

4 7

OT: LTO-5 tape library
by Mike Loewen 01 Jan '21

01 Jan '21

Does anyone have a used LTO-5 tape library they want to sell? Looking to upgrade from SDLT 320. :-) Mike Loewen mloewen(a)cpumagic.scol.pa.us Old Technology http://q7.neurotica.com/Oldtech/

1 0