- vcf-midatlantic - lists.vcfed.org

OSI floppy diagnostics
by Crawford Griffith 17 May '20

17 May '20

David, First, congrats on the Linc-8, I look forward to helping you load it for VCFE if you ever decide to do that. Second, thanks for the OSI disk diagnostics. My 8” drives are giving me issues, and Bill Dromgoole has been coaching me via email on them. We both want to get our 8” drives working with a data separator (Klyball D-13). Bill got his working with a Gotek/Flashfloppy emulator also. Hope all is well with everyone, and you stay safe! -Cr

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LINC-EIGHT pictures
by David Gesswein 16 May '20

16 May '20

Some pictures are here. http://www.pdp8online.com/linc-eight/linc-eight.shtml Nothing I have seen looks too bad but will still take a lot of time to go through and get working.

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FREE DISCs
by Christian Liendo 15 May '20

15 May '20

Not my add figured someone may be interested https://newyork.craigslist.org/brk/zip/d/brooklyn-free-floppy-discs-for-old…

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My new toy
by David Gesswein 13 May '20

13 May '20

Now that I have possession of it might as well end the wondering about who got the first LINC-EIGHT. I was the lucky one. This one was the machine Charles Lasner used in his home office though not any time recent. Charles was well known to the PDP-8 community and passed beginning of April.

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VE 75th anniversary: a piece of the puzzle
by Jeffrey Jonas 12 May '20

12 May '20

Honoring those in the crypto section who pioneered traffic analysis: https://www.gchq.gov.uk/information/the-brown-network The BROWN Story To mark 75 years since VE Day, GCHQ Historian Tony Comer tells the story of the final messages of a German communications network at the very end of the war in Europe

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Atari promotional video from 1983
by Jeffrey Brace 12 May '20

12 May '20

I thought the Mindlink interface was fascinating. Too bad it was never released. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EphW6DjNEEk -- ========================================= Jeff Brace Vice President & Board Member, VCF East Showrunner Vintage Computer Federation http://www.vcfed.org/ jeffrey(a)vcfed.org

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How To Geek article on floppy data recovery
by Herb Johnson 11 May '20

11 May '20

Jeff Brace suggests: https://www.howtogeek.com/669331/how-to-read-a-floppy-disk-on-a-modern-pc-o… A link to a literally geeky article, mostly on using USB devices that happen to operate certain floppy drives. Then it gets to real methods: find an old PC or Mac, read your disks, transfer the results (somehow). The article finishes up its review of USB devices to read common PC 3.5 / 5.25 diskettes and Mac 3.5" diskettes, with this wise advice for REAL floppy diskettes: "Luckily, there are other resources if you require something more complex, like accessing an 8-inch floppy drive that contains CP/M files. http://www.retrotechnology.com/herbs_stuff/s_drives_howto.html Herb Johnson maintains an impressive site full of technical data on various floppy disk systems if you’d like to learn more about how they work." http://www.retrotechnology.com/herbs_stuff/s_drives.html I couldn't have said it better myself. ;) The real meat on floppy drives and diskettes is: http://www.retrotechnology.com/herbs_stuff/drive.html I was going to post a more considered response to the article Jeff linked to. But Jeff only posted a link, why should I post a lecture in reply? I'll just say, that description and the modern items it references, versus the ancient things it references; simply reminds me of the gulf between 21st century consumer-digital-users, and 20th century computer owners and those who restore those systems and objects today. And, the kinds of junk that's sold which pretends to be some kind of "USB to floppy drive" device. I'm glad to find, my Web site still has utility; and why that's so. Regards, Herb -- 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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How To Geek article on floppy data recovery
by Herb Johnson 11 May '20

11 May '20

> There are a number of newer tools, for imaging of disks, for preservation. > > I've been closely watching this one [called Fluxengine] > http://cowlark.com/fluxengine/index.html > > The author is working on support for a lot of common formats, and > additionally, a number of the 80s-90s dedicated word processor formats. > It's a simple and rather nifty solution. > > Also, of course, it's 100% opens source hardware and software, which always > makes me happy! - Alex This reply is long, because I'm arguing in opposition, and that means I have to make a case about, and explain about. But I'll save some people, some time. I"m going to fuss about these microcontrollers becoming obsolete. If you don't care about that, save time and stop reading here. ----------- Well, I read some of the support information on the Fluxengine. Also I looked recently, at the Greaseweasel. Both these methodologies use some kind of $10 - $20 commodity microcontroller; and that's their problem in my opinion. Those interested can look up both and size them up, so I won't talk about details and features. The Greaseweasel uses a STM32 microcontroller chip on a board called "a Blue Pill". Problem with that (in my opinion) is, that chip isn't just one chip produced identically. There's knockoffs and fakes, that is less-featured chip versions remarked or not remarked. And since that "product" is more than five years old apparently, it's somewhat out of favor (that's my conclusion, it seems hard to find except on eBay). Bottom line, it's not now produced by bigger named hobby or industrial companies; they all seem to come from ebay/Amazon small producers. At literally a few dollars each, the only way to make more money from these, is to use cheaper components or reduced feature components. For instance: the 3.3V regulators fail because they are undersized for power. When I looked around Amazon for these, the reviews per seller were all "these are fakes because". This is not just Herb Johnson's problem. The Greaseweasel support page on github, has a section on how to recognize fakes with performance and visual tests. It does not have, a section on where to buy these. Apparently one has to join a Facebook group to get answers and further support. I won't do that, but someone offered to look there for me, to see if they discuss suppliers. No word yet on that. "Why is this a problem?" Specifically: some of the knockoff boards fail, apparently, because their 3.3V regulators burn up. Others, lack some useful features or even critical features (enough memory for instance). And in the longer term, the ability to obtain these items at all, may end. In between, the means to (say) assemble the code or download the code into the device, may become obsolete or unavailable. In general, the problem with end-of-production items is this: Because you and I are dealing with *vintage computing*. We deal with technology that's *decades* old, not last month. When products fall out of production, how do you get more? When things break, how do you fix them? When you can't get the programming debugging tools from the manufacturer (or producers), you have to find old archives of them. In the real world, this stuff is normal. Things don't persist. You just move on to what's current and throw out the old. We in vintage computing, can't do that by definition. OK? If you disagree, stop reading here, sorry I wasted your time fussing about stuff getting old. ----------------------- I described at length the problem with Greaseweasel hardware, because I'll make the same argument as a *prediction* for Fluxengine. It uses a "Cypress PSoC5LP CY8CKIT-059 development board" for $10. That's apparently some ARM processor with FPGA (programmable logic). At this point, Cypress (a leading chip producer) is selling them direct. Let's check... yep, $10 from cypress.com or $20 from major distributors, plus shipping. One expects delays due to Coronavirus disrupting manufacture and shipping except from USA stocks. I have another objection, to programmable logic. All those PLD's are unique by model and brand. They simply don't stay in production for many years. Worse, the software tools needed to program those specific devices, become unsupported in several years. There's no standards for such tools and software, other than some data formats, so you are stuck with that brand's tool-set. This is, of course, an intended consequence. Figure that out. I checked the datasheets for the product: they date from early 2015. That's about the same age as the "Blue Pill". But this is still produced (or at least offered as current) by Cypress. Also: since this has a very particular programmable-logic set-of-features, it may be hard to knock-off the chip by an unlicensed company. That's my guess. So: looking at Amazon, they only sell a book. Looking at eBay, There's a couple units from the UK for $28-$33 with shipping. I'd not buy from Europe right now... a few are US sold but essentially it's left-over stocks. So: again in my opinion: while this product is still in manufacturer's production, it suffers from being too proprietary - Cypress will lose interest someday soon. Also, there's that unique-programming problem, figuring out how-to-program those PLA's. If you aren't gonna reprogram one of these puppies, I guess that doesn't matter, until there's a Fluxengine update you can't update. And in closing .... The reason I'm familiar with this kind of "these go obsolete" arguments, is because I've seen this show before. Over the last few decades, various modern means to read ancient floppy diskettes have been produced. They have become in-favor and discussed and distributed. Then the developers lose interest; then the users lose interest; and they go out of production and use. Over geologic time (several years), these things simply come and go. So the vintage computers remain, but these modern devices do not. That's about as simple as I can put the argument. 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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Gowanas E-waste Warehouse shutting down
by Jeffrey Brace 11 May '20

11 May '20

The Gowanus E-waste Warehouse which for the past (8 years?) has taken in electronics waste including vintage computers is shutting down. Most likely it is due to Covid-19 and a decrease in sales. They had a "store" where they sold used items which they sometimes refurbished. In any case you can call to make an appointment for 30 minutes to see what they have and there is a limit of 2 people inside at a time. You must wear a face mask and gloves. Here is their number: (718) 858-8777. Address: 469 President Street At Nevins Street Brooklyn, NY, 11215 Here is a YouTube of what they had 2 years ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTWx3bIN7qs Here are photos from 1 week ago: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1W3kr346ayyvOcw5eQ03JM5e4q83W5wgT?us… There is no telling what they have available now without going there in person. -- ========================================= Jeff Brace Vice President & Board Member, VCF East Showrunner Vintage Computer Federation http://www.vcfed.org/ jeffrey(a)vcfed.org

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is there any way to archive / read Facebook offline?
by Jeffrey Jonas 10 May '20

10 May '20

I understand this circumvents Facebook's revenue model but I need a way to archive (or at least take a snapshot) of a facebook group's page. My google-fu is lacking: I found no stand alone utility, web site or browser plugin. Any clues or hints? Doing a "save page" resulted in a page that does not render properly.

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