- vcf-midatlantic - lists.vcfed.org

Museum Report 2020-02-29
by Jeffrey Brace 29 Feb '20

29 Feb '20

Hello Everyone, Sorry I haven't been sending regular museum reports lately. Things have been busy with VCF East prep and museum rearranging. We have been getting about 20 visitors each weekend day. Today was about 25 with 15 of them being a photography group touring InfoAge campus. I have the C64 setup in the 80's bedroom area of the museum with The Print Shop and a Star NX-10 printer. My idea is that visitors can print a one page graphic or whatever they want as a souvenir. It takes a while to print, so longer pages would take too much time. Lots of new machines on display like the Zorba, and two Soviet clone computers, Tandy Portable, etc. I have been training a new docent named Dennis who is a 17 year old Junior in high school. He is picking up things very quickly. It is really fun to get his point of view since almost everything is new to him. Like today he asked "What's this?" (It was a floppy disk notcher). So Tony and I explained to him. I'm hoping to recruit more people to be docents to spread the load docent coverage. -- ========================================= Jeff Brace Vice President & Board Member, VCF East Showrunner Vintage Computer Federation http://www.vcfed.org/ jeffrey(a)vcfed.org

1 0

Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Data Recovery from Jaz Cartridge
by Jonathan Sturges 29 Feb '20

29 Feb '20

> Someone sent me a message requesting data recovery services. If anyone is > interested or capable, then I will forward the contact info. Jeff, I have 2 different SCSI to FireWire adapters, plus one of those Microtech SCSI to USB adapters, and the obligatory cache of PCI SCSI cards for desktop systems. I'd be glad to help recover your friend's data. There's good backwards compatibility for Windows filesystems, so if you can find OS drivers for the Microtech adapters, the disks should mount right up. That, or just load the appropriate Windows drivers for SCSI card du jour. If you're still looking for help, let me know... I can also bring bits up to InfoAge during a workshop. -Jonathan

1 0

any source for Pocket Chip (other than ebay)
by Jeffrey Jonas 29 Feb '20

29 Feb '20

Now that the "Next Thing Co" went bust, is there any source for their wonderful "Pocket C.H.I.P." Handheld Linux Computer? There must've been some inventory in a warehouse or 2. Ebay prices are unrealistically high :-( -- jeff jonas

3 2

Re: [vcf-midatlantic] suggested viewing
by Ethan O'Toole 28 Feb '20

28 Feb '20

On Thu, 27 Feb 2020, Jeff G via vcf-midatlantic wrote: [NON-Text Body part not included] Regarding Secret life of Machines... did that air in the USA? I found it on BitTorrent or something years ago but had never heard of it prior. - Ethan

2 1

MagicCap & General Magic
by Richard Cini 28 Feb '20

28 Feb '20

All – I was in LA this past week and on the flight there, they had the documentary “General Magic” from 2018. I don’t remember hearing about the movie, but I definitely remember General Magic. I didn’t have time to watch it on the plane but I watched some YouTube videos after I got to LA. Fascinating story, kind of reminds me of Jerry Kaplan and the EO. If you look, the raw documentary footage on YT is great, especially the huge prototypes and the struggles to find a decent touch screen. Anyway, as I started digging, I found this link from Adafruit: https://learn.adafruit.com/magic-cap-the-smartphone-os-from-the-90s/overview So, this was a good reason to reinstall Basilisk II on my Mac (needed to be updated for Catalina anyway), and play around with it. It’s amazing how many concepts made it into other products, and of course how prolific the people were overall. Also interesting is the use of the phrase in 1992 of “the cloud” to describe virtualized data services, something we take for granted now. When GM blew-up, the IP was sold (even though Andy Hertzfeld tried to buy it), but I’ve seen two references to Paul Allen/Vulcan and Nathan Myhrvold/Intellectual Ventures buying them for a “failed startup graveyard” of sorts. That’s the kind of software I wish would be opened-up, but there are many patents associated with it which are still relevant, so I doubt it would happen. Anyway, great thing to learn about over the trip. Rich -- Rich Cini http://www.classiccmp.org/cini http://www.classiccmp.org/altair32

3 2

Honeywell h-316 power supply
by Mike Loewen 28 Feb '20

28 Feb '20

I received the following from someone who has a Honeywell 316 power supply. If anyone is interested, send me a note off-list and I'll give you his contact info. He's in Vero Beach, FL. Mike Loewen mloewen(a)cpumagic.scol.pa.us Old Technology http://q7.neurotica.com/Oldtech/ ---------- Forwarded message ---------- "I purchased some items from the estate of a space coast military electronics engineer and in it is a power supply for a Honeywell 316. As I understand, that computer was important to the ARPANET program but I have no practical use for it. It has paper copy's from the h316 maintenance manual of the chapter on the power supply. I would have attached pictures but I didn't want to seem suspicious with my first contact with you. My question is, do you have interest in this item? And if you don't, do you know of a good home for it? Thank you in advance."

2 1

Re: [vcf-midatlantic] suggested viewing
by Chris Fala 27 Feb '20

27 Feb '20

Tried to resist but had to chime in. +5! On Thu, Feb 27, 2020 at 4:28 PM Alexander Pierson via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > 4th'd: The Secret Life of Machines was incredibly inspiring to me a few > years back when I first discovered it. I stayed up all night watching > episode after episode. The one about the fax machine was particularly eye > opening. > -Alexander 'Z' Pierson > > > On Thursday, February 27, 2020, 04:09:06 PM EST, Jason Perkins via > vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > > 3x on Secret Life of Machines. One of my favorite programs! > > On Thu, Feb 27, 2020 at 12:25 PM Jeff G via vcf-midatlantic < > vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > > > Secret life of machines was hands down me and my dads FAVORITE show to > > watch back in the day. You can find all the Episodes online, and even now > > the shows are still relevant. > > > > Jeff aka Bags > > > > > -- > Jason Perkins > 313 355 0085 > >

1 0

Re: [vcf-midatlantic] suggested viewing
by Jason Perkins 27 Feb '20

27 Feb '20

3x on Secret Life of Machines. One of my favorite programs! On Thu, Feb 27, 2020 at 12:25 PM Jeff G via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > Secret life of machines was hands down me and my dads FAVORITE show to > watch back in the day. You can find all the Episodes online, and even now > the shows are still relevant. > > Jeff aka Bags > -- Jason Perkins 313 355 0085

2 1

suggested viewing
by Jeff G 27 Feb '20

27 Feb '20

Secret life of machines was hands down me and my dads FAVORITE show to watch back in the day. You can find all the Episodes online, and even now the shows are still relevant. Jeff aka Bags

1 0

suggested viewing
by Jeffrey Jonas 27 Feb '20

27 Feb '20

Wintergatan is famous for making amazing marble music machines, and a weekly video of other mechanical music machines: https://www.youtube.com/user/wintergatan2000/videos One of his marble machines was exhibited at a museum just for music machines: https://www.museumspeelklok.nl/lang/en/ just one of many music museums: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_music_museums James Burke's "Connections" shows how cams and pegged cylinders evolved into punched card looms and tabulator cards episide 4 "Faith in Numbers" https://youtu.be/z6yL0_sDnX0?t=2150 "The Secret Life Of Machines" http://www.secretlifeofmachines.com/ explores computer history in the episode "The Word Processor" https://youtu.be/nN9wNvEnn-Q enjoy! -- Jeff Jonas

1 0