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February Repair Workshop at System Source in Maryland
by Jeffrey Brace 11 Dec '19

11 Dec '19

The Vintage Computer Federation and the System Source Computer Museum are hosting a vintage computer workshop on Saturday February 15th and Sunday February 16th 2020 at: System Source Computer Museum 338 Clubhouse Road, Hunt Valley, MD 21031 Plenty of free parking, short walk from Baltimore’s light rail (Gilroy Road Stop) We will open at 10AM on Saturday February 15th, 2020 and will lock up by midnight. We will open at 10AM on Sunday February 16h and lock up at 6:00PM Accommodations: Try https://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotels-g41196-Hunt_Valley_Maryland-Hotels.html Feel free to talk with others about sharing a room. Food: There are plenty of restaurants within a short drive. We will have catered Indian buffet on Saturday at cost ($12.00?) and catered Barbecue ($12.00?) on Sunday for those who sign up. We will feature tours of the museum throughout both days and several mini-workshops: - Retrobright workshop (bring your yellowed plastics) - Pre-industrial computing class - Learn to use a slide rule, and various types of Abaci - Hot Metal Typesetting (3500 lb word processor) If you need a machine to work on, please let me know. We have lots of computers awaiting restoration! If you have unusual needs, (220 Volts, fork lift, etc please email Bob Roswell at museum(a)syssrc.com Bob Roswell broswell(a)syssrc.com https://museum.syssrc.com 410-771-5544 x 4336 Here is the signup sheet: < https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1cVBh27hzT1P53BCorZXcK3cZQVwPtwWLLX6… > ========================================= Jeff Brace Vice President Vintage Computer Federation

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MD event in February?
by Blake Patterson 11 Dec '19

11 Dec '19

I hear there is a gathering in February in Maryland. The calendar page is throwing a 503 right now, so can't see details. Is there info out there on this? I am fairly local to this. Thanks. bp :: bytecellar.com

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Festivus Thank You everyone to another successful year!
by Jeffrey Brace 11 Dec '19

11 Dec '19

Thanks to all the 60+ people that showed up to Festivus! It is a labor of love to create this event for everyone and enjoy camaraderie. It was the largest gathering we have had. Even the Americorps volunteers had fun joining us with food and games, and Cards Against Humanity. Thank you to Andy, Dmitry, Tony and others helping to setup at the beginning. Thank you Ian for all the effort in bringing and setting up the vintage games! Thank you Christian and many others for helping me cleaning up. I was pleasantly surprised to find that by 5PM, 95% of the cleanup was done. I got out of there by 6PM! It made my job a lot easier to have so many hands pitching in. Thanks to Bernie S for cooking the Perogies. Thanks to Jonthan for helping me cooking. It was extreme cooking on a vintage grill! ;) Thanks to Adam and Tony for setting up the VCF sell pile. VCF received lots of donations from everyone and that will help support projects in the museum. I hope that everyone got a chance to see the improvements in the museum, if not, then maybe at the next workshop. I was glad that the 12 sales tables worked out for everyone. Thanks to Christian Liendo for sharing the Commodore Amiga video and showing to us. The quick announcement turned town meeting was a great way for everyone to tell us ideas, ask questions and tell us what's on your minds. Let us know if you want us to again next year or a different time of year. Lots of great input. The Sunday breakfast at the OB diner worked out well. We will do it again next year. Please let me know what you liked, and if you want to suggest improvements, then e-mail me privately. I'm always looking for constructive criticism. Next workshop is January 25 & 26 at InfoAge in the CDL building. VCF East is April 24, 25, 26. I hope to see everyone again soon and that we all have a great 2020! -- ========================================= Jeff Brace Vice President Vintage Computer Federation

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the VCF iMac G3 doorstop: it works!
by CJ Reha 11 Dec '19

11 Dec '19

Somehow I ended up with the infamous iMac doorstop over the weekend during the Festivus festivities, so I figured I'd plug it in to see what happened. It actually works! Someone stole the RAM at some point, but I just plugged some random sticks I found on the top of the stack and it booted straight into Mac OS 9. There are some pretty prevalent monitor problems, it appears only the red gun is working and the picture is smeary, but the fact it even boots at all is pretty entertaining. I might lug it with me and display it next year if my exhibit idea works out. It's an interesting piece of VCF history, methinks. Img: https://i.imgur.com/sVyOUgD.jpg (pardon the horrible quality) -CJ

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] the VCF iMac G3 doorstop: it works!
by Tony Bogan 10 Dec '19

10 Dec '19

That was supposed to read “I don’t think it actually had anything to do with VCF” not “it actually had nothing to do with VCF.” Ugh, that’s what I get for not checking dictation and answering emails while trying to do something else. Lesson learned (again) hopefully for the last time! Tony Sent from my iPhone > On Dec 9, 2019, at 9:41 PM, Tony Bogan via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > > <mime-attachment>

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Post Festivus notes and questions
by Neil Cherry 09 Dec '19

09 Dec '19

When mentioning the nice new Processor poster on Saturday I'd like to note that a visitor said it was pretty but was so small it was impossible to read. While he was older than I am I have to agree that I'd need really good glasses to see the processors. 2 suggestions, if we can we may want to see if we can get brighter lighting on posters and perhaps some way of magnifying the poster. BTW, the poster is very cool. Someone said they had a CoCo 1 case, please contact me at ncherry(a)linuxha.com. I am interested. On the boards I had with me at Festivus, the Motorola Boards do not have DAT (Digital Address translation) but it may be possible to add them with a bit of digital trickery. I'm researching this now. Dean did you have the information on the connectors for the EXORbus? I did a a search of ebay and found 2 devices but not the connectors. David Weins (of Sardis Technology fame) shared some documentation on the Motorola Modules. I now have most of the memory map for one of the boards I had there. He's also shared information on a CMS MPU board (not at Festivus) and his Sardis ST2900s (also not as Festivus). On the subject of conservation do we have a guide? I think that last word was this was being worked on. I've got the normal questions on copyright and how we copy some things like documentation in book form (assuming we have permission). I have lots of loose pages I can convert to PDF from my multi-function printer. But I don't want to shred a manual in book form. I've also data manuals from the 1980s that are several inches thick. It would be nice to know how to resize the pages to pf. And Herb and I discussed briefly copying from a book with a special device made for books that takes photos with a camera. -- Linux Home Automation Neil Cherry ncherry(a)linuxha.com http://www.linuxha.com/ Main site http://linuxha.blogspot.com/ My HA Blog Author of: Linux Smart Homes For Dummies

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Post Festivus: Thank You!
by svcatitc＠aol.com 09 Dec '19

09 Dec '19

To all the management, docents, setup and pulldown crews who made 2019 Festivus a success: MANY Thank You's for your efforts.And to all to donated home cooked food, Many Thank You's for the great taste. To all who participated with thoughtful and insightful input to the spontaneous "town hall" meeting we had Saturday night, thank you. Also. I was watching the clock as the conversation progressed and noted to myself, "this is great and unprecedented!", as we have not spent a good 2+ hours discussing the future of our group in maybe "forever" A lot of good points raised. The steering committee, I believe will go far in the health and wellness of the group. It was great seeing everyone again. Happy Holidays. Thanks Again to All; And to all a Good Night. Bill Inderrieden

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Back at Infoage at 11 or so
by Jeffrey Brace 08 Dec '19

08 Dec '19

Weez guys should all be back by 11 or so. -- ========================================= Jeff Brace Vice President Vintage Computer Federation

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Festivus Sunday Breakfast
by Jeffrey Brace 08 Dec '19

08 Dec '19

9AM OB Diner 1519 Richmond Ave Point Pleasant Beach, NJ Let me know if you are coming. -- ========================================= Jeff Brace Vice President Vintage Computer Federation

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Reforming capacitors
by Mike Loewen 07 Dec '19

07 Dec '19

Before I reform the large electrolytics in my Sol 20, I'd like to poll the collective as to the recommended procedure. I have a constant voltage/constant current DC supply, so I can set voltage and current limits. For those of you who have done this, what's your procedure? For a constant voltage/constant current supply, do you need a resistor in series with the cap? If so, typical value? What's the recommended max current during the reforming process? I've seen recommendations of 50ma and 100ma. What percentage of the working voltage do you initially take it to? How much do you raise it after the current drops? How long do you let it sit at each stage? I'm interested in hearing from folks who have actually done this, with a constant voltage/constant current supply. Thanks for your input! Mike Loewen mloewen(a)cpumagic.scol.pa.us Old Technology http://q7.neurotica.com/Oldtech/

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