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Festivus Movies and a reminder (Dec. 7 & 8)
by Jeffrey Brace 31 Aug '19

31 Aug '19

As a reminder Festivus is Dec 7 & 8 starting at 10am Dec. 7 and ending Dec. 8 at 5pm. Signup here: < https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1x0oSxqZXh8tmqqbUsP3KS3OywiNsEAOOmtq… > So I have tried in the past to show movies in a separate room and found few were interested. So my new thought is to show some TV shows and movies with low volume on the cafeteria TV for anyone to watch and as mostly background noise. Bernie S. gave me this idea. The idea is for casual viewing as most people are interested in casual conversations, eating, drinking and playing video games, but some might stop and look for a few minutes. The first DVD will be "Whiz Kids". A show in the 80's Bring whatever movies or suggestions to Festivus. I have the following streaming service accounts: Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, YouTube Premium, Disney+ -- ========================================= Jeff Brace Vice President Vintage Computer Federation

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] OFF TOPIC movie
by Randy M 31 Aug '19

31 Aug '19

My wife liked Tom Selleck so it was required watching. Not on the level of, say, 2001 A Space Odyssey, but pretty neat little gadgets. Most of the movies panned by the critics were mostly pretty good, IMHO. On Fri, Aug 30, 2019, 9:50 PM Sentry TV via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > The point was that some time ago there was conversation about "computer" > movies and I don't think we mentioned "Runaway", not that it was a bad > movie!.Most of the movies at the time that had some sort of "futuristic > tech" in it, really were not very good!Except for War Games.My 2 cents > On Friday, August 30, 2019, 08:14:31 PM EDT, Jeffrey Brace via > vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > > Is it better or worse than "The Terror of Tiny Town"? > > On Fri, Aug 30, 2019 at 8:49 AM Neil Cherry via vcf-midatlantic < > vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > > > On 8/28/19 6:42 PM, Sentrytv via vcf-midatlantic wrote: > > > the "this" network is a movie called "Runaway" (1984)A Movie about > > robots being programmed to go berserk. > > > > > > Starring Tom Selleck as the good guy and the part of the bad guy being > > played by, of all people, Gene Simmons of > > > KISS. > > > I don't think I ever heard of it back in the 80s. > > > Just thought somebody might want to watch it. > > > > > > NOoooooooo! That was a terrible movie then and I don't think you can > > mystery science theater it to improve it. ;-) > > > > -- > > 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 > > > > > -- > ========================================= > Jeff Brace > Vice President > Vintage Computer Federation > >

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Workshop Straight 8 status
by David Gesswein 30 Aug '19

30 Aug '19

When I left after the last workshop a bit would be dropped when shifting the accumulator in the moving lights demo. I was able to move failure to a different AC bit by swapping AC cards. When I got to Infoage for this workshop Evan said that he had successfully ran the moving lights program for a demo sometime previously. I spend some time trying to get the problem to reproduce unsuccessfully. I tried wiggling the cards and using the margin check voltages without causing the failure. Moving the cards enough that they move in the backplane connector would cause faults but motion less than that didn't. I suspect it will be back sometime. At a previous workshop I replaced a number of diodes in the memory cards but didn't' have time to do the memory margin check procedure. This time the sense amp margin voltages that caused failure were 4.9V and 17.3V. The manual says the difference should be > 12V which it is. The slice failure voltages are 7.04 and 8.1V. No minimum range was specified in the maintenance procedures. I left the slice voltage set to the middle of the range at 7.6V. Power supply voltages were 10.7 and -14.6. I did notice that I was still getting double increments on front panel load/store operations occasionally. The machine has a debounce circuit that did not debounce sufficiently. I assume the switches are noisier than when new. I previously put a 47uf capacitor on it to increase the debounce time. I increased that to 100uf. That may be getting a little too large since it seemed to ignore really quick switch presses. People using the machine should let me know if you see the double increment or other funny behavior still and if you find it ignores switch actions for you. Good check is after or occasionally during check the address matches the expected address for next location you are loading. When I tried to local Focal programs last time I got ?11.35 error which is input buffer overflow. Focal has a design issue. When loading from ASR33 paper tape it prints what it reads in without any flow control so if printing is slower than reading it will overrun when the small buffer is filled. I compared the RX bit timing from the teletype to the TX clock and the TX clock was slower. I adjusted the R450 clock to prevent the overrun. Teletype seemed to be happy with the faster clock. I was able to load lunar lander without errors. My attempt to land ended with a crater. Known issues are 1) The machine will start running sometimes at power on when the auto restart switch is off. It seems to start running before the voltages are stable so it corrupts memory when it runs. Didn't look at this. Easy workaround is to leave the single step switch on at power on. 3) The W300 delay line cards still need to be fixed. I think the machine is usable for demos. I suspect sometimes the demos won't work but will next time. We need to keep track of what issues we see and is anything correlated with when it acts up such as temperature to help in further fixing. I left it with the moving AC light demo, the punch block letter text on paper tape demo, and FOCAL lunar lander demo. I'll look for what else might be of interest. Getting the plotter working and making an interface on it will hopefully be a winter task for me. Having the plotter making some interesting plots should be a good background demo.

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OFF TOPIC movie
by Sentrytv 28 Aug '19

28 Aug '19

I was just flipping through channels on TV and found that on the "this" network is a movie called "Runaway" (1984)A Movie about robots being programmed to go berserk. Starring Tom Selleck as the good guy and the part of the bad guy being played by, of all people, Gene Simmons of KISS. I don't think I ever heard of it back in the 80s. Just thought somebody might want to watch it. Mike R. Sent from: My extremely complicated, hand held electronic device.

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August Repair Day - Sat Report from Member
by dillera＠gmail.com 28 Aug '19

28 Aug '19

Ok, the Saturday Repair Day was a blast. Here are some photos and notes from the show. A lot of people showed up, a lot of projects got done and we had a wonderful evening barbecue outside as well. If anyone took a photo of that, please pass it along, I was too busy eating and drinking to take any photos. We had a couple of new members show up and it was a nice time getting to know them during the day as well as over food. Some equipment was given away and some new donations to the Museum also. Photos I took are here: https://imgur.com/gallery/X2o83iM <https://imgur.com/gallery/X2o83iM> Items to consider- 1. Serial box. JasonP's amazing serial box (Smart Cable SC821 Plus) let me connect the MicroVax to a VT term- without it i wouldn't have had the proper cabling to do it. This is a buy from me. https://www.smart-cable.com/catalog?action=display&key=102 <https://www.smart-cable.com/catalog?action=display&key=102> I've found it on ebay for $10-50 (just got one on ebay w/ cables for $40). 2. Pencil Soldering iron - this looked amazing and i didn't take a photo so if AlexJ can comment on what that model was I want to get one. It looked very handy for some jobs. 3. MFM Emulater - DaveG was kind enough to help me image a drive and showed me his amazing MFM drive emulator. I now have one in my Vax... Please reply back if you are interested in an October and November Repair day so we can ensure we have one! -andy

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Emailing issues
by Dean Notarnicola 27 Aug '19

27 Aug '19

"Standards? We ain't got no standards. We don't need no standards. I don't have to show you any stinking standards!" On Tue, Aug 27, 2019 at 3:38 PM Sentrytv via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > Well put! > > Sent from: > My extremely complicated, hand held electronic device. > > > On Aug 27, 2019, at 2:27 PM, Tony Bogan <thebogans(a)mac.com> wrote: > > > > > >> I have noticed that some emails on my iPhone Gmail app will appear as > >> “blank”, but I see the ... and click and there is the email. It seems > that > >> Gmail parses for certain text to make it part of previous replies. Some > >> replies get mixed in. Definitely different behavior than the website > which > >> I use on the desktop. > > > > If only standards were standard and everyone implemented those standards > in the standard way!! > > > > Tony > >

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Emailing issues
by Sentrytv 27 Aug '19

27 Aug '19

Well put! Sent from: My extremely complicated, hand held electronic device. > On Aug 27, 2019, at 2:27 PM, Tony Bogan <thebogans(a)mac.com> wrote: > > >> I have noticed that some emails on my iPhone Gmail app will appear as >> “blank”, but I see the ... and click and there is the email. It seems that >> Gmail parses for certain text to make it part of previous replies. Some >> replies get mixed in. Definitely different behavior than the website which >> I use on the desktop. > > If only standards were standard and everyone implemented those standards in the standard way!! > > Tony

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Emailing issues
by Jeffrey Brace 27 Aug '19

27 Aug '19

On Tue, Aug 27, 2019 at 12:56 PM Alexander Pierson via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > I've noticed that too on certain emails. For some reason, they're > unreadable to my mobile email client. I don't know what that's all about... I have noticed that some emails on my iPhone Gmail app will appear as “blank”, but I see the ... and click and there is the email. It seems that Gmail parses for certain text to make it part of previous replies. Some replies get mixed in. Definitely different behavior than the website which I use on the desktop. > > But I do know that even yahoo's garbage fire of an interface can handle > threads of emails without issue normally. On Tuesday, August 27, 2019, > 12:32:11 PM EDT, Tony Bogan via vcf-midatlantic < > vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > > > > On Aug 27, 2019, at 11:02 AM, Drew Notarnicola via vcf-midatlantic < > vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > > > > Maybe you guys need a better client. In Gmail, every email shows up as > part > > of a thread, and mine are included and visible. > > I don’t have any trouble seeing all the emails, including my own, but for > some reason when the list was moved/updated last year suddenly my emails > come through as a mime attachment. Doesn’t happen on a couple other lists > I’m on but it does with this one. > Tony > > -- ========================================= Jeff Brace Vice President Vintage Computer Federation

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Emailing issues
by Alexander Pierson 27 Aug '19

27 Aug '19

I've noticed that too on certain emails. For some reason, they're unreadable to my mobile email client. I don't know what that's all about... But I do know that even yahoo's garbage fire of an interface can handle threads of emails without issue normally. On Tuesday, August 27, 2019, 12:32:11 PM EDT, Tony Bogan via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > On Aug 27, 2019, at 11:02 AM, Drew Notarnicola via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > > Maybe you guys need a better client. In Gmail, every email shows up as part > of a thread, and mine are included and visible. I don’t have any trouble seeing all the emails, including my own, but for some reason when the list was moved/updated last year suddenly my emails come through as a mime attachment. Doesn’t happen on a couple other lists I’m on but it does with this one. Tony

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Emailing issues
by Drew Notarnicola 27 Aug '19

27 Aug '19

Maybe you guys need a better client. In Gmail, every email shows up as part of a thread, and mine are included and visible. On Mon, Aug 26, 2019 at 7:54 PM Sentrytv via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > I haven't tried to find out it kind of just live with it > > Sent from: > My extremely complicated, hand held electronic device. > > > On Aug 26, 2019, at 6:32 PM, Mike Loewen via vcf-midatlantic < > vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > > > >> On Mon, 26 Aug 2019, Sentrytv via vcf-midatlantic wrote: > >> > >> I think what bugs me more is the fact that it sends my email as an > attachment instead of a response in the body of the email. Maybe this can > be set up differently via Yahoo. I know, we went through this before, just > saying. This also happens with others. > > > > This bothers me, as well. Tony Bogan's messages also show up as > attachments. In order to reply to one of these in context, I have to copy > and paste from the original message. Is there a setting on your email > clients which can fix this? > > > > > > Mike Loewen mloewen(a)cpumagic.scol.pa.us > > Old Technology http://q7.neurotica.com/Oldtech/ > >

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