- vcf-midatlantic - lists.vcfed.org

Re: [vcf-midatlantic] VCF East 2019 keynote suggestions?
by Dave McGuire 22 Jan '19

22 Jan '19

On 1/22/19 3:09 PM, Ben Greenfield via vcf-midatlantic wrote: >> Here's my annual request for suggestions of people who could keynote >> at VCF East. >> >> - The person must have general appeal to our audience. It can't be >> someone who did something very narrow. > > I’m going to throw the name Walt Jung who I have recently stumbled > across and seems quite lucid on the topic of op-amp. I can’t tell if > what he did was narrow (focusing on op-amps) or general op-amps are > fundamental argument. > > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walt_Jung > > I find his writing quite comprehensible. Walt Jung is one of the world's foremost analog EEs. He's amazing and he writes damn good books. I don't see how he'd be relevant to a VCF, though, unless he wanted to give a talk about analog computers...being a known opamp expert, and analog computers consisting primarily of opamps, but still. And he's someone who is typically paid beau-coup bucks to speak at conferences, so.. -Dave -- Dave McGuire, AK4HZ New Kensington, PA

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OT: help the makerspace @ InfoAge
by Evan Koblentz 22 Jan '19

22 Jan '19

From the "Many of you may already know this, but some may not" department: For the past few years there's been a makerspace located at InfoAge. It was called the Institute for Exploratory Research, or "IXR". Adjacent to the IXR's space on the InfoAge campus was the Computer Deconstruction Lab, where people can learn about modern computers. It also has a podcast studio. Neither group was an independent entity, unlike VCF, NJARC, NJHDA, etc. -- IXR and CDL were simply part of InfoAge. Now, with InfoAge's blessing, the two groups are both closing and reforming as an independent entity (just like VCF, etc.) under the CDL name. That is already underway. The new group will be branded as "Computer Deconstruction Lab -- the Jersey Shore Makerspace". CDL needs to raise $1,084 for all the business/non-profit filing fees. So far they raised $710. IXR/CDL separately have been helpful resources to VCF and to InfoAge, so let's return the favor! Perhaps VCF/Mid-Atlantic members can help CDL raise the remaining funds. (Any funds beyond that amount will be used as seed money.) The new group doesn't yet have its own bank account. As I understand it, their treasurer will be Martin Flynn, who of course is a trusted VCF member too. Their other officers will be secretary Neil Cherry (also one of us!); president Dan Jacobs (a good friend to us); and VP Joe Wilkes. I will be one of the board members, but I won't be involved in day-to-day management. VCF keeps me plenty busy. :) Until they get a bank account (and thus a PayPal account), Martin is handling the funds directly. Please contact him at maflynn(a)theflynn.org to inquire about helping them get started. (FYI: they said these donations are NOT tax-deductible, because they're ahead of the status being obtained.) The group's website is www.compdecon.org.

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VCFe 2019 - Atari 40th
by dillera＠gmail.com 20 Jan '19

20 Jan '19

We are also missing that 2019 is the 40th anniversary of the Atari 8bits. - the Atari 400 and 800 were announced 40 years ago on Dec. 14th, 1978 - first presented at the Winter CES in January 1979 as the 400 and 800 - The computers shipped in November 1979 One of the earliest media coverages, at CES: https://archive.org/details/creativecomputing-1979-04/page/n19 <https://archive.org/details/creativecomputing-1979-04/page/n19> I will bring my Atari 10888xel to the show for fun, but I'll be focusing on the Unix exhibition, and I'm sure there are some people working on some great Atari exhibits for the show- I just had seen it mentioned on the list, and we should perhaps note this in promotional materials, or perhaps try to attract some Atari-related guest keynote speaker. -andy footnote: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_8-bit_family

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Museum Report 2019-01-20
by Jeffrey Brace 20 Jan '19

20 Jan '19

Low number of visitors due to the cold, windy weather. I worked on VCF admin stuff during my time there. Tony stopped by and we talked about improvements to the exhibits and making guides for docents. -- ========================================= Jeff Brace Vice President Vintage Computer Federation

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VCF SouthEast speakers?
by Mike Shaw 20 Jan '19

20 Jan '19

Does anyone know if the speakers that are going to VCF East will be at VCF SouthEast also? I can't make it to VCF East so was planning to go to VCF SouthEast in April.

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Friday classes @ VCF East
by Evan Koblentz 20 Jan '19

20 Jan '19

Here's what I have in mind for Friday. We can extend the day by one slot (one hour per slot), so there are 18 classes instead of 15. 1. Apple II (Tony) 2. Mac (Tony) 3. Atari 800 4. C-64 5. Amiga 6. IBM PC 7. TI-99/4A (because it never gets any love) 8. TRS-80 9. CoCo 10. S-100 11. Land of CRTs (we all know who!) 12. "So you are curious about big iron" 13. Schleptops! 14. Power supplies 15. Electronics 101 (Fala) 16. Unix networking (Diller) 17. Unix weirdness (Jacocks) 18. Terminals? Keyboards? Disk imaging? Or anything else

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Friday classes @ VCF East
by Jeffrey Golas 19 Jan '19

19 Jan '19

Rather than a restoration class on a particular model or brand, how about an “ask the expert” panel with a panel of peeps who specialize in a particular brand/era of machine? Perhaps even two, one for 8-biters and another for different era machines or big iron. My other idea is along the same line, but almost like a mini workshop with tables set up with experts on various machines, people can bring in their machines to ask questions, etc. Not a full blown soldering/repair thing, but perhaps basic troubleshooting and cosmetic stuff. Jeff (aka Bags)

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Apple ii GS at estate sale in Manalapan New Jersey
by Sentrytv 19 Jan '19

19 Jan '19

Just a heads up to those who may want an apple IIgs there's one for sale in Manalapan at an estate sale on estatesales.net Sent from: My extremely complicated, hand held electronic device. > On Jan 15, 2019, at 8:41 PM, Jeffrey Brace via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > > So the next workshop will be February 9 & 10, 2019. > Same place, same time. > Here is the signup sheet: < > https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/11Iy1jqPJqVzY1gnGRrHfLfIcx5IQ82QkkaB… >> > > We tried Patrick's Pub for Saturday dinner and it was a bust. I take the > blame for this one. It had great potential, and came highly recommended. I > didn't call ahead and didn't anticipate the large crowd due to football > playoffs. The waitress was cranky, the service slow, etc. I think that this > place is probably hit or miss. When it's busy, then terrible, when not busy > then fine. I will check out the next place in person to make sure. > > I think that we will try Asbury Festhalle & Biergarten.This one is highly > recommended and Yelp rates it as a 3.5 out of 5. > > I also have a great idea for a different diner for Sunday breakfast. The > Americana Diner which is only 2 minutes further away than the Blue Swan > Diner. It's the best diner in the area. > > > > -- > ========================================= > Jeff Brace > Vice President > Vintage Computer Federation

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Happy owner fo a Tandy MC-10
by Neil Cherry 19 Jan '19

19 Jan '19

Yup, Ebay but it wasn't expensive. Not in great condition but I can most likely repair it. I like my 6502/68xx chips so this will go along with the rest of my collection. Any other MC-10 owners out there? Atari 800/600xl/800xl TRS-80 CoCo 1/2/3 Sardis ST2900 Grant Searle Multicomp board (6809 - x3) -- 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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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Friday classes @ VCF East
by Chris Fala 18 Jan '19

18 Jan '19

I would go to this class. Lots of people need this information. Newbies are ruining their newly acquired retro machines because they don’t know what they are doing or are watching The 8-Bit Guy too much. On Jan 18, 2019, at 11:42 AM, Tony Bogan <thebogans(a)mac.com> wrote: I was tossing around the idea of doing a “basic Restoration and troubleshooting your micro computer collection for beginners” class focused on Apple II and compact Macs specifically, since those are in my wheelhouse. Obviously some of the cleaning and basic techniques would apply to other types of machines. The idea is people starting a collection or even those who may have vintage micros but are just starting to add Apple II and/or Compact Macs to their collection and are looking for tips, hints, ideas of where to start and what to do. No oscilloscopes or multimeters, just the basics of cleaning, testing, simple troubleshooting as well as where to find helpful information . I even considered either CDs (which I already have the ISO file to make them, but CDs are fading from daily use) or cheap usb sticks to give to attendees that already have a nice collection of the manuals and how-to books and service notes I’ve collected over the years in pdf format. My concern is the focus may be too narrow to garner any amount of attendance since 90% of the focus is Apple specific. Any thoughts? Tony

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