- vcf-midatlantic - lists.vcfed.org

Introduction and Reason for Contact
by therenguy 07 Feb '25

07 Feb '25

Hello, My name is Randy Kaplan and I am joining this list to obtain some information and help. I am a long time computing professional (50 years or so), have built my own hardware, and have been a software developer for many years. I also have many years of teaching computer science at the University level - not entirely relevant, just for background. In any event I am the owner of an intact PDP-8/e that was operating once upon a time when I received it. A kind person gave it to me because they had too much hardware and needed a loving home for it. That is how I came to own it. At one point in my career many years ago I was invited to DEC to write code for a similar computer. I am looking for someone to help me restore it to operating condition. It has not been used for many years and has been sitting and moved between many closets. I have its power supply also. Can someone help kick off this adventure with me? I would be very interested in having a conversation with anyone who can make suggestions on how to proceed, who to contact, and if perhaps someone is interested, would like to help with such a project. I understand there are sessions help by VCF in this region, I live in PA, and I would certainly be willing to attend such a session. Please let me know with any information you might think is helpful. Thanks in advance for your assistance. Regards, Randy Kaplan

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Amiga "Chambers of Muon" and Apple "j" RPG
by John Heritage 06 Feb '25

06 Feb '25

Greetings, A long time ago there was an Amiga based multiplayer arcade game at Echelon Mall called "Chambers of Muon". I only vaguely remember playing - it had awesome sound, intereresting graphics, and you could play other players. I also remember my parents saying it was expensive for an arcade :). When I asked to go back and play the game (a month later or so), it was gone. That led me to find a blog of the ( :( ) decreased creator of Chambers of Muon - Michael J. Alan. "499 days" is his blog, warning - it's a bit bleak. Wanting to learn more, I realized his autobiography was on Amazon and I just read through the physical book. It's written in reverse order and definitely feels brtually open about his experiences. Anyway, it had three chapters I think fully relevant to this group. One chapter was on Chambers of Muon -- how it was created, how it worked, etc. It was based on a network of 7 Amiga 1000s (6 players, and 1 'control' unit). It sounds it was built in New York, with the main test in Echelon Mall in NJ. There was apparently another test at a mall in Texas, but Bally decided not to continue because the financial return wasn't as good as games like PacMan. (not unreasonable). Feedback for the game was that people thought the chamber was moving somehow - when it wasn't. It was just the graphics, and the Amiga's sound echoing loudly inside giving the sensation of movement. Another chapter covered a game called "j" (lower case) for the Apple II, an RPG I cannot find anything about. "j" was inspired by Wizardry but took place on a 'donut shaped space station', with pseudo-random generation of hallways, activities, etc. He tried to address the piracy issue by distributing it to pirates, but using a copy protection that required codes to unlock harder/higher levels that he then sold. The third 'vintage' theme chapter is around founding an Apple II related software business in 1980 - (a) financial application(s) that received some seed money from Apple and investments from other partners, and seems to have been published and supported through at least the mid 1980s. There's some intrigue with Visicalc here too whom he also approached, but there's not a lot of text. Anyway, I was curious if anyone ever heard of "j" or was familiar with Muon. I also feel like these two chapters of the book probably deserve to be scanned or archived someplace relevant for Amiga / Apple enthusiasts (copyright correctness withstanding). I'm pretty confident the software for Muon at least is long gone -- in his book, he said "about five years later" (1990?) people went to NY to try to find the Muon prototype and they basically found nothing. John

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Workshop at System Source - March 1st and 2nd
by Ryan Burke 06 Feb '25

06 Feb '25

System Source is hosting another repair workshop in Hunt Valley, Maryland on March 1st and 2nd, please check out the link below for more information and to register. https://ca.syssrc.com/wp/?page_id=105&civiwp=CiviCRM&q=civicrm%2Fevent%2Fin… <https://ca.syssrc.com/wp/?page_id=85&civiwp=CiviCRM&q=civicrm%2Fevent%2Finf…> We are also looking for volunteers! Either for the event, or in general to help out the museum. If you'd like to help out, please send an email to rburke(a)sysssrc.com

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MARCH Newsletter January '25: better late than never!
by Thomas G 06 Feb '25

06 Feb '25

Hello all, Apologies for getting this out so late, but we've been crunching the past few weeks with some pretty intense work at the MARCH museum - read all about it in this (hastily-edited) edition of the MARCH newsletter! https://drive.google.com/file/d/1T5uIs35mlFHqaoAwBlNv5kXXVaop9rXB/view?usp=… -Thomas G.

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Mid-Atlantic Retro Computing Hobbyists (MARCH) February 2025 Vintage Computer Workshop
by Jeff Salzman 06 Feb '25

06 Feb '25

Just a reminder of the next Vintage Computer Workshop on February 15 & 16, 2025. InfoAge Museum and Science Center 2201 Marconi Rd. Wall Township, NJ 07719 Please sign up here so we know how many people to provide tables for. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1nHJHC4fgZdZZocCe9gkG-Vek5HlpDfyjCmG…

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OT: Netflix comes to Fort Monmouth
by Jeffrey Brace 03 Feb '25

03 Feb '25

Construction on the first four film studios is expected to start at the end of 2025. Netflix plans to open at Fort Monmouth in 2028. https://patch.com/new-jersey/longbranch/netflix-launches-website-its-fort-m… Jeff Brace

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Jesper Juul on Friday February 7 on Twitch "Too Much Fun: The Five Lives of the Commodore 64"
by Jeffrey Brace 03 Feb '25

03 Feb '25

I thought I would share with everyone this post that I just got. Join us Friday, February 7, as *ROMchip: A Journal of Game Histories *hosts scholar Jesper Juul for a talk about his book *Too Much Fun: The Five Lives of the Commodore 64 Computer.* The event will be at 2PM ET on the *ROMchip *Twitch channel, https://www.twitch.tv/romchipjournal <https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.twitc…> . Get tickets HERE <https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ticke…> and sign up for our newsletter <https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fromchip.u…> to never miss an update. **Tickets serve as calendar reminders for the event; they are not required to attend. Head to https://www.twitch.tv/romchipjournal <https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.twitc…> to join the talk on Feb 7** *About the Book* *The surprising history of the Commodore 64, the best-selling home computer of the 1980s—the machine that taught the world that computing should be *fun *.* The Commodore 64 (C64) is officially the best-selling desktop computer model of all time, according to *The Guinness Book of World Records*. It was also, from 1985 to 1993, the platform for which most video games were made. But although it sold at least twice as many units as other home computers of its time, such as the Apple II, ZX Spectrum, or Commodore Amiga, it is strangely forgotten in many computer histories. In *Too Much Fun*, Jesper Juul argues that the C64 was so popular because it was so versatile, a machine developers and users would reinvent again and again over the course of 40 years. First it was a serious computer, next a game computer, then a computer for showcasing technical brilliance (graphical *demos* using the machine in seemingly impossible ways), then a struggling competitor, and finally a retro device whose limitations are now charming. The C64, Juul shows, has been ignored by history because it was too much fun. Richly illustrated in full color, this book is the first in-depth examination of the C64's design and history, and the first to integrate US and European histories. Containing interviews with Commodore engineers as well as an insightful look at C64 games, music, and software*,* *Too Much Fun* will appeal to those who used a Commodore 64, those interested in the history of computing and video games and computational literacy, or just those who wish their technological devices would last longer. *About the Author*Jesper Juul coedits the MIT Press Playful Thinking series. His previous books include *Half-Real*,*The Art of Failure*, and *Handmade Pixels*. He is Associate Professor at the Royal Danish Academy in Copenhagen and has taught at MIT and New York University. His first computer was a Commodore 64, on which he wrote games and demos. *Upcoming Events* February 14 @ 2PM: Tom Boellstorff and Braxton Soderman discuss their co-authored book, *Intellivision: How a Videogame System Battled Atari and Almost Bankrupted Barbie *[MORE INFO <https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ticke…> ] February 22 @ 11AM-11PM ET: ROMchip Twitch Fundraiser Stream, ft Phil Salvador, merritt k, qdot, Paolo Pedercini, tinahacks, Jason Scott and more! Come through for 12 hours of games, prizes, and historical hijinks. [MORE INFO <https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fdonate.ro…> ]. *About ROMchip**ROMchip: A Journal of Game Histories <https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.romch…>* is a free, online scholarly journal for game history. *ROMchip *develops, edits, and publishes ad-free, open access game history research for a range of audiences. It supports any discipline of work enlivening the history of games in local and global contexts, and embraces diversity in how game history is studied, documented, collected, preserved, and practiced. *ROM* *c**hip* is a donation-based organization fiscally sponsored by The Hack Foundation <https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fhackclub.…> (d.b.a. Hack Club), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit (EIN: 81-2908499).

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Apple II Lisa video card
by Richard Cini 31 Jan '25

31 Jan '25

All — Today I watched a video interview by the CHM of Bill Atkinson where he talks about how he prototyped the various Lisa screen elements before moving them to the Lisa dev setup. It seems he used an Apple II with a special video card to create these. I’ve done a bit of googling on this but I can’t come up with any good search results. Does anyone know what was involved in that? What was the card like? Rich http://cini.classiccmp.org/ Long Island S100 User’s Group Get Outlook<https://aka.ms/qtex0l> for iOS

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'twas the night before Festivus ...
by Jeffrey Brace 30 Jan '25

30 Jan '25

and all through the place, not a creature was stirring, only just a Brace! Finish the poem!

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Request for help from IEEE Special Projects Direct Stephan Cass
by Douglas Crawford 28 Jan '25

28 Jan '25

See below for details on the request, summarized: 1. C64 Source 2. Someone to make a program selector for three demos 3. Original USB 1.0 artifacts Please offer support, off list, if you can, thanks! Douglas Crawford ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Dear VCF members, I am the special projects director of /IEEE Spectrum/—some of you may know me from my previous coverage of VCF East and retrocomputing-related topics in general (some sample links below!). In partnership with the IEEE History Center, we are developing a small travelling museum/conference exhibition based on our Chip Hall of Fame ( https://spectrum.ieee.org/special-reports/chip-hall-of-fame/ ). And we could really do with your help! The exhibition will include some sample chips as well as products based upon them, and we are also hoping to have an interactive Commodore 64 panel with a C64 hooked up to a screen. So here are my first two asks: Can I get recommendations for a seller who can supply 3 working C64s (three because we hope to make more than one copy of the exhibit and also need a spare on-hand in case of problems)? Ideally, these would be classic breadbox models. We will probably look to replace the case with clear acrylic versions. Can I get recommendations for someone who we can commission to put together and deliver 3 sets of a custom cartridge rig? We hope to have three arcade-style buttons on the exhibit that a visitor can press to load different ROM images: I'm imagining this would involve bank-switching and asserting a reset, maybe bundle the whole thing inside a microcontroller's memory, so I can kinda see how to do it, but really this would be best in the hands on someone with some C64 hardware experience, given the requirements for reliability and time to deliver. Incidentally, we are planning that one of the ROM images would show a simple "attract" demo for the exhibit, another one draw some kind of fractal (in homage to all of us who read "Chaos" back in the 1980s and lept to our home computers :) ), and a final one TBD, which we hope to be able to open up to some kind of demo competition!) And one last ask: we are also planning on including some very early USB silicon in the exhibit, from the Triton II Intel PC chipset. Think ye now to your mystery bins :) If you have a peripheral on the size scale of a computer mouse or a little larger that was built to USB 1.1 or, ideally 1.0 (I know how rare the latter is!), we'd like to talk to you about obtaining it! Thank you all for your time and attention. If you've any answers to the above, or questions about any of this, please drop me a line directly at cass.s(a)ieee.org Best, Stephen VCF coverage: https://spectrum.ieee.org/theyre-alive-vintage-computer-fans-keep-the-great… https://spectrum.ieee.org/don-eyles-space-hacker https://www.instagram.com/p/C6ZCubprsSO/ Other retrocomputing Coverage: https://spectrum.ieee.org/yugoslavia-diy-microcomputer https://spectrum.ieee.org/upcycle-a-vintage-lcd *** Stephen Cass Special Projects Director IEEE Spectrum www.spectrum.ieee.org <http://www.spectrum.ieee.org> 347 834 7384 cass.s(a)ieee.org -- Douglas Crawford VCF Mid-Atlantic Museum Mgr InfoAge Science & History Museums 2201 Marconi Road Wall, NJ 07719

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