- vcf-midatlantic - lists.vcfed.org

Modem Error Correction - when/what baud/bps?
by John Heritage 21 Jan '18

21 Jan '18

Techie questions -- IIRC -- Part of the reason modem error correction was a big deal was because in addition to improving transfer accuracy (i.e. less loss), error correction typically reduced the number of transmitted bits per byte from 10 to 8. i.e. An early 300 or 1200 baud "client and BBS" (or server) would typically send the 8 bits for an ASCII byte* and an additional 2 bits -- a start and stop bit, or similar, but later error correcting modems (i.e. 9600bps or higher) would only need 8 bits. In practice, a 2400bps modem without error correction would be limited to ~ 240 characters per second, while the same modem with error correction would be ~ 300 characters per second raw throughput. My questions are -- is this a correct recollection? and when did error correction become pretty standard -- was it the 2400 "baud" era or was it more like 9600 bps and above? I was lucky enough to go from 1200 bps to 9600 bps in one jump, though later someone gifted me a 2400 baud modem that also had error correction, and I used that for a second machine in the house.. Thanks, John *Yes, ASCII wasn't always a standard :)

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Museum Report 2018-01-20 January 20, 2018
by Jeffrey Brace 20 Jan '18

20 Jan '18

About a dozen or so visitors today in batches of 2's and 3's. Some were passers by. Some with moderate interest. One lady stayed for 30 to 40 minutes because she remembered a lot of the micros, especially the Commodore 64, which I was glad to show off ;) Another guy said that he worked with a Data General machine and wondered if we had any more of them. I keep telling everyone about the upcoming VCF East. Many seemed interested. A nice day even though a bit nippy.

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eBay alert -- PETs nearby
by Evan Koblentz 20 Jan '18

20 Jan '18

https://www.ebay.com/itm/142630770116 ________________________________ Evan Koblentz, director Vintage Computer Federation a 501(c)(3) educational non-profit evan(a)vcfed.org (646) 546-9999 www.vcfed.org facebook.com/vcfederation twitter.com/vcfederation instagram.com/vcfederation

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Has anyone read Introduction to the History of Computing: A Computing History Primer
by Christian Liendo 20 Jan '18

20 Jan '18

Has anyone read Introduction to the History of Computing: A Computing History Primer Gerard O'Regan. Looking for opinions before I try to get this to read. https://books.google.com/books?id=6u16DAAAQBAJ

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Please read
by Evan Koblentz 19 Jan '18

19 Jan '18

Everyone, This is very important. We need help. We've got a problem at the museum: there is a severe lack of tour guides. Jeff B. and I wind up doing almost all of the docent duty by ourselves. We almost never get a weekend off. There are 183 people on this list. We shouldn't have this problem. Dean, Corey, Doug, Todd, Bill Drom., and Steve A. all take some days -- we're grateful for their help -- but we desperately need more people. PLEASE, if you have any interest in being a tour guide at our computer museum, then email Jeff B. and I off-list. The requirements are simple: be enthusiastic about computer history, be good at interacting with families, be reliable, and represent VCF professionally. You don't have to be an expert on every aspect of computer history -- we will teach you everything you need to know. It is distressing when the only responses we get are "Wish I could, but" or crickets. In addition, every month or two, it is VCF's turn to have a front desk volunteer for Infoage itself. So we need people for that role too.

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MOS 6501 seems to have sold for $5000
by Christian Liendo 19 Jan '18

19 Jan '18

https://www.ebay.com/itm/MOS-MCS-6501-CPU-IC-DATE-3475-VINTAGE-MICROPROCESS…

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TV alert
by Evan Koblentz 18 Jan '18

18 Jan '18

Reminder to everyone: tune to CBS on Thursday, Jan. 18 at 8:30pm. The "Young Sheldon" show (spinoff of Big Bang Theory) is featuring 10-year-old Sheldon getting his first computer, a Tandy 1000, which the set designers sourced from us. Here are some publicity photos: https://www.spoilertv.com/2018/01/young-sheldon-episode-112-computer.html

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New TestFDC Results Registry
by systems_glitch 18 Jan '18

18 Jan '18

I'd been trying to reach Dave Dunfield with new TestFDC results since apparently August with no results. So, I wrote a new TestFDC registry into my site: https://services.theglitchworks.net/ng/testfdc_results This registry currently includes Dave's last registry update from 2007. There's now a form for entering your results, you can find it as a link from the registry, or here: https://services.theglitchworks.net/ng/testfdc_results/new Result submissions have to be manually approved currently so that the registry doesn't get spammed. Text export forthcoming. Any suggestions welcome! Moderators, if someone wants to sticky this (here or in other forums), I think this would be a valuable resource for anyone wanting to use ImageDisk on non-PC formats. Thanks, Jonathan

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AT&T UNIX PC 7300 (3b1) disassembly video
by AJ Palmgren 18 Jan '18

18 Jan '18

While I'm thinking about it, for any/all who might be interested, just last week, I created a step-by-step video for disassembling a UNIX PC 7300 (with a few comments/comparisons for the 3b1) https://youtu.be/vYKS-jOdcsQ I've always found them tricky to work on with the way they are packed together, so I hope this could help others who might want to take a crack at a repair/restoration (or, heaven forbid...a "part-out") -- Thanks, AJ http://MightyFrame.com http://QICreader.com http://UnixPC.blogspot.com

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April 2018 Workshop Date
by Jeffrey Brace 17 Jan '18

17 Jan '18

I found out that April 14 isn't available, so the April workshop will be April 7 & 8. Signup here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/15skPd9SrZ2WsHMoTBTrrvBNwG1nbixVNfey…

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