- vcf-midatlantic - lists.vcfed.org

Long museum report
by Evan Koblentz 28 Dec '17

28 Dec '17

Very busy day! Jeff B. couldn't make it today, so Adam and I went to tackle as much as possible. We arrived around 11am and focused on cleaning up from yesterday. Then we test-fitted some things in the first of the two new display cases -- blue box, 6501, Pennywhistle modem with a desk phone, early-model USR modem, and the Popular Electronics "Digital Logic Microlab" kit from 1970. We need to get more clear plastic stands (in various sizes/shapes) to hold things at angles on shelves. Jim S. wasn't able to attend Festivus due to snow, but he visited today with his extended family for a full tour. I gave the tour for a solid hour. Tony arrived at the same time to make some repairs on our straight Apple II. We needed some things moved to the warehouse, so Adam and Tony did that (convenient due to Tony's cargo van!) while I gave the tour to Jim & family. There were a few other groups of visitors too. Visitors continued on-and-off until 5ish. Tony successfully revered the II to its default Integer BASIC. It had been set up to load Applesoft BASIC off a card, which is useful but hardly stock. Now it's stock, but we can still load Applesoft when needed.... so basically he reversed the default option. He also cleaned more parts of the computer inside and out. Adam and I test-fitted some things into the second new display case. The top shelf will have some handhelds, but for now it's empty -- we'll get to the handhelds on a warmer day with more sunlight in the warehouse. We decided to put some game consoles on the bottom three shelves -- Atari Pong, Magnavox Odyssey, and Fairchild Channel F. The VCFed collection includes both an Odyssey and F both practically new-in-box! No, they're not playable by the public ... these are in a locking display case. I snuck in a personal project. I wanted us to have a small microwave in case I ever get a craving for popcorn or whatever. :) I brought in a microwave from my former apartment; didn't need it anymore because my new place has one already. But my old microwave is too big to fit in our workshop. So I traded it to Roddy (art guy across the hallway from our museum) for his smaller one. And yes, I put in our rack -- I figure the once every few months we actually use the microwave for a few minutes won't hurt anything. Problem was, the smaller unit is silver which stuck out like a sort thumb through our dark-gray mesh rack door. And it turns out VCFed recently became the owner of a big roll of black duct tape... you all see where this is going, right? Turns out it worked VERY well! I covered all the exposed silver panels in black duct tape. It may look silly from a few inches away with the door open, but it camouflages perfectly from a few feet away with the door closed. Don't laugh until you see it! It worked out pretty well. Now it's a stealth microwave... Adam and I also put a second layer of black paint on the luan (thin wood) backings that Jeff and I made yesterday for the display cases, because we don't want people seeing the ugliness behind each cases (they're glass on all four sides). Yesterday we used cheap spray paint; today we used flat-black regular paint with a brush. Huge improvement! Left it there to dry and I'll attach the backings this Saturday. Bill I. also stopped by around lunchtime and hung out with us for a while. Bill, Adam, Tony, and I engaged in the VCF lunchtime ritual pizza, thus making it a sanctioned gathering (or something like that). About that desk we're seeking: Martin thinks there is one in an Infoage build that we cannot access, so I'm having someone else check for us. Sooooo...... very good and productive day.

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Correction -- Semi-OT: Annual post: what tech did ya get?
by Evan Koblentz 28 Dec '17

28 Dec '17

I hit 'send' too soon. Sorry. Corrected post: ----------------------- It's always fun to hear what tech toys (vintage computing or not) everyone got for the holidays, whatever you celebrate. For me it was just buying a box of NOS floppies from Glitch back at Festivus :) and a pair of running shoes (not technical, but expensive!) However I'm very excited about some new toys which may be museum-bound!!!! I can't announce them until January, sorry. :)

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Needed: gray metal teletype stand/table/desk
by Duane Craps 27 Dec '17

27 Dec '17

The third page of this document shows the original type desk http://bitsavers.trailing-edge.com/pdf/univac/military/1532/OA7984_CHAPTER_… Duane On 12/26/2017 9:03 PM, Evan Koblentz via vcf-midatlantic wrote: > Everyone, > > We're still looking for an appropriate desk, stand, table, etc. to use > with the Univac. It needs to be metal, and ideally painted gray but we > could always paint it by ourselves. Of course it needs to be strong > enough to hold the 1960s teletype, but it shouldn't be too large -- we > do not want a big desk there, just something maybe 2-3 ft. wide. We > need this relatively soon. It should be in good condition (nothing > rusted, in need of repair, etc.) and have a period 1960s look. > -- Duane Craps sdɐɹɔ ǝuɐnp

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another reason to appreciate vintage computers
by Jeffrey Jonas 27 Dec '17

27 Dec '17

I forgot how good or bad the Apple Lisa was for kybd-to-input response but it was slower than molasses in the winter for printing :-( This was just rediscovered by boingBoing: Latency: why typing on old computers just feels better https://boingboing.net/2017/12/26/latency-why-typing-on-old-com.html

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museum report
by Evan Koblentz 27 Dec '17

27 Dec '17

Jeff B. and I used Tony's van to pick up two new display cases this morning. Same brand/style as the larger UNIVAC display case that we bought last time, except these are each 18x18 (x72 tall) vs. 40x18. Then we spent all afternoon moving some things around in the microcomputer side of the museum. We're not done, but we called it a day around 7pm. When finished we will be able to display certain things that we couldn't safely display before, such as the blue box and 6501 kit. We'll be back at it tomorrow along with Adam. ________________________________ 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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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Correction -- Semi-OT: Annual post: what tech did ya get?
by Mike Loewen 26 Dec '17

26 Dec '17

> On Dec 25, 2017, at 9:25 PM, Mike Loewen via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic at lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> wrote: > >> On Mon, 25 Dec 2017, Evan Koblentz via vcf-midatlantic wrote: >> >> I hit 'send' too soon. Sorry. >> >> Corrected post: >> >> ----------------------- >> >> It's always fun to hear what tech toys (vintage computing or not) everyone got for the holidays, whatever you celebrate. >> >> For me it was just buying a box of NOS floppies from Glitch back at Festivus :) and a pair of running shoes (not technical, but expensive!) > > I just received a HP 82901M dual-floppy drive to go with my HP 87XM: > > http://www.hpmuseum.net/display_item.php?hw=287 > > Haven't had a chance to try it, yet. > Oh yeah, I also just received one of David Gesswein's MFM hard drive emulators. Looking forward to trying it out on my old Tandy 6000HD, and attempting to image the hard drive in my most recent 6000HD. Mike Loewen mloewen(a)cpumagic.scol.pa.us Old Technology http://q7.neurotica.com/Oldtech/

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Museum inventory database software
by Evan Koblentz 26 Dec '17

26 Dec '17

We're looking for recommendations for an inventory database system. Here are the requirements in no particular order. - Resides online so we can view/update it over the internet (awesome if we could view/make changes via smartphone browser, etc.) - Secure + password-protected from prying outsiders (we're not interested in telling the world what we have at this time) - Evan-usable GUI for when we need to customize the fields/hierarchy (we don't want to have to rely on anyone for this) - Not a kludged-together homebrew thing that only the builder can use (we know you can all make a LAMP stack, that alone isn't the solution) - Commercial "cloud" services are fine, but nothing too expensive (f it works and it's reasonably priced, then I don't care if they use Microsoft...) - Nothing hosted on the accounts/servers of individuals/other groups (VCF is a real organization, we need to keep things under control) - We need something relatively soon. This can't be a slow-moving project that gets 75% implemented in six months. - There are open-source museum applications, but they seem way too big/complicated for us. All constructive recommendations are welcome within these requirements. I saw a company called Airtable which might meet the requirements, but I didn't quite understand how to use it. Granted my only hands-on database experience was Appleworks back in the 7th grade. :)

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OT: need help upgrading Linux gadget firmware
by Evan Koblentz 26 Dec '17

26 Dec '17

This has nothing to do with vintage computing. I wear a Garmin GPW watch when I'm running. The model is Forerunner 15 with version 2.40 of their firmware. The latest firmware is version 2.70. Officially, they require Windows software Garmin Connect to download the firmware and synchronize it to your device. Garmin Connect in turn requires a late-model version of .NET Framework. I couldn't get .NET Framework to install in WINE, so I started Googling for manual upgrade methods. I found a few relevant posts: https://forums.garmin.com/forum/into-sports/running/forerunner-620-aa/70154… https://forums.garmin.com/forum/into-sports/cycling/edge-520-aa/125491- Both posts indicate a method of downloading the firmware file manually (done), changing it from (filename).rgn to gupdate.gcd, attaching the watch via its USB charging gadget to your computer, putting the file in the right directory, dismounting the device from Linux, and rebooting the device. Easy enough ... except nothing happens when I reboot the watch and its settings menu still shows version 2.40. There are posts about editing out part of the file using a hex editor, for example, post #6 in the first link that I put above. I downloaded a hex editor and can see the data but I have no clue how to use it. The file is on my personal site: http://www.snarc.net/forerunner15_270.rgn Lil' help?

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OT: give me your unwanted and unloved printer/scanner, your laser printer yearning to be free
by Jeffrey Jonas 25 Dec '17

25 Dec '17

'tis the season for upgrading your computers. My color printer/scanner is on its last legs. If anyone has a spare, please think of me. Similarly, my laser printer misfeeds despite cleaning the roller and pads. thanks, and see you on Sat at the workshop! -- Jeff Jonas

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museum report - Sat. 12/23
by Evan Koblentz 24 Dec '17

24 Dec '17

I went to the museum yesterday. There were three groups of visitors on campus. One group (a family of nine people spanning three generations) spent about 30 minutes in our section, seemed genuinely interested, asked good questions, etc., so that was good. Then I had some downtime, so I made an improvement to the Lego robot. :) The big front gears driving each tread kept spreading off their axles when the robot turned left/right. I installed a guard on each side to stop that problem. Closed and left at 3:30 because I had a family Chanukah party to attend. InfoAge is closed today and also closed next Sunday for new years. ________________________________ 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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