- vcf-midatlantic - lists.vcfed.org

Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Festivus - important!
by VAXman＠tmesis.org 30 Oct '17

30 Oct '17

Drew Notarnicola via vcf-midatlantic writes: >>I'll bring ribs again IF I can make it and some beer too. >What a hero. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdWHsaly-XU FWIW, I missed October's RR launch because I drove nearly all the way when I then realized I'd forgotten to pack my motor casings. I'll miss November's because an old DECUS friend is getting married and I've been invited to his ceremony. Therefore, December's launch is the last this year and I want to make that one. If the weather IS NOT conducive to a launch, I'll make ribs and attend sometime by the late afternoon/early evening.

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Festivus - important!
by VAXman＠tmesis.org 30 Oct '17

30 Oct '17

Jeffrey Brace via vcf-midatlantic writes: >The reason I chose December 9 & 10 was because it originally conflicted >with World of Commodore, which was originally scheduled for December 2 & >3. I try to avoid conflicts with other events. I had asked back in June >for people to specify which dates they wanted. I had limited response, >so I chose a date. For some reason World of Commodore was rescheduled to >Dec. 9 & 10. The best laid plans of mice and men ... So, now you can move it up a week! :)

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Festivus planning
by Ian Primus 30 Oct '17

30 Oct '17

As usual, I am planning to attend Festivus, and bring my usual van full of televisions and assorted video game consoles. I'm trying to get things ready earlier this time, so, does anyone have anything in particular they would like me to bring, so I can try to plan better? -Ian

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Museum Report 2017-10-29 October 29, 2017
by Jeffrey Brace 29 Oct '17

29 Oct '17

A slow day at the museum due to pouring rain all day. We did get 6 visitors with mild interest. Mouse was at the InfoAge front desk. Thanks so much for filling in for VCF! It is much appreciated!

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Festivus - important!
by VAXman＠tmesis.org 29 Oct '17

29 Oct '17

Evan Koblentz via vcf-midatlantic writes: >Dec. 9 in the morning until Dec. 10 in the evening. We don't really >advertise it to the public. This is the group holiday party. It's our >only purely social event of the year. I may and I may not be there. Moving the party a week closer to Christmas this year causes me some conflicts. It'll all depend on the weather on the 9th if I can make it. Inclement weather -- I can be there. Nice weather -- I'll be flying. I'll bring ribs again IF I can make it and some beer too.

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] IBM PC near-compatibles
by Earl Baugh 29 Oct '17

29 Oct '17

Following up on two things. I have a NEC machine (nicknamed the "Herniator" because of it's weight) that came to me via Kyle that is a PC near compatible that has 8 inch drives. Runs MS-DOS. It at least, I'd say, is a little interesting. I don't know of many other MS-DOS compatible machines that ran off 8 inch floppy. And in theme with Herb's kerosene powered fan, I actually own a gasoline powered clothes iron. Looks like a regular small iron but is gasoline powered. Seriously. Earl

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FS: ADM-3A and ADM-5 Terminals at Festivus
by systems_glitch 28 Oct '17

28 Oct '17

All, Over the summer, I picked up a large lot (17) of ADM-3A and ADM-5 terminals, in various states of "probably not working." Most of them DO NOT have screen rot, and very few have bad burn-in. I paid $100 each, plus van rental to go get them, gas, etc. I'd like to sell some of the OK condition ones, for drop-off at Festivus, for $150 or trade. Contact me off-list if you're interested. Thanks, Jonathan

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Cyclops page (Popular Electronics and Cromemco)
by William Sudbrink 25 Oct '17

25 Oct '17

Hi, In case anyone is interested, I have finally cobbled together a web page that documents the construction of the Popular Electronics Cyclops camera that I exhibited at the 2016 VCF East. It also documents my work to produce a Cromemco S-100 Cyclops that I hope to exhibit at the 2018 VCF East. The page is here: http://wsudbrink.dyndns.org:8080/cyclops/index.html The Cromemco S-100 Cyclops starts down the page a bit. Bill S. --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] IBM PC near-compatibles
by Herb Johnson 25 Oct '17

25 Oct '17

Thanks to Joseph Oprysko & Alexander Pierson for their responses about PCJr and Sanyo MBC-550 respectively. also the posts on Tandy 2000. But their responses - and the lack of other responses about near-compatibles, spin-offs to other topics - kinda confirms my points. That's OK. I asked the question to get confirmation. The Sanyo video was interesting because it showed a game and some video modes. (Not my interest but other's interests.) The PCJr is a narrative about a failure for a notable brand. Tandy by brand, draws interest; and the 2000 has/had a base of owners or is at least known-to-be. So for "interest", these near-compatibles have to have a feature, a brand, a story. And they have to be owned by some number of people today, to become a collective interest. And old PC's are not-of-interest (or negative interest) among many classes of vintage computerists. Otherwise they are simply "not". Hard to establish an interest in a bunch of "not's". But one more thing. On an "Antiques Roadshow", I recall an item. It was a kerosene powered fan! A flame, provided hot-air flow, to rotate a fan. This was an actual product in the early 20th century. It makes no sense today, and stopped making sense when electricity became available, at the same time. Thus all those fans were scrapped, unsold. But now....they are so rare, they have a bit of value! And are a source of amusement, as I've described. So may go, some PC near-compatibles. Herb "not my technology" Johnson -- Herbert R. Johnson, New Jersey in the USA http://www.retrotechnology.com OR .net

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IBM PC near-compatibles
by Herb Johnson 25 Oct '17

25 Oct '17

As vintage interest increases in the early IBM PC era computers, and in 386/486 PC's, I have a question. Is there any current interest in the early semi-compatible PC's? I mean of course, the 8088/88 systems near and after the IBM PC of 1981, where a number of manufacturers made MS-DOS systems which had most of the IBM PC hardware, some PC functionality (or better!) but was not 100% hardware compatible. It took some years for the "market" to decide, IBM PC software HAD to use every hardware trick to gain performance, and it could only do that if EVERY "PC" had the same IBM PC hardware. And, hardware HAD to be IBM PC and ISA compatible so it would run with minimal grief in PC's of the day, and their software. Eventually, the "Tiawan clones" came out, which were 100% PC compatible, and cheaper, and thus "PC compatible" became a redundant phrase. I know there's some interest in say Compaqs, which at times led the way over IBM. But those were pretty compatible too. But that leaves a bunch of S-100 systems, some Heath/Zenith systems, brands like Victor and God-knows how many others, who produced those semi-compatible systems, which were soon abandoned. Now, S-100, I can deal with and those catch some people's interest. In fact there's a lot of 3rd party PC hardware for the Heath/zenith Z-100 (Z-120 series). But Zenith 150-series systems, with five boards in some super-ISA backplane? Forgedabotit. I show some of the Zenith 151-s on my Web site, and of course Z-100's; so I get inquiries, like today, where someone has a Z-151 to offer. I tell them "sorry, no one cares". Comments? Herb Johnson -- Herbert R. Johnson, New Jersey in the USA http://www.retrotechnology.com OR .net

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