- vcf-midatlantic - lists.vcfed.org

semi OT: BBC micro:bit on sale at Microcenter
by Jeffrey Jonas 19 Sep '17

19 Sep '17

I know it's a hard sell compared to the $5 Raspberry Pi zero, but http://microbit.org/ The BBC micro:bit is a pocket-sized codeable computer with motion detection, a built-in compass and Bluetooth technology, which was given free to every child in year 7 or equivalent across the UK in 2016. A collaboration between 29 partners, the BBC micro:bit is the BBC's most ambitious education initiative in 30 years, with an ambition to inspire digital creativity and develop a new generation of tech pioneers. They are on sale at Microcenter. $10 is the bare board. The kit includes battery holder, USB cable. The edge connector seems to be hard to get :-( http://www.microcenter.com/product/480031/MicroBit Element 14 Micro:Bit now $9.99 (was $12.99 SAVE $3.00) 10+ in stock at North Jersey / Paterson Store http://www.microcenter.com/product/480034/MicroBit_Go_Kit Element 14 Micro:Bit Go Kit 10+ in stock at North Jersey / Paterson Store now $11.99 (was $16.49 SAVE $4.50)

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Inventor of Unix Chroot?
by Evan Koblentz 19 Sep '17

19 Sep '17

Help me with a research thingamajig. I want to find out who made Chroot. Wikipedia -- purely as a starting point -- shows a comment in the Chroot talk page stating, "This system call was present [in] AT&T versions of Unix well before 1982. This citation should be changed to point to an AT&T version. Indeed, Research's UNIX V7 sources (usr/sys/sys/sysent.c dated May 7th, 1979) has an entry at position 61 for chroot(2); the fact is even noted under the article about V7..." See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk%3AChroot#Bill_Joy_did_not_invent_chroot I know many of you are old-school Unix users/developers and some of you worked at AT&T. Who can help me find out which specific people (I need names) actually invented Chroot? ________________________________ 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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Museum report
by Evan Koblentz 18 Sep '17

18 Sep '17

Mixed bag today. There were very few visitors but a lot of good things happened! Howard B., of the ACGNJ + TCF old days, brought us a donation of an excellent condition Ithaca InterSystems DPS-1. He said it's perfectly working including the 8" drives and external HDD. He included boot disks, backups, all the cables, manuals, and even spare paddle switches. He's still working on the terminal and will bring us that in due time. This is a very nice donation! Our other DPS is in poor shape. He has other things to donate soon. Steve A. also brought a donation of a nice tape drive. I spent a couple of hours packing things for Maker Faire next weekend.

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] FW: Free Alpha Server 2100 (USA Mid Atlantic)
by VAXman＠tmesis.org 18 Sep '17

18 Sep '17

Paul Birkel via vcf-midatlantic writes: >Contact Fran Smith <fsmith(a)ladylinux.com> > >-----Original Message From CCTALK ----- Sent: Monday, September 18, 2017 >1:06 PM Subject: Free Alpha Server 2100 (USA Mid Atlantic) > >Hiya, > >Free as in Beer come and get it. Its complete including disk drives and >other than dusty is in pretty good shape. I am in the Baltimore City >area and it must be gone by this weekend. Or I will break it down >Saturday and recycle the rest. > >Also I have some other stuff that is related I might throw in. > >I lied about the Free but not the Beer. But I would love it if a six >pack of nice Autumm Craft beer was dropped off. > >Fran FWIW, I have a HUGE stockpile of Alpha systems from AlphaStation 200s to ES40s. If anybody is interested, let me know. I can provide you an itemized list if you ask and I can bring them to the Winter get together.

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FW: Free Alpha Server 2100 (USA Mid Atlantic)
by Paul Birkel 18 Sep '17

18 Sep '17

Contact Fran Smith <fsmith(a)ladylinux.com> -----Original Message From CCTALK ----- Sent: Monday, September 18, 2017 1:06 PM Subject: Free Alpha Server 2100 (USA Mid Atlantic) Hiya, Free as in Beer come and get it. Its complete including disk drives and other than dusty is in pretty good shape. I am in the Baltimore City area and it must be gone by this weekend. Or I will break it down Saturday and recycle the rest. Also I have some other stuff that is related I might throw in. I lied about the Free but not the Beer. But I would love it if a six pack of nice Autumm Craft beer was dropped off. Fran

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Ebay International Shipping Improvement
by william degnan 18 Sep '17

18 Sep '17

If you're like me, you use Ebay to sell vintage computers to make space or for extra cash (so you can buy other vintage computers...). It's a nice efficient way to sell. Given the dollar exchange rate has declined 30% this year prices are cheaper to an international buyer. You maximize profit if you sell internationally and given you are hit with 10% fee you want to maximize the sales price. Problem *was* there are too many variables and taxes to track, custom forms, insurance, etc. International shipping has always been a problem because it's so hard to predict the actual cost, and I have been burned a few times with shipping costs. Slowly Ebay has been working to make this better. Recently Ebay has made available a new shipping option called "Global Shipping Program" that allows a person to ship their internationally-sold items to a hub in the US (Kentucky), and after that I guess the buyer deals with the shipping the rest of the way. A lot of people bust on Ebay, but this is really a nice feature and it really reduces the hassle for the seller. In short, now everything I sell is treated like domestic shipping, no customs no guessing. 25-50% of my sales are international. I don't want to get into a big thing about whether Ebay is good/bad but in this case - Ebay: Well done. Bill

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C128 computer
by william degnan 18 Sep '17

18 Sep '17

I always liked the c128, being it was my first Commodore. I have a pretty good GEOS 128 setup and I use it to connect to IRC chat. Because it c128 is also essentially a c64, I feel that the modern dongle for tcp/ip finally put the c128 over the top compared to a c64 as far as desirability goes. In fact, I rately use a c64. Anyone else have the same perspective? And, I am testing c128's at the moment, they hold up well. I have 4 or 5 working systems to put up on Ebay soon, leaving me with plenty others. I bet many c128's will still work in 30 years. Very solid (state) computers. Bill Degnan twitter: billdeg vintagecomputer.net

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semi OT: microcenter sale includes $5 Raspberry Pi Zero Wireless
by Jeffrey Jonas 18 Sep '17

18 Sep '17

microcenter has a sale until 10/1. This seems to be part of it: $5 Raspberry Pi Zero Wireless (usually $10, limit 1 per person per day) SKU: 240424

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] [OT] DC-Area Workshop - September 16th and 17th - Middletown, MD
by alex bodnar 16 Sep '17

16 Sep '17

Alex J, hopefully you will be sending out directions ;-)) Alex B. At 07:07 PM 9/14/2017 -0400, you wrote: >Alex, > >Nope, nobody is coming Saturday. We're definitely on for Sunday, as Jason >is coming, too. > >Thanks! >- Alex > >On Thu, Sep 14, 2017 at 1:45 PM, alex bodnar via vcf-midatlantic < >vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> wrote: > >> Alex J, >> >> is there anyone else who said they would come over on saturday?? >> if not, i will make it sunday and let you and the family have all day at >> Andrews AFB. >> >> Alex B. >> >> >> At 11:42 AM 9/12/2017 -0400, you wrote: >> >All, >> > >> >So, after discussing it with my wife, we'll still host the workshop, for >> >anyone who wants to come, this weekend. >> > >> >Given the small attendance (or none, at this point?), we will play it by >> >ear, on the schedule. Jonathan Sturges and I will be there, and anyone >> >else who wants to come is welcome. I think that we are going to go to the >> >Air Show at Andrews AFB, some time on Saturday afternoon, and anyone who >> >wants is welcome to join us. >> > >> >So, if you're coming, let me know, and I'll make sure that there is space >> >for you. >> > >> >Thanks! >> >- Alex >> > >> >On Mon, Sep 4, 2017 at 6:45 PM, J. Alexander Jacocks <jjacocks(a)gmail.com> >> >wrote: >> > >> >> I'm starting to think that September isn't a good time, as I only have >> 1+ >> >> confirmed. >> >> >> >> So, unless I hear differently in the next day, I'll reschedule this for >> >> another time. >> >> >> >> Thanks! >> >> - Alex >> >> >> >> On Sun, Sep 3, 2017 at 14:56 Jason Perkins via vcf-midatlantic < >> >> vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> wrote: >> >> >> >>> We'll be at Poolsville Drive Electric Day on the 16th, but I should be >> >>> able >> >>> to make it on the 17th. >> >>> >> >>> On Wed, Aug 30, 2017 at 5:04 PM J. Alexander Jacocks via >> vcf-midatlantic < >> >>> vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> wrote: >> >>> >> >>> > All, >> >>> > >> >>> > Since VCF can't do a workshop, due to facilities usage conflicts, >> this >> >>> > fall, I'd like to offer to host a smaller workshop, at my house, in >> >>> > Middletown, MD. >> >>> > >> >>> > I have a 3-car detached garage of about 960ft^2 that we can use for >> the >> >>> > purpose. There is air conditioning, and a refrigerator, for >> drinks. I >> >>> > have plenty of power, and some table space. >> >>> > >> >>> > Please bring yourselves, your projects, folding chairs, folding >> tables >> >>> (if >> >>> > you have them), and anything else that you might want. We will >> provide >> >>> > some drinks (but feel free to bring your favorite), and are willing >> to >> >>> > order lunch, based on the requests of the attendees. >> >>> > >> >>> > We have very limited space in the house, but talk to me, if you want >> to >> >>> > stay the night. There are hotels not so very far away. >> >>> > >> >>> > Date: September 16th and 17th, 2017 >> >>> > Time: Starting 10:00am Saturday, ending Sunday around 5:00pm >> >>> > Place: Alex's house, Middletown, MD >> >>> > >> >>> > Please RSVP, so that I know who is coming, and when. I'll provide >> >>> > directions directly to the attendees. >> >>> > >> >>> > I asked Evan, before posting this, to make sure that this wasn't >> going >> >>> to >> >>> > conflict with VCF needs, as this is definitely NOT an official VCF >> >>> event. >> >>> > >> >>> > Hope to see you here! >> >>> > - Alex >> >>> > >> >>> -- >> >>> Jason Perkins 313 355 0085 <(313)%20355-0085> Sent from my iPhone >> >>> >> >> >> > >> Alex M. Bodnar >> amateur Radio: K3CIM >> Emergency Services: ARES/RACES >> > Alex M. Bodnar amateur Radio: K3CIM Emergency Services: ARES/RACES

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Circa late 90s PC peripheral boxes
by John Heritage 15 Sep '17

15 Sep '17

Hey folks - As part of cleaning up, i found some circa-late 90s PC Peripheral boxes all in pretty good shape. If anyone is interested in any of these let me know otherwise i'll recycle them next Thursday: - Onstream 50GB Tape Drive - Western Digital "3.5 enhanced IDE" Ultra ATA/66 HDD - 20.4 GB! - Digital Research 50X SUPERFAST cdrom - Linksys Instant Etherfast 10/100 3 port print server - Linksys Etherfast 10/100 LAN Card - Linksys Etherfast 10/100 8-port workgroup switch - Linksys Etherfast 10/100 Dual Speed 8-port workgroup switch - ABIT Mainboard Box (no model listed on box, no manuals inside), PCI bus logo on front. - Creative Live X-Gamer box If you want pics just email me. No cost for the box(es) of course we just have to figure out how to get them to you cheaply.

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